Brace yourselves as Activision today announced plans to release two new map packs for their war time epic, Call of Duty 3...
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The debate over which is the more powerful next-gen games console has been raging for over a year, but in the last few weeks we've finally been able to pore over some first-hand evidence. The Call of Duty 3 conversions to Xbox 360 and PS3 are more closely comparable, perhaps, than many fanboys on either side would have predicted. More interesting is the unspoken rivalry between Gears of War and Resistance: Fall of Man - two showboating titles with similar themes and environments.

One thing has become clear. Totting up specs isn't going to help us choose a winner. On paper, PS3 has more raw processing grunt than Xbox 360, but at the moment - with second generation titles under their belts - developers seem to be extracting more performance out of Xbox 360. That's natural considering their greater experience with the platform. The question is, how much further can Xbox go?

Frankly, the only views that matter in this debate are those of programmers who have experience with next-gen hardware. So this week Guardian.co.uk spoke to Richard Hackett a head of technology at Blitz Games about his experiences with both machines. He feels that CELL has an ace up its sleeve and it's not something you might have predicted...

"As a result of the kind of processing power we have available we're going to see a lot more procedurally generated effects and dynamic visuals than we've seen before. This means not all game visuals will be created by an artist in the traditional way, an increasing amount will be created in real-time from algorithms and parameters.To make sure the artists stay in control and we don't resort to graphics created only by programmers (which is often a bad thing), we're working on systems for artists to create and edit these systems themselves without needing a degree in Software Engineering."

"Certain procedural effects are easier to create on the PS3 because of the power of the SPEs. Effects like water ...
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In their latest edition, the Official Xbox Magazine has again rated all new Xbox 360 game that have been released last month. Sonic the Hedgehoc is the only game that scores below average, the other rates are pretty good.

The full list:

Lost Planet (Xbox 360, Capcom): 8,0
Star Trek Legacy (Xbox 360, Bethesda): 8,0
Sonic The Hedgehog (Xbox 360, Sega): 4,5
DOA Xtreme 2 (Xbox 360, Tecmo): 6,5
Viva Pinata (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 8,5
Phantasy Star Universe (Xbox 360, Sega): 6,5
Call of Duty 3 (Xbox 360/Xbox, Activision): 8,0
Superman Returns (Xbox 360, EA): 6,5
Tony Hawks Project 8 (Xbox 360, Activision): 7,5
College Hoops 2K7 (Xbox 360, 2K Sports): 9,0
Roboblitz (Xbox 360 XLA, Microsoft): 8,5
Small Arms (Xbox 360 XLA, Gastronaut Studios): 7,5
Contra (Xbox 360 XLA, Konami): 6,5
Novadrome (Xbox 360 XLA, Stainless Games): 7,0
Defender (Xbox 360 XLA, Midway): 6,5
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As you can see, the Xbox 360 occupies nearly half of the 120 most popular titles and also maintains the #1 game, Call of Duty 3. The fanboy in us must also point out that the PS3 has exactly one title in the 100 most popular games, Resistance: Fall of Man, which sits comfortably at #100.
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Call of Duty 3 already received many positive reactions, although there were some problem with the multiplayer of the game. An employee of Infinity Ward confirmed that the company is currently working on a patch for the problem and the patch is almost finished. They only need to do some testing before it will be released.
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The Xbox 360 Gamefly members are having their way with the charts! Rainbow Six Vegas takes the top spot this week! Looks like people are anticipating the release of Trauma Center on the Nintendo Wii also. Surprisingly, Call of Duty 3 takes the top spot on the PS3 chart. I guess some people have actually bought the PS3 to play games instead of succumbing to the almighty dollar...
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There have been no new entries in the UK top ten this week, but considerable movement, as soccer simulation FIFA 07 moves up three places to reclaim the number one spot. The PlayStation 2 version is now outselling Pro Evolution Soccer 6 on PlayStation 2 by a factor of 3:2, while the Xbox 360 version of Konami's title is outselling its FIFA 07 equivalent by the same ratio.

Xbox 360 exclusive Gears of War was the most obvious victim in the shuffle of positions, with sales down by 45 percent on its debut week ¿ although it remains the only single format exclusive in the top ten.

Meanwhile, the newly released PlayStation 2 version of Call of Duty 3 kept the game afloat in the top ten for Activision, while the new Xbox 360 version of movie tie-in Cars did the same for THQ. Girl's toy license Bratz: Forever Diamondz proved to have the best week in the top ten though, with sales up by 45 percent ¿ led by the Nintendo DS version which accounted for 80 percent of all sales for the title.

Outside of the top ten, Nintendogs: Labrador & Friends re-entered as high as number thirteen, making for five Nintendo published titles in the top twenty. The highest new entry though was PlayStation 2 exclusive Guitar Hero II at number sixteen, which sold almost three times more than during its predecessor's debut. Home console movie tie-in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow re-entered at number twenty-three, boosted by sales of the DVD release of the movie.

There was no place however for other Christmas titles such as Warhammer: Mark of Chaos from Namco Bandai/Deep Silver, Cricket 07 from Electronic Arts, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Party Edition from Eidos, Sonic the Hedgehog from Sega or movie tie-in Happy Feet from Midway. Many of these titles stand a good chance of charting in the top forty next week, although others will no doubt be lost in the traditional Christmas rush of new titles.
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Here is the very first Console Monster Podcast hosted by James Woodcock. Featured in our first edition is an introduction with Anthony Barker who informs us about the features of 360Monster and what we can expect in the future with the new network sites PS3Monster and WiiMonster. The rest of the podcast focuses on a conversational style debate with James Woodcock, Anthony Barker and Barrie Rogers who is the 360monster.com lead editor. This podcast features:

- Gears of War first impressions
- Viva Pinata expectations
- Gears of War 8 players online enough?
- Call of Duty 3 first impressions
- Halo 2 removed from most played top spot by Gears of War
- Rainbow Six Vegas single player and multiplayer demo impressions
- Xbox 360 advertisement blitz in the United Kingdom
- Halo 3 public multiplayer beta and new Halo 2 maps
- New Xbox Live Arcade titles
- Retro gaming headache?
- Sony PlayStation 3 launch impressions and press
- Nintendo Wii launch impressions and press
- Red Steel mediocre review score on Gamespot

Length: 51 Mins
File size: 18 MB
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Xbox Live veterans know that even the greatest of games can be an online failure if the servers are inadequate - the original Live iteration of Call of Duty 2 on Xbox Live was a nightmare until a patch was released that made it one of the 'must play' games on the service.

Gears of War is already one of the biggest and most successful games of the year, but how does it fare on Xbox Live? What about Call of Duty 3 too?
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Gamebattles.com, one of the world's largest online gaming sites today announced the latest arenas that will be hitting its fast growing Xbox 360 Collection of Ladders in addition to its already existing Xbox 360 arenas spanning 6 games and home to 11 different ladders.

The announcement signals the release of both Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 and Call of Duty 3 ladders at the weekend with 'kick off' tournaments in each of them letting clans battle it out to be crowned champion of Europe.
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