PC

The Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars Demo is now available for download. It includes a training mission, two single player missions, and a skirmish map.

Opposable Thumbs has already posted a first impression of the demo.

The most noticeable element of the game is the gorgeous presentation. Built on top of the Battle for Middle-Earth II engine, the extreme refinement of the graphical presentation throughout the demo is impressive.

The gameplay itself is as solid as ever, and it appears that there have been many different tweaks for the sake of balance. As is the tradition with RTS games, a more extensive play time is likely to reveal small little details that stand out as either fantastic or flawed.

Leave comments if you try it out. Does it live up to its predecessors?

Blizzard announced that almost 2.4 million copies of Burning Crusade were sold worldwide during the first day of the expansion's availability. Nearly 1.2 million copies were sold in North America and over 1.1 million copies were sold in Europe, making the expansion the fastest selling PC game ever.

Over 5000 retailers opened at Midnight on January 17 to sell more than half of the 4 million copies they received from Blizzard. If you're looking to buy, Blizzard is advising that you call ahead to make sure the store has it in stock. But last night, my local Best Buy had a massive fully-stocked display.

In an effort to attract the attention of younger toilet-clogging folks, Roto Rooter is giving away an all-in-one Kohler toilet, complete with an Xbox 360. It's has everything you'd ever need from a john (and way more). The toilet comes equipped with a flat screen HDTV, iPod and dock, TiVo, DVD player, laptop, bullhorn (what?), bike pedals (what?!), beer tap, and fridge.

Not sure about what you'd use the bullhorn and bike pedals for, but if you win, my advice is to tear all that good stuff out and put it where in belongs--in your family room. The contest begins on January 24th on www.rotorooter.com.

[Pimp my John @ WGRZ, via Game|Life]

Crysis wasn't the only game at CES that uses DirectX 10. Age of Conan is MMO from Funcom with detailed graphics (that's not something MMO's are known for). Only Windows Vista users will be able to take advantage of the DX10 graphics, but another DX9 version will be available for XP. Conan also has a real-time combat system, rather than the point and click system we're used to.

Microsoft and Razer announced their next co-branded product today at CES. After working together to create the Habu gaming mouse, the two companies will join forces to create the Reclusa, a gaming keyboard that will have some innovative features. Following in the footsteps of Razer's high-end Tarantula, the Reclusa will aim for low latency. The keyboard will have backlighting, two jog-dials, four bumper buttons, and six programmable keys. Expect to see the Reclusa go on sale this spring for about $70.

[UPDATE: Added the picture.]

Bethesda plans to release an Oblivion expansion pack called The Shivering Isles this spring, according to GameSpot. The expansion will include more than 30 hours of gameplay in the form of new territories to explore, enemies to conquer, and quests to complete. An entirely new region, called The Isles, will be added to the game. The Isles will be accessible from Cyrodiil using a door that appears in the Niben Bay.

In November, Bethesda released a addon questline called The Knights of the Nine as retail package for PC's and Xbox Live Marketplace download. Although nothing has been confirmed, I don't see anything to stop The Shivering Isles from becoming an Marketplace download as well.

If you've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Bioshock, the "spiritual successor" to System Shock 2 from 2K and Irrational Games, I have some good news for you. According to a forum post by a 2K Games games employee, Bioshock has been officially set to release in June 2007. 1UP has received confirmation that the information in the post is accurate. So you only have a six months to upgrade your computer or pickup a new Xbox 360 before Bioshock comes out. Better get working.

The first beta version of Goldeneye Source is finally ready for download. The goal of the Half-Life 2 mod is to accurately recreate the multiplayer experiences that were had with the original Goldeneye for Nintendo 64. The team has come a long way by creating dozens of maps, characters, weapons, but this early beta version is reported to be pretty buggy.

It looks like the modders did a great job of keeping what was good from the original and fixing what wasn't. Many of the single player-only levels in the original have been turned into multiplayer destinations in the source mod.

I'm going to download and install. If you see me on Steam, we should set up a game. My Steam ID is diggersf.

We're giving away Razer's new AC-1 Audio Card built exclusively for gamers. It features a 7.1 Dolby Pro-Logic IIx surround processor and it's worth $200. To enter, just send us a story about a funny gaming experience. Read the entire post for more info.

Microsoft is handing out free copies of Windows Vista Business Edition to those who choose to sit through three videos. You can also get Microsoft Office Professional 2007 for free. It's all part of their Power Together campaign aimed toward for IT professionals, but PC gamers will benefit from a free license because it comes DirectX 10 support.

It's not surprising that the site is running at a painfully slow rate right now. But if you're determined and you have a computer that can handle the steep requirements of Vista, you may be able to play next generation PC games for a lot less.

Good: Very flexible; great configuration software; comfortable; looks great.
Bad: Profile change button is in an awkward location; pricey for casual gamers.
Overall: Combines simplicity and flexibility to deliver a great gaming experience.
Price: $129.99
Where to buy: Amazon

If you ask a PC gamer to describe his or her ultimate gaming rig, they'll most likely focus on their cutting edge graphics card, powerful processor, and immersive surround sound system. They'll probably avoid the fact that they're using a three-year-old keyboard from a depreciated Dell. Gaming keyboards have been becoming more popular recently, but Razer's new Tarantula is one of more innovative products. Its features are so comprehensive that I agree with their decision to call it a "professional gaming keyboard."

The November 2006 issue of Official PlayStation Magazine provided some exclusive details about a new quest line that will be included in the PlayStation 3 version of Oblivion. The article didn't to mention that the quest line, called the Knights of the Nine, would be available to PC and Xbox 360 owners as an expansion. The expansion, which will be available on November 21 for about $10, charges you with the task of conquering an evil Ayleid Sorcerer-King known as Umaril. To complete this task, you must locate the lost relics of the Divine Crusader and rebirth the Knights of the Nine, an ancient faction of holy crusaders once known for their honor. The expansion promises to include new items, dungeons, and characters.

The expansion pack will be available for download from the Xbox Live Marketplace and the Oblivion Downloads site on November 21.

My friend's roommate got a copy of Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 and figured out how to install it on a MacBook. It's very cool because I can now play PC games with the MacBook Pro's fancy ATI RadeonX1600. I can switch between Mac OS X and Windows Vista by holding the option key down during startup.

Vista hasn't changed much since my last report, which is the idea because this thing needs to be released sometime.

In preparation for the release of the Battlefield 2142 demo this week, EA released this video tutorial that outlines the process of boarding and destroying an enemy Titan.

Microsoft announced its official holiday lineup for Xbox 360 and Windows at X06, the company's annual industry event. Topping the list is Gears of War, the gritty 3rd person action title from Epic Games, to which we gave our Best of E3 2006 award. Another among the headlining titles is, Viva Piñata, a game that transports kids and adults to Piñata Island to play in paradise with 60 different Piñata animals. A new animated TV show on 4Kids TV began on September 9th and licenced merchandise will go on sale in 2007. I bet you just can't wait to attend a party themed with Viva Piñata plates, napkins, and... um piñatas. Check out the full list of holiday games after the jump.