The head of The Outsider's developing team Frontier Developments, David Braben, has made the following brave statement (made in the face of hardcore gamers and alike): the much acclaimed titles BioShock and Halo 3 are not exactly next-gen.

"I found Halo 3 great fun, too, but also a little disappointing," he said, adding that while Halo 3's graphics have improved, the gameplay didn't offer anything new that Halo 2 didn't. His sentiments towards BioShock was more or less the same, with Braben saying that he liked the overall oldies theme of the game, but that the gameplay wasn't next-gen.

Braben believes that Frontier Development's The Outsider, which was announced almost two years ago, will be a proper next-gen game that can trounce Bungie's Halo 3 and BioShock. And how does he define a "proper" next-gen game?

For Braben, a real next-gen game lets players have the tools or the means to affect the game's story more deeply than just merely choosing the "good path" or the bad path".

That said, we couldn't wait to get more info on how The Outsider will turn out. Since we haven't heard much about the game for several months, here's a refresher: The Outsider places gamers into the shoes of Jameson, a rogue CIA agent accused of murdering the President. In the game, players can choose whether to avenge his wronged name or to take advantage of the situation and wreak havoc onto Jameson's former bosses.

The game will be released for both the Xbox 360 and PS3. There's still no concrete information about the game's release dates or the actual gameplay, but you can be sure that we'll keep you posted.

It's not even released yet and Bioshock's already the most requested game on GameFly for the week ending August 6. But then that's not very surprising even while its still about two weeks away from release, because it's recent scores from OXM and PC Gamer mark it even better than Halo 2.

The Darkness is finally losing its grip as heavyweight champion as it moves over to fifth place. It declines with a dignified air as it's the only survivor left on the chart from July 2.

The Wii's most wanted games are less erratic than the 360's. Predictably, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption took a prime spot in second place. Mario Strikers Charged rises to first place following its release while Resident Evil 4 drops to fourth place.

The PS3 seems to be experiencing an upheaval as well as Lair takes first place and Ninja Gaiden Sigma drops to third place. Heavenly Sword is getting some early attention in fourth place.

Get the full weekly request list at the full article right after the jump!

Looking for some hardcore gaming competition? If you are, then you might want to check out the Army Gaming Championships. This U.S. Army-sponsored event is one of the world's largest online video game competitions, and entrants stand to win their share of US$ 200,000 in cash and prizes.

The qualifiers for the Army Gaming Championships begin on July 4, so you might want to hustle if you're looking to join the competition. Those interested can sign up on the event's official website, which you can access via the "Read" link below. Finally, here's a list of titles that gamers can compete in:

• America's Army
• Battlefield 2142
• Call of Duty 2
• Call of Duty 3
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
• Counter-Strike: Source
• Gears of War
• Halo 2
• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

Haze is shaping up to be a pretty promising title, with a solid selection of weapons and even a four-player co-op mode. Free Radical's Dave Doak sat for an interview during a press event in Paris to tease all the trigger-happy fans itching for the game.

Doak discussed about the game's war setting with some real characters and a world commentary. The enemies here aren't locusts or chimeras, but other humans. Sounds like something that only works in WWII shooters, but Doak stated that Haze's narrative is good enough to make you play more.

He believes that even if many people pick up FPS titles to do some shooting, an involving storyline is required to keep the player's attention. With that said, Haze is supposed to have an interesting story right up to the very end.

The company is focusing on the PS3 for now, but the game will get a PC and Xbox 360 release too. While fellow FPS Halo 3 may be the biggest 360 title, Doak thinks that Halo's already won the battle but they're not afraid to join the fray. He also commented on Halo having problems during beta, and that fans from both the first Halo and Halo 2 may have different interests that will be difficult to cater to.

Just like fanboys most gamers, Doak is also surprised about how the console wars turned out. The underdog Nintendo came up on top that even his mom wants to play it. Seems like Doak is leaning towards the PS3 though, saying that the console has a lot of processing power that is locked away. Will Haze be able to unlock the PS3's true potential? We'll have to wait to find out.

The student body of Yale University will be getting smothered with some Video Games Live loving on March 31, in cooperation with the Yale Symphony Orchestra. VGL's on-going tour (with sold out tickets at its wake) hits the academic campus by 8 p.m., but not without some pre-concert festivities. Special events served on the side of the VGL performance include a video game industry educational panel scheduled a day before the concert.

Entitled "Video Games - Past, Present, and Future," the panel is open to the public without any charge. And dropping by for the said talk would be the industry's iconic composers like Lorne Lanning (OddWorld Inhabitants), Tommy Tallarico (Metroid Prime), and Jack Wall (Myst III, Mass Effect). Now, for the show's date itself, from 6 - 8 p.m., they will be hosting cosplay contests, playable games, and gaming competitions (Guitar Hero II and Halo 2).

Ok. On with the concert proper: the show starts at 8 p.m. at Woolsey Hall. One of the biggest numbers for this show would be VGL's Castlevania arrangement. It's going to be played by Martin Leung on Woolsey Hall's 104 year old 3-story pipe organ. Could you imagine hearing Castlevania on that?!

Game Politics put up a unique find that might help immortalize some of the most dedicated players of all time. According to their report, the Guinness Book of World Records will be putting up another videogame-related section with records for players who've picked up achievements for determination, high scores, and long life.

As you can see from the shot above, there are some new records being put up along with the quintessential high scores list that remains mostly the same from its previous incarnation 20 years back. Cody Miller's legendary speed run through Halo 2 on the Xbox is now listed, as well as a record for the guy who pulled off a three-hour speed run through the PS2's GTA: Vice City.

The records also hold some noteworthy people who've managed to get high scores in multiple games, such as Greg Sakundiak's records for Dragon's Lair, Tag Team Wrestling, and Twin Cobra, and Doris Self, our dearly departed mistress of all things Q*bert who got her place in Guinness for being the oldest competitive gamer to date.

Hopefully, they'll include some new categories next year, including "Person with the highest gamerscore ever" and "Most annoying leetspeak phrase used in online games." We'll be betting on "STFU Noob," for that last entry.

Screwattack recently posted a video for viewing, and it'll be dealing with the worst ways they've seen video game sprites die. You guys might recognize classic titles like Metroid and Super Mario Brothers, along with contemporary favorites like Halo 2 and God of War making it in the list.

Apart from mentioning some of the titles, we won't spoil what sort of in-game events made screwattack's list. We do note that this isn't exclusive to playable characters; expect equal merits for both friend and foe in-game. Who says Darwin awards are just for real people? Once again, enjoy the vid.

One thing though: we noticed the vids didn't mention any games for the next-gen systems like the Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360. If you guys have seen anything you think merits being said (Like getting Road-Killed in Gears of War), do let us know.

Naoneo, resident PS3 extraordinaire, has recently uploaded a video onto YouTube demonstrating a section of Resistance in which a player can access out of the normal boundaries. This "going out of bounds" situation is often demonstrated in Halo 2 and other FPS titles. It's even widely practiced in World of Warcraft, and most of which contain entirely separate, abandoned cities, islands and beautiful landscapes. Resistance however just came out on the market a few weeks ago, and already Naoneo is looking for ways to get out of the game!

So, if you are struggling to find new PS3 games that would keep you occupied, why not go back to the best launch title of the system and do some exploring? This will surely keep you occupied as you carefully scan each area for an opportunity to escape from the boundaries. Naoneo's video demonstrates one area that he discovered on the "Chimeran Conversion Center" level. For those seeking new areas, why not upload your videos as well? If so, just follow these simple guidelines before capturing a video of such an act (as posted by Naoneo) -

1. Must get out of the game without using any sort of cheat
2. Must be repeatable!, a random glitch is cool but if nobody can do it again its not much fun :)

No. This does not involve pRon. Lycos just wrapped up their annual list of the top 50 internet topics on their search engine, and they've posted the results over at 50.lycos.com as of last week, November 18.

Now, for the guys who don't wanna have to open up another browser or tab to lurk over and see if their favorite topics made its (No, not pRon), we've compiled two sets of the topics we know you guys will want to look over: Toys and videogames (For the last time, NO pRon)

For the Toys list, Sony fans will be happy to know that aside from being topped out in the list by Pokemon and the ever-popular iPod, the PS3 sits amongst the tops ten of this list, with nary the Wii or Xbox 360 in sight. The videogames list also reveals that MMORPG's are a topic favorite, with games like EverQuest, Runescape and WoW gracing the list, along with anime-themed titles like Kingdom Hearts 2, Naruto, and Gundam (They didn't specify if it's the UC or alternate universes). Of course, Halo 2's in the list.

Feel free to visit the Lycos 50 site for complete details on the rest of the top 50 searches.

The Top 10 Most-Searched Toys this holiday season: Poker; Pokemon; iPod; Neopets; Barbie; Harry Potter; Blackjack; Baccarat; Bratz; Playstation 3.

The Top 10 Most-Searched Games this holiday season: RuneScape; Naruto; Grand Theft Auto Vice City; WWE Smackdown; EverQuest; Gundam; World of Warcraft; Kingdom Hearts 2; Halo 2; Mortal Kombat.

Throughout the month of August, we've been posting entries about the 3rd annual Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). And just to remind you guys, the 3-day consumer gaming extravaganza started today (and like they said, it's not exactly like E3)! It's a gaming culturefest that includes music shows, exhibits, seminars, lectures, and, of course, lots and lots of games - the expo floor is home to Microsoft, Nintendo, and other developers who are exhibiting some of their upcoming games.

So, if some of you fanboys and girls have nothing to do during this weekend... you might have missed the events today, but maybe you'd want to drop by and join in on the all the following activities:

Saturday highlights:

Expo Floor 10:00-6:00
Halo 2 Tourney 10:30 - 2:30
D&D Open Duel 11:00-3:00
"Pitch Your Game Idea" panel 2:00-3:30
Penny Arcade Comic Strip Creation 3:30-5:00
Music Concert B 9:00-1:00

Sunday highlights:

Expo Floor 10:00-6:00
Guitar Hero Tourney 10:00-1:00
Soul Caliber III Tourney 1:30-4:30
Omegathon Final Round 4:00-6:00

These are just some highlights for the next two days, but there's much more, including more tournaments during the course of the expo.