This week on Outside Xbox

A week that gave us the highs of Pancake Day and the lows of Aliens: Colonial Marines can be described only as an emotional rollercoaster. Elsewhere on this wild ride, we examined sci-fi sandbox shooter sequel Crysis 3 in Show of the Week. Once again it's a showcase for Crytek graphical wizardry and that all-powerful cybernetic onesie, the Nanosuit.

Valentine's Day also happened. Outside Xbox celebrated with a sampler of romantic dating sims from Xbox Live's Indie Games. These sims work to the same thesis on dating as Steak And A BJ Day, on which men are compensated for having suffered like heroes through Valentine's Day a month earlier. That is, relationships are a point-scoring struggle in which each partner must tip the balance of happiness in their favour or die alone and unfellated.

Then we turned to the rumours the next Xbox will block pre-owned games. Though that might seem like good business sense at first, given how often gamers opt for the dog-eared copy over the shrink-wrapped one, there are several reasons Microsoft won't go for an always-online pre-owned blocking system. Six of them, in fact:

That's all for your weekly Outside Xbox update. If Aliens: Colonial Marines' critical drubbing can't keep you from picking it up this weekend, you might find helpful these video guides to the secret locations of Newt's doll head and the legendary weapons from the Aliens movie.