Only one shopping week until Christmas! And oh, what a forgettable week it is.

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Pick of the Week: Rock Band Fear not, last gen supporters, the PS2 continues to soldier on with a downsized port of Harmonix’s excellent music game. While the PS2 version doesn’t support downloadable content (obviously) or online multiplayer (unfortunately), up to four friends can still rock out locally and live out their dreams of rock n’ roll super stardom vicariously through plastic instruments.

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Runner-Up: Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command Already available for the PSP, this pint-sized RTS is opening up a second front on the Nintendo DS. The game makes great use of the DS’ touch screen as well as its WiFi capabilities, with local and online multiplayer modes. After Dawn of War and its two excellent expansions, it looks like the terrible Warhammer 40k video game curse may finally be lifted. Praise the Emperor!

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Digital Battle is reporting that Valve has finally released its patented Ridiculously In-Depth Statistics for Team Fortress 2.

While most of the statistics offer few surprises (the sniper rifle is the weapon used at the greatest average distance?!), there are a few interesting nuggets of information here, such as the revelation that the scout is actually the most played class, beating out the engineer and soldier. Valve also has heat maps detailing the locations in which most players die. Our advice: Just don’t go outside on 2Fort; you’ll live longer.

After you’ve exhausted the Team Fortress 2 stats, be sure to check out the Episode 2 statistics while you’re at it.

Fury, the PvP MMO that already tried to coax potential subscribers by offering free, week-long trials, will be going completely free to play as of December 14. Free “Chosen” accounts will gain gold and essence more slowly than those with paid “Hero” accounts, but will still have access to all weapons, abilities, and game types. Auran, the Australian developer behind Fury, hopes the game will find a strong audience in China, but regardless, the failed MMO has cost the company a great deal of money. In fact, Auran announced that most of its employees would be losing their jobs as a direct result of Fury’s failure.

With Fury’s strict focus on player versus player combat, however, the game’s troubles should come as little surprise. While a purity of focus is unquestionably a good thing, sometimes a game’s focus is so narrow, it’s premise so simple, that there simply isn’t enough there to keep people entertained. In Fury’s case, it’s hard to imagine people being interested in paying a monthly fee for something that amounts to little more than a single component of other MMOs. World of Warcraft, the genre’s heavy hitter, for example, sports of wealth of soloable and group PvE content in addition to crafting and PvP. Some titles are too niche for their own good, and it’s sad to see a developer suffer so greatly for their missteps.

Over at its US blog, Capcom has announced their plans to bring down the multiplayer servers for PS2 classics Monster Hunter and Resident Evil: Outbreak. Sadly, this is something we’re going to see more of going forward. Sega brought down its Gamecube Phantasy Star Online servers in March of this year and Konami already shut down its Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence servers in April. All multiplayer games die, eventually. For some, it just takes a really, really long time.

Keep in mind, however, that these latest server closures aren’t entirely Capcom’s fault. They write:

And just so you know, although these are older titles, we did want to make an effort to keep the fans happy and continue supporting online play. We’ve tried to extend the contract, move it someplace else, etc. It’s not happening. The hosting partner (who I guess remains nameless here) is just quitting the business entirely and doesn’t want to mess around with the time/money involved in porting anything. Thanks to everyone who has kept these games fun online for so many years.

So, who’s next to the proverbial chopping block?

Awful 300 references aside, these are fine looking action figures. Pictured is the Orc Shaman, complete with nifty animal hat and detachable claw. At around eight inches, he’s an imposing looking thing, and beautifully detailed.

The set of four also includes the Dwarf Warrior, Undead Warlock, and a Blood Elf. Prices seem to vary anywhere from $12.99 to a ridiculous $24.99 depending on where you look.

If you have a local Toys R Us, stop inside. They’re on the low side of that pricing, definitely within reason for what you’ll be getting. Note however they don’t carry the Blood Elf. She has boobs and they wouldn’t want the young ‘uns to see that stuff.

Another week of mostly ignorable titles as we draw ever closer to Christmas. The PS3 offers a trio of interesting FPS games and casual-friendly sports titles continue to dominate the Wii’s software library.

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Pick of the Week: Unreal Tournament 3 Epic’s latest installment in their long-running, deathmatch-focused FPS series hits the PS3 this week. Besides being one of the few FPS titles available for Sony’s console, Unreal Tournament 3 is also the only one of them which supports bots. Good news for those of you that prefer your multiplayer action in the absence of other people. The same breakneck speed, larger-than-life weaponry, and varied gameplay modes that have endeared the franchise to PC gamers are still intact in this console port. And best of all, the PS3 version will also support fan-made mods. Basically, if you’re still reading this, own a PS3, and haven’t started fragging other players online yet, you clearly have a pretty twisted sense of priorities. Get playing!

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Runner-Up: The Orange Box Everybody already knows The Orange Box is great, terrible box art aside, because we’ve all played it for the PC and 360. If you still haven’t spent some quality time with the single greatest gaming compilation in history – which includes Half Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal - you literally have no excuse now that it’s on the PS3. And about those reported framerate hiccups that rendered the game “unplayable?” 1up assures us they’ve been corrected in the final code. Don’t worry, diehard detractors, we’re sure Gabe Newell still hates the console.

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Cue violins.

Resident Evil Outbreak, which wasn’t exactly the best online experience in the first place, and Monster Hunter which is HUGE in Japan, are dropping their multi-player goodness.

Capcom is putting the blame on the server hosting company who is no longer supporting the PS2 in the official blog post. Many comments are requesting source code for the servers so they can host the games themselves, which after three years, doesn’t seem like an unreasonable request.

Then again, compared to some of EA’s server dropping of 49 games earlier this year, two isn’t that bad.

It’s no secret that Vivendi has been trying to sell its gaming division for years. Now, in a surprising Sunday statement, Business Wire is reporting that Activision and Vivendi have announced they are merging to form Activision Blizzard, unquestionably the largest third-party video game publisher in the world. Gaming series falling under Activision Blizzard’s umbrella include Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Guitar Hero, Warcraft, and Diablo. Blizzard has a helpful FAQ on their web site assuring fans that the merger will not affect their games, management, or day-to-day operations in any way. Though, the chances of seeing some Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftan songs as downloadable content for Guitar Hero III just increased exponentially.

This merger is huge and no doubt leaves EA and Ubisoft execs shaking in their boots. If little ol’ Eidos allegedly has the power to get a Gamespot editor fired, we shudder to think of the pull Activision Blizzard will have. Hopefully it’s enough, from the Activision side of the things, at least, to finally get some of Vivendi’s games on Steam. We get it, Vivendi, you don’t like Valve. Now stop holding your grudge so we can buy games without leaving our homes.

Gamasutra has a short but informative interview with Richard “Lord General British” Garriot (pictured), creative force behind Tabula Rasa. In it, he regrets opening the Tabula Rasa beta so early, stating that:

We burned out some quantity of our beta-testers when the game wasn’t yet fun. As we’ve begun to sell the game, the people who hadn’t participated in the beta became our fast early-adopters.

And the people who did participate in the beta, we’ve had to go back to and say “look, look, we promise: we know it wasn’t fun two months ago, but we fixed all that. Really, come try it again.” We’ve had to go out and develop free programs to invite those people back for free before they go buy it. So the beta process, which we used to think of as a QA process, is really a marketing process.

As MMOs become more and more popular, publishers are increasingly using their beta tests as marketing tools rather than for, you know, actual testing. The problem with opening beta tests to so many people so early, obviously, is that you leave many potential customers unimpressed with your game, long before it was really worth showing to the public in the first place. In that sense, all these early public betas that are so easy to get invitations to are doing more longterm harm than good.

We know it’s a crowded year, but between Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4, there’s no reason not to pop in one of these criminally ignored online enabled and give them a go. If you’ve never played them, here’s all the reason you need.

-Lost Planet: While it’s single player campaign was short, no one seemed to notice the inventive mutli-player gameplay buried inside this one. The grappling hook was a wonderful variant that made the spectacular level design easily utilized. Vertical areas were always fought over, and there was a reason for it. Once up there, you could dominate, but only if you could fend off those fighting for the same spot.

-Puzzle Fighter HD: While it’s not hard to find a match, there simply aren’t enough people playing this brilliant Capcom puzzler. It’s the epitome of versus gaming and arguably the best game on the Live Arcade, requiring skill, thought, and the right amount of luck so you’ll never feel cheated if you lose. The remixed character stats from the original version from the arcade make this rebalanced affair all the more tempting to any competition seeker.

-Crackdown: Once this Halo 3-beta containing game became obsolete, so did the awesome co-op play. Not many people realized how much more there was to do aside from take out bad guys. However, the amount of modes you could make up on the fly, from rocket launcher dodging, impromptu racing, and jump challenges made every co-op run a memorable one.

-Chromehounds: From the moment is released, Chromehounds grabbed a hardcore base and, well, that was about it. The high learning curve was likely a turn off, and anyone who chose to plunk down their money for the single player campaign will never come back. However, once inside, you’ll never let this one go. The daunting level of customization, intense battles, team based strategy, fully realized world, and perfect controls make this the best Live game no one played.

The post-Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) slump continues with an influx of licensed games and quick ports. And yet, a few brightly shining rays of hope pierce the shovelware darkness.

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Pick of the Week: Universe at War: Earth Assault Developed by Petroglyph, the fine folks behind the excellent Star Wars: Empire at War, this Sega-published title promises to be one of the most interesting RTS games in recent memory. You can control one of three distinctly different aliens factions and use Earth as your fully-destructible battleground. Each race features wildly different units, tech trees, and resource gathering methods. Be sure to check out the demo at the game’s official site. Universe at War will be hitting the Xbox 360 in early 2008, with PC and 360 owners able to duke it out online.

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Runner-Up: Eve Online: Trinity Eve’s latest free expansion introduces new ships, missions, items, and a massive graphical overhaul to the successful sci-fi MMORPG. The game’s about as hardcore as they come, but the greatly improved graphics should help ease recovering WoW-aholics into their next MMO addiction. If you have the time and the patience, Eve’s an incredibly deep game that’s worth looking into, and with this free expansion just now hitting servers, there’s never been a better time to get started. How many other MMOs are powered by absurdly powerful super computers, after all?

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Flagship’s freshman game has been having a rough time of it. As the Hellgate: London beta ended, the game was still filled with bugs and design issues and, like the demo itself, did little to impress many potential buyers. Then came news that subscribers were being billed multiple times and the game’s lower-than-expected review scores, some harsher than others. Now, Amazon.com has cut the game’s price to $34.99, barely a month after its release. The Collector’s Edition is the same price. In this thread, NeoGAF user Jibber Hack reports he bought the game at Best Buy for the reduced price.

Even with its recent 0.6 patch, the same problems that plagued the beta persist: bugs, frequent crashes, balance issues. The fact that Hellgate: London still hasn’t reached version 1.0 should be a huge warning sign to those of you still on the fence about purchasing the game. This is a game that was rushed to retail and now Flagship is trying to play catch-up. Will they manage to scrape together a worthwhile game six months down the road? Only time will tell. Hopefully there are still some people playing it when and if they finally get it right.