[via Gaming Today]

Ubisoft has officially announced that Assassin’s Creed is being spun off to the Nintendo DS. I’m not a huge fan of the game, as it’s a bit too repetitive for my liking. The core elements are well done, though, so I’m anxious to see if a DS version comes out any better.

Title: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Platform: Xbox 360 (also: PS3, PC, NDS)

Developer: Infinity Ward

Publisher: Activision

Genre: FPS

Admit it. World War II is getting old. From how many paratroopers we’ve dropped into France and how many doughboys we’ve landed on its beaches in virtual combat over the past decade, it’s no wonder the fascists lost that one. I’m all for more WWII games (see my first impressions of MoH: Airborne later this week), but a little Modern Combat now and then is good too. The fact that wargames set in the 90’s and forward are also hitting a saturation point is going to be taken out to the garage and bound/gagged for the duration of this post.

So, what sets Call of Duty 4 apart from all the other FPS’s out there? Why has it received perfect review scores from major outlets? Why did it garner the popular vote for Game of the Year over at Goozex? What other questions could I possibly ask in this long, inquisitive paragraph?

Put simply, CoD4 puts together the gameplay that worked for the original Call of Duty with a multiplayer package that really blows away anything else on the market (I rate it higher than Halo 3, but obviously the two are completely different games with very similar multiplayer matchmaking and ranking systems).

[via Gaming Today]

In Saratoga Springs, New York, 20-year old Joshua Stetar met a 15-year old girl, who was living in Spokane, Washington, through playing Halo online over a year ago. He apparently found her address online and began sending packages and flowers to her home, all of which her parents returned. He also sent several hundred text messages to her cell phone, which forced her parents to change her number.

Title: Rock Band

Platform: Xbox 360

Developer: Harmonix

Publisher: MTV Games

Genre: Rhythm

It was only a matter of time. Guitar Hero made everyone a rock star. Karaoke games are all the rage for some people. DDR forced players to get up and “dance.” Two of these three ideas had to be combined at come point.

Sorry DDR.

Rock Band brings together guitar playing, karaoke, and drum-based rhythm games into one package. The guitar part plays like guitar hero. The karaoke is… well, you already know why most of us sing in the privacy of our own vehicles and/or showers. The drums…

Let me just say this: plastic drums and wooden sticks are very, very noisy. I dare not touch them anytime past sundown for fear of waking up the neighbors. My fiance was playing this game and I tell you: do NOT try to sleep anywhere within 100 yards. You WILL hear the drums in this game, and it’s really what detracts from the experience for me.

Other than that, buy this game. Play it alone. Play it with friends. Whatever floats your boat. It truly is a unique experience and the evolution of Guitar Hero.

If you’ve been a subscriber to Xbox Live since 2002, here’s how to sign up for your free 500 Live Marketplace Points.

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Title: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Platform: Playstation 3

Developer: Insomniac Games

Publisher: SCEA

Genre: 3D Platformer

Setting: Futuristic Animated Fantasy. Everything in this game is highly stylized and cartoonish. I’ve only lightly played the previous games in the series, but it seems to be more of the same. Much prettier this time, though.

Mood: Comical. The entire game is very light-hearted, but it does tell a good, simple story without ever being overly serious.
The Challenge: Shoot / smash anything in sight. Collect what it drops. Buy new weapons. Upgrade your old weapons. Get to the next level. Repeat.

Memorable Moment: Clank getting knocked out by a spring-loaded boxing glove. A pure comic classic.

The Verdict: This game never gets too difficult, so it may not take a serious gamer very long to finish. Graphically, some are comparing this game to the Shrek movies, which I don’t think is entirely accurate but isn’t far off. Rent it if you just want a quick play-through, or buy it if you enjoy playing these kinds of games more than once. If you’re not into platformers or are =overloaded with the FPS games that are coming out right now, save this one for next year.

It’s officially November. That means that we’re ready to kick off the month that historically holds the most AAA game releases each year. For 2007, some people are calling November the best month for game releases EVER. What do you think?

Here’s my annotated release list for the first full week in this great month for gaming. These are the games that I’m looking forward to playing either soon or after the flood of AAA titles subsides sometime in the coming months.

• Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War (360/PS3) – I played the demo for this on the 360, and it’s basically an evolution of the Dynasty Warriors formula. Features a squad-based system where your individual character gains the weapons (and mount in the case of cavalry) of the squad being controlled. Demo available on Live and PSN.
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360/PS3/DS/PC) - Call of Duty is leaving WWII behind in favor of a more modern battleground. Lots of anticipation or this one from the group I normally play with. Online ranking system similiar to the Battlefield 2 system should appeal to stat grinders and achievement junkies.
• Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii) – Fire Emblem is a series that I’ve played a couple installments of and enjoyed, but never really gotten hooked on. Should be interesting to see what they’ve done with it on the Wii.
• Scene is? Lights, Camera, Action! (360) – I’ve enjoyed the Scene It? games in the past, and this mashup between a board/trivia game and the Xbox 360 should be interesting. Throw in four custom controllers for only a few bucks more than a standard Xbox game and it’s not a huge investment if nothing else ever uses them.

So, we finally caved and purchased the final piece in our console collection. Our new 80GB Playstation 3 now sits next to the Xbox360 and Wii, displacing the Slimline PS2.

My initial impressions after a few days of playing the PS3 is… wow. There’s a lot of potential in there, but obviously it hasn’t been tapped yet. The game selection is limited, but there are a few gems worthy of playing though.

I’m looking forward to playing through Resistance, Ratchet & Clank Future, Uncharted, Folklore, and some other games. The VG5 reviews of these will be up once I manage to get some time in with them.