If you're looking for video game statistics, you have a lot of chances to grow old going through all the interesting stuff you're going to find, believe me! A few days ago, we were talking about a very important question - "Are Video Games Harmful?," and after laughing a little when seeing the results of those studies we talked about back then, now we're getting really serious, because it's all about money. To be more accurate, we're going to talk about US games sales data released by NPD for the month of July, 2008. Ready or not, here we go...


Since it's all about the numbers, then let's see the video game statistics for July, shall we? Here they are...

1. NCAA Football 2009 (360): 398,000
2. Wii Fit (Wii): 370,000
3. Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS): 310,000
4. Wii Play (Wii): 284,000<-125x125 Button - right->
5. NCAA Football 2009 (PS3): 243,000
6. Soul Calibur IV (360): 219,000
7. Mario Kart Wii (Wii): 175,000
8. Rock Band (Wii): 166,000
9. Soul Calibur IV (PS3): 156,000
10. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (360): 148,000

Even more, when talking about the video game statistics for July, we should also remember that sales topped the $591 million mark, a 41 percent increase over last year's same period. The sales for 2008 so far got really near to the $5 billion mark, but didn't manage to reach it before July's end.

Other than the above, I think the numbers speak for themselves. After all, it's sales that push game series forward or into oblivion. I am sure most of us remember at least one or two great game series that were discontinued simply because they didn't arrive at the right time, in the right place, and the public wasn't ready for them yet...

First, it was Far Cry. Then, Crysis came along and changed the FPS world, and now Far Cry 2 and Crysis Warhead are going to take Crytek's fame to a level higher than ever before. Fortunately, they won't take system requirements even higher than Crysis did. After all, one of the main problems with Crysis, at least when it was released, was the fact that only a few gamers had systems capable of running it properly with quality settings pushed to the max. The good part is that, due to optimizations of the original CryEngine, Crysis Warhead is expected to run better than its predecessor. Leaving Crysis aside, today we'll find out what kind of computer setup you need to run Far Cry 2 properly...

These being said, let's see what Ubisoft has to say about Far Cry 2's system requirements... According to Dominic Guay, Lead Technical Director, "It has always been our intention to make Far Cry 2 as accessible to everyone as possible, and we have worked continuously to optimize Far Cry 2 to achieve this goal." The detailed requirements look like this:

Minimum specs

CPU: Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz, Pentium D 2.66 Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or better
GPU: NVidia 6800 or ATIX1650 or better, Shader Model 3 required, 256 Mb of graphic memory
RAM: 1 GB<-250x250 Square - right->
Media reader: DVD-ROM

Recommended specs:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Family, AMD64 X2 5200+, AMD Phenom or better
GPU: NVidia 8600 GTS or better, ATIX1900 or better. 512 Mb of graphic memory
RAM: 2 GB
Sound: 5.1 surround sound card
Media reader: DVD-ROM

Supported Graphics Cards:

NVidia 6800, NVidia 7000 series, 8000 series, 9000 series, 200 series. 8800M and 8700M supported for laptops. ATI X1650 – 1950 series , HD2000 series , HD3000 series , HD4000 series.

Unfortunately, the accurate release date is still a mystery, so we'll have to be happy knowing that Far Cry 2 is expected to drop by this Autumn...

One of the things I hate about original games is that some of them are so well protected, that I have to keep the CD or DVD in my drive to start it up and to play. Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of pirated games, but I hate not being able to install the game, use the serial provided with it, and then simply put the DVD or CD back to its case, into my library, and forget about it for a while, until someone comes along and I have to show him or her my latest acquisitions. Fortunately, some game producers decide to fix this, and today the time has come for Halo players to cheer and jump for joy!

Created by Bungie and published by Microsoft, Halo: Combat Evolved needs no introduction, so let's get straight to the point - the 1.0.8.616 patch for the PC version of this notorious game has just been made available to the public, and after installing it, you'll never be required to insert the CD every time you play again, but one "annoyance" remains - the need to input your unique CD key to play online. Anyway, that shouldn't be a problem, as long as you purchased the game, right?<-125x125 Button - right->

The patch is also said to contain "several fixes for server-crashing security bugs," and you can manually download it from the Bungie website.

Unfortunately, it seems "anti-aimbotting is an arms race that we're not going to enter for this old game, and this patch doesn't address that or any other feature-level changes. I should also note that Bungie does not officially support Halo PC (which is owned by Microsoft, not Bungie) but since the build machine is under my desk and not at MS, I fixed these several bugs as a favor to the community."

Well, since it's a pretty old game, we should be happy with what we got, after all. Thank you very much, guys, in the name of those thousands Halo: Combat Evolved fans still out there!

No matter what others may say, the future of gaming is online. The bandwidth available is impressive, in most countries, the computers of gamers everywhere are getting more powerful with each month passing by. Usually, I hate online FPS games, mostly because they are full of cheaters, and my skills are not suited to match good players anyway. Despite all these, there are some shooters I'll never forget, like the Wolfenstein series, the Quake series, or Unreal Tournament. Fallen Empire: Legions is not a notorious title yet, but looks good enough to make me interested, so here it is!

Why isn't Fallen Empire notorious yet? Well, it just entered Public Beta stage, what were you expecting? More than just another shooter, Fallen Empire: Legions is a fully-featured 3D game that you can play inside your browser, so nothing needs to be installed on your hard drive. Great, now you can pretend you're working with more success than before!

According to Josh Williams, CEO of GarageGames, "Launching 'Fallen Empire: Legions' is a huge milestone for the company. Not only have we proven that technically the game can exist in a browser, but we are delivering on our promise to gamers of fun, 3D action games nearly any place they can get on the Internet."

While nothing is new, it's great to be able to play Deathmatch or Capture the Flag inside your browser, don't you think? To sign up for the beta, simply sign up at www.instantaction.com, and then get in the game. See you there! ;)

A game designed primarily for multiplayer slaughter, with up to 64 players allowed on a server, as well as 16 players in single player mode against bots, Battlefield 2142 will be 2 years old this October, but it doesn't show any signs of getting old. On the contrary, back in early March, 2007, EA Games released the Northern Strike booster pack, including new maps, unlocks, and vehicles. Today, the time has come for an update to the game, bringing the current version up to 1.50.

<-125x125 Button - left->As previously stated with the Beta release, this update comes with a bunch of new features, as well as new content, aside from various fixes, as we're all used to happen with game updates.Here's what's new in Battlefield 2142 1.50:

FEATURES

- Added community maps, Wake Island 2142 and Operation Shingle
- Added the ability to use widescreen resolutions.
- Added No Vehicles mode.
- Added Conquest Assault mode.
- Changed the volume control for the Commander Voice Over on request of the esports community.
- Changes made to pod steering mechanism to improve control while limiting pod surfing.

FIXES

- Fixed the loading issue caused by corrupt Radial.cdb file
- Various changes made to prevent cheating.

WAKE ISLAND 2142

Narrowed down the land bridge
Fixed FAVs not spawning more than twice
Add wrecked gunship to titan deck
Shorten FAV spawn time
Add FAV to Beach
Add crates to top of dock
Create path from Village to other side of island
Add anti tank gun to Village
Add anti air gun to Beach
Add additional blockades against mech movement at entrance to dock
Get rid of Island flagpole
Add crate next to antenna at main base to help people jump up on it
Fix small bug with beached ship at Beach
Add trees back to small island
Reduce the respawn time of EU gunship 30 -> 20
Increased docked titan pod velocity 38 -> 41
Move AA gun at main base
Crates/barrels on Titan deck
Reduce FAV spawn delay
Move PAC assets to island tips
FAV spawn at main base - cars start rolling forwards
At Office and Checkpoint, the antitank can kill the titan AA gun
Put tank barriers in front of dock entrance
Bring consoles on docked titan back to normal strength
Indestructible PAC titan
Limit PAC to only one gunship
Increase docked titan pod launch velocity 35 -> 38
Add ladder on other side of dock
Turn EU gunship 180 degrees
Add spawnpoints on top of dock to Dock CP
Increase the time it takes to capture Core flag
Moved PAC titan back
Replace stairs up to dock with ladder
Fix docked titan pods launching backwards
Reduce the respawn time of EU gunship 80 -> 30

OPERATION SHINGLE

Added NO VEHICLES mode.
Added ASSAULT LINES mode.
Preview Map updated to reflect proper Team positioning
Tickets have been reversed. Attacking team now has extra 30 tickets.
Columns/Command Center/Refugee Camp flags cannot be capped from a level below their locations.
Battle Walkers no longer do the MOONWALK on spawn
minculldistance has been removed

At last, you should know where to download this update, don't you think? For now, you can choose one of the following download locations: Largedownloads(incremental/full), TV2 Battle.no(incremental/full), Multiplay(incremental/full) and Internode(incremental/ full).