Issue 18 - Out Now

Chris Stead, GamePro Australia

03/10/2006 12:45:00

OUR BIGGEST ISSUE EVER: Over 140 Pages of Gaming Goodness and Two Covers to Collect.

Pro Discussions: News sections are old news - Australian GamePro knows you want more from a magazine than just the bare facts, so we've gotten together our entire team of expert writers and let them go wild with their personal opinions of the latest and hottest topics in gaming news. This month that includes: Ubisoft's impressive Wii support, Microsoft's controversial plan to bring real money transactions into games, redefining the term 'social' in context of our new online age, should gaming be called an art-form?, XNA and user created content on Live, Microsoft locking out third-party controllers, tall-poppy syndrome and Sony, TV networks ignoring gaming, games getting too easy, doctors training with digital media, a RARE developer profile, our top ten most annoying game enemies and more...

ProLifestyle: Getting into the nitty and gritty of this lifestyle we call gaming, our expert writers undertake thorough examinations of the burning issues that influence our existence. This issue...

• Microsoft's Secret Weapon: How important a role will the simple GamerTag play in determining the winner of the next-gen console wars?
• PlayStation 3 Delayed!: It's official, the PS3 will not hit our shores until March 2007. We take an in-depth look at the pros and cons of what this means for the Aussie market including the ten ways Sony can reinvigorate the product.
• December 7th - Wii Day: The date is out there and we give you a full run-down of what this launch means, how much money you are going to need and what games you'll be able to play.
• dE3ad: So the Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3) is no more. Our show-veteran takes a walk down memory lane, talks to the local industry about how the decision will affect our lives and peers into the future.
• This is My Weapon, This is My Gun: Our troops are in Iraq alternating between real combat and their consoles: and they can't tell the difference. Shock comments from the front.
• Playing Video Games for a Living: We talk to some of the only professional gamers in the world to suss out how they got into it, and whether it is worth it.>/li>

ProSetup: GamePro helps you get the ultimate gaming set up. We review the latest in third-party controllers, the best PSP peripherals, vibrating and massaging gamer chairs and new built-in liquid cooling PC cases. We also guide you through the process of choosing, buying and setting up a new motherboard, including a run-down on the best makes out there. As well as all this we identify the best value for money PC components on the Market, so you can play your games at the highest quality.

WIN OVER $3000 IN PRIZES: Software, hardware and limited edition merchandise up for grabs for lucky readers.

Features: You can only get them one place, Australian GamePro Magazine!

• Need For Speed: Carbon Exclusive: We are the first Aussies to get our hands-on this massive next-instalment of the NFS series> We also talk to the makers to go beyond the game.
• The Sims 2: Pets Exclusive: The Sims series is going multi-format for its latest excursion and we are the first Aussies to get our hands on. Read up on the game's new animal mechanics as well as the word straight from the developers mouth.
• Lock 'n' Load Call of Duty 3 World Exclusive: The biggest WWII series of the them all is ramping up for a massive pre-Christmas release and we got a next-gen world exclusive on not only the PS3 and X360 versions, but the Wii as well.
• 20 Games that Changed the World: There have been many great games since our industry begun, but which 20 had the greatest influence on shaping the culture as we know it today?
• Canis Canem Edit: Previously known as Bully, is this RockStar's (the developer of Grand Theft Auto) next masterpiece. Well we have played it...
• Stranglehold: Having reinvented the action movie for the world in the early nineties, John Woo is set to do the same for the action video game. We take a fresh look on this wicked looking bullet-fest.

Interviews: We chat to the big names in the industry.

• Gears of War: Epic Games spill the beans on this Halo killer.
• Mass Effect: BioWare, the developer of Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic talks about their next RPG thumper.

Sneak Previews: We fill you in on the big games at various points of development.

• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
• WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2007
• Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• Rainbow Six: Vegas
• Battlefield: Bad Company

ProHandheld: If your pleasure comes from handheld fun, then this is your gaming hub.

• Killzone: Liberation Review
• Starfox Command Review
• Ridge Racer 2 Review
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Review
• Gradius Collection Review
• Alex Rider: Stormbreaker Review
• Passport to London Review
• Tenchu: Dark Secret Review
• 50 Cent: Bulletproof G-Unit Edition Review
• MotoGP Review
• Mario Hoops 3 on 3 Review
• Metal Slug Anthology Preview
• V8 Supercars Challenge Preview
• PLUS: ProMobile with Saints Row, Ratchet and Clank: Go Mobile, The O.C, Glory of the Roman Empire, Final Fight, Super Puzzle Fighter II and handset reviews.

ProReviews: The final verdict on all the latest game releases.

• Company of Heroes
• Just Cause
• LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
• Destroy All Humans! 2
• Test Drive Unlimited
• Yakuza
• Saints Row
• Dead Rising
• Singstar Legends
• EyeToy: Play Sports
• Joint Task Force
• Madden NFL 07
• Ninety-Nine Nights
• NHL 07
• FIFA 07
• GTR 2
• Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales
• EyeToy Lemmings
• Painkiller: Hell Wars
• Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny
• Darkstar One
• Let's Make a Soccer Team
• B-Boy

ProUpdate: Played your games out? Don't bin them yet - check here for the latest add-ons, expansions and bonuses. This includes a look at what is available on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Top 10: Our look at the top 10 games franchises of all time comes to a head with the number one title: who is the hero in green who takes it out?