Ear Force Charlie Z6A Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Headset for Xbox 360 Accessories

Ear Force Charlie Z6A Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Headset for Xbox 360 Product Details

Released on 04-Nov-2011

• Call of Duty XP Weekend

  

  Call of Duty XP Event

  In LA history is about to made as Activision hosts the first, in what should be a long running event; The Call of Duty XP Event!

  Call of Duty has become such a worldwide phenomenon that it can now attract people from around the world to a single location. The Location in question houses two enormous aircraft hangers and a huge exterior full of CoD related activities.

  The aircraft hangers house a stage with space for thousands to watch Activision deliver their welcoming speech and then be used by Infinity Ward and Treyarch to deliver speeches and interact with their fans.

  But it's the other hanger that is garnering the attention, the hanger that has thousands of Xbox 360 consoles, some are running Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, some Call of Duty Black Ops and some are running one of the contenders for Game of the Year before it's even launched... Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3.

  XP Weekend marks the official unveiling of the Modern Warfare 3 Multiplayer, which will also be the host for a One Million Dollar tournament! The teams for this have come from all over the world, some professional, some just friends, but however they got here, these guys can play!

  It's a knock out tournament, with the final eight teams being the ones who will walk away with prize money, with in the tournament there are three teams from the UK, Infinity, Apex and Infused.

  Not only did we have all those Xbox 360 to play on, Activision had gone to town on some other amusements for us too:

  The Pit
  Modern Warfare 2 training level is brought to life as gamers get to test their speed and accuracy as there shoot targets whilst trying to get the fastest time. I will add here that it was paintball guns used and not Live ammo.

  
  

  Paintball on Scrapyard
  You may know the map with a controller in hand but when you stepped into the real Scrapyard it really was a nerve wracking experience! Scrapyard is a fan favourite and playing Domination Paintball was an amazing experience.

  
  

  Zip Line
  If you had a head for heights then you could go down the zipline. Some looked right at home hurtling toward the ground, but others looked truly terrified!

  
  
  

  Juggernaut Sumo
  It's exactly as it sounds! Put on the massive padded suits and Sumo fight, this was the area that possibly got the biggest laughs as friends went to-to-toe and settle the biggest question, who is the better Juggernaut Sumo Wrestler.

  
  

  Armoury
  Check out the real life weapons of Call of Duty! Thankfully there were sealed behind glass and wire, so no worries about people trying to take one as an extra souvenir of the weekend.

  
  

  Survival
  Survival is the new addition to Spec Ops mode, like it's Treyarch brother Zombies, you'll face wave after wave of enemies that will get harder with each round. Only difference is they can fire back and there is only two of you!

  
  

  King of the Hill
  Think your man enough to become king of the Hill, then grab your controller and go against all others as you try to prove you are the King.

  
  

  Zombies
  Using the recently released Rezurrection pack, players could team up see how far they could go against the zombie hordes on the Moon using new weapons.

  
  

  Extraction
  Just a routine trip in the latest JEEP, until you come across a burnt out car and go speeding around an assault course with explosions and gun fire sounding off in your ears! And that's before you get dragged out the car and get taken around a dark building with some marines as the enemy shoots at you!

  Burger Town
  Hungry? Then head over to Burger town and grab yourself a bite to eat, you could even be served by the Burgerman himself!

  Joe's VS Pro's
  Real American heroes take on some of CoD's finest in this virtual battle for supremacy. Would the tactical veterans be able to take on the fast fingers/p>

  So to say there was a fair bit to do would be an understatement.

  But before anyone could get a controller or Paintball gun in hand, we sat and waited for Activision to deliver their Speech. The Speech itself was all about thanking the fans for their support and loyalty over the years that the Call of Duty series had been running. Eric Hirshberg delivered some random, but interesting facts such as there have been more shots fired in Call of Duty than there are stars in the Milky Way...that's a lot!

  He went on to talk about the Call of Duty Endowment which is a non-profit foundation created by Activision Blizzard to help U.S. military veterans find employment. Call of Duty Endowment has already helped many U.S Veterans around the world, but at the XP weekend, Eric Hirshberg declared that all ticket money would be going to the CoD Endowment.

  Next Eric spoke about a little group who had created a live action CoD, and when Activision called them to say congratulations, they thought the Lawyers would knocking next. What Activision really wanted to do was fund them for a sequel, "Operation Kingfisher".

  The short film featured some well known characters and had a high production values as proven with the AC-130 bombarding people from the sky!

  Next out on stage was Robert Bowling and Michael Condrey. Both were excited and eager to start laying everything out for the fans, which they did. They explained how Modern Warfare 2 had moved away from the gunplay that made Modern Warfare 1 the game that it, and Modern Warfare 3 was going to change all that!
  Modern Warfare 3 would focus more on the gunplay and to make life easier for new comers Kill Streaks would be changed into Strike Packages. This meant, depending on the Strike Package you choose to go with you you could die and your package would not get reset.

  Elite was also elaborated on during the duos time on stage an d they explained how you can join groups with in Elite, so favorite sports teams, schools etc... to find players who share common interests. Also talked about was the Elite App, which would allow you to access your elite details on the go and even alter your load-out read for when you get home.

  All in all, the speeches were exciting, with the speakers just as pumped as the crowd. But after what felt like 5 minutes we were invited to proceed through to the other hangar where we could then head outside for Paintball or go hands on with the game that all these people were here to see... Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3!
  

  Published: 29/09/2011

• Running the Scrapyard

  

  I love the smell of Paintball in the morning

  If your dream as a Call of Duty fan is to run around one of your favorite maps, Call of Duty XP weekend gave you that chance exactly. At the event in LA over the 1st, 2nd and 3rd September Activision had recreated the Scrapyard for fans go wild on in a game of Domination.

  The rules were simple, in the 7 minute match, you had 5 minutes of infinite respawns, after that it was one shot and you're out. Within those precious minutes, it is your team task to raise all three flags that are set up on the level.

  The level was very accurate and a decent size for 32 players, 16 players on each team, to run about on whilst shooting each. Each team was in a different jumpsuit and body armour, including full face mask.

  Now LA was hot enough but when you then put a jump suit, body armour and helmet over what you're already, you really start to feel the heat! Before the actual match began we were given some safety information and tried to, quietly, strategies with our fellow soldiers...

  When the instructors had finished talking we were taken to our "spawn points", despite this being paintball, you couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous. With a few last minute tactics shared, we turned the safety switches on the guns off and got ready for the match to begin.

  With the whistle blowing the team ran from the spawn point into a hail of Paintballs, which we quickly returned. Within seconds both teams had raised hands to signify a loss, but as it was infinite respawns, shot team mates would raise their hands and run back to spawn points, so they could be cleaned up and then sent out into battle.

  

  First in line for Scrapyard COD XP

  

  
  

  The fighting was fast and furious with friends and "enemies" ducking, covering and just generally getting into it. As the game mode was domination, some team members focused on the flags whilst others just focused on the ills no change from a real COD match then! Problem is, like a real CoD match, neither worked together!

  Those wanting to raise the flag ran ahead expecting the others to follow; those who wanted to get the illsjust ran off. There were some good attempts from both teams but it remained a draw until the middle flag got raised by the opposition. And then the whistle went which signified one shot and youe out.

  Within seconds, both our team and theirs had been reduced to two men! With them winning and my team mate eyeing the middle flag, I decided to make a dash for their own flag. Within seconds I had run across the pitch, grabbed the rope and raised tour flag bringing the match to 2-1 in our favour!

  Behind me though I noticed my team mate was walking off the pitch with his arm raised, so it was just me and against them. Unfortunately as their flag was now mine, they knew exactly where I was. I turned a corner saw the first one opened fire, caught him in the chest and the arm. As I started feeling jubilant I felt a sharp pain in my left calf muscle and my left ribs, and knew exactly what it was had been shot in the leg and the ribs.

  The whistles blew and the match was over! We had lost. Whilst I had been raising their flag, they had lowered ours and the central flag! I felt angry at the loss but as my team pointed out, I was the last man standing, and walked away with the Scrapyard badge and 3 Prestige badges.
  

  Published: 06/10/2011

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Hands-on

  Call of Duty Hands on

  Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 sees the return of Infinity Wards award winning Modern Warfare multiplayer. But this year things have changed as Infinity Ward and SledgeHammer game mix it up and make the game more about gunplay like CoD 4 was and less about the Kill Streaks.

  For the objective based players and those still learning the ropes, this will be a very welcome addition. Also the way the killstreaks are selected between the three packages gives the Modern Warfare 3 a more tactical edge too.

  New to Modern Warfare 3 are the Strike Packages, split into three groups Assault, Support and Specialist. Assault Packages are all about going for the Kills so Air Strikes, Support allows you to support your team, so UAV's, Specialist is a mixed bag and more suited to the old school CoD players. But the big addition here is that if you die using Support or Assault, your Kill Streaks are not reset, only the Specialist must start over earning his kills again.

  Modern Warfare 3 is reaching out to the players who enjoy CoD but could never really advance at it due to the players who have been playing non-stop, guys like me!

  The Kill Streaks aren't the only thing getting a nip-and-tuck, Perks have also come under the microscope. You can still select three player Perks to increase your character in game, but you'll need to look at them all carefully to make sure the ones you want are still there. Fans of Marathon, like me, will notice it has been replaced by Extreme Conditioning, so there is no more unlimited sprinting, just prolonged.

  Also some perks have been reclassified by Infinity Ward from Perk to Weapon Proficiencies, Commando being one of them. I also couldn't see Stopping Power, so I couldn't tell if this had been rolled into something else or just completely removed.

  

  First in line for Modern Warfare 3

  

  
  

  Weapon Proficiencies, as mentioned above, is all about leveling your gun up and earning "perks" especially for your gun. Some of these sounded extremely interesting such as Dual Scopes on Assault Rifles and Steady Aim holding your breath with almost any gun were two that caught my immediate attention.

  So with all this attention on the player progression has Infinity Ward actually done anything new to the Multiplayer modes? Yes they have. New to Modern Warfare 3 is "Kill Confirmed" which for the most part starts out like Team Deathmatch , but every time someone is killed they drop their Dog Tags. By grabbing a yellow set of tags, your enemies, you'll nab a point for your team. By grabbing a red set of tags, one of your team mates, you'll deny the opposition the points... sounds simple doesn't it!

  Unfortunately it's not, because even if you take down an enemy, you haven't got the point until you hold those tags. The team I played with decided to set a little trap for the opposition by taking cover and letting one guy walk out alone as bait. The other team came storming in shot our one man, before being shot, stabbed and blown away, which put the score at 8-1 in a matter of seconds. Even when I broke away from the rest of the team and got a kill I was extremely nervous about collecting the tags, as I feared a repeat of our tactics.

  It's clear that Infinity Ward have done a lot to make Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 the most welcoming and entertaining multiplayer experience seen in a CoD game yet. For me it may be just that, Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops are exceptionally good multiplayer games, but when in a room full of Elite CoD-ers or Clans, I never really stand a chance and become canon-fodder. But with MW3's new approach to the un-experienced and intermediate players, CoD just became a very different game.

  Visually, Modern Warfare 3 is still rocking an impressive, if not old engine, which keeps the game ticking at a sexy 60 frames per second. The audio is solid with meaty machine gun fire and explosions that leave a ringing in your ears for quite some time, especially if you have a Dolby surround sound headset plugged in which for me, is the only way I can experience the CoD.

  Also, there is Call of Duty Elite, which allows you to Connect, Compete and Improve! By hooking into Elite, you'll be able to find the players you want to battle it out with, whether that's players of a similar skill or who share an interest is completely down to you. When competing using Elite players will be able to enter Tournaments to try and win virtual and real prizes. But Improve is the feature that excites me, as you can look at the map layouts to find the areas where you have most trouble navigating, find out which weapon you are most accurate with to name two of the stats you can check out.

  Also on the way is the Elite App which will allow you access your Elite profile on the move and change your weapons load out ready for battle when you get off the bus.

  I enjoyed every moment of the Call of Duty Multiplayer, the familiar controls and the new welcoming set-up means that anyone can pick-up-and-play Modern Warfare 3. Yes, the hardcore CoD-players may still have the edge, but Modern Warfare 3 has thrown guys like me, the intermediate player a lifeline through strike packages and Call of Duty Elite, and because of this I will be answering the Call of Duty this November!

  Published: 07/10/2011

• Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 - Review

  World War 3

  Call of Duty has proven itself to be the most popular gaming franchise in the world over the last few years and Modern Warfare 3 sets out to retain that title by delivering a globe-trotting war of epic proportions. Set immediately after the events of its predecessor, the game presents a fiction in which the Russian Federation is in the middle of an invasion of the United States and has expanded its offensive to Europe, including England, France and Germany.

  While trying to stay alive through a breathless but relatively brief single player campaign, a primary goal will be to hunt down Russian Ultranationalist Vladimir Makarov, the series' primary antagonist and engineer of this global conflict. Your journey will switch between different perspectives of the war, as you step into Delta Squad's boots in an attempt to drive the Russians out of New York, take the rocket controls of an AC-130 gunship above Paris and don the night vision goggles of SAS troops storming the London Underground, to name just a few scenarios.

  Physical Impact

  Modern Warfare 3 is constantly mixing things up, whether it's your location or your character and role in proceedings. There's a brilliant Parisian car chase, a tense infiltration mission in lightning-lit Prague, a gunfight inside a crashing airliner, a submarine shootout and a chopper battle around New York skyscrapers. You'll often be thrown to and fro between traditional on foot combat sections and out of body experiences which see you commanding remote turrets, predator drones or RPG-firing unmanned ground vehicles.

  The gunplay is familiar and solid feeling, the audio has been improved since last year, and the heart-pounding action is delivered in a silky-smooth 60 frames per second, making for seamless transitions between regular 'wow ' moments. Some of the environments feature a few blurry textures and jagged edges that betray the game engine's age, particularly when compared side by side with recently released Call of Duty competitor Battlefield 3, but it still offers a fairly stunning spectacle throughout.

  Online Battlefields

  While its single player campaign isn't the longest at about eight hours in length, Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer modes will provide year-round entertainment. Multiple game types, from series regulars like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Domination to new modes such as Kill Confirmed and Team Defender, are playable on 16 maps set across locations inspired by the campaign, from the café-laden streets of Paris to African shanty towns.

  Kill Confirmed sees you earn points by grabbing dog tags left on the ground by downed enemies, or denying the opposition points by rescuing tags from your fallen allies before they're captured, while Team Defender challenges teams to capture and hold a mobile flag, with the group in possession of it awarded double points for enemy kills. Players can even create their own game types by modifying just about every aspect of the existing templates.

  At the heart of the experience is an accessible progression system which grants players access to increasingly devastating abilities and equipment for completing objectives. These include earning consecutive kills, or more team-focused actions like bomb disposal and objective capture. Few games can match the sense of development and reward Call of Duty dishes out on a regular basis.

  Special Ops

  Elsewhere, the game's Special Ops mode is split into two parts, Survival and Challenge. Modern Warfare 3's answer to Gears of War's Horde mode or Call of Duty: Black Ops' Zombies one, Survival tasks you and a friend with defending the map against increasingly tough waves of enemies. Kills are your currency, earning you access to increasingly powerful weaponry and defensive equipment.

  Meanwhile, the best of the 16 Challenge missions demand co-op play. Often designed to fill in gaps from the story and played from the perspective of the campaign's bad guys, they challenge players to complete timed objectives, from hijacking a presidential plane to protecting a helpless bomb-defusing colleague from a vantage point using a sniper rifle.

  Blockbuster gaming

  Accessible, highly polished and perhaps best described as the gaming equivalent of a Michael Bay Hollywood blockbuster, Modern Warfare 3 has 'massive hit' written all of over it. Like its two Call of Duty predecessors, it's set to be the biggest game of the year in terms of sales, player numbers and probably a whole host of other metrics - and not without good reason.

  While it has some cool new features, it does a great job of seamlessly integrating them so as not to upset a winning formula. Modern Warfare 3 doesn't represent a revolution in the first person shooter genre, but it's a great evolution of a tried and tested recipe that tens of millions of gamers know, love, buy and sink endless hours into each year.

  GAME's verdict

  Good:
  + Solid campaign and brilliant multiplayer modes.
  + Few games pull off blockbuster set pieces so well.
  + Enough content to last until next year's Call of Duty.

  Bad:
  - Evolution rather than a revolution.
  - The campaign is relatively short.
  - Four player Spec Ops modes would be welcome.

   

  Review by: Tom 'Super Soldier' Ivan
  Version Tested: X360
  Review Published: 08.11.11

  Published: 08/11/2011

• Battlefield 3 holds steady atop UK charts

  Smash-hit shooter Battlefield 3 has retained its position atop the UK all-formats chart, despite a strong challenge from Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.

  EA and DICE's acclaimed action game managed to continue its blockbusting pace to see off Naughty Dog's latest PlayStation 3 adventure, topping the official GfK-ChartTrack rankings for a second week.

  However, second-placed Uncharted 3 was still able to generate massive numbers of its own, recording the 11th best PlayStation 3 launch ever, while far exceeding the debut of 2009's Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

  Third place went to FIFA 12, while the ever-popular Batman: Arkham City and Just Dance 3 rounded out the top five.

  Sega's latest Sonic the Hedgehog adventure, Sonic Generations, also cracked the top ten, slotting in at tenth place.

  Next week's chart will be rocked by the imminent launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which is likely to break more than a few sales records when it debuts on Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3.

  Published: 08/11/2011

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 storms into stores

  Gamers across the world have finally been given a chance to get stuck into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 after the much-hyped blockbuster launched in stores today (November 8th 2011).

  Activision's latest action epic has finally arrived on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii and Nintendo DS, with midnight launch parties having taken place at 13,000 locations across the world last night.

  Developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games, Modern Warfare 3 is a cutting-edge shooter that catapults players into the middle of a third world war, with a dramatic campaign mode complemented by an improved version of gaming's most popular multiplayer experience.

  The launch is one of the most eagerly anticipated of the year, with global pre-orders shattering records left, right and centre.

  Modern Warfare 3 stands a good chance of matching or exceeding the success of last year's award-winning Call of Duty: Black Ops, the top-selling game in UK history.

  Activision Publishing boss Eric Hirshberg said: "This watershed launch extends the legacy of the franchise like no other previous release."
  

  Published: 08/11/2011

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Review

  Stronger, faster, better

  Where can the biggest game series in history go when it's already at the top? The answer, in true Call of Duty style, is to blow the roof off and keep going up. Yes, Modern Warfare 3 somehow manages to be bigger, bolder and ballsier than all previous outings for the famously over the top franchise. If you've been following the series all along, prepare to experience it at its bloody, brutal best. If you're new to Call of Duty, well, buckle up and hold on tight!

  Campaigning for change

  Nowhere is MW3 more bombastic than in its single player campaign, which brings the Modern Warfare storyline to a decisive - and explosive - end. As is traditional for the series, you hop from continent to continent, character to character, picking apart the threads leading to World War 3.

  This means that one moment you can be part of a Delta Force squad crippling a Russian nuclear submarine off the coast of New York, the next you can be behind enemy lines as rogue elements Soap and Price. You'll join the SAS chasing terrorists across London, defend Paris from invasion and even experience a fraught aerial hostage situation as a Russian secret service agent. At every turn, the game flicks between full-throated shoot outs as you press ever onwards against overwhelming odds, and one-off setpiece stunts that use the first-person perspective to its fullest, putting you right in the thick of the action for some truly jaw-dropping moments.

  For all its blockbuster muscle, the solo mode does feel a little familiar. Veterans of previous CoD campaigns will find little surprising in the construction of the ride, and it still suffers from a few too many frustrating bottlenecks where you're battered from all sides, dying repeatedly until somehow scraping throught to a checkpoint. For all its minor annoyances, it's a ride well worth taking, if only for the sheer 'wow' factor.

  Brothers in arms

  Call of Duty has always been strongest when played with others, and that's definitely the case with Modern Warfare 3. Before you even get to the meaty multiplayer, there's a fantastic array of co-operative games to try.

  Designed for just two players, co-op is split into two distinct halves. On one hand you have the Special Ops missions, small bite-sized narrative diversions from the main plot and new takes on old levels that really put your teamwork to the test. Watching each other's back isn't just advised, it's essential. On the other hand, co-op also offers ranked tiers of Survival missions, pitting the two of you against waves of tougher and tougher enemies, with only a brief downtime in between to fortify your defences and stock up on weapons.

  Both Special Ops and Survival have their own progression trees, plus a variety of guns and tools to unlock. In fact, with over thirty missions between them, co-op has never been more important in a Call of Duty release. You could play for months without ever touching the traditional multiplayer.

  Thrill of the hunt

  Multiplayer is where it's at, though. Call of Duty has built its vast fanbase and passionate community through years of refined competitive play, and the team has pulled out all the stops to ensure that Modern Warfare goes out on a high.

  You'll know the basics, of course. There are a generous sixteen maps (though there's not a vast amount of difference between most of them) and they're all designed for fast, ruthless, close quarters combat. Whether you're playing Team Deathmatch or grabbing and defending command points, there's nothing else that delivers the sheer adrenalin rush of a good COD match. Things feel much more fair now, thanks to redesigned killstreak rewards. You can now edit your own unlock tree, and select the Support class so streaks don't reset after death, ensuring that no two players will get the same perks and bonuses.

  That doesn't mean the game is complacent. There are new game modes to enjoy, such as Team Defender and Kill Confirmed. The latter is particularly enjoyable, forcing you to collect the dog tags from a defeated enemy in order to claim the points. Eliminating those annoying long distance campers at a stroke, it forces players to keep moving, to be more aware of their surroundings and to think beyond the next headshot.

  There are improvements for Private matches as well, as those choosing to play only with friends get an exclusive range of quirky game modes to play with. These modes are all fully customisable, and you can share any fun rulesets with your friends, who can then share them with the community. Expect to see some ingenious new game types spreading virally.

  And that's without mentioning Call of Duty: Elite, the new social feature that allows you to track your stats, improve your game and take part in regular tournaments and competitions. There are additional treats for those who pay upfront for all the upcoming map packs, but the free version is essential in its own right.

  Sign up, soldier

  If you love shooters then you need to play Modern Warfare 3. It really is that simple. There are other approaches to the FPS genre, of course, but as far as modern military games go this is the standard bearer, the pinnacle, the benchmark. The solo mode offers some of the most jaw-dropping moments ever seen in a game. The co-op mode is ridiculously addictive, and as compelling as multiplayer in its own way. And the multiplayer has never been so refined and balanced, providing the best way to play soldiers online, bar none. Biggest game ever? No doubt, and it's well deserved.

   

  

  Mission accomplished:
  + Amazing blockbuster.
  + Fantastic co-op modes.
  + Superbly balanced multiplayer.

  Offside:
  - Frustrating single player checkpoints.
  - Very linear story mode.
  - Not much variety in multiplayer maps.
  

• Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim lead blockbuster week in UK charts

  Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim lead blockbuster week in UK charts

  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have led the UK all-formats chart in a blockbuster week for gaming.

  Topping the rankings was Modern Warfare 3, which achieved the highest-grossing videogame launch in UK history, beating the record set last year by its predecessor Call of Duty: Black Ops.

  More impressively still, it was the biggest launch of any entertainment title ever, outselling the opening weekends of the four most recent Harry Potter movies combined.

  In second place, Skyrim was no slouch either, notching up the fifth best launch numbers of the year and becoming Bethesda Softworks' biggest ever release in the process.

  Rounding out a blockbuster top five this week were Battlefield 3, FIFA 12 and Just Dance 3.

  Next week will see another avalanche of triple-A titles hitting stores, including The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Need for Speed: The Run, Saints Row: The Third and Super Mario 3D Land.
  

  Published: 14/11/2011

• GAME : Essential Xbox 360 games from 2011

  2011 was full of big releases for Xbox 360, including sequels to some of this generation's best franchises, high definition remakes of classic games and innovative motion control offerings. Here, GAME rounds up five of the must-own 360 titles that no Xbox 360 owner should be without.

  Brothers 'til the end

  Sci-fi third person shooter Gears of War 3 is the explosive finale to the current story arc of one of the biggest and best series in Xbox history. With mankind on the verge of annihilation at the hands of nightmarish monsters, players step into the boots of a military force battling to preserve humanity in the face of overwhelming odds. A tale of brotherhood, harsh realities, sacrifice and redemption, it features an engaging story, breathtaking visuals, meaty gunplay and tactical, cover-based action. The epic story campaign supports four-player cooperative play, and is complemented by a host of cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes for veteran players and rookies alike.

  Get in the race

  Offering traditional controller-based racing as well as the freedom and accessibility of Kinect motion controls, Forza Motorsport 4 is one of the most ambitious takes on the genre to date. With top supercars from over 80 manufacturers and a selection of the world's finest real and fictional tracks, the game features silky smooth racing, realistic physics and effects, gorgeous graphics and stereoscopic 3D support. Community features allow players to create auto clubs with like-minded car nuts, customise and trade rides with fellow collectors, and head out on to the track for adrenaline-soaked showdowns against up to 15 other online racers.

  Global warfare

  Accessible, highly polished and perhaps best described as the gaming equivalent of a Michael Bay Hollywood blockbuster, Modern Warfare 3 is the latest entry in the world's biggest first person shooter franchise. Featuring a globe-trotting campaign that sees players attempting to avert World War 3, it offers access to a range of high tech weaponry and military hardware including remote turrets, predator drones and gunships. The same tools of destruction also feature in the series' deepest yet most accessible multiplayer offering yet, which features competitive online battles across a range of fan favourite and innovative new game modes, plus co-operative challenge and survival missions for two players.

  A classic reborn

  Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a spectacularly remastered version of the game that launched the Xbox brand ten years ago. Offering a diversity of action, a freedom of movement and enemy artificial intelligence that rivals its modern day competitors, the title's stellar gameplay remains unchanged from the original, but the alien blasting action is supercharged with a lovely high definition makeover, stereoscopic 3D support, Kinect voice control and new multiplayer maps and features. Widely regarded as one of the first great first person shooters on consoles, Combat Evolved lives up to its subtitle even a decade after its initial release.

  Choose your own destiny

  Action RPG Fable III puts the fate of fictional world Albion in your hands as you rally the oppressed, start a revolution and eventually take the throne. The choices and sacrifices you make on the path to greatness create an ever-evolving world of consequences that will be felt across the entire land. Will you play as a hero, villain or someone between, and once you assume power, will you rule with kindness or an iron fist? Playable co-operatively with a friend, the game is brought to life by an all star cast featuring the voice talent of John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Simon Pegg, Ben Kingsley and Zoe Wanamaker.

  Published: 14/12/2011

• Details emerge of cancelled Call of Duty action adventure spin-off

  Way back before Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came along and turned a popular World War 2 shooter into an unstoppable combat behemoth, powered by the screams of a billion bullets, Activision was looking at expanding the series in a very different direction.

  Revealed in an interview with The Verge, Call of Duty: Devil's Brigade was to be a more strategic third-person squad-based action adventure, set in wartime Italy, and based on a real international combat unit made up of Canadian and American soldiers. The game was to be developed by Z-Axis Games, headed up by Jason VandenBerghe, Scott Bandy and Trevor Jalowitz, three EA veterans.

  Nine months into production, however, Activision pulled the plug on the project following the runaway success of Modern Warfare and its corporate merger with Vivendi. A 15 minute gameplay demo was the only lasting evidence that Devil's Brigade existed.

  That's not to say we'll never see a third-person shooter in the Call of Duty series. As recently as 2009 Sledgehammer Games was working on something very similar, before being asked to help out on Modern Warfare 3. "We came on board to make a third person action adventure game, in the Call of Duty franchise, and we were working on it about six months," Sledgehammer boss Glen Schofield said in an interview last year. "They were originally working on an extension of the Call of Duty franchise into an action/adventure genre and that's a game I still want to play," Eric Hirshberg, Activision's publishing chief, was quoted as saying.

  For now, we've still got the amazing Modern Warfare 3 and whatever Call of Duty title is lined up for later this year. Any guesses?

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