Unfortunately, “picturing this” is all we could really do; as Interwave gave us a single ticket to a multiplayer party. We could not get the competitive play to even start until we had at least 4 players in our game – and the online servers last weekend were either empty or secured. So it was difficult to enjoy features like command view without shelling out for additional licenses… something were remiss to do (not for any principle really, just that 25 bucks per license can also feed us all ramen and cereal for a week).

Still, the levels we played (well… wandered really) we’re beautifully designed and rendered. Play is set in post-apocalyptic imagined cityscapes of UK, Japan, Dubai and elsewhere. The terrain is littered with torched cars, waste and bodies – as the vast majority of humankind is gone (except soldiers… and those exclusive radiation-resistant workers who keep the electricity on). Except for the specific controls of the game (like resource centers), there’s little interaction with props, like vehicles; “Damn, why would they put a tricked-out snowmobile here if I can’t fire it up?”

Here are some cool vehicles I can't seem to ride.

Your team is pitted against another, in an attempt to take each others flag… er… command center – assisted by one uber-player who can coordinate your movements and grant supplies from above, via isometric map view. The description claims “Nuclear Dawn is the first game to offer a full FPS and RTS experience…”, which kinda spits in the faces of the old Battlefield 2 development team.

Taking a page from Team Fortress and others, you pick your solder from a list of career types, to match your style (lurk and snipe vs. stand and deliver, vs. perhaps fix some things). Experienced players can unlock weapons and premiums to enhance game play, and industrious players can create their own maps too.

Powered by Valve‘s Source, the experience is as good as Half-Life 2, Portal, Left4Dead and the others which use this engine. My Alienware M15X laptop has a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M and Windows 7 64 – and had no problem giving me smooth action and beautiful imagery. Some maps and gameplay devices – like the command centers, spawn points and recharging resource units – are even reminiscent of the Half-Life’s Combine. The way the secondary resource unit activated itself and started doing little “mechanized push-ups” had me thinking that it was scaring away City 17′s Antlions, rather than pumping out numbers to recharge me. Ah, memories…

This game would be a blast at an old fashioned LAN party – or perhaps a sponsored expo competition. But like I said at the start: we need 4 live solders for the challenge to even begin. This is possibly because someone at Interwave decided you needed 2 to control some resource points, times the two teams it takes to tango.

Without a lower threshold to entry (not just price – but something to DO until you can herd the requisite quantity of players, like a single player campaign – or some bots to play) this game might become a victim of bad timing: Some heavy hitters with huge promo budgets are hitting the market this winter (MW3 for example), and Team Fortress 2 is free now. Events like these are likely to siphon away the same “team theme” players this game sorely needs to build market momentum.

UPDATE: I just checked the Nuclear Dawn server community recently, and it looks like the lower Valve price – perhaps combined with Free Weekend promos and other giveaways – has drummed up a fair community of (likely Counter Strike ex-pat) players, and servers to host them. Interwave has just released a nice update as well!

Or maybe I’m just no good at playing it. Available on the iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone for $9.99 in the App Store, you would have to be a hardcore basketball gaming fan to get something out of this version. I think these games look and feel amazing on the high end platforms, but I can’t see a need to take it with you on the iPad just yet. Maybe in 2K13.

I could spend a ton of time going over the stuff you already know. If you’re a Halo devotee, then you know what to expect. It’s just… better looking. The detail of the maps, while maybe not as graphically intense as many of the games we’re used to these days, is so good, it’s almost distracting as you move through them as if with new eyes. Yes, many of the flat surfaces are covered with new details are simply shrink-wrapped with that detail, but with no physical depth of texture, but they are still nice to look at. I almost didn’t want to shoot. I wanted to take a stroll and explore. It was like going home, only to find your old hometown got a makeover with shiny new lampposts and sexy new sidewalks (if sidewalks can at all be sexy).

As for gameplay, they made a conscious decision to keep the same movement and weight to the characters and foes when they made the upgrade. However, with it comes some of the bugginess, some frame-rate issues, of the old days. Again, what we get is a really sexy wrapper that 343 has put on Bungie‘s classic game; it’s not a rebuild from the ground up. It’s the original core game. To prove it, they give you the ability to jump back to the original game’s look with the push of a button, mid-game. Instant gaming time travel. Nice. But you’ll also notice that the sound effects and music that get a considerable upgrade, warranting the use of a surround sound system or at least some kickass headphones so you don’t annoy the neighbors at 3am with your all-night gaming binges.

Among the upgrades you’ll find:

• 6 classic maps remade with lush new details and a brand new Firefight map, developed in collaboration with Certain Affinity.
• All-new backstories that foreshadow mysteries from Halo 4.
• Immersive Stereoscopic 3D gaming for those of you with 3D TVs.
• Integration with Kinect lets gamers reload weapons and throw grenades using only their voices.
• “Analyze Mode” lets gamers explore the world of Halo in amazing detail by allowing them to scan items and add them to the Library.
• Unlock up to 1000 Achievement points within the campaign and battling online.

But the big question remains… Is Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary worthwhile buying AGAIN if you already owned the game 10 years ago?

The short answer is yes, especially if you grew up with and love the original Halo, even if you spent years of your life in front of your Xbox. However, if you’re looking for something on par graphically and gameplay-wise with the most recent Halo games and you’re not interested in retreading old ground, no matter how pretty it looks or sounds, then you might find yourself a little frustrated. I can’t imagine who those people might be, but I’m sure there are some out there.

At its core, no matter how you dress it up or strip it down, there’s a reason why Halo spawned (and respawned) so many imitators: it’s a helluva lotta fun to play again and again… even 10 years later. No amount of graphical upgrades can change that.

Here’s the trailer. Speculate your ass off about what might be in store for you. Also – SQEEEE!!!

For more information on the game, go to the official site: http://www.rockstargames.com/V/

I’m not a car geek by any stretch of the imagination, but even I can appreciate the lineup available in Forza’s latest offering. You’ve got 12 cars to start with, but if you’re a fan who has collected his share of cars in Forza Motorsport 3, you’ll get to import them into the new game, along with a number of all new cars as a bonus.

While there are no weather effects or night racing, the tracks are breathtaking at these breakneck speeds. The cars remain sleek and sexy throughout the race, from start to finish, with a solid 60 fps framerate. But if you want to really drink in the beauty of these machines, check out Autovista, which gives you the opportunity to interactively explore 25 cars (mostly Ferraris) in detail with commentary by Jeremy Clarkson. And when it comes to sound, it wouldn’t hurt to have a strong home theater system cranked up to unnatural levels to get the most out of the rumbling engines and the rubber hitting the road.

Obviously, this game’s focus is on realism without the hefty price tag of actually owning these babies. Curvy tracks through stunning vistas, roaring engines that sound like the real things (I’ll take my friend’s word for it), and a 16 player multiplayer mode will undoubtedly put some distance between you and whatever free time you thought you had, whether you’re a casual car lover or a total gearhead.

I don’t know what else I can say that would persuade you or dissuade you from picking up Forza Motorsport 4. If you’re a car nut and you own an Xbox 360, you’ve already got this game or it’s at the top of your Christmas wish list… assuming you can wait that long…

Gears of War 3 takes place about 18 months after the fall of the last human city, which happened in Gears of War 2 (as if I needed to tell you). Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad continue to hold their own against the Locust, but they soon discover that they have a new foe to face, from deep within the earth, threatening to destroy the planet from within. This enemy is called the Lambent and they make the Locust look like cuddly little puppies (well, almost). Considering this is the last chapter in this epic game saga (hey, from Epic Games!), this very well could be the last stand for our heroes as they make one last push against the forces that would destroy all of humanity.

     

So what have we got?
1. It’s Got Girls! – Yes, ladies, there’s now playable female characters. No longer will you feel the need to belch and scratch your ass when you sit down to play Gears of War. Now you have the option of wearing heels and a kicky new ‘do when you’re tearing into the bloodthirsty Locust (not really, but it should be nice to not play as one more hairy, hulking dude from now on). And, dudes, maybe it’s time you got in touch with your feminine side.
2. Grab the Whole Gang (or at least 3 of them) – Gears of War 3 introduces a 4 player campaign co-op that lets you throw down as a team in your desperate bid to save humanity.
3. Unleash Your Inner Beast – In Beast Mode, you can become a creature in the Locust army, taking on wave after wave of humans. Join up to 4 friends over Xbox LIVE and all 5 of you can do your best to wipe out humanity (including Marcus and Delta Squad).
4. Bring on the Horde – Gears of War 3 takes the cooperative multiplayer mode from GOW2 one step further by offering up more gameplay upgrades and new challenges as players take on the endless hordes of the Locust. Added bonus: you’re able to set up turret command posts at key locations to help mow down the baddies when things get desperate (I know, things are almost always desperate in GOW).
5. Multiplayer Madness – With all-new maps hosted and powered on dedicated servers, new multiplayer experiences await in Team Deathmatch, Capture the Leader, and King of the Hill alongside classics Execution, Warzone, and Wingman.

Could character movement not feel as clunky? Sure, but these guys are wearing hulking chunks of armor. It’s always looked a little strange to me, but it makes sense. These guys aren’t dainty little ninjas. They’re tanks on two legs. Besides, the Unreal Engine 3 technology still keeps things looking smooth and sexy. And the game could use more multiplayer maps (just 10 for now), but I have a feeling there will be some DLC coming our way in the months to come to flesh that out a bit.

     

So fire up your Lancer and get ready to carve and blast your way through Marcus Fenix’s and Delta Squad’s final (?) battle against endless alien hordes and impossible odds. Do they have what it takes to survive and save humanity from the unstoppable alien hordes? I’m pretty sure that’s up to you.

Gears of War 3 is available only on the Xbox 360 on September 20th, 2011.

Xbox and Activision gave the sold out crowd a variety of ways to experience the best selling game without having to sit in front of a video screen. From a zipline that stretched across the lot to an off-road Jeep excursion to a bombed-out scrapyard that let teams of camouflaged diehards battle it out head-to-head with paintball rifles, there was something for everyone. Fans were also given the opportunity to take on the Pit, which was a real-world recreation of the training gauntlet from the original Modern Warfare game, stacking up their best times against their friends. Fans even got the chance to give back to the soldiers who have heeded the call of duty in real life by giving money and support to those who have come back from a war zone in need of rehabilitation via the Pro Vs GI Joe campaign (Do a Little for Those Who Do a Lot!).

Inside, you could take a tour of the Armory, which showcased a real-world version of nearly every major weapon used throughout the history of the Call of Duty franchise, from the basic rifles of WWII to the heavy guns of Modern Warfare. There was even a zombie head on display in an air-tight display case from the new Zombies game mod. Throughout the winding hall, soldiers from every side of the conflicts over the decades of war were dressed in their fighting togs, brandishing their weapons, and posing for pictures with eager fans.

Throughout the massive hall, gamers got the chance to test their skill against their friends and foes they’ve only met via Xbox Live over the years. Modern Warfare 3 was the showcase title and fans were given the chance to play the multiplayer game in a variety of modes, from running a gauntlet of intense levels to performing special ops to taking on bloodthirsty zombies. Others challenged each other to become King of the Hill in a series of rounds, with the top player taking the stage and lording it over his opponents. If that person was able to remain King of the Hill for 5 rounds, he would get a special badge to commemorate that honor. Along with all of that, fans got their first taste of Call of Duty Elite, a combination training ground and social network that allowed gamers to create clans, gain recognition for their accomplishments, and show off those recorded triumphs online via the network. On the other side of the building, fans got a sneak peek behind the scenes of their favorite franchise by getting to meet the people behind the games, including the men who gave the characters their voices, like Nolan North, James C Burns, Michael Rooker, and William Fitchner (who will voice Sandman in Modern Warfare 3).

But the centerpiece of the week was the first ever Million Dollar Tournament presented by Xbox 360. Qualifying teams of 4 from around the world, including France, Sweden, England, Australia, and more met each other face-to-face for the chance to take home the $400,000 grand prize and a huge 75 lb trophy made of gold and machine guns. US team Optic took home that honor Saturday night after taking down UK challenger Infinity in the final main stage 5 round bout.

When it was all over, Kanye West took the stage to close out the event, just as Dropkick Murphys had done the night before. In all, the event was a bombastic success for all involved. When the gamers weren’t zipping across the field on a long steel cable or shooting each other with paintball guns, they were sitting down and soaking up the next thrilling chapter in the biggest first person shooter franchise of all time – Modern Warfare 3! You can bet that they’ll be honing their skills in hopes of taking home the big prize at next year’s possibly even bigger and better event.

UPDATE: Lego Universe has since been shut down. Sorry, brickheads.

Here’s just a sample of the fun stuff the Free to Play players can do in LEGO UNIVERSE!

• Custom build one LEGO hero
• Interact with in-game friends
• Collect up to 10,000 coins
• Earn Universe Score to level up
• Play through The Venture Explorer
• Play through Avant Gardens
• Join the Nexus Force
• Sample Faction Gear
• Play the Survival mini-game
• Claim the Avant Gardens Block Yard Property
• Fight the Spider Queen
• Place LEGO models you have collected
• Build LEGO models of your own
• Bring LEGO models to life
• Visit thousands of other players’ Properties

Lego Universe has an ESRB rating of E10+ and is available for PC and Mac. It’s fun for the whole family!

Throughout the day, these guys won’t just be playing everything from the original Super Mario Bros to Super Mario Galaxy 2 and everything in between; They’ll be talking with special guests on the phone, giving away prizes to supporters and viewers, and, of course, taking donations 24 hours a day, all weekend.

Even if you don’t have the money, but you’ve got the time, be sure to swing on by http://www.mariomarathon.com to watch them play using their picture-in-picture real-time video feed. Then tell your friends who do have money to donate for you. There’s something mesmerizing about watching someone play a Mario game with a level of expertise that only diehard Mario fans can exhibit. Of course, you can just watch via USTREAM below by clicking the play button in the bottom left corner of the video.

As of this posting, they’ve been playing for almost 9 hours and have already racked up over $30,000 in donations. Get in on this amazing event and help a worthy cause with the help of a fun bunch of guys!