VERY SHORT HALO 3 VIDEOS LEAKED

If it weren't for the fact that it's Halo 3, I probably wouldn't even take the time to post these clips as news, but it is, so I will. It appears that some footage of the game - some very short footage of the game - was taken at Bungie's recent closed beta-test/play session held for American troops in Iraq. The videos don't seem to show much other than the opening title screen and a few seconds of a multiplayer game, but that's better than nothing I guess. Check them out below;

For more information on the event and the full sized versions of the above videos, use the following links;

• Bungie Get US Army To Beta Test Halo 3 - Kotaku
• Bungie Sends Halo 3 Beta To US Troops In Iraq - Firing Squad
• Halo 3 Leaked Footage 1 - YouTube
• Halo 3 Leaked Footage 2 - YouTube

Still no video love in the archives, so use the above links.

THIS WEEK'S RELEASES: JANUARY 1ST - JANUARY 7TH

If you thought the last two week's releases have been bad, you haven't seen anything yet. There is not a single title on this list that I can even find the slightest bit of enthusiasm about, so all I'm going to say is I hope you have some good titles to tide you over until next week.

Out of curiosity, is anyone getting as sick as I am of seeing the same PC titles being listed week after week? Here's the list;

• Great Invasions - PC - 1/2/2006
  
• Model Train 3D - PC - 1/2/2006
  
• Air Cargo Pilot - PC - 1/3/2006
  
• Hipsoft Puzzle Game Collection - PC - 1/3/2006
  
• Karaoke Revolution American Idol - PS2 - 1/3/2006
  
• Mozaki Blocks Deluxe - PC - 1/3/2006
  
• Super Collapse 3 - DS - 1/3/2006
  
• Yu-Gi-Oh!GX Spirit Caller - DS - 1/3/2006
  
• Paws & Claws Pet Vet - DS - 1/4/2006

Please keep in mind these are only estimated release dates and could change at any time.

STARDOCK SHOWS OFF DARK AVATAR IMPROVEMENTS

While most companies would be satisfied to just tell you about the enhancements they've made to the features and artificial intelligence of their latest game, the folks at Stardock do things a little bit differently. As such, they've posted a walkthrough of a war fought in Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar, which will become a part of the game's official lore. The story follows along with in depth looks into the strategies being used and also serves as a good introduction to the game for those who have never tried any of the titles in the series.

It's a good read, and like I mentioned, really gives you a solid idea of just how deep the game is - if you're on the fence about grabbing the Dark Avatar expansion or Galactic Civilizations II, this article could just make up your mind - check it out here.

CHILD'S PLAY CHARITY 2006 DONATIONS APPROACHING ONE MILLION DOLLARS

While checking out Ben Kuchera's "Opposable Thumbs" column over at ArsTechnica this morning, I read that the latest update from the Child's Play charity is that they've almost broken one million dollars in donations for the 2006 drive. There are still a few days left, so if you haven't donated yet, now would be the perfect time. Think of the children and click the banner below to find out how you can help! (You've always wanted to be the hero who rides in at the last moment to save the day, haven't you?)

MAME32 .111.1 RELEASED

Following in the footsteps of the command line version, MAME32 v.111.1, the Windows GUI port of MAME v.111 is also now available.

Check out the official MAME32 page here for more details and the download links.

MAME V.111U1 RELEASED

After a bit of a delay for the holidays, the MAME team is back on the job. The latest "update" version of the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator, version 1.11u1, is now available. This time around it focuses on a huge amount of behind the scenes changes, so those of you who aren't experiencing any issues with the last full build should probably hold off on getting the update until the next full release.

The only new game supported which is worth mentioning would be the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga Class of '81 machine, so if you've got one and need to emulate it, knock yourself out. The updated emulator files can be found at the official MAME page at Mamedev.org. You can Click here to see the full list of what's new in this update.

LAZY DAY TRAILERS: WORLD OF WARCRAFT - THE BURNING CRUSADE

You know, I got the Burning Crusade once after drinking the water in Mexico, and let me tell you, I was crapping thunder for a... oh wait... nevermind. I know, I know, the Burning Crusade jokes are about as stale as can be, but I figured I'd just jump on the bandwagon since I really couldn't think of much else to say about the below trailer that hasn't been said already. It's not in-game footage by any stretch of the imagination, but it's been a slow news week and it's entertaining enough, so here we go - the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade cinematic trailer;

As usual, no love for video here in the archives, so use this link for the trailer instead.

BLIZZARD TO ATTEMPT TO END WARCRAFT MAINTENANCE DOWNTIME

In the most recent server downtime announcement over in the World of Warcraft forums, Blizzard employee "Drysc" announced that the company was going to attempt to end most of the much hated downtime that occurs due to server maintenance every tuesday by introducing a new, live-update system;

"Since the game’s release, one of our most important service goals has been to reduce the amount of time realms are down for weekly realm maintenance. The various hardware upgrades and retrofits we’ve done over the past year have put us in a position to begin testing the ability to go longer than a week between maintenance periods.

In the upcoming weeks, we will be testing the effect of a live maintenance, where regular maintenance tasks are run during off-peak with realms live. On Tuesday, December 26 there will be no scheduled downtime for weekly maintenance. We will perform all necessary maintenance tasks while the realms are live. We are anticipating the possibility that we may need to perform rolling restarts off-peak if we find that a realm restart is necessary; however the downtime for each realm would be less than 10 minutes if it was required." - Drysc, Blizzard employee, World of Warcraft forums

I'm sure this will come as great news to many who don't work a traditional monday to friday, nine to five schedule. I just hope they don't seriously mess things up in trying to accomplish this one. Those of you who want to check out the topic yourselves should click here to head over to the World of Warcraft official forums.

CRACKDOWN TO INCLUDE INVITE TO HALO 3 MULTIPLAYER BETA?

A post over at the Cheap Ass Gamer (CAG) forums is stating that the current issue of Gamepro includes an ad for Microsoft's upcoming Xbox 360 title Crackdown that includes the following text;

"Includes invitation to Halo 3 multiplayer beta - limited time offer - look for specially marked boxes" - Crackdown ad

Based on what little I've seen of Crackdown, I had little to no interest in this title to begin with, and it just seems more like a marketing ploy for a game that Microsoft doesn't have much faith in than a way to distribute beta codes. I'm quite sure the opportunity to play Halo 3's multiplayer component a little early will be able to move quite a few more copies of Crackdown than the game would on it's own - the question is, just how few of those specially marked boxes will there be?

XBOX LIVE ARCADE WEDNESDAYS - NEW RALLY-X

Well, yesterday was the day the last Xbox Live Arcade release of 2006 was scheduled to hit, and Microsoft apparently decided to go out with a whimper rather than a bang. Namco's 1981 arcade classic New Rally-X is now available in the Xbox Live Marketplace for 400 points ($5). This is one title that really hasn't held up to the test of time, and while it's usually nice to see it on a Namco "collection" disc, selling it all by it's lonesome was probably a bad idea. To give you an idea, Microsoft hasn't even given the game it's own Xbox Live Arcade product page yet.

In other words, be sure to download the demo before you buy it, as unless you've got some fond memories of this one from back in the day, you're probably going to want to skip it.

Title: New Rally-X
Developer: Namco Bandai Games Inc
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games Inc
Genre: Xbox Live Arcade
Release Date: 12/27/06
Console: Xbox 360
Players: 1
Xbox Live: Yes
HDTV Support: 720p
Full Game: 400 points ($5)
Demo?: Yes

In what's quickly becoming a habit, I think I'll start using this space to comment on the previous week's XBLA release. Last week Microsoft released Novadrome on the world, and personally, I found it to be nothing special at all. Download the demo and you'll probably agree - Your 800 points could be spent much more wisely.