Just a reminder that Gen Con Oz is up and running in Brisbane this weekend - the first visit to Australia for the big-name sic-fi and gaming event.

Four whole days of computer games, board games, card games, miniature war games, role play games …and more! If you like games you’re gonna love Gen Con Australia!

Touted as “The best four days in gaming”, it is the biggest ever interactive game-playing convention in the country! More than 500 games and tournaments!

And…Meet tons of games and sci fi celebrities, from Stargate and Firefly, to Dragonlance!

Tickets $22, and Children under 12 are free with a paying adult! Four day passes are also available for $66.

There’s something for everyone at Gen Con™ Australia this Thursday to Sunday at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Doors open at 9am each day.

More details can be found over at the official Gen Con Oz website. Anyone going? Already been?

Pandemic have released a new developer diary style trailer for Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, their forthcoming action sequel. This 5 minute clip features narrated gameplay, demonstrating 3 of the game's character classes and how they can approach the same problems in different ways. Check it out the trailer right here in the AusGamers video library or stop by the screenshot gallery for some stills.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has been long championed by the PlayStation loyal as one sure-fire must-have title that would help the undecided justify the expense of Sony's shiny lounge-room monolith. Now it's here, does it live up to those highest of expectations?

We think it definitely will for some, but others should exercise caution. Find out why in AusGamers in-depth review.

Continuing our run of handheld reviews here at AusGamers is the unique Square-Enix title, The World Ends With You. This ardently Japanese title makes a run for RPG and action fusion with ultimate DS functionality thanks to a unique battle-system that works quite well on the handheld. Couple this with a very creative story that touches on youth social issues and embraces all things Japanese in the consumer realm and you have a game unlike any other.

You can check out the review right here while all our screens and game info can be found locally on our The World Ends With You game page.

Optus have revealed their pricing plans for the much-anticipated iPhone. Two options are available - post-paid (or normal contract plans) and pre-paid.

Data charges are about what you'd expect - not great. A $79 / month plan, which sits smack in the middle of the monthly contract options, includes 700mb of data. Excess data charges look like $0.35/MB.

Make sure you read the fine print, which takes up more than half the page.

d[o_0]b points out that the recent v2.40 update might be responsible for some consoles getting toasted. The update has been pulled and the official firmware update FAQ page has been updated with the following:

We are aware of a limited number of consumers experiencing an issue with installing firmware 2.40 on PLAYSTATION 3. While our consumer services department has seen a low volume of calls on this topic, we are committed to enabling the community and XMB access features delivered in the 2.40 update. In order to further assess the issue, we have temporarily taken the firmware offline for further testing. We are working diligently to isolate the problem for those few consumers and to identify a solution before we put the firmware back up. The Knowledge Center will be updated with information as it becomes available; please check back here for further details.

Stay tuned.

THQ's forthcoming third-person action romp, Darksiders: Wrath of War, has updated with a new developer diary which we've conveniently added to our database for your viewing pleasure.

As War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, players will wander about a ravaged world utilising the character's incredible strength and bad-ass weaponry. With art-direction and character design by famed comic-book artist, Joe Madureira, Darksiders is looking to be one very interesting game. Hopefully gameplay will reflect the artistic vision.

You can check out some new shots of the game here and the new video can be found here. All of this is linked directly from our AusGamers Darksiders: Wrath of War game page.

Microsoft and Ensemble Studios have released a handful of new screenshots for the upcoming RTS, Halo Wars, set in the Halo universe. For the uninitiated, Ensemble Studios are the team behind the popular Age of Empires series which bodes very well for a game that, handled by anyone else, might not be all that interesting.

We've received confirmation from Microsoft we'll be getting a much better look at this when AusGamers heads to E3 in just over a week, so be sure to check back here for regular updates.

You can see the new screens here linked directly from our Halo Wars game page.

2K Australia have today sent through word their new boxing title, Don King Presents Prizefighter, is now available for Xbox 360 across the country. For anyone who missed it, we ran a heady couple of editorial pieces for the title when recently invited to get hands-on and chat to its producer, Matthew Seymour.

You can check out our hands-on preview and Producer interview through each respective link. Otherwise, be sure to have a look at our AusGamers Don King Presents Prizefighter game page for screens, features and videos.

Day of Defeat: Source has had a major update, moving to the Orange Box engine, adding a new map, bringing in achievements and a several other bells and whistles:

Leveraging the recently released set of free services available in Steamworks, the Palermo Update adds 51 achievements to Day of Defeat: Source, player avatar displays in the scoreboard and win panel, and detailed player statistics that are integrated with the Steam Community features (www.steamcommunity.com).

In addition, this update adds support for popular features introduced in Valve's Team Fortress 2 (TF2), the PC title named multiplayer game of the year by Gamespy.com and PC Gamer. These include "nemesis/revenge" freeze cam and new effects driven by the particle system introduced to the Source engine for TF2.

Finally, this update also introduces a new map, Palermo, which is a remix of the most popular community map, dod_salerno, originally created by Magnar "insta" Jennsen.

Some cool new features which might breathe some fresh life into an old classic (well, a remake of an old classic). Fire up your Steams and check it out.

The official site mentions there's a free weekend coming up in a couple days so everyone can check it out!