I talk about the new Mass Effect DLC on my blog.

http://mintz.hushedcasket.com/mass-effect-dlc-1-batarians/

Anyone else play it?

Midnight is the "Gamer Spotlight" on the "Inside XBOX" blade on your XBOX 360 console.  Way to go Midnight.

Source: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/849/849158p1.html

Clash of the Titans: Call of Duty 4 vs. Halo 3
How did Infinity Ward go toe to toe with Master Chief?
by IGN Xbox 360 Team

February 1, 2008 - On January 21, 2008 the unthinkable happened: Microsoft announced the Xbox Live activity for the previous week and Halo 3 was not on top. "I don't wish to be melodramatic," said Bungie's Frank O'Connor, "but upon hearing that news, I started listening to My Chemical Romance and scrawled all over my tear-streaked face with soft crimson lipstick, screaming, 'Don't look at me I'm a dirty girl!' at the top of my voice." After the dust cleared from the bombs that went off in our heads and Halo 3 regained the top spot the following week, we began to ask ourselves whether Call of Duty 4 being on top was really all that surprising of an event.

Both games are the newest entries into blockbuster franchises with massive marketing campaigns behind them. Xbox 360 owners proved that there's room for more than one first-person shooter when they propelled both games to mind boggling sales numbers; Call of Duty 4 has sold more than 7 million copies across all platforms while Halo 3 sold over 3 million copies in just 12 days before going on to lead all games in sales for 2007. These are the games that are going to compete for the number one ranking for months to come.

Where do Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 succeed? Where can they improve? What makes them so addictive? We explore the differences between the two titans. It's up to you to decide which game is worth your Xbox Live time.

Campaign Mode

So, I bust open my email to see that Charlie Oscar Delta has mailed me again.  (Gah, they sure do send some email.  I've even opted out several times.)  What does Infinity Ward have to say about Call of Duty 4?

"CoD4:MW soars to the number one spot!  We were overjoyed with the recent news that COD4:MW surpassed Halo 3 as the top played game on Xbox LIVE."

They even link to last week's post on Major Nelson's blog reporting that Halo 3 had been dethroned.

I hate to break it to them.  But Halo 3 has now returned to the #1 spot as XBOX Live's most played title.  Major Nelson reported so today.

So, Call of Duty 4 was the most played game for one week.  Will it ever return to #1?  I think it will as soon as downloadable content comes our way --- or a patch to fix networking issues.  Until then, I think Halo 3 will be king.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/846/846903p1.html

January 22, 2008 - After a total of six multiplayer maps, one new game mode, and 250 achievement points, it appears Gears of War downloadable content is being put to rest. Developer Epic is moving on to other projects. Representatives from Microsoft and Epic told IGN, "We don't have anything planned for [Gears of War] right now in terms of DLC."

Though both companies left open the possibility that new Gears of War content could be released in the future, new DLC seems doubtful. Perhaps Epic is clearing its workstations for another important product? Maybe a sequel of some kind?

It's been more than half a year since the release of the last downloadable pack for GoW. Despite this, Gears remains one of the ten most played Xbox Live games.

Major Nelson released the Xbox LIVE activity numbers for the week of 1/14.  More unique users played Call of Duty 4 than Halo 3 last week.  (JDOGG?).   Hrmm.  I wonder if gamers spent more time in Halo 3 than in Call of Duty 4.

I got back into CoD4 and H3 in the last week.  I am reminded that Call of Duty 4 is buggy and the guys at Bungie have made a superior user interface.  Time and time again this past week, CoD4 parties were plagued with networking errors.  Halo 3's party experience was solid although it seems to take longer to play another game of Halo 3 than another game of CoD4.  How popular would CoD4 be if it had solid netcode and some of the UI features found in Halo 3?

Halo 2 is still the #1 original XBOX game on XBOX LIVE.

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.