Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

In its first 24 hours of release, Modern Warfare 3 - the eighth Call of Duty-branded video game - sold $400 million worth of copies, the highest-grossing launch of an entertainment product ever. It is also the most vicious and morally ugly game I have ever played.

It is perhaps not a great fall from the militarism and glorification of war found in previous Call of Duty games to the revelry in violence of this installment, but it is a fall. The first Modern Warfare struggled to find heroics in a war largely devoid of them, but it tried. Modern Warfare 3 pays lip service to the grim realities of war but is finally just sadistic.

'Kinect Adventures'

Microsoft's Kinect sensor (released November 4 for the Xbox 360 system) is a different beast from the Wii and PlayStation Move. Employing a camera to create controller-free gaming, the Kinect sensor puts you into the game like none of its competitors. There are a few kinks in the system, but the overall product goes a long way toward making me a believer.

While Wii simply picks up the controller's movements, your entire body and play space are utilized for Kinect games. For example, if a ball is flying at your left side, stepping to the right will dodge it, or if a hurdle is in your running path, you can physically jump over it. And unlike the Wii-too approach of PlayStation Move, Kinect is a genuine step forward for motion-controlled gaming.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

After another trip to World War II last year for the annual Call of Duty series, Infinity Ward has finally released the sequel to its monster hit Modern Warfare, and it has already gone beyond anyone's expectations. In the first 24 hours the game was available, more than 4.7 million copies were sold, generating $310 million in revenue, Activision reported. That made Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 the biggest entertainment launch in history, with higher day-one receipts than The Dark Knight movie or the final Harry Potter book. The buzz around Modern Warfare 2 is outrageous, but it's well deserved.