BioWare's Radical Anti-Piracy Strategy
Downloadable content to push back the evil that is piracy?

Gears of War 2 Cryptically Dated By Epic
Oh Epic, you're so sneaky!

SCEE Explains Firmware 2.40 Problems, Says Everything OK Now
You mean it won't brick my PS3 now? That is good news.

Activision Blizzard Merger Official
It's taken months on top of months, but Activision Blizzard is almost reality.

Cannabalism, Slavery and Sex in Fallout 3
As long as they're not combined, it should be fun!

If you missed out on the limited edition of Metal Gear Solid 4 thanks to EB Games' silly exclusive, GAME appears to have packs for sale. Well, that's what its website says in any case.

Too good to be true? It's not, as long as you're comfortable unloading $169.95 from your purse/wallet/man servant. I can't imagine this will stay available for long, so if you're super-keen, you better be super-quick.

Update: Well, that went faster than I expected; the product has disappeared from GAME's website!

Metal Gear Solid 4 Limited Edition [GAME]

Battlefield 2142 for $10? It sounds crazy, but that's how much it's going for in Dick Smith's massive sale. If this wasn't reason enough to grab your wallet, pack some sandwiches and head down to your local DSE, the retailer had many other quality titles discounted by 50% or more.

However, according to EcoGamer, DSE has been less than consistent with its pricing:

At the same time as pleasing many bargain hunters I believe Dick Smith has also angered a lot of gamers by not keeping their prices consistent during the sale period. I believe it's the first time a store has changed prices on their games on a daily basis in several instances. Take Conan for example, it was just $25 at one point but then suddenly jumped to $50 shortly after, and now rests at $70.

Even with the discount confusion, I'm sure plenty of gamers got their fill of great games at even better prices.

Great bargains or great disaster? [EcoGamer, thanks Fredi]

In grand "X-Files" manner, the film's storyline is being kept under wraps. This much can be revealed: It is a stand-alone story in the tradition of some of the show's most acclaimed and beloved episodes, and takes the complicated relationship between Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) in unexpected directions. Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and Scully, the passionate, ferociously intelligent physician, remains inextricably tied to Mulder's pursuits.

ONLY AT THE MOVIES JULY 24

Marvel MMO: Gorgeous, Fantastic, Still Very Dead
Oh well, we still have City of Heroes and City of Villains.

The Best Team Fortress 2 Dispenser Case Mod We've Ever Seen
So you can have that authentic Team Fortress 2 experience right in your bedroom!

Hands-On The Force Unleashed Impressions
Is LucasArts' next saber-swinging action title worth a look? See for yourself.

Daily Mail: Elite RRODs Have Cost Microsoft '£500 Million'
That's a lot of Xbox 360s...

No chance for Dark Sector in Australia? Not quite the case. Local distributor AFA Interactive appears to have finally gotten its hands on the toned-down build for the Japanese market (or a custom one from developer Digital Extremes) and coaxed an MA 15+ rating from the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

AFA has yet to announce a release date, but it's fair to say we can expect Dark Sector to hit Australian shelves shortly.

Dark Sector Game (Multi Platform) [OFLC]

Who's the guy in the tiny picture on the left? It's Tom Crago of course, president of the Game Developers' Association of Australia and CEO of (the rather successful) Tantalus.

The GDAA has been very active of late, its most recent move an alliance with the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia on the issues of classification and tax consessions.

But that's not all the organisation has been up to, so I threw a few questions Crago's way. He was more than happy to fill in the blanks, and on a few occasions, colour the blanks with green and pink highlighter.

While you wait for Stargate Worlds, the MMO based on the movie-turned-hit-TV-show, you might want to give StargateTC 2 a whirl. It's a multiplayer mod for Half-Life 2 featuring the Tauris (humans) against the Goa'uld. Along with classic weapons such as the P90 and Beretta, players can wield energy staves and coujafs (Goa'uld knives, I believe).

Worth a look-see if Team Fortress 2 or Counter-Strike is getting all boring and whatnot. I know I stopped playing them ages ago.

StargateTC 2 [Official site, via Blue's News]

You guys remember the sad story of Zak Touilii, the disabled Australian teen who was recently robbed of his Playstation 3? Well, it seems a fellow by the name of Daniel Alvarado has set up a donation site to raise money for a new console.

Currently, the total sits at $333. Surely we can get this to $700 and above, so poor Zak can get a few games to go with his PS3. Even if you can only afford a couple of bucks, I'm sure it'll be appreciated.

Update: Sony may have already replaced the console. As such, I've removed the donation link for the time being.

NZGamer sends word that Rockstar's Manhunt 2 has been refused classification by NZ's ratings board. Like Australia, this means the game cannot be legally sold in, or imported into, the country.

However, unlike Australia, the NZ OFLC has a detailed breakdown of exactly why the game didn't meet its standards for an M or R rating:

The computer game Manhunt 2 was classified on 12 June 2008 by the Office of Film and Literature Classification as objectionable due to the manner in which it depicts and deals with matters of sex, horror, cruelty and violence.

I have to ask: why can't the Australian OFLC have info like this accessible to the public? I know our classification system is backward-arse, but the NZ OFLC makes the Oz one look lazy, half-arsed and just plain shit.

Manhunt 2 [Office of Film and Literature Classification NZ, via NZGamer]