207w ago - Even though the PlayStation 3 has had its share of system sellers from years gone by, 2009 looks like its best year so far with tons of exclusives on the horizon as follows:

• Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer - From the makers of Indigo Prophecy comes yet another film noir-ish thriller in which you step into the boots of multiple characters hot on the trail of a killer known only as the Origami killer. Gameplay will mainly involve context sensitive actions but the game's draw will be in its deep, intricate, dark and disturbing story line.

• Agent - Not much is known about the game as of now except that it's being developed by Rockstar games and it's a PS3 exclusive. Now in all honesty I really don't think this game will see the light of day before 2010 but since we have no concrete release date to fall back on, one can dream right?

• MAG (Massive Action Game) - MAG or Massive Action Game is basically an online multiplayer only first person shooter on steroids in which you'll have servers where 256 players will be able to play against each other at one time. Ambitious yes?

• The Last Guardian - From the makers of ICO and the Shadow of the Colossus comes a spiritual successor to both those games that tells the magical tale of a special bond between a huge mythological...

207w ago - Tech2 has posted a feature looking at the upcoming XBox 360 exclusive releases this year.

Let's take a look at what 2009 has in store for 360 owners:

• Halo 3: ODST - Halo 3: ODST will be a stand-alone expansion for Halo 3 in which you step into the boots of an unknown Orbital Drop Ship Trooper (ODST) before the events of Halo 3.

Unlike the iconic Master Chief, you're a run-of-the-mill grunt so don't expect to just run into the heat of the battle and regenerate health; you'll have to survey the situation, move carefully and even use stealth to your advantage as and when possible.

• Shadow Complex - Announced at E3 2009 by the makers of the Gears of War series in conjunction with Chair Entertainment, Shadow Complex is an all out, balls-to-the-wall side scrolling shooter for Xbox Live Arcade.

I normally don't mention XBLA games in such lists but this one grabbed me by my throat with its fast paced action, gorgeous visuals and a 3D open-world game design.

• GTA: The Ballad of Gay Tony - Since the first episode of downloadable content for GTA IV impressed the crap out of us we sure have high hopes for the second one in which you'll step into the boots of "Luis Lopez, part-time hoodlum and full-time assistant to legendary nightclub impresario...

240w ago - Rumor has it that Windows 7 will drop in the middle of next year, but last month Microsoft released a "preview" tester build of Windows 7. After living in the Windows 7 Preview for a week now, several features and niceties jumped out at me which promise to make Windows a better place to work come 2009.

Here are just a few of the things to look forward to in Windows 7.

10. Ding-dong, the Sidebar is dead.

One of the first things I hunted down and killed in Windows Vista was the Sidebar, which loaded by default and docked Vista's Gadgets to the right side of your desktop. In Windows 7, the sidebar is no more, and gadgets, should you want them, can roam free across the desktop. This time around, the gadgets feel less distracting to me--the CPU meter and calendar gadgets are my favourites, though this screenshot shows many more.

9. Calculator, WordPad, and Paint got overhauled.

It sucks that Windows 7 is stripping the built-in Photo Gallery and movie-making software that you'll find in Vista (even the Windows Calendar is nowhere to be found in the 7 Preview), but a few of their built-in stalwarts did get some attention.

WordPad and Paint both got the Office 2007 ribbon installed, and Calculator now incorporates real world uses into it. At this point only...

244w ago - One of the most interesting features of the third Xbox besides being able to play all of your Xbox 360 titles, and transfer over your gamertag and gamerscore is forward-compatibility.

Backwards-compatibility of course means that a game from the previous generation of systems works on the new systems. An example of this is PlayStation games working on PlayStation 2, or original Xbox games being playable on the Xbox 360 through emulation and software updates.

This is something completely different however. Forward-compatibility means that games made for the Xbox 360 are made even better thanks to the features and hardware of the next Xbox system. This isn't a side effect of textures being cleaner and upscaled resolution, this is a new animal completely. Imagine playing Gears of War 3 on your Xbox 360 it looks and plays good right?

Well imagine that the year after it comes out you go out to buy the next Xbox and it looks even better, it plays even better. Features in the new controller are utilized with the game, the graphics do not only look sharper, but the draw distance is better, the speed is better, framerate, and there are even new features, perhaps even levels via DLC for the game on the third-generation Xbox.

GoW3 is of course an example of what this could mean, past...