The UpStream (Page 557)

You've been waiting for new maps for Halo 3 and here they are, chickadees. 3 new maps launching on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 points. Each map, Standoff, Rat's Nest and Foundry, offer a unique style of play.

The maps will be available starting December 11, but if you can wait until the Spring, you can get them for free.

All of the fun of Halo 3 comes to Guitar Hero 3 in the form of a free downloadable track. The theme song from Halo 3 is available for a free download from the Xbox Live Marketplace, and it is a lot of fun. Go get it before it is too late.

Have a PSP but not a PS3? There is a good chance of it. Well, now you can download PSP and PS1 games anyway. So long as you have a Windows-based PC, head on over to the PlayStation Store and rustle you up some fine gaming.

Microsoft is stepping up its fight against its own machines. Microsoft will now be looking at the discs themselves inside each console while connected to Live to detect if they are, in fact, exactly as they should be. If not, the console will be banned from the service, based on serial number, not gamertag. In other words, if you get caught, you get to buy a new console. Just don't buy it on eBay, as it is probably also banned already.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean. That is why it only makes sense that there be no blood shown.

Wait. What?

That's right. Japan has decided that there will be no blood shown in the game. You can still shoot and fight, but there will be no visible response. Why would the consequences of our actions need to be shown to make the game more realistic? That would just be silly.

The rock band The Romantics are suing Activision because of the song "What I Like About You," which has a cover version on Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s that sounds too much like them. If I'm not mistaken, the idea of a cover is to pay homage to the original artist, usually in the form of trying to mimic them down to the clothes they wear on stage.

The Romantics want the game pulled, we want the Romantics to get a life. Just be glad someone remembers you.