The once populous combat arena of Winter 2009 is an echoing shell. A few notable action franchises still circle in the shadows, IPs like Assassin’s Creed 2 and Pandemic’s plucky original The Saboteur, but the vast majority have migrated to the over-subscribed stomping grounds of Spring 2010. There in the centre of the unspoiled, uncontested sand stands the usurper, M16 dangling absently from one hand. Despite contentious server support and pricing decisions, Modern Warfare 2 seems to have won the struggle for Christmas revenue before it even begins.

But has it? There are inhuman shrieks from the auditorium, a confused surge of rotting bodies against the barricades. Left 4 Dead 2 has had its own battles to fight on the road to release, against Australian ratings boards, disgruntled fans and over-sensitive US newspapers, and the Infected are in no mood for further upset.

The face-off between Valve’s necrotic B-movie homage and the military shooter’s military shooter turns on more than their simply being released a week apart: the two games are in most respects polar opposites. So which one should you be taking home with you (or at least, which one should you be taking home first) come mid-November? Let the tournament begin…

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review It's the biggest release of the year. Will it get the biggest score? FPS Gamer's Kristan Reed takes on Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2....
2. Battlefield team play “has always been deeper”, says DICE producer Karl-Magnus Troedsson says other multiplayer shooters are "still actually in team deathmatch mode", fail to nurture real teamwork....
3. Opinion: MW2’s genius shouldn’t blind us to controversies Price hiking, airport massacres, Activision's miserly attitude to review code - Modern Warfare 2 has a fair few blotches on its mark sheet. FPS Gamer takes stock....