Dominate against the deadliest opponents in the most spectacular exotic locations from all around the world. Choosing from 33 racing events on several reversible, living tracks, players will compete against opponents in single player or multiplayer challenges with up to eight players- the possibilities are limited only by your own imagination! Become the master of the sky with challenging achievements, collectable rewards, and tons of tactical power-ups that range from offensive and defensive in nature and can be stacked with other power-ups. The goal is simple: if you can't overtake them, shoot them down!

Hazardous Software was kind enough to send us over two fresh 'n fruity Steam keys for Achron, so let's get ready to rumble. The two funniest gaming or Voodoo Extreme related limericks, haiku or short poems will win. Entries will be taken in the comments from now until 4:00 PM Pacific (7:00 PM Eastern) today. The winners will be announced in the Friday morning post.

Fun video.

• Sapphire Radeon 6950 2GB Toxic @ PureOverclock
• GIGABYTE GTX 580 SOC @ Bjorn3D
• ZOTAC GeForce GTX 550 Ti AMP! Edition Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
• ASUS Matrix GTX 580 Platinum @ Bjorn3D
• ASUS GTX580 MATRIX Review @ OCC

Gaming

• ZOWIE EC2 Gaming Mouse Review @ eTeknix.com
• Thermaltake eSports Meka G1 Gaming Keyboard Review @ Legit Reviews
• Thermaltake Tt eSPORTS Shock Spin Gaming Headset review @ APH Networks

Motherboards & CPUs

• Gigabyte G1.Sniper.2 motherboard review
• AMD A8 3850 A-series ALU reviewed in Metku.net
• MSI Z68A-GD65 (G3) Motherboard Review @ OCIA.net

Storage

• KFA2 - Galaxy Stream HD review
• Lexar Echo MX 32GB Backup Thumb Drive Review @ Techgage
• ADATA S511 120GB SATA3 SSD Review
• Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD @ PureOverclock
• QNAP TS-559 Pro II Network Attached Storage Review @ APH
• Crucial M4 256GB SSD Review @ Hardware Canucks

Cases

• Corsair Carbide 400R @ techPowerUp
• ThermalTake Chaser MK-I Review @ OCC
• Silverstone Temjin TJ08-E Evolution Case Review @ Ninjalane

Cooling

• Corsair Hydro Series H80 and Hydro Series H100
• Phanteks PH-F140TS 140mm Fan Review @ eTeknix.com
• Zalman ZM-SF2 Case fan @ Rbmods
• Cooler Master GeminII S524 CPU Heatsink @ Benchmark Reviews
• NZXT Sentry Mix Fan Controller Review @ OCC

Misc.

• Top 10 Things To Do With Your HP Touchpad @ TechwareLabs
• SilverStone SST-DC01B Network Data Center Review @ Legit Reviews

Let me start this off with a brief explanation of why I wanted a new Axis and Allies Computer game. First, the board for the combined version of the latest iterations is longer than a 1944 Model Mosin Nagant Carbine with its bayonet extended. Also, I only have a few friends who will actually play this monster with me. Triple A is a fine substitute for now, but I’m a shallow type who’d eventually like to see a pretty looking game with video footage when you take Berlin and music, etc. Click the photo below to get a better impression of the size of this monster.

Okay, now it’s time for the second item on my agenda: The Call of Duty XP event. I’ll be covering it for Voodoo Extreme and my flight leaves early Thursday morning. Feel free to inundate me with any questions, comments, or cries of anguish that you would like to express towards the representatives of Beachhead Studio, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, or Treyarch. I just might pass them along…. In the meantime, let's talk about the series' epic Four hour long campaigns and nuanced and realistic plots. I shall now recount the last two Modern Warfare games as I remember them.

In Modern Warfare there is a civil war raging in Russia between “loyalists” and the “ultranationalists.” The immortal Captain Price played Ghost Recon, so he knows that ultranationalists are the bad guys. Therefore, he and his team of Special Air Service operatives begin to meddle. This is the type of thing that the one armed man doesn’t want, so he comes up with a convoluted plan to divert the West’s attention while he takes over Russia. He knows that Arab radicals rank pretty high on the shortlist of peoples that Americans are allowed to kill on their Xboxes, so he teams up with one. With the one armed man’s help, Mr. Arab radical takes control of his country. This pisses America off, so they invade it.

I’m having trouble figuring out how the United States was able to even find this country as it has no name and its physical location keeps jumping around during the satellite maps that appear between levels. At one point it appears to be in Yemen, then it’s on the Persian Gulf, and finally it has moved to Iraq. Perhaps, the radical is also a powerful wizard? That still doesn’t answer what his country’s name is, so let’s just say it is the Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya and move on.

Anyway, America gets bogged down in Carbombya and you split your time between playing “Soap,” a member of Captain Price’s SAS team, and a US Marine whose name escapes me because he got nuked in Carbombya and didn’t survive to see the sequel. However, SAS is on top of things and captures the Government in exile of Carbombya, which ordered the nuking of its own capital for some inane reason. A phone call from the one armed man makes Price kill Mr. Arab radical before indulging in an extended flashback to the halcyon days when he totally blew that dude’s missing arm off. Some more shenanigans happen and the one armed man tries to nuke the US. Soap manages to abort the missiles in mid flight (they fell someplace harmless like the Azores or Iceland). Then, you get to shoot the one armed man after he mortally wounded most of your team. Roll credits.

In Modern Warfare 2 it turns out that your actions in the first game were meaningless because the Ultranationalists now rule Russia. A splinter group of ultra-ultranationalists are mad about something and have rallied behind a terrorist named Makarov. This leads the dude from Pumpkinhead and TV’s Millennium to create a super secret international task force devoted to monkey stomping Makarov. An operative from this group infiltrates Makarov’s cell and takes part in a terrorist attack on a Russian airport, but the double agent is killed in a cut scene and his corpse convinces the Russians that America was behind this atrocity. Russia then apparently uses magic to make the entire US navy disappear and, subsequently, invades the East Coast.

For awhile you play as Private Ramirez, who has to singlehandedly defend D.C. and its suburbs. Then it’s back to Soap, who takes a lovely tour of one of Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas for some reason before liberating Captain Price from a gulag. Price decides that he’d like to end the whole WW3 thing, so he steals a sub and launches an ICBM at D.C. The plan is that the nuke would go off in the upper atmosphere and create an EMP effect thus forcing an armistice because everyone’s vehicles and doohickeys broke down. The plan fails because EMPs don’t affect guns. So poor Ramirez has to do everything again. Price’s ill conceived plan also destroys the International Space Station, stranding humanity on this rock forever. I ask you, who is the real villain here?

Actually, a twist reveals that the bad guy is Bishop from Aliens. He has been trying to get a war started with Russia because he’s still mad about Carbombya. To cover his tracks or something, he kills members of the international league of badass Makarov hunters, but Price and Soap survive. Vowing vengeance, they track him down for a final showdown. Soap gets a knife in his chest, but is manly enough to pull it out and throw it in General bad guy’s face. Roll credits.

There, I think you are up to speed now. Once more, feel free to post any questions, comments, or cries of anguish that you'd like for me to convey while I'm at the event.