PC

• Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts - Play.tm - 93%
• Heroes of Might & Magic V: Tribes of The East - PC.IGN - 7.9/10
• Thrillville: Off the Rails - PC.IGN - 7.9/10
• World in Conflict - Computer Games.ro - 89%

  360
  

• PGR4 - Boomtown - 9/10
• The Orange Box - Pro-G - 9/10
• Tony Hawk's Proving Ground - TeamXbox - 7.4/10

  PS3
  

• Tony Hawk's Proving Ground - GameSpot - 6.5/10
• Tony Hawk's Proving Ground - PS3.IGN - 7.1/10

  Wii
  

• Mercury Meltdown Revolution - Wii.IGN - 7.5/10

Today's question:

Who plans on checking it out?

P.S. - Today is the last day to enter and win yourself a Crysis beta key!

Australia's restrictive ratings classification system for games has struck again. This time, Activision's upcoming first-person shooter Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back has been hit, with Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) effectively banning the game from sale down under.

The OFLC has refused classification for Soldier of Fortune: Pay Back for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, making it illegal to sell in Australia. Under Australian law, the highest rating that can be slapped on a game is MA15+. Films and DVDS, on the other hand, can carry up to an R18+ rating, which prohibits sales to anyone under the age of 18. Any video games that do not fit under the OFLC's definition of MA15+ are refused classification.

Just shy of a gigabyte in size and requiring special Nvidia beta drivers, the demo was ignored by most, potentially harming sales of a title that really needs to do well after three and a half years in development. With that in mind I've capped the entirety of the demo for those unable to play or unwilling to jump through the necessary hoops to sample a short sixteen minute preview.

At 207MB I felt the above capture may be too much to view and/or download at once for some, so have broken it up into chunks:

• Part #1
• Part #2
• Part #3
• Part #4
• Part #5

If you have a phat pipe and a beefy computer, however, you may be interested in our exquisite, downloadable 1280x1024 HD capture, weighing in at 468MB.

And finally, if you can't view videos, here are a few screen caps:

Super-Ego Games today announces the company’s first title, Rat Race, an original comedy adventure franchise. Rat Race will be the first-ever episodic game for the PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) and will be distributed as individual episodes that can be purchased and downloaded via the PlayStation Network.

“We believe that next-gen gamers seek new and innovative game titles, and Rat Race is just that,” says Greg Easley, Co-founder and President, Super-Ego Games. “Rat Race represents a completely new take on the adventure genre, combining it with living, breathing characters and TV-quality comedy writing. The game delivers what action gamers want, but it also has funny, engaging dialogue, well-conceived characters and a comedic story that really hooks people.”

Rat Race drops players in the shoes of Tina Brooks, an ambitious brand manager at BiggCo, the massive consumer products company whose slogan, “Making the world a better place,” couldn’t be any more cynical. Tina quickly discovers that “business as usual” means an unending series of wacky, over-the-top, and wildly inappropriate situations. It’s up to the player to outsmart, outwit, and sometime outrun co-workers and upper-management in a set of hilarious scenarios created by some of New York City’s best comedy writers.

Super-Ego Games has developed a series of innovative proprietary technologies to bring the Rat Race world to life. From dynamic conversations to non-linear scripting to advanced character AI systems, Rat Race represents a rethinking of how videos games are developed; with its distinct sense of story and character development, the title will help establish episodic games as a new form of interactive entertainment.

Players will explore an array of highly detailed environments, from the cube farm to the animal testing lab to the happy hour bar. Through a combination of quick wit and action skills, players will diffuse political bombs and steer through outrageous situations scripted and voiced by NYC-based comedians with credits on Saturday Night Live, Chappelle’s Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brian, Flight of the Concords, Ugly Betty, Sex in the City, My Name Is Earl, and more. Each episode will introduce new characters and locations, as well as new storylines and gameplay mechanics.

Rat Race is currently in development by Super-Ego Games. The first episode is scheduled for release this Winter.

PC

• The Orange Box - 1Up - 10/10

  360
  

• Halo 3 - Tweaktown - 9/10
• Halo 3 - The Laser - A
• Homely Katamari - 1Up - 7/10
• Homely Katamari - GameInformer - 7.25/10
• Homely Katamari - GameSpot - 7.5/10
• PGR4 - The Laser - B+

  Wii
  

• Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Eurogamer - 9/10

Today's question:

Now that it's been out a while, what was your favorite part of the Orange Box?