Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

If you’ve got a few minutes and an Xbox 360 this weekend, head down to your local game rental and rent Rainbow Six: Vegas. Or better yet, go out and buy it. My experience so-far playing online has been everything Gears of War doesn’t. Joining games is a breeze, it’s fast, simple to understand yet there’s tons of customizable options. It also features teams of eight, so none of your friends will be left out.

I wasn’t sold on the game at first, initially you start off in Mexican slums which is identical to so many other games of this vein. Everything looked and sounded okay, but I wasn’t blown away. I think it was a bad choice by Ubisoft to start off this way because once you hit Vegas, the real fun begins.

I’ve only scratched the surface on the single player, playing on Realistic (highest initially available) difficulty which is a great challenge. The multiplayer is really where this titles shines through. This is, by far, the most effortless online matchmaking I’ve experienced on the Xbox 360. All the menus and hosted server lists load up ultra-quick, just like you’d expect them to. There’s a plethora of game modes and maps available, lag-free 4-player co-op, elimination and others. I spend my night jumping into ranked co-op matches and it was awesome.

Tycho from Penny-Arcade has mentioned some online technical issues with the game. Communication somehow dropping out mid-game among other technical issues. I’ve been looking for these problems, but have yet to see it. They apparently play every night, so I’m sure my every-other-night scheme won’t infuriate me as much. The R6 forum does say a patch is in the works for the issues, so that’s good news.

To me, this is the showpiece Xbox Live gaming on the 360. A brief word of warning, once you feel the excellence of the duck and cover in Rainbow Six: Vegas, the one-button-does-everything controls in Gears might really piss you off.