Even with Call of Duty 2 and titles like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter attracting huge crowds in the Xbox 360's early months on sale, Halo 2 has always managed to maintain its position on the top of the pile - and its ousting in favour of a new, 360-exclusive property is likely to be seen as significant.

Elsewhere in the most-played charts, Call of Duty 3 overtook its predecessor to slot in behind Gears of War. Contra is the third most-played 360 game amongst connected users, despite the release of Midway's Defender last Wednesday.

Defender Scot Thompson to go on trial with England's Walsall FC

It is the third such trial for Thompson, 25, who will be participating in a 14-day tryout with the Staffordshire-based club. Thompson also participated in tryouts with Sunderland AFC in 2005 and Coventry City FC earlier this year. In the better part of three seasons in Portland, Thompson has made 61 appearances while amassing more than 5,289 minutes for the Timbers. Thompson has also tallied five goals while adding four assists despite making all of his appearances in defense.

Thompson joined the Timbers midway through the 2004 season on loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, starting in 12 of 13 matches during his first year in Portland.

Mass Effect Gameplay trailer local

Mass Effect is a science fiction action-RPG created by BioWare Corp., the commercially and critically acclaimed RPG developer of Jade Empire, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, and the Baldur's Gate series. Mass Effect will deliver an immersive story driven gameplay experience with stunning visual fidelity. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, Mass Effect will be exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game system. As the first human Specter sworn defenders of galactic peace your mission is to halt the advancing armies of a legendary agent gone rogue. But as you lead your elite team across hostile alien worlds, you will discover the true threat is far greater than anyone imagined. Platforms: Xbox360 .

Public defender board calls order abuse of power

The judges at Orleans Parish Criminal District Court abused their powers by ordering the struggling public defender program to supply more courtroom lawyers or face jail time, the program's board of directors argues in a new court filing.