The newest version of the Guitar Hero series hit the stores late last year and has been causing a storm ever since. Developed by Neversoft and Aspyr Media, and published by Activision and RedOctane, Legends of Rock is the third full installment in the Guitar Hero series and the fourth title overall.

The game is available for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, PC, and Mac platforms. Xbox 360, Wii, and Playstation 3 users can also connect online to rock out with others anywhere in the world.As with the previous Guitar Hero games, the player can use standard controllers or a new wireless guitar-shaped controller specially designed for the game.

The gameplay in Guitar Hero 3 remains essentially the same, with the player guiding the guitarist through the varying genres of rock music by hitting the notes in time as they scroll across the screen.One notable addition to the game is the new cooperative career mode. The co-op mode is arranged similarly to the single player career, with one player on lead guitar and the other on bass or rhythm guitar. In this mode you’ll find just 6 tiers of songs - each encore song is unique to the co-op mode but the boss battles have been removed.

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There was never really any doubt the X-Box’s favorite master chief would return in another episode of the Halo series, especially with the cliff hanger we were all left with at the end of Halo 2. Well, avid fans (who haven’t already completed the game) will be please to hear the final chapter in the Halo trilogy continues the story and concludes it brilliantly.

For those who didn’t get caught up in “one of the most popular games in history,” the Halo story centers on the interstellar war between 26th century humanity, led by the United Nations Space Command, and a collection of alien races known as the Covenant.The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he wages war in defense of humanity, assisted by human Marines as well as allied alien Elites.Following the events of Halo 2 - The Covenant is on its way to Earth, continuing its universal ethnic cleansing and attempting to activate the floating space weapons known as Halos, which could destroy civilization as we know it. The Master Chief and the other Earth forces of the UNSC are in hot pursuit to stop them, with newfound alien allies such as the Arbiter coming along for the ride.

The third and final part of the Halo trilogy was released in September, 2007. During the opening day, over one million people connected to X-Box live to play Halo 3 and by the end of the day, Halo 3 had broken the record for the highest grossing opening day in entertainment history, bringing in $170 million within the first 24 hours. The game then went on the sell over 8.1 million copies by January 2008.

So now this is officially the most popular game to date, let’s take a look at the new features Bungie Studios have added.

Continue reading this article for a review on the game, lots of screenshots and a video review.

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Pioneers in military technology DARPA - The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - have just unveiled a six-wheeled autonomous robot that is capable of maneuvering through ditches, walls, streams and even other vehicles whilst raining down a hail of bullets against its enemies.

The Crusher - developed at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute - weighs nearly 7 tons, has a top speed of about 25 mph and is designed to be totally autonomous; it doesn’t even require a remote driver to control the robot, although this is an option if necessary.

Check out this first video of the Crusher Climbing a 4 foot wall.

The robot is armed with a large caliber gun, long range cameras that can spot enemy targets up to two and half miles away, as well as GPS sensors and internal maps to plot out its route. The Crusher can roll through just about anything that gets in its way, deviating from the most direct route only when faced with obstacles over six feet tall or deep.

Another two videos and more info after the jump

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Benjamin Heckendorn aka Ben Heck is known for modifying gaming consoles into custom laptops, some of his previous creations include various portable Xbox 360’s, a portable Atari 2600, a Commodore 64 laptop and numerous other modified devices. Mr. Heck seems to be at it again with yet another portable Xbox 360 Elite, this time with a Halo 3 theme.

The modded Xbox comes complete with the new 65nm CPU, a 120 GB Elite Hard Drive, HDMI-to-DVI video connection for digital picture, Xbox Live Vision camera and a 17 inch widescreen Gateway LCD with a 1280×720 pixel resolution (this allows a pixel-perfect ratio when using the 720p HDMI connection).

Some more pictures and a video after the jump!

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A complete XBox 360 Package. Xbox 360 sets a new pace for digital entertainment and is regarded as a cutting-edge game system. With integrated high-definition video, DVD movie playback, digital music, photos, and online connectivity into one sleek, small tower it got only better with the release of Halo 3. Halo 3 is included, and featured on this Special Edition XBox 360.

XBox 360 Halo 3 Package Includes:

• XBox 360 Console / Halo 3 Special Edition
• Wireless Remote Controller (Halo 3 Special Edition)
• Wireless Remote Controller (White)
• Halo 3

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Forget trying to pry open your Xbox to solder on a modchip that allows you hack your classic machine. A new software modification lets you replace the Microsoft dashboard with the stunning open source Xbox Media Center Software, transforming your once discarded machine into a user friendly, and very accessible media center.

After the release of the Xbox 360 many classic Xbox’s have unfortunately been left to gather dust. With a powerful processor, a sizable hard drive and an Ethernet port your old Xbox is capable of a lot more than simply connecting to Xbox Live or playing Halo 2. With the new XBMC software installed on you Xbox, you will be able to:

• Access and play videos, music and photo slideshows located in any shared folders on your network.
• Transfer files to and from your Xbox hard drive.
• Rip DVD’s (or any file) to a shared folder for later use: burning, back up etc.
• Watch Apple movie trailers, YouTube videos, Launch.com videos and see RSS newsfeeds loaded from the internet.
• Watch DVDs “dongle” free (no more DVD Playback Kit required!)

First you will need to collect a list of software and hardware that enables the soft mod.

• Xbox Classic
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – must be the original un-copied version, Pandora’s Tomorrow or Chaos Theory versions won’t work
• Action Replay Kit – USB memory card that lets you load and save games, unlock games and store cheats.
• Ethernet Router – A connection to the internet through a standard network router must be established.

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Microsoft and Fox have join forces with the new deal to allow the first two seasons of the the popular animated T.V. series Family Guy to be downloaded to the XBox. Family Guy is the first television series or service to make its way to the XBox. This is a strong deal that will help Microsoft continue to move past it’s similiar Apple competitor iTunes. This will be a big season for Microsoft XBox with the launch of Halo 3 right around the corner, since the demographics are the same - males 18 - 34.

For our Microsoft Xbox 360 customers, you will be able to purchase each of the episodes from the first two seasons as well as the straight-to-DVD film “Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story” for 160 Microsoft points, or about $2, which is comparable with the pricing of TV episodes on iTunes and other VOD platforms.

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US Army has started implementing Microsoft’s newest gaming system, the XBox 360, to help train soldiers with simulated combat and war games. The United States military has always been aware of the synergy between gaming and its new weapons systems. On a side note I read that when the Department of Defense was designing the new Air Force jet F22 Raptor, it brought in the expertise of young gamers to give suggestions on the layout and configuration of the interface to make it more intuitive for the Airmen of the future.

Recently, the US Army conducted its first live-fire exercise, Experiment 1.1, using Future Combat Systems (FCS) technologies and equipment. The military exercise was apart of the most comprehensive Army modernization effort and was held at Oro Grande Range at Fort Bliss, Texas. This included a robot designed to take out snipers and code named the RedOwl. The inventory of military robots and unmanned vehicles doesn’t stop there though. The XBox controller is used to control and maneuver robots. The controllers are not completely wireless however. It looks like the controller goes to a pack on the soldier which communicates wirelessly to the robot. Not only does having a wired controller save on batteries, it simplifies the system, by only having one wireless system versus two, which cuts down on points of failure.

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