Firstly, can I just say that the Xbox site had a very enthusiastic description of the game. 'Sweet, sweet achievements'? What exactly are we selling here, hmm, hmm?

Serious Sam

The game in question is Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, a fast-paced shoot-them-up sort of game. It is a remake of the classic game and now comes with jazzy new graphics. On a side note: is it just me or does the lead look a bit like a beefed up Kevin Bacon? The game also features multiplayer capabilities (up to 4) which is the highlight of action games today, isn't it? Grab it for 1200 MS points.

Risk worth taking?

There was exciting news in the upcoming games section. Anyone here loved Risk? Well, you can look forward to a console version coming to the Xbox sometime this year. It's called Risk:Factions and is published by EA. As for the developing team, it's appears to be a joint collaboration between Stainless Games and Power House Animation. Wonder how well this game will fare on the Xbox …

Portal

It's a bit early for this but it's worth mentioning anyway: according to Major Nelson's Xbox Live Market release schedule, Portal:Still Alive will be up as part of the deal of the week. Thus, on January 25th you will be able to nab the game for 800 MS points (currently 1200MS points). I finished the game this holiday season and I must say it is one of the most addictive games I have played in a while. Anyone who has been toying with the idea of downloading it on the Xbox … your time is now!

Reduced Prices

And how's this for a case of 'didn't see this coming, did you?' I found out that Bioshock's price has been cut. Remember how they happily offered it up for 30 odd bucks? I wondered how long that would be up. As it is, you can buy the Bioshock/Oblivion bundle for $30 from the shops. That's what … still $5 cheaper than the downloadable game.

Porn star comments on violent games

You've probably heard how everyone is ganging up on Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2. Well, they are eying such games with suspicion and blaming it for everything from violence in teens to penguin disappearances. Alright so maybe no one is saying that outright (and I made up that bit about penguins) but you get the drift.

Now you have yet another person standing up and pointing the angry finger at 'violent games', talking about their negative effects on kids. Oh and did I mention that he is a porn star who states that effects of porn is less harmful than the influences of these games? That's your wtf moment right there!

All in all, this looks like a case of being defensive by pointing at the so-called badger with the spoon (Izzard reference there, in case you were wondering). So it comes down to - 'You think we are bad, oh man, you should see what the games are doing to kids these days!'

And this guy defends the porn industry by saying that protecting kids from accessing porn is up to parents. Fair enough. Then he says, it's a matter of, we have 'disclaimers, age notifications and software blockers', don'tcha know? Sorry, but don't games like MW2 also have similar features? Last time I checked, the game was tagged with 'suitable for mature audiences' rating.

To quote Monty Python, 'Let's not go to Camelot, it's a silly place'. Hmm, in this case, you can have so many puns for that phrase ....