I’m not sure about you but my gaming backlog is a mile long and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. More than that, and as I continue to discover gaming specials, budget bin prices and those Steam specials that seem to forsake me to a library of games –growing quicker than I can manage to play- well it’s fast spiralling out of control. But in that spirit of gaming, in the eternal bliss that is an unforeseeable end to gaming, I thought to reinvigorate some of the older games not getting the playtime they once commanded. It’s a shame really because thanks to a few truly spectacular ‘total conversion’ mods, many of these have a new set of legs. Now I realise there is a potential to add to the issue of too many games, too little time, but I’m hoping that seeing –and potentially trying these mods out- will allow gamers to see that you don’t always need a new game in order to enjoy something new. As for what classifies a total conversion, well as long as it changes enough of the gameplay dynamics (or structure) that is in fact a different game, well then it’ll be good enough for me.

Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge, is a total conversion for Oblivion and trust me when I say it’s good enough to justify a replay despite all the mods being added to Skyrim’s Steam Workshop. Having been in development for over 4 years there is a lot to this game and there are many moments when the mod feels far superior to the game it’s built on.

With about 50 hours and more than 60 story-driven-quests worth of content, as well as synchronised voice acting, new equipment, spells, creatures, races and video sequences; well it’s not hard to see what there is to offer. But the magic isn’t just in what’s added, it’s how you experience the game. It’s more linear than Oblivion, granted, but it also has so much narrative attached to and driving each quest, with many more highly scripted events and little tweaks that make the game enjoyable and somewhat more challenging than vanilla Oblivion. Just watch the video and see what I mean, this is so much more than a simple skin and mechanic tweak.

Link: Nehrim

It all apparently began with a blaster-model and the idea to create a non-commerical Star Wars themed FPS game. And Galactic Warfare does just that, it’s a great amalgamation between the Modern Warfare gameplay mechanics and Star Wars, with plenty of love lathered all over.

With all your favourite Star Wars areas, characters and the recognisable weapons Star Wars is known for, that in combination with the fantastic gameplay behind COD4 and you’ve got a fantastic idea for a mod and an overall excellent mod. So pick your favourite between the Rebel Alliance and Imperial Forces and may the force be with you.

Link: Galactic Warfare

As much as I’d like to, I can’t put it much better than the description given for the game in ModDB itself.

“The Stanley Parable is an experimental narrative-driven first person game. It is an exploration of choice, freedom, storytelling and reality, all examined through the lens of what it means to play a video game.

You will make a choice that does not matter

You will follow a story that has no end

You will play a game you cannot win

…it’s actually best if you don’t know anything about it before you play it :D”

Link: The Stanley Parable

Looking at the image and video it’s easy to tell this is a mod of game; what’s not so easy to figure is that it’s a mod for Crysis Wars. That is until you play it and see the gorgeous visuals and extremely detailed mech paradise this total conversion mod manages. I’m not sure about you but I remember the MechWarrior franchise and with all the art and animation slathered into this mod, well it reminds me so dearly of the things I miss as a child. What makes this most intriguing is the blend between FPS and Simulation genres in a unique massively multiplayer type of experience. Take all of that; throw in a variety of vehicles, weapons, game modes and a ‘Battlefield’ feel and you’ve got quite an awesome little recipe going. Watch the video and then just try and tell me you didn’t immediately break out and reinstall Crysis Wars.

Link: Mechwarrior

“The year is now 2019. The Tiberian World now stands with a very uncertain fate. The two most powerful and influential forces on the planet are trapped in a never ending dead lock of war and combat.”

Sounds like every other Tiberian flavoured Command & Conquer game right? Well it kind of is; Twisted Insurrection is a stand alone, total conversion, based on Tiberian Sun. The great thing is it adds a lot to the tried and trusted formula; like new units, structures and environments that perfectly suit what made Tiberian Sun so great. The music and look is spot on; there are an absurd amount of improvements and changes made to each patch and the gameplay is extremely enjoyable and if anything, quite challenging. If you’re a fan of the old-school RTS or just never had the chance but enjoy the genre; well this is for you.

Link: Twisted Insurrection

In Conclusion:

So that’s it for now, and wow this feature is being posted late, better late than never I always say; just don’t tell Dean ok XD Besides, I really think these mods are worth looking into and having tested them all I would happily vouch for every single one of them. F.Y.I. and if you’re interested in finding more mods of this type, check out ModDB.
 

Blizzard issued a statement on Wednesday apologizing to all gamers who purchased Diablo III since its May 15 launch but were unable to play it smoothly (or at all) due to login issues, glitches and other nasty things. Blizzard also announced that it will be delaying the launch of the real-world Auction House.

Blizzard’s community manager, Bashiok, issued the apology on the US Battle.net forums, saying:

Diablo Players:

We’d like to extend a very sincere thank you to everyone who joined the global Diablo III launch celebrations this week, as well as to everyone who was ready to jump into Sanctuary the moment the game went live.

To that end, we’d also like to say that we’ve been humbled by your enthusiasm — and we sincerely regret that your crusade to bring down the Lord of Terror was thwarted not by mobs of demons, but by mortal infrastructure. As many of you are aware, technical issues occurring within hours after the game’s launch led to players experiencing error messages and difficulty logging in. These issues cropped up again last night for the Americas and Europe servers. Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough.

We’ve been monitoring the game 24/7 and have applied several optimizations to help our systems better weather the global rush. As of late last night, specifically 11:50 PM PDT on May 15, all systems have been online and running relatively smoothly. We’re continuing to monitor performance globally and will be taking further measures as needed to ensure a positive experience for everyone. This includes some maintenance to implement additional improvements for each region.

In order to make sure everything is continuing to run as it should, we’ve decided to move out our target launch for the real-money auction house beyond our original estimated date of May 22. We’ll post further updates on that in the near future.

Aside from the tremendous number of players simultaneously logging in to the game, one of the launch-day service issues was linked to the achievement system. Some players began to notice early on that achievements were either not being earned properly, or not being saved between multiple logins. We’re investigating this issue and will provide a specific update as soon as possible.

We greatly appreciate everyone’s support, and we want to sincerely apologize for the difficulties many of you encountered on day one. Please visit the Battle.net Support site or Support forums for the latest service-related updates or for help in troubleshooting any technical issues you may be having downloading, installing, or while playing the game.

Thank you again for your patience while we reinforce the gates of Sanctuary and further strengthen it for your onslaught.

Respectfully,
Blizzard Entertainment

Have you seen any improvements in your Diablo III experience yet? Or are you still struggling to play it?

Complaints and berating aside, having (strike: tried to) played Diablo 3, I must concede it’s undoubtedly an awesome game that easily does more good than it does wrong. Having said that, and in an attempt to appease the anger many must be feeling over Diablo 3’s gameplay changes or networking infidelity, I offer up Torchlight 2 as the next best thing. Actually, it’s the best thing since Diablo 2… scratch that, it’s better than Diablo 2. Don’t believe me, well here’s why.

I’m assuming of course that you haven’t been convinced by the beta gameplay video I posted, and if not, why not?!

Title: Torchlight 2
Developers: Runic Games
Publishers: Runic Games
Players: 1-4
Platforms: PC
Expected Price: R160 (It’s a Steal)
Release Date: ‘Apparently’ One Month After Diablo 3′s Release

Torchlight was an awesome little RPG, it had everything you wanted and more; like pets, fishing, side dungeons and stupid amounts of loot, that being said, it had its own little foibles to address. Chiefly among the things on the list of features missing was co-op multiplayer, I know, it’s a biggie, but despite that however, Torchlight was a critical success and a firm fan favourite. So what is Torchlight 2 adding to that formula? I think the more accurate question would be along the lines of what isn’t Torchlight 2 adding? Four new and thoroughly unique classes; eight (and counting) differing pets; a much larger and more dynamic (it’s randomised world gives a lot of variation) overworld that links to an absurd amount of extra paths and dugeons; unique attack animations for each and every weapon and ability; a larger, more varied skill tree; new abilities and options for your pets; and MULTIPLAYER! Anyone who reads that impressive list of additions and still isn’t interested has no soul and I pity you.

So, those classes then, what are they?

  Engineer: “The workhorse of the Empire, the modern Engineer’s strength lies in his Ember-fueled, steam-driven armor—a technological marvel devised by top scientists at the Industrium (the Empire’s academy of science and technology), and crafted personally by the Engineer as his journeyman project.” The engineer seems to serve as a ‘sort of’ tank, semi-support unit, by means of constructing various support machines, with extremely hard hitting abilities to make him/her, when alone, more than a match for the adversiaries you’re sure to encounter.

  Beserker: “Driven by a lust for adventure and a savage determination to win fame, fortune, and glory, Berserkers wander the wild places of the world in search of formidable foes, fabulous treasures, and the sheer joy of a worthy challenge.” If you imagine the Barbarian from Diablo 2 and 3, well then you sort of have an idea of the Beserker. The difference is the Berserker is not as much of a tank, having lower health and armour than the engineer, and more a pure damage ruffian that uses totem-like forces to increaser that.

  Embermage: “At the forefront of the Empire’s colonization of Vilderan are the Embermages—highly-trained spellcasters renowned for their skill, dedication, and arcane power. No Imperial army is complete without these fierce warrior-wizards in the vanguard.” Embermages are exactly what it says on the tin, nukers who make use of the varying elements and hard hitting spells to pummel the enemy into submission.

  Outlander: “Born to roam, Outlanders are the vagabond adventurers of the world. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds, cultures, and even races—but all share a lust for travel and excitement, an appreciation of eldritch lore, and an appetite for danger.” Think of the Outlander as a Diablo 3 Demon Hunter, making use of magic and ranged weaponry, but that uses less dark forces and more martial arts as well as the occasional relic.

As far as class building and their skill trees are concerned, well it’s all very Diablo 2. There is plenty of choice and lots to wrack your brain over. As you’d expect, each class maintains 3 unique skill tabs, complete with the appropriate skills, both active and passive. Each skill tree adds a lot of diversity to its class and the skills give you all the needed stats and info needed to make an informed choice. Best of all, they are primarily affected by the attribute your class most ascribes to, as well as your weapon or magic DPS, which means that no class should fall by the wayside as their abilities will continue to improve rather than remain stale.

Loot wise, well you carry all the equipment you’d expect, though there are some awesome tweaks that just make so much sense. The most obvious example would be the requirements to equip items to your character. In previous games of the genre there was always a worry that favouring specific attributes (like magic for example) on say, your mage, would mean any really good equipment that required even a modest amount of strength would be lost to you. In Torchlight 2 however, each piece of equipment comes with an attribute requirement and a level requirement, and they’re mutually exclusive of one another. By that I mean, if you meet the level requirement then you don’t need to meet the required attribute; so an item you’d not be able to wear due to your dexterity being too low can now be worn by your embermage when he eventually reaches the required level, that is assuming the attribute required is harder to reach than the level. It’s all very well thought out and everything works so well together that you’re never really left wanting more from the system.

There’s still a lot to learn from playing the beta but so far I can say that there is a lot to do in the game. The dynamic nature of the maps allows for a good amount of variation and there are so many awesome areas to travel to and discover. More than that, the game just spits and shouts of polish, running as smooth as silk and portraying so many little animations and particle effects you’d never notice but are there because Runic Games took the time and love to put them there. Characters are affected by the armour you equip them with, giving awesome little detail tweaks to your character, as well as your pet being able to not only return to town to sell your loot as before, but can be tasked with bringing back certain consumables like potions and scrolls. Beyond that there is still the fishing game which allows you to use fish as unique consumables for your pet, each giving varying stat boosts and temporary transformations into creatures and beasts you’ve encountered in your travels. And let’s not forget that you can pick up scrolls of spells, which aren’t part of your skill tree, each allowing you to add yet more abilities to your character or pet; it’s a great idea and allows for more range and diverse builds.

For now that’s all I have to say, well except for the fact that I really love Torchlight 2 and it’s shaping up to be the best game of its type… ever. The only thing that trumps it is that if you pre-order it on Steam you get the original Torchlight for free; now is that a deal of a life time or what. And as for those of you who are loving Diablo 3, as I am, I know you’ll love Torchlight 2 as well; don’t not get it because you want to be stubbornly loyal to a single franchise.

FIFA’s line producer David Rutter recently spoke with CVG in a FIFA 13 interview, revealing a number of interesting things about the franchise from the developers’ point of view.

Rutter explained that despite the massive success FIFA enjoys on an annual basis, the development team EA Canada remains fully aware of the dangers of complacency, and as such a watchful eye is always kept on Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer series. Rutter said that the reason for the team’s vigilance is down to the fact that they are “hugely critical” of themselves.

“We are hugely critical of ourselves to the extent where we get in trouble for it when we’re doing presentations,” he admitted. “I know Andrew [Wilson] and before him Peter Moore would always say, ‘don’t be so hard on yourselves, you’ve got to tell some good news too.’

“So today I did the good news; ‘fantastic reviews, amazing sales, everyone loves our game’ and then Aaron steps up and goes, ‘this is rubbish, this is rubbish…’ It’s just the way we are. We don’t have a great deal of time in the year to make the game and we don’t have a great deal of time in the year either to celebrate what we just did.”

Rutter reasoned that being located in Canada keeps the team a safe distance from all the hype, excitement and popularity that could potentially encourage complacency.

“I think actually being in Canada is a bit of an advantage as well because we’re away from all the, ‘woohoo! Look how amazing we are!’ We don’t see the shops with tonnes of FIFA copies in them, or see the launch or hear about it on the news. We’re far enough away that we’re this little isolated pod of negative nerds all working on FIFA.”

So in other words, Canada is uncool?

Rutter also revealed that despite the fact that FIFA has performed significantly better than PES in terms of sales performance in recent years, the development team always considers its rival to be a threat.

“There are other things out there,” he said. “We’re still worried about what Konami is going to do with Pro Evolution Soccer and naturally they’re our closest sports competitor.”

Blizzard is currently in the process of dealing with a mountain of problems with Diablo III, which just launched yesterday and is already causing mass outrage.

Firstly, to get to the less significant one, Blizzard are currently trying to fix a game breaking Diablo 3 bug that has been reported multiple times on the official Diablo 3 forums. The bug occurs when players trade a shield with a Templar follower found early in the game, and this causes players to be booted from the game, shown an error 3006 message, and then be unable to log back into Battle.net. The problem seems common with the Demon Hunter class, so be careful with your gear for now.

Blizzard has said that it’s busy looking into the problem and suggests that players avoid the Templar until it can deliver a hotfix. It didn’t specify when this would be.

And now onto the main event, which is that the launch servers have been battered by the absurd amount of traffic. So people often can’t play the game. Now you know why there aren’t reviews up yet.

The issue began when excited players all trying to activate their games online in short time caused the servers to slow down dramatically, and eventually display error messages that prevented them from logging in and playing. The problem was out of control last night, and so bad that players started trending their error messages on Twitter, because hey, what else can you do.

Blizzard told fans this morning that those who still can’t get into the game should “wait and try again”. New servers are being launched to accommodate for the traffic while Battle.net is offline to make room.

“Please note that due to a high volume of traffic, login and character creation may be slower than normal,” it said in a statement.

“If you’re unable to login to the game or create characters, please wait and try again. We’ve temporarily taken our Battle.net websites offline and launched more servers to accommodate for the traffic. We hope to resolve these issues as soon as possible and appreciate your patience.”

In my opinion this is pathetic. It’s what you get when you want to use online activation and try to turn single-player campaigns into permanently-online experiences. Especially games like Diablo III which will obviously be overflowing with traffic after its launch. I mean the game has only been anticipated for the last twelve years. I haven’t bought Diablo III yet, but I know I would be extremely pissed if I just spent almost R500, or R700 for the Collector’s Edition, but can’t play my single-player game.

Name: DiRT: Showdown
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Genre: Racing
Developer: Codemasters Southam
Publisher: Codemasters Racing
Worldwide Release Date: 25-29 May 2012
Local (SA) Release Date: 25 May 2012 (expected)
Expected Prices: PC – R361, PS3 – R499, 360 – R499

Slip, slide, bash, drift, ref, and doughnuts. Welcome to the world of the DiRT franchise. It’s all about rally cars covered in everything that’s an energy drink symbol and names of shoes. Adrenaline is always pumping through your veins as you drift around a corner that’s right next to a steep mountain with nothing in the way. Bring on DiRT: Showdown, the next instalment of the successful arcade rally games made by Codemasters.

The DiRT series has always been known for its style and Showdown will be no different. You can compete in various new modes that aim to emphasise the game’s no-holds-barred style of play. All-new to the series is Demolition mode where you get thrown into an arena to bash and destroy your opponent’s cars in the most stylish and brutal ways imaginable, all in the hopes of being the best and achieving that rush of adrenaline. Demolition will truly push Codemaster’s damage engine to its limit.

Players can also expect to race against numerous opponents in new courses filled with shortcuts, ramps and various forms of obstacles that they can blast through using nitrous and skill. Expect to fly and drift through many famous locations such as Tokyo, London, Miami, San Francisco and more.

Hooligan events are a new way of showing off your stylish prowess by driving in massive stunt parks filled with ramps, trick locations and lots and lots of dirt to spin around in all in the name of pleasing the crowd and becoming a legend amongst racers. All of these modes help you to reach the coveted Showdown finals in which you race against your rivals in a vibrant and colourful festival atmosphere.

There are 50 events available across 4 championships. Each event has its own challenges and even weather. Players will slip and slide in snow, ice, rain, sun and night that are all beautifully crafted by the game’s engine and will react in their own unique way. Snow will be slippery and floodlights will light up the competition when it’s night time. All coming together to make a unique and thrilling experience.

Showdown will have a huge focus on multiplayer. From 8-player online matches to local splitscreen races it will cater to your every social need. Also integrated is a YouTube feature where you can upload your replays straight to YouTube within the game itself. There also Showdown Challenges available where you can battle your online and offline friends.

Expect a huge host of licensed and bespoke cars that will make full use of the EGO game engine to deliver spectacular driving stunts and beautiful damage physics. Strap in and enjoy the ride with DiRT Showdown.

Blizzard has expressed many times in the past that it wants to do a console version of Diablo III, but it has now confirmed that the studio hasn’t even begun experimenting with one yet, and is still not sure if one is even possible.

“We haven’t officially announced it, because we’re not ‘experimenting,’” game director Jay Wilson said to Gamasutra in a lengthy interview.

“We tell people that basically we’re experimenting, because it helps us hire people. The better people we hire, the better chance we have to actually make it.

“That’s why we haven’t kept it super secret, but we also haven’t confirmed it, because we’re not sure yet whether we think it will work, and whether we think we have the resources to do it.”

Diablo III is out on PC and Mac as of today. But who am I kidding, you’re already all lost to it.

Gifwil. Probably not that catchy, I’d say. So for future reference I’ll just abbreviate “Games for Windows Live” as “Gwaffle” for no apparent reason. It’s like waffle.

Anyway, Rockstar has confirmed via Twitter that the PC version of Max Payne 3 will not support Gwaffle.

The tweet simply stated: “No, Max Payne 3 for PC will not use Games for Windows Live.”

This isn’t a first for Rockstar, as the PC version of LA Noire, which released at the end of last year, also didn’t use it.

Max Payne 3 will be out on May 18 for PS3 and Xbox 360, and the PC version will be out on June 1. It won’t have Gwaffle.

Gwaffle. Gwaffle. Gwaffle.

Square Enix has revealed that the highly anticipated Hitman: Absolution will be released on November 20 this year, while the mini game and pre-order bonus Hitman: Sniper Challenge will be made available from May 15.

Interestingly, this announcement has come right after retailer speculation suggested that the game would be out in September.

The release date confirmation came with the official announcement of Sniper Challenge, which will be a standalone experience that is exclusive to those who pre-order the game.

“Agent 47 is the best in the business so it seemed appropriate to create the best pre-order reward possible for our fans,” said Jon Brooke, brand director of the Hitman franchise. “Hitman: Sniper Challenge is a way of thanking customers and giving them a taste of Agent 47′s skills from the moment they pre-order the game.”

Sniper Challenge will be unlocked on PSN and Xbox Live on May 15, but only on August 1 for Steam.

This has just made my entire gaming year. I can’t wait!

Half-Life fans are still anxiously waiting for news about Black Mesa, the independent remake of the original game in the series. While the game has mostly been in the dark, we last heard about it in February this year when news was let out that the project is still alive.

Interestingly enough, the game was meant to be released back in 2009, but the development team held it back, and now we’ve gotten an explanation as to why that happened.

Black Mesa’s Carlos Montero, in a recent interview with RockPaperShotgun, explained that while the team did their best to meet the deadline, and that they did actually have a working version of Black Mesa, a lot of shortcuts had to be taken in order to meet the deadline which compromised the end product’s quality. As a result, the team felt it was best to delay the project.

Montero said: “We were determined to make this release date come hell or high water, and we killed ourselves to do it. We were cutting corners everywhere, cutting chunks of maps out, rushing through everything, making rash decisions. Basically, we ended up going against all of our core values just to hit this deadline we had set for ourselves. It was harrowing, frustrating, and as we came to find out, ultimately futile.

“While we had something at the end of all of this, it still had huge missing chunks of the game and none of us were proud of it anymore. If anything, we were more disgusted with all of the shortcuts we had taken to get there, and all of the great ideas we had put aside to make it happen. We had a huge internal discussion in which we ultimately decided to break the news to the public and to re-focus and make something we could actually be proud of.”

This was one of the main reasons why the Black Mesa team became tight-lipped about the project. Montero explained that it was wrong of the team to hype up the gaming public when Black Mesa still had a long journey ahead of it.

“If I could go back in time and prevent us from releasing the media and hyping up the public the way that we did, I would. In the end, all of that hurt us more than helped us. It was our naive mistake to get the public that excited from the beginning, and it would have been unfair of us to keep them excited by continuing a long string of media and constant updates.

“There was a point where we realized we had a long road ahead, and we weren’t quite sure where the end was. It became clear to us that it would be better to stop whipping the public into a frenzy, stop getting them excited, and more or less allow them to forget about us for a bit while we figured out how to finish the game.”

However, despite this, it seems like more news is emerging about the project, and perhaps we’ll hear something positive about it sooner or later.

You can read the full interview over at RockPaperShotgun.

Unfortunately, fans are still waiting, seemingly endlessly, for a Hitman: Absolution release date to be announced.

Now, it look as though various online retailers decided to take it upon themselves to provide a release date for the game, pointing towards the month of September.

Retailers Zavvi and HotUKDeals have stuck a plausible September 17 release date onto the game, while ShopTo have it listed for September 24.

Hopefully this proves to be legit. Let’s pray we get a response from Square Enix and IO Interactive soon.

Gosh but I seem to be doing an awful lot of Assassin’s Creed III news lately, maybe it’s because the game is starting to take the shape of something that’s not utter shit or maybe it’s just because fate seeing as how my head will be shaved if AC III can match the splendour and fresh experience that AC II offered.

AGB has found some artwork which displays the pre-order trinkets available for those who purchase through Gamestop or Best Buy. Why do we care here on the Southern tip? Well because chances are that our trusty BT and other local retailers will offer some variation of thase bonuses for pre-ordering with them.

Gamestop is offering the Lost Mayan Ruins solo mission and Sawtooth Cutlass. Presumably, there are other similar weapons available in game. With regard to the Mayan Ruins, that sounds like it could be AC III’s version of the Assassin’s Tombs from AC II and will likely provide solid platforming sequences. Also, I hope this mission isn’t anything too significant since it does involve the Mayans and the overarching plot of AC does hinge on that whole 2012 apocalypse deal.

Best Buy offers the Ghost of War solo mission and Pontiac’s War Club which is basically a really cool stick with spikes on the end.

AC III is due out on PS3, PC and Xbox 360 in October so there’s plenty of time to get your pre-orders in. What are your thoughts on these here bonuses and the fact that the Mayans are definitely factored into Assassin’s Creed’s story somehow?

Paul Sage, the creative director for The Elder Scrolls Online, has recently told Game Informer that players will still get to experience individual heroism in the upcoming MMO, just like in the main series.

“You absolutely get that same experience of the world with that distraction-based gameplay where you really get to control your own destiny in how you experience the game,” said Sage. “I don’t think [being the hero] is much different in an MMO than it is in any other medium, really, any other typical RPG. I think this just gives us more opportunity to make you the hero.

“When I’m looking at the screen, when the NPCs see me, they see me as the hero, they react to me as the hero. When you’re playing with a group of friends, or even strangers, and you’re a healer, and you heal that guy that’s on his last leg, it sounds silly, but in a way you’re that person’s hero. I think that’s a big thing for people, it reinforces that social bond. You get to be a hero amongst your friends.”

When quizzed over fan reactions to the transition to an MMO, Sage said that it was important for the developers to make “a good game first” before anything else.

“We have to make our own game,” he said. “We want to make a good game first. Not a good MMO, not a good Elder Scrolls game, we want to make a good game first, a great experience for the player.”

You can watch the full interview on GameInformer.

Valve’s free DLC for Portal 2 titled Perpetual Testing Initiative is now available for PC and Mac. For those who don’t know, the DLC is basically Portal 2′s own level creator and will allow players to “easily create, share, and play Portal 2 puzzles.” Is it not simply awesome?

In other news, Portal 2 has just reached 4 million in sales figures which isn’t breaking any records but does show that what is one of the best games of 2011 and certainly amongst the best of all time is actually selling in volumes somewhat worthy of its status.

By the way, I’ve added the video from when the DLC was announced, as narrated by the one and only Cave Johnson.

Can you actually believe it? Diablo III is set to release in less than a week, ending a nearly 12 year long wait for one of the most anticipated RPG titles ever. Blizzard certainly knows how to build up hype, and hopefully fans get what they are expecting come May the 15th. We’ve already fed you a hands-on during the Diablo III beta, so you might be wondering why we’re doing yet another preview. Well, that type of question would be justified, but Diablo III is really the only thing on most PC gamers’ minds right now, so a quick refresher couldn’t hurt right? In this preview, we’ll discuss what you can expect from the story, the constant internet requirement, classes, auction house and more. Just no gameplay. We’ve extensively covered that already, and don’t want to bore you, so if you’re still not caught up on that front look no further than this link.

Okay, down to business.

Title: Diablo III
Developers: Blizzard Entertainment
Publishers: Blizzard Entertainment
Players: 1-4, Online PvP
Platforms: PC
Expected Price: R449.95
Release Date: May 15

Diablo III once again takes place in the dark fantasy world of Sanctuary, the setting for the previous two titles as well. Well, I’m hesitant to call it dark, but I’m sure you’ve heard tons on how Blizzard have shed some gothic aesthetics for a more “friendly” setting. Twenty years ago, this land was saved by you and some other nameless heroes in Diablo II and as a reward for your efforts against the Burning Hells you’ve been granted a lifelong holiday. So Sanctuary is ready for a new group of heroes to step up to the plate and once again brave the evils that seem to never stop terrorizing this poor world. Don’t plan a holiday here folks.

The plot is set to revolve around two of the Lesser Evils, Azmodan and Belial, and an artifact known as the Black Soulstone. What about Diablo you say? Well I’m sure he’ll make more than a small appearance, but Blizzard don’t really want to dive into any details regarding this. Instead, for once, it’ll actually be a surprise to see what Diablo has got ready for the new heroes of Tristam as they traverse a land forever transformed by the destruction of the Worldstone in Diablo II.

Diablo III will feature five very different classes for players to choose from, all with their own special abilities and perks. As an added bonus, all classes can be played as either a male or female, which really seems to be a big issue in some gamers’ lives.

• Witch Doctor: Raising the dead is the name of the game here, but apparently the Witch Doctor is very different from Diablo II’s Necromancer. Using a combination of shamanism and voodoo culture, the Witch Doctor is able to control the dead, cast curses, harvest souls and even poison foes, fancy that. Blizzard have said that a Necromancer should become available at a later stage, dispelling any similarities between it and the Witch Doctor.
• Barbarian: This is basically Diablo III’s “heavy muscle” class. There’s always one in an RPG, and although they may seem like useless broody brutes, they do serve a purpose. Using massive amounts of physical strength, the Barbarian is able to do tons of damage to multiple foes, which in turn builds up Fury. Fury is like Mana to the Barbarian, and powers all of his/her abilities.
• Wizard: Or Mage if you really want to get technical. Lightning bolts, walls of ice, balls of fire, it’s all here really. Everything you’d expect from a Mage is condensed in Wizard form, with fast regenerating Arcane Power allowing you to keep casting all the time nearly.
• Demon Hunter: By far one of the most interesting classes, the Demon Hunter is Diablo III’s “Archer”. Demon Hunters mainly use crossbow, and are even able to dual wield two of this incredible weapons, opening up some really interesting combination possibilities. The Demon Hunter makes use of Hatred and Discipline, with Hatred fuelling offensive abilities and Discipline fueling defensive. Also, a female Demon Hunter looks beyond awesome. Just saying.
• Monk: The monk isn’t really what you’d expect it to be, I think. When you say monk, people usually picture a calm bald guy wearing orange. Blizzard did not get this memo apparently. The Monk is a fast attacking melee character, and when I say fast, I really mean it. Monk’s make use of Spirit to fuel their abilities, with attacks generating more and more Spirit.

As you can see, and probably were expecting, the classes are extremely diverse but similar to previous classes as well. Anyone with some Mage experience should feel at home with the Wizard, but each class does carry some strategic advantages to them, as many Diablo player’s will reiterate.

Hardcore characters will also be available, giving players a chance to risk their entire character for a more compelling adventure. Hardcore characters are the same as normal characters in terms of abilities, stats and items, but if a hardcore character dies, they die. You won’t be able to play with that character again, so you really have to be careful. Couple this with Diablo III’s Inferno difficulty and you’ve got a truly punishing experience that veterans are sure to love.

PvP has also been a major talking point for Diablo III, but unfortunately this feature will not be available come launch day. Blizzard opted to drop the feature momentarily to push forward the release date, but PvP fans can hopefully look forward to it in the coming months. Players will use characters from the campaign in PvP, carrying over all abilities and gear as well. PvP will come in both ranked and unranked variations, with ranked matches allowing players to advance and unlock more gear, titles and other multiplayer rewards. When PvP does release it will boast various locations taken from the campaign, but aside from that details are scarce.

Diablo III will also be shipping with its own form of DRM, similar to the system used for StarCraft 2. Diablo III will require a constant internet connection when playing at all times. This includes normal single-player campaigns. No internet, no hack and slash action. This has been known for a while, though I don’t remember people being too worried about it. If DRM is such an issue with nearly every other title that implements it, why is that not so for Diablo III? This also rules out the possibility of offline LAN support, as you’ll only be able to dungeon crawl with your friends if you all have a stable internet connection.

Other than that, that’s all you really need to know about Diablo III before its release next week Tuesday. If you’re looking for gameplay, hit up our hands-on and get a quick rundown of what to expect when you log on for the first time next week. Am I the only one that is going to miss the “Waiting for Diablo III” memes come next week? Diablo III will release for PC on May 15th. Be ready.

It’s something that we have in common with the US and many other parts of the world: a history of slavery. We can all agree that it’s the fault of the British that the concept of slavery existed in the first place so there’s a reason to bomb that puny island but I digress. Assassin’s Creed III will take place in the colonial era of the United States and certainly long before Honest Abe and his anti-slavery notions.

So, mere days after telling us that we’ll see the more boisterous, philanderers side of Ben Franklin in AC III, Ubisoft is laying down some more history on us with the announcement that the game will also deal with the issue of slavery to some degree.

Assassin’s Creed 3writer Matt Rurnerhas told OPM UK: “It’s something we’ve been very aware of. Everybody had slaves at that point; the first groups who rallied around emancipation didn’t come around until 1787 – largely driven by Benjamin Franklin funnily enough. That was very much after our game and slavery was maintained in culture.”

Of course, the story is supposed to revolve around the period manifestation of Templars vs Assassins but Ubisoft doesn’t want to take the easy route and avoid the issue of slavery altogether. Instead, they look to be tackling it head-on.

“We feel that kind of a subject deserves a certain amount attention because it’s so serious and it needs to be treated with utmost respect,” said Rurnerhas. “We’re definitely not going to shy away from it in terms of not showing it.

“We’re going to focus on telling it like it was, we’re going to show what was there and what people did in that time but we want to be careful with how that’s covered and how much of it is there. It’s an important topic. We won’t be afraid to show that it’s there but we’re not going make it the focus of our game.”

So our new protagonist Connor is not only a half-English half-Native American but he also has powerful friends such as Ben Franklin and he’s tied to the slaves somehow. And the you have Desmond Miles who is podgy looks like Adam Sandler and who’s greatest achievement is being the descendant of all these cool assassins.

Seriously though, Ubisoft loves their historical accuracy when it comes to AC, specifically in recreating the atmosphere and feel of the era. Perhaps colonial USA wouldn’t be the same without a focus on slavery but Ubisoft has definitely chosen to cover the issue and make it a part of the game. Is this a rehash of BioWare’s decision to make Shepard canonically gay or is Ubisoft doing something truly worthwhile and meaningful here?

BioShock: Infinite, Halo 4, Borderlands 2 and Resident Evil 6 to name but a few; these are the games we know, we’re excited for and that makes each day of varsity, school or work worth drudging through. That being the case, there are always other interesting or worth-knowing-about games that (for one reason or another) seem to go mostly unnoticed until someone makes a little list like… well a list this. One game is almost certainly due in 2013 and another is more a truly amazing indie game than a AAA title, but all are worth knowing about.

Spec Ops: The Line

Spec Ops: The Line (or ‘The Line’ for the sake of convenience) is a primarily third-person shooter with emphasis on squad-based tactics. You, as the player, control one Captain Martin Walker (no relation to our favourite Texan Ranger I’m afraid) who is accompanied by a Delta Force team assigned to rescue an Army Colonel who remained behind in Dubai during some incident.

The Line makes use of a rather interesting and relatively unique dynamic terrain, that being the natural sandstorms of Dubai, in order to provide a dynamic terrain that changes and reacts during gameplay. The game also promises random sandstorm occurrences at varying levels of intensity. I know I’m looking forward to seeing more from this sandy tactical shooter.

Quantum Conundrum

Everyone knows the lyrics to the original Portal’s outro song; every gamer takes every opportunity to say the “cake is a lie” at any baking goods reference; and all nerds alike go nuts for anything Portal like. What I find strange then is how little hype or fanfare there is around Quantum Conundrum. It’s probably because there are no Valve logos to be seen, which makes sense I suppose.

What Quantum Conundrum is, is Kim Swift’s (one of the key brains behind Portal who did not remain at Valve) take on alternate dimensions and puzzle goodness. And as for the important similarities between Quantum Conundrum and Portal, well there are also as many key differences; there is much more character and narrative for one. Quantum Conundrum places you in the role of a nephew looking for his eccentric uncle and inventor extraordinaire named Professor Fitz Quadwrangle. It’s an FPS centric Portal-like puzzle game that makes use of different dimensions, each with their own unique matter and physics properties; dimensions you need to make use of. It’s got a fluffy dimension, how could you not want to play it?

Hawken

Hawken is quite simply the best looking, most awesome mech game I have seen in my life; which is a surprise when you consider how relatively small the development team behind this indie title is. It’s high octane; adheres to a fast pace though realistic feel; and maintains both action and strategic elements alike. Take that and wrap it up in the gorgeous visuals it packs and you have an insane multiplayer mech shooter worth your interest.

Command & Conquer: Generals 2

BioWare are trying something completely new here, something completely alien to them (see the word play). I know I for one am excited at the prospect of a new Generals game. So when one of the best design and development studios around takes an RTS epic like the Command and Conquer series and uses the monster Frostbite 2 engine to power the beast; well I get a little giggly.

It promises a return to the Command and Conquer staples; a dark and gritty story that takes place after the events of the original C&C Generals; and one new unnamed faction (it’ll probably be the Reapers). Let’s just hope it restores the faith in the franchise that so many fans lost after Red Alert 3 and Command and Conquer 4.

Sins Of A Solar Empire Rebellion

As far as I’m concerned, Sins of a Solar is the interstellar strategic king. It’s got immense depth, variety and strategic nuance but is relatively easy to learn and challenging to master. There is a lot to learn and with the new standalone expansion ‘Rebellion’, there are two unique factions (loyal and rebellious) and all the associated layers strategy introduced for each race.

So with effectively 6 factions and all the new content introduced through previous expansions, like the starbases, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion aims to push the strategic boundaries even further. This in addition to the visual tweaks, upgrades and an emphasis on using Steam makes Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion the de facto standard sci-fi RTS.

In Conclusion:

All of these games have definite promise; one or two show the potential for greatness even. The point is, these are the games I’m looking forward to, I’m awaiting with starry eyes and anticipation; so I share these with you, go forth and spread the message of their existence.

There’s a big Hitman Absolution announcement coming on May 10 but what could it be?

The news was conveyed via a poster which appeared on the game’s Facebook page and  depicts Agent 47 standing atop a building with a sniper rifle in hand. Could this mean that 47 killed Kennedy from a skyscraper two miles away? Is that the big twist in Absolution or maybe 47 is Batman and that’s why he’s on the rooftop?

Whatever the news is, it better be worth advertising it with a poster. Hitman Absolution will be out later this year on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. Feel free to let your inner conspiracy theorist run wild with just what IO Interactive is planning to announce.

If you want to be technical, amongst the first things we heard about FIFA 13 was that the players would look more realistic, which is great news.

Now, at a recent London showcase, the game’s producer David Rutter spilled the beans on five major improvements that FIFA 13 will bring to the series. It’s not entirely clear whether they’re the only five, but it sounds like the gameplay will undergo significant change.

The changes are listed and detailed below.

First Touch Control
One of the first things to do at FIFA 13 was to implement a more realistic ball control. Now it will be more difficult to control a receiving ball with your player. It all depends on the strength, the speed, the ball height and the technical skills of your player to achieve the control of the ball and run with it.

Player Impact
Another feature that got improved is the player impact engine. There will be no more unrealistic animations in the players challenges!The engine has been optimized and new a set of impact values ​​has been added at the hip and the upper body area.

Complete Dribble
In FIFA 12 you could dribble just by changing direction,in FIFA 13 this won’t be possible anymore!

Tactical Free-Kicks
The free-kicks got a new free kick system. Up to three players can now gather around the ball and make fun of the opponent’s defense and goalie. You can now feint a direct shot and adjust it to a player who comes off the wall. Also the defense set pieces have been improved to go with the new free kick system. For example, you can make a defensive team with more players into the wall and send out a player to block the ball.

Attacking AI
The offensive Artificial Intelligence got a huge improvement. The CPU-controlled players got better running routes and better guessing options of where you pass the ball. Also the strikers are smarter and move with the offside line of your defenders, waiting to receive the ball and run with it towards your goal post.

David Rutter also revealed that FIFA 13 will bring in new features and upgrades such as new passing types, new shot rotation moves and new goalkeeper animations. Furthermore, the cheering and celebration animations have been adjusted to fit the current day football atmosphere. FIFA 13 will also work towards improving referees.

Sounds interesting.

We’ve seen plenty of screenshots and we’ve seen a cinematic or two but what everyone has desperately been waiting for to pass judgement on Assassin’s Creed III is a good look at some gameplay. Ubisoft has promised a lot but then so do presidential candidates and it definitely didn’t help Mr Sarkozy at all. No, we need to see the game in action to decide whether this one has a chance of succeeding or will just drown in the series’ own stagnant pool of redundancy.

What you see above is merely a brief teaser to the actual gameplay video which Ubisoft wants you to work for, the pigs. Basically, someone didn’t show the entire Ubisoft staff enough love and now they feel neglected so it’s up to you to go here and make them feel important or at the very least validated by liking the page and then sharing, posting or tweeting about it.

Do it now, for those morbidly depressed souls at Ubisoft, every share and tweet makes them feel more human! Once the grand total number of tweets, shares and posts hits 1,776,000 not only will the Ubisoft team be all sunshine and rainbows but you’ll even get the full AC III gameplay trailer as a reward.

Do what you must for the greater good.

Crytek’s Rasmus Højengaard has stepped up to reassure PC gamers that their version of Crysis 3 will include PC-specific graphics features.

Højengaard, when speaking to Spong, joked a little about Crysis’s PC journey, while talking up Crysis 3′s graphics.

“PC players, fundamentally only want Crysis to be on PC, right? And, you know, that’s kind of understandable when you consider how the original game – and even Crytek itself – started out,” he said.

“But, we’re definitely pushing this game a lot from a visual standpoint, and for sure there’s going to be visual goodies in it that you can only get if you have a super-high-end PC.

“At the same time, we want to ensure if you don’t have a super-high-end PC, the game will still look amazing. On top of that, we want to make sure the experience is not different from platform to platform.”

He didn’t specify what the unique graphical features for the PC version would be.

When it was revealed that several key historical figures such as George Washington and specifically Ben Franklin people immediately thought back to previous Assassin’s Creed games with their portrayal of Machiavelli, the Ottomans and specifically Da Vinci. You can see where this is going, right?

Everyone figured that our protagonist, Connor, would pop in to Ben’s workshop from time to time to upgrade his weapons or something but that won’t be the case. Mr Franklin will not be your glorified inventor but will instead use the game to display his little-known philanderous nature.

the game will somehow find a way to work in Franklin’s “love of women” according to the game’s creative producer Alex Hutchinson via Penny Arcade Report.

We all know about uncle Benjy and the post office and electricity and all that but he was also fond of writing what some might term softcore adult novels. Yeah, Ben was  a horny bastard who often wrote about his sexual escapades with his mistresses.

You don’t get that kind of information on the History Channel. In addition to Franklin’s sexcapades, it was also revealed that the goal with AC III is to not just have some historical figures but to make every single target a person who existed in reality.

Fuck, this game sounds like it is going to be amazing. Farewell oh luscious head of hair.

I guess now we know why the world will end this year.

Amazon has revealed that day one pre-orders for Call of Duty: Black Ops II are not only ten times the pre-order numbers for the original Black Ops, but also 30 percent higher than Modern Warfare 3′s pre-order count.

Previously, it was Modern Warfare 3 that set the Amazon record for the most pre-ordered game of all-time. More than that, Modern Warfare 3 is among the top 20 pre-orders of all time for Amazon, and that’s not just among games. Now, it looks like Black Ops 2 might top that.

Have you seen the game’s first trailer? I will admit it’s hard to recognise Call of Duty in there, but gameplay will tell the full story. Apart from looking forward to the single-player, as I quite enjoyed the campaign in the original Black Ops, I’m not too excited for this.

Hi-Rez, the developers of Tribes: Ascend, has confirmed that there are currently no plans to bring their game to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Todd Harris, the studio head, recently speaking with Gamasutra, revealed that despite the developer toying with the idea bringing the game to consoles, its business model took away hopes of a port.

“We do not have any plans for Tribes on console at this time,” said Harris. “The way it went is that we wanted to do the free-to-play model, and there wasn’t a clear path to that on consoles early on. Based on that, we optimized the game around the strengths of the PC, and specifically a keyboard and mouse control.”

“Once we decided it’d only be on the PC, we optimized around speed, a quick turn radius, and PC game controls. We’re still interested in free-to-play on consoles, but at this point, we have nothing specific to Tribes on console.”

Tribes is a free-to-player FPS that launched on PC just last month, gaining widespread critical acclaim and acquiring over 800,000 registered accounts.

“It’s really our belief that for an online multiplayer game, particularly, free-to-play is the best model for gamers and for studios.”

Ubisoft has let out a bunch of new concept art for the original Assassin’s Creed, dating back to November 2004, and showing off some of the early ideas the team had and played around with when inventing the franchise.

The art was produced by Khai Nguyen, and some of the more interesting images reveal that the team thought about co-op, a female assassin and a spin-off to Prince of Persia. The Assassin’s Creed Facebook page details a number of these images and tells us of their significance.

You can check out the full gallery below, and if you’re interested to find out more about some of the images be sure to head over to the game’s Facebook page.

When The Witcher 2 first released, it fell into a niche that was at the time rather unfilled, except perhaps by Demon Souls for PS3. It was a game that was not only pure in its RPG elements but brutal in its difficulty, refusing to hold your hand and at times even throwing you straight into the deep end while watching you hopelessly attempt to keep from drowning until you inevitably do, then reload your game with superior knowledge so that next time you might fare better.

It was a game that held nothing back and right from the get-go, would either make or break the player, setting them up for the challenges ahead and showing them what real RPGs can do, or watching them walk away with their tails between their legs.

Fast forward a year and The Witcher 2 is still highly rated as an RPG, having won many awards for both its amazing graphics on PC and its pure RPG structure. But the plan was never to stop simply at a PC exclusive and as such, CD Projekt RED have now released what they’re calling the Enhanced Edition, packed with all the free DLC packs and other additions that were released over the past year to PC gamers, as well as various new additions and changes, for Xbox 360. PC gamers rejoice, for if you already own The Witcher 2, you may download an Enhanced Edition patch (it’s 11GBs) to acquire all of these new additions and changes for yourself, free of charge. Bless CD Projekt RED, those Polish beauties.

The only remaining question then, is does The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 do the job that the former PC exclusive did, just about a year ago?

But first, let’s talk about the various aspects of the game. After all, we didn’t exactly do a review on The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings when it released on PC last year, so there might well be a few who are a bit shaky on the details. Good thing you all have me to tell you about it.

The first and most obvious feature of The Witcher 2 is that it contains probably the most mature and adult-oriented storyline of any game, ever. No, we’re not joking around here. It’s got political intrigue, racial tension and sexual encounters all over the place and apart from the latter with regards to horny teenagers and tissues, most of these would fly right over the heads of those not abundantly prepared for it.

The story revolves primarily around Geralt of Rivia, a witcher living in Temeria who has suffered memory loss after quite literally dying and being brought back to life. A witcher is a mutant, in the canon, a human usually, who has trained their body to the extremes and dabbled in various toxic potions and magic such that their bodies become mutated, giving them cat-eyes and removing the pigment from their hair, but granting them extra strength, intelligence and agility in order for them to fight the beasts that other races cannot. It’s for this reason that the last few remaining witchers ply their trade as bounty hunters, killing monsters for orens — the game’s gold-coin-based currency.

Geralt himself starts off the game in the employ of his majesty King Foltest, along with Geralt’s girlfriend Triss Merigold who serves as royal advisor, but is also a kick-ass mage who is your companion (and fuck-buddy) throughout the game, or at least those parts where she’s actually useful (with clothes on). Foltest seeks to quell a rebellion and retrieve his illegitimate children (they call them bastards) and with the help of Geralt and the Temerian army, successfully does so before taking a knife to the neck at the hands of an assassin, another witcher to whom Geralt was once acquainted but since losing his memory, cannot remember.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately depending on who you are and how much of the game you want to play, Geralt is framed for the murder and held for regicide by Vernon Roche, leader of the Blue Stripes; basically the king’s secret service of agents. Eventually however, with a combination of Geralt’s recollection of the events leading up to Foltest’s murder and his mentioning of Iorveth, of the Scoia’tel — literally ‘Squirrels’, a radical group of elves dedicated to fighting humans, in order to stop oppression — whom Roche particularly detests, the duo spring a daring escape from prison and Geralt sets out with Triss and Roche in tow, to clear his name and bring the real killer to justice.

What follows is an amazing tale of discovery, adventure (of the carnal kind, as well) and inevitably justice. Perhaps even some vengeance or redemption depending on how you play out the story.

It’s important to note that as an RPG, The Witcher 2 does exactly that: it places you in the role of Geralt of Rivia and lets you play the game. To that extent, you will make decisions, complete quests and build your character exactly the way you feel you should and the game does nothing to promote a particular style or direction. If you want to ignore a burning orphanage with children still inside while helping an old lady to cross the street, that’s your prerogative. While there are ‘moral choices’ of some sort, there is no ‘morality scale’ that measures how evil or good you are, allowing you to pick and choose as you desire. It’s quite an interesting way of allowing a player to discover who they truly are, without any sort of meter to measure how much of a nice guy they are, or what have you. The only incentive to making a certain decision would of course be the loot you could acquire by making it, and that decision could be ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or somewhere in between.

As an example of this, you could opt to bait two soldiers who tortured the patients at an insane asylum by leading them to a ghost who seeks to kill them in order to find peace, or you could warn the soldiers of the ghost’s intentions and head in and kill the ghost yourself. Which is ‘good’ choice again?

The quests in The Witcher 2 all deserve some acclaim for this as even the lowest-level fetch-quest turns into a learning experience, an engrossing adventure that has you spending far more time on it than you would in other RPGs. Exploration is encouraged as a result, where you find yourself exploring and re-exploring areas of the game world, just in case you missed something the first, second, third or fourth time. And it never gets old.

Each chapter in the game then changes the game-world, mixing things up for the player even further. What’s really interesting in The Witcher 2 is that depending on your choices in the first chapter, the next two play out entirely differently. And by entirely, I mean the second chapter will be based in a whole new side of an area depending on your choices in the first chapter. Instant replayability? Check.

The Witcher 2 was always a beautiful game on PC and it delights me to no extent that even on console, somehow, the game still looks gorgeous. One might easily call it the Xbox 360′s new most graphically superior game. And it really is. Compelling proof that a game can be both beautiful and engaging. The engine that CD Projekt RED are using is something for the history books.

It really helps the atmosphere of the game when you can place a player in a forest teaming with undergrowth, flora, fauna, and make it so believable that they forget they’re actually in a game and this forest doesn’t really exist. At least, until something attacks them and kills them forcing a reload. Engrossing is an understatement, in this game. Even on console, I find myself walking through areas with wide-eyed-wonder at the graphical splendour on show.

The greatest irony then, and perhaps even more of a plus based on what I’ve already said, is that you will actually find yourself spending half your play-time in the menus.

Remember, this is an RPG and as such there is typically an inventory of items that you’ve collected, either through looting, purchasing, crafting (through the use of diagrams) or as rewards for quest completion, so you’re always managing that inventory and making sure you don’t become over-encumbered, which would severely limit your combat capability. The usual map screen also features, showing you important quests and the area you are currently in, although for the life of me I could never quite read it correctly.

Furthermore, there’s the obligatory character screen which contains various sub-menus but most notably your skill trees, of which there are three major variants (salute), namely Mutant, Combat and Magic. With Mutant, you acquire skills that involve the creation and use of bombs, traps and most notably potions. Potions in The Witcher 2 cannot be consumed in combat and must therefore be consumed, typically before combat begins, which adds to the preemptive nature of most combat scenarios. Each consumed potion adds to your toxicity level, meaning too many will kill you. However, if you take a potion and become ‘poisoned’ meaning your toxicity level is above zero, you could gain certain bonuses to your character’s abilities. The Combat skill tree provides bonuses to your combat abilities, as if that needs saying, while the Magic skill tree provides bonuses to your Signs, which are basically spells in the game. More on this in a bit. The final skill on each tree is, let’s call it a super skill, each unlocking a special ability that effectively rewards you for investing many points into that particular tree. The way the game is structured, at best you can max out one skill tree and have a few points in the others. Further replayability. Check.

Probably the biggest addition to the game’s typical RPG menus is that of the Journal, which you will spend hours and hours reading through. Trust me, even the most illiterate action-nut — who saw the box and thought “hurr durr new God of War game lol” or something — is going to find themselves paging through the journal as not only is it intriguing as fuck, but it’s also entirely necessary in order for you to progress with certain quests. Seriously. It’s not about being babied around, or not being smart enough to figure things out on your own. You need to read the fucking journal. There is simply no other way for you to progress with certain quests. A huge boon then that it’s as interesting as it is. The quests themselves contain notes and text in a style of narration, as if told many years later by a character you will familiarise yourself with over the course of the game.

There are various sections to the journal apart from the list of quests, most notably the locations and characters menus. There is also one for the monsters you will encounter in battle throughout the game. As you play, you will come across various books with information on monsters as well as characters, locations and a whole load of other things. It is in your best interest to read these books as the ones with monster information in particular, are essential to your ability to kill those monsters. For each monster, your knowledge level determines how much of damage you do against them, how much of damage they do to you, and most importantly; how exactly you can kill them. Because some monsters are not straight-forward slice-and-dice variants. Some have ridiculous weaknesses that could turn a twenty-minute fight into a thirty-second lol-fest. Others are completely immune to certain things. Reading your journal is key.

Coming back to that preemptive nature of the game’s combat, most battles are handled best through preparation. If you are attempting to complete a certain quest that requires combat, let’s say defending an NPC from an army of attacking wraiths, it is in your best interest to first read up on wraiths and discover their weaknesses, prepare traps and bombs that wraiths are weak to, lay those traps and equip the necessary bombs, coat your weapons in something that does extra damage to wraiths, consume potions that will enhance your abilities and finally, save your game just in case you fail and have to do all of that again. This is why preparation is essential; because if you don’t prepare for a battle, you make the game exponentially more difficult for yourself and at times borderline impossible. No, Dark Souls players, do not go “Challenge Accepted!” because trust me, you know nothing of difficulty compared to this game on the aptly named Dark difficulty. These monsters will laugh at you. Prepare for fights and suddenly you have a fighting chance. See what I did there?

Combat in the game is handled in a far more streamlined manner to the first Witcher title, which contained three combat styles that required manually switching between them in order to effectively fight. Cumbersome and tedious, so this time they’ve allowed for just two styles, each mapped to a separate button. Basically the light and heavy attack you know from most other games, Geralt has a speed style and a power style. Some enemies completely shrug off one of those styles, forcing you to attack with the other… you would know this if you read the fucking journal.

To go with this, Geralt has two sword slots; one for a regular sword for attacking humans and one for a silver sword (usually called a Witcher’s sword) for attacking monsters. Each sword could in theory attack anything, but you would do reduced damage if you used the incorrect sword. I try not to question the logic there. Some of these weapons — as well as armour — contain upgrade slots which you can fill with runes that provide minor upgrades such as a slight vitality (health) increase or a bonus to damage.

Spells are another huge point of the game. Whereas in the first game you had to learn each spell as you progressed, in The Witcher 2 you start out with all but one of your spells unlocked. Actually, they’re called Signs here, so let’s get that right. See, this is basically CD Projekt RED throwing you a bone, since the effective use of Signs drastically increases your chances of survival. The final Sign is unlocked upon acquiring the final skill in the Magic tree. Each Sign has a different use; one is basically a force-push — Fus Ro Dah before it was a thing — while another sets traps on the ground and another creates a protective sheathe to block damage. Each Sign can be upgraded for even more devastating effects.

Casting Signs uses up Vigour, which is kind of a mix-up of Stamina and Mana from most other games. You also use Vigour when you block and counter-attack, the latter of which must first be unlocked. Vigour, of course, regenerates over time, assuming no Signs are currently active. You can increase your Vigour by investing points into the relevant skills in whatever skill tree you opt to pursue. You can also increase your Vitality (health) in this way.

One thing I really liked about the combat in The Witcher 2 is that unlike many other RPGs where there’s a certain stigma around the combat system, either it’s clumsy and nonsensical or just doesn’t work, or on the other end of the scale it’s too action-y and therefore loses the entire point of RPG gameplay (I’m sure in your head you’re already thinking up examples of each), The Witcher 2 gets it so right. The action is frantic and fun, but in order to survive you still have to prepare, bringing the RPG elements right into the core and nailing it home nicely. It’s a game where you can have fun battling things, if you put in the necessary work before-hand. Rewarding? Check.

Now, I understand that in the crossover from PC exclusive to console iteration, there will be certain differences that arise as a result of the ridiculous gap between the technology of modern PCs and the Xbox 360, but I still feel it necessary to dedicate a bit of this review to noting the differences between the versions because, quite honestly, the differences I found are just… weird. If you don’t care for these differences then by all means, skip ahead.

The first difference that would probably be on everyone’s mind is that of the game’s graphics. They’re actually surprisingly on par, in most places, however you ought not to expect the crisp texture clarity or post-processing available on modern-day PCs and that sexy Ubersampling feature is all but a myth on the Xbox 360 version. I’d still rate this game as easily the best-looking I’ve ever seen on console.

The next difference is that of the menus. For whatever reason, there is no seamless transition between them as with pretty much any other game ever. Instead, changing from one menu to another fades the screen to black for a second. Why is this a thing? It’s annoying to say the least, especially considering how much of time you actually spend in the menus.

For no apparent reason whatsoever, the control scheme has been changed up. See, I played The Witcher 2 on PC with a controller, for the most part — the keyboard controls were kinda clumsy — and as an example, the speed style (or light attack) was assigned to X, however on the Xbox 360 version it’s assigned to A. It’s a somewhat jaunting experience, having to re-accustom yourself with controls you were once all too familiar with. Imagine reloading your weapon in Gears of War 3 with LB instead of RB? It’s just… wrong.

There are more loading screens now, an obvious difference I guess, based on extremely inferior console technology. That the game manages to still be somewhat seamless is truly a feat. However it still manages to distort some audio and I noticed some terrible normalisation in places, where Geralt and everything around him would be a certain volume and a specific NPC he interacts with would be double that volume, and of rather horrendous quality. Thankfully this isn’t a constant appearance but during long story segments it can rear its ugly head a few too many times.

Finally, again for reasons I cannot fathom, the difficulty has been scaled for the console version, such that playing on Normal is the equivalent of playing most games on normal, more or less. Gone is the tough-as-steel-nails, you won’t survive, sort of structure to things on even the easiest difficulty. This time around, Casual really is for casuals. I’m not sure if it’s across both platforms that this change has occurred or whether CD Projekt RED thinks console players not worthy enough for the PC’s version of Normal difficulty. Hell, even Dark difficulty seems easier than it did on PC, but not by too much. It’s still going to pwn you, but this time it at least gives you some breathing space and some ice for your battered head, instead of leaving you for dead.

In all these changes are non-consequential for most but could still affect the experience, even if you haven’t actually played the PC version before, especially that egregious fade-to-black that the menus do. Some other issues I found with the game involved the usual RPG story of glitchy characters whose hair would fade into their faces while limbs faded into their surroundings, or who would move about erratically while requiring you to follow them. Then there’s the confusing mini-map which contains various icons I still don’t quite understand.

Protip: Play this game with your manual out. You’ll probably need it at some point.

That’s about it, really. I didn’t have any other issues with the game and found it to be quite the unforgettable experience, both on PC and Xbox 360. If these issues I’ve mentioned are enough of a bother for you then by all means, use the rating I’ve given the game but if you don’t care for them and consider an RPG something to be judged purely on its story, characters and combat then go right ahead and bump that rating up to Perfect.

The Witcher 2 is, once again, an RPG experience like no other — except for itself — and in a year that contains such games as Mass Effect 3, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and Skyrim (okay it’s a fiscal year or something), it stands right up there and holds its own. If you want a sci-fi experience then without doubt you’re going to try that BioWare game but if you’re up for something more fantastical, more Tolkien-esque, then you can do no better than The Witcher 2.

If you don’t buy it because of what an amazing game it is, what an engrossing story it has, what interesting characters it boasts and what fulfilling combat is features, then by all means; buy it for the gratuitous amounts of sex it throws at you.

We usually applaud FIFA as a series for always trying something different each year in a bid to improve itself. meanwhile, Pro Evolution Soccer has just spent the past few years advancing itself to narrow that gap with FIFA and make itself more appealing to players. It’s no surprise then that PES 2013 is loaded with lots of new features.

Konami has slated the game for its usual September/October release with the publisher’s Digital Entertainment president Tomoyuki Tsuboi saying that the game has been shaped “in part, by the vocal PES community”, and went on to say that he’s “excited to take Pro Evolution Soccer back to its roots, which is all about freedom and control”.

The key features of PES 2013 are to be FullControl, Player ID and ProActive AI. Some of the new features are already found in FIFA while others are just the sort of thing you’d expect from PES. The new game seems to be getting its own version of Precision Dribbling and the Impact Engine along with boosted player AI.

Behold, the official list of features straight from Konami themselves:

The first element, FullControl (PES FC), offers a level of control that has never before been used in a soccer game. The features of PES FC include:

• Total Freedom of Control: Pro Evolution Soccer introduced the concept of freedom of movement. The new ‘PES FC’ in Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 goes further with total freedom over ball control.
• Dynamic First Touch: Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 introduces subtle ways to receive the ball, from traps to gently lifting it past an attacker to run on to or a variety of other moves. First Touch is everything, and players can trap the ball using the R2 button, killing the speed of a well-hit pass and bringing it instantly under control, or using the momentum of the pass to turn a defender.
• Full Manual Shooting and Full Manual Passing: Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 offers fully manual passing and, for the first time ever, manual shooting, allowing users to determine the height and power of each. Long, low passes can be sent skimming across the pitch. While shooting, the user has total control over where the shot is placed. Skill and precision are needed to master these, but passes can be made into open areas, allowing lone strikers to thrive, while offering an unrivalled variety in ways to score.
• Dribbling: The speed with which a player moves with the ball has been slowed in line with real matches, but using R2 allows players to add various styles to their close control. Players can vary the speed of their dribbling and cushion the ball as they move freely within a 360-degree circle. The new system allows players to knock a ball past a player and collect it, nutmeg them, or hold up play by shielding the ball as teammates find space and make runs.
• Full Manual One-Two: Active one-two passes can be made, with the second player being moved in any direction, facilitating various tactical movements.
• Response Defending: Countering the attacking options the new dribbling system offers, is a beautifully-balanced defense system. Players can use R2 and X to slow an attack, with a double-tap of the X button prompting a perfectly-timed challenge. Full 360-degree control means that players can check runs and steal the ball from a parallel position, while the individuality element will see world renowned defenders using aerial dominance of physicality to win the ball.
• Goalkeepers: Even the game’s keepers benefit from more control. Their distribution is more precise thanks to the addition of a power gauge when they throw the ball, creating opportunities for new, quicker counter attacks.

The second key element of Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 is the Player ID, which focuses on the individual characteristics and movements that each player boasts. The components of the Player ID include:

• Player Individuality: The very best players in Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 will be instantly recognizable via signature attributes, skills and tricks that bring them to life. The way they run, turn, trap and move the ball, shape to shoot, and even celebrate will be noticeably different during play.
• Individuality to Goalkeepers: Goalkeeping has been totally invigorated via new animations and play styles. New varieties of saves and reactions have been added to ensure the game’s keepers are in line with the efforts of real shot stoppers. This level of realism also extends to the game’s top-rated goalkeepers, with their moves to close attacks down, fling themselves to tip a shot past the post, and in-goal acrobatics benefiting from all new animations and AI.

The third element is the ProActive AI, which unites the control and realism, with players that will respond and find space as befits those at the top of their games.

• Balance of Play: The development team has worked closely with the Pro Evolution Soccer fan base to eradicate any illogical elements to the way players move and run in Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, with the ‘ProActive AI’ system enhancing the speed and balance, resulting in a more realistic game experience.
• Enhanced Goalkeepers: Improvements to the goalkeepers was voted the key advancement football fans wanted to see in Pro Evolution Soccer 2013, and the team has worked hard with real life goalkeepers to ensure the AI decision process has been vastly improved. Keepers now respond with better reactions, clear their lines more effectively, and push the ball safely out of play rather than into dangerous areas.
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 will also boast better connectivity and atmosphere. The popular myPES application will extend the connectivity and communication between Facebook-using PES fans, while the game’s audio effects are being tied closer to the on-field action to provide the kind of buzz seen at top-tier matches, with crowds growing in excitement as their team starts to exert pressure.

The focus is clearly on offering a greater level of control than ever before while also making it worth the while with some improved player AI. There also seems to be a focus on giving players a more unique, individual experience which should be interesting.

2012 looks to be Man City’s year to overthrow United, is it PES’s turn to do the same and topple FIFA? Probably not (personally) but it’ll likely be closer than ever.

Activision’s official Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 website has gone live, and it’s confirmed new information for those interested in this title. I will resist the urge to use a troll face.

The site confirms Black Ops 2′s official box art, as well as that, as expected, the game will be out on November 13 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The pre-order page reveals: “Pushing the boundaries of what fans have come to expect from the record-setting entertainment franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 propels players into a near future, 21st Century Cold War, where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare.”

And that’s all folks.

It’s not long now until Ghost Recon: Future Soldier releases and some of you will surely be enjoying the beta but for those of you that aren’t, we have a preview that’ll make you feel better (probably not). Ubisoft has released a new trailer for the online shooter, this one detailing the Specialist class.

The Specialist is described as “a master in electronic warfare equipped with Blackout, an energy boost which renders the enemy useless and disoriented as well as A.E.G.I.S which creates an impenetrable shield upon yourself and your surrounding teammates. His job? To tilt the tides of battle.”

Don’t you just wanna be a Specialist so bad right now?

Do you need a little break from all the awesome AAA titles released this year so far? No, well are you tired of playing the same awesome free-to-play games like Team Fortress 2 or League of Legends every day? No again huh… hmmm, well I have a proposition for you nonetheless. I know every gamer likes to try new things but buying games for the sake of something new has inherent risks, I mean, we’re not all made of money. Ok, so I admit, we’ve all got big gaming backlogs and what I’m proposing is you avoid that backlog even further. But still, these games are free-to-play, interesting and should provide you with something a little different at least. Now I’m not promising they’re great, or even good, but they’re different and that’s all you need sometimes. That said, they are MMO’s, so a little time investment is required before you know whether you like them or not. The reason I chose MMO’s over the countless free indie games is it’s easy to Google the best indie games, make a list and give them a try. MMO’s are a different story and you have to rely on some rather poor sources and/or very so-so sources like forums in order to decide what’s best. That being the case, I made this little list so that your task is that much easier.

Keep in mind that they are not necessarily going to be good for everyone so rather than rattle off facts that I think will make them appeal to you; I’m going to tell you what makes them different and let you decide. What’s the worst that could happen, you waist a little time testing and deleting the ones you don’t like? So that said, let’s get on with it:

The original Monday Night Combat is a relatively successful 3rd person shooter that took elements from the ever-so-popular DotA and created a relatively enjoyable and uniquely blended gaming experience. Super MNC does the same thing but introduces more depth, balances and attempts to make itself even more unique an experience than the last. Just imagine waves of creeps spawning, enemy goals to destroy and class based heroes to use; sounds like DotA right, well that’s because it is quite similar in many ways. Chiefly among which is it’s free-to-play and available on Steam right now. I’ve given it a try and being able to play as the hero from a 3rd person perspective, add guns and some comical relief, makes this DotA-like experience worth the penny… oh wait, you don’t pay anything.

A free-to-play 2D side scrolling, Streets of Rage styled MMO with quite a few varying heroes, multiple paths of advancement for each and some nifty visuals; what’s not to like. You really don’t need to play long before you’ll know exactly whether you like this one or not. Best of all is that you can finish the entire game without paying a single cent, though you will need more patience and (perhaps) ability than the average paying player. This is because you get less chances of recovering mid-stage and will more often than not go back to a checkpoint if you don’t want to cash out for things like extra lives and such. Despite this, it’s an enjoyable game and worthy of at least a couple hours of your time.

Ok so its 3rd person ground combat isn’t that great and there are still a couple of odd tweaks needed here and there. But for a totally free game that allows you to come close to matching the paid players with a little extra time investment and an awesome space combat system that makes the time invested worth it; well why not give it a try, especially if you’re a fan of the series or Sci-fi games for that matter. More than that though, there’s a whole lot of content, plenty space battling to do, mechanics and features to enjoy and a bunch most would happily pay for and again, you don’t have to do anything for any of it. Ok so I rattled of some likable facts this time, but hey, I’m not perfect.

On the surface Rusty Hearts isn’t that different from the multitudes of Eastern inspired and designed cel-shaded MMO’s. Look a little deeper and you find an epic little brawler with plenty of colour, pizzazz and depth to make most other free-to-play MMO’s of the genre to seem quite spartan. It offers crafting, side missions and everything you’d expect from a bigger open world MMO but packages it into a faster paced and real time brawler. For all those gamers who like the idea of an MMO but can’t be bothered to deal with the monotony of click-action-wait-click-action-wait.

Well this is less interesting and more awesome, that is if your interwebs connection can handle the current lack of South African servers. Tribes Ascend is throwing away the common FPS practice of corridors, realism and assault rifles and replaces it with the tried and true Quake, Unreal Tournament and well Tribes formula. With an awesome, and continually growing, community as well as a slightly different take on class based mechanics that makes use of weight above all else, with much larger open areas than your used to in games like Quake or even UT; well let’s just say there’s a reason so many in South Africa are pleading Hi-Rez Studios to allow for some South African servers. If you want something different from your shooter but can’t be bothered to fork out any cash, well Tribes Ascend is for you.

In Conclusion:

I know there are others; in fact there are a whole lot more games I added to this list. These are the games that require an investment of time to come to terms with and perhaps, Freeman willing, to enjoy. Should you guys have any other games to add to this list, lay them out in the comments so I can give them a bash and perhaps write up a review or two. I love League of Legends, Team Fortress 2 and have tried DotA 2, Lotro and so many more free-to-play games; all of them have something going for them and you could spend all your time playing each and every one, never spending a single Rand again. I just thought these get a chance as well. Super MNC and Tribes Ascend are my current top choices among these, what do you think?

She may not be making an appearance in the upcoming movie (which will be awesome) but Black Cat will definitely be making an appearance in the tie-in video game from Spidey’s new developer of choice, Beenox.

This is the studio’s third stab at a Spider-Man game and it looks like they might make some headway towards a good game this time around. At the very least, they seem to understand the basic underpinnings of Black Cat’s character i.e. the cleavage needs to be disproportionate on an anime level and it needs to be sufficiently visible. Even if those glasses don’t really work. There are even some screens for you to oggle over. Enjoy and that goes double for you, kluchy.

The Amazing Spider-Man will be out on 3DS, DS, PS3, Move, Wii, and Xbox 360 in late June with time to spare before the movie releases.

Welcome to the fifth entry in our Hall of Fame feature, where we’ll be revisiting arguably what is one of video game history’s greatest ever adaptions of Star Wars, and one of the best examples of a proper licensed game. In actual fact, many gamers would even consider this to be one of the best role-playing games ever made. It was a BioWare production, interestingly enough, back in the days where they made extremely awesome role-playing games and weren’t finding themselves at the centre of massive controversy. But let’s not talk about that. We’re here for a game that many will fondly remember for being one of the best reasons to love Star Wars back in the day. And that’s no exaggeration.

That’s right. We’re bringing the nostalgia, along with history’s greatest gaming legends.

Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic

Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic: one of the greatest adaptions of Star Wars in video game history

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing game that was released on Xbox on September 12, 2003 and on PC on December 5 in the same year. Developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts, it was designed to be a breath of fresh air for the Star Wars universe, one that wasn’t directly involved with the movies. But the game had a rather interesting journey leading up to its release. The title was first announced in July 2000, where BioWare revealed that they were working together with LucasArts in order to create a Star Wars RPG for the PC and next-generation consoles. At the time, joint BioWare CEO and co-founder Greg Zeschuk described their excitement about the game, saying “The opportunity to create a richly detailed new chapter in the Star Wars universe is incredibly exciting for us. We are honored to be working with the extremely talented folks at Lucas Arts, developing a role-playing game based upon one of the most high-profile licenses in the world.”

However it wasn’t until E3 in 2001 that the game was officially revealed as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and it was discovered that the game had been in development for around six months. LucasArts’ Mike Gallo commented on the game’s development, saying “Preproduction started in 2000, but the discussions started back in 1999. The first actual e-mails were in October or November of ’99. That’s when we first started talking to BioWare. But some really serious work finally started at the beginning of 2000.” One of the most interesting aspects about the project was from early details released on the game which revealed that it was to be set four thousand years before the events of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which at the time boosted the revival of the Star Wars franchise as it had returned to the big screen to widespread audience success, and a sequel to the movie was already in the works. According to BioWare CEO Raymond Muzyka, LucasArts gave them a choice of possible settings for the game. “LucasArts came to us and said that we could do an Episode II game,” Muzyka said. “Or LucasArts said we could go 4,000 years back, which is a period that’s hardly been covered before.” In the end, BioWare chose the latter, to set the game before the movies so as to have a greater amount of creative freedom. BioWare wanted to create something fans of the movies could feel at home with, but ensure that it was different enough to effectively fit in before the movies.

It was soon confirmed that the game was in development for PC and Xbox, with the latter being chosen over other consoles due to BioWare’s familiarity with it, especially in the role-playing department. However, Hudson spoke of the challenges that came about during development, such as the decision on how much graphical detail needed to be put in. He commented, “Since our games generally have a lot of AI and scripting, numerous character models, and huge environments, we stress the hardware in a very different way than most games. This made it difficult to predict how well the game would run.” The game used the Odyssey Engine, which was based on the Aurora Engine (used in Neverwinter Nights) but redesigned for Knights of the Old Republic. The game was graphically impressive for its time, and highly detailed. Hudson spoke about the modifications to the graphics that needed to be made for the PC and Xbox. “You typically play console games on a TV across the room while PC games are played on a monitor only inches away.” As such, console games focus more on close-up action and overall render quality, while PC games are more for high resolutions and sharper textures.

BioWare developed the main game, its engine and the story, while LucasArt handled the audio. To illustrate how big the project was, it was confirmed that the game had three hundred different characters and fifteen thousand lines of dialogue. And at the time, it really showed, because when the game released players found that its story was extremely compelling, and packed with characters to interact and have lengthy, multi-layered conversations with. The game allowed players to decide, progressively with all minor and major choices, whether they wished to walk the path of the light, stay neutral or give in to the dark side. Depending which side you went, your character’s appearance and move set would be totally different. What may now seem relatively simple in today’s times, was a gem all those years ago, adding a lot more depth to the experience. As was previously mentioned, the game takes place 4000 years before the first movie, where Darth Malak, a Sith lord and former apprentice of the legendary Darth Revan, has launched a full-scale Sith attack against the Republic. The Jedi are scattered and vulnerable, and many have turned to the dark side or fell. Your character, of which you can be male or female, wakes up onboard a Republic ship that is under attack by Malak’s army, having no memory of his or her past. With some help, you manage to escape, but it’s only the beginning as you’ll need to recover your past and rise to power in order to return order to the galaxy.

The gameplay was a lot deeper than one would have expected for a Star Wars game. In the beginning you chose one of three classes during the character customisation process. Later on you get to choose Jedi subclasses. But it’s up to you to dress your character up by building your stats, tiered feats (much like perks) and abilities, and later on tiered Force powers, either light or dark. As you levelled up, you gained skill points to spend on stats, and got to choose new feats. The combat system worked in real time, but with a bunch of twists that made it both deep and tactical. However, despite its complexity, players could get to grips with it fairly easily, but being effective in building your character took a bit of learning. Typically, you used either swords or blaster rifles in combat, with lightsabers only usable by Jedi’s and coming in later in the story. You could fight one-handed, duel wield or use a double-edged blade, all with their own advantages and disadvantages. If you want a more modern example of how combat played out, relations can be drawn to Dragon Age: Origins. Players moved in real-time, strategically planning usage of attacks, skills and items, and were able to pause the game at any time during combat to get sorted out. It was an awesome system that was both challenging and rewarding, with the force powers being used in fantastic ways, and with there being a clear differentiation between light and dark. For example, dark side players could use force powers like lightning and drain life, while Jedi could heal and safeguard themselves and their allies against threats.

But one of the best and most valuable features of the game was the party system. For most of the game, you could take two companions with you when exploring the vast planets you were freely allowed to visit, leaving the rest behind in your ship. Players could manually control party members at any time, simply switching to them if their abilities are needed, or if a change is wanted. Party members actively engaged in conversation with each other or the player, and sometimes participated in conversations with NPCs, or reacted to a decision you made, whether they’re for or against it. However, the best thing about the party characters in the game was that you, as the player, were able to shape them. You were able to greatly change them over the course of the story, shifting them between dark and light depending on your influence and your actions, and some relationships could end in joy or misery depending on how far you go. The game had a bright and intriguing cast of characters who really got you invested into the experience, and this, coupled together with the choice between dark and light and your playstyle, gave the game a great sense of re-playability, especially with regards to story. And the story was incredible, especially that insane plot twist towards the end that I won’t divulge.

Knights of the Old Republic was just a phenomenal experience. It used the Star Wars universe in a fantastic and unique way, provided players with deep and challenging combat, and delivered a compelling narrative with powerful characters. The game rightfully picked up many awards after its release, including achieving Best PC Game, Best Story and overall Game of the Year awards, among many others, from many different sources such as IGN and PC Gamer. It also received universal critical acclaim, scoring 93 percent on Metacritic with a user score of 8.9, which is a staggering achievement. It’s still widely considered today to be one of the greatest Star Wars projects of all time, and one of the best role-playing games around. I would certainly agree with that, because if I didn’t play it about five times after its release I probably would go back and play it again today without hesitation.

Naturally its staggering success meant that a sequel was on the cards, and that’s exactly what we got, with a few catches. But please, if you haven’t played this game yet, there’s no excuse as it was released on Steam in 2009, and the Mac App store in 2011, so get it and play it as soon as you can. You really don’t need to be a Star Wars fanatic to love this – just a fan of great RPGs.

Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic II:

The Sith Lords

Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic II: The Sith Lords took a few stumbles, but it was a brilliant game.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords was definitely a game that everyone who loved the first wanted to see, but it didn’t come without its own share of controversy. The first was its short and rushed development cycle. While the original game was three years in the making, and saw release towards the end of 2003, KOTOR II was released in February of 2005, which meant that it just about enjoyed a year of development. Clearly a year is worrying for the sequel to a game of KOTOR’s massive success. And on top of that, the warning bells were sounding when it was revealed that BioWare would not be developing the game, but rather Obsidian Entertainment. This was because the chaps at BioWare were off developing Jade Empire at the time, and had begun focusing on their own intellectual properties, so they suggested Obsidian due to being familiar with their past work.

However, despite the issues surrounding the game, fans were hoping for the best and undoubtedly ready to go for round two after the success of the original game. KOTOR II was set five years after the events of the original, where the Jedi have almost been completely eradicated by the Sith. Once again the player had a choice between creating a male or female character, but either way the player was a former Jedi Knight exiled from the Order. When awakened on a ship by a mysterious woman called Kreia, who serves as your mentor in the game, the player is thrust back into the conflict in which he or she must restore a connection to the Force and take the fight back to the Sith. Players were again allowed to choose between the light or dark side of the Force, through their actions in the game, and travelled from planet to planet in search of help and to either aid or damage the Republic’s mission to restore peace and stability to the galaxy. Characterisation and story were once again massively important elements and fortunately the game was so great in these aspects that even though it didn’t undergo dramatic change compared to the original and suffered technically, it was still a fantastic experience that did more than enough to justify playing it. Fans weren’t going to miss out in any case.

It was a shame that such a black cloud hung over the game, because despite all odds it still turned out amazing. It wasn’t perfect, mind you, and it may not have reached the heights of its predecessor, but it was still an awesome and compelling experience nonetheless. Its main drawbacks weren’t from the core experience, which was great, but rather from its unfortunate bugs and unpolished areas, which strongly gave the impression that it was incomplete. The game was created using an updated version of the Odyssey engine that powered the first game, and BioWare gave technical assistance to Obsidian during KOTOR II’s development, but naturally the development period was too short to make it perfect or all that it could have been. The effects of the unfortunate development time were confirmed by the game’s producer, Chris Avellone, in an interview after its launch, in which he stated that he wished “there had been more time” to make the game, because the rush had resulted in a large amount of content being cut from the game, such as a droid factory, a whole planet and various other locations. Thankfully, the game received four patches to improve its quality and fix gameplay issues. And still, it was really well received by fans and critics, achieving a rating of 85 on Metacritic and getting praise for its story and characters. It didn’t quite outdo its predecessor, but it definitely was a worthy sequel.

However, did its success mean that there would be a third entry in the series? Fans definitely wouldn’t have minded that after the first two games, and the team behind the game were quite keen for another. And that’s what we ended up getting. Just in a way that no one would have expected at the time. And the path leading to it was one filled with tragedy for fans. I’m quite serious, so let’s take a look.

Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic III

It's funny how things turn out sometimes...

Before you have a panic attack, yes I’m well aware that there was never a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic III, but there was a rather tragic story behind it. Interestingly enough it did eventually turn into something though. But it all started in 2003 when LucasArts cancelled their console MMOG project, Proteus, during its early design phase. After its cancellation, the project’s team went on to develop KOTOR 3, bringing some elements of Proteus’ designs to the third installment of the highly successful series. However, in what came as terrible news to fans, KOTOR 3 ended up being cancelled because of cuts beginning in 2004 that were made to position LucasArts for future success. What made the news so much more difficult to take was that, according to game designer John Stafford, the development team had “wrote a story, designed most of the environments/worlds, and many of the quests, characters, and items” for KOTOR 3 before its cancellation. In the end all we got to see of it was concept art that was published in the 2008 book Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts.

Can you guess what KOTOR 3 eventually turned into? Well, if you guessed Star Wars: The Old Republic, the 2012 MMORPG, then you’d have been right. But how did that happen? Well, all the way back in July of 2008, during the year’s E3 press conference, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello confirmed that a Knights of the Old Republic MMORPG was in the works. But in October in that same year, LucasArts and BioWare invited the press to the official unveiling of their next game, saying “BioWare and LucasArts invite you to attend the official unveiling of the game that has been rumored about for years.” This naturally prompted widespread rumours that it was either to do with KOTOR III or the rumoured Old Republic MMO, but towards the end of the month, at the invitation-only press event, BioWare and LucasArts confirmed that their next project was the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, which would be set 300 years after the first two games in the series, depicting new rising conflicts between the Jedi and Sith. As for the rest, that’s all in the present, so there’s nothing more to say.

But in the end all that really matters here is that the original two entries in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series were incredible role-playing games that deserve to still be remembered today. They were just amazing experiences, and any Star Wars fan who loved them would be unlikely to ever forget them. I know I won’t. Both games together undoubtedly deserve a spot on our Hall of Fame.

Keep an eye out for the next entry in our Hall of Fame then, meatbags. Sorry, inside joke.

There may never have been a third game, but the first two were legendary enough.

We recently told you about the “Perpetual Testing” DLC for Portal 2 which would not only allow players to craft their own puzzling levels but would also be available completely gratis. It gets on Steam on May 8 with a console version hopefully to follow.

Valve has released an awesome Cave Johnson trailer for it and it is as expertly humorous as the actual game.

Dishonored is a first-person steampunk stealth/action title about a disgraced assassin named Corvo who is trying to clear his name. He has BioShock-esque abilities and the penchant for free-running often associated with Assassin’s Creed.It’s also spelled in American which sucks.

The game is in development at Arkane Studios which has some pedigree amongst its staff.  You’ve got Deus Ex lead designer Harvey Smith, Half-Life 2 art director Viktor Antonov and then there’s Raphael Colantonio who was lead designer on Arx Fatalis and also said some things about the scope of choice players will have in-game and just what the impact of that will be on the world around you (courtesy of OPM).

He said: “To us, player choice, the choice in a video game in general is what makes the experience unique to each player, and it’s what makes a big difference between a movie and a game, so as many choices as you can make a second the more interesting for us it is.

“Not only can you play either stealthily or more brutally, you’re going to play a combination of that, we believe. At every instance you have this feeling that you can improvise and make plans and if things go wrong then you have to use some creativity to get out of the situation.”

Seems pretty awesome right? If no, then I suggest you go watch the debut trailer.

Portal 2 is one of the best, most memorable games I’ve ever played and it was eGamer’s Game of the Year for many reasons, not least of which was the great level design. Of course there were many other things that made the game superb but I mentioned level design so I could transition into the fact that Valve will soon be releasing the Perpetual Testing DLC that was announced some time ago. It will allow players to construct their own testing chambers using elements and mechanics found in-game.

The DLC will allow players to “easily create, share, and play Portal 2 puzzles. The Initiative comes with a simplified puzzle maker that allows that creation of mind-bending puzzles without ever leaving the game.”

But wait, it gets better. The DLC will be out on Steam on May 8 free of charge. Here’s hoping it finds its way to consoles as well.

The latest weapons trailer for Max Payne 3 shows off the 1911 semi-automatic pistol, and just like the previous trailers it’s really short. But I guess all you really need to see, as the game draws closer to its May 18 release date, is some old school action. And Mr Payne sure does love his pistols.

Check it out above.

According to the creative directors of Dishonored, who recently had a chat with VG247, the game will have enough content to allow players to shape their own unique experiences based on how they choose to play it.

Raf Colantonio, the co-creative director, told Sam Clay at a viewing event last week for the game that even though the main storyline will remain identical for all players, the “minute-to-minute story” promises to provide something different for each player, depending on how they play.

“I think every playthrough will be a little different, yes,” said Colantonio.

“It’s not that every playthrough will have a different story, it’s that every playthrough will have its own minute-to-minute story. The overarching story is gonna be kind of the same for everybody: the different endings and different flavours now and then.

“What matters again is as a player, I feel like I own the experience. I feel like, ‘wow, the system responded to what I wanted to do and it was kinda cool’.”

Colantonio’s partner in creative crime, Harvey Smith, known around the industry for his work on Deus Ex and Thief, made similar statements.

“Different people are gonna purchase the game different ways,” said Smith.

“Some people are just gonna race and bash their way through. And that works, that’s fine. And other people are going to take their time, play creatively and experiment like that. And we’re okay with both approaches.”

Dishonored will release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 somewhere in 2012, but since the date hasn’t even been narrowed down yet, my guess is that it will be delayed to early 2013.

Be sure to watch the exciting debut cinematic trailer if you haven’t already.

Crytek recently chatted with Gamerzines, revealing its ambition to create “the best-looking game that’s ever been made” with Crysis 3, and the studio believes that it’s “well on the way” to achieving that goal.

Talk about setting the bar high. Although colour me skeptical of Crysis 3′s gameplay after Crysis 2.

“It’s really important for us to underline that [Crysis 3] is not only about the technology, but about the setting and the mood,” said Rasmus Højengaard, Crytek’s creative director.

“The thing is, the quality of the artwork here is not so much about the tech as the quality of the actual art, and that’s really good because it’s easier to translate onto lesser-powerful hardware platforms. The difficult thing to translate is the tech, and we want to make sure that not only do we push the technology, we also the push the quality of the artwork, the mood and the sense of a living breathing environment.

“The visuals need to be amazing even if they don’t have the tech,” he continued. “We’re just going for making the best looking game that’s ever been made, basically, and I think we’re well on the way.”

Once again Crytek will be using its own in-house engine, the CryEngine, to power the game, as it did with the previous games in the series. According to the developer, Crysis 3 is being developed utilising an ‘enhanced’ version of CryEngine 3.

However, the tricky part is that the industry expects spring 2013 to be when the next-generation consoles will be revealed, and it then becomes questionable whether Crysis 3 may be overshadowed by the revelation of next-gen technology. But Højengaard is confident that this won’t be an issue.

“God of War [2] had big success doing this where it launched late in the console cycle,” he continued.

“I think if a game is amazing enough and if there’s no availability of other consoles, then people will buy it anyway. Whether it’s going to be a swansong or a benchmark of what was possible on those consoles, we can’t really tell until we’re at that point. If it becomes that, that’s great!”

Højengaard believes that Crytek’s confidence in its technology is so high that the studio has developed “almost arrogant perceptions to game design,” demonstrating this by adding random items into its game worlds hoping that players “might see it”.

“We had all these random animals walking around [in Crysis 1] and all that kind of stuff. That kind of headspace where you have almost arrogant perceptions to game design: ‘I’m going to put a frog here just because you might see it’. We now have little critters jumping around Manhattan [in Crysis 3].”

That last part is pretty cool. I remember getting eaten by a shark in the original Crysis because I swam out too far and too deep. It was scary as hell but pretty awesome. I didn’t find anything enjoyable like that in Crysis 2, so I really hope Crysis 3 brings back the magic from the original game, in all areas.

Be sure to check out the debut gameplay trailer if you haven’t already.

Pro Evolution games of the past 2 or 3 years were pretty Messi-centric with PES 2011 just going crazy and slapping his face and likeness everywhere they could. Much like EA Sports just did with FIFA Street. Anyway, Cristiano Ronaldo is now the face of PES and so now all trailers and screenshots are so obsessed with him that you’d swear the developers were a bunch of swooning girls who’d be willing to rock up at a Real Madrid match holding a sign for him that says: “We have good ball skills too.” I swear to God that happened in real life, cross my heart, hope Azhar dies (hehe).

Anyway, here’s the latest CR7 oggle-fest complete with screenshots to oggle even more.

At this juncture I would like to kindly request that all Barca fans suck it while also leaving you with this fun fact: Alessandro has the same fishing rod as Cristiano Ronaldo seeing as how all Portuguese fish. Fun fact #2: Alessandro and Ronaldo hail from the same town which is to Portugal what Ventersdorp is to South Africa.

Rockstar has confirmed that the Xbox 360 version of upcoming Max Payne 3 will be on two separate discs.

This news was confirmed when Redbox, a US rental service, revealed that Max Payne 3 will be on two discs with the first containing half of the single player and the full multiplayer. At a later stage Rockstar verified the information from Redbox as true through a Tweet.

“Redbox only ever rent out one disc, for any multi-disc game,” it said. “Max is on 2 discs for 360, so Redbox will be renting disc 1 which contains half of the single player story and the full multiplayer game.”

Multiple discs is not a new concept to the Xbox 360, but personally I feel for them in this case because I’d hate to swap discs in a single-player experience. Personally, I wouldn’t mind one disc for single-player and one for multiplayer, but Max Payne 3′s method is a bit unfortunate.

Max Payne 3 will be released on May 18 for PS3 and Xbox 360, and on June 1 for PC.

Here we have yet another short teaser trailer for Prototype 2, just as it’s about to release for PS3 and Xbox 360. The PC version is sadly only arriving on July 30.

You know what to do if Prototype 2 is on your wishlist and you need more reasons to get it.

Keep an eye out for our review in the near future.

Well that’s an inspiring attitude from Mikael Nermark, the president and CEO of Starbreeze Studios.

Nermark, recently speaking with Joystiq, said that despite being proud of Starbreeze’s work on sci-fi shooter Syndicate, he feels fans’ expectations were too high.

However, in the end the firm was “happy” with the direction they took and how it turned out.

“Syndicate comes with a lot of expectations,” he said. “Such a great brand, such a great franchise. I don’t think we could’ve ever lived up to some people’s expectations.

“I love the original. When I got into the industry way back, RTS and that kind of game were my kind of game. But you always wanna add your touch to it, you wanna make it your game even though it’s built on a great franchise.

“So I think that’s hard. Overall, we’re happy.”

Not a great excuse considering the game was turned into a generic shooter in order to appeal to the masses. For me it was fun at times, but quite forgettable really, and mediocre overall.

Last week Friday, I had the awesome opportunity to get my hands on Sleeping Dogs, a game that started out as a sequel to the famed but flawed True Crime series. Thankfully Sleeping Dogs is not another True Crime game, a fact that was repeated numerous times, but something I only believed after getting my hands on this title. Sleeping Dogs is not another True Crime; In fact, it’s looking a lot better than most sandbox games being released lately. With a new unique setting, some really brutal fighting, a story with homage to classic Hong Kong crime stories and more, Sleeping Dogs quite took my attention and grabbed it hard.

Let’s get the formalities out of the way first. Sleeping Dogs is centered on undercover cop Wei Shen, who has infiltrated the deadly Triads in Hong Kong in order to try and bring them down from the inside. If you’ve ever seen a Police Cop drama and a Kung Fu film and wondered what they’d be like together, you’d get Sleeping Dogs. The story looks like it’s dripping with a Chinese “Departed” type plot, which is not really a bad thing when you think about it. The game is set in a highly detailed, living, breathing realization of modern day Hong Kong, giving New York a rest for the time being. The result is a game that looks and feels a lot like GTA in a Chinese setting, but Sleeping Dogs borrows more than a few elements from other massive titles, and blends them together in interesting ways. Fighting from Arkham City, driving from Need for Speed, over the top antics from Just Cause and the general structure from GTA means that Sleeping Dogs is almost immediately recognizable, just in different colours.

The demo began with a enjoyable chase scene through the alleyways that litter the streets of Hong Kong. It’s amazing just how alive the entire city feels, with citizens going about their daily duties while you walk through the crowded markets. I even had one NPC offer my character some cheap goods. Having just visited Hong Kong recently, I could easily see the amount of work that was put in to give this setting an authentic feeling. I began chasing down my target through the crowds; hopping over fences, climbing vending machines and occasionally bringing down some poor bystanders with a flying kick to the head. Hey, you’re a cop, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Eventually you reach a conveniently placed group of baddies, all ready to beat your face in. It’s a good thing then that Wei Shen seems to have spent a few years with Bruce Wayne, learning how to fight like Batman; those poor henchmen didn’t stand a chance. Sleeping Dogs’ fighting system borrows its elements from one of the most robust systems out there, namely the “Freeflow” combat mechanic from Batman: Arkham Asylum/City. You use one button to attack, another to block and a third to grab. The action is not quite as fluent as in the Batman titles, but counters and blocks are just as easy to pull off. Grab an enemy and you can sprint with him towards any glowing objects around you, initiating some brutally violent finishing moves. It’s all sorts of bloody fun, without the cape but with a lot more blood.

Sleeping Dogs is brutal. From devastatingly violent finishing moves, such as smashing heads into fan blades, burning them on stoves or shoving them in between a car door, blood is everywhere. The narrative seems to carry on this violent nature, with a cutscene from near the end of the narrative showing Wei Shen being tortured by other Triad members. Being hit in the face with a hammer, followed by a power drill to the knee (yes, I know), just goes to show that you shouldn’t mess with the Triads. However, where the brutality in the fighting sequences may seem a bit out of place, the violent nature fits right in. It’s a story about gangsters with a lot of money; people who would do anything to protect their business ventures. This type of stuff happens in the dark corners of our society, so it’s quite interesting to see it so graphically portrayed in this title. It feels real and gritty, and I loved every second of it.

Since this is a sandbox title, a lot of attention must go to vehicles. Sleeping Dogs boasts around 80 different vehicles, all taking cues from real-life cars and brands. Just like with the Grand Theft Auto franchise, vehicles aren’t licensed, but you can almost tell what each vehicle was designed after. However, unlike GTA, driving is being handled by some real professionals in Sleeping Dogs. Developers who have previously worked on Need for Speed titles were given the reigns when dealing with driving, and having done my fair share in game, I can honestly say you can feel it. Cars handle and react extremely well to your inputs, aside from a few hilarious bugs that cropped up in the beta code. A lot of care was taken with driving in this title, and it’s nice to see that it wasn’t sloppily handled. Vehicular combat also makes a strong appearance, differing from most when it comes down to the execution. Instead of just trying to line up shots while going at 120 on a motorcycle, Sleeping Dogs puts you into “slow motion” when you want to take out other enemy vehicles. Shoot out tires, take out the driver, or jump straight on the boot of an enemy vehicle. It’s over the top, unrealistic fun, much like everything in Just Cause.

Borrowing a bit from Max Payne, but staying true to some old True Crime mechanics, Sleeping Dogs does have its fair share of slow motion moments when it comes to gunplay. However, even this feature has its own rules attached to it. Instead of having a dedicated “focus” meter, Sleeping Dogs initiates the mode when it thinks you need it. Vaulting over cover or switching from cover to cover while shooting will initiate some slow motion, allowing you to pop some heads in spectacular fashion. There weren’t many guns on show, and gunplay as a whole didn’t really stand out. It functions the way it should, but that’s about it.

Other than that, Sleeping Dogs offers side missions, as every sandbox game should, but we weren’t really allowed to dive into those fully. Visuals have a bit of a unique flair to them, but there was nothing really special or outstanding to note. This is still beta code, so a lot can be improved from now until release. Counters need to be a touch more responsive, melee fighting could be tweaked to feel smoother, and those odd visual slowdowns will probably be mended. Sleeping Dogs isn’t looking to be ground breaking, or a spiritual successor to the failed True Crime franchise. Instead, it looks to me as if this title is the first step in the right direction for a franchise that could really build into something special. Taking features from other games isn’t hard, but making them fit into a completely new setting does take a lot of dedication. I’m happy to say that I was previously wrong about Sleeping Dogs, and after getting to spend some time with it, I was left pleasantly surprised. If you’re a fan of anything to do with sandbox titles, or if you haven’t had a good dose of GTA style fun lately, then keep your eyes on Sleeping Dogs.

Thanks to Megarom for the invitation, as well as Samsung, Tritton and Xbox South Africa for supplying all the awesome hardware.

There’s nothing quite like a good, long laugh to start a blue Monday off with, and I have Activision to thank for that.

Adding more fuel to one of my favourite rage topics, Activision’s Social Media Manager, Dan Amrich, recently responded to a number of negative comments made on the PlayStation Blog regarding the Call of Duty franchise.

In response to one such comment slating Call of Duty for being the same thing every year, Amrich stated:

“That said, if you do not feel Call of Duty is worth your time or money, I totally respect that. A lot of other people (myself included) enjoy playing the game and feel the maps are worth their asking price. But we all make different decisions, because there are a lot of different kinds of gamers out there.”

“I don’t think the games are copy/pasted every year either, but maybe it’s all in what you are looking for in a game.

Amrich also had this to say to a commenter complaining that the sequel to Modern Warfare 3 would just be the same thing again.

“You don’t have to like what CoD is every year, but to say now “it’s going to be the same thing” seems pretty unfair. Better to wait and see what’s on tap before you make up your mind. If MW2 was all you needed, that’s fine too.”

Oh come now, Activision. We’re all grown-ups here.

Do not adjust your TV set, although you probably should because this is a website. You’re not experiencing lag or bad connection, this Max Payne 3 TV ad is just in love with bullet time. In fact the whole thing is just in slow-mo so if you sped it up, it would look normal.

Anyway, this is supposed to get you amped for the game and inspire you to go out and get it or pre-order it so y’know get excited or just do something, anything. Max Payne 3 is out on May 15 except for PC which only gets the game in June 1.

It would seem that previous speculation that Valve’s DOTA 2 would be free-to-play has actually turned out to be true. I was expecting a once-off payment, but Valve know how to surprise, don’t they?

According to Valve boss Gabe Newell, when speaking in an interview on a Seven Day Cooldown podcast, DOTA 2 will be free-to-play, but “with a twist”, although don’t let that worry you.

Newell has expressed that the free-to-play model planned for DOTA 2 is pretty unconventional, and unlike any that have been used in other games so far. He did have trouble explaining it though.

“It’s going to be free-to-play – it’ll have some twists, but that’s the easiest way for people to think about it,” Newell said.

Newell didn’t go into much detail regarding how the free-to-play system will work once the game releases in full, but he did hint that “valuable” players to the community would receive rewards.

“The issue that we’re struggling with quite a bit is something I’ve kind of talked about before, which is how do you properly value people’s contributions to a community?

“We’re trying to figure out ways so that people who are more valuable to everybody else [are] recognised and accommodated. We all know people where if they’re playing we want to play, and there are other people where if they’re playing we would [rather] be on the other side of the planet.

“It’s just a question of coming up with mechanisms that recognise and reward people who are doing things that are valuable to other groups of people.”

Newell gave an example of what kind of players will be rewarded, explaining that Valve will look to players who act as “useful guides” and tutors in games like DOTA 2. It will also look at “how people can create value or a service in one game and benefit somebody in a different game, you can start to see how the different games sort knit together.”

DOTA 2 is due to release fully sometime this year. It’s still in its beta phase at the moment, so be sure to read our full impressions of it if you want to know more.

The PS3 and Xbox 360 multiplayer beta for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier released yesterday and having seen it in action already on PC, it looks pretty good but what good is it releasing something without accompanying trailers, right?

There are two trailers, the first walks you through the equipment you’ll use in-game and the two opposing factions. The second (below) details the two maps available in the beta as well as the various modes on offer.

The beta will run until May 2 with the game releasing for consoles on May 25 and June 15 for PC.

If you’ve played past Hitman titles, or at least Blood Money then you’ll be familiar with the little mechanic whereby you see the front page of a local newspaper with a story about the death of your latest target. It was a nice little touch and it seems to be making a return in Hitman: Absolution.

A mock-up of the front page of a South Dakota local newspaper has been released and while it doesn’t detail any exploits by a mysterious assassins, it bears the same style as those newspapers in previous games and mostly talks about an industrialist who will likely end up being a target of 47′s.

Agent 47 is no stranger to travel though and regularly went cross-country to perform a job. Get a closer look at the image below and keep an eye out for more Hitman news. The game is out for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC later this year.

Bethesda has stepped up to confirm that Prey 2 has not been cancelled, plugging previous rumours suggesting that it had been. However, the bad news is that the game has been delayed, and won’t release in 2012 due to it not meeting Bethesda’s “quality standards”.

There you have it, the shooter is still in the works over at Human Head Studios.

“Development of Prey 2 has not been cancelled but the game will not be released in 2012 as planned,” Bethesda confirmed in a statement to VG247.

“The delay is due to the fact that game development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year, and the game does not currently meet our quality standards. Prey 2 has shown great promise and we regret disappointing our fans. We have made a substantial investment in game development to deliver the experience fans want.

“We are determined only to release the AAA game that fans rightfully expect, and are unwilling to compromise our quality standards to meet a release schedule.”

Prey 2 was officially revealed last year March for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. After that, the game was pretty much in the dark, but shown to the press behind closed doors on a number of occasions. It proceeded to make more significant appearances at Bethesda’s pre-E3 event in Utah last year April, as well as featured at the E3 press conference, QuakeCon and gamescom. On top of that, it was publicly shown off at PAX Prime and the Eurogamer Expo.

Now that Prey 2 is off the cards for 2012, it’s clear that Bethesda will be narrowing its focus on Skyrim’s DLC and Dishonored, the newly announced stealth action game for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Or to be more specific, Dishonored is a first-person open world Neo-Victorian action adventure stealth action video game. Got it?

Admit it, doesn’t a part of you die inside every time you hear this statement from developers nowadays?

Not to mention that I recall this very thing being said about Crysis 2 during its development, but such is life.

Anyway, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has revealed through Twitter that Crysis 3 “will push the 360, PS3 to its limits, ahead of Crysis 2, but Crysis 3 PC will be clearly ahead!”

I hope so, because that didn’t seem to be the case with Crysis 2. Either way, let’s wait to see the first game footage due out today. It’s probably a cinematic trailer.