VideoGamer.com Plays

What we've been playing this week.

Tom Orry, Editor - Gears of War 2, Xbox 360
Sometimes it's great to be a games journalist - well, most times, but more so over the last day or so. Our review copy of Gears of War 2 arrived and I quite rightly took ownership before locking myself in our gaming room for a whole day. My lips (and fingers) are tied until Monday when the review will go live on the site, but I can tell you that Friday was a very good day. What else can I get away with saying? The box looks nice. Probably about a 9/10 on the box art front, although the frame rate isn't great - it's essentially one frame per lifetime. Check back on Monday for our verdict on the game proper, to see if it lives up to the hype.

Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor - Gemma Atkinson, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, PC
No, I didn't 'play' with the lovely Gemma Atkinson, but I did interview her down at Trafalgar Square during EA's launch event for RTS Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, and that's about as close as I'm going to get. It was absolutely freezing, and I sat there with my hands buried deep into my coat pockets, staring into those beautiful blue eyes no doubt sprouting a load of old nonsense. Gemma herself was wonderfully well-kept, with a warm-looking black coat concealing her assets and her hair tied back in a semi-beehive. Before I could fire off my first question, Gemma asked me if my digital tape recorder was going to pick up her voice, given that I wasn't shoving it down her throat. I started waffling something about time travelling, much like the Soviet's do in the game, to get one from the future so powerful it would pick up her down-to-earth Northern tones from a mile away. She didn't seem impressed by my woeful attempt at charm. I wasn't either.

Neon Kelly, Previews Editor - Fallout 3, Xbox 360
Despite the fact that the review for Fallout 3 has been and gone, the game itself is still the only thing that's been seeing the inside of my 360's disc drive (well, that and the second season of The Wire). I spent an awful lot of time in the Capital Wasteland over the past couple of weeks, but I keep coming back because there's so much to see and do. A few nights ago I was rooting around in one of the game's many military bases when I discovered a scrap of paper with the title 'ICBM Launch Codes'. Minutes later I discovered a computer that allowed me to fire a nuclear missile into the great blue yonder. I have no idea where the thing actually landed - or what the in-game repercussions will be - but I'd imagine that my uranium warhead probably ruined somebody's day. Curiously there was no karma penalty for doing this, either... Out of sight, out of mind?