Assassin's Creed 2

Assassin's Creed II is a historical fantasy third person action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the second video game installment of the Assassin's Creed series and is a sequel to the 2007 video game Assassin's Creed. The game was released on video game consoles in November 2009, and released for Windows in March 2010. The direct sequel, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, comes out in November, 2010.

The game is set in the 15th century, with player-controlled protagonist Desmond Miles escaping from Abstergo Industries with an employee, Lucy Stillman, after being forced to relive the genetic memories of ancestral assassin Altaïr ibn La-Ahad through a machine known as the "Animus". After escaping from Abstergo, Desmond enters a device which is more advanced than the original Animus, the Animus 2.0, and relives the genetic memories of ancestral nobleman Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who lived during the Renaissance period of the late 15th century in Italy. The player controls Ezio, who becomes an Assassin after his father and brothers are murdered by a traitor to the Auditore family. While controlling Ezio, the player can explore game renditions of Italian cities, regions and landmarks in open world gameplay.

Assassin's Creed II was met with widespread acclaim, garnering aggregated scores of 91% for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and 86% for PC, from review aggregator Metacritic. The game was praised for its stronger emphasis on open-world exploration and interaction, non-linear gameplay and greater mission variety compared to the first Assassin's Creed. The game was also credited with improved non-player character AI and combat mechanics, and its new economic system allowing players to purchase accessories, armor and improved weapons through the course of the game.

Rock Band

Rock Band is a series of music video games developed by Harmonix Music Systems and MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts for the Nintendo DS, iPhone, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, and Xbox 360 game systems. The series, inspired by Harmonix's previous efforts on the Guitar Hero series, allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular rock music songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments. Players can play the lead guitar, bass guitar, and drums parts to songs, as well as sing into a USB microphone. Players are scored on their ability to match scrolling musical notes while playing instruments, and by their ability to match the singer's pitch on vocals.


The first game in the series Rock Band, was released in 2007 shortly after Harmonix was acquired by MTV Games, and its sequel Rock Band 2 was released in 2008. Harmonix has also regularly provided downloadable content, in the form of additional downloadable songs on a weekly basis through the game consoles' network services. To date, over 1000 songs are available between those on the game discs and through downloadable content. Harmonix has also created standalone Track Packs that either contain a selection of downloadable content, or a selection of band-specific songs. The company has also designed the Rock Band Network to allow bands and labels to publish their songs as Rock Band tracks that can be purchased by players. To date, over 13 million copies of Rock Band titles have been sold netting more than $1 billion in total sales. Over 1,100 songs are available in the franchise library, and over 70 million downloadable song purchases have been made.

DJ Hero 2

DJ Hero is a music video game developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision as a rhythm game spin-off of the Guitar Hero franchise. It was released on October 27, 2009 in North America and on October 29, 2009 in Europe. The game is based on turntablism, the act of creating a new musical work from one or more previously-recorded songs using record players and sound effect generators, and features 94 remixes of two different songs from a selection of over 100 different songs across numerous genres. To score points, the player must press buttons to activate accented beats, adjust their crossfade between the two songs, and "scratch" the turntable on the game's custom controller in time to marks that scroll on the screen to score points and perform well for the virtual crowd. The game features both a single player Career mode and cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes. The game also features a mode for selected songs for a DJ player to play alongside another player using a Guitar Hero guitar controller. Many DJ and mix artists have contributed to the game both in the game's development, the creation of mixes, and in lending their images for playable avatars in the game; these including DJ Shadow, Z-Trip, DJ AM, Cut Chemist, J.Period, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Hashim, and Daft Punk.


DJ Hero was generally well-received by game journalists, praising the departure from the Guitar Hero series-style of gameplay, the use of the turntable controller to simulate the motions of a DJ and how the game's difficulty curve helps the player to become skilled on it, and the game's soundtrack; several smaller issues were identified as potential improvements for a possible sequel. However, the game did not perform as strong as expected by industry analysts, believed to be due to the waning interest in music games during 2009; regardless, DJ Hero is stated by NPD Group to be the highest-grossing new intellectual property of 2009 in North America.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Black Ops is a first-person shooter. The player assumes the role of a foot soldier and thus has access to various firearms, of which two can be carried, as well as explosives such as grenades and other equipment to fight enemies. When players are close enough to an enemy, they can perform a melee attack which ensures a one-hit-kill.


A character can be positioned in one of the three stances: standing, crouching, or prone; each affecting the character's rate of movement, accuracy, and stealth. The player can directly dive prone from a standing position. The player can momentarily run faster before getting tired. When the character has taken damage, the screen glows red. Health regenerates by avoiding damage. When the character is within the blast radius of a live grenade, a marker indicates the direction of the grenade, helping the player to either flee or throw it back.

The game features weapons like crossbows (with alternative explosive ammunition), Dragon's Breath rounds and ballistic knives. Brutality and gore are present, with a dismemberment feature.

Call of Duty: World at War

Call of Duty: World at War is a first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision for PC, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360. It is generally considered to be the fifth mainstream game of the Call of Duty series and returns the setting to World War II, after the storyline of the previous title, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was based in the present day. The game was released in North America on November 11, 2008 and in Europe on November 14, 2008. A Windows Mobile version was also made available by Glu Mobile and different storyline versions for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 were also produced, but remain in the World War II setting. The game is based on an enhanced version of the Call of Duty 4 game engine developed by Infinity Ward with increased development on audio and visual effects. A sequel, Call of Duty: Black Ops is being developed and is set to be released on November 9, 2010.


The narrative for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 versions focuses on the Pacific and Eastern Front theatres of World War II, involving the United States, the Empire of Japan, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany. It is told from the perspectives of Marine Raider Private C. Miller and Red Army soldier Private Dimitri Petrenko and is based on several historical battles. The multiplayer component of the game contains various game modes and a leveling system that allows the player to unlock additional weapons and rewards as they progress, similar to Call of Duty 4. The game also contains downloadable content called "map packs", which can be purchased online. A new feature to the series was the addition of a cooperative mode, which supports up to two players locally and four players online.

The game was the second best-selling game for November 2008 in the United States, selling over 1.41 million units. In the UK, it sold twice as many units as Call of Duty 4 in its first week after release, becoming the third fastest-selling video game. It received positive reviews, with praise for its portrayal of the gritty, dark side of war and multiple game modes. However, it was criticized for not building on the success of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Call of Duty: World at War currently holds an 85% aggregate score on GameRankings and Metacritic.

Halo 3: ODST

Halo 3: ODST (originally Halo 3: Recon) is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft. It was released on the Xbox 360 video game console on September 22, 2009. Players assume the roles of elite human United Nations Space Command soldiers known as "Orbital Drop Shock Troopers" or ODSTs during the events of Halo 2 and Halo 3. There are two modes of play: in the game's campaign mode, players explore the ruined city of New Mombasa to discover what happened to their missing teammates in the midst of an alien invasion. In the "Firefight" multiplayer option, players battle increasingly difficult waves of enemies to score points and survive as long as possible; the Halo 3 multiplayer experience is contained on a separate disc packaged with ODST. New copies of the game also contain access keys to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta release, which activated May 3, 2010.


Bungie initially conceived ODST as a small side project to produce in the lull between Halo 3's completion and Halo: Reach. Instead of featuring recognizable characters such as armored protagonist Master Chief, the developers focused on the ODSTs. Story director Joseph Staten penned a detective story utilizing film noir designs, settings, and characters. Composer Martin O'Donnell abandoned his previous Halo themes to create a quieter, jazz-influenced sound. During development, the planned expansion grew in scope to that of a full-sized game. Release marketing for the game included a tie-in comic, live-action trailers, and print and web advertisements.

Upon release, ODST became the top-selling Xbox 360 game worldwide. The title received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the atmosphere, music, and story approach. Reviewers were divided on whether the relatively short campaign and included extras were enough to justify the game's US$60 price tag. The game was the top-selling title in the United States in September 2009, and sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Softpedia, Time and Wired were among the publications that declared the game one of the year's best.

Monday Night Combat

Monday Night Combat (abbreviated MNC) is a downloadable third-person shooter video game exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade developed by Uber Entertainment. It was released on August 11, 2010 as part of Microsoft's 2010 Xbox Live Summer of Arcade.


MNC is a class-based third person shooter game in which two teams are pitted against each other in a fictional combat sport similar to tower defense. The competitors on each team are clones, and the goal is to destroy the other team's Moneyball, a stationary objective, while protect their own. It is presented to the player as the Monday Night sport of the future.

The game was well received by critics, averaging 81.29% at GameRankings and 81 out of 100 at Metacritic, two video game aggregate websites. Reviewers were generally universal in praising the quality of the game in comparison to the cost. The game's graphics and art style were also praised. Critics noted that the six character classes were well suited to the tower defense style of gameplay.

Halo 3

Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for Xbox 360. The game is the third title in the Halo series and concludes the story arc that began in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2. The game was released on September 25, 2007 in Australia, Brazil, India, New Zealand, North America, and Singapore; September 26, 2007 in Europe; and September 27, 2007 in Japan. On the day before its official release, 4.2 million units of Halo 3 were in retail outlets.

Halo 3's story centers on the interstellar war between 26th century humanity, led by the United Nations Space Command, and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant. The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he wages war in defense of humanity, assisted by human Marines as well as an allied alien race called Elites, which is led by Rtas'Vadum. The game features vehicles, weapons, and gameplay not present in previous titles of the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor; a utility which allows the player to perform modifications to multiplayer levels.

Halo 3 grossed US$300 million in its first week. More than one million people played Halo 3 on Xbox Live in the first twenty hours. As of January 3, 2008, Halo 3 has sold 8.1 million copies, and was the best-selling video game of 2007 in the U.S. Overall, the game was very well-received by critics, with the Forge and multiplayer offerings singled out as strong features. By March 2009 more than one billion online matches had been played. A prequel to the game, Halo 3: ODST, was released worldwide on September 22, 2009.

Gears of War2

Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games with lead design by Cliff Bleszinski, and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the second installment of the Gears of War series. The game was officially released in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia on November 12, 2008. The game expands technically on the previous game by using a heavily -modified Unreal Engine 3 engine. The development team also brought in comic book writer Joshua Ortega to help write the plot for the game.


In Gears of War 2, the human Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) forces continue their fight against the Locust horde, who are attempting to sink all of the cities on the planet Sera by using a big riftworm to eat the ground beneath them. Sergeant Marcus Fenix leads Delta Squad into the depths of the planet to try to stop the worm from eating but instead they discover the true intent of the Locust actions. The player controls Fenix in the main mission campaign, with the ability to play cooperatively with a second player controlling Fenix's best friend and fellow Squad member Dominic "Dom" Santiago. The game includes several existing and new multiplayer modes including five-on-five battles between human and Locust forces, and a "Horde" mode that challenges up to five players against waves of Locust forces with ever-increasing strength. New weapons and gameplay mechanics such as "hockey fights" and the ability to use downed foes as "meatshields" were added to the game.

On its release weekend, Gears of War 2 sold over two million copies, and within two months of release, had sold four million copies. It was the seventh best selling video game of 2009 and received several accolades. The game received similar praise as its predecessor, with the new gameplay and multiplayer modes seen as outstanding additions.

Modern Warfare2

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles and the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Officially announced on February 11, 2009,the game was released worldwide on November 10, 2009. It is the sixth installment of the Call of Duty series and the direct sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, continuing along the same storyline. It was released in conjunction with two other Call of Duty games: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized for the Nintendo DS, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex, a port of Call of Duty 4 adapted by Treyarch for the Wii console.In addition, a comic book series based on one of the game's characters was also produced, entitled Modern Warfare 2: Ghost.


Modern Warfare 2 has received very positive reviews from various gaming websites, attaining a 94% aggregate score on Metacritic, with praise stemming primarily from its in-depth multiplayer component. Upon its release, the game sold approximately 4.7 million copies worldwide in 24 hours On June 15, 2010, Activision confirmed that the game had sold over 20 million copies worldwide,making it the best-selling game of all time in the UK, and the second best-selling game of all time in the US.