Your 15 minutes of fame is just getting warmed up.

Activision is teaming up with Spike TV and Best Buy to bring to the small screen the "Game Head Call of Duty(R) 3: Challenge"-- think of Survivor but amp it up with video gaming, and there you have it. The boot-camp style competition of survival and gaming  that will telecast as a tv special on Spike TV's "Game Head" on November 10, 2006, timed to the fall release of the Call of Duty 3 (Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3).

Interested? Gamers can apply by making a personal movie of up to five minutes long that explains why they should be chosen. Their pitch should be submitted to the Game Head: Call of Duty 3: Challenge. Activision will select 16 individuals to participate in the challenge. All videos and applications must be received by 11:59 p.m./PDT on September 4, 2006 to be considered.

The chosen contestants will be flown to a top secret military location where they will hit the virtual battlefields in Call of Duty 3 and complete real-life boot camp challenges. The intense competition will be filmed on location from September 20 - 22, 2006 for the television event that will telecast on Spike TV. Additionally, the winner will be awarded a Grand Prize package.

Battlefield 2142 is surely on its way to generate an appetite for war among players' gaming palate, as the game is expected to be released between October and November 2006. Set in the icy year of 2142, when the world is thrown in a state of panic, it is an epic battle for survival as players will choose to fight for one of two military superpowers. The game is being developed for the Xbox 360 console.

The game created such a big buzz in February 2006, when an interview with Dan Blackstone (senior producer of the project) said, "We’re about to announce something very big, so stay tuned. One other interviewer asked this and I gave him a hint, so it’s only fair that I do the same for you: 3213/3X2. Or said another way: S.R. 4588164". The statement started a clamour about the launch of Battlefield 2412 game and since then, it spread like a wildfire, as the S.R. (Square Root) of 4588164 is 2142 (3213? equals 2142 as well), creating excitement among players.

We have been telling you guys about Battlefield 2142 and now we are excited to deliver you again a new batch of irresistible screenshots from the PC version of the game (just so you'll see more of what's coming to your MS consoles):

Plato's Republic puts into analogy the human body with his ideal, utopic city-state. The head represents the philosopher-kings, tasked with governance. The chest symbolizes the warriors or the military, specifically for the protection of the Republic. The stomach personifies the merchants who are accountable for the flow of resources into the city.

While there is a blatant display of hierarchy, it does not go to say that one is necessarily more important than the others. For while they may be different in levels, they are the same in their goal, that is to ensure the survival of the Republic. Thus, all component parts, while maintaining their individuality, are expected to work together for that one same goal. Much premium is placed upon this goal to the extent that to attempt to multitask on these roles is to put the goal at high risk of falling into utter chaos. Therefore, it is forbidden.

The underlying principle behind this system is that titles aren't there just for the convenience of identification. Categories are not there merely to be able to sort out things from each other. Titles and categories exist not just to portray some semblance of order, but more importantly, to define roles and responsibilities. Now, this is, more often than not, usually overlooked. But the thing is, names and roles ALWAYS come in a tight package.

Applying that same principle to our everyday existence, we often find it constricting to confine ourselves merely to just one area. Artists need not be just artists, they can be politicians. Professors need not only be able to teach, they can be athletes. Women need not be mere trophies and housewives for their husbands, they may be high-powered corporate executives.

And gaming need not be only frivolous and trivial, they can actually have a higher sense of aesthetic, even pragmatic, value in our existence. That is the battlecry of columnist Ernest Adams, at least insofar as gaming is concerned.

He posits that in the light of the growing clamor for censorship in video games, it brings to mind the fact that although gaming has already niched itself tightly into popular culture, it still remains to struggle for the respect it deserves as an art form. The most apparent excuse would be that video games or gaming has always been stereotyped into the category of entertainment for kids. And kids are almost always never taken seriously. By this mere affiliation, the gaming industry has been deprived by the highbrow end of society  of the proper value it should have.

Don't we just hate stereotypes?

The full article awaits after the jump!

Frontlines: Fuel of War for Xbox 360 and PS3 is still far from being available in your friendly-neighborhood stores, since it is slated for a Fall 2007 release. The game, in case, you are a newbie, is set 20 years in the future, as the world’s dependence on oil increases, so does the tensions. Survival of the fittest is the name of the game as countries scrimmage to secure their economic sources. Small outbreaks turn into a full scale war. This causes new alliances to be formed, and you must now decide which side you will fight for: the Western Coalition or Red Star Alliance.

Kaos Studios' General Manager, Frank DeLise, sheds some light about the FFOW's title, gameplay, maps, and multiplayer gaming. The title is obviously politically motivated, as DeLise explains, "it’s the FUEL that drives us to the “Frontlines” of tomorrow to our next great “War.” Fuel has dual meanings, obviously from our dependency on Oil and is what Fuels a global war. Frontlines came from the game mechanic that allows us to be on the front of a battle...So Frontlines is the franchise name and Fuel of War is the beginning of the global war."

He also believes that developing the game on the Unreal 3 Engine was a good choice since they plan on devoting their time on developing the gameplay and not on designing a game engine. When asked about the gameplay, he mentions that "in FFOW you are always chipping away at the battle and you can form new strategies as you go. For Multiplayer, I [DeLise] really want teamwork to matter. In FFOW, teamwork truly makes your team stronger. More than two people in a vehicle make vehicles much more powerful by target sharing and counter measures, the frontline only moves forward if you work as a team, so expect to see some really cool team based features using the latest military equipment."

A game like FFOW would of course be incomplete without game maps. For now, DeLise divulged that they are planning to have tight infantry maps and large scale Tank/Air battle maps in both Single Player and Multiplayer. HDR support is definitely in the picture.

An undercover CIA operative, sent on a mission to topple a powerful dictator of a land suspected of stacking an alarming number of WMDs -- this is the premise behind Eidos' huge game, Just Cause. Most of you already know this by now, but for those who aren't familiar with the game, you will play Rico Rodriguez and your job is to overthrow the government in San Esperito by any means necessary.

The path towards good is indeed peppered with evil intentions as you have to join gangs, drug cartels, military factions, or any group you can find and wage war to accomplish your mission. Indeed, San Esperito is a land of exhilarating beauty marred with WMDs, loose women, and fast cars.

The virtual game world contains over 250,000 acres of mountains, jungles, beaches, cities and villages. The island can be explored by land, sea and air, using a wide range of cutting-edge vehicles. The game is set to grace store shelves this fall. For now we give you some of the game's screens.

EA's Army of Two took the saying three's a crowd too seriously, and that's very good since you can't fight through war, political turmoil and conspiracy all by your lonesome. You will have to utilize unique TWO man strategies and tactics while seamlessly transitioning between playing with intelligent Partner AI (PAI) and a live player.

Even if it's much better to spread love and not war, you'd need some big guns in the dog eat dog world of Army of Two. Customize and upgrade dozens of armament and share them with your partner, whether off or online, to save your hide. It's not only the dynamic environments of the game that include realistic character and environmental effects, such as fluid dynamics that showcase an open-ocean water-wave simulation and physics based animations that will give you a dose of reality, the contemporary politically charged storyline that centers on the impact and ethical issues of Private Military Corporations will raise your awareness too.

Army of Two is slated for release some time in 2007.

Well we had to wait almost a whole month or a new one, but we've finally got the latest in Medal of Honor: Airborne's ongoing series of Airdrops. This latest update focuses on the aircraft that became the de facto standard in troop and cargo transport for the Allied military forces during World War II, the C-47 "Gooney Bird".

"The C-47 was used by the Allies on all fronts of the war, and is probably most noted for it's specific use before large operations like the invasion of Sicily and the Normandy landings. At operations like these, the C-47 would fly in essential supplies and advanced Airborne Troopers, who would drop in behind enemy lines to disrupt and distract the Axis forces from the primary offensive.

 In Medal of Honor Airborne (MoHA) , the C-47 is your spawn point. You and your stick start each operation in the cramped quarters of the C-47. At your jump-master's command, you stand up, move to the door, and enter the war like never before. The first step is everything."

     

Hopefully we won't have to wait quite as long till the next Airdrop lands, but when it does you can bet we'll keep you posted.

Master Chief vs Samus Aran

Why the fight?

They're both genetically altered superhu[wo]man soldiers possessed of powerful suits of battle armor to help bring on the pain. Someone's got to give, come on in and find out who.

Follow the full match after the jump!