Six year old Christer from Norway was tired of his name, and since he was a big fan of Sonic, he wanted to be named after his favorite video game character. In fact, he wanted it so bad that he actually wrote to King Harald V asking for permission to have his name legally changed to "Sonic X." The King must've found the story so cute that he replied. Find out what happened after the link.

More Too Human goodness coming your way! Here's the third installment to the video diary series from Silicon Knights. This time around, Denis Dyack talks about the game's roots in Norse mythology, and talks more on the game's features, and RPG elements. Watch the video by following the "read more" link below!

Here's some good news for the Xbox 360 gamers living in the territories of either Europe or Asia. Your Xbox Live service has recently updated with a free demo of Propaganda Games' Turok FPS.

Wondering what areas stand to receive this teaser? Head for the full article to find out!

UK's Argos does it. Norway's Expert also does it. Now Dell's online shop in the US joins in the Halo street date-breaking wagon, sending a happy gamer (appropriately named Mr. Pr0zac) his copy of Halo 3 a day early.

Mr. Pr0zac thanks both Dell and the DHL shipping service for sending him his copy of Halo 3 with more than prompt shipping, shown in this picture included in an article from The Consumerist. How's that for giving the guy a headstart in playing the game ahead of his peers?

It's a good thing that Microsoft won't penalize early Halo 3 gamers after all, what with all these stores breaking street dates and letting happy gamers try out Halo 3 ahead of the pack. However, make sure that the Halo 3 copy that you have right now is the real thing: Microsoft won't hesitate to banhammer all those who use pirated copies of Bungie's masterpiece, all the way to year 9999.

So you're planning a road trip, eh? Finally decided to get out of the house, stretch your legs, and get some well-needed R&R after that ridiculously-long all nighter fragging loud thirteen-year-old kids in the Halo 3 Beta? Spiffing! The sunshine will do you a world of good, not to mention the physical rigors of an excursion will get the juices flowing again in those game-atrophied muscles.

While there are some ideal destinations that let you lounge beside a sparkling pool while being waited on hand and foot by beautiful, scantily-clad specimens of the female persuasion, there ARE a couple of locations you might want to mark off your list, or avoid entirely. This Videogame Enthusiast Survival guide is about those locations, and if on the off-chance you find yourself in them - well, you're pretty much beyond all help.

But don't lose ALL hope, though, as this IS a survival guide, and we have a few tips to share - just in case.

The full Survival Guide after the jump!

 

After the downfall of the print in the North American side, Europe is beginning to feel the detrimental effects of the web-based zine and more frequent media coverage. According to a panel discussion by the region's leading game journalists, the print option just isn't viable anymore.

In Norway, Denmark and the UK, it's all the same. Prints are often outdated by the competition on the Web, and those magazines that still do exist rely heavily on advertising from sponsors such as games studios to keep afloat. Thomas Vigild, the panel moderator, explained:

They're really driven by advertisements, so it seems to me there's a really unhealthy relationship between the PRs and the people who write the magazines... We don't have magazines like in the UK where you can say, 'No way, I won't print your PR [nonsense].' That's much harder to do in Denmark because they still need the income from the advertisers.

Similar to how William "Bing" Gordon of Electronic Arts believes games will eventually be 100% Internet-based, the panel believes that even the media coverage will soon be online only. In fact, most of the panel members agreed that the magazines that do survive will be those that actually adapt.

However, certain magazines will continue to sell, because their previous reputation continues to stand and they continue to do very well in what they do. People still feel compelled to buy and own copies of those magazines, either because the layout or design is great or the content that's offered comes in a more mature and acceptable manner.

Finnish journalist Thomas Puha was one to disagree with the panel's sentiments, saying, "I do agree that print magazines are going down, but I look at it as a challenge." He believes that people will continue to read printed games coverage because of better content. "It's not that difficult to provide great content," he said.

But in order for magazines to survive, some believe that they should be willing to evolve. Susanne Moller, a contributor to one of Sweden's national newspapers, believes that if a magazine has both an online news portal to encourage game discussion and a good magazine print each month, a magazine will have adapted well to the changing times.

Browsing over the realms of the Xbox Live Marketplace, we found out that the Cars demo is now available for download for Xbox Live Gold members.

The Cars Demo is free, so that's good, the thing is, it's not available to folks in Asia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, and Norway. Oh, and before you guys close the browser and go to your Xbox to download the thing, please be aware that Silver users will have to wait until November 23.

So far, the game looks like a fun kids' game parents can get for their 7-9 year olds. There is word though that it isn't "totally" a game for kiddies, as some online reviewers say that the cars handle like bricks on wheels.

We'll be downloading this as soon as the pending downloads we've got on the Xbox 360 we have here finish. We'll inform you guys about how the thing plays when it's done and we've tried zooming over the plains as Lightning McQueen.

A soundtrack containing an eclectic mix of music gathered from around the globe has been a staple of EA's FIFA franchise through the years, and this year is no different. With FIFA 07 set to launch in over 15 languages and 40 countries worldwide, it's only natural that EA would also put together a soundtrack that represents each country and its passion for football.

Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music and Music Marketing, had this to say about the project: “No sport is more celebrated around the world than football, so what better way to live the magic of the real-world game than by listening to the anthems and songs that will be discovered by football fans around the globe as they play through the season.”

And now, without further ado, here's the list of artists and the songs they contributed, along with the country they represent.

Angélique Kidjo - Wele Wele (Benin)
Belasco    - Chloroform (UK)
Bersuit Vergarabat - O Vas a Misa… (Argentina)
Bitman & Roban - Get On The Floor (Chile)
Blasted Mechanism - Blasted Empire (Portugal)
Boy Kill Boy - Civil Sin (UK)
caBas - La Cadena de Oro (Colombia)
Carlos Jean - Get Down (Spain)
d.o.c.h.! - Was in der Zertung Steht (Germany)
Elefant - Uh-oh Hello (USA)
Epik High - Fly (Korea)
Fertig, los! - Sie ist in mich verliebt (Germany)
Infadels - Can’t Get Enough (Mekon Remix) (UK)
Keane - Nothing In My Way (UK)
Malibu Stacy - Los Angeles (Belgium)
Mellowdrone - Oh My (USA)
Mobile - New York Minute (Canada)
Morning Runner - Gone Up In Flames (UK)
Muse - Supermassive Black Hole (UK)
Nightmare Of You - Dear Scene, I Wish I Were Deaf (USA)
Outlandish - Kom Igen (Denmark)
Paul Oakenfold - Beatiful Goal (UK)
Persephone's Bees - Muzika Dlya Fil'ma (USA/Russia)
Plastilina Mosh - Peligroso Pop (Mexico)
Polysics - Tei! Tei! Tei! (Japan)
The Prototypes - Kaleidoscope (UK)
Ralph Myerz and The Jack Herren Band - Deepest Red (Norway)
Seu Jorge - Tive Razão (Brazil)
Shiny Toy Guns - You Are The One (USA)
Stijn - Gasoline & Matches (Belgium)
Suferosa - Royal Uniform (Norway)
Tahiti 80 - Big Day (France)
The Feeling - Sewn (UK)
The Pinker Tones - TMCr Grand Finale (Spain)
The Sheer - Understand (Holland)
The Young Punx - You've Got To… (UK)
Tigarah - Girl Fight (Japan)
Trash Inc. - Punk Rock Chick (Lebanon)
Us3 - Kick This (UK)
Young Love - Discotech (USA)