Fair warning to those of you who play your modded Xbox 360 on Xbox Live: Microsoft is breaking out the ban hammer. Again.

In lieu of an actually interesting collection of words and punctuation marks, I present this debate that has nothing to do with us: the weather in China. It seems that they’ve figured out how to control the weather over there using super-duper technology called cloud seeding. You may have heard of it. The problem is that officials there are blaming scientists for causing a major snowstorm; more snow is expected in the coming days. Basically, it’s snowing too much, too early, and the powers that be aren’t happy.

I know something about MMA, but I know next to nothing about boxing. Yet even I can laugh about the latest EA Sports prediction, via Fight Night 4, that says that Manny Pacquiao will beat Miguel Cotto this weekend. I laugh because saying Pacquiao will win the fight is like saying the sun will rise in the morning. (Now watch Cotto knock out Pacquiao in the first.)

Just a friendly remind to all my fellow World of Warcraft players. You need to migrate your account to a Battle.net account by the end of the day today, lest you’re unable to login.

So by now you probably already have Modern Warfare 2, have beaten the single-player mode (cheap shot!), and have been killed within three seconds of re-spawning in multi-player mode more times than you’d care to admit. Great, good for you. Something that has been taken for granted, though, is that the game will be one of the best-selling games of the year, if not the best-selling. Hold your horses, partner, because an Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst has said that New Super Mario Bros. Wii will well outsell Modern Warfare 2 when it’s all said and done.

Super Mario Bros. Wii doesn’t come out here in North America for another five days, but, for whatever reason, it comes out in Australia in two days! That explains why you can find the world’s first review (nearest I can tell) on IGN Australia. The Web site gave the game a 9.2 (I swear, these decimal point reviews are 100 percent absurd), but I think it’s safe to conclude that the game is, indeed, fun, which is really all you can ask for.

I know that there’s a certain of percentage of people who want nothing to do with Modern Warfare 2. It’s all meatheads and explosions, right? I’m inclined to agree to a degree—Opie and Anthony were talking about the game this morning, and a real life member of the military called in and complained, “If you want to play war, why not join the Army?”—but no matter. There’s plenty of things to do today that have nothing to do with the game. Let’s take a look!

You know what day it is! Herein lies my usual review round-up (see yesterday’s preview), starring Modern Warfare 2. Right now I’ll highlight the good in the game, and later today I’ll highlight the bad. Very exciting, yes.

Keep this in mind when you’re reading a video game review from your favorite publication.

So to recap: nobody has been given permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 early. It’s a crazy Internet rumor that has no basis in reality. But it’s happening like whoa. What is based in reality is that the first reviews of the game have started appearing online, and they’re all from UK newspapers. A strange place to see the first reviews of what’s probably going to end up being the biggest game of the year (with all due respect to Assassin’s Creed II).

We’ve already established that your favorite tech company, from Apple to HP to Nintendo, and everyone in between, is being pressured to go green. While some of the tactics may be a bit silly, I think it’s safe to say that you’d rather see these companies green than not green, right? It makes us feel good about ourselves, that even though we’re buying hunks of plastic and metal—Lord knows what chemicals are in these things—the company in question is trying to make everything as environmentally friendly as possible. In the spotlight today is IBM, which continues to develop technology that could, one day, lead to zero-emission data centers.

Nokia has recalled several mobile phone chargers, manufactured by third-parties for the company, because of the chance of electrical shock. There’s been no reports of any injuries, so consider this a precaution.

It’s madness, friends! Stores are selling Modern Warfare 2 early, but Activision never said this could happen!

I’m over here watching the Strikeforce show on CBS and there’s ads for EA Sports MMA all over the place. So I’m like, “hmm, maybe EA Sports has posted the trailer on its Web site yet?”

Consider this a friendly reminder. Tonight at 9pm ET on CBS (in the U.S.; I’m sure there will be plenty of streams, though, which you can find on your own) two of the big stars from EA’s upcoming EA Sports MMA video game will hit each other very hard. Fedor Emelianenko, the big Russian guy who could well be the best MMA fighter of all time (or is that Sakuraba?), will fight Brett Rogers, of whom I know nothing.

Own a Zune HD like Devin and I, the two hippest cats here at CrunchGear? Best to connect it to your PC right now so you can upgrade its firmware to version 4.3. Go, now!

It was one of the most sought after applications on the Internet until it was leaked earlier today. And now that it’s out there—and it is all over the place, easily findable by anyone able to use a search engine—we can all move on with our lives. Yes, Microsoft COFEE, the law enforcement tool that mystified so many of us (including Gizmodo~! and Ars Technica~!), is now available to download. If only there were a “bay” of some sort where, I don’t know, pirates hang out…

Strikeforce (UFC’s closest competitor here in the U.S.) promotes one of the bigger fights of the year tomorrow in Fedor vs. Brett Rogers. It takes place in Chicago, which explains why EA Sports just held a press conference there to reveal more details of its upcoming MMA game, entitled EA Sports MMA. EA Sports says that Strikeforce will be the “premier” mixed martial arts league in the game, and that well-known referee “Big” John McCarthy will be in the game.

Writing about tech is so peculiar. On one hand we’re expected to be enthusiastic about the things we cover; no one wants to see us being negative and dismissive about every little thing. That’s no fun. On the other hand, you don’t want a bunch of ninnies bleating on about how great this year’s piece of plastic is compared to last year’s. How is that useful to anyone? A bit of skepticism is necessary so we don’t come across as cheerleaders for this or that company, or for this or that device. You can’t be objective if you worship the ground that the two Steves—Jobs and Ballmer—walk on.

Here’s comes another DJ Hero story. Activision called the game’s launch “successful” at a conference call yesterday, saying that the game represents a “first step toward diversifying beyond rock” and into other genres, like hip hop and electronic music. In other words, the game’s soft sales aren’t necessarily a cause for alarm (if you were ever concerned in the first place).

A Pew Internet & American Life study has refuted the idea that use of the Internet necessarily leads to decreased social isolation. Quite the opposite!, yelled a character in a Charles Dickens novel. It turns out that as people continually use things like Twitter, Facebook, and the like, they’re both expanding their social circle and increasing contact with said circle.

More developments in the absolutely gripping California Energy Commission vs The World drama. The CEC has delayed a meeting wherein it was to discuss the possible implementation of a ban of sorts on the sale of energy-hogging televisions. The Consumer Electronics Agency (it organizes CES every year) has been fighting against the measure, arguing that any such regulation would necessarily raise TV prices, stifle innovation, etc.

There’s a silly study, conducted by Retrevo, making the rounds that purports to analyze how iPhone users fare in the dating world. I know, right? One stat to whet your beak: one in three iPhone owners have admitted to breaking up with their significant other via text message. Amazing.

Well that didn’t exactly pan out, now did it? Sony’s MLB 09 The Show predicted last week that the Philadelphia Phillies would win the World Series in seven games. As y’all know by now, the New York Yankees (booooo!) beat the Phillies in Game Six last night to win their 27th championship. Congratulations, Yankees, you’re the Real Madrid of baseball with a terrible stadium.