Dublin teen responsible for Modern Warfare 2 hack; gets support from Microsoft

According to Herald.ie, a 14-year-old from Tallaght, Dublin was responsible for millions of computer users being alerted after the popular online game Modern Warfare 2 was hacked. The Dublin schoolboy caused a worldwide alert when he attempted to hack into Microsoft Xbox Live system. Microsoft feared  that sensitive information about their customers was in danger of being compromised.

Microsoft has come up with a unique way of handling the situation. General manager of Microsoft in Ireland Paul Rellis said that Microsoft "is working with the teenager to develop his talent and help him use his skills for legitimate purposes".

Well it's certainly a different approach to Sony's 'throw 10,000 lawsuits at the wall and see what sticks' methodology.

Dead Island - Gameplay walkthrough.

The walking shit-bags are back in Dead Island, which is looking like a little bit of 'Dead Rising', a bit of 'Left 4 Dead' and a splash of 'Fallout 3' - all of which are cracking good games! If this romp through zombieland is half as good as it looks from the video below (via G4TV) then I recon I might as well lock myself away for at least a week with the game and some supplies - smokes, booze, snacks - you know, the bare essentials! If it really is that good then I might play it till the propper zombie Apocalypse is upon us... Wha?! It could happen!! I'll be well trained for it when it does... er, I mean - IF!

Keep an eye out for Dead Island at E3 and if your itching for a trailer then jump to Techland's site here.

Bioshock Infinite - New Screenshots

As the run up to E3 picks up pace, the good folks at Irrational Games and 2K Games have given us a further sneak-peak into the third installment of the Bioshock series, Bioshock Infinite. Previously known as Project Icarus, the game will take place in the same universe as seen in the first two games, yet this title is neither a direct sequel nor prequel and rather than finding ourselves in Rapture we'll be taking control of a former member of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, who is in search of a young woman name Elizabeth, on the floating city of Columbia.

With some fans being left a little disappointed with Bioshock 2, here's hoping that a trip outside of Rapture will bring a refreshing new outlook to the series.

Modern Warfare 3: New Gameplay Trailer

Here is the first game play trailer for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and as you'll see the previously rumoured release date has been confirmed. The trailer shows a number of different global locations including the US, England, Germany and France.

In short, it looks more attractive than a Sloth in a basque, in fact I'm so overwhelmed I'm going to have to take some painkillers and have a cold shower.

Friday Frugal Findings

It’s the weekend again, and thank Jebus for that. Its been a long week here at Reaper Towers and as we rush about finishing off our chores, mucking out the dragon nests, bathing the Ogres and producing offerings for the Great Old Ones, we all have only one thing on our minds… LA Noire. For those of you who are fiscally challenged or just have little interest in Rockstar’s latest jewel, here are some games to consider getting your thumbs around as you settle in with that saucy wench that is your gaming platform of choice.


Dirt 3; Xbox 360/PS3 at Amazon UK
£37.91/$61.63/43.39 Euro

“Brum brum, screech, smash” That Ladies and Jellyspoons is my total knowledge of cars in a nutshell., however some of you seem to like these new fangled contraptions, even more so when they are hammering around a track at breakneck speeds, so if your one of these types Codemasters have just the thing. The third in the Dirt franchise offers double the amount of tracks that appear in Dirt 2, over fifty Rally Cars and more mud, sweat and gears than you can shake a sparkplug at. Dirt 3 is out on 24th of this month.

Killzone 3; PS3 at Game
£24.99/$40.70/28.63 Euro

A fantastic alternative for disillusioned CoD players, battle your way through everything from alien jungles to artic tundra, get your grubby mits on a varied and diverse range of weapons and beat the living daylights out of the Helghast with a brutal melee system.

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing; Wii at Amazon UK
£12.99/$21.14/14.89 Euro

Race around the track with Sonic and chums in this high speed cartoon romp.

Yakuza 4; PS3 at Amazon UK
£26.75/$43.46/30.63 Euro

How do you like your Japan? Personally I like it with a slab of crime and more than a dash of marshal arts, which means Yakuza 4 is perfect. An open world title, that’s a cross between GTA and Street Fighter, with enough RPG elements to keep you interested as you immerse yourself into the Japanese underworld. If this is your first foray into the Yakuza games you don’t have to worry about missing out on any of the plot from the first three releases as you get a recap at the start. As we have come to expect from releases from the Far East, there is quite a bit of dialog and cut scenes, but these only help to pull you deeper into the rich storyline. There are a couple of things that may put you off, the dialogue is in Japanese (so you’ll need your reading glasses for the subtitles) and graphically, with the exception of the cut scenes, it’s a bit weak. Your getting a hell of a lot of bang for your buck here though, with hours, if not days worth of playtime.

Rock Band: The Beatles; Xbox 360 at Play.com
£5.00/$8.15/5.73 Euro

A cracking excuse to get drunk and wear mop top wigs.

"Gears of War 3" Campaign Trailer on 28 May

Press Release:

Assemble your squad and brace yourself for a stunning look at the most anticipated blockbuster of the year, as a new trailer for “Gears of War 3” premieres next Saturday, 28 May during two of the world’s biggest sporting events of the month.

The spectacular conclusion to one of the most celebrated sagas in video games, “Gears of War 3” has already surpassed one million pre-orders worldwide, making it the fastest pre-selling Xbox exclusive in the history of the platform. As further testament to the immense anticipation surrounding the game, more than one million players participated in the “Gears of War 3” multiplayer beta this spring, helping refine and polish the hotly anticipated juggernaut.

Irish & UK fans will be able to watch the trailer when it airs on Sky Sports 1 at 9.45PM on Saturday, 28 May 2011.

Microsoft to Replace 360's Damaged by Firmware Update

Microsoft have confirmed they are to replace, free of charge, all 360's that have been damaged by their latest firmware update. The update is intented to expand the amount of data that can be read and carried on new discs appearing soon, however some console owners have found that they are unable to play games since this latest bit of tinkering, recieving error messages informing them that current discs are unreadable or incompatable.

In a statement to Eurogamer a Microsoft representitive said:

"Following a recent update to our system software, we have become aware of an issue that is preventing a very small number of Xbox 360 owners from playing retail game discs. This issue manifests itself a as a unique 'disc unreadable' or 'disc unsupported' error on the screen. We are also able to detect this issue over Xbox Live and are proactively reaching out to customers that may be impacted to replace their console."

If you do find your console has been affected you can also contact Microsoft here.