Game developer Free Radical Design (FRD), started making a name for themselves when they left videogame company, Rare, Ltd., back in 1999. It has been a wild, yet rewarding ride for them  as they experienced changing publishers twice then got accolades for current-gen titles TimeSplitters and Second Sight. The next-gen console war partially begins with the Wii and PS3 North American launch next week, so it would be interesting to see if FRD could bring their winning ways to next-gen gaming.

Coming from a previous generation of videogames, FRD Director David Doak says they are beginning to get a hang of the next-gen craze. "We're starting to enjoy it now. New products are going to be great and they're going to turn peoples' heads but it's not a revolution, it's an evolution. It's an incremental step," reflects Doak. He was then reminded on how their company first felt about making next-gen titles: "It's like going into a new house and thinking, 'Let's cook dinner. But hang on, we've got no f**king cutlery.'"

Speaking of cooking and cutlery, we all know that any developer ain't complete without a decent, if not an outstanding, publisher. It's a developer's main ingredient for success. Regarding that, Doak is more than happy about their relationship with their current publishers. "Ubisoft has a really great passion for what it's doing, and real passion for the quality and the product as well, which isn't often seen. With LucasArts, it's just been a fantastic opportunity to be working with a company which has such a long heritage."

Currently, FRD is working on the game Haze which is set to come out both for the X360 and the PS3. Doak is still unable to furnish any details regarding the LucasArts partnership. Anyway, the whole discussion then shifted to online content and it seems FRD is a tad suspicious regarding the matter. "It's something that we'd really like to do. It's the kind of thing that would help people's careers in learning to go through a development cycle. On the flip side, I have deep suspicions about the economic side of it." says Doak.

It's gonna be almost a week since GoW landed in the shops, and while things got ugly for one gamer, we're hoping a lot of you guys out there managed to get your hands on this game in one piece, and managed to get home to enjoy it without getting mugged by jealous fans. So, just how many people did enjoy this recent 360 release?

Major Nelson released the top 10 most active games for last week on the Original Xbox and the 360, and from the looks if it, GoW beats out some of the more well-established games for the said console, despite being released one day shy of Monday. The Major further commented that if he combined the listing for the Xbox and 360, it'd turn out that it's still be a 2nd placer, with Halo 2 taking the top spot. Not bad for a game barely a week on the streets, if you ask us.

These polls are based on the World Wide Unique Users on Xbox Live.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles (UU’s)

1. Gears of War
2. Call of Duty 2 
3. Splinter Cell Double Agent 
4. Need for Speed: Carbon 
5. Madden NFL 07 
6. Ghost Recon 3 
7. Saints Row 
8. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 
9. Call Of Duty 3 
10. Final Fantasy XI
    

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions)

1. Contra
2. UNO
3. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
4. Texas Hold 'em
5. Geometry Wars Evolved
6. Hexic HD
7. LUMINES LIVE!
8. DOOM
9. Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
10. Bankshot Billiards 2
    

As expected, this year's Golden Joysticks Awards held at the Park Lane Hilton hotel in London, was a real blast. There are a total of 16 awards given, 15 of which were decided by the gaming public. Winner of the Editors' Choice Award, on the other hand, was selected by a panel of the industry's journalists. Titles that came out on or after August 1, 2005 until July 31, 2006 were all contenders.

Rockstar Games continued on its winning ways as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories took home the Handheld Game of the Year award. It would be remembered that just last year, San Andreas also emerged victorious in the said award giving body. Accolades were then given to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion by 2K Games as it grabbed three trophies: PC Game of the Year, Xbox Game of the Year and PLAY.com Ultimate Game of the Year.

Nintendo also shared the limelight as it won in three categories as well: Nintendogs for The Sun Family Game of the Year and Bliss Girls' Choice for 2006. New Super Mario Bros., on the other hand, won the Nintendo Game of the Year trophy.

Other winners are as follows:

• T3 Innovation Award - Xbox Live Marketplace (Microsoft)
• 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year - Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)
• Nuts All-Nighter Awards - Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Konami)
• PlayStation Game of the Year - Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
• Intel Online Game of the Year - Age of Empires III (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Retailer of the Year - GAME
• CVG's The One to Watch for 2007 - PlayStation 3 (Sony)
• Publisher of the Year - Electronic Arts
• Editors' Choice Award - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft)

Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is sprinting along in development terms as it is ready for it's release on October 27 when it will hit the PSP, Xbox 360, PS2 and PC. Konami have always had a battle with their Pro Evolution Soccer series, competing against the current high-flying licence holder EA and their FIFA series. PES6 will go head to head with EA's FIFA 07 which will also come to the 360 this month, with EA releasing a demo of the game on the Marketplace earlier today.

Pro Evolution Soccer 6 will have to compete with FIFA on graphics and gameplay in order to win over soccer fans that prefer to go with the title which has the official FIFA licence. Games in the Pro Evolution series have often been praised by game critics for it's amazing gameplay and control system, something that is lacking in the FIFA series.

To win you over, Konami have released a barrage of screenshots which we are delivering directly to your monitor. These high resolution screenshots show the game at pretty much every possible angle with menu shots, cinematic shots and in game shots of the action. Apart from the lack of ability to test the control system, the number of screenshots you see before you surely amounts to the quality of a demo. You have less than a month to wait before you can get your hands on this baby, so don't take too long looking at these screens now - you might miss the release!

Catch the screenshots after the jump - 56k readers beware!

2K games have officially announced that their upcoming Xbox 360 title Bioshock will stay loyal to Microsoft's formats, with the first person shooter heading out in 2007 as an exclusive Xbox 360 and Microsoft and Games for Windows, the new brand optimized for Windows XP and Windows Vista title. Bioshock is set to be a new breed of first person shooter with immense graphics and a survival horror-style twist. Earlier this week we reported on Microsoft's announcement that Bioshock will be an Xbox 360 exclusive at X06, but until now 2k games have remained silent.

"2K is excited to release BioShock exclusively on Xbox 360 and under the Games for Windows brand on the PC," said Christoph Hartmann, President, 2K. "BioShock is the next step in the evolution of first-person shooters and a perfect title to push the limits of Xbox 360. We expect BioShock will set a new mark in next generation gaming when it launches next year," said George Peckham, general manager, global third party publishing for the Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft. "We’re thrilled that gamers will be able to experience BioShock only as an Xbox 360 and Games for Windows title."

BioShock takes place among the ruins of an underwater utopia, a very different setting from most first person shooters on the market today. After your plane crashes into an icy and uncharted waters Lost-style, you descended into a city called Rapture,  hidden beneath the sea. The city was constructed as an ideal society for a hand-picked group of scientists, artists and industrialists, but collapsed under the weight of its own idealism. Now the city is littered with corpses, and wildly powerful guardians roam the corridors, mutated little girls scavenge the dead, and genetically modified citizens ambush you at every turn. It's up to you to kill them all!

"Mutation is the key to our evolution." Such is the message X-men carries and Microsoft couldn't agree more. Today's X06 might have seen the dawn of the new era for gaming. The giant computer conglomerate just revealed its upcoming Marvel-based MMO game for Xbox 360 and PC. Cryptic Studios was chosen to develop the project.

"This is a fantastic collaboration. We're being treated like we're writers, editors, artists. We're gung-ho about this project," shares one representative from Cryptic. Accordingly, the studio has been given complete and unlimited access to Marvel's comic book universe. This relatively young developer is based in Los Gatos, California and is best known for MMORPG City of Heroes.

Furthermore, the representative says that they will be paying homage to Marvel's history but the narrative will be based on current-day Marvel comic book fiction. This is important because current MMOs seem to be content with having vague storyline and just pure gameplay.

With working title Marvel Universe Online, the game will be playable cross-platform on Xbox 360 and PC using Live Anywhere. However, the representative declined to comment further regarding characters availability and the number of gamers who can play simultaneously.

Finally, the representative expresses that they wish to change the perception that MMOs should be fantasy based and are just for PC. "It will take a company like Marvel to change that perception. We are designing this as a console game first, and from that perception it will be a revolutionary title," the representative ended.

Okay, let's take a horde of zombies. Then let's add in a girl dressed in a skimpy outfit. Throw in a cowboy hat and a sword for the girl and we've got Oneechanbara X. Oh, and don't forget the lacy pink underwear.

This zombie-infested action game is D3 Publisher and Tamsoft's new offering for the Xbox 360. Oneechanbara X (also known as Chambara Beauty X: The Devil Evolution Human, Chambara Beauty X, and Oneechanbara X: The Devil Evolution Human) for the Xbox 360 will be released in Japan on December 31st. US release date is yet to be announced.

While we wait for more info on when we can hack, slash, and mutilate our way through all those zombies, check out the screenshots.

More screenshots after the jump!

Everything needs replacing. Unfortunately, even the good ones. But still, we were rather amused as Konami changed the name of its upcoming soccer title. Previously known as Winning Eleven, the awaited game of the year will be now officially known as Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 (Xbox 360, PSP, DS). Maybe they wanted a more cohesive campaign as they tie it up with the UK release.

As Winning Eleven, we've seen constant excellent things and good surprises. But even though they changed the name, don't expect the new member of the franchise to disappoint. Happily, the game runs very smoothly and fine. Although the overall increase of speed worked within the game is very noticeable in the X360 version, we also didn't fail to see the limited number of teams available for gameplay (Brazil, Italy, Spain and Czech).

Chip shots and trick dribbling now comes not awkwardly, thanks to the addition of RB and LB. It's also worth mentioning the improvements Konami done with the graphics as the details become more intricate: players position the ball with the inside of their foot before actually kicking it, celebrations, and collisions aside from many others.

They also fixed players just running through fallen opponents as they now jump over obstacles. Expect now more timely slide tackling and call watching from teammates as a smarter A.I. was promised. Pro Evolution will be available on January 9, 2007.