So it's a bit of a slow news day so far, how about a giveaway to liven things up? Okay, if you insist.

Thanks to Microsoft in the UK, today we're giving away one copy of ODST and two of the rather limited, specifically created, ODST controllers. We'll keep it simple because by the looks of most of you, you're still recovering from the rather heavy festive period and all that sherry. First place takes a copy of the game and a controller, second place grabs a controller. If you haven't picked up ODST yet either, there is also a Halo: Reach beta that will be running in spring 2010, so this might be the last chance to get in on it... you know, without buying the game yourself.

Head on over to the forums for the signup thread and the giveaway's rules.

Well, people have been asking about this for over two years now. And the time has finally come! EA have announced the server for the game will be turned off on Feb 2nd. We have chosen Sunday January 31st for the date. The times will be:

7PM: Central Europe (GMT +1)
6PM: UK (GMT)
1PM: US Eastern (GMT -5)
Noon: US Central (GMT -6)
11AM : US Mountain (GMT -7)
10AM : US Western (GMT -8)

For more information, please check this thread.

For a complete list of updates to our achievement lists and guides for December, as well as a list of those who contributed to the updates, click "Read More" below.

Being inquisitive human-beings, what’s the first thing we do now we’ve ushered in the new year and 2010 is upon us? Simple, we look back. We can’t help it, we’re very reflective creatures, and there's nothing better than spending the first day of 2010 looking back at the last year of gaming. There’s plenty of time ahead to look forward, so for today, we’ll look back at the gaming year’s highs and lows. Just how successful was 2009?

Today’s Top 5 is the only topic to make a triumphant return from last year. That’s partly because of how popular that turned out to be, but mostly because we love fiddling with stuff that’s way off the yellow brick road.

Easter eggs are a good sign that the development team are not only enjoying their job, but that they’re having fun with game they’re working on as it's effectively fan appreciation because it does nothing in terms of the gameplay. That being said, we love fan service and we love easter eggs!

Let’s get on with the show, which this time, is spoiler free. What we lack in spoilers though, we make up for in awesomeness.

On behalf of all the staff here at x360a, I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas. Hope you all have a great holiday- remember to eat, drink and be merry! Hopefully Santa brings you lots of 360 related goodies to kick back and relax with. He should be just about finished with our friends in Australia now, and soon to be winging his way towards Europe! Remember to check out his route here.

Merry Christmas everyone!

P.S. Click here to see the full version with all the staff, and put some names to faces...well, Avatars!

For some reason Gamefreak, Sirius and Kaleido are hiding behind tall people in the pic, so you can't see them :p

For the last couple of days now we’ve let the visuals and the atmosphere do the talking. Today we throw all that out the window and focus on the action, in what we deem to be our Top 5 Set Pieces of 2009.

In order to make this year’s Top 5 set piece list, the games and their respective scenes had to not only wow us, but also offer non-stop action, have plenty of variation, whilst additional brownie points were awarded for those that tried something new.

As it was yesterday, expect a spoilerific article.

We all love a good cutscene. It’s the way in which the vast majority of developers decide to deliver their story and we don’t know about any of you, but we sure love our stories around here.

In the third festive Top 5, we turn out attention to the year’s greatest cutscenes, either using the in-game engine or CGI cinematics to deliver their message. To make our Top 5 this year, you had to do one of three things, either; deliver an action packed cutscene that’s stunning to watch, try something new or last but not least, appeal to our emotional side. Hopefully all three, but that’s probably a little too much to ask. Join us as we take a look at the year's best as we countdown our 5 favourite cutscenes.

Oh yeah, this one is pretty much spoilerific as well, so unless you’ve played all the year’s top titles, you may want to wait and come back here when you have. You’ve been suitably warned.