Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a branch of the British Intelligence services, will be placing ads in video games during a one-month campaign set to begin before November. Advertisements aiming to attract new GCHQ recruits will appear in various PC and console games, including titles from the Tom Clancy franchises, Need for Speed Carbon (DS, Wii, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, PC), and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PS3, Xbox 360, PC).

GCHQ's advertising strategy was spurred on by recent research that indicated gamers' openness to the idea of in-game advertising. The catch, however, is that the copy must be authentic to the game's environment and must not be intrusive. The advertising move is supposed to give the Government Communications Headquarters added visibility to an audience that's being served less and less by traditional advertising methods.

A caveat for all you James Bond fans and secret agents-in-training: as of the time of this article's writing, no specific details had been released yet as what specific types of jobs GCHQ is offering. The ads simply point to the GCHQ website, so don't load that Walther handgun just yet.

They may be a magnet for bad publicity, but it certainly can't be denied that their franchises sell well. Two of Electronic Arts' games have reached rather high sales, making EA games a high seller on two continents.

In the United States, EA Sports' Madden NFL '07 has sold over 5 million copies across the different consoles. As a result of these figures, a press release EA sent out, they proclaimed Madden to be "North America's most popular game of 2006".

Over in the United Kingdom, it's their underground racing game that's taking up the Electronic Arts banner. Gamasutra reports Need for Speed: Carbon as the new leader of the pack by pushing another EA title, FIFA '07, out of the top spot and into second place.

With best-selling games in two countries, as well as additional games in their lineup in the top ten lists, EA should be quite pleased with their results this year. This is one of EA's best years in the business, making them a company to watch out for yet again in 2007.

Admit it, you have the feeling that business analysts make their numbers up. But nobody doubts an Irish bookie, so we'll look at Paddy Power's numbers instead. Yup, bookmaker Paddy Power (PaddyPower.com) has predictions for which games will sell well this Christmas:

• Need for Speed: Carbon 8 - 13
• FIFA 07 4 - 1
• Gears of War 10 - 1
• Eragon 10 - 1
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 10 - 1
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 11 - 1
• Tony Hawk Project 8 14 - 1
• Superman Returns 16 - 1
• WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 16 - 1
• Call of Duty 3 20 - 1
• Pro Evolution Soccer 6 20 - 1
• The Sims 2: Pets 20 - 1
• Happy Feet 22 - 1
• Guitar Hero 2 25 - 1
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories 33 - 1
• Bratz: Forever Diamonds 80 - 1
• Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Party Edition 250 - 1

It's another NFS year. Need for Speed: Carbon is the favourite with odds of 8/13. NFS: Most Wanted took the number one spot last year, while NFS: Underground 2 was the favorite the year before that. Then again, cross-platform games would tend to sell more titles than the single-platform games. (Does that explain why Eragon is up there - we don't know; only a few of us bought the book, and quite a number of us did not buy the game.)

Twilight Princess is up there duking it out with the Xbox 360's Gears of War. Oh. That's a tough one to call right now. If you're a gambling man, you might wanna make a bet, but we won't just yet.

So EA has just put up new in-game content on Xbox Live Marketplace. There are now three new cars just waiting for you to take the wheel and take 'em out for a spin in Need for Speed: Carbon (Xbox360, PS3, Wii, DS, PC). Here are the new in-game content for NFS Carbon now up on XBLM:

• 1970 Plymouth Hem Cuda
• 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
• 1967 Shelby GT500

Now, we know we said 'unlockable' cars in the title, and they ARE unlockable, you can get all of these cars as you progress through the Career Mode in the game. A fact that once again leads to raised eyebrows because some are saying that this is obviously another attempt by EA to milk money from consumers, etc. One user by the name of oqwarrior brings up a good point when he commented, "Why would I pay for something that I can unlock for FREE just by playing the game?"

True. But if you think about it, there ARE some people who would rather get the good stuff now, and they wouldn't mind shelling out 80 MS points for each of these cars, and this is precisely why content such as these are still being put up on Marketplace. If you're getting pissed with news like this, just think of it this way: they're giving consumers a choice. You're not being forced to buy the content anyway, and you could easily opt to get the hot rides the hard-earned way.

So anyway, now that all that drama's out of the way, you guys should know that the three new cars for NFS Carbon are available in all regions except Japan (who won't be getting this content until December 21st) and cost 80 MS points each.

The problem with headlines is that there's so much weirdness you want to talk about, but you have less than ten words to explain the bloody thing. To simplify the headline, we've cut out useless words, putting in only the main ideas for this story, as you can now see above.

The tale of Electronic Arts is currently filled with a lot of weird bulldoody, to use the polite term. They've been offering a lot of microtransactions in their recent video game outings for the Xbox 360, and these have really turned the tide of gamers' opinion against them. From paying to unlock content in Tiger Woods, to football tutorial vids, to having to double-down for special items in The Godfather, and most recently with the Need for Speed: Carbon items, the microtransaction scheme has really hit the heart of gamers hard.

A post on Aeropause mentions that Xbox Community Editor "Trixie" said something on Major Nelson's NFS: Carbon post that summed up gamers' feelings: "Did you see the teenager who confessed to raping his mother? Either he's watched way too many French films, or he works for EA."

Of course, we can't confirm this anymore as the comment has apparently been deleted, but comments on Major Nelson's post haven't really stopped. The Major tells everyone in one of the comments,

It's still unclear to me: *IS* this content available on other platforms within the games? If so, then no..I am not happy about this. I need to do more digging on this, but I have sent off some rather terse emails to some folks to get to the bottom of this. I am also not happy about you guys not being happy.

Even if EA isn't doing as well as it'd like, and even if EA wants to continue making microtransactions, Microsoft has to be the one to approve it for dispersal on Live. We hope these emails are being sent to more than just EA, else Trixie had it right. Gamers are going to be stabbed right where it hurts the most: in their game-loving hearts.

Stephen Colbert's feelings over predicting his own loss at an awards show put it best: it's great that you got it right, but it also sucks that you got it right as well. A few days back, we made an article about the release of the Need for Speed: Carbon Collector's Edition. We raised the point of whether it was worth it because "who's to say they won't just sell the CE game addons through Xbox Live in the future?"

Like it or not, the prediction was accurate, and it's annoying.

Electronic Arts is offering to unlock specific content for Need for Speed: Carbon through Xbox Live at a price. At the same time, they're selling the premium content Collector's Edition holders might have expected to get as an exclusive bonus. That being said, you can purchase the Collector's Edition upgrade for 800 MS points, and below is the list of other things gamers with cash can pay EA to unlock for them. While we can understand offering the unlockables for gamers with less time, the Collector's Edition Upgrade is the thing that really hurts gamers' hearts.

Sigh... from golf, to football, to The Godfather and now Carbon. Next thing you know, they'll ask us to pay to play online with other people. Let's hope that prediction never comes to pass.

• Performance Drivetrain Bundle - 400 points
• Performance Engine Boost Bundle - 400 points
• Performance Handling Bundle - 400 points
• Ultimate Performance Bundle (includes all three performance bundles) - 800 points
• Muscle Car Autosculpt Body Kit - 200 points
• Tuner Car Autosculpt Body Kit - 200 points
• Exotic Car Autosculpt Body Kit - 200 points
• 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 - 80 points
• 2004 Lamborghini Murcielago - 80 points
• 2006 Dodge Viper SRT-10 -- 80 points

Buy: [Need For Speed: Carbon - Windows]
Buy: [Need For Speed: Carbon - Xbox 360]
Buy: [Need For Speed: Carbon - PS3]
Buy: [Need For Speed: Carbon - Wii]

The engines start roaring, and the beads of sweat start forming on your forehead. You grip the wheel more tightly with breathless anticipation - wrong move, buddy. Relax. Take a deep breath. Take in the road. Take in the competition. These are the last ten seconds of the countdown before all of that becomes a blur, and the only thing you have to worry about now are the road ahead of you, the cars around you, and first place.

Tomorrow*, Electronic Arts puts the pedal to the metal with Need for Speed: Carbon rolling into stores for the Xbox 360 and the PC, with the PS3 and Wii versions punching the nitrous on their respective launch days this November. Starting tomorrow, the flag goes down and the rubber heats up. But today? You racers can take that deep breath. Look back to see if you've missed anything in our coverage.

And enjoy this last** pre-release, pure gameplay trailer of Carbon from EA and GameVideos. Before the flag goes down, the tires heat up, and the only thing you have to worry about is first place.

* = as advertised by the trailer. Weird that GameVideos would list its release date as "December 1st."
** = for the PC and Xbox 360, anyway. Any chance for PS3 and Wii-version trailers?

Pre-Order: [NFS: Carbon (Windows XP)]
Pre-Order: [NFS: Carbon (Xbox 360)]
Pre-Order: [NFS: Carbon (PS3)]
Pre-Order: [NFS: Carbon (Wii)]

Sneaky, sneaky. Apparently, there was this June press trip that occurred in Vancouver for Need For Speed Carbon (coming out on PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360) that for some reason, we didn't really know about -- not even our sources. Hmmm...such a shame, 'cause we tripped upon a whole lot of screenshots from that event, and man, did we miss a lot!

But, let bygones be bygones 'cause we now have them in our possession. Although you may say that there's nothing really different from these batch of screenshots from the ones we've already posted, you just have to look at them closely to appreciate the details in the graphics. From the reflection on the car body, to the gears within the rims...that's detail for you, right there. What can I say? The shots are just fantastic. But that could just the pseudo-photographer in me. Check it out for yourself and be the judge of whether or not this is one of the finest collection we've seen.

And to think we almost missed it entirely.

More NFS: Carbon screens after the jump!

Pre-order: [Need for Speed:Carbon for PS3]
Pre-order: [Need for Speed:Carbon for Wii]
Pre-order: [Need for Speed:Carbon for X360]

The end of the month is coming up, and while you guys will be out there running around trick-or-treating, we thought we'd tickle your gaming sweet tooth by giving you a compilation list of the games coming out for the next few days. Once again, save
yourself the trouble of sweating out a long walk to you local retail store, and enjoy our Halloween treat for  'ya.

And while there's a lot of games to look forward to, we'll have to honestly say that our top picks would have to be The Sims 2: Pets (Sickeningly cute animals, go figure), and FEAR (This one just for this holiday's sake).

Nintendo DS

• 10/30/06 Children of Mana
• 10/30/06 Pokemon Ranger
• 10/31/06 Konductra
• 10/31/06 Nacho Libre
• 10/31/06 The Sims 2: Pets
• 10/31/06 Tom and Jerry Tales
• 10/31/06 Scurge: Hive
• 11/01/06 Chicken Little: Ace in Action

See the full list after the jump!

Xboxic.com found out about this tidbit for Need For Speed: Carbon, and we share some of the same sentiments they had in their coverage. Electronic Arts recently announced that they'll be coming out with a Collector's Edition of their game, which adds some new content. The question is, given EA's present record of being a bit too enthusiastic with their moneymaking, is grabbing the Collector's Edition really worth it?

The Collector's Edition comes with four new cars, six new races, 10 pre-tuned cars, and a bonus DVD. All in all, that deal might actually be worth it for the £ 55 (US$ 100) pre-order price in the UK. The problem comes in when you take into account their current penchant for selling extra content on the Xbox Live. They started with the Madden 07 tutorial videos and moved into the realm of having people do a double purchase in The Godfather: one purchase for the right to buy a super weapon, and another to get enough money to actually buy the thing.

Instead of coming out with ALL the content available, which might still need unlocking through devoted play, they're holding back some aspects of the game for a special version. Not only that, but who's to say they won't just sell the CE game addons through Xbox Live in the future? That's right: no guarantees on what we'd assume would be exclusive content for CE owners.  If you feel some righteous indignation, or some outpouring of religious fervor, can we get an "Amen!?"