You knew it was bound to happen. Hinted at in several updates to the existing Portal game and finally announced today, Game Informer magazine revealed that their 12 page cover story for this month's issue is none other than Portal 2. Details at this point are scarce though GI states that the article will cover "first details on Portal 2's new gameplay mechanics, storyline, and some surprising new twists."

You're not even reading this anymore are you...? You've already loaded up your media player and are listening to Still Alive for the 500th time, aren't you? Thought so.

I love me some Mass Effect 2; it's probably the most epic RPG of the year if not being game of the year material. A good portion of gamers also enjoy anime as well and those who do most likely have heard of Gurren Lagann, an anime from the creators of FLCL and Evangelion, which multiplies its epic nature geometrically. I came across this video this afternoon and, after watching it twice and proceeding to pick my jaw up off the floor, I came to the conclusion that it is a necessary viewing for many of our readers.

Oh, and that sound you hear at the end of the video? That's the sound of a cerebral hemorrhage occurring in your skull due to your inability to cope with the amount of awesome. My apologies; I did not mean to blow your mind.

You didn't think I was going to leave you hanging, now did you? Next up in our new series Spoiler Alert we have the ending to probably one of the greatest game's of this year so far: Bioshock 2. This ending, the good version, is kinda sad but it does open up for a third and probably final entry in the series, something this gamer would love to experience.

Coming next week we'll have the endings to Dante's Inferno and Aliens Vs. Predator. There might be a slight break given how long it takes to get Heavy Rain done but trust me when I say that you'll find it all right here at Hooked Gamers in glorious 720p.

Like anyone else on this site I do enjoy a fine video game but it still surprises me to this day that most people don't actually finish them and never find out what happens at the end. Well, to help those poor souls (or those who love to ruin things for their friends) I bring you Spoiler Alert, our new Youtube series. What does it bring to the table? Well, the end game of course! Don't feel like replaying a game just to watch those last glorious minutes? I can help with that.

Today's issue is the ending to Mass Effect 2 as a Paragon and without losing a single team member during the suicide mission. No, I don't spoil the final boss for you (pretty epic) but you do get to see the good guys win if you've been rolling along with a Renegade character for the past week.

Look for more installments in the near future (three big titles coming out next week alone) and be sure to watch them all in glorious 720p.

A moment of silence please for the loss of one of our finest friends.

Thank you. Yes, as the title says, Microsoft will be discontinuing service for all Xbox Live titles released on their first platform. As such any Xbox Original titles you've downloaded from the Marketplace that use Live will no longer allow for online play. So, if you've been thinking about going back to play Halo 2, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, or Rainbow Six 3 then now's the time.

Goodbye my friend, rest in peace.

For most Modern Warfare 2 players like me who were plagued and distraughten by the menacing Model 1887 Akimbo bull and the Javelin glitch jerks that were in every map, December's update was a gift from on high. However, once an idiot, always an idiot as the jerks who thought they could exploit the system found a new way to terrorize servers: the care package sprint. Call in a care package and utilizing the marathon and lightweight perks players could sprint across maps like a Kenyan on Powerthirst. We're not talking 50 meters in 10 seconds; we're talking Speedy Gonzales (yes kids, that's the politically incorrect yet hilarious ex-cartoon character on the right) on crack. Couple that with a pistol with a tactical knife and the screams of terror and agony could be heard all around.

Thankfully, that's not a problem anymore as Robert Bowling (FourZeroTwo), Infinity Ward's community manager, announced that a new patch has been released for the PC immediately and that a console release is pending. THANK GOD.

Details of the patch after the break.

Bad news folks. Seems that Ubi didn't do too well this past fiscal year with some poorly performing titles and earned quite a bit less money than expected. To make the picture better for next year though they've decided to delay RUSE and Splinter Cell Conviction to April.

GOD.
DAMN.
IT.

The nerd rage filling my heart right now is something not fitting for children. Hell, even Tommy Lee Jones is upset by this as you can tell from the above picture. Press release after the break.

UPDATE: The second code field has now opened up. You can go to RedScopeSecurity.com to view "camera feeds" that should lead fans to the next code.

Check out the Code Red trailer after the break.

Valve's been kind to us this holiday season, what with the release of the authoring tools for Left 4 Dead 2 just yesterday as well as a class update for both the soldier and demoman in Team Fortress 2. They're not content to just let it ride on just those two however as they've released yet another fine piece of music from the Midnight Riders, Left 4 Dead 2's fictional rock band. It's a good listen, trust me.

Happy Holidays from everyone here at HG. We'll keep the content coming through the holidays so check back often!

How? That is the question I pose to you: how come people with non-triple digit IQs get positive treatment from mass media sources for violating the law? If there was ever a case for idiot identification cards this would be it.

A 25 year old BBC Radio 1 listener named Raz got his own column on the BBC Newsbeat site about his reaction to getting his Xbox 360 banned for pirating games. Raz, who had pirated "roughly 30-40 games," described his shock at having his console banned after signing in to Xbox Live to play Modern Warfare 2.

The biggest title of the year goes on sale less than seven hours from now in the UK and will no doubt sell like CDs at a Miley Cyrus concert (uuugh) and it seems that, despite Activision's price hike on Modern Warfare 2 to £55 ($92.10 USD) many stores will be selling the game for far less. Oddly enough, several supermarket chains, including Sainsburys, Tesco, and Asda will be selling the game at almost half the recommended retail price. Sainsburys will be selling the game for £26 and Asda for £32. Tesco will be offering the game for the lowest price of the bunch: £25, though you have to buy another chart title at the same time in order to get a discount.

Man, now if we can only have supermarkets over in the US selling games. Imagine the jokes you could have with a person with OCD going to the pharmacy to pick up his anti-anxiety pills and a copy of the latest World of Warcraft expansion...

For day Six of the Seven Days of Modern Warfare 2 we decided to do something a little different. We originally set out to show you how far the series has come in just six years but instead found that words sometimes don't mean much in comparison to what the eyes can see. As such we've uploaded a series of comparison shots that should make you go "yea, that's next-gen."

Enjoy!

Let's face it: Call of Duty 4's singleplayer was awesome. At this point however, two years after the launch of the game, you're probably a bit fuzzy on the details of said plot. Nothing to worry about however as for tonight's broadcast we (meaning I) will be playing through the entirity of the arcade mode from stop to finish to get you guys caught up. Yes, it does skip a few of the more story-related levels like the execution scene and the nuclear aftermath but the end result should get you primed for this Tuesday.

See you all online tonight at 6pm CST (12:00am GMT).

You can find our Ustream broadcast here

Alright gang, this is it: our first Slackercast episode! Join us tonight for day three of the Seven Days of Modern Warfare 2 coverage event in which Blobdude, Keato, and several others join in on a throwdown of Call of Duty 4 multiplayer matches.

The festivities begin at 9pm CST and will last till, well, we dunno. What I can tell you though is that once we start it'll be hard to stop so stop by and root us on for great justice!

You can find our Ustream broadcast here

Call of Duty, one of the most popular franchises in the history of video games, has in just six short years become one of the stand out series in all of gaming. When we realized that almost everyone and their dog was excited about Modern Warfare 2 we had to do something to celebrate such a momentous game.

Thus was born the Seven Days of Modern Warfare 2, a week long tribute to the game and the franchise in general. For the next seven days we will have brand new coverage every single day leading up to the launch of the game and our review come next Tuesday. To start things off for Day One we held a roundtable discussion of the Call of Duty franchise and what it means to us as gamers.

But that's not all. Going along with this event we are launching a brand new feature for the site: our first live show! Yours truly will be hosting the Slackercast, a semi-regular live show of nothing but games, games, and more games! Witness absolute pwnage the likes of which you've probably seen before, only performed by ME! We know we're going to enjoy this and hopefully in the future we'll be able to bring you even more writers into the fray.

Our schedule for the Seven Days of Modern Warfare 2 is as follows:

Day 1: Roundtable discussion of COD franchise
Day 2: Top Five Epic Moments in the COD Series
Day 3: Slackercast Presents: Call of Duty 4 Multiplayer
Day 4: Modern Warfare 2 Briefing
Day 5: Slackercast Presents: Call of Duty 4 Arcade Mode Run through
Day 6: Call of Duty 1 review
Day 7: Modern Warfare 2 review

I hope you are looking forward to this as much as I am. Check back every day this next week for more coverage of the game that, face it, you know you'll buy.