Sometimes we get so obsessed with Call of Duty 4 or new Halo 3 maps that we forget there are other games people like to play online. Take, for instance, Turok, which we just learned will get five new multiplayer maps (the "Velociraptor Pack") via Xbox Live and PSN tomorrow. The DLC will run you $5 (400 points) on both systems.

Well, by "five" maps, we really should say "two," because one is a new co-op map and two are re-lit versions of already available maps. But three maps for $10 seems to be the standard now, so we're not complaining. No, what puzzles us is this: We know it's not one of the big guns, but is anybody playing Turok online? Is this a gem we missed out on?

Side note from that same release: Expect the PC version of the game to arrive on April 22 for $50.

Zero Punctuation tries to be helpful this week by beating Turok with blunt vocabulary and attempting to help other first person shooter developers not make the same mistakes. The six minor points Yahtzee lays out ask shooters not to be cheap imitations of Halo, which itself is a cheap knock-off of ... oh, let's avoid finishing that sentence for the sake of being able to turn on the car tomorrow morning with reasonable knowledge it won't explode.

This week's NSFW review of that game with dinosaurs, Turok, is embedded all cozy-like after the break.

With the revamped version of Turok apparently not shipping out until next week, you still have a little time to decide if you're going to be able to take the dino-killing brute back into your life. Now, you non-PS3 gamers have been given the tools to do so, with the demo for the game arriving on Xbox Live Marketplace. You PS3 players have already had the chance to take it for a spin.

So, here's what we need to know: What's the verdict? Are you going to be able to give Turok another chance to win you over? Or is the new effort too little too late?

After reviewing concerns about its Xbox achievement choices, Propaganda games says it'll consider removing the "team kill" award after the Turok launch early next year. Although CVG reports in its headline "Turok dev to scrap team kill achievement," the quote from Propaganda VP Josh Holmes is actually, "We are currently looking at readying a patch or solution for it if it does become an issue when the game releases" (um, looks like somebody forgot to read the story before writing the headline). That's not a definitive statement that Propaganda will nix the controversial achievement, but merely acknowledgment that the developer will consider doing so after the game releases.

Actually, a few statements made by Holmes in the interview are a little frightening. For example, he says that the team kill achievement -- which gives ten points for killing one creature, enemy, teammate and yourself in a single round -- was originally created as a joke because they found that players in their first Turok match met all the criteria. That's not exactly a confidence builder.

In a show of confidence, Touchstone (read: Disney) and Propaganda games are making a pre-order demo available now for Turok -- a full two months before the full game's Feb. 5, 2008 release. The disc has "approximately 30 minutes of gameplay from Turok" and is available at Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart.com and Game Crazy. Although there doesn't appear to a release date change for the PS3 version, the pre-order demo is currently only available on Xbox 360. The PC version of Turok will begin stalking reptiles sometime in Spring 2008.

The demo disc also includes a "premium item" and at this point.... we have no idea what that means. Our short time with Turok at E3 did impress us, so we're looking forward to getting another chance to experience the hunt two months before launch. No word if a PS3 demo will be distributed some other way, but we're just happy that Propaganda and Disney had some sense to release next year instead of dropping Turok like a cow into the raptor pit of this holiday season.

[Via Press Release]

Back a decade or so ago, the voice work in Turok for the Nintendo 64 brought no small amount of joy to our then tiny hearts. Sure, it was basically just variations on "I am Turok!" but if there's a better thing to shout after you dunk your brother's Thundercats in the toilet, we haven't heard about it.

It seems that for its big-budget modern remake, Turok is stepping up the acting with names like Timothy Olyphant (making his second game-related appearance), Ron Perlman and Donnie Wahlberg. Joseph Turok will be voiced by Gregory Norman Cruz, who you would recognize as "Bobby Stillwater" from Saving Grace if you were the sort to watch Saving Grace, which we trust you are not. Also, the main villain of the game will, in accordance with federal law, be played by Powers Boothe. Is it just us, or did Feb. 5, 2008 just get a little further away?

Propaganda Games has announced that Turok will debut on February 5, 2008. The announcement was made during Disney Interactive's press conference by Josh Holmes of Propaganda Games. Turok is Propaganda's attempt to reinvigorate the ailing franchise. The game aims to do this by providing players with a variety of gameplay choices and some particularly nasty enemies. Given the absolute glut of first person shooters (and AAA titles in general) being released this holiday season, the decision to release the game in 2008 is probably a wise one.

Over ten years after the Nintendo 64 debut of Turok, Propaganda Games is getting ready to roll out a PS3 and Xbox 360 update to the dinosaur-hunting FPS. Set on a mysterious planet in the future, Turok and a squad of elite soldiers are tasked with apprehending his former mentor, Roland Kane. Unfortunately things don't go quite as planned and Turok and crew find themselves stuck in the middle of a dense dinosaur-filled jungle.

IGN's recent hands-on with the Xbox 360 version of Turok shows that some of the technology and options in the game are "beyond sweet". For example, Turok really lets you get the gore on with creative ways of disposing of dinosaur foes. Sticky grenades on a raptor's back sounds pretty sweet to us. Combine that with an intelligent, living environment, and teammates that do more than serve as ammunition shields and "beyond sweet" sounds like a fitting phrase. Turok will be ready to storm out the gate in Q1 2008.