Looking for some great video game deals? Well, look no further than Circuit City and the Sunday newspaper ads. This week, Circuit City is slashing $20 off select games including titles like TMNT ($29.99), GRAW 2 ($39.99), Spider-Man 3 ($39.99) and Call of Duty 3 ($39.99). Also, since both the Red and Black Edition Player Packs will be free downloads, why not pick up Rainbow Six Vegas for the low, low price of $39.99 too? You can't pass that up. Maybe new releases are more up your alley, then we advise picking up a free $10 gift card with a Transformers: The Game purchase. And if you're in the market for Shadowrun, purchase it for $37.99 on Windows Vista and Circuit City will throw in a wireless receiver for free!
All deals are available online or in-store, so save a few bucks and pick up some new games to add to your video game library this week.
For those of you who have yet to tire of fighting it out in the trenches, new content has arrived for Call of Duty 3. Specifically, the Bravo Map Pack can now be downloaded for 800 points. The pack contains 5 maps, including 2 maps from the original Call of Duty and Call of Duty: United Offensive. The old maps, for old-school COD fans that are dying to know, are Gare Centrale and Marseilles. Gare Centrale features a train depot, which seems like the hot thing in multiplayer maps these days, while Marseilles utilizes open space and lots of vehicles.
Anyone plan on grabbing the new maps, or are you comfortable waiting for Call of Duty 4?
After finally getting around to reading this Sunday's fifteen pound paper we've stumbled upon a pretty good deal for Call of Duty fans. This week at Circuit City you can get the newer 360 version of Call of Duty 3 Gold Edition for only $39.99. Though, it looks like it is sold out online, so you may have to stop by your local store to get this deal. The difference between the original COD 3 and the gold edition is that the gold edition comes with a bonus disc of additional content and a key code to download the Valor Map Pack off of the XBLM for free. That's a $10 savings my friends. See, reading the newspaper can be fun, that is when you find good deals on video games.
This week on Xbox Live we see half of the titles holding last week's position, with Gears of War, Crackdown, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Call of Duty 3, and Oblivion keeping their respective first, second, third, fourth and ninth place in the list. We also get treated to having two Xbox Live Arcade titles make it into the mix, with Alien Hominid HD rounding out the top half, and Worms taking in the number seven spot. GRAW 2's multiplayer demo stakes placement between the Arcade arrivals, with Madden NFL 07 and Lost Planet both moving down two spots from last week's standings to finish off the ranking. As per our tradition, we have a list for you with the previous placement in parentheses after the break.
Major Nelson sends word that our Canadian friends can download a free gamer picture for the Canada only giveaway Answer the Call. This is a Call of Duty 3 sponsored giveaway where you'll have to download the gamer picture and play a few hours of COD 3 to enter. The amount of hours you put in on Xbox live will dictate which prizes you can win, which range from free Microsoft Points to an all expense paid trip to Normandy, France. Again, the gamer picture and giveaway is only open to residents of Canada, so stay away if you're not from David country.
Last week, Crackdown came on strong with bronze position on the Live top ten. Now it's swapped spots with Rainbow Six: Vegas as Call of Duty 3 continues to be just shy of the podium. GRAW 2's mulitplayer demo makes a return to take the Crackdown demo's position, which moved to 7th. Madden refuses to budge at sixth while Lost Planet and Oblivion get nudged to eighth and ninth, respectively. GRAW rounds out the bottom of the list while last, and obviously not least, Gears of War retains its top spot over all of Xbox Live-dom. Do you feel slightly confused? If so, our simple, yet eloquent list awaits your review after the break, complete with last weeks standings in parentheses.
Last week, we had 4 demos on the Xbox Live Activity top ten. This week, we only have one on the list. Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas continue to hold their respective top two spots. Crackdown comes in strong taking third place, pushing Call of Duty 3 down a notch. The Crackdown demo holds its middle of the pack position, even after its retail counterpart has been released. Madden and Lost Planet continue to follow behind, while Oblivion moves up a spot. Pro Evolution Soccer 6 comes in ninth and Saints Row makes a return to the list at tenth. We've got a list ready for you after the break with the title's standings last week in brackets for those statistic hungry types.
Dan Bunting, developer for Call of Duty 3, updated his post on the Xbox.com forums to announce that the Valor Map pack's issues. The problems people were having have now been fixed and some bugs regarding Ranked Lobbies and Ranked Matches have been addressed as well in an Auto-Update. It's good to see developers taking actions and keeping the community well informed on issues like this, and we here at Fanboy Towers have been there every step of the way. How do you think the developers handled the situation, and after all is said and done, are the maps really worth all the trouble?
Many were disappointed last week when the new Call of Duty 3 maps were unplayable. Following the discovery of this error, the developers promised that a fix was coming. One of the games developers, known on the Xbox.com forums as AxisOf3vil, has announced that a fix will be available in the "very near future." Accompanying the re-release of the Valor Map pack will be an update to Call of Duty 3 that should fix two of its major problems. The update should keep players from being booted out of a ranked match lobby when the countdown hits zero, and it should fix an issue that causes players to fall out of the map at the beginning of ranked matches.
The maps and the update are undergoing final testing and should be released soon.
It looks like there are some problems with the Call of Duty 3 Valor map pack released earlier today. We have numerous readers reporting that once the maps are downloaded, they are not recognized on the 360 or within Call of Duty 3. It's reported that MS Points are debited when this happens, so prospective buyers may want to wait until Microsoft and Treyarch come up with a fix. Major Nelson advises that you keep an eye on this Xbox.com forum post for updates. If anyone hears anything, be sure and let us know.
Update: As many of you have pointed out, there are problems with this download. Click here for details.
Hot on the heels of the free bonus map, Champs, comes the Valor map pack for Call of Duty 3. The pack cost 800 points and contains 5 brand new maps. Stalag 13 is an abandoned prison camp, La Bourgade has you fight in a French village, Ironclad sets you in a naval shipyard, the Crossing puts players at a strategic choke point, and Wildwood gives you a chance to fight it out inside a forest setting. Call of Duty fans, be sure to come back here and tell us what you think.
Gears of War is generally the drug of choice around Fanboy Towers (well, that and snorting mustard), but for those of you who prefer war games about real wars, a new map is available* for Call of Duty 3. The map is called "Champs" and takes place in Port Royal de Champs, France. As we reported earlier, the map is well suited for small to medium sized games. The map is free and available now. Go grab it while it's hot.
*On a side note, yesterday's prognostications were correct. As such, we're predicting that Halo 3 will launch ... right now! ... Damn it. It was worth a shot.
A recent series of events leads us to believe that the announced free map for Call of Duty 3 -- entitled "Champs" -- will be made available tomorrow on Xbox Live Marketplace. Karsten of Shizzle Games told us of a post on Major Nelson detailing the new content. Those of you with an RSS reader may have seen it pop up, too. The post is gone now, but a quick search shows the same post, only it's dated for January 11, tomorrow. Major Nelson's clock must be running fast, because Ms. Pac-Man showed up on his site yesterday, even though it wasn't released until this morning. But there you have it, expect a free new map for Call of Duty 3 tomorrow. This could also mean that we'll see the Valor Map pack -- containing 5 maps for 800 points -- release tomorrow as well.
Call of Duty 3 players must have been good this year, because they have been delivered a much needed patch just in time for the holidays. The patch will be applied the next time COD3 players load the game on their 360. This patch should address several issues in the game, but most importantly, it makes ranked matches (both Custom and Quick Match) join lobbies much faster. There are also some minor HUD improvements, and the option to punish team killing medics. Find full details of the patch on Xbox.com. Don't forget that new maps are on the way, too.
DCEmu is reporting that new Call of Duty 3 content has been announced by Activision. There will be two pieces of content available: a free "Bonus Map" and a premium "Valor Map Pack" for 800 points. The bonus map is called "Champs" and sees players facing off in Port Royal de Champs, France. The map should fare well for smaller and mid-sized games. The "Valor Map Pack" will include 5 new maps, all set in France, and promises plenty of close quarters combat. For the moment, the content has no official release date, but we'd say it's a safe bet that it won't arrive before the New Year.