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In addition to looking at the lighter and weirder side of the game industry, System Update provides the latest information on weekly console updates, DLC, game-specific updates, and other game-industry flotsam and jetsam.

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  • Battlestations: Pacific DLC deploying in July

    Battlestations: Pacific won the battle against critics when it debuted on the Xbox 360 and PC in May. And while it has yet to be seen whether the second installment in Eidos' WWII strategy franchise will fare equally as well against US consumers' pocketbooks, the publisher today announced a volley of add-on packs slated for deployment in July.

    The first downloadable add-on, titled the Mustang Pack, is now available on Microsoft's platforms for 160 points ($2). The DLC includes six new units, including the P-51 Mustang bomber escort and the US Navy's Alaska Class warship for the Allies and the Super Yamato Class battleship for the Imperial Japanese Navy. The pack also includes 18 new pieces of nose art, which can be used both in the single- and multiplayer modes.

    On July 23, Eidos will deploy the Carrier Battles Map Pack for 800 Microsoft points ($10). The pack includes four new maps that can be played in all five of Battlestations: Pacific's multiplayer modes. The maps play out on four distinctive battlegrounds in the Pacific theater: Midway, the Philippine Islands, Leyte Gulf, and the Aleutian Islands.

    For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Battlestations: Pacific.

  • King of Fighters '98, Worms 2 slink to XBLA

    It's been said that familiarity breeds contempt, but Microsoft is hoping it instead breeds revenue. The Xbox 360 maker is adding two installments of very familiar series to its Xbox Live Arcade service this week: The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match and Worms 2: Armageddon.

    An adaptation of SNK's NeoGeo fighter The King of Fighters '98, Ultimate Match adds new characters to the game's already considerable roster of more than 50 brawlers. Ultimate Match also adds new practice and challenge modes, as well as other special features.

    Not to be confused with 1997's Worms 2 or 1999's Worms: Armageddon, Team 17's Worms 2: Armageddon follows up on the original Xbox Live Arcade Worms game with a 30-mission campaign, unlockable missions, four multiplayer game types, and more. However, the game isn't completely divorced from its similar sounding predecessors, as Team 17 is paying homage to previous entries with the return of such fan-favorite weapons as the Holy Hand Grenade.

    Both The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match and Worms 2: Armageddon will debut on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday, each selling for 800 Microsoft points ($10).

  • WiiWare hooks Water Warfare, Reel Fishing Challenge

    Summertime often conjures up seasonal outdoor activities like swimming, fishing, and water-gun fights. With this week's WiiWare updates, gamers can mimic these seasonal activities with games ranging from 500 to 800 Wii points ($5-$8 ), all of which will be available starting today for download.

    In Hudson Entertainment's Water Warfare, up to eight players can arm themselves with water guns for first-person squirter action. The game also accommodates single-player missions and matches against the CPU and costs 800 Wii points ($8 ).

    Fishing is often a solitary endeavor, and Natsume's Reel Fishing Challenge attests to this fact, offering only a single-player mode. In mission mode, virtual fishermen can discover new types of fish. Alternatively, players can choose to play at their own pace using free play mode. Reel Fishing Challenge offers numerous fish and claims to sport lifelike fish animations. The game has a price tag of 500 Wii points ($5).

    Rounding out this week's WiiWare updates is Agetec's puzzle game Silver Star Reversi. The game features both single- and multiplayer modes and lets players choose from five different computer opponents. The game costs 500 Wii points ($5).

    For the Virtual Console, Sega's 1987 arcade game Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa is available for download. Players are sent to the Fantasy Zone to prevent world domination by an evil mastermind in this side-scrolling shoot-'em-up. The game costs 500 Wii points ($5).

    Lastly, this week's Nintendo DSiWare is Hudson Entertainment's SuDoku Master. The game offers 150 puzzles that allow players to work their way up from rookie status to the zenith of Sudoku Master. The game is offered for 500 DSi points ($5).

  • Castle Crashers boasts 1 million players

    The Behemoth's Castle Crashers was one of five top-tier Xbox Live Arcade titles to launch during Microsoft's Summer of Arcade last August, an initiative that caused XBL revenues to spike 67 percent on the month. By the end of 2008, Microsoft declared that Castle Crashers was the top seller of the pack, as the four-player beat-'em-up edged out Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 and Braid.

    While specifics of just how well the game has sold remain under wraps, The Behemoth said today on its official blog that there are now 1,000,000 unique Xbox Live gamertags on the Castle Crashers leaderboards. Though the number is substantive, it should be noted that leaderboard statistics and total sales are not a one-for-one match, as up to four users with unique gamertags can participate in a game on a single console.

    That being said, The Behemoth did note that Castle Crashers can now be called the "fastest growing XBLA game in history." Apparently, the game has also "saved marriages," though The Behemoth provided no evidence to support this claim.

    The Behemoth expects to release its third effort--operating under the working title Game #3--in 2010. For more on Castle Crashers, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

  • Palazzo Medici opens to Assassin's Creed 2 preorderers

    The Medici dynasty was the de facto ruler of the Italian Renaissance, leading the way in capacities ranging from finance to religion to politics to philanthropy. Those players looking to run amok in the founder of that dynasty's house--the Palazzo Medici--can now do so, provided they preorder Assassin's Creed 2 for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 at GameStop.

    Ubisoft said today that the Palazzo Medici, commissioned by Cosimo de Medici in the mid-15th century, will be a GameStop-exclusive preorder incentive for the anticipated action adventure Assassin's Creed 2. According to Ubisoft, the Medici family palace contains "secret treasure," which protagonist Ezio will be able to ruthlessly plunder. The offer is good for both online and in-store purchases.

    Assassin's Creed 2 is expected to arrive for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on November 17. For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

  • Droplitz, Garou: Mark of the Wolves join XBL pack

    In 2001, Garou: Mark of the Wolves hit the US market with its release on the Sega Dreamcast. After eight long years, the game will land on American shores again. Tomorrow, this last installment of the Fatal Fury series will return to US consoles as it headlines the week's Xbox Live Arcade releases alongside Atlus' Droplitz.

    Garou: Mark of the Wolves follows up 10 years after the death of the series' crime lord, the formidable martial artist Geese Howard. However, his fighting talent has been passed down to his son, Rock. The new hero joins up with 12 brand-new companions, along with one fighter from the previous games, Terry Bogard. The game will be available on Xbox Live Arcade for $10 (800 Microsoft points).

    In Droplitz, players rotate dials that control how water flows through tubes of different shapes. The goal is to get the water droplets to fall into buckets at the bottom of the tubes. The game becomes increasingly hectic as more droplets are introduced. For more on this game, check out GameSpot's hands-on preview. Droplitz, like Garou: Mark of the Wolves, costs $10 (800 Microsoft points). It is also set to be released on the PlayStation Network, PC, and iPhone later this year.

  • Rock legends rail against Guitar Hero

    When the first Guitar Hero hit the shelves back in 2006, artists weren't exactly queuing to be featured in the game, and the original track list featured mostly covers of famous songs. Since then, however, the series has gone from strength to strength with Guitar Hero surpassing the $2 billion mark in sales and rival series Rock Band reaching $1 billion in sales in North America alone.

    With both companies waving around big wads of cash, they've been able to attract some of the biggest names in rock and pop music to have their original music to be featured in the game. This has led to artist-featured versions, including AC/DC and Van Halen, and even the file-sharing haters Metallica have lent their name to a game.

    Not everyone is happy about the rhythm game revolution, however. NME reports that the White Stripes' Jack White and legendary guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin both had a pop at Guitar Hero at a conference in Los Angeles.

    "It's depressing to have a label come and tell you that [Guitar Hero] is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music," said White. "If you [the artist] have to be in a video game to get in front of them, that's a little sad." Page also chimed in, adding that he can't imagine people are learning about playing real instruments from the games. "You think of the drum part that John Bonham did on Led Zeppelin's first track on the first album, 'Good Times Bad Times,'" he said. "How many drummers in the world can play that part, let alone on Christmas morning?"

    White and Page aren't the first stars to have a dig at Guitar Hero. Rock-funk legend Prince turned down an offer to licence songs for Guitar Hero earlier this year, citing "principle" as the deciding factor. "I just think it's more important that kids learn how to actually play the guitar. It's a tough instrument--it's not easy. It took me a long time, and it was frustrating at first. And you just have to stick with it, and it's cool for people who don't have time to learn the chords or ain't interested in it, but to play music is one of the greatest things."

    Though Page's remarks may have dashed hopes for a Guitar Hero Led Zeppelin, arguably the biggest group of all time, famous digital holdouts The Beatles have their own Rock Band coming out this September.

  • Penn and Teller to debunk game myths

    For the past six years, the magic comedy duo of Penn Jilette and Raymond Teller, aka Penn & Teller, have viciously debunked social myths and fraudulent scams on their Showtime series Bullsh**!. Now, it appears an episode on the late-night-cable show's upcoming season will target a new subject: games.

    Showtime, which is owned by GameSpot parent company CBS Corp., has posted a profane teaser (viewer discretion advised) for Bullsh**!'s seventh season, which starts Thursday, June 25 at 10 p.m. EDT/PDT. Amidst a flurry of clips mocking lie detectors, stress, and astrology, the subject of games is raised via brief shots of the Electronic Entertainment Expo--and a statement from anti-game activist Jack Thompson.

    "Grand Theft Auto is the worst assault on children since polio," says the former attorney, who was permanently disbarred in Florida last year.

    Thompson's comparison of GTA and polio will raise more than a few eyebrows. Until it was eradicated domestically in the mid-20th century, polio was a scourge in the US, paralyzing thousands, including President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. However, its primary sufferers were children, many of whom saw their lower limbs debilitated by summer and autumnal epidemics each year. In 1952, over 21,000 Americans were paralyzed by the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

  • Fallout 3 spots Point Lookout DLC tomorrow

    After Bethesda Softworks' less-than-ideal launches of Fallout 3's previous downloadable content Broken Steel and The Pitt, the company hopes to get it right tomorrow with the release of its newest add-on pack, Point Lookout. Point Lookout will be the fourth expansion to Fallout 3 and is available tomorrow on the PC and Xbox 360 for $10 (800 Microsoft points).

    As outlined in GameSpot's hands-on preview, players begin the expansion by meeting a ferryman in the southern end of Capital Wasteland. Players are taken to Point Lookout, a swampland filled with mutated inbred hillbillies, a mysterious hi-tech mansion, and raider cultists. The game is targeted at players over level 17 and offers weaponry that's a step backward from the laser-driven technology that dominates the second half of the original Fallout 3 game.

    Fallout 3 isn't over when players have survived their foray into Point Lookout. A fifth expansion, the alien-abduction-themed Mothership Zeta is expected to come in late July. As previously announced, Bethesda will package all five expansions into the retail release of Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, which is due out in October.

    Check out the video below of GameSpot's E3 2009 interview with lead producer Jeff Gardiner.

  • XBL Indie Avatar Games to be sex, drugs, and gore-free

    Microsoft's Xbox Live Community Games initiative enjoys a low profile buried within the Xbox 360's online dashboard, but the publisher made a bold move earlier this month to change that fact. In a bid to "increase understanding and discoverability" of user-created games, Microsoft banished the stifling--dare it be called corporate--moniker of Community Games, saying it would be rebranding the service with the more-inclusive Indie Games title.

    The name change came as part of the new 3.1 revision to the XNA Game Studio tools, which are used to create Community Indie Games. As an undeniably positive change, the update also ushered in the ability to integrate the new Xbox Live Avatar system into user-created games. However, as anyone who has spent any time interacting with the Xbox Live community knows, there exist unsavory individuals who would undoubtedly use this new functionality for evil.

    As such, the publisher has announced a number of strict rules for independent titles which feature Avatars in their in-game action. That action will likely be decidedly mild, as "acts of an aggressive or threatening manner" are verboten. "Cartoon violence" is permitted, as long as it is not of the Itchy and Scratchy variety: Dismemberment is out, as is decapitation, maiming, and/or mutilation.

    Players looking to artificially enhance their Avatars', erm, proportions will find themselves short on options. Those who were hoping that the in-game personas could "excrete obscene bodily fluids or substances," too, are in for some measure of disappointment.

    The rules will also create some existential conundrums: Avatars are able to "die," though death cannot be permanent. Continuing the dehumanization theme, Avatars can not be made to have "an autonomous personality or instinct." Speech is forbidden, though Avatars are allowed to laugh and cry.

    Sexual, profane, and vulgar acts are not allowed, nor is "glorified criminality." Finally, to the disappointment of many on Xbox Live, their Avatar counterparts will not be able to "hold, be seen around or partake in any controlled substances or paraphernalia, including, but not limited to, alcohol, tobacco, and drugs."

    An Indie Game containing Avatars must first pass muster via peer review before being added to the Xbox Live channel. A full list of prohibited activity is available on Microsoft's official XNA Creator's Club Web site. For a look at some fully sanctioned Avatar-game action, check out the below demonstration of A Kingdom for Keflings from On the Spot.

  • Drill Sergeant Mindstrong leads Nintendo DLC charge

    Perhaps the most iconic drill instructor of the silver screen is Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, the loudmouth, foul-mouthed soldier of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. The eponymous character of Drill Sergeant Mindstrong, a new WiiWare game released today, has some large spit-shined boots to fill.

    In Drill Sergeant Mindstrong, players team up with three other comrades to outsmart several mind-boggling, mind-training games where concentration and quick thinking are essential. The best scrubs of boot camp are rewarded with promotions. The game can be played with up to three others, and costs 800 Wii points.*

    The DS puzzle-game NEVES Plus (600 Wii points) is coming to the Wii this week, featuring tangram-based gameplay from the original console, along with new Egyptian-themed multiplayer modes. With up to three others, players unite to rotate, flip, and move seven stones into each of the 500-plus silhouette puzzles.

    Also arriving is an all-new family-friendly sports game, Family Mini Golf. As implied by the title, the game's golf courses are more miniature than professional, featuring bumpers, speed ramps, and fans. Up to eight players can play using a single Wii Remote. The game has a price tag of 500 Wii points with additional golf courses available for download at a later date.

    The Wii's Virtual Console will see Hudson's TurboGrafx16 classic SimEarth: The Living Planet pull into orbit. The planet-scale simulation game allows players to guide the evolution of basic organisms into advanced life forms. Players guide their creatures into space and terraform neighboring planets. The game has a price tag of 800 Wii points.

    This week's DSiWare release is Art Style: BOXLIFE, where players cut and fold paper into box shapes. Talented box shapers earn money to buy items for their characters' miniature gardens. However, the game will not penalize penniless players by forcing them to fashion boxes into makeshift alleyway homes. The game costs 500 DSi points.

    *100 Wii/DSi points = $1

  • Rock Band gets Warped, Maroon-ed

    Toss another few songs onto the Rock Band heap. Today, Harmonix and MTV Games announced two new track packs containing 8 songs are coming to the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace. The first features the Warped Tour Pack, which includes five songs from bands playing this year's Warped Tour. These include such acts as A Day to Remember, Bad Religion, Chiodos, Escape the Fate, and Underoath. The Warped Tour is a yearly music and extreme sports festival that first kicked off in 1994. This summer's Warped Tour spans from the end of June to the end of August, and features pro-skating and BMX exhibitions along with a diverse line-up of bands.

    The second track pack is from multiplatinum Los Angeles rock quintet Maroon 5, and consists of three songs: "Little of Your Time," "Makes Me Wonder," and "Wake Up Call." Both packs will be available for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace on June 23 and the PlayStation Store on June 24. The Maroon 5 Pack costs 440 Microsoft Points or $5.49 while the Warped Tour Pack weighs in at MSP680 or $8.49. All eight new titles can be purchased individually as well for MSP160 or $2 on either service.

    WARPED TOUR TRACK PACK
    A Day to Remember - "The Downfall of Us All"
    Bad Religion - "21st Century Digital Boy"
    Chiodos - "I Didn't Say I was Powerful, I Said I was a Wizard"
    Escape the Fate - "The Flood"
    Underoath - "Reinventing Your Exit"

    MAROON 5 TRACK PACK
    Maroon 5 - "Little of Your Time"
    Maroon 5 - "Makes Me Wonder"
    Maroon 5 - "Wake Up Call"

  • Sgt. Johnson commanding Halo 3: ODST preorders

    At the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft for the first time showed off gameplay footage of Halo 3: ODST, the full-priced stand-alone expansion to Bungie's 2007 sci-fi shooter. Among the clips was one for Halo 3's new cooperative multiplayer mode Firefight (below), which tasks gamers with fending off waves of increasingly lethal opponents as members of the elite ODST brigade.

    Today, Microsoft announced a preorder incentive that ties into that cooperative multiplayer mode, saying that those who order Halo 3: ODST in advance of its September 22 ship date will receive a redeemable code to play as UNSC sergeant Avery Johnson in Firefight matches. The grizzled UNSC marine has appeared in all three of Bungie's Halo shooters (as well as a number of novels), having died a hero's death at the hands of 343 Guilty Spark in the final scenes of Halo 3.

    Halo 3: ODST will be available for the Xbox 360 as a $59.99 standard edition or as a $99.99 Collector's Pack, which comes with a UNSC-green special edition Halo wireless controller. In addition to the single-player campaign, ODST players gain access to three new multiplayer maps, the Firefight co-op mode, all previously released Halo 3 multiplayer add-on maps, and guaranteed access to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta.

    For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Halo 3: ODST.

  • COD: World at War Map Pack 2 enlists 1 million

    The first Call of Duty: World at War map pack debuted big when it arrived for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in March, garnering 1 million downloads during its opening weekend. That pack has subsequently gone on to sell more than 2 million units to the 11-million-strong COD: World at War user base.

    Now, the second COD: World at War map pack is on a trajectory similar to the first. Activision said today that Map Pack 2 was downloaded more than 1 million times through Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network during its debut weekend of June 11 to 14. The add-on pack is available for $10 (800 Microsoft points).

    Map Pack 2 includes three standard online multiplayer arenas and one zombie-infused co-op battleground. Banzai takes place deep in enemy territory as players vie for control of a tall bridge over a river. Corrosion sees players journeying to Mother Russia to do battle in a dilapidated train yard. Sub Pens features close-quarters firefights in a bombed-out submarine base. Shi No Numa has players teaming up to mow down zombified Imperial Japanese troopers.

    For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Call of Duty: World at War.

  • First month of Xbox Live now $1

    "I'd buy that for a dollar" is one of the many quotable lines in the classic sci-fi film Robocop. Now, though, $1 will buy gamers one whole month on Microsoft's Xbox Live service. Microsoft has confirmed to GameSpot today that it is offering a one-month upgrade to the Xbox Live Gold subscription plan for current Silver plan members for just 100 pennies.

    The promotional upgrade automatically enrolls participating members into a one-month renewal system. Once the promotional month expires, members will be charged the standard $7.99 fee each month unless they opt out. Currently, Microsoft has not announced an end date for the promotion.

    With an Xbox Live Gold subscription, members have access to a number of additional features, including streaming Netflix movies and TV shows (for current Netflix subscribers only), TrueSkill matchmaking, early and exclusive access to select game add-ons in the marketplace, multiplayer features, and the gamer feedback system. The plan costs $49.99 for one year of service.

    Back in March, Silver plan members were offered a $10 discount on a yearly subscription for the Gold plan.

  • GameStop scores content-exclusive Madden NFL 10 demo

    In April, EA Sports named Super Bowl XLIII adversaries Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals and Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers as cover athletes for Madden NFL 10. The move was notable in that it marked the first time in the franchise's history that two players were named to the cover of a Madden NFL installment.

    With Madden NFL 10 due for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and Wii on August 14, fans of the football sim will be able to engage the two athletes in a bit of preseason play thanks to GameStop's content-exclusive demo. Scheduled for release in late July, the demo serves as a preorder incentive for Madden NFL 10 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The demo will let players pit the Steelers against the Cardinals in five-minute quarters.

    EA Sports has confirmed for GameSpot that a standard Madden NFL 10 demo will also be available in late July through Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. The free sampler matches off the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants in one-minute quarters

    For more on Madden NFL 10, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

  • SOE trademarks hint at new EQ, EQII expansions

    Sony Online Entertainment is set to celebrate Everquest's 10th anniversary at its annual Fan Faire gathering in Las Vegas next week. To honor the occasion, it appears as if SOE is gearing up to announce new expansions for the two mainstays in its flagship massively multiplayer online role-playing game franchise, if a pair of United States Patent and Trademark filings are any indication.

    Earlier this week, Superannuation spotted a pair of trademark applications surfaced in the USPTO's online database for "Everquest Underfoot" and "Everquest II Sentinel's Fate". Both filings carry descriptors typical of a new game, including "computer game software and video game software," and "entertainment services, namely, operating a multiplayer, role playing, real time game for others via the Internet and local area computer networks."

    Longtime EQ fans will recognize the Underfoot name as a calling card of the ancient deity Brell Serilis, who is the champion of underground and cave-dwelling races, such as dwarves and gnomes. While Sentinel's Fate is a bit less clear, the name could be an allusion to Sontalak, the challenging dragon in the Western Wastes introduced with the Scars of Velious expansion that guarded the one-time end-game content housed within the Temple of Veeshan.

  • MTV planning game-addict reality show

    In 1998, MTV began its documentary series True Life with a pilot featuring the story of a heroin addict. After 10 seasons, the show hopes to document another kind of addict---the kind that's basement-dwelling, caffeine-addled, and disc-dependent. In other words, the show is on the lookout for game addicts. According to an online casting call posted by MTV, the show is looking for gamers in the US aged 18 to 29 whose habits have taken a turn for the worse, affecting personal relationships, family life, marriage, household responsibilities, and careers. The deadline to apply is November 10.

    As detailed in a GameSpot feature this year, the American Medical Association's Council on Science and Public Health was commissioned for a comprehensive report on video game addiction in 2006. Following the report, the organization recommended to the American Psychiatric Association to name video game addiction as a formally diagnosed disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

    According to the feature, the most infamous cases of video game addiction include a South Korean man who collapsed in an Internet cafe after playing 50 hours of Starcraft; a 13 year-old Vietnamese boy who strangled an elderly lady with a piece of rope so he could buy games; and a Chinese man who died after playing online games for 15 consecutive days. In 2006, the world's first clinic for video game addiction opened in Amsterdam.

    This is not the first time True Life has taken an interest in gaming. In 2003, the show aired an episode featuring two professional gamers who raked in over $270,000 combined in gaming tournaments.

  • Oblivion/Bioshock bundle due July 7; Elder Scrolls Steam-ed

    The aquatic Art Deco dystopia of BioShock and the expansive medieval-themed fantasy world of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will amalgamate into one comprehensive game hitting store shelves early next month. The publisher 2K Games announced today that the bundle pack would be available at major US retailers on July 7 for a suggested retail price of $39.99 on the Xbox 360 and $29.99 for the PC.

    Steam also announced yesterday that Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition is now available for download. The title is bundled with two previous expansions, Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles, and costs $16.79. Along with the Elder Scrolls IV update, Steam released Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Game of the Year Edition for $11.19, featuring the Bloodmoon and Tribunal expansions. Players may purchase a bundle of the two games for $25.19. The listed prices are part of a limited-time 20 percent weeklong discount that began yesterday for the Bethesda products.

    All three games are commercially and critically acclaimed, with BioShock and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion both shipping more than 1.5 million copies less than three weeks after release. GameSpot awarded BioShock and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion its Editors' Choice award, and Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind has a composite Metacritic score of 89 for the PC and 87 for the Xbox. Metacritic is a sister site of GameSpot.

    Video reviews for both BioShock and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are listed below.

  • Rocket Riot blasting Sam & Max onto XBLA tomorrow

    After losing $431.1 million during its last fiscal year, THQ has seen its fortunes reverse with last month's smash hit UFC Undisputed. Now the company is aiming for smaller-scale success with side-view shooter Rocket Riot, which will arrive on Xbox Live Arcade tomorrow. Sporting an 8-bit graphic style, the game arms players with a bazooka as they blast through enemies through 80 single-payer missions. Players can also fight four others in multiplayer mode, or up to eight on Xbox Live. Those who play the game can customize their soldier's armor and find power-ups including guided-rockets and dizzy missiles. The game will cost 800 Microsoft points ($10) when released tomorrow.

    The level-headed dog and the "hyperkinetic rabbit-thingy" are also arriving on the Xbox 360 tomorrow when the first season of their vigilante rabble-rousing will become available, renamed Sam & Max Save the World. The Telltale-developed game adds new features, such as achievements, high-definition and widescreen graphic support, and updates to the game controls. The six-episode package will cost 1,600 Microsoft points ($20).

    The interactive card-game Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers will also be released on XBLA tomorrow, featuring new single-player and co-op campaigns. The game, developed by Stainless Games, (Happy Tree Friends)--not the defunct Stainless Steel Studios (Empire Earth)--features new unlockable content, including additional cards, avatars, and skins. It costs 800 Microsoft points ($10).

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