Kicking off the countdown to the game’s release on April 13, 2010, Ubisoft announced today that a single-player demo of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft will be made available to consumers prior to the game’s release.

The single-player demo will feature the opening segment of the Michigan Avenue Reservoir level and serve as an introduction to the game’s core gameplay mechanics for Splinter Cell fans. Gamers will have the opportunity to find out for themselves why brand-new innovative features such as Mark and Execute and Last Known Position have made Conviction one of the most anticipated games of the year.

The Xbox 360 demo of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction will appear on Xbox LIVE for download beginning on March 18, 2010.

Grenade spam affects more than 2,000,000 people worldwide every day. This very special public service message from star pitcher CC Sabathia, with the help of the caring scientists of DICE and Battlefield Bad Company 2, reveals the miracle cure.

Mortal Online will release with the core features that we promised but will of course grow and mature with every patch.

There are still a lot of brilliant features round the corner and Nave has just started to grow. This is a very important time for both Mortal Online and you, the supporters, followers and players of the game. We will continue to make the game that all of you and we ourselves want to see.

Three years after the conflict in Chernarus, portrayed in the original ARMA 2, a new flashpoint in the Green Sea region heats up and coalition forces led by the US Army are sent to Takistan to quickly restore peace and prevent further civilian casualties.

The video showcases a selection of US Army content featured in ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead and created in stunning detail. Near future American troops are equipped with the best weapon platforms, including modernized Abrams main battle tanks, AH-64 Apache gunships, fully playable M2A3 Bradley IFV which is a superb modern armored fighting vehicle that can transport troops whilst also offer effective covering fire, the versatile light attack helicopter MH-6 Little Bird as well as the eight wheel armored infantry vehicle Stryker in numerous variations. The video also contains the first official sneak-peek at the very popular and much anticipated modern FLIR system created with Bohemia's precision to every detail including the full vehicle heating phase.

Even the live action cinematics have taken a turn for the worse. I understand they're supposed to be grittier than the hilariously over-the-top, boobalicious cutscenes of old, but the seriousness only serves to make dour the impressive gloss. Terrible acting works when it's part of the charm. Take away the charm, and all you have left is terrible acting.

My criticism of this more progressive C&C; is at odds with my belief that the RTS developers should follow Relic Entertainment's good work with Company of Heroes and Dawn of War and evolve the genre. C&C3.5; is not the answer, but neither is C&C4.; Lead designer Sam Bass has spoken of the disconnect between the developer's vision and fan demands. He has revealed the game's origin as a skunkworks project from a small team allowed to experiment free from the concerns of anyone's bottom line. The story goes that after C&C3; sold well, the call from on high to create a sequel was sounded. Rather than just do C&C3; again, reasoned the team, it would be better to try and bring this new style of play into the Tiberian universe. C&C4; is the result, and I applaud the effort. But I question the wisdom of running with an experiment for the last game in this most celebrated of sagas.

Ultimately, C&C4; is a curiosity, one that succeeds in moving the RTS genre forward and is at times brilliant fun, but it fails as a fitting finale to one of the most loved science fiction tales in gaming. In 1995, Westwood popularised the RTS genre with a landmark title. It seems unlikely that history will judge Tiberian Twilight quite so fondly.

Cheaper in a box, if you don't mind waiting for the postie.

IGN UK (7.5/10)

There's no doubt that Metro 2033 will attract a strong following among those who take the time to explore its nuances, but it's a game that never quite lives up to its obvious potential. Despite delivering malevolent intensity in spades, its eccentric blend of stealth, survival horror and flawed gunplay is simply lacking the all-important polish required to challenge the genre's A-list.

Eurogamer (8/10)

Metro 2033 is far busier and far more accomplished than I expected it to be, and it's also one of the best-looking games - at least in a few very special scenes - on the Xbox 360. Combine these technical achievements with a game that has been carefully written, and lavishly imagined, and you start to get close to a sort of negative image of BioShock. While everything in Rapture is lurid and fantastical, here there is only grit, and blood, and suffocation.

Games Radar (9/10)

The chief issue, though, is one we’ve already mentioned: the shooting – and it’s this black mark which stops Metro 2033 from challenging the absolute best FPS titles on the 360. But it’s a problem you soon learn to forgive, and by the time you’re a few levels in, the iffy fighting hardly harms the other features at all. Besides, it’s something 4A Games can work on during the sequel’s development. The Metro 2034 book is already out, and THQ simply have to order another game as soon as they possibly can.

Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc., today announced that the closed beta for Need for Speed World, the massively multiplayer online action racing game has begun. Over the course of the next few months, thousands of players worldwide will have the opportunity to claim one of the limited slots in the PC beta test by enlisting at world.needforspeed.com. Need for Speed World testers will be the first in the world to get an insider’s look at this hotly anticipated racing MMO, and their constructive feedback will go straight back to the development team to help add polish, finesse and tuning to the final product.

“Need for Speed World is the world’s first MMO racer – a completely new entertainment experience for speed junkies all over the world,” said John Doyle, Need for Speed World Senior Producer. “We have expanded Need for Speed’s classic adrenaline fueled racing with an all-new power up system and deep RPG style progression to create a truly massive, socially-connected white-knuckle Need for Speed experience.”

Need for Speed World brings together best in class action racing with an unparalleled social experience. For the first time in a racing game, players will be able to compete against any one of their friends, family or pick from thousands of top ranked players to challenge in intense online battles and police pursuits across 150 miles of sprawling open world. Need for Speed World takes the well known and popular cities from Need for Speed Most Wanted and Need for Speed Carbon to create the biggest, most exciting race world ever released in the Need for Speed universe.

Need for Speed World will be available this summer on the PC.

Sign up here.

First up are ‘Deathmatch’ and ‘Team Deathmatch’ with up to 20 people, all vying for valuable energy. The more energy they accumulate, the bigger, better and more badass they become, but there’s a catch: they must blow themselves up to earn points, multiplying the score with each enemy you take out in the process. Risk and reward baby!

Next, the uniquely titled ‘Ninja! Ninja! Botzilla!’ has a team of tiny ninjas working together to bring the gargantuan Botzilla down to size. Easier said than done!

‘Lighten Up’ is a time-based turf war mode in which players must detonate on a glowing target area with as much energy as possible; the best detonation collects the points for that round.

Rounding things off there is the familiar favorite ‘Capture the Flag’, the usual rules still apply but with that self-destructive Plain Sight panache!

That should keep you all busy for awhile!

Key Features:

13 multiplayer maps

Battle up to 20 players

5 self-destructive gameplay modes,

‘Deathmatch’, ‘Ninja! Ninja! Botzilla’, ‘Lighten Up’, ‘Team Deathmatch/Weakest Clink’ and ‘Capture The Flag’

In-game power-ups

30 different robot upgrades to spend your experience points on

Perfect your skills against AI ninja robots in the offline practice mode

Dedicated server software included