Is a Crackdown 2 possibly still in the works? We're hoping the answer to this would be a resounding yes. Okay, while we don't exactly have that, we guess Realtime Worlds studio head Colin MacDonald's statements that they are in "ongoing" discussions with Microsoft would have to do for now.

Xbox 360 games will now feature adverts on drink driving, as part of the Scottish government's campaign. Gamers will be exposed to these messages in a subtle and non-obtrusive manner while they are playing online. A few of the titles in the campaign are Need for Speed: Carbon, Project Gotham Racing 4 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2008.

More information about this campaign after the jump.

After cheating death countless of times as rally racing's most exciting driver, we regret to report that Colin McRae, 39, was killed in a helicopter crash with his five year old son and two others.

Some gamers not familiar to the sport McRae dominated in know his name from Codemaster's racing series, the latest entry of which is Colin McRae: DiRT (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) which recently arrived on the PlayStation 3.

According to Scotland's Strathclyde police, four people were onboard the helicopter supposedly piloted by McRae himself. The crash happened near the former rally racer's home in Jerviswood, Lanarkshire. The bodies were difficult to identify due to heavy burns, but authorities were quite certain that McRae was onboard.

As of now, it is difficult to confirm what went wrong. The weather was fairly good during the day of the incident, and rally journalist Jeremy Hart stated that McRae was a "very good, very measured pilot." Hart also mentioned that his friend knew the terrain and conditions at Jerviswood very well.

Check out Times Online via Read link below for the full report. Credit goes to Jason Smith for the tip.

An employee of GAME, one of the UK's largest game retailers, claimed that as much as 20,000 Xbox 360 Premiums meant for America has been shipped to the UK. According to his post in the Neowin forums, a customer who bought an Xbox 360 returned the console because the American cord was incompatible with the UK plugs.

The employee is from Scotland and is only known from his avatar named King Antonius. Antonius phoned other branches and eventually the head office and was informed about the mistaken shipment. It's not exactly a reliable source so we'll have to wait until Microsoft can comment, deny or confirm the mistake. But true or not, it won't hurt to ask to see the cord before readers from the UK decide to hand over the cash.

A couple of days ago, we got a preview of Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, 360) from The Official PlayStation Magazine (OPM). Today, we get the details from its Microsoft counterpart in publication, The Official Xbox Magazine (OXM). The gta4.net website was able to scrape out the new info from the publication and drafted the list of details that you guys might be dying to know.

We've paraphrased the whole list below:

• GTA IV is now 66% complete.
• Crosshairs pop up when Niko pulls out a gun. This could imply manual aiming in the game.
• When using your mobile phone, the camera will show a zoom-in panel of the mobile phone's interface at the bottom-right corner of your screen - allows you to view your address book for "jobs" and view other contacts.
• Exterior fire escape staircases are accessible; some meetings will happen high up in skyscrapers too - which could lead to you throwing people off the building from that height. Rawr.
• Hand to hand combat will feel "much more natural" and is currently being reworked.
• Camera angles can be changed even while in a car, but this feature is still being experimented on. Rockstar promises to make it more practical and functional though.
• Getting to control boats has been confirmed, steering them is "really nice." Huh?
• Central Park has also been confirmed to be in the game. The fictional name though hasn't been revealed yet.
• Dan Houser confirms that Liberty City in GTA IV is the biggest GTA city they've done so far. He says that details are a big thing.
• Houser also says that they're evolving how the radio works into the game, as well as how police behavior reacts to the things you do.
• The Rockstar developer studio in Scotland has been asking the NYC studio about more specific information on buildings and traffic flow in the Big Apple.
• There's an "Eastern European-sounding" dance station in one of the radio stations.
• Rockstar's "69" humor is back. There's a sign for a "69th Street Diner" and a building called "Twitchins" - that's GTA's version of Brooklyn's Domino's Sugar Factory. Easter eggs!
• "Fun ridiculous" weapons are also in the game because they don't really want to be too "naturalistic".

When you really think about it, David Jones has had it already made. During the early 90s, his creation Lemmings etched his name on the gaming's history books. Back in 1997, the much loved Grand Theft Auto series cemented his rep for being an expert on his craft. Ever since that time, Jones could go to The Bahamas and drink Piña Coladas anytime he wants. Again, the guy has had it already made.

But no. He didn't do that. In fact, for three years now, Jones and his Scotland-based company, RealTime Worlds, has been working on X360 titles Crackdown and All Points Bulletin. Between the two, the former has been gaining recognition even this early because of its similarities with GTA. When asked about their differences, Jones explained,

In terms of online, it's one of the first of these sandbox games with co-op. So that's quite difficult to do, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time on the technology for that. As the franchise progresses, you might see something else continue in that space.

On a more personal note, we've always fancied having real gamers as mafiosi, rather than just plain and boring AIs. Furthermore, Jones revealed his fascination of Microsoft's online service as well as its impact to their products. According to him,

I think Xbox Live is absolutely brilliant. One of the reasons we got the investment is so that we could try some new things in the Live space using the Marketplace, downloadable stuff. It’s just great for all the stuff you can do. There's just potential for other things as well.

With that said, it was unavoidable for the discussion to move towards other platforms. David Jones, in behalf of his company, admitted their obvious dedication to Microsoft's next-gen console. He explained that aside from that, he has only seen the Wii and the PS3 during shows.

Currently, RealTime Worlds is focusing on being independent and working on new IP. Jones divulged that they recently invested US$ 31 million for that. And finally, as to how Crackdown is going, Jones announced happily,

Basically, we're in the final, final stages of just bug-fixing now. We hope to have that all wrapped up over the holidays, and then launch in spring. It's not far away at all, as far as we're concerned.

Straight from the Microsoft Game Studios and Scotland's Real Time Worlds comes the latest batch for one of the anticipated action game for the Xbox 360 - Crackdown.

Designed by no other than Dave Jones, Crackdown will have players become the enforcers of the law in Pacific City, a crime world in its own right. In this game, players are also encouraged to explore the city in its entirety, not to start smashing things up but rather to acquaint themselves with what may come in handy in a fight later on. Here, the whole environment can be your weapon.

In an effort to clean up the streets, players can set up an environment for a later encounter or even leave a stash of explosives somewhere so that it can be used later, if necessary. One doesn't have to work alone though, as co-op mode will be made available if you feel that you'd be needing a small team to storm a hideout.

Set to be released in the first quarter of 2007, this is one game that many are already looking forward to.

More screenshots after the jump!

What is the big similarity between Tiger Woods in a tournament and gamers playing Scotland">golf titles from Electronic Arts? It's simple, they all both win too easily. That notion is about to change for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (X360, PS3). Anyone heard of Bandon Dunes before?

Bandon Dunes has the reputation of being the most challenging course in Oregon. It is actually inspired by the link-style courses of Scotland. Aside from the multi-tiered greens, it also features miles of rolling terrains. This is not to mention its grand and splendid Pacific Vistas.

In the game, you might want to give your drive on the black tees a second thought. Why? Because the old saying still holds true - the dunes are capricious. We really want to give you an idea about this Bandon Dunes thing, so we attached several screens and three downloadable videos (for X360).

The real Bandon Dunes is located by the shorelines of the southern coast of Oregon. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is expected for release this fall.

  

Download: [Tiger Woods PGA 07 Xbox 360 Videos]