Gamasutra acquired data on the top 13 Xbox Live Games for 2008 from Microsoft Game Studios user research expert Bruce Phillips, which he gathered to explore the problem of why people stop playing games. The data was culled from a selection of 14,000 Xbox Live players, and the list of games are generally those that attract the more hardcore crowd. If that is the case, then why are more than 50% of them stopping playing before earning all of their Gamerscore points?

As far as MGS is concerned, this is a serious issue. Players are quitting the game without striving to explore everything. Another chart in the article tracks games that dole out achievements for simply finishing the single-player game, and the numbers are much higher for most titles, but again that speaks volumes. Players are playing through a game without exploring, or attempting to achieve more. It could be an issue of frustration, boredom, distraction, or just plain laziness.

You can read more on the data by following the link below. What I want to know is, how many of you actually go out of your way to score achievement points?

Xbox Live Gamerscore, Completion Stats Show Major Trends [Gamasutra]

The incredibly talkative and very professional actor discusses the game and the MGS film with MTV:

MTV: Metal Gear Solid, is this something you've ever talked about doing as a film?

Bale: No.

MTV: Are you a video game fan?

Bale: Yeah.

MTV: What do you play?

Bale: That. Metal Gear Solid.

MTV: You play it?

Bale: Yeah.

MTV: How many hours does that suck out of you on a weekly basis?

Bale: You know what, no, I've kinda devoted my time to more constructive things of late. You know?

Things like the new Terminator movie.

Christian Bale Likes ‘Metal Gear,' Doesn't Like Talking [MTV Multiplayer]

The Halo Wars gold master is on its way to manufacturing, well in time for its late February / early March release dates. While excited fans of the Halo series dream of discs sliding out of a giant, magical disc pressing machine, Microsoft is readying a playable demo of the game to help ease the wait. On February 5th the Halo Wars demo will be available for download, featuring the first two levels of the single player campaign along with "Chasms", one of fourteen multiplayer maps shipping with the full game. Note that the multiplayer map looks to be only playable against the A.I. is Skirmish mode, so you'll have to wait for the full game in order to hop online.

Along with the news of the demo, Microsoft Game Studios also launches a new video documentary for the game today, with the first episode now available for download via Xbox Live.

Genre Defining Xbox 360 Exclusive “Halo Wars” Goes Gold

New video documentary series and Xbox LIVE demo details revealed

Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios announced today that “Halo Wars,” the highly anticipated action strategy game based on the legendary “Halo” universe, is finished and sent to manufacturing! Created from the ground up for the Xbox 360 console and controller, “Halo Wars” combines a peerless control scheme and gameplay with an incredibly rich, epic story set 20 years prior to the story told in “Halo: Combat Evolved.” The result is a commanding experience that is a must-have for “Halo” fans and a title that is sure to become a classic amongst fans of strategy games.

As fans eagerly await launch day, a video documentary series announced today will explore defining themes of “Halo Wars” and give viewers a behind the scenes look at the game’s development and some of the people involved in its creation. The premier episode captures key elements that frame “Halo Wars” gameplay: the controls, perspective and strategy. The “Halo Wars” video documentary is available for download on Xbox LIVE and can be viewed at Xbox.com/Halo.

In addition, the recently announced Xbox LIVE public demo for “Halo Wars” will be available beginning on Feb. 5 at 2 a.m. PST in Xbox LIVE enabled regions worldwide. In the demo, players will be able master Ensemble’s groundbreaking control scheme in optional beginner and advanced tutorials or jump right into the action to experience the beginning of the “Halo Wars” story with the first two campaign missions. The demo will also include “Chasms,” one of “Halo Wars’” 14 multiplayer maps, wherein players can battle it out in Skirmish mode vs. A.I., playing either as the UNSC with Captain Cutter’s leader powers, or as the Covenant with the Prophet of Regret’s own unique abilities. Don’t forget to set your Xbox to download this demo!

“Halo Wars” is rated T for Teen by the ESRB and 16+ PEGI, and will be available starting Feb. 26 in Asia, Feb. 27 in Europe and March 3 in the Americas. For more information, visit Xbox.com/Halo or HaloWars.com.

Which brings us to Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée, a 'slideshow' movie based on Konami's game and released on UMD for the PSP last year.

Turns out (and - honestly - who saw this coming?) that even movies that resemble violent Powerpoint presentations look better on bigger screens, so Konami have 'ported' the flick to DVD. You may buy it now, if you wish.

Metal Gear Solid 2: The Movie.. I mean Slide Show [nineoverten]

This VR Missions tribute sees the protagonist encased in a cardboard box (don't ask) trying to negotiate a VR environment and take out selected targets.

Complete all the missions and you may discover exactly what is going on with the box.

Flash Gear Solid VR: The NIKITA Missions[MochiAds via Papervision blog]

Metal Gear Solid 5 Could Be a Prequel [1UP]

We'll be putting Master Chief's exploits to Crecente's latest hip hop single (as soon as he cuts it, hides it in his brush collection and some very committed Kotaku reader leaks it to Bittorrent).

Halo 2 Cutscene Library [HBO via Xbox360Fanboy]

Great science fiction arcs often occur in trilogies. It seems like it's sort of the way of it. Maybe it's a convenient number. But it allows you to have different pacing in parts of the story.

We're asked if we're going to do Bring Down the Sky for PC, and it's a consideration. We're looking in to exactly what we want to do; maybe we'll do something different, because the PC offers some different potentials.

So how did the critics like Lost Odyssey? Hit the jump for our Frankenreview to find out—an edition so good you may never need to read another review again.

GamesRadar
It's also very, very pretty, with gorgeous cutscenes and in-game models, as well as rich environments and diverse level designs...The opening of the game is literally two hours of cutscenes mixed with a few instances of you making Kaim walk across a pretty environment.
IGN
Combat in Lost Odyssey is about as traditional as you will find in a modern-day game. It is completely turn-based with a menu system that seems taken straight from 1998. Everything you would expect is included. You can attack, use an item, cast magic, or activate a skill. Weapons in Lost Odyssey are pretty boring as none hold any special properties whatsoever — they are merely an Attack rating and nothing else. And the magic is the same thing you've experienced for the past 20 years.
Worth Playing
Lost Odyssey's combat...is excruciatingly, unbelievably, agonizingly slow. A random battle can take somewhere around five to 10 seconds just to get through the opening animation of the battle. This is compounded by Lost Odyssey's rather lengthy loading times, which occur quite often and last for what feels like an eternity. Between the loading times, the pointless camera panning and the incredibly time-consuming animations, combat slows to a crawl.
X-Play
It's just a shame that the developer, Mistwalker, couldn't get beyond their own limitations. Much like SquareSoft before them, it's clear that they'd rather be making a movie. At heart, Lost Odyssey and the most recent Final Fantasy are interactive movies with character stat-building. Many things in the game are done purely for visual style and to passively push the plot.
Kotaku
Because you see, Lost Odyssey isn't really a game. OK, it is, and it's a pretty decent one, but bear with me. The Gooch said as much himself, when he offered that the game was about emotion, not innovation. It's about the story, the world, the experience. And I'm man enough to admit that, as the tears flowed down the character's Unreal Engine 3-animated faces upon [a] moment of death, that emotion had me hooked. It sounds like if you're a fan of classic Sakaguchi, you'll like Lost Odyssey.

Metal Gear Solid: Essential Collection [GameStop]
[Thanks, A_Zombie]

Halo Wars" is being developed from the bottom up for the Xbox 360 and its control scheme to ensure that we deliver a groundbreaking console RTS experience. Given that, we have no plans to develop "Halo Wars" for Windows Vista at this time.

Do The Flux [bioware] Thanks masterkeyes2!

Yes, the shirt may be the geekiest piece of apparel I've ever ordered, and no offense to the makers of the game or t-shirt, but I really wish that it were done without the Bioware or Mass Effect logos for a tad more subtlety/street cred. Still, fans who love the game as much as I do may enjoy this splurge purchase that only runs about $20 shipped.

N7 shirt [bioware]

If you frequented the official Shadowrun forums, they are planning a new place where people can meet in an off-Microsoft type property. Honestly, given that most games have digressed to a chaotic free-for-all (with a fair share of team killing to boot), and troll katana has become absurdly unbalanced, it pains me to say that you might be better off just saying bye for good.

Announcement: Forums Closing Soon [via n4g]

a. Make my head explode
or
b. Make my head explode AND cause a chain reaction leading to the destruction of the galaxy, then Universe and then space/time continuum

For whatever reason, both my head and the Universe are still intact. Maybe because this week Yahtzee has upgraded his metaphors to bacon filled sandwiches as opposed to the...less enticing prospects of weeks gone by.

Zero Punctuation [theescapist]

They talk about, "Characters" alot, do we have to be a specific character and then get to choose our party members? Or do we get to choose who our main character is?

- You design your first character. Then you meet preset NPCs with tweakable stats along the way.

What do the tech abilities, eg Electronics and Decryption actually do, and are they really that useful.

- They have dual functions, granting you attacks and access to lockers with powerups and stuff. Yeah, they're good. Think knocking down shields, unlocking the ability to take over robots, etc.

If you've completed it, how long is it REALLY? I've heard about 6 hours for the main story and a total of 25 or so if all the sidequests are done.

- I'm at 13 logged hours (but with a few major death streaks, I've probably put in far more. I haven't finished it and I don't see an end in sight. But then again, I've been doing side quests, too.

...about how much does the game make you shoot things?

- A lot.

How is the combat really?

- When you walk into a smaller area with a few enemies, the game excels. You can shoot in real time, pause and cast your teammate abilities, etc. But when you are in a large room with lots of enemies, it can get chaotic...maybe even overwhelming for the mechanics. And freezing the action to cast, zooming with a weapon, assigning NPCs to get out of the way of the freakin' guns already and healing can become a juggling act. There are moments when the combat seems brilliant, but quite a few when I'm left unfulfilled.

Do the on-screen controls/options get annoying during fight sequences? Does it in any way slow down the pacing of the game?

- Sometimes, as it slows down the pace a ton. Battles easily quadruple in length when you are controlling three characters worth of spells/special abilities.

What's the ratio of actual gameplay to dicking around with the cutscenes/dialogue tree part of the game?

- In Mass Effect, the dialog is so good (be it the writing, the interface or the voice acting) that talking really doesn't feel like a chore as it does in other RPGs. I don't know a ratio only because travel is included too, but maybe 1/3 talking 1/3 fighting 1/3 exploring...just off the top of my head.

I would like you to address if it has similarities to the mechanics of deus ex. I enjoyed the skills system, the multiple ways of going through areas, and the consequences for what I do or do not do.

- Wow, it's been a while so the skill tree isn't so clear in my head...but no, it's not like Deus Ex which offers 4 different ways to infiltrate a building through different skill sets.

I know it is a combination of the two, but what would you say Mass Effect is more similar to, KOTOR or Gears of War?

- KOTOR.

Why is the loading and framerate shitty at times and fine others?

- In terms of frame rates, the game is clearly pushing the limits of the platform. Though, without starting a flame war, I will say that I'd be interested to see the title on a bigger disc and some content loaded to the hard drive. The DVD is spinning nonstop.

Are there any early-game decisions that you look back on and wish you did differently?

- Picking a class with ranged weapons would have been a good idea. Also, in Mass Effect you can pick your character's background story and starting "lot in life," for the lack of a better term. It's information that returns frequently in dialog sequences, and offers a fun aspect of replayability.

Would a core model work or does it require an HDD?

- All I saw on the box is the requirement for 4MB of saving space, and I've heard nothing different. As I said earlier, I kinda wish it made more use of the hard drive...screw you, Arcade owners (sorry).

Is mass effect worth getting a 360 for?

- Seriously, this was asked like 5 times. Has nothing in the 360's library looked interesting at all, and then Mass Effect was announced, and you were like, "OK, maybe I'll buy the console and load up the one game...and then I'll box it back up and put it in my closet for eternity"?

On the whole, is it more FPS than RPG?

- (It's technically a third person shooter). But it's a mix. I actually think combat plays a lot like Bioware's Balder's Gate with a different perspective and some real time shooting. Make sense?

How's the female lead's voice acting?

- It's fantastic. All the voice acting is absolute top notch.

They talked a lot about the fact that you can visit all the planets in the galaxy. How true is this? Are 9 out of 10 of the planets only scanable and useless?

- You can't visit nearly every planet, but there are quests just for scanning the ones you cannot visit, so that takes a bit of the sting away.

Is there a specific way to play this game or can you approach it Oblivion style (where you essentially have multiple threads going at once) without ruining or even breaking the narrative flow?

- Yeah, it's very similar to Oblivion with well-planned side quests, but with space travel, ME certainly feels more mission-centric (which isn't a bad thing).

I'm a big fan of the more old-school Star Trek, where they were more about allegory than action. As a fan, I think Star Trek would make a great platform for allegorical gaming — games that force you to interact with relevant, controversial issues...So, would you say that Mass Effect is the kind of game that uses sci-fi as a platform for allegorical commentary?

- Yeah, any time you put 5 different species of aliens in a room you're gonna explore a lot of the same themes.

OK, that was about all of them. I'm beat. As for my general impressions of the game, it's the most I've been pulled in to an RPG in a long time. From what I've played, it looks like Bioware has managed to create one of the most cinematic games of all time without forcing the player to watch some long CG movie—allowing players to identify with the protagonist in a very refreshing and fulfilling way, even in the midst of trademark/cliché RPG elements.