For some time now, I have been growing more and more frustrated with the WL Spaces blogging system.  With “Confessions of an Old School Gamer” growing more and more popular over the past year, I made the decision to move CoaOSG to my own domain.

The move means I can finally present a site that is visually welcoming to visitors, yet tailored around my blogging style.

As such, all new news posts, articles, and reviews will now be posted at “Old School Gamer.”

I want to thank you all for providing the inspiration to share my gaming opinions, and hope that you will join me on my new site.

Subscribe to the Old School Gamer RSS feed.

• Grand Theft Auto IV - The Lost and Damned: 1600 MS Points.
• Grand Theft Auto IV - The Lost and Damned Avatar Clothes: Free.
• Grabbed by the Ghoulies: 1200 MS Points.

Microsoft have announced that the demo for the upcoming game Halo Wars, has broken previously set download records.  Released on February 5th, it smashed records for the most downloads in one day.

The Halo Wars demo was downloaded more than 2 million times, in the first 5 days of becoming available to XBL Gold level members.

Source.

• Scene It? Box Office Smash! – Award Winners Pack: 560 MS Points.  Add this to your download queue.
• Lips – My Happy Ending: 160 MS Points. Add this to your download queue.
• Lips – Buttons: 160 MS Points. Add this to your download queue.
• Lips – Magic: 160 MS Points.  Add this to your download queue.

• Guitar Hero World Tour - Acoustic Track Pack: 440 MS Points.  Individual tracks, ("Drive" by Incubus, "New Slang" by The Shins, and "Wonderwall" by Ryan Adams), are available for 160 MS Points each.  View all Rock Band World Tour content.

Atheistium has posted The Twit-Debate, the first in a series of new features to her site.  Posing a question on her Twitter account, Atheistium gauges the response from the community and responds in force.

Today Atheistium posed this wonderful question: -

Do you feel the party system on NXE has removed the social aspect of playing online?

Check out the numerous responses, including mine, here.

• Minesweeper Flags: 400 MS Points. Add this to your download queue.
• 3 on 3 NHL Arcade: 800 MS Points. Add this to your download queue.
• Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X Demo: Free. Add this to your download queue.
• Various Avatar Clothes: Free.
• Rock Band - The Fratellis Pack 01: 440 MS Points. Individual tracks ("Flathead," "Henrietta," and "Creepin' Up the Backstairs") are available for 160 MS Points each. View all Rock Band content.

A new episode of The Guild recently hit the marketplace.  As with all episodes so far, it's free to download.

Season 2, Episode 11 can be added to your download queue here.

Don't forget, Season 1 is also available for free.

Ubisoft have been answering questions posed by the community, in regards to their upcoming game H.A.W.X.

The latest update, posted earlier, deals with Boss battles (or lack of), as well as stealth capabilities.  However, more importantly is the announcement that H.A.W.X. will be packaged as two separate SKUs; one (possibly) with some sort of flight stick, one without.

For more information, head over to the official Community Q&A Thread.

According to Joystiq, Epic are set to change the face of Gears of War 2 online forever.  GoW 2 multiplayer currently relies on the TrueSkill matchmaking system, however a new proposal outlines ditching TrueSkill in favour of a ranking system (similar to that of Call of Duty 4).

In a post on the official forums, Rod Gergusson discussed the new system: -

What if, instead of skill rank, we instead showed your experience level. You would gain experience through your individual performance in Public multiplayer matches - the higher your score at the end, the more experience you acquire. Of course the experience gained across the different match types would be balanced so you couldn't just grind on the respawning game types to try and level faster. The experience requirements for each level would grow with each level gained (like a typical RPG) and we'd have 99 levels of experience for you to show off your leetness.

A demo for the upcoming Ubisoft title H.A.W.X. will land on the XBL Marketplace later this week.  H.A.W.X. is set for take-off in March, but you can grab the demo this Wednesday.

H.A.W.X. is set in 2012 above the skies of a world increasingly dependent on private military companies (PMCs) and elite mercenaries who have a relaxed view on the law. As these non-governmental organizations gain power, global conflict erupts with one powerful PMC attacking the United States.

(Do I get some sort of prize for using the worst puns ever?)

Microsoft have announced that the multiplayer aspect of XBL will be free to all XBL members between 17 – 22 February.  However this only applies to GTA IV, and the upcoming DLC Pack The Lost and Damned.

We are excited to announce that for the first time ever, starting Tuesday, February 17 at 9:00 am (PST), Xbox LIVE multiplayer service usually reserved for Xbox LIVE Gold members will be completely free of charge for LIVE members while playing Grand Theft Auto IV or The Lost and Damned -- the first exclusive downloadable expansion episode on Xbox 360. This limited, Grand Theft Auto multiplayer promotion is applicable only to players of either Grand Theft Auto IV or The Lost and Damned expansion episode, and will end on Sunday, February 22 (11:59PM PST). Be a part of this unprecedented event and join the legions of Grand Theft Auto fans across the world to wreak havoc upon Liberty City.

Those of you wishing to share your views over Inside Xbox can now rejoice.  On Monday, SuperKaylo sent out an open invitation for you to share you “Musings”, and revealed the email address for Monday Musings.

MondayMusing@Live.co.uk.

Remember, your Musing must be around 700 characters in length.

Similarly, if you wish to ask MrPointyHead and SuperKaylo a question about an upcoming release, or anything 360 related, you can send an email to their SentUAMessage segment.

SentUAMessage@hotmail.com.

Please note: If you send me an email, I’m likely to hit you with a stick…

Criterion have announced a new DLC pack that is currently under development for Burnout Paradise.  The Cops & Robbers DLC Pack is "dedicated to bringing the thrills and spills of cops and robbers car chases in Paradise City."

No price or official release date have been announced yet, though the Cops & Robbers DLC Pack is expected to be released some time this year.

Source.

This week’s XBLA title will be 3 on 3 NHL Arcade.  According to the blurb: -

3 on 3 NHL® Arcade, a 3-on-3 experience that throws conventional hockey, and its rules, out the window. Choose from the NHL's top players and bring them into this no-rules hockey game where big hits rule the day.

3 on 3 NHL Arcade will smash on to XBLA this Wednesday, for 800 MS Points.

Capcom have finally announced the sequel to popular 360 game, Dead Rising.  Dead Rising 2 takes place a few years after the events of the first instalment, with zombie attacks now sweeping across the country.

Dead Rising 2 is currently being developed for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC platforms; though no release date has been announced.

Source.

Bungie have announced that all Halo 3 maps will be included in Halo 3: ODST.  This includes the maps from The Heroic Map Pack, The Legendary Map Pack, Cold Storage, and The Mythic Map Pack.

In addition to this, Halo 3: ODST will also include 3 new maps exclusive to the game.

Halo 3: ODST will be dropping on to the 360 this November.

Source.

As regular readers will know, I work for Planet Command & Conquer as the evil mastermind behind their weekly Mailbag feature.  It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it, right?

This week’s mailbag topic relates to RTS (Real Time Strategy) games on consoles: -

EA seem intent on pushing the C&C series out on to as many different platforms as possible. Do you think that the console versions are as accessible as their PC counterparts? If you could improve the console ports, what would you do, and why?
Also, do you think a console RTS will ever be as successful as those on PCs?

Do they work? Is there any room for RTS games in the console market?

I want to hear your opinions.

As always your responses, comments, suggestions for future mailbag topics, and feedback should be sent to mailbag@planetcnc.gamespy.com.

• Burnout Paradise – Party Pack: 800 MS Points. Add this to your download queue.
• Burnout Paradise 1.6: Free (and required for online play). Add this to your download queue.
• Lips – Fallin’: 180 MS Points. Add this to your download queue.
• Lips – Building a Mystery: 160 MS Points. Add this to your download queue.
• Lips – In My Place: 180 MS Points. Add this to your download queue.

Valve have announced some details for the forthcoming Survival Pack, for Left 4 Dead.

The "Survival Pack", coming sometime this spring, will include a new game mode entitled 'Survival'. Also included in the pack will be two new maps for play in Versus Mode. A new retail version of the game, including this new content, will also be made available as the Critic's Choice Edition.

As with most announcements, there is no expected price point for the Survival Pack.

Source.