While the gaming world awaits the November release of Epic Games' "Gears of War 2," Xbox 360 gamers can get some extra bang for that copy of "Halo 3" that's sitting around. And it's free. On Monday, July 7, developer Bungie is celebrating "Bungie Day." This year, Bungie is celebrating this day with the release of new multiplayer map Cold Storage, as well as new gamer pics and a Bungie Day Xbox 360 dashboard theme, all for free on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. The “Halo 3” Legendary Map Pack will also drop in price to 600 Microsoft points in honor of the occasion.

The tradition of Bungie Day was born in part due to the significance the number 7 has played in all of Bungie’s games over the years, including the “Halo” series (7 Halo rings, Master Chief is Spartan 117, etc.), and each year the developer makes a point to use this date to treat fans to something special – usually new content, a free download or other surprise.

LAS VEGAS--THQ is riding a wave of positive buzz after the company hosted a large contingent of gaming, sports and mixed martial arts press at The Palms Casino Resort Friday evening in Las Vegas this weekend to give an exclusive first look at its spring 2009 Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game, "UFC 2009: Undisputed."

The event showed off "synergy," or the cross-media promotion of the fighting sport in games, TV show and a live sporting event. Such synergy will be a hallmark of the next five years of THQ's exclusive video game license with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). SpikeTV's GameTrailers TV and web video show hosted the world premiere of the game's trailer on Friday night. Attending press could post this game trailer Saturday morning, so it’s now all over the Web.

In another convergence between the UFC and its new game series, the game press could see the game at the same time they could see the UFC fight Saturday afternoon inside

Just how popular are videogames this year? Through the first five months of 2008, overall sales of game hardware, software and accessories has exceeded $6.58 billion. That’s a 32 percent bump over last year’s record pace. Looking back a decade, this total already tops the entire annual take of all game sales in 1997.

According to Anita Frazier, videogame analyst for The NPD Group, 2008 should be another one for the record books. She estimates that by January 1, U.S. game sales should tally $21 to $23 billion. The current economic woes that are hitting many industries have actually been helping game sales, as more families choose to play games at home rather than travel. Historically, games have always been recession-proof.

For the month of may, total industry sales accounted for $1.12 billion (up 37 percent year-over-year), while software sales climbed 41 percent to $536.9 million and hardware sales increased 34 percent to $428.6 million. Accessory sales,

When it comes to The Hulk, it's amazing that Universal Pictures and Marvel Studios even attempted another big screen adaptation, given that Ang Lee's original film was so boring and ILM's special effects were so lame. On a positive note, the game tie-in from Vivendi Games and Radical Entertainment, which was a sequel to the film, served up some solid Hulk action--although the David Banner stealth levels were horrible. In between films, gamers have had a truly incredible, non-movie licensed game, also from Vivendi and Radical Entertainment, called The Incredible Hulk: Incredible Destruction. Still available for a sony on Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube, I recommend purchasing this one if you're in the mood for some Hulk gameplay.

The new Sega game from Edge of Reality, which is available on every platform, is anything but incredible. In fact, you can plow through it on a Saturday without any desire to go back for more. The game has a rushed feel, as many Hollywood licenses do.

WALT DISNEY WORLD—For those of you who haven’t been keeping track, THQ will unleash its 10th WWE Smackdown game this fall. The franchise dates back to the original PlayStation, when The Rock ruled the then-WWF. Since that time, THQ has sold over 37 million copies of its WWE games worldwide through the end of 2007 and generated over $1 billion in revenue. Last year’s Smackdown vs. RAW 2008 sold over 5 million copies globally and generated over $200 million in sales through the end of 2007.

So the WWE is as much a cash cow for THQ as Wrestlemania is for the WWE. The real world of professional wrestling and the virtual collide every year as THQ brings its developers and a contingent of international press to the host city of Wrestlemania. This year the game maker set up shop at Walt Disney World, just a half-hour drive from Orlando’s Citrus Bowl, where over 70,000 fans gathered to watch Ric Flair retire and The Undertaker remain undefeated at Wrestlemania