Bungie has released a new map pack for the Xbox 360 game Halo 3 title the Legendary Map Pack. The pack is the second of the released sets to be made available exclusively online, clearly showing the company’s belief in the potential of online distribution.

There are 3 new maps:

• Blackout - A small multi-layered map which is actually a recreation of the Lockout map from Halo 2.
• Avalanche - An icy remodel of the Sidewinder map from the original Halo game which offers a larger playable area than any map on Halo 3.
• Ghost Town - An aptly named map which is completely new featuring a derelict old facility which is eerily quiet.

Some news has emerged about the online multiplayer options in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto game. In a recent invitational hands on-session Rockstar introduced us to three multiplayer modes: Deathmatch, GTA Race and Cops N’ Crooks.

While Deathmatch is your fairly traditional multiplayer game, and GTA Race is a racing game with the added perks of rocket launchers and road blocks, Cops N’ Crooks is a little different than your conventional multiplayer mode. In essence it’s played much like a VIP style game. The crooks must evade the cops, and cops must bust the gang leader with his being the only location marked on the cops radar.

It promises to be a truly vast game and with still the potential for an online MMO we haven’t heard the last of the announcements yet.

The much anticipated new Sid Meier game, Civilization Revolution has been set for an Australia wide release on 6th June 2008. It’s been a bit of a rocky road for fans of the game, with plenty of development pauses and glitches along the way but finally the official release date brings reassurance that the game is coming. This announcement finally brings some good news for Xbox 360 owners.

The outlook is not so bright for Wii owners. The development of the Wii version has been postponed indefinitely in order to fully focus on the other platforms.

Rockstar Games, the company responsible for some of the modern gaming world’s most infamous games has announced that the 4th in it’s current generation of Grand Theft Auto games is set for worldwide release on April 29th. This reported date is for both the 360 and PS3 versions.

With the number of delays and setbacks that have already occurred, it’s advisable to only pencil it onto the calendar at this point. One thing that is for sure though is that the school playgrounds will again be rife with GTA discussions, despite the ratings warnings.

The multi-platform Turok game has been set for an Australian release date of February 7th. The game which was a hit in the 90’s has been reborn for the current generation of gaming with a new story, stunning new graphics but the same old dinosaurs.

All the news lately seems to have been about Activion’s Call of Duty 4. This time round it’s the Xbox Live usage charts for the week. In a spell of Microsoft game dominance, Halo 2 and 3 and Gears of War have continually occupied the top spot, but no more. Call of Duty 4 comes in at number one this week for largest number of Xbox Live players. I think Activision deserve a pat on the back.

A review of this weeks game sales charts confirms what we already suspected, Call of Duty 4 is right up there at number 2 for sales this week, beaten only by the Sonic Olympics game for the Wii. While the fact that Sonic Olympics is at the top is confusing, more confusing is the New Zealand game charts.

With Call of Duty 4 coming at number and the 9 titles above it (and we can only assume below it too) being all PS2. Perhaps I missed something but when did PS2 steal such a dominant share of the market in a now obviously technologically inept country?

Statistics have confirmed today that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare officially topped the seasonal gaming sale charts  over in the US. The Xbox 360 version sold just under 1.5 million copies in the festive season, just beating the Wii with an equally astounding 1.4 million copies sold.

Elsewhere, both Guitar Hero II and III appeared in the top 10, though Wii titles were largely dominant in the charts.