Above is a Christmas card from Rare. It's the first time we've seen Banjo and Kazooie in a while, but what's interesting about the pic is the KI3 stocking. Although Rare has stated they're not working on Killer Instinct 3, this new photo hints to the possibility. Weather or not this is proof of an actual third installment to a classic game has yet to be determined. I assume it's up to the fans to decide, so you be the judge.

Valve recently sent emails to individual fans informing them on the future of Team Fortress 2. New maps are in the works as well as a patch for the XBOX 360 that has already been submitted to Microsoft. Along with that, they're also going to release the official SDK so that fans can now make their own TF2 machinima (this is the what Valve used to create the individual class trailers).

The patch will address issues like exploits and bugs, bandwidth usage and stats reporting and should be available before Christmas. As far as maps go, they will be released individually on the PC and then as a pack for the 360. Weather or not they will be free hasn't been stated. Also, no word on anything for the PS3 version.

I'm sure a lot of you have gotten your hands on the Heroic Map pack for Halo 3. I know some think it isn't worth the money, but after messing around with them until the early hours of the morning I realize that they are well worth $10. Yea I know, they should have came with the game at retail, but there's nothing we can do about it. However, I will state that this map pack has got to be the best piece of DLC I've gotten my hands on yet. Hell, I consider Foundry alone to be worth $10, but I love Forge, so that may just be me.

Anyway, not even 24 hours into the release of these maps people have already managed to create some classics that are really nice. I would say in about 2 weeks we will be seeing pin point accurate recreations of other maps as well. Believe me, almost anything is possible with Forge on Foundry. Of course none of the remakes have the look of the old maps, but they play pretty much the same.

If you have the map pack, please take the time to check these out. They're worth it and they'll give you more ideas as to what you can make.

Hang 'Em High
Midship
Turf
Ascension
Lockout
Warlock
Foundation

I think that these remakes alone are worth the $10. Each one is being tweaked so keep an eye out for different versions and I'm sure Bungie will eventually put the best on their Favorites. Also, all credit goes to the designers.

Check out the Community Maps to find others. There's also some Gears of War maps if you're into that.

Apparently Time Magazine knows a thing or two about video games. This is new to me, but I spend so much time drinking that I never make it to the local magazine place or whatever. Last time I read Time was at the dentist in like 7th grade. Anyway, they've piled their favs into a top 10 list.

1. Halo 3
2. The Orange Box
3. Rock Band
4. Super Mario Galaxy
5. BioShock
6. Call of Duty 4
7. Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
8. Mass Effect
9. Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
10. God of War 2

Since I don't work for Time, I'm not going to say what they said about each, but if you're interested, read for yerself.

So Gerstmann is gone now, anyone here should know that. A lot of people (myself included) considered Jeff to be the best reviewer GameSpot had to offer. Now that he's gone, I really don't see any light being shined upon that site for quite some time, and even when it does, it won't make a difference. I was a member of GameSpot for almost 6 years (not that Total Access bullshit either) and they've always provided me with honest reviews that seem to filter out a lot of shit other reviewers didn't. I also met a lot people on their forums.

But, I'm sure we could reminisce about the good 'ol days for hours and not a damn thing is going to change. I don't know about anyone else but because of what C|Net has done, I canceled my GameSpot account and have made no plans to play Kyne & Lynch Dead Men. In fact, I wanted the game until I saw Jeff's review.

This is why I've decided to dedicate my first blog post to Jeff and all the honesty he's brought to gamers for years. Here's a couple of tributes I stumbled upon this morning on YouTube.





And of course, the famous review that GameSpot has removed from their site.