Source: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/884/884154p1.html

Gears of War 2 Multiplayer Hands-On

Like a Fenix from the flames, Marcus raises the meatflag as we blow the lid off GOW2's multiplayer.

by Andrew Stanton, IGN UK

UK, June 25, 2008 - "This is where the magic happens." For some reason this truism rattled unshakably around my head like beans in a tin can over the entire day spent at Epic Games. We'd been flown to the US to be the first journalists in the world to get hands on with Gears of War 2 multiplayer. My strange mantra was often a reminding prompt – there's absolutely nothing cool whatsoever about Epic's HQ.

Based in the beautiful, but nothingy backwoods of Cary, North Carolina (Wiki it: there's lashings of green, wide roads and naff all else), it's a bland, beige building nestling amongst similarly uninspiring science park real estate. But the mantra also came back as a whooping endorsement when we finally picked up a controller and the fragging began.

Some flavour: Epic truly is indistinguishable from just about every other developer we've visited. Two storey, science park monochrome blahchitecture. A reception bristling with heavy, crystal blob game of the year awards and life-size character figure detritus. The desks of the developer staff are strewn with comic book, anime and geek movie vinyl figures. There's a kitchen creaking at the seams with free sugar and caffeine-rich snacks – the ADHD-inspiring engine room. A rank of arcade machines line up next to the most pristine gym I've ever seen in my life (make of that what you will) and positively cathedral-like, gargantuan loos, with magazine racks of game mag serving as "inspirational" reading. It's tidier than most, but that's no great endorsement. And they knew we were coming, so nagging had probably ensued.

Gears 2 promises to be "bigger, better and more badass", plus now it also includes flamethrowers.

Kotaku has an interesting article suggesting this: Age Matching on Xbox Live.

It makes sense- I think. There will always be people who lie about their age but I think this might be a good idea! The timmys of our time annoy the crap out me....I might game more on Live if I knew I had a better chance of meeting up with people closer in age to me, though there will always be douchebagging a-holes on Live who somehow know you are a "Jewbag" and apparently have had relations with your mother.... read it here.

Halo has it's own culture. It has been likened to Star Wars for it's cult-like following, and market penetration. Whether you've been playing it since the first installment, or got swept up somewhere along the way w/ Halo 2, you can agree it's one of the greatest games ever made.

But which one? All 3 have similarities, and although they have the same name, they are 3 very different games, each with it's own nuances and nuisances alike.

Pre-H3, everyone seemed divided. H1 or H2. The early adopters of Halo seemed to favor H1 heavily after being subjected to H2's dual-wielding, turned up auto-aim, and the infiltration of cheaters and screaming, pre-pubescent online players who ruined the experience for everyone.

H2 fans enjoyed the ease of multiplayer gaming over Xbox Live, as opposed to local LANs on H1, or the cumbersome (and unsupported) interface of Xbox Connect. Anyone w/ their mom's credit card could connect to XBL, but LANs and XBC required more work, and more knowledge.

When comparing H1 and H2, the campaigns do not even need to be mentioned. If you've never played H1's campaign, then you don't know what you're missing, and you'll be satisfied w/ the campaign on H2. If, however, you have played H1's stellar campaign, well, 'nuff said. Just mark that up as the biggest reason to prefer H1 over H2.

Enter H3, the end of the trilogy, and Bungie's triumphant redemption to the lackluster campaign on H2. Enter more user-customization than ever before. Map Forge, Theatre-mode, and more. It has possibly more bells and whistles than any other console game, ever. But are the multiplayer extras and customization enough to win over the H1 fans? The auto-aim was turned down, but is it enough to make the H1 crowd forget about their beloved scoped pistol?

Notice the Cingular Blackjack atop the Linksys router and two 360s logged into XBL

XBL with your cell phone?! You bet! If you are in an area where broadband is unavailable, and your only means of an internet connection is dial-up, then you have an alternative. Your cell phone. For XBL, and much more. Read on about how we had 10 XBOX 360's connected to XBOX Live via my cell phone.

I know this, because until just recently, I was in that situation. I live in a rural hell which I define as anywhere without available broadband internet.

I am a resourceful person. I searched and exhausted any and all options to get broadband at my house. Cable/DSL/T1... you name it-- I have looked into it. None of these were an option for me. Of the 3 or 4 different cable companies in my area, none serviced my address, nor had any immediate plans to. My house is too far away from the nearest telecom station for me to recieve a DSL signal. A T1 connection would just cost too much. Not a realistic choice. I was stuck with dial-up, which never yielded more than 26kbps for me. My internet was slower than two old people scrumping.

Another thing you should know about me: I am stubborn. Too stubborn to live with what many of my neighbors live with, have been living with for quite some time, and will probably continue to live with. My next option? Wireless. But where to start? There are not that many carriers, and the devices are somewhat cumbersome as far as what they'll accomplish. But, I knew that there were OTA transmissions on a cell phone network that reached speeds far in excess of 26k. It wasn't as good as Cable or DSL, but it was a start. My research led me to the Samsung i607 Blackjack on AT&Ts EDGE (and soon 3G, but we'll get into that later) network.

Competitive video gaming is getting some major exposure on 60 Minutes.  "Fatal1ty" and "lil Poison" are two gamers that are highlighted in the episode. 

In the world of competitive video gaming, Johnathan "Fatal1ty" Wendell could be considered Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan. He's traveled the globe, won several world championships, and made more money than most twenty-somethings will see in a lifetime. Steve Kroft meets Fatal1ty and gets a sense of what it's like being America's most famous "cyber-athlete." - 60 Minutes

Follow this link to see segments from the show:  http://60minutes.yahoo.com/segment/82/fatal1ty/

Gotfrag.com has been acquired by MLG. Gotfrag is one of (if not the) place to go for competitive gaming news. In the last few years they've started covering competitive console gaming.

It will be interesting to see how MLG controls the website. Will other leagues and tournaments be covered by Gotfrag now?

Sure an MLG can't buy an ESPN and have them only report on baseball news.

THX should have stories discussing gaming-related issues with two opposite sides. Why? Because it'd be fun to read.