GameArena: Australia's first BioShock review, cheaper Xbox 360 and loads more

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Thursday 16th August, 2007

We get the jump on the rest of the country with our exclusive review of BioShock, cop a further jolt as Microsoft slash the price of Xbox 360 to Wii territory, and dig a little into Sierra's new PROTOTYPE.

The Big Daddy of 2007?

2K Games' Bioshock, the hotly anticipated first person shooter and one of the years biggest titles has completed development and the PC and Xbox 360 versions will be both hitting Australian stores on schedule on the 24th of August 2007. BigPond GameArena are proud to bring you the country's first review of this A-list game. Without spoiling too much, it's a good one. Read all the juicy details in our exclusive review.

Ubisoft has released a new patch for Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, their Tom Clancy branded tactical shooter. The update addresses a few gameplay and interface issues with online multiplayer.

Players upgrading from v1.02 will want this download and those patching a fresh install will want this one. GameArena's GRAW 2 server has now been updated so jump on and check it out.

More PC: Games | News | Reviews | Downloads

Cheap, but not nasty

Microsoft has dropped the price of their Xbox 360 Core pack to an Australian RRP of $399.95 putting the console in direct competition with Nintendo's Wii in the build up to this holiday season. So Aussie consumers currently have the choice between the Pro pack model, now priced at $579.95 RPP (was $649) or the harddrive-less wired controller Xbox 360 Core model, now at $399.95 RRP (was $429).

With Halo 3 only one month away from release (along with a list of other stellar games such as BioShock, Call of Duty 4 and more), now has never been a better time to start looking to picking up a 360.

There is no word on whether or not any of the add-ons for the console will also go through a similar reduction in price, but with Sony's machine still floating around the thousand dollar mark and Nintendo's release line-up looking fairly skiddish for the rest of the year, this is both a smart and aggressive move on Microsoft's part. Ladies and gentleman, methinks the console wars has truly just begun.

Red Ant Enterprises Australia and Midway released a playable demo for Stranglehold, now available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Any fans of either Max Payne or the myriad of John Woo/Chow Yun-Fat honkie flicks out there would do themselves a favour to jump onto this immediately. Finally, a chance to relive classic moments from such films as The Killer, A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow 2 or Hard Boiled (among heaps, heaps more) is here, so make sure you jump onto Xbox Live Marketplace and get ready to flail a steady flow of bullets in constant slow motion.

More Xbox: Games | News | Reviews | Downloads

More Xbox 360: Games | News | Reviews | Downloads

Wormination on PSP

Pick-up and playing strategy/action titles like the Worms series lend themselves quite well to handheld consoles so it's not much a surprise to see another offering incoming from veteran developer Team 17. Worms Open Warfare 2 is due soon on both PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS. Richie recently had the opportunity to check out a preview build of the PSP version. Find out his thoughts in GameArena's preview.

Sierra Entertainment has announced PROTOTYPE, a new capslocked titled freeroaming action game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. "Developed by Radical Entertainment, a critically acclaimed developer of open-world games, PROTOTYPE tells the story of Alex Mercer, a man haunted by his past, fighting a secret war in New York City. As the action spirals out of control, a conspiracy tied to his origins threatens the future of mankind itself. Mercer's amazing shapeshifting powers allow him to become an exact replica and steal the skills or powers of anyone who crosses his path."

Radical Entertainment's library includes the likes of Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Crash Tag Team Racing and more recently Scarface: The World is Yours. It will be interesting to see what they do with some new I.P.

More PlayStation 2: Games | News | Reviews | Downloads

More PlayStation 3: Games | News | Downloads

More PlayStation Portable: Games | News | Reviews | Downloads

On yer (Nitro)bike

After the uber-successful outing that was Excite Truck for Wii, Ubisoft has snapped up ex-Ninty second-party, Left Field Productions (who brought us Excitebike 64), to offer up the exclusive Wii Motocross outing Nitrobike. The PR details that "Players can choose to race against the clock or against worthy opponents in Nitrobike's exciting multiplayer game mode and unique online mode."

Another fast-paced Wii-specific racing game controlled in much the same way we played Excite Truck would only be a welcome addition to the Wii's slow-growing library of titles heading toward the 07/08 holiday season.

Leader, not bored

Way back when horses were public transport, Leaderboard, by the then-famous Carver brothers was THE golf game of choice. That's ancient history, however. Now Leaderboard Golf is back, and it's bad.

Not bad in a "terrible" sense, but bad in a Michael Jackson when he was moderately cool way. Be sure to check it out on PC - worth digging our your virtual golf cart for!