Software - Games 2006 -2007

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion was voted Game of the Year in 2006 by multiple publications including G4, IGN Reader's Choice, 360 Gamer Magazine and the Golden Joystick Awards. Oblivion is a Role Playing Game (RPG) based in the world of Cyrodil in Tamriel. After the mysterious and untimely death of the Emperor, the throne of Tamriel lies empty. With the Empire ready to crumble, the gates of Oblivion open and demons march upon the land - laying waste to everything in their path. To turn the tide of darkness, you must find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel. You create your character from scratch, from a choice of 9 races you can change skin tone, eyes, face shape etc. You can fully customise your characters armor and weapons and the strength and value of items increases as you progress through the game. Oblivion has around 100 hours of gameplay and the Expansion pack, The Shivering Isles, has around 20 hours of play.

Gears of War is a tactical third person shooter developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game centers on the soldiers of Delta Squad as they fight to save the human inhabitants of the fictional planet Sera from a relentless subterranean enemy known as the Locust Horde. The player assumes the role of Marcus Fenix, a former prisoner and war-hardened soldier. The game is based on the use of cover and strategic fire for the player to advance through the scenarios; a second player can play co-operatively through the main campaign to assist. The game also features several online game modes for up to eight players. The game received mainly positive reviews, mostly 9+/10 from publications such as Gamespot and IGN. Gears of War has been highly successful since its release; it sold over three million copies in just ten weeks and was the fastest-selling video game of 2006, and was the second-most played game over Xbox Live during 2007. Gears of War 2 is to be released in Q4 2008 and a movie is to begin filming in 2009 then released in 2010.

In video-gaming the year 2007 will be remembered for one thing, the First Person Shooter Halo 3. Halo 3 represents the third chapter in the Halo trilogy—an international award-winning action series that grew into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 14.5 million units worldwide, logging more than 650 million hours of multiplayer action on Xbox Live, and spawning action figures, books, a graphic novel, apparel, an upcoming film adaptation, and more. Halo 3 broke many records. The first day of sales reached $170 million, setting the record for highest gross of an entertainment product within 24 hours of its release. By January 3rd 2008 Halo 3 had sold 8.1 million copies. Many publications such as Edge and Eurogamer gave the game 10/10, TIME magazine awarded it game of the year. There were 3 retail versions of the game available, standard which contains just the game, Limited which had the game, artbook and making of DVD. The Legendary edition contained everything in the limited edition plus another DVD and a scale replica of the Master Chief's helmet.