Well that’s another seven days to cross off the Halo 3 countdown calendar. If you’ve been reading our coverage you’re most likely already in a state of high excitement. So maybe you’re looking for some way to use up all this nervous energy between now and the big day? If that’s the case please step this way…

Blue Dragon is a role-playing blockbuster from Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi. While the combat system may be familiar to fans of his work the colourful visuals are more akin to a cool Japanese animé, thanks to the input of Dragon Ball Z’s Akira Toriyama. Meanwhile the storyline, where three heroes develop powerful magical shadows and embark on a quest to uncover the mystery behind the purple clouds plaguing their town, brings a new meaning to the word ‘epic’ – I’m talking three discs stuffed with immersive, brilliantly realised adventure! Put simply if you like Japanese-style RPGs you’ll love Blue Dragon.

Now I’m sure I don’t need to say anything to introduce Bioshock, which is just as well because I’ve been playing it for some time now and I’m still speechless. In a word, though, ‘atmosphere’ – I’ve never seen anything like it. Dark, dank, moody and electrifying in a way that’ll have you on the edge of your seat from the moment you switch your Xbox 360 on. The undersea city of Rapture is just a stunning feat of imagination too – and that’s before we even get to the gameplay, which is a thinking FPS fan’s dream. I could continue, but it’s better that you read our hands-on feature instead.

So, do you think that little lot might keep you busy until Halo 3 arrives? They’ll look great on your brand new Xbox 360 Elite – it’s out August 24^th you know!