“Duke Nukem doesn’t stay down for long”. That’s the new message that has been sent to fans of the series, via a new facebook account, and the irony in that sentence is bordering on crazy. Yeah, for sure, he doesn’t stay down long. He only stayed down for the past 10 goddamn years now didn’t he? Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The facebook page teases some title called D-Day, which I’m guessing is either an entirely new game in the Duke Nukem series, perhaps one they actually plan to make and release, or a continuation of the Duke Nukem Forever hype train. No one knows what D-Day is, but it does look scarily similar to Duke Nukem Forever, graphics wise. It certainly looks current-gen, so it just might be the over-ten-year-in-development game, DNF, nearing its official announcement. So, is this real? Or is it merely another cruel attempt at raising false hope and building up more hype? Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough, but in all honesty I just hope that if they don’t plan on releasing a Duke Nukem game then he should just die already. Duke Nukem “Forever” indeed. Check out the screenshot below that came with this announcement.

Remember back when Thief 4 was finally announced back in May to be in the making? Well, almost immediately after that the game dived back into the shadows and hasn’t revealed more of itself since. Recently, however, it seems that the developers want to remind fans that Thief 4 is still very much alive, and so they have spoken very briefly about their progress with the game. Eidos Montreal boss, Stephane D’Astous, has assured the public, speaking mostly to fans, that the fourth game in the series is shaping up nicely and will soon be [hopefully] joining the happy gaming sharing group, which is referring to the gaming media. Stephane D’Astous told Incgamers the following when asked about Thief 4′s progress: “Let me reassure you that the team is making leaps and bounds. Personally I have NEVER seen a team, at this milestone (middle of pre-production) in such good shape!” Stephane D’Astous also goes on to comment, quite confidently, that “fans will NOT be disappointed with Thief 4.”

That’s all there is to it. I, for one, want to actually hear something substantial about the game – perhaps some concept art? Or what platforms it’s going to appear on at the least. We’ll have more on Thief 4 when it becomes available, but for now, it’s back to the lonely closet for this title.

It’s been confirmed that in Ubisoft’s upcoming, new entry in the Splinter Cell series, Splinter Cell: Conviction, there will be a co-op mode. Not only that, but there will also be an entirely “new mode” in the game, but that has yet to be revealed. Computer and Video Games (CVG) states that the latest issue of the PC Zone magazine is responsible for letting this information out. Hopefully, we’ll get to know what Ubisoft have in mind for the multiplayer of Splinter Cell: Conviction, but at least we know that there will be co-op – and this mysterious “new mode” of course. Whether that applies to the multiplayer or single player (or both) is yet to be discovered, but we should know soon enough. Word around is that Splinter Cell: Conviction will be released on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 for PC and Xbox360. I’m guessing, that if this is true, the Europe/South African release date should be a few days later, most likely on Friday the 26th. Either way, we should have more on this story in the near future – and we’ll hopefully get a confirmed release date.

We’ve decided to change B4TheFame into something a little different. Meet, eGameFame.

This section will take over from our previous idea, and it will be a bit more specific. For instance, it will focus on famous people in the gaming world, and it will also answer the question as to why they are famous in the gaming world.

Today we’re going to focus on Hideo Kojima.

Many of you might be wondering who the fack Hideo is, well, he’s a Japanese video game design that was originally employed at the famous Konami company. (Pro-Tip: try the Konami code on the front page of eGamer… Wait for life changing experience!)

Hideo is currently the Executive Corporate Officer Director (a lot to swallow, we know), at Kojima Productions.

Why is he famous, you might ask?

The Japanese legend is the successful creator behind games such as Metal Gear (the series), Snatcher and Policenauts. He also produced Zone of the Enders and Boktai.

Some say that Hideo is probably one of the most influential, and also innovative game directors of all time.

He’s been in more top ten lists then we can read, and he’s received more awards than we’re willing to count.

His early life saw him grow up in western Japan where he often had to deal with death as a result of various tragedies. He was the kind of kid that looked after himself after school, where he was always trying to keep himself busy.

Hideo says that the loneliness still bothers him today, and “[whenever] I travel and stay at a hotel I put the TV on as soon as I enter the room, just to deal with the feeling of loneliness.”

His original life goal was to be an artist, but this was later discouraged as his uncle was a poor artist. He didn’t want to be poor.

The work that this man has done is absolutely amazing. Just check out the list we’ve added below, and you’ll soon understand why he’s our eGameFame Man this time round.

The stars below denote major involvement… Prepare to be amazed.

Metal Gear Series

• Metal Gear (1987: MSX2, 2004: Mobile Phones 2005: PlayStation 2, 2006: i-revo) – Writer/Director*
• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990: MSX2, 2004: Mobile Phones, 2005: PlayStation 2) – Writer/Director*
• Metal Gear Solid (1998: PlayStation) – Writer/Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear Solid: Integral (1999: PlayStation, Windows) – Writer/Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (2000: Game Boy Color) – Producer/Supervising Director*
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001: PlayStation 2) – Writer/Producer/Director*
• The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 (2002: PlayStation 2) – Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (2002: PlayStation 2) – Writer/Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004: GameCube) – Writer/Producer/Original Director*
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004: PlayStation 2) – Writer/Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear Acid (2004: PlayStation Portable) – Producer*
• Metal Gear Acid 2 (2005: PlayStation Portable) – Producer*
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (2005: PlayStation 2) – Writer/Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (2006: PlayStation Portable) – Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006: PlayStation Portable) – Writer/Original Concept/Executive Producer*
• Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus (2007: PlayStation Portable) – Writer/Original Concept/Executive Producer*
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Desinee (2007: DVD) – Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear Solid Mobile (2008: Mobile Phones)
• Metal Gear Acid Mobile (2008: Mobile Phones)
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots/Metal Gear Online (2008: PlayStation 3) – Writer/Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear Online: Gene Expansion (2008: PlayStation 3)*
• Metal Gear Online: Meme Expansion (2008: PlayStation 3)*
• Metal Gear Online: Scene Expansion (2009: PlayStation 3)*
• Metal Gear Solid Touch (2009: iPod Touch, iPhone)*
• Metal Gear Arcade (2010: Amusement arcade)
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010: PSP, PSP Go) – Game Designer/Writer/Producer/Director*
• Metal Gear Solid: Rising (TBA: PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows,Xbox 360) – Producer*

Snatcher series

• Snatcher (1988: PC88, MSX2) – Writer/Director*
• SD Snatcher (1990: MSX2) – Original Writer
• Snatcher CD-ROMantic (1992: PC-Engine) – Writer/Director*

Tokimeki Memorial Drama series

• Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 1: Nijiiro no Seishun (1997: PlayStation, Sega Saturn) – Planner/Producer/Drama Director
• Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 2: Irodori no Love Song (1998: PlayStation, Sega Saturn) – Planner/Producer
• Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 3: Tabidachi no Uta (1999: PlayStation, Sega Saturn) – Executive Director

Zone of the Enders series

• Zone of the Enders (2001: PlayStation 2) – Producer*
• Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (2003: PlayStation 2, 2003: Special edition for PlayStation 2) – Producer*

Boktai Series

• Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand (2003: Game Boy Advance) – Producer*
• Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django (2004: Game Boy Advance) – Producer*
• Boktai 3: Sabata’s Counterattack (2005: Game Boy Advance) – Producer*
• Lunar Knights (2006: Nintendo DS) – Producer*

Castlevania series

• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2010: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) – Executive Producer*

Other games

• Penguin Adventure (1986: MSX) – Assistant Director
• Lost Warld [sic] (1986: MSX, cancelled) – Writer/Director*
• Policenauts (1994: PC98, 1995: 3DO, 1996: Playstation, 1996: Saturn) – Writer/Director*
• Stock Trading Trainer : Kabutore (2006: Nintendo DS) – Producer*
• Kabushiki Baibai Trainer Kabutore! Next (2007: Nintendo DS) – Producer*
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008: Wii) – Designer of Shadow Moses Island stage.
• Twelve Tender Killers (2008: Mobile Phones) – Producer*
• Gaitame Baibai Trainer: Kabutore FX (2009: Nintendo DS)*

[list from:wikipedia]

Understand now?

Even though our boy, Shase was knocked out in the group stages at DreamHack, as promised we have covered the rest of the QuakeLive competition. With 16 of the worlds best players making it through to the knockout stages which is single elimination, best out of 3 maps – this has proven to give some very exciting games.

16 Players to make it through to knockout stages

Stermy
tox1c
Av3k
draven
Chance
dkt
DaHang
serak
linkoo
l1nkje
strenx
Cooler
Spart1e
fox
Z4zmuZ
Cypher

The competition has already moved into the semi-final stages with a few upsets orccuring along the way. The first round of knockout stages saw Spart1e, who was one of the favourites to win the tournament get knocked out in an epic thriller against DaHang. Cooler dominated fox in an easy 2-0 victory and Cypher showed Chance who was boss.

To see the results for the knockout stages please click here.

EA Games has said that the PC beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will only arrive next year. The reason behind the delay is because the PS3 beta is so successful that the company would need to upgrade and enhance many things on the PC version before testing can begin.

“With the huge success of the PS3 Beta we decided to drastically increase the PC Beta’s capacity to insure as many people as possible could participate” writes DICE’s Gordon Van Dyke. “Unfortunately this meant we had to delay the Beta to very early next year giving us more planning time to make it happen and implement more optimizations.”

This confirms that there will be a PC beta, so just relax!

It’s been a good week with loads of entries to our first eGamer Reader Give Away.

The first prize we’re giving away on the site is Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for PC and it was sponsored by the wonderful BuyComputers.co.za

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 currently holds the record for the most pre-order game, ever. It also holds the record for the most amount of money ever made, during a five-day period, in the entertainment industry.

To check out all of the news around Modern Warfare 2, click here.

So, last Friday we asked, “How much did it cost to produce CoD: Mw2? Please answer the question in USD ($)”

The answer was $40 to 50 million USD, however we accepted $40 or $50 million, as well as anything in between there.

We’re now, finally, proud to announce the winner of the competition is a well young lad called Paul. To be honest, we don’t know if he’s a young, or if he’s even a lad, but we’re judging by the name — ‘coz we can!

Paul — congratulations you have won the game and we have sent you a confirmation email. Please reply as quick as possible!

The future will hopefully see a load more competitions, so please, stay tuned to our site and we’ll make it worth your while!

* How did we choose the winner? Well, we ranked everyone in a document where the first entries were obviously entered first. After we had everyone in a single database, we took the names over to Randomizer where the first name on the new randomized list won.

Movember, the month for Halloween and moustaches. While we might not fall into the whole MOvember thing, there are many other sites that like to support this great event. For those confused, or living in a barrel with your Nintendo GameBoy, MOvember is about growing the biggest moustache you can.

The growth can be for fun, or it can be to support a good cause.

Well, LazyGamer seems to have gone for a triple whammy with the whole Movember thing. The highly-loved SA gaming site is accepting donations to support Cancer, while promoting the fun factor and then to top it off, they are hosting a mega-massive competition.

The competition entry is easy, send the Cancer organisation some cash and this will automagically enter you into the competition where you could win one of the following:

1 x Chinatown Wars branded Nintendo DSi
1 x GTA IV dartboard
1 x GTA IV baseball bat
1 x Limited Ed Statue of Happiness statue
1 x DVD Wild Bunch (No relation to Red Dead Redemption, just a cool old Western to get you in the mood)
1 x Red Dead Redemption T-shirt

Of course we’d love to give you more information but LazyGamer has everything you need to know, so head over there and start supporting!

Good luck moustacheers!

Hey guys! Here is the next article to inform you of all the new updates and features that have been applied to the eGamer website. You might have noticed quite a number of them by now, but we have a couple of new things to share with you guys, so read on to see them all. We hope you continue to support eGamer and the Twilight community as you do so that we can continue to improve it!

1. You might have noticed that eGamer now has an entirely new article category, that being the “LOLposts”. In this section we will write about anything humourous that relates to gaming and the real world – especially if some Xbox360′s are getting blown up or some gangster is hijacking a car using methods he learned from Grand Theft Auto. So we hope you like this new section and, while it may be relatively quiet now, it will soon be filled with funny things to bring some humour into the mix.

2. Underneath each article, you will now see a block titled: About The Author — XXXX. This block contains some background information on the writers, such as the writer’s name, location, position on the eGamer website, contact email and the last five posts made by the Author (which you can check out by clicking on them). Once again, if you need any help or want to know anything specific, either about eGamer or anything game related, feel free to email one of the writers on the eGamer website and we’ll always get back to you as soon as possible.

3. Reviews. Thanks to your votes and a little discussion on our side, we have selected “Casual” to be our style of reviewing.

4. We have increased the amount of articles displayed on the home page from 10 to 15, so now you’ll be able to view more on each page and not miss out if something gets moved over to page two or three. Just a reminder, you may comment freely on any article even when you are not logged in to the eGamer website, but in doing so you will have to wait for your comments to be approved by an editor on the site, so it would be far better to own an account and be logged in when commenting so that your thoughts can be put onto eGamer immediately and we can get to discussing with you, hearing your opinions and answering all of your questions.

5. On the left side of the screen, underneath our “Sponsors” tab you will see a block titled “Follow us”. That’s right, eGamer now has a Facebook page as well as a Twitter page for you to join and see what’s happening with us over here. We have also gotten ourselves a live feed application, so you can be notified whenever something new pops up on the site. There are three blocks there and in order from left to right they are: Live feed, Facebook and Twitter.

*Note: Those who do not have Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome will be unable to view these social media icons. Anything else, such as an older version of Internet explorer, will not let you view them. If you’re one of these guys, simply visit getfirefox.com and download it. It’s 7mb in size, which is puny for the best internet browser ever! I hear Chrome is good too, but hey, I’m a Firefox fan!*

6. At the end of every article you’ll now see options to “Tweet this”, “Digg this”, “Save to Delicious”, “Stumble it” or “Add it to Facebook” – if you’re involved with any of these four social networks. Inside that block, you’ll also see an option to email the poster of the article, so again, don’t hesitate if you have any questions!

7. This isn’t really anything to do with the eGamer website itself, but just to let you know the new Twilight forum is finally up and running! Check it out here: forum.twilightgaming.co.za

8. Here is the bonus surprise. While on the eGamer homepage (you must be on the homepage, you can’t be inside an article), press the following keys in sequence, using your directional arrow keys:
up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a.
You’ll be rewarded with a special surprise! Note that if it doesn’t work the first time, try refreshing the page and repeating the input. We’re not joking about this one guys, there is a real surprise waiting for those who press those keys in sequence!
—————————————————————————————————————

That wraps up the latest updates to the eGamer website. We hope you enjoy all of the new features – there’s more to come in the future! Happy gaming :)

Naughty Dog’s blog has recently announced that a new and completely free update for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has just been released. This new update, with a Thanksgiving theme, adds in an extra map, titled The Fort, new player skins and online leaderboards. The following is quoted from the official Naughty Dog blog, which gives you the rundown of what to expect from the update: “When you join a competitive Multiplayer match on Thanksgiving weekend, you’ll be greeted with a slightly different look to our Heroes and Villians. It looks like Drake and Lazarevic had a few too many helpings of turkey (or Tofurkey), green bean casserole and, most definitely, sweet potato casserole.”

“We also flipped a few switches and bits here and there and not only is Double Cash weekend back, but you’ll be getting 2x the cash from any and all medals you are awarded during the course of a competitive or cooperative match. The per-match limits of $50,000 are still in effect, so if you’re just that good, you’ll be maxing out just about all the time.”

“Oh, and don’t forget to check out the brand new multiplayer map “The Fort” or check up on where you stand on the in-game Leaderboards!”

I had a good laugh when I saw Nathan Drake’s new skin in this update, it will certainly be hilarious to see him in action during multiplayer. So the update is free and adds awesome (and funny) stuff to the game – do you need any more encouragement?

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising, the upcoming expansion pack for Dawn of War II, will be released for PC in Spring of 2010, which for us is around March. Back in September I wrote up an article that covered the official announcement and new features of Chaos Rising and out of them the most exciting one, well for me personally, is the return of the Chaos Space marines. There’s lots of good memories from the original Dawn of War of the Chaos Space marines that’s for sure. Anyway, the big guys have let out a small bunch of new screenshots for the game that show us some heated battles taking place in a snowy environment, which seems to be one of the main themes of the game. Check out the screenshots below.

Infinity Ward have announced that the first downloadable content pack for Modern Warfare 2 will be released in Spring of 2010 – which is somewhere around March. Community boss Robert Bowling made the following post on Twitter which confirms it: “DLC is planned fir the wonderfully vauge timeframe of Spring. I’ll let you know when we know when it’ll be done.” We don’t have specifics, as in what platforms the DLC will arrive on and what it will contain, but that will all become clear soon enough. New maps and weapons are definitely strong possibilities though – more likely to be maps. One thing that should be brought up though is that Infinity Ward have said in previous interviews that they have exclusive DLC content planned for the Xbox360 version of the game, so this might be it. The Xbox360 definitely holds the advantage over the PS3 (and the PC version, although it doesn’t need to be said) as far as Modern Warfare 2 is concerned, especially since Infinity Ward partnered with Microsoft.

Let’s wait and see what this DLC is about.

Sad news indeed. Like the heading says, Shase has been knocked out of the Dreamhack competition as he was pretty much dominated in all of his games.

South Africa’s QuakeLiver named Shase was meant to play Rayn1r in his first game, however his opponent was feeling a bit sick. This then saw our home-dog take on Z4muZ where he was literally pwnt 03:17 and 00:20.

After this Shase moved onto his next game which he lost, in a similar to fashion to the one above.

His last game was then against Rayn1r, where he one the second game and pushed for sudden death. He then lost in the third round.

The final scores for the Rayn1r game:

Shase -vs- Reyn1r
• Map: t9
• Game Type: Duel
• Tournament summary: link
• Score: Shase [2:13] Reyn1r

Shase -vs- Reyn1r
• Map: dm6
• Game Type: Duel
• Tournament summary: Shase
• Score: Shase [17:10] Reyn1r

Shase -vs- Reyn1r
• Map: dm13
• Game Type: Duel
• Tournament summary: link
• Score: Shase [0:14] Reyn1r

Read more at miNtGaming — They got the updates!

EA will release three new fighters in a DLC pack for Fight Night Round 4. The downloadable content will be available on the 3rd of December for PS3 and Xbox 360.

Expect payments to start at about $2 / R15, (160 points).

The DLC will include Evander Holyfield, Sonny Liston and Bernard Hopkins, along with new cut men and also new rules.

Full bundle (Xbox 360/PS3) – 800 points ($10) / $9.99 — R80

• Evander Holyfield, Sonny Liston and Bernard Hopkins
• Ring Rivalry game mode (allows players to choose from over 20 different match options recreating boxing’s most famous matchups)
• Old School Rules game mode (simulates the common rules of boxing prior to the establishment of the Marquis of Queensbury Rules)

Three new boxers (Holyfield, Liston and Hopkins) — 160 points ($2) / $1.99 each — R15 each

Old School Rules mode — 320 points ($4) / $3.99 — R 35

Ring Rivalry mode — 160 points ($2) / $1.99 — R15

Square Enix, the creates of Just Cause 2, have officially set a release date for the new game. The new game will see Rico Rodriguez (really slides off the tongue, doesn’t it?) maneuver around an island filled with baddies and explosions.

The game creators said that we can expect the release on March 23, 2010.

Just Cause 2 will be based in South East Asia, in the island of Panau. To be honest, it’s going to be another military styled game with more explosions and more cool things to do.

“Just Cause 2 offers the freedom to explore and tackle the world in any way you choose”, said Lee Singleton, General Manager of Square Enix London Studios. “The grapple and the parachute mechanic will change the way you play open-world games, allowing players to be in the air in seconds, tackling missions from above and using the aerial advantage. If you prefer to stay on solid ground, the choices offered by the grapple are limited only by your imagination.”

More Just Cause 2 news here.

Alain Tascan, the EA Montreal boss has said that the game-makers are currently looking at big blockbusters from now on.

Tascan said that the future is all about “action titles and HD-quality products”. This might mean that Boogie Superstar and Skate will soon find their way into the archive section.

“The Wii market is a little bit unpredictable these days. We’re going to see how Christmas is going to do and while with the Wii we have had very successful titles, we are going to focus on big, blockbuster-type titles,” said Tascan.

“It doesn’t mean that we are going to abandon the Wii, but as a studio we want to be ready for new challenges.”

This might mean new movie related games, and hey, maybe even some new shooting games.

Capcom announced today that Final Fight and Magic Sword, two of their classic side-scroller titles, will be returning to the world of the living and will release on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network sometime next year. Unlike previous re-releases of older titles, such as Super Street Fighter 2 HD, these two games won’t be completely made over for the next generation consoles, but instead they’ll be the original games with two graphics modes available, either upscaled to HD or in their original glory. Both Final Fight and Magic Sword will be contained inside one bundle, titled, Final Fight: Double Impact, and will also feature online leader boards and co-op.

[s: IGN Final Fight: Double Impact Unveiled]

Ubisoft’s recently released Assassin’s Creed 2 has just reached a milestone in its sales. Ubisoft estimates that the game currently has a sales count of 1.6 million copies worldwide. Gaming website Edge points out that Assassin’s Creed 2 is now right behind Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in the UK formats charts. The following, quoted directly from Edge, puts these sales figures into perspective: “In doing so the Xbox 360 and PS3 title outpaced opening week sales of 2007’s Assassin’s Creed by 32 per cent. The original game has sold over eight million units.” An impressive achievement.

“Assassin’s Creed remains the fastest selling new videogame intellectual property ever in the US,” said Ubisoft.

Assassin’s Creed 2 was released on the 17th of November for PlayStation 3 and Xbox360, while the PC version is due to arrive in early 2010 if there are no delays. You can check out our Assassin’s Creed 2 review here: Clicky, but with its current scores and sales count, it goes without saying that Assassin’s Creed 2 is performing excellently.

It’s official, the next big Star Wars game will be revealed at the 2009 Spike TV Video Game Awards. The news was announced by Geoff Keighley, on his official twitter page, and a short, 15 second teaser video was let out to back it up. The only thing we have to go on right now is that the game will be revealed on the 12th of December, but there’s no telling what it might be. It could be Battlefront 3, a new X-Wing flight simulator game, hell it could even be a sequel to The Force Unleashed, which was a huge financial success. You can check out the teaser video below, but it’s mainly footage from older Star Wars games and cinematics. I’m always interested to hear about new Star Wars games, but it seems when I actually get to see them my interest dies out. Hopefully, this one will be different – but that’s what we all said for the past how many titles. Anyway, we can’t judge before it’s out so let’s wait and see what’s coming up next in the Star Wars saga.

There’s no word on what platforms this new Star Wars game will be on.

Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, a game which is essentially Grand Theft Auto, on horses, in the wild west, will be releasing during the month of April in 2010. The game is a sequel to 2004′s Red Dead Revolver, which I never had the opportunity to play through. That’s all we’ve been given, I mean, we don’t have an exact date, only that the game will be out in April. It’s better than having no idea I guess, so you might as well just circle the whole month on your calender because the game could be out any time between the 1st and 30th of April. Red Dead Redemption will be arriving on PlayStation 3 and Xbox360 and I’m guessing, if it’s successful, it will end up having more sequels somewhere down the line.

Dragon Age: Origins is yet another exciting title from BioWare, the guys behind Mass Effect, and needless to say it was a highly anticipated game. Typical of BioWare, the game boasted a large and realistic game world, deep characters, an engaging plot and tons of difficult, crazy game choices. When you have gameplay like that on offer, it’s definitely going to gather lots of interest from RPG-enthusiasts. So, here we have Dragon Age: Origins to add to the list of 2009′s big boy titles, but the question naturally is: how does it measure up to the rest? Check out eGamer’s verdict below.

[Note: For an in-depth explanation of my review system, go here: Tody's Review System]

Name: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Action/RPG
Players: 1
Multiplayer: N/A
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox360
Release Date: 3 November 2009

At the beginning of the game you’re introduced to the backstory and setting of the game through an interesting, storyteller-like cutscene. After the initial cutscene you’re immediately sent to the character creation screen, where you’ll be choosing your gender, class, of which there is warrior, mage and rogue to start with, and race, either human, dwarf or elf. You’ll also alter your appearance and voice and, best of all, select your background story. The great thing about Dragon Age: Origins is that your backstory actually determines how you start the game, your overall story itself and how different people react to you. For example, if you select a human and choose “noble” to be your background story, you’ll be of royalty and high importance, where as if you decide to be an elf, who in the game are considered to be second class citizens, you’ll be getting very different treatment. It might sound quite standard in words, but as you learn more about the game you’ll begin to realise just how deep and amazing it really is. Despite your character creation choices though, the main threat is still an ancient evil, named the Darkspawn, who are an army of monstrous creatures that live underground, but have at various points in history (four times in the past before the time of the game) risen to attack the people in massive assaults known as Blights. Soon after the game begins your character comes into contact with Duncan, who is the leader of an elite group known as the Grey Wardens – soldiers who devote their lives to killing Darkspawn. As destiny has it, you end up joining the Grey Wardens after a series of trials, and so the game begins, with a new Blight incoming.

Now you might be asking at this point why there are only three classes. See, the great thing is that these three classes are what you start out as, but as you play through the game you’ll unlock specialised “prestige” classes that you’ll be able to go into. Unlike other games, once you unlock a special class it sticks with your account for good and what’s even better is that you’re able to go into two different special classes to create your own, unique character. To elaborate, let’s say you choose a warrior as your starting class. Warriors have a number of skill trees, such as the exclusive warrior talents, alongside skill trees for dual weapons, archery, sword and shield or two-handed weapon fighting – and it’s up to you where you choose to pour your talents. These class talents are in addition to your character skills that you’ll choose every level, such as trap-making or pick pocketing. As you progress further you’ll earn specialisation points (one on level 7, the other on level 14) which you can then, if you’ve unlocked the class, upgrade yourself to a prestige class. Each of the three base classes have their own special classes to get into, like a warrior can become a templar and/or beserker while a mage can become an arcane warrior and/or blood mage.

The game’s plot is pretty standard and you’re not really going to be interested in it as you play through the early hours of the game. This is not because the story is bad, but the reason is that while the plot itself is quite simplistic in its nature, the in-game events, both significant and insignificant, characters and sub plots are just so deep, engaging and amazingly well done that you’re hardly going to be focused on the main story. The game’s extraordinary and mighty interesting characters, referring mostly to the main characters who can join your party, really add to the experience, to the point that they themselves both have and create new stories for the game. Coupled together with the spectacular locations and settings and already you’ll see that Dragon Age: Origins excels at what it does. You’ll probably start focusing on the story when it nears its end, as things start picking up and familiar faces begin popping up, but until then you’ll be thoroughly immersed in the game world.

Perhaps the best way I can think of to describe the gameplay would be to picture a combination of Neverwinter Nights and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, both of which were, incidentally, created by BioWare – and those who have played the above two games will notice some similarities while playing Dragon Age. To those that haven’t, the gameplay can be pretty easily explained, but extremely difficult to get the hang of if you’re inexperienced at these types of RPGs (like me). Basically, you’ll be playing this game two ways, either from bird’s eye view or from a third person perspective – and this can be changed in real-time by moving the camera. Throughout the game, you’ll be exploring and traveling the lands, completing quests, both main and secondary, satisfying your curiousity, finding items, interacting with people and generally running around acting as though you’re the business.

Already from the early hours of playing, you’ll discover that the game world is very much open and you’ll be free to travel wherever you please either to get on with the story, explore, discover new locations or complete quests. Not only are the locations large and expansive in size, but there are plenty of things to do in every one of them to delete hours upon hours of your life. Getting around the game world is a simple and enjoyable affair. You’ll be able to quick travel to any location on the map, but be on alert because your trip can be interrupted while quick traveling, by things such as story-related incidents, gangs of mercenaries after your blood or a traveling merchant on the road. While on foot, your move speed is nice and fast so you’ll have no frustrations getting around.

At any time in the game, you’re allowed to instantly pause, either to take a break to get KFC back in the real world or to formulate a strategy in fights. This feature is one of the most useful tools in the game for many reasons. I guess this is mostly because Dragon Age: Origins is very, very difficult, especially if you’re unsure of what you’re doing or are inexperienced in RPGs. It’s doesn’t welcome newcomers to RPGs or casual players with open arms unless you are playing on the easy difficulty, and even then it can still be quite challenging at times. I’d definitely recommend that you play on easy if you have doubts about your RPG skill (you can change the difficulty while in-game, at any time, which is great), because then you will mostly be able to play and fight battles in real-time. Any difficulty level up and you’re going to be pausing constantly to choose your next attacks, use healing items, observe your characters’ situations and so on. This is not a bad thing at all, but gamers who like to constantly be in the action would much prefer to play in real-time, so the easy difficulty would be the best option, while those who want a challenge will have their skills strained in the higher difficulties. Naturally you’re still going to be pausing the game in easy quite a bit, but not nearly as much as the other difficulty levels. One thing is for certain though: Dragon Age is no joke, it’s a very challenging game that doesn’t show you any mercy.

The combat is definitely one of the game’s highlights. Typical of games like these, you won’t be using your weapons until you’re facing enemies, where you’ll then gain access to all of your abilities and moves. To the game’s credit you’ll acquire a wide array of fighting moves, special attacks, passive upgrades and activated power up abilities as you progress through the game – and almost all of them look awesome. All characters in the game have a stamina bar, next to their health bars, which governs how many special moves they can pull off before they either have to use an item to recover or finish the battle to begin healing. Generally fights are conducted through a series of pauses, either to select attacks or use health potions (and you’re going to use a crap load of them), plan or go madly rushing in. It might sound a little repetitive and boring, but once you become accustomed to it you’ll see that it is a really great system and will inevitably start enjoying it – when it’s not mercilessly punishing you by death that is. Otherwise it’s more or less your standard RPG affair, where you’ll be constantly comparing new weapons and items with your current ones, enchanting your weapons for elemental or special bonuses, earning money and experience for murdering people and doing quests, exploring the vast game world, leveling up your characters and so on.

The game uses a very simple system for character relationships, but unfortunately it’s a bit too simple. It works spectacularly in the game for all the other characters, but you can’t help but feel annoyed at times since you, the player, can’t really change. See, there is no karma system in Dragon Age, so doing good or bad deeds doesn’t change anything for you personally. It’s great to see how your choices effect the outcome of various situations and the story, but since you aren’t given good points or dark points you’ll most likely end up choosing the option that’s easiest or most rewarding. To the games credit, tons of situations are done excellently, to the point that they actually tug on your conscious and you’ll be left thinking for a few minutes on how to proceed. In order to combat the lack of an alignment meter, your party members each have approval bars. The approval bar decides how much your accomplices like or hate you and this is changed as you speak with them and make decisions during the game. It’s interesting to see which characters disagree or are in favour of the many, many choices you’ll make, but unfortunately there are some issues. Firstly, it isn’t always clear whether or not a member is going to agree or disagree with you, and even when you think you’ve figured out what upsets certain members, you’ll end up getting surprised a few times when a choice you thought was acceptable turned out to be disliked by a character you want to be friendly with. You can always resort to giving gifts to your friends to get the approval rating up, but keep in mind that people have specific tastes when it comes to these gifts and they won’t always like what you give them. One thing is clear though, every single character in the game is done amazingly and they each have so much depth to them that it’s sometimes mind boggling.

The conversation system is almost identical to Knights of the Old Republic. To those who aren’t familiar with it, when speaking to an important NPC, or one that you can interact with, the top and bottom of the screen will black out, giving you the impression of a movie or cinematic. From there you’ll be listening to the NPC speak and at set times in the conversation you’ll be given the option to reply – or voice your opinion if the conversation isn’t directed at you specifically. The one letdown is that you can’t hear yourself speak, but rather you’re given the options at the bottom of the screen and you select the one you think most appropriate. There are tons of options in most cases and they can lead to catastrophic results if you’re not careful with your words, but unfortunately there is one major problem with the system. For the most part it works brilliantly, as it did in Knights of the Old Republic, but the one severe issue is that often you’re fooled into thinking you have multiple options. What I mean by this is that, while most of the time each option will lead to different results, quite often you’ll be given about six different dialogue options but they’ll all lead to the same result directly after you choose them. Despite the fact that BioWare have done an amazingly impressive job when it comes to options and variety, this does make you feel slightly cheated or annoyed at times. Overall though, this is yet another area where Dragon Age shines.

Graphically, Dragon Age is quite good. It’s nothing spectacular, but it doesn’t disappoint either. The locations, cities and environments look really nice, especially when considering the sheer size of them. The character models are probably the highlight of the graphics as they portray life-like animations and movements and they look awesome. Some might argue that Dragon Age could have looked a little better visually and they’re not wrong in saying this, but in its current state it still looks good. On a technical front Dragon Age is mostly solid, but unfortunately it does have a number of problems. You’ll encounter minor graphical bugs, animation bugs and some bizarre glitches such as you remaining in attack position even though a battle has ended, which is irritating because while in this position your move speed is reduced. The game has some fantastic sound tracks and music, all of which do well to illustrate the fantasy themes. There is some real quality work here as far as music is concerned.

It’s time to answer the two ultimate questions. What makes Dragon Age origins so good and what makes it deserving of its score? I believe there are many positive answers to these questions, but I think the following is the most relevant. Firstly, and in all honesty, Dragon Age has arrived at a time where there aren’t many great RPGs around. You might think that this is a rather silly observation, but if you look at it from Dragon Age’s perspective, it certainly holds the advantage as far as competition is concerned. This is not to say the game isn’t good, which brings me to my next point. Dragon Age is a solid experience that you’ll have a blast playing, even more so when taking into consideration the dangerous amount of hours you’ll spend playing this game. Regardless of how you go about it, the game will easily eat over 20 hours of your time – it’s certainly time well spent, but it’s definitely a game that requires lots and lots of attention and its hellishly addictive nature doesn’t help this situation.

Dragon Age: Origins is a solid RPG title that is well worth your time and money. While it doesn’t present anything entirely new, it quite simply excels at almost everything it does and provides an excellent, immersive and action packed experience set in a brilliantly crafted world with rich and deep characters. The gameplay is great, the world amazing, the choices exiciting and the characters awesome – what more is there to say? It’s a complete RPG title that draws all the great elements from many other successful titles like it and combines them to form one fantastic game. While its extreme difficulty level, slightly under par graphics and various bugs bring the game down a notch, the experience it provides is nearly masterful. Dragon Age is another awesome addition to 2009′s list of games – do yourself a favour and check it out.

Discussion

• The graphics are decent enough, but they’re slightly under par. Overall, they could have looked a bit better, but for the most part they’re good.
• There are various bugs and glitches in the game, some strange, like the bug where you will remain stuck in a peculiar animation after a fight unable to get out of it unless you load your save again, and some normal like graphical and animation bugs.
• The game is hectically difficult at times, even to experienced RPG players and while some will probably enjoy the challenge, it’s very unwelcoming to casual gamers, even on the easiest difficulty level.
• The approval meters for your allies is a functional and good system, but it would have been nice to see an alignment for your own character, because it doesn’t really feel like you, yourself, are progressing and developing as you play.

Hi MYM|MaNia-, Tell us a bit about yourself and how you started off with DotA.

Hey all, in Dota you know me as MaNia-, but in my private life my name is Brian and I am at the moment studying to be a multimediadesigner, which is pretty much making commercials or creating websites etc. I started playing dota about 4 years ago. It started out as just being an outlet after playing intense warcraft 3 matches. I used to play on a pretty high lvl of normal warcraft, but I started playing more and more dota, and in the end I didnt play anything else than dota. As you know it is a quite addictive game. :)

How do you view of the future of international DotA?

Things are looking really good in the competetive world of dota. More and more tournaments are appearing with bigger prizepools, which really makes it more worth traveling around the world to join these events. Theres not many organisations that are able to send dota teams to events around the world, so we are really blessing that our organisation is so generous.

Can you tell us about your team, the players, their roles etc?

Our main lineup is Kuroky, PusHer, Miggel, Angel and myself.

Me and Miggel normally play the hard gankers while kuroky plays the semicarry/ganker and angel normally plays our lategamer, but he also helps gang around the map. Pusher is mostly defined as being in the support category, but hes been really active in the ganks and has improved alot. I think with our current playstyle it allows all the members of the team to reach their potential.

How is the European gameplay different to that of the Asian gameplay?

I dont really see big differences between european and asian playstyle, its only few teams in each region that differs from the rest of the teams. Like cybertime is using alot of different heroes, and are trying to mix melee agility heroes in their lineups.

How much time does MYM spend practicing together?

Its not really scheduled but we just prac when all are online. Eventhough we have tried putting in more hours of training, since the arrival of Kuroky, since there is allways a transition period when a new member joins the team.

About SMM. Are you looking forward to it? How is MYM preparing for this event and what do you expect from other teams in terms of preparation and performance?

Im really looking forward to playing against all the asian teams, since we dont get the chance to play vs them normally. We havent done some speciel training up to the event, since people are very busy with their studies, but we have tried praccing as much as possible to be ready for the event, and we feel that we are in great shape atm. I heard that the asian teams are spending 12 hours a day preparing for smm, plus they also spend some days up the event analyzing the different opponents, so thats real dedication. I heard all asians are like that in every sport they play. I saw some program once with chinese gymnasts that were training like robots all days every day, which is how i picture the asian dota teams, when I think of them.

Have you ever watched a South African replay?

Unfortunately I haven’t had the pleasure of watching south african replays, I dont even know a place where I can download them. (edit: well now you do :D)

Lately we have seen some exciting picks from MYM and other international teams. Are there any unorthodox heroes you would like to try out in a game?

Theres many heroes I would like to try out, but I cant disclose this information up to the event

What would you like to see changed in 6.65?

I dont want much changes, mb add some new heroes to make it interesting. Would be cool with a hero that has an aim skill, since they are most fun to play.

Have you seen the Nightcrawler teaser? What’s your opinion on it?

Yea I have seen the teaser, the hero looks imba :)

Favourites:

Hero? Pudge tiny

Item? dagger

Spell? Techies suicide

Strategy? offensive

International Player? Darkarax4

Local Player? Flaskehals/41-eyes they are twins :)

Food? Chinese duck

Drink? Guld tuborg(danish type of beer)

Movie? The butterfly effect

Song? The temper trap – sweet disposition

Quote? What are you a gay fish?

Lastly, any shout outs you would like to send to fans?

I wanna make a shout out to two of my favorite fans: Clitsybananas and xeRa! Im really glad to hear that we have fans in South Africa, I hope I can learn more about the SA playstyle and culture. Keep supporting us, you make us stronger!

All photos taken from mymym.com and gosugamers.com. Captions for images are from the top of the page to the bottom:

Image 1: MaNia-

Image 2: Top left to bottom right: Maelk, Angel, Pusher, Mania-, Miggel

Image 3: Right: MaNia-

Image 4: Left MaNia-

Naughty Dog have revealed, via a post on their Twitter page, that they have plans for “something awesome” for the multiplayer of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. This “something awesome” thing is due to arrive by the end of the week. The twitter post from Naughty Dog says the following: “Things are looking up that we’re going to have something quite awesome lined up for multiplayer at the end of this week.” I haven’t the slightest clue as to what Naughty Dog might be adding to the multiplayer of Uncharted 2. Hopefully it will really be something awesome, but I guess any additions to Uncharted 2′s multiplayer, even if it be the bare minimum of weapons and maps, will just make a great game even greater. Now we wait and see what Naughty Dog have planned – we should know by the end of the week.

Mass Effect 2 is due to release on the 26th of February 2010, for PC and Xbox360, and so today BioWare have revealed the specifications and requirements for the PC version of the game. As for the game’s management of digital rights, it will only perform a relatively simple disc check, but beyond that there isn’t really anything else to it. Check out the requirements below for one of the most anticipated games of 2010.

OS = Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
Processor = 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD CPU
Memory = 1 GB RAM for Windows XP / 2 GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Hard Drive = 15 GB
DVD ROM = 1x Speed
Sound Card = DirectX 9.0c compatible
Direct X = DirectX 9.0c August 2008 (included)
Input = Keyboard / Mouse
Video Card = 256 MB (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support). Supported Chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater; ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or greater. Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 9300; ATI Radeon HD3200, and HD4350 are below minimum system requirements. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required. Intel and S3 video cards are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.

Recently, in a short forum post, BioWare’s Sean Dahlberg confirmed the last two, playable classes to be featured in the highly anticipated MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, which brings the total classes up to eight. The two classes revealed were the Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor. The forum post confirmed this exciting news with the following: Fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be in for a treat this week! Several magazines in North America and Europe will have articles that not only talk about The Old Republic but also reveal our final two classes: the Jedi Consular and the Sith Inquisitor! We will be updating the HoloNet with information about both of these in December, but in the meantime, feel free to participate in discussions within the class areas for both the Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor.

The eight classes to be featured in the game are the following:

• Jedi Consular
• Bounty Hunter
• Sith Warrior
• Imperial Agent
• Sith Inquisitor
• Trooper
• Smuggler
• Jedi Knight

Star Wars: The Old Republic for PC will release at an unconfirmed date in 2010. Look out for any future updates on the game.

Way back in February we had a retrospective article on the history of Crysis and Far Cry, which also contained a confirmation on Far Cry 3. However, back then it was merely confirmed to be a working idea, but now we have a thumbs up on the game being in development. Over at Blue’s News in a recent post, Ubisoft’s writer Kevin Shortt confirms that the Montreal Studio is definitely working on Far Cry 3. The information was given during an interview in the Official PlayStation Magazine where short said the following, when asked if he, personally, was working on Far Cry 3: “No I’m not. But I know the team are and what I’ve seen looks pretty exciting.”

Previously the developers have expressed their enthusiasm for the African setting of the game and it looks like Far Cry 3 will remain in the same environment and setting as its predecessor. Personally, I’m looking forward to Far Cry 3, because I really enjoy all of Crytek’s games. I even enjoyed Far Cry 2, despite all of its flaws of heavy repetitiveness, not living up to its promises, being shallow and the rest of the issues. I guess I’m just a sucker for open world first person shooters – with awesome graphics and immersive game worlds.

So that’s it then, Far Cry 3 is on its way. There is no more information on the game and not even a hint at a release date, but I’m guessing we’ll hear more at next year’s E3 gaming convention – which eGamer will be covering in full detail as it happens. Check back for more information on Far Cry 3 as it becomes available.

Since Assassin’s Creed 2 has just been released and eGamer has just gotten its review up of the game, I thought it would be a good time to provide a small guide that contains some useful tips to aid you and information on some cool moves that can be done in the game.

*Note: When instructions are given regarding button inputs, the left side of the slash refers to the PS3 and the right side refers to the Xbox360. For example, square/X.*

TIPS

1. Firstly and most importantly make sure you collect ALL “codex pages”. Whenever you see one on your map, GET IT. I won’t tell you the reasoning behind it, as it is story related, but make sure you collect any that you encounter, preferably all of them, because at the end of the game, to gain access to the final section, you’re going to need all 30. Fortunately, if you don’t have them at that point in the game they will all get revealed on your map and you will be sent off to get them, so you can wait until then to find them, although it will be a lot off your mind if you collect them as you play. Since they give bonuses such as extra health and upgrades to the hidden blade, if you give enough to Leonardo Da Vinci, it’s worth your time to get them in any case.

2. Assassin Tombs are revealed on your map as you progress through the story and various locations in the game, so don’t frustrate yourself trying to locate them. Just make sure you get to some viewpoints upon entering a new location and it will be marked on your map. Collecting all 6 seals (one per tomb – there are 6 in total) will get you the best armour in the game. It’s revealed early in the game what the whole deal with the armour is, so what I’m saying will become clear when you learn about it. Note that this armour cannot be dyed, in other words you can’t change its colour. There are two tombs in some locations, so watch out for that.

3. In Venice (later in the game) and in very, very few other places, there are some buildings and viewpoints that you cannot climb at all, but don’t worry, because you need the “leap” ability which you get as part of the story later. Luckily, these types of buildings are very rare.

4. As you progress through the game, treasure chests start giving more money, so don’t leave them if you see them later because you feel that money isn’t the issue. They’re very rewarding!

5. Keep medicine on you a lot (they can be bought from any doctor). Then just press R2, to bring up the radial inventory menu, and select medicine on the left. Thereafter simply pressing the left directional button will heal you about 5 health bars automatically, which is a great help.

6. You can block attacks with the double hidden blade and with your bare fists (using the metal plate attached to hidden blade), so feel free to fight as you please and use everyone else’s weapons but your own :D.

7. Be sure to turn Subtitles on in the options menu as soon as possible, because if you don’t you won’t be able to see the translations for when they speak Italian!

MOVES

1. When jumping off of a building, ledge or any high point, and there is water below, press X/A again, which is the jump button, while in the air to execute a cool-looking dive.

2. While standing on a ledge, hold R1 to enter high profile mode and press O/B to leap off and land on top of someone in a humourous and awesome way. You don’t have to target lock someone, unless you want to.

3. While running tap circle/B when you get near someone to spear tackle them and take them to the ground. This is a very useful move for stopping thieves or runners.

4. Double Hidden Blade: To kill two enemies at once, simply approach two people standing close together and:
- Press square/X for a stealth kill. Ezio will automatically target two people provided you are close.
- Hold R1 and press square/X for a double brutal kill.
- While on top of a ledge or while hanging from a building, move your camera down and target lock an enemy (there must be someone next to him) and press square/X. Ezio will leap/drop from the ledge and execute a double aerial kill.

5. Leap of faiths aren’t exclusive to view points (for newcomers to Assassin’s Creed). Jumping off any building with either hay or water below (with water you need to press X/A again while in the air) will activate a leap of faith. Also, while climbing a building, if there is hay below, you can press circle to fall backwards into the hay – sort of like a reverse leap of faith kinda thing.

6. Grapple
- Hold R1 and press O/B to grab someone (while in combat it’s just circle).
- Press O/B again to throw the person, square/X repeatedly to three-hit combo punch the guy or X/A to three-hit combo knee the dude. Alternate between these three to bully people.
- If you have a weapon (sword) out, grabbing someone will give you the execution option, where you then press square/X to slit the captive’s throat.
- Holding someone hostage with the grab ability can be useful to let them “take a hit” for you from enemies. It works best if you have a sword out – human shield style.

7. To Disarm an enemy, have fists equipped (down arrow) and counter attack someone with a weapon. Directly after taking his weapon from him, press square/X to instant kill the enemy (he can’t block since he has no weapon).

I hope these tips prove useful when playing the game – good luck and have fun!

The first game in the series, Assassin’s Creed, was released back in 2007. The game had many shortcomings and ended up being considered a love-hate game, but nevertheless it still gained a noticeably large fan base. Despite all of its flaws, however, the game was unique, innovative and it set the groundwork for what is fast turning out to be an awesome franchise. So here we are, two years later, and the sequel, Assassin’s Creed 2, has just been released. Read on for eGamer’s verdict on whether or not it A) lived up to the years of hype and B) managed to surpass its predecessor.

[Note: For an in-depth explanation of my review system, go here: Tody's Review System]

Name: Assassin’s Creed 2
Genre: Semi-Stealth “Sandbox” Action
Players: 1
Multiplayer: N/A
Platforms: PS3 and Xbox360 (PC version delayed to Q1 of 2010)
Developers: Ubisoft Montreal
Publishers: Ubisoft
Release Date: 17 November 2009

Assassin’s Creed 2 begins with a short, flashback cutscene that summarises the events of the first game and, thereafter, picks up right where the first game ended, with Desmond Miles using his newly acquired Eagle Vision to read the blood writing on the wall of his cell at Abstergo Industries. The game throws you straight into the action as Desmond is forced to perform a prison break and escape, with the aid of Lucy, to the Assassin’s secret hideout. From there you’re introduced to the “new crew” and discover that they have access to an Animus machine to allow Desmond to relive the memories of his ancestors. Instead of following Altair in 12th century Jerusalem, Desmond is made to relive the life of Ezio Auditore di Firenze, in 15th century Italy, in order to learn the ways of an assassin.

Upon entering the Animus you witness the birth of Ezio and you’re then allowed to briefly move the baby’s arms, legs and head in a humourous and quick lesson on movement controls. The game then jumps into the future where Ezio is roughly seventeen years of age and already a tough guy, wealthy son of a banker and a womaniser. However, this is where things go downhill and, in all honesty, it’s probably one of the few big problems with the game. See, from this point onwards and for the next hour and a half or so you’re going to be playing through missions that are virtually all tutorials. At a glance it’s easy to see how much more depth there is to this sequel and these tutorials will be very helpful to newcomers to the game, but those who have played Assassin’s Creed, or any moderately experienced gamer for that matter, will eventually begin to feel as though the game suspects that you are a moron. Getting to the know the characters, background information and events that set the whole revenge plot in motion is truly awesome and will definitely have you interested in the story, but sadly the tiresome tutorials you’re forced to do will put a damper on your day. A lot of the tutorials are necessary, both to learning the gameplay and story, but one can’t help but feel that they are a little too long overall.

What’s good is that the tutorials provide plenty of time to get used to the controls, combat and climbing system, because Ezio has all of the key abilities right from the start, so once you finally get into the game you won’t need to learn anything. From the moment you’re left to your own devices the game instantly turns into a blast and you will soon begin realising just how much more is on offer compared to the first game – so much, in fact, that no one would blame you if you decided to make a to-do list in order to plan your time effectively. The story really starts kicking in at this point as well and, while it may at times be convoluted, it’s an excellently told plot with brilliant characters and voice acting that will drive you to continue playing the game in addition to everything else. Unfortunately, despite the fact that Assassin’s Creed is really great at duel-protagonist storytelling, Desmond Miles features a lot less in this sequel, but when he does his parts are of vital importance and are some of the best in the game. Fortunately, Ezio also has an awesome story to tell and you’ll be immersed in the game world from the beginning right until the shocking conclusion that brilliantly sets the stage for the third and final game in the trilogy.

Regarding the gameplay, Assassin’s Creed 2 stays true to the original formula, except it has been expanded and changed for the better in almost all areas. Players control Ezio similarly to Altair, except the control system and gameplay have both been significantly improved and polished. The excellent free running system is a prime example of this, as you’ll be able to control Ezio with ease, after becoming accustomed to the controls, and you’ll be running around the city scaling buildings and stunting around without any frustrations. Ezio is a fair deal faster than Altair and packs a few new moves, some of which you unlock later in the game, that make the free running system and controlling Ezio even better. Not to mention that you can hijack and pilot gondoliers, if you’re too lazy to swim. The control scheme itself is the same as it was in the first game, where the face buttons control Ezio’s actions, the shoulder pads his targeting, high profile mode and weapon radial selection screen, which is your inventory, and the directional keys control his equipped weapons and items.

With the missions, gone is the long winded game structure of repetitive investigations followed by assassinations, instead replaced with a far more logical and open system. The original system worked well for the concept and story of the game, but the main problem with it was that the side missions were repetitive and lacked variety. That’s not an issue here, as there are an enormous amount of things to do and lots of different activities to partake in. The mission structure is open ended and scattered around the world are side missions, treasures, collectibles, viewpoints and, of course, the main missions. It’s up to you to choose what you want to do – and this time all are beneficial to you. Unlocking view points reveals the map and they are very useful, since there is so much more you need to look out for this time around, although they are not essential to progress. The game has plenty of collectibles and treasures that give bonuses such as money, extra health and special in-game items. Some, such as the secret “glyphs”, that you have to find and scan using eagle vision, and the collectible feathers, unlock story-related content as well which adds to the experience. There are the six Assassin tombs that become accessible as you progress through the story and collecting all six “seals” hidden within will reward you with a special surprise. Then there is the extensive and interesting database, which contains in-depth information on the various cities, the characters and other important information for you to indulge yourself in.

There is a great deal of content in Assassin’s Creed 2, but at a basic level you’re going to be cruising around the city either to complete story quests, harass random people in the streets, search for collectibles and treasures or explore the vast cities. There is so much more variety in this sequel, noticeably with the mission types. With the first game Ubisoft failed to realise what made their game so fun – the actual assassinations, but unfortunately you had to go through a lengthy, repetitive and painful process in order to get to them. Now, you aren’t forced to do tedious side missions and watch excruciatingly long cutscenes – which were cool the first time, just not the twentieth – because not only are the main missions packed with variety and fun, but the side missions are also a welcome distraction this time around in addition to them being a little rewarding. There are chase sequences, assassinations, races, beat-up events, courier missions – and a number of them are fun indeed, but unfortunately you probably won’t bother with most of them. While they add variety and are interesting to try out, you’ll most likely only do the assassination contracts and forget the rest since you can gain more elsewhere, particularly from the main missions, collectibles and treasures.

The game features an economic system where, by using money you’ve earned – or stolen, since you can pickpocket anyone you see  – you can purchase new weapons, items, equipments, upgrades for your home villa and even bonus moves for Ezio. There are tons of things to spend your money on, but unfortunately a lot of it, mostly referring to the weapons, just aren’t worth it. Ezio is able to carry, at any point in time, one main weapon, a side weapon, throwing knives and items, like medicine or smoke bombs. While the items prove to be very useful throughout the game, the weapons aren’t always worth buying. There are plenty of them, granted, but most of them are not only hardly any different to the next and are costly, but you also don’t need them because fighting with the hidden blade and your bare fists will do the job easily enough. It might be enjoyable for some to test out the vast array of different weapons, but when looking at it from a critical perspective the weapons don’t really add much to the game. They do differ in their stats as well, but the effect is minimal when you’re actually in combat. You’re most likely going to end up buying one weapon to keep around and stealing the rest from your enemies. Still, it’s great to see so much available for the more adventurous player.

Aside from buying weapons, you’ll also be able to purchase armours, although these are added to the shops at set points in the game. They’re progressively tiered, in that the latest set of armour will always be superior to the last, so you won’t be sorting through a list and picking out the best one, but rather just purchasing the next set of armour that becomes available. It’s a straightforward system, but it works well. What’s better is that you have the option of buying dyes to colourise your armour to your liking as well as purchasing pouch upgrades to increase the amount of items, poison vials and throwing knives you’re able to carry. Another area to clean out your wallet is on your villa, which serves as your home base, where you can buy a whole list of upgrades for it, such as improved shops for discounts, brothels and other nice things – all of which increase your villa’s overall value. See, every twenty minutes your villa generates an income, which you can collect at any time, but it has a limit, so you won’t be able to wait it out for hours to get heaps of cash. However, the more upgrades you buy for the villa and the more you improve it the higher that limit becomes, so it can become quite profitable.

The combat system has been hectically improved. In the first game, while it was functional, it was quite stiff and repetitive, but in Assassin’s Creed 2 it’s far more enjoyable and exciting. The system still remains the same at the core, in that engaging enemies will have the camera zoom out in a 360 degree radius where you can then fight enemies in all directions. You’ll be able to perform quick strikes, combo attacks, counter attacks, dodges and grapples like before, except there is a lot more to it. For one the hidden blade and fists have become full weapons, so you can block, attack, combo and counter hit with them. Pulling off a successful counter attack with your fists will have Ezio disarm his opponent and use his weapon against him, while performing a grapple will allow you to beat down your opponent in addition to throwing him. You’ll also be able to attack your enemies while they’re on the ground by sticking a sword or blade into them or savagely kicking them – which is sadistically appealing. Ezio has a huge amount of awesome-looking, brutal and gory fighting moves at his disposal, that all differ depending on the weapon he’s wielding, and the combat is much faster in pace than it was in the first game – so all things considered, Assassin’s Creed 2 offers a far more enjoyable and polished combat experience than its predecessor. Added to the fact that Ezio’s animations are spectacularly well done in all areas of the game, especially in combat, and there is no debate here. The only unlikable factor is that the game no longer features a health regeneration system and your armour can become damaged, where you’ll then have to visit doctors and blacksmiths to heal or repair damaged gear. Luckily, there are doctors and blacksmiths everywhere and your health heals to full at certain checkpoints in missions, but it still can become irritating at times, especially for the reckless players.

One of the best things about Assassin’s Creed 2 is that stealth and assassination is much more of an option this time around. Not only do you have access to smoke bombs, poison and loose change to throw around to create crowd chaos or aid you in an escape, but you’re also able to hire your own personal squads from the three factions to aid you. The thieves cause distractions and remove guards from their posts, the courtesans can both hide you from sight and distract the guards and the mercenaries can fight it out with your enemies so you can sneak passed unnoticed or attack from behind. You’re also able to assassinate in many new ways, such as while climbing, hiding in hay, being able to take out two enemies at once with the double hidden blade, with poison, with the aid of your hired friends – it all allows you to feel much more like an assassin, in addition to being a rambo, than the first game did. There are also a lot more ways in which you can use the environment to escape or hide, as now you can blend in with any group of people standing near, hide in hay, garden houses, wells or under water and even carry dead bodies around and plant them in plain sight to cause distractions, buying you some time. The game uses a new notoriety system, where causing chaos and killing guards will raise your wanted level, which determines how quick guards will notice you, so you’ll have to be careful how you act. To reduce it, you’ll have to take down wanted posters, bribe public speakers or kill officials.

Now, there is the business of what makes Assassin’s Creed 2 so great, right? Well, there are many answers to that question, but beyond all of the above, one of the best things about the game is how much time you’ll be able to spend playing it. Most games these days show you the end credits after roughly eight hours of playing, but Assassin’s Creed 2 has so much more to it. Just doing the bare minimal and focusing on the main missions will take you well over 10 hours to complete the game. If you decide to broaden your horizons and explore all that the game has to offer, you’re easily looking at 20 plus hours of gameplay, which is mighty impressive. The game is massive both in gameplay and scope and it really does address every problem area that the first game had, either correcting or greatly improving it. Assassin’s Creed 2 has most certainly learned from nearly all of its past mistakes.

In the graphics department Assassin’s Creed 2 is nothing short of incredible. The various locations and cities you’ll explore are all massive in size, designed extremely well and look beautiful. The game is visually amazing and that’s all there is to it. On a technical front the game is mostly solid, although you will experience the odd bug every now and then, mostly graphical glitches or animation bugs. In the seventeen hours or so I spent playing the game I didn’t encounter anything game breaking, so there are no worries here. As expected after the first game, Assassin’s Creed 2 has awesome and capturing music that set both the themes and tones of the game perfectly. While you’re traveling through the cities you’ll hear gentle and soft music that goes with the theme of the city you’re in, but the minute you hit an alert the music will flare up and become tense, bringing excitement and feel into the combat and dangerous moments. Coupled together with the fantastic voice acting and excellent sounds and the game is a winner in this area.

Assassin’s Creed 2 has done everything a sequel is expected to do. It has surpassed its predecessor in nearly every possible way, providing a huge amount of variety, greatly improved gameplay, much more depth and a thrilling and engaging plot. The game will draw you in and entertain you for hours with its awesome gameplay and gripping story. Any issues you could have had with the first game have been addressed and improved in this sequel. The only things bringing it down are the dragged out tutorials in the beginning, a few bugs and the rather shallow economic system, mostly referring to the indifference with the weapons. That aside, Assassin’s Creed 2 is, without a doubt, one of the best games of 2009, both as an action and sandbox experience, and it doesn’t need to be said that it’s a sure contender for Game of the Year. This is a game that you definitely wouldn’t want to miss.

Discussion

• It takes about an hour and a half of what are virtually all tutorials before you really get into the game. While they are necessary when considering how much more there is to this sequel, they do drag out for a bit too long.
• The economic system is a bit shallow, mostly because the weapons don’t really differ by much. Also, new sets of armour become available as you progress – so you won’t be going after looks or stats in this department, but rather buying the latest gear since it will be better. It would have been nice to see more options.
• The fact that your health doesn’t regenerate and your armour can get damaged does get irritating, but fortunately there are doctors and blacksmiths everywhere.

[Credit to teamxbox for the screenshots]
[Credit to GameSpy for the screenshots]
[Credit to IGN for the screenshots]

In a few weeks time will see the ‘biggest’ gaming even in Durban. Frag LAN will be aiming at a full 500-man LAN with 90% of the network being Gigabit.

The organisers are requesting that you buy your ticket as soon as possible.

Bookings will only be accepted once the seat has been paid for, and there will be no reservation without payment.

The Details:

Date: 11-13 December 2009
Time: 10:00 (11th) – 10:00 (13th)
Place: Edgewood College Dininghall, UKZN, Pinetown
Cost: R200
Web page to book: http://www.frag.co.za/

There will be various tournaments played, and the games include:

Call of Duty 4: 5 vs 5 Search & Destroy (Promod Live – AGASA Maps & FRAG Ruleset)
DotA: 5 vs 5
Crysis Wars: Team Deathmatch 2 vs 2
Counter-Strike Source: 5 vs 5 KOTH (minimum of 8 teams needed to enter ; pay2play tournament)

Frag staff are trying their best to confirm the prizes. It was said that the prize pool will be around R30,000.

The event is hoping to award prizes to teams as far down as 5th place.

Other extra’s for the event includes:

• A pool
• Volleyball
• Pool Table
• Xbox setups
• Give aways
• Promotions

More details will be added once they have been confirmed.

Check out the Frag site to book your ticket, etc.

Plants VS Zombies n00bs will be happy to hear about a little trainer which we came across online. The cheats trainer will help you in your quest to kill the undead.

The hacks can be enabled, or disabled individually, or all at once and this will definitely help those struggling.

The features for Hypn’s Plants VS Zombies Trainer include:

• start each level with 9999 sun
• get  9999 sun from each sun
• build for free (must have enough sun to build the plant though)
• instant cool-down after building a plant
• invincible plants (don’t take damage)
• all plants start cooled-down at the beginning of a level
• one shot kills zombies (cone/helmet/etc zombies take 2 shots)
• start a level even if you haven’t filled your plant slots

Winning is now just a click away.

Download from the source :)

[source:hypn]

One cloudy, but yet really hot, summers day you are walking down the street where you happened to get jumped by some sweaty dude in a Pikachu ski mask — what do you do?

Your two options are:

(1) Hand over your valuables — as well as your dignity.. (Dude, you just got jacked by a Pikachu mask.), or;

(2) Laugh, and keep on walking only to get either, shot in the back, or stabbed in the neck.

Now, you might be thinking: Why are these my options?

Well, we all know you cannot hurt Pikachu, so that rules out the option of fighting back. And, if you were to be jacked by this psychopath in a yellow mask, you’d probably get harmed either way, whether it be your dignity or your life.

Overall, it’s safe to say, game-to-real-life items such as this should not happen, it’s dangerous.

Large image here.

The world is full of bad tattoo’s.. Some are obviously worse then others, but overall, it’s pretty safe to say that people really do know how to make bad decisions. While we got nothing against tattoo’s, it’s just, perhaps some people should think about that they are doing first?

For instance, a Guitar Hero tattoo? Yeah, it’s sad, but true.

Either this is a very, very good photoshop, or, someone was brave enough to be branded for life.

Personally, I’d like to know what goes through people’s mind when doing something like this. I understand why someone might get a tattoo, but a gaming related one? Ab-so-lut-ely, clueless.

Sigh — facepalm, now.

Large image here.

Electronic Arts are preparing a new pack of cars for Need for Speed: Shift. The downloadable content will hit the Xbox 360 Market on the first of December where they will be able to receive five new cars. The DLC will be… FREE!

PS3 owners will have to wait another two days, as they will only receive the content on the 3rd of December.

The package is called the Legendary Car pack and it will include the following:

• 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427
• 1967 Shelby GT-500
• 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
• 1971 Dodge Challenger R/T
• 1998 Toyota Supra Mark IV

The legacy package will include a new Team Racing mode which allows for two teams of up to six racers to compete against each other online.

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines, for the PSP, was announced way back at the end of May to early June during the monster E3 gaming expo. The original Assassin’s Creed title, for PC, PS3 and Xbox360, was a love or hate game so it’s understandable as to why there were some mixed feelings with this title. So, let us see if the PlayStation Portable has what it takes to recreate the unique and powerful experience of Assassin’s Creed – read on for eGamer’s verdict.

[Note: For an in-depth explanation of my review system, go here: Tody's Review System]

Name: Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines
Genre: Action Adventure
Players: 1
Multiplayer: N/A
Platforms: PSP Exclusive
Developers: Ubisoft Montreal, Griptonite Games
Publishers: Ubisoft
Release Date: 17 November 2009

Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines takes place sometime after the original Assassin’s Creed, but before the events of Assassin’s Creed 2 – by a few hundred years that is. In the game players once again take on the role of Altair, ancestor of Desmond Miles and protagonist of the first game, as he roams around the island of Cyprus, going through the cities of Limassol and Kyrenia, to assassinate the last remaining Templars. The story focuses entirely on Altair, his studying of the piece of Eden, that he acquired at the end of Assassin’s Creed 1, and his relationship with the female Templar, Maria, that he spared near the end of the first game. It’s an interesting premise to the game, as fans will no doubt be eager to jump into the shoes of Altair again and see what happened after the cliff hanger ending of the first game, but sadly the story, among other things, are brought down by a lot of flaws.

While Desmond Miles is inside the Animus during the game, he does not actually feature at all as he’s only going to be staring at the blue, Animus overhead screen (which acts as the central menu) that he sees while lying down on the machine. What’s worse is that the original voice actor for Altair is not present in Bloodlines, so instead you’re going to be hearing a very irritating substitute. However, perhaps the worst thing about the story, if the above isn’t bad enough, is that it doesn’t tell you much at all and is a rather empty experience in this regard. Sure Altair’s diary entries, the ones that you get to see anyway, as he speaks about his discoveries with the piece of Eden, are interesting enough, but they just hardly reveal anything and neither does the story as a whole. Essentially, Bloodlines’ contribution to the story, other than filling in a few interesting blanks, some of which are revealed in Assassin’s Creed 2, occurs while you’re actually playing Assassin’s Creed 2, as it gives you a few small opportunities to make a connection and say “hey, this is from the PSP game.”

I understand that they can’t include critical story information in the PSP title since most don’t have access to the console, but I think the developers should at least compensate for those who go out and buy the game. It seems the story in Bloodlines is mostly a fan service that just serves to add in a little more information to Altair’s journey, but the sad part is that most of it, and more, is revealed thoroughly and in detail in Assassin’s Creed 2. This leads me to believe that either Bloodlines is a cash-in title, a game for fans or an actual attempt to create an Asssassin’s Creed experience on the hand held console. Then again it could be a combination of all three.

Fortunately, there is one area where Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines succeeds, and yet also fails, is with its gameplay. What’s good is that it sticks solidly to the Assassin’s Creed formula presented in the first game, so you can expect to be sticking your hidden blade into people, doing leaps of faith off of tall buildings, climbing and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. However, the fundamental structure of Assassin’s Creed 1 has been done away with to a massive extent in Bloodlines. There is no system of investigation followed by assassination and neither are there any side quests that need to be done in order to progress. Instead the game is linear, where you’ll just be running from area to area to complete your main quests and enter and exit cutscenes. The game world is still open and you can go wherever you want, but the locations are not that large and there is nothing really to explore, so you’ll mostly be staying on a linear path. There are still side quests to do, but the only reason to do them, and it’s not a good one, is to get money, which is used to purchase upgrades for Altair. The system is really simple and the upgrades are basically things like increased health, more weapon damage and faster regeneration speeds – none of which you’ll actually need because the game is really easy.

The combat system is more or less identical to Assassin’s Creed 1. You start off with the four weapons (hidden blade, short blade/throwing knives, sword and fists) from the first game and all of Altair’s abilities, minus the upgrades exclusive to Bloodlines. When entering a fight the camera will zoom out allowing you to see enemies in a 360 degree radius, you’ll be able to counter attack, dodge, throw enemies, combo and run away – all identical to the first the game. Altair does have one or two new moves, such as the climbing assassination technique, where he reaches up to pull an enemy off a ledge while climbing, and they’re welcome additions, but they don’t really change the game much. The controls to execute all of these moves work best with the PSP’s layout and it won’t take you long to get used to them, even more so if you’ve played the console versions as they’re mostly identical. Still, the combat works and it’s still fun, although you need to time your counter attacks and strikes a little better.

The game’s missions, like all other aspects of the game, are very simplistic in their nature. They’ll mostly revolve around going out to collect something, kill someone or getting to a point. However, what’s great about them is that quite a number of the missions actually cater well for stealth fans, referring mostly to the level designs in these missions, so you’ll be able to take down a fair amount of enemies without being seen. Judging from this and from the above, you’ll most likely come to the conclusion that Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines is a simple game, and this is entirely true. Some might like the fact that there is next to no learning required to play while those who played the first Assassin’s Creed will feel as though they’re playing a very watered down version or, more appropriately, an exoskeleton of it. On that note, view points from Assassin’s Creed 1 make a return, except this time around there’s hardly any incentive to synchronise or “unlock” them because, as mentioned above, side missions aren’t really worth your time.

Graphically, Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines is good, very good in fact, but the problem is that it’s quite bland with its visuals. Most of the cities you’ll explore look the same and feel the same if you factor out the change in colour scheme. Still, some of the other locations you’ll explore, such as palaces or buildings, do look really cool on the PSP system. The character models look mostly good and move well, but they are a little rigid at times. Altair’s animations look overall great and you’ll be seeing some familiar killing strikes and counter attacks that appeared in Assassin’s Creed 1, in addition to a few new ones. Fortunately, you’re not going to encounter many bugs while playing Bloodlines and the game runs smoothly without any problems. For good or bad, the game uses most of the same sound tracks that you would have heard in Assassin’s Creed 1, except you won’t hear the high alert, after-assassination, awesome musical score that featured in the first game, which is disappointing. Either way, the music is still good and sets the theme of the game well.

One of the worst things about the game is that it’s extremely short. You’ll be seeing the credits rolling after 5 hours of gameplay, maybe even less if you rush through the game. And that 5 hours is without attempting any side missions or activities at all, but only doing the main missions of the game. I think that’s quite bad when you’re paying about R400 to play this game, but then again God of War: Chains of Olympus was even shorter – but heck, that was a fantastic game. What’s even more disappointing is that after you complete the game there really isn’t anything to come back to unless you want to replay missions or, inexplicably, feel the need to collect treasures to fully power up Altair, although there really isn’t any reason to do so. So you’re looking at a prime example of what I call a “play and throw away” title here. When you get to the end screen you’ll be feeling that they could have done a lot more with the game and you’ll most likely forget about it soon after.

In conclusion, Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines is a shallow and extremely simple game that could have been so much more. Admittedly, the best thing about it is that Griptonite Games have recreated the Assassin’s Creed experience on the PlayStation Portable and it is a functional and fun game, but it’s just that it’s plagued by too many flaws. Fans of the series will most likely enjoy this game or any action fan for that matter, but it’s not entirely worth your money as it doesn’t contribute much to the Assassin’s Creed story and neither does it last very long. One thing that can be said though is that the groundwork has been set here and I think that Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines can be so much more if an increased amount of effort is put in. After all, it does provide a solid action-semi stealth experience that works well on the PSP. I guess at the end of the day Assassin’s Creed is a game far better suited for the next-gen consoles, where it can take full advantage of all the power that they have to offer in order to create the fantastic and immersive experience we’ve come to expect from Assassin’s Creed. I hope the future can change my opinion on this, because let’s face it, the PSP has done some amazing things so far.

Discussion

• The game is far too short, clocking in at about 5 hours of gameplay, and that’s only taking the main missions in to account. There isn’t anything to come back to once you’ve completed the game.
• The story is quite uninformative and doesn’t really add a great deal to the life of Altair or the Assassin’s Creed world – not to mention that nearly all of it is covered, in full detail, in Assassin’s Creed 2.
• The upgrade system is far too simple and it wouldn’t make a difference if it was there or not. The game is already easy and will be finished long before you acquire most of the upgrades.
• While the cities look good on the PSP, they’re too similar, not very large and there isn’t any reason to explore them. The mission locations, such as the palaces and buildings, look great though.
• There could have been so much more to Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines. It really doesn’t make full use of the PSP’s capabilities, which is a shame.

PS3 Connectivity

Connecting Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines to the PS3 version of Assassin’s Creed 2 will unlock special in-game bonuses for both games. To connect the two games, simply plug your PSP into your PS3 machine using a USB cable. On the main menu of Assassin’s Creed 2, go to “Extras” and select “Connectivity”. On the PSP game, on the Animus menu, select “Connect to a PS3 System” on the bottom left. It will only take a few seconds and then you’ll get your rewards. The best part is the 11 000 gold and 6 special weapons that you’ll get as part of your reward for Assassin’s Creed 2, while one of the cool bonuses for Bloodlines is that you’ll unlock the ability to block with the hidden blade. It’s definitely worth it to connect the two games.

We now go into week 3 of the Intel iGame Call of Duty 4 League and things seem to be heating up in the pro bracket. With only one week left of games, teams will be fighting to make the final placings into the next round of the league.

Group 1

¬ Brazen (4points)
¬ UbS.En (2points)
¬ EVO (2points)
¬ dS.eQ (0points)

It seems Brazen have had quite an easy time, taking two easy wins against dS.eQ and EVO. If UbS.EN wants to make it through to the next round they are going to have an uphill battle and will either have to pull off a win against Brazen or hope that EVO doesn’t win against dS.eQ – if there is a three way between EVO, dS.eQ and UbS.EN one team will go through on points difference.

Group 2

¬ UbS.GT (2points)
¬ sG.Evoke (4points)
¬ Element T1 (0points)
¬ Bestiality (2points)

With Bestiality taking on Element T1 who have shown promise but not put up much of a fight, we will most likely see sG.Evoke and Beastiality move through to the next round. UbS.GT have an outside chance of making it though but they will have to play out of their skins against the group leaders or hope that Element T1 can somehow pull off a win against the strong Bestiality team.

Group 3

¬ miNt Gaming (4points)
¬ Pantheon (2points)
¬ UbS.ZK (2points)
¬ ATF.T (0points)

Our boys in Green have almost guaranteed their spot in the next round. If Pantheon manages to beat miNt, and UbS.ZK beat ATF.T by a long enough margin we could just see the miNt Gaming team be knocked out. But judging by their strong performance against both UbS.ZK and ATF.T the teams that are most likely to progress are miNt Gaming and Pantheon Gaming.

Group 4

¬ A*P (2points)
¬ ATF.A (2points)
¬ Prodigy (4points)
¬ Pandemonium (0points)

In a tight match against Prodigy, only marginally losing out to them 11-13 on mp_backlot – A*P are in a good postition to move through to the next round with Prodigy.

In all four groups, we could see some upsets occurring in this last week. It will all come down to who wants it more, some teams still with a fighting spirit wanting to take home a podium place, whilst others still fatigued from the past season. Teams who are most likely to move through to the next round are:

• Brazen
• EVO
• sG.Evoke
• Bestiality
• miNt Gaming
• Pantheon Gaming
• A*P
• Prodigy

*Please note these views reflect the personal opinion of the writer and in no way express the views of the eGamer. All games, Points and match-ups are taken directly from the iGame Forums.

It’s time… It’s time for us to hold our first competition. The competition will of course be a free give away, and to kick this off we’re going to be giving away Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for PC. The prize is sponsored by BuyComputers.co.za and we think that you should show them some support by going to their site, and perhaps buy something!

You will notice, we’ve added their logo to the site of the site, as they are sponsoring this wonderful game to one lucky reader.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 currently holds the record for the most pre-order game, ever. It also holds the record for the most amount of money ever made, during a five-day period, in the entertainment industry.

To check out all of the news around Modern Warfare 2, click here.

Now, down to beeswax.

For YOU, the reader, to win the game we require that you read and understand our Competition Terms & Conditions before entering.

To win the prize you will need to answer one simple question. It’s really easy, you just need to search for the answer on the site.

How much did it cost to produce CoD: Mw2? Please answer the question in USD ($)

This would be the overall cost to produce the game, and not the profit or sales amount.

Pro Tip: It’s in the millions!

Send your entry in by filling out the form below, and answering the question in the form.

Competition closes Friday 27 November 2009.

* The competition is over

Think Quake Live is cool? Meet the next new web-based team orientated game from Dice (A company of EA). BattleField Heroes is a mere 400megs to download, and to put it simple: it’s awesome.

BattleField Heroes is free to play, and download, however, we’re missing a local server at this point in time. The game is a cartoon styled multiplayer title that looks very similar to Team Fortress 2. In fact, you will most probably think “Ahh, TF2″ when first playing the game.

Free to play, hey?

Definitely. The companies involved will probably make cash from players buying in-game enhancements for their characters. The characters are fully customizable and this allows you to choose what you wear, and even what you look like. The characters are all stored on the server and this means that you will always have your stats logged, as well as your favourite character just being a click away.

For those of us who are not exactly in the mood to spend hard earned cash on the game will not be left behind, because if you play enough you can earn points to customize your player in exactly the same way.

You can control your friends list from the main web page, while you can then view your buddy list whilst in game.

There are quite a few classes to play, and when creating your hero you are asked to choose between two factions, the Royal Army or National Army.

Both teams feature the following classes:

• Soldier – Takes control of the battle to help his compatriots reach their goals
• Gunner – Takes a beating and keeps on ticking
• Commando  – Sneaks up on his prey to unload decisive attacks

BattleField Heroes only allows you to create up to four heroes, and this means you should probably take two for each faction — if you decide you wanna go pr0.

Did we mention your character is fully customizable? This means, choose your style of hair, facial hair, etc. You can even add an old 1800′s ‘General’ style beard to your player — if you’re into that sort of thing.

While we didn’t play around in-game for too long (hunger set in), we did hear that you could fly planes, and stuff.

We’ll try get a review up as soon as possible, but until then, check out the site and just go download the darn game!

Oh, feel free to add me to your friends list as well -> NitrateZA

Spike TV has released their nominee’s for their annual Video Game Awards. There are some interesting picks, and it seems like most of the games which came out this quarter are on the list.

Surprisingly enough, PC Games sees Plants VS Zombies as a nominee. Not only is Plants VS Zombies a time waster, but it also seems to be pretty addictive and this has earned a top spot in the nominee list.

We’ve added polls for you all to vote what you think the best game was, and we’d like you to comment and tell us which games YOU think should have been in the lists.

Your Votes Count… To us!

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StarCraft II’s official web site has received a massive update. The data-injection included new information, artwork, screen shots and story details. The new information will, hopefully, remind gamers that Blizzard is kind of working on the game, and it should arrive as soon as the company is finished milking WoW for every gold coin it’s worth.

The new information includes a close look at StarCraft II’s single-player campaign which features Tychus Findlay, Zeratul, and Jim Raynor. There will be background information on each of those characters, as well as new details on Zerg’s Changeling.

Actually, there’s quite a lot of updates and it’s all aimed towards the community, so get your fix here.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days — the up and coming sequel to the original version which saw you play as Kane. This time round Square Enix has said that you will play Lynch, the “self-medicated psychopath”.

The company said that the story will start with Lynch having found some peace in Shanghai where he is attempting to “make a fat deal where the pay is beyond his wildest dreams and nothing is going to get in his way.”

The short story-line summary says that Shanghai is the “perfect playground for expat criminals such as [himself]; seduction and corruption highlight the contrasts of the city as players fight through the seedy underbelly of Shanghai – a juxtaposition of old-world and new-world ideals ripe with black market opportunities for Kane and Lynch to exploit and reap rewards from.”

The game will, this time round, support online co-op which is a big upgrade over the original games offline co-op mode.

Other details are still scarce, but this is a good start for positive news.

The Tales of Monkey Island will draw to a close during the December month of this year. The final episodic chapter will be released on the 8th, and it is called “Rise of the Pirate God”. Telltale Games has said that the last release will answer many pending questions.

We feel that they only really need to answer the question about the mightiest pirate ever, Guybrush Threepwood. Guybrush is the mightiest one to ever wear a hook as a hand.

David Grossman said that “[Guybrush Threepwood] wanted what every young man wants — to loot, pillage, and sail the high seas in search of further looting and pillaging opportunities,”

“It’s a great tragedy to see such a productive life seemingly cut off prematurely. And I’m just saying that because he owes me money.”

Check this out in December.

And…Another legacy ends.

The Call of Duty series is already developed by two different studios, Infinity Ward and Treyarch, where a new report states that a third company might get in on this action. The report said that the third company is planning an MMO based on the CoD series.

“As Activision seems to be discovering this year with Guitar Hero, there’s danger when a title is overexposed with too many iterations,” explains the report. “Nonetheless, the publisher has aggressive expansion plans for Call of Duty. Although Infinity Ward and Treyarch have produced sequels in alternating years since 2005, the publisher now has a third development studio working on future versions.

“One person close to the company said it also was considering adapting Call of Duty as a massively multi-player online world. The genre, in which Activision’s Blizzard Entertainment subsidiary is a leader, requires huge upfront investments but can be very profitable as players pay a monthly subscription fee.”

The CoD MMO is definitely interesting as it might see the game based in the future. However, it does seem like another month-to-month ploy to get some extra cash out of gamers. Think WoW.

Gearbox has revealed that they will release new DLC for Borderlands. The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned will be about the same size a small existing Borderlands zone, however, it will provide another six hours of new gameplay.

“It’s probably about the size of the Arid Badlands,” design director Paul Helqist told MTV Multiplayer.

The upgraded package will cost about $10 on the PS Network, or only 800 points on the Microsoft network. The new content will allow you to travel to Jakobs Cove.

The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned will cater for all players over level 10, and the enemies will scale to your skill level. This essentially means that the baddies will always be as tough as you are, allowing for top-notch game play which consumes more than just time and energy.

It was said that each time you leave the island, the inhabitants will respawn for another round of kickass-chew-bubble-gum action.

The new DLC will include loot to collect, and the new baddies will be variations of existing enemies.

Oh, for the record: This will boost excitement before the sequel.

Check out the Borderlands review here.

Teenage girls, and emo-boys, go grab your parent’s credit card as the first expansion pack for The Sims 3 is now available for download! The Sims 3 World Adventures price is set around R300, and it will allow your Sim to get out the house and travel the world.

If you don’t want to download the game, it should go on sale in store pretty soon.

The expansion sends your Sim around the world in an attempt to pick up new skills in France, China and Egypt. You will be able to collect treasures, and of course WooHoo international Sims.

We recently revealed a couple of images in Sims in France, so check them out here.

Squre Enix Europe has released some details on the Kane & Lynch sequel. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will see the two criminals in Shanghai for the 2010 year. Expect the sequel to be available on PC, PS3 and Xbox.

“Gamers are always looking for something new and that is exactly what they are going to get with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days,” said Niels Jørgensen, general manager of developer IO Interactive.

“A special thanks to gamers worldwide for their feedback. They are certainly in for a shock as we, with immense pride, welcome back our two dear, violent and somewhat unfortunate friends.”

Square Enix is part of IO, and they said that they are planning to bring back intensity and also realism for video games as it will boast “a new visual experience … inspired by documentary filmmakers and the user-generated era.”

We’ve got another video for you guys, check it out below.

Video from Joystiq.