What you missed over the holidays

January 2, 2008

So here we all are, back at work with bright eyes and bushy tails. Or, if you're like us, hungover, bloated and sporting dark black circles around your eyes like you're Panda-chan from Tekken. But what did you miss while you were kicking back with your favourite tipple and brand new shiny gaming-shaped pressies? Answer - this little lot. Here's all the news/rumours worth reading so you don't have to trawl the entire internet to get up to speed.

Rumour: Metal Gear Solid 4 WILL be available on Xbox 360
Apparently 'leaked' by a Konami distribution rep, this is potentially massive news. Sure, it's an old rumour, but this new source sounds promising indeed. Apparently, the plan is that PS3 gets 12 months or so with 'exclusive' MGS4 and then 360 gets its own version. It's the story that refuses to go away, but judging from thisoriginal story, it looks pretty plausible to us.

Criterion defends the Burnout Paradise demo
It seems odd to us that a developer shouldspeak out publiclyto defend ademo (which is never ever labelled as indicative of the quality of the finished product), but that's exactly what Criterion has done with Burnout Paradise, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth on internet forums. It's true what they say - you can't please all of the people all of the time...

Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime talks about downloadable DS games
Not only can Wii send DS demos to the handheld, but apparently full games too. Check outthis New York Times article, or read its first interpretationhere.

PS3 Orange Box looks set to receive a patch
So the PS3 version is the weakest of all the Orange Box releases. Never mind - it can be rebuilt. They have the technology. Or, in other words, apatch looks very likelyindeed. Hooray!

Bill Gates has something up his sleeve (and it's not a big wad of cash)
The Microsoft man is getting ready for his swansong keynote speech at the CES in Vegas and apparently has a big Xbox 360 announcement to make. Of course at the moment it's speculation as to what the announcement will be, but hitthis linkfor the original story - the interesting bit's near the bottom.

Above: We loved the Burnout demo and smashed all the billboards, found all the drive-throughs and won all the events. Not to mentionattempted to park perfectly. What more could you want for free?

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.