Boomtown X

Activision has released a playable demo of Apache Air Assault on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The download weighs in at around 800MB.

The demo features three missions - the first a training run, then two live fire missions. Set on realistic it's great fun - the FLIR gun camera is spookily like the footage we're used to seeing on the news. If you're a fan of 16bit era sims then this is something you really should download.

Despite a change in policy regarding sexuality within gamertags Xbox Live is still getting it wrong. Microsoft managed to ban the account Josh Moore because his gamertag featured the town where he lived - Fort Gay.

What makes matters worse is that when Moore called Microsoft to solve the problem - the company's representative was unwilling to help.

Microsoft's Major Nelson has once again posted the schedule for Xbox Live releases in the coming weeks.

Points of interest this week include Shank, a super-stylish side-scrolling action game with vibrant cartoony visuals, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, which compliments its movie and comic inspiration with delightfully old-school sprites and charming gameplay.

You'll find the full list after the jump.

I like those cute dumpy little avatars in my Xbox 360, especially as mine can't be as fat and ugly as I am in real life. I exist in a more perfected cuddly digital form while gaming.

However it looks like Rare is going to have to make changes to the avatars for the launch of the Kinect motion controller. It seems the cartoon proportions don't work properly for hand/eye coordination when faced with the camera-based motion control system.

"Nick Burton, senior programmer at avatar creators Rare, says that they'll become more realistic and will essentially be 'Avatar 2.0'."

Source: OXM