Most expected shooter game of 2011

Assuming every title on this list isn’t delayed and actually gets released, this year promises to be one of the best years in video gaming ever, especially with first and third person shooters. You might think I’m exaggerating, but the onslaught of sequels to some of the best games ever made suggests otherwise. It’s hard to turn your nose up at Uncharted 3 and say “sequel-itis, harrumph!” if you enjoyed the first two games (and you probably did). If you do, that’s okay, too. You’re not fooling anyone.

Dead Space 2

The first game had dead babies that launched spikes from the small of their backs to latch onto your face. That's a scary enough concept to think about without having to wonder about what Visceral Studios will be putting into the new Dead Space.
This one has dead teenagers, in a mall infested by Necromorphs. Hordes upon hordes of pesky, dead teenagers for you to blow away. It's an amusing concept, but the thought of being set upon by countless skinny fingers and ripped to shreds isn't particularly pleasant.
Isaac, the game's formerly mute protagonist speaks now. I guess coming to terms with the death of his girlfriend Nicole has finally jarred him into speech. Though with the Sprawl (that's where you'll be trying to survive) so full of dead people and nothing else, it's a wonder who he'll be speaking to.

Bulletstorm

Not to be confused with the Australian-designed electric railgun, Bulletstorm is Epic Games' latest take on the bros-with-guns-who-spout-one-liners genre.
Bulletstorm is so over-the-top with its one-liners and violence that it almost resembles a satire of itself. It'd be almost laughable if it didn't also look like a total blast to play. Featuring tons of combat moves and a huge variety of weapons, Bulletstorm lets players perform "skillshots", a system which rewards you for causing as much mayhem as you possibly can in the most creative way possible. The more unique the skillshot, the more points you'll receive to upgrade your character to perform more moves and more exaggerated skillshots. It's a shooter that encourages you to have fun while having fun.

Rage

Before there was Quake, there was Doom. Before Doom, there was Wolfenstein 3D. Each of them, milestones for the FPS genre, and the products of id Software.
John Carmack is back with a new game called Rage. True to id Software's style, the game is made up of a single word. With Rage, I'd expect nothing less than the next generation of first person shooters, or at least an expensive tech demo with the next big engine. Either way, it's something to be excited about.
Set in some post-apocalyptic desert, the game looks like a cross between Borderlands and Fallout 3. It's got state of the art visuals, killer vehicles, and wide open area for you to go nuts with. What more could you ask for?

Killzone 3

Kicking off immediately after the events of the second game, Sev and his compatriots find themselves trapped on the Helghast planet in a crossfire between the various factions that have emerged upon the death of the Helghast dictator (who kind of resembled Hitler, with hand gestures and all). Sev and his buddies will find himself fighting giant robot spiders and countless Nazi-like Helghast troops as they attempt to regroup with the main ISA force.
The new game will feature work from a dedicated writer who plans to inject new life into the series with better dialogue, more interesting personalities and a more polished storyline. Killzone 3 will also be the first FPS with full support for Sony's Move control system. Not bad.

Mass Effect 3

As if no one already knew Mass Effect was designed as a trilogy of games, everyone got all excited when the third game was announced at the Video Game Awards some months ago. Was anyone genuinely surprised? Well, even if they weren't surprised, they certainly put a lot of effort into acting like it.
With the Collectors dealt with at the end of Mass Effect 2 and Shepard's crew loyal and ready to serve, humanity now faces its most dire threat. The Earth is under attack by the Reapers, who've finally emerged from the outer regions of space to put civilization to the torch like the Romans did to Carthage.
Shepard is one man (or woman), and humanity's only hope for survival. Now you have to deal with it.

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 hasn't been formally announced, but EA's been dropping tons of hints to tell us that the game's being prepped for release in 2011. Until then, we can only speculate as to the setting it'll take place in or the kind of technology we can expect to see. At the very least, it'll be a step up from Bad Company 2 and offer a whole lot more of the multiplayer action that made the Battlefield series the success it is today.
In an industry filled with Call of Duty and Call of Duty clones, Battlefield is the one military-themed FPS that's actually doing something right.

Uncharted 3

Nathan Drake is at it again. Between the sea plane in the first game and the train in the second, there's no vehicle that Drake isn't bound to crash so long as he's on it. In the third game, it looks like he's crashed a large transport plane in the middle of the desert. No doubt the pilots are cursing themselves for trusting Drake's luck in transportation.
With Francis Drake's journal and the writings of T.E. Lawrence, Drake and his pal Sully set out into the Arabian desert to seek an ancient city lost to time. Along the way, they're beset by armed gunmen whom they will undoubtedly proceed to massacre--an act that'll no doubt go unmentioned as Drake makes a quip about Elena or some other wry observation.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Every time someone mentions the words "Deus Ex", a dozen people reinstall the game. Needless to say, a new entry in the Deus Ex series has been a long time coming, and Human Revolution looks like just what we want.
Taking place 25 years prior to the events of the first Deus Ex, Human Revolution tells the story of the Major Kusanagi-ish Adam Jensen, a security consultant who loses much of his body after a mission goes wrong, only to have much of it replaced with bionic implants and prosthetic limbs. Not a bad a trade-off, if you ask me.
True to the Deus Ex franchise, you can play much of the game in whatever way you choose, stealthing your way through missions or simply taking out your opponents with brute force.
Now if only someone would revive the Freespace franchise...

Crysis 2

To say that the first game wasn't particularly well known for its good storytelling would be a huge understatement. The first game had very little story to speak of: you're a member of an elite squad of super soldiers equipped with state of the art nanotechnology suits. You're dropped onto an island in the South Pacific that's apparently been taken over by the North Korean military. This must be happening in some alternate universe where the North Korean military is actually competent enough to perform convert international missions. Anyway, when you land on the island, you discover that you're not alone with the North Koreans, who've apparently been losing men to some alien forces the scientists on the island managed to dig up.
Fast forward to Crysis 2: the aliens on the island were a vanguard for an invasion force, and this time, they've got their sights set on the Big Apple. Mew York City. It's ground zero for the alien invasion force and playing the role of yet another nanosuit-wearing future soldier, you have to defend the evacuation force while the US military musters some sort of defense against the invaders.
Unlike the first game, this one's being told by novelist Richard K. Morgan, who wrote the cyberpunk novel Altered Carbon, among other books. This might not mean anything to you, but the stories he tells are gritty and the situations he puts his characters in are brutal and unforgiving -- just the sort of thing that a game like Crysis 2 needs to be better than the competition.

Gears of War 3 - Xbox 360

After Bulletstorm, Gears of War 3 is next in line for Epic Games and stands as the third and final entry in the Xbox 360-exclusive Gears of War series.
Gears of War 3 returns with action-packed cooperative gameplay in addition to several new multiplayer features like Beast mode, where players take on the role of the Locust in an onslaught against COG forces. In addition to the new gameplay modes, achievements and leveling systems have been added to the multiplayer game. Gears of War 3 is set to include all new weapons, as well as new melee-oriented moves for more spirited gameplay.

Brink

"What the hell is it?" That's been the question around team-based shooter Brink for a while now. It's multiplayer but it's single-player. It's like its predecessors Quake Wars and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory but it's totally new. It's a way into online shooting for newcomers but it's hardcore. It's... nope, no idea. Until now.

Now we know, and we know well enough to be enormously excited about where UK studio Splash Damage are going now their young lips have been prised away from the id Software teat. "What we're trying to do with Brink really is create something that newbies can get into," says Splash Damage's mile-a-minute bossman Paul Wedgewood, "and that starts with co-op. We really believe that if we can get more people in through the co-operative mode they'll want to keep playing online."

The idea, essentially, is that going from single-player to multiplayer is no longer a leap - instead, it's a gentle staircase with a sturdy handrail. "The next thing you solve is the problem of people being outflanked if they've only ever played corridor shooters. What we do is slowly introduce ideas in the map that prepare you for multiplayer".

Documenting the near-future conflict between the anarchic, lo-fi Resistance and the slick peace-through-tyranny Security in a failing socio-environmental utopia known as the Ark, this is no series of random deathmatch arenas. You'll play through a story - two, in fact, as both factions are playable - interspersed with high-quality cut-scenes which reveal the Ark's secret past and desperate future. There are personal moments too. We're shown a sad'n'angry Resistance member revealing that his brother has joined up with Security, and worrying what would happen should he encounter him in battle.

And battle there will indeed be - you'll spending your time in Brink shooting a lot of dudes in large, objective-packed levels. Sounds an awful lot like a single-player game, doesn't it? Yet it's also a collection of tightly-designed maps in which you pick a class, join a team and vie with the opposing faction for points and kills. Sounds an awful lot like a multiplayer game, doesn't it?

It's both. Brink's aim is to tear down the church and state separation of single and multiplayer, so you're using the same disciplines, chasing the same goals and enjoying the same rewards however you play. This is, of course, the theory: other games are sniffing around the same idea, with Left 4 Dead arguably at the head of this young pack. With Brink though, there's a real sense of no compromise. This is not two separate modes which happen to be linked by persistent unlocks and experience points: it's one sprawling action game which you choose to play in your preferred fashion.
Want to play alone? Play alone. Want to play with a mate? Invite him into the match you're already playing. Want to play against potty-mouthed strangers? Take your offline match/campaign online and the NPC allies and enemies will be replaced with murderous humans as and when they arrive. The total headcount is sixteen, which some will feel is too low, but the two sprawling Portal-meets-Mirror's Edge-meets-Fallout maps we saw always seemed filled to ferocious capacity.

What's going to be key to ensuring multiplayer looks and feels like single-player is how well the game encourages teamplay. We've seen the likes of MAG suffer horribly because human beings are inherently selfish creatures - everyone heads off to chase their own glory rather than follow orders or help out their chums. "We reward you most for doing things that help other people have fun", says Wedgewood. "In essence we bribe people to help other people." The bribe being unlockables, an area in which Brink promises to go way beyond its contemporaries.

There's none of this 'would you like to wear green trousers or slightly darker green trousers?" tokenism. Instead, you'll create a avatar of your own, gloriously bought to life in Brink's wonderfully strange droopy-faced, gangly-limbed art style. With a few flicks of his gamepad, Wedgewood transforms the hulking weirdo he has on screen into someone unrecognisably different.

From the sweary t-shirt to the flame-flecked hockey mask, it's his character, not Brink Soldier #4. As you kill, assist and snag objectives, you'll earn experience points - which in turn open up new customisation options. "You do become a bigger and bigger badass as you play through the game," says Wedgewood. Your appearance doesn't affect your abilities, but your very flesh will scream how experienced a player you are.

Even weapons visibly transform into violent new absurdities as he applies modifications to them - scopes, stocks, tommy-gun ammo clips, six-vent muzzles... The guns might not be as openly insane in function as Borderlands' physics-defying arsenal of randomness, but they sure look the part. "You can create these really mad weapons," enthuses Wedgewood as he equips his Resistance goon with something apparently made from Meccano.

Special abilities come into play too, and these are improved by your level. As many of the better ones buff your team-mates rather than simply over-power their possessor, however, they shouldn't tip the odds in higher-level players' favour too much. The Operative class (read: Spy, who can also temporarily disguise himself as an enemy player), for instance, could treat himself to a spot of Comms, which lets him scan the body of a downed enemy, hack into his HUD and be very briefly informed as to where all his allies are. The Medic, meanwhile, could choose to buff allies' health, or to be granted a one-shot self-resurrection. The mentality behind the impressively large range of bonus abilities is variety, not advantage. Everyone's going to have a few cool toys which suit their own play style.
All these things - the classes, that clothing, those abilities - can be swapped out between matches and/or respawns. You're not locked into being something. Well, mostly. There is one immutable choice. That's your weight. If you're a fattie, you're staying a fatty. If you have the build of Old Man Steptoe, you're not going to be bench-pressing anything heavier than a kitten.

There are three body types in Brink: Medium, Agile and Heavy. The latter two are unlocked as you level up, and you can then choose to upgrade to one of them. While you can 'buy' an undo if you're not happy, realistically you're going to create several characters, one for each body type. These have dramatic effects on the game: Agiles move fast and can reach areas the others cannot, but Heavies can carry bigger guns and soak up more bullets. Medium's the best and worst of both worlds, which is why you'll doubtless gravitate to one of the extremes.

For raw damage and defensive grunt, you'll want to play Heavy. However, the appeal of the gangly Agiles is sky-high because of Brink's movement system. SMART is a one-button control that enables you to navigate over whatever you aim at. So, if there's a neat little sniper ledge way up yonder, you don't need to engage in a series of complicated bunnyhops and embarrassing pratfalls to reach it, but instead aim, hold run: your chap will gracefully make his own way there. The same is true if you're trying to reach lower ground, as you duck, dive and leap across multifarious obstacles.

"Any geometry that looks like I should be able to climb it is fair game," says Paul Wedgewood as he careers about a crate'n'wall'n'roof'n'fence-filled map with a casual ease only otherwise possible if you've been playing FPS games competitively for years. "Our level designers love it because they can have tons of debris and stuff they'd have to clear out previously."

Skinnies can cover the most ground, able to squeeze their scrawny, stretchy frames into places fatties fear to tread. "I'm really not forced to use these corridors and traditional routes." Just as well, as many of Brink's match objectives are optional. There are core goals to achieve if you're to win the map, but completing side-missions, such as snatching control of a command post or hacking a safe, will bless your chaps with bonuses. Going off-piste uncovers new routes too, with the in-game objective compass cannily recalculating new directions if it thinks you're trying, for instance, to sneak into an enemy stronghold from the rear.

Brink's cramming an awful lot of ideas into what, at first glance, is a simple Beat The Other Team setup. This superficial simplicity is artfully deceptive - even the interface is a stripped-back, slickly minimal affair which couldn't be a further cry from the infamous over-complication of Quake Wars' HUD. All of its ideas, and all its gorgeous photoreal-cartoon appearance, pale into insignificance in the face of that one key promise, however: single-player gamers will find themselves becoming multiplayer gamers almost without realising it. Brink might document a bitter conflict between a divided humankind, but if it works, it'll bring gamingkind together like never before.                      

GTA 5

GTA series which is famous for its action, adventure, driving, and occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements is planning to come up with its new installment in the series ; GTA 5. GTA 5 is expected to be released by the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011. The game is expected to stay on top of the charts throughout 2011.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was announced at the video games awards. Little was told of the game but there were only a couple of things told. The first is the title Skyrim and the other is the release date which is 11-11-11. Examining what these mean can begin to give you a few clues as to what to expect from this game.

What is Skyrim

Skyrim is not a name that is new to Elder Scrolls V. This is, like Morrowind, a province of Tamirel. The northernmost province it is a cold and mountainous area it is home to both elves and humans. This is where you can find the Nords. Whether this means that it will be central to the plot or the story takes place in Skyrim is not yet clear.
Although an difficult place to live Skyrim is an powerful province producing a considerable amount of raw material from its mining which is important to Tamirel. This lends some credence to expectation that the game may exist entirely in this province.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim trailer

The trailer shown at the video game awards gives away very little. If the series were not already known it could be almost nothing, but there are a few clues. Perhaps the most interesting are the dragons which appear and the mention of a dragonborn. These imply that the dragons are going to be an enemy that can be fought in some fashion or perhaps even ridden.
It also mentions that this takes place after oblivion. This is natural to be expected but the implication may be that it occurs a short time after the events of oblivion. This could mean that some of the effects of the main plot of oblivion may carry over into this game.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim hopes and expectations

With little or no information the speculation has run rampant. The most pressing desire by most people is a new game engine. The engine which has run oblivion and fallout 3 was impressive but it is beginning to show its age. In Fallout: New Vegas it felt as if they had pushed this engine as far as it could go.
The next thing that each new Elder Scrolls game brings to it is a world to explore. With new cities to fight and enemies to challenge. The dragons seem to be one of those enemies but as you will be in the far north there are other interesting possibilities for enemies as well. In addition every Elder Scrolls game has had huge numbers of quests outside of the main adventure and it is hard to imagine that Elder Scrolls 5 will be an exception.

Conclusion

Bethesda has been working on Elder Scrolls 5 since oblivion was published according to the developers and with only 11 months left before it is released it seems likely that more information is going to begin to appear quickly about this game. Until then though there are a lot of questions to be answered and speculation is the best that can be done.

                        

Test Drive Unlimited 2

If you don't like cars, I guess all these car games are quite hard to tell apart. If you do, however, you'll know that you're not dealing with a single genre so much as dozens of the things.
All the best games about cars are a little bit different: Burnout is both highly evolved and utterly, utterly depraved, while Ridge Racer is a light-streaked lucid dream where you ghost around corners and send out surprisingly gentle showers of sparks, and Forza Motorsport aims for sheer breadth of simulation options. Gran Turismo? Gran Turismo is part museum and part trip to the dentist: a clinical environment where softly-spoken experts have gathered to venerate and protect anything that comes with a camshaft.
So where does Test Drive fit in? Good question, and it's one that Unlimited 2 seeks to answer in some pretty interesting ways. The first Unlimited was a bit like an MMO and a bit like a summer holiday: a plush ramble (that's possible, right?) around an upmarket Hawaiian island where you took on challenges, launched impromptu rivalries with other players and saved up for weird new motors.
The sequel sticks to the same basic framework but elaborates on the options and player freedom. It also dials up the opulence to the point where the whole thing approaches soap opera levels. Not the grim British soaps which are all about getting your burger van impounded while someone stubs cigarettes out on your arm, mind, but one of those weird, upbeat foreign ones, obsessed with beautiful rich people hanging out on yachts and gesturing with half-filled whisky tumblers as they stand in front of picture windows. The nutty, aspirational ones.

Eden plans to evolve the game with DLC - and it will all be based on things the community is asking for.

At times, in fact, you may wonder how far the Eden Studios team plans on pushing the concept of simulation. TDU2 takes such delight in the luxurious world it's piecing together that it's happy to let you get out from behind the wheel and leave the car in the garage for long stretches of time should you wish to do so. It's fine - the garages look like mansions anyway, so your cars won't be lonely, and there's plenty of stuff for you to do on two feet as you buy houses, move your furniture about and fiddle with your avatar.
While you may not have signed up to a racing game so you could wrestle with corner sofas and flat-screen tellies, you can't fault the options available. You can tweak every aspect of your avatar's appearance, buy a range of increasingly over-the-top homes, add pictures and manage the stats of your MyLife profile, and invite your online friends over to hang out in your imaginary living room. It's a fascinating prospect, even if many people will stick to simply customising the cars (a wide range of decals and paint-jobs are available), and TDU2's social focus means you won't be mistaking it for any other driving game on the market.

Car interiors are much improved: you can see right down to the stitching, and there's a new texture effect on the leather.

There's a hint of Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball to proceedings occasionally - not in terms of creepy access to some unlikely ladies, but in the way that an aspirational lifestyle has been warped into a charming kind of parody. TDU2 really wants you to explore the world of the rich car enthusiast, and it's a strategy that percolates right down to the point of purchase. Eden doesn't want you buying cars or messing with their engines inside boring menu trees - it wants you to be able to walk into actual showrooms and garages and enjoy the browsing experience in three dimensions.
A lot of this could come off like Home - come to think of it, quite a lot of it could come off like Animal Crossing - but the car culture setting ensures that it feels like a good fit with the rest of the game. Besides, all of the social aspects are tied into the new progression system, where you can move through the narrative not just by racing but also by doing other things like building up your own status.
Avatars come in handy in the seamlessly integrated online options, as you form racing clubs with other players, deck out your clubhouse - okay, I've made it sound like a tree fort, whereas the one I was shown had parquet flooring and up-lighters - and hang around inside it with friends. More importantly, your club can polish its double-dangerous driving skills and take on rival clubs in eight-player races and other challenges.
As a sweetener to getting involved in clubs, Eden's promising treats. There are some very special cars that can only be purchased by clubs, and the whole thing has the chummy air of an MMO guild to it as you approach the 30-person club limit. It's a fitting addition for a game which already feels a bit like an RPG as you tool around an open world, taking on missions and watching your stats go up.
The other means of player progression are far more intimately involved with sitting behind a wheel. You can level up through exploring the game's huge environments and making discoveries (stumble across enough wrecks and you'll be able to bolt together entirely new vehicles), while good old car-collecting ties deeply into the game's preoccupations with luxury and consumption.
Beneath all the new distractions it's worth remembering that this is also a driving game. The good news is it's looking like an excellent one. Eight-player races promise to be punchy and hectic, damage has been included for this instalment - while it won't affect performance, it certainly looks good, ranging from paint scrapes to actual pieces of your car falling off - and car models have been overhauled with far more detailed interiors and a nice new metallic paint effect amongst other tweaks.
Most importantly, the handling has been extensively redesigned to give each car its own personality. It's astonishing the difference this makes: an Audi TT hugs the road with a polite rumbling sound, while a Ford Mustang can be fishtailed all over the shop as its V-8 engine booms. You don't need to be told that one is a classic muscle car and the other is a jumped-up graduation present for the daughters of Tory MPs: just driving them will fill you in about that.

The addition of off-road courses is based on how many players wanted to explore in original. You can still go off-off-road too, though, if you like the feel of grass and rocks against your chassis. Um.

There's definitely no shortage of tracks to drive them on. TDU2 moves the action to Ibiza, a world of palm trees and hi-spec apartment complexes, which has been purposefully riddled with hundreds of miles of roadways for you to blast around. Missions lurk every few metres by the looks of it, and creating your own courses is as easy as pulling up the map and dropping in waypoints. If you come up with a track you're particularly happy with, you can share it very easily, and place wagers on people beating your own completion time.
At 380 square kilometres - and with 930 kilometres of road - there's plenty to explore, and the game is at pains to break up the environments into distinct ecologies ranging from beaches to forests. A new day-and-night cycle is freshly in place and is already bathing the landscape in bleached morning sun one moment, cinematic moonlight the next, while a dynamic weather system means that sudden lightning showers will change the way your car handles as well as adding a bit of drama. Roads are divided between asphalt and off-road tracks, and there's a new class of off-road vehicles to get muddy in.

Would.

When you tire of Ibiza - my younger sister did several years ago - you can unlock its airport and blast back to Hawaii where the entire island of Oahu has been retooled from the first game with the new progression system in mind. It's an incredibly generous touch, and there are plenty of new missions waiting for you in the old neighbourhood, threaded alongside hundreds of miles of new roadways.
Eden's referring to its game as a "luxury lifestyle universe", and for once that's a sound bite that fits perfectly. This is something approaching lifestyle software, in the way it grants you virtual access to the kind of world that probably only otherwise exists in some of the limper Puff Daddy videos, in its options to buy not just Ferraris and Mustangs, but yachts and Bauhaus-styled mansions in which to store them.

Gran Turismo may have more cars, but only Test Drive works such a bizarre fantasy around owning them. The result is something that already feels like a true original, and while the social aspects are pleasantly bonkers, the fact that it's all tied into the cars makes it more meaningful. Besides, it's hard to complain when the core of the game has been so confidently improved upon.

Guild Wars 2

One of the most significant features in Guild Wars 2 will be the ability to select from five different playable races. This is a great change from the original game, which only allowed players to take human characters. Now four more races join the roster, three of which fans should be pretty familiar with: The Charr, Asura and Norn. Players got a taste of what these races are generally capable of by using them as henchmen in the current game. Not only will players be able to use these racial abilities first hand in the sequel, but they're joined by a an all-new race called the Sylvari, a mystical race of plant spirits. They will all need to combine their abilities to overcome the challenges that await them.

Continue reading after the jump for the official press announcement for this video and a developer Q&A regarding the races of Tyria.

Gallery: Guild Wars 2 Concept Art

It's one of the most important decisions a player makes: choosing a race.

In the upcoming MMO Guild Wars 2, choosing which of the five distinctive races to play is just the first step down the road to your ultimate destiny. Starting with this crucial decision, your character's epic tale begins. With their new preview video, NCsoft and ArenaNet pull back the curtain to reveal more details of the five diverse player races in Guild Wars 2. Which will you choose?

Take the role of a noble human defender and fight for the survival of your people. Play a ferocious feline charr, carving a trail of conquest. Become one of the brilliant asura to study hidden knowledge and harness incredible magical technology. Assume the form of a shapeshifting norn, the massive battle-forged warriors from the far north. Explore the mysteries of Tyria as one of the sylvari, a mystical new race of plant spirits. From these five races, mighty heroes shall rise!

To set the stage for Guild Wars 2, this video introduces the five iconic heroes of each race, all voiced by accomplished actors. Logan Thackeray the human defender is voiced by Troy Baker (Fullmetal Alchemist, One Piece). Rytlock Brimstone the charr warrior is voiced by Steve Blum (Spectacular Spider-Man). Eir Stegalkin the norn is voiced by Jocelyn Blue (Invader Zim, Space Jam). Zojja the asura is voiced by Felicia Day (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Guild, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Caithe the sylvari is voiced by Kari Wahlgren (Wolverine and the X-Men, Aliens in the Attic).

Guild Wars 2 is a visually stunning MMO that will offer players the epic grandeur of a massive role playing environment as well as the challenge of intense player vs. player competition. Building on the success and popularity of Guild Wars, ArenaNet is creating a subscription-free MMO where players create their own personalized story in a richly imagined world where their actions have real consequences.

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RACES OF TYRIA TRAILER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS with Ree Soesbee - World Designer and Writer

In the Races of Tyria, the latest preview video for NCsoft's upcoming MMO Guild Wars 2, we explore the world of Tyria through the eyes of the five playable races in the game. Meet the noble and resilient humans, the war-mongering charr, the brilliant inventors known as the asura, the mighty shapeshifting norn, and a new race of nature spirits, the sylvari. From these five races, mighty heroes shall rise!

Who are these characters in this video and what's their significance in the overall story of the game?

The characters in the video are the members of the famous adventuring group, Destiny's Edge, renowned for their bravery and skill. Although Destiny's Edge no longer travels together, tales of their heroic deeds are told in every part of Tyria.

Logan Thackeray-Captain Logan Thackeray is a commander in the Seraph guard of Divinity's Reach, defender of the last human kingdom. When danger threatens, Logan faces it with the determination of a man who knows that he is the only thing standing between all that he loves... and its utter destruction.

Rytlock Brimstone-This ruthless charr warrior has risen quickly through the ranks of the Blood Legion to become a Tribune of great renown. He stands foremost among the charr of the Black Citadel, carrying a sword of fire and leading their armies to greatness.

Eir Stegalkin-Eir is a norn hero and tactician of great renown. There are those who call her a visionary, who say she speaks to the Spirits of the Wild. With her companion wolf, Garm, Eir roams the icy Shiverpeaks, bow and blade in hand, searching for meaning in the snow's silence.

Zojja- The foremost apprentice of the venerable asura inventor Snaff, Zojja seeks to live up to her mentor's legacy. Zojja's intellect is unrivaled even by members of the Arcane Council of Rata Sum, and her ability to multitask across a spectrum of disciplines inspires awe and jealousy among her fellow asura.

Caithe- Her blades are as swift as a blooded sunset, her movement as silent as the fall of night. Caithe was among the first sylvari to step upon the earth of Tyria, but where the others turned toward the sun, she sought shadow. She has never been afraid to gaze into darkness – or to seek truths that others fear.

You show off some very interesting environments in the Races of Tyria video. Can you tell us more about them?

The video takes us across the vastness of Tyria to the homelands of each of the five signature races of Guild Wars 2.

Divinity's Reach-A breathtaking monument to the human spirit, this shining city is the capital of Kryta and a bastion of hope to embattled mankind.

The Black Citadel-Capital of the Iron Legion, this massive charr war-keep was built on the ruins of the conquered human kingdom of Ascalon.

Hoelbrak – In the frigid heights of the Shiverpeaks the norn have built this grand encampment, with huge lodges where they seek the wisdom of the Spirits of the Wild.

The Grove-Deep in the Maguuma Jungle, this mystical settlement has grown around the Pale Tree, the birthplace of all sylvari.

Rata Sum-Rising from the jungle, this metropolis of geomystic generators and giant ziggurats is full of brilliant asura and their golem servants.

Some of the voices in this video seem familiar, can you identify the actors? How big is voice going to be in Guild Wars 2?

Seamlessly integrating voice into the game experience is a key feature of Guild Wars 2, so we have gathered world-class voice talent to help bring the world of Tyria alive. This video introduces the five iconic heroes of each race, all voiced by accomplished actors:

Logan Thackeray the human defender is voiced by Troy Baker (Fullmetal Alchemist, One Piece).

Rytlock Brimstone the charr warrior is voiced by Steve Blum (Spectacular Spider-Man).

Eir Stegalkin the norn is voiced by Jocelyn Blue (Invader Zim, Space Jam).

Zojja the asura is voiced by Felicia Day (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Guild, Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

Caithe the sylvari is voiced by Kari Wahlgren (Wolverine and the X-Men, Aliens in the Attic).

The video ends with the question, "What's your story?" – how important is story in Guild Wars 2?

Story is a huge element in Guild Wars 2. From the moment you choose your character's race, you're taking your first step down a road that only you can travel. You'll explore a vast, living world where your actions have real consequences. You'll immerse yourself in a rich, powerful narrative that is personalized to and influenced by your character.

Crysis 2

Though we've seen the new Nanosuit and the tech trailer from GDC, Crytek has been keeping its latest project under wraps for a while. That all changed this week in New York as Cevat Yerli and the team from Crytek invaded New York to show off a full demo of Crysis 2 in action. Though the demo was shown on the Xbox 360, the game will also be released on PC and PS3 this holiday season. In addition to getting to see the game for ourselves, we also had the chance to talk with Cevat and the game's writer Richard Morgan, bonafide science fiction author, about the new direction for Crysis 2.

By now you've probably seen the video of the trailer shown in Times Square earlier this week, but that's only the very beginning of the story. As the nanosuit-clad soldier stands amid the ruined rubble of Manhattan, choppers fly by overhead. Aliens lurking in the shells of demolished buildings launch an attack on the choppers and, predictably, all hell breaks loose. Enter the player to kick some serious alien butt.

After a brief introduction by EA Partners' General Manager David Demartini, Cevat YErli took the stage to discuss the inspiration behind the sequel. Building on the sandbox success of Far Cry and the original Crysis, Crysis 2 will allow players to overcome obstacles through a fluid mixture of stealth, speed, strength and shields. How you tackle each encounter will be entirely up to you and, based on the demo, it seems like you'll be able to switch back and forth fairly quickly between the different modes.
The nanosuit is one of three key areas Crytek is focused on. Cevat explains his intention is to make the use of the suit more accessible by reducing the layers of interface. This time around, for instance, you will have two basic modes, a hunting mode that emphasizes stealth and a tank mode designed for direct combat. In one you can sneak around invisibly, but in the other you can really soak up damage before going down. You can also activate a secondary mode that determines whether you want more power or greater tactical awareness.

So, for instance, you might opt for a stealth approach and also activate your tactical mode so you can spot the location of nearby enemies. If things get too rough, you can switch from tactical to power mode and use it to escape with quick running and powerful jumps. If that still doesn't get you out of trouble, you can switch your stealth mode to shield and rely on the suit's additional power mode to give you the muscle to really bash your way through any encounters. Once you've taken out enemies, you can switch from power back to tactical mode while still keeping your shield profile up and running. In this mode, you'll have greater awareness of where enemies are and be able to stand up to them in a direct fight.

This matrix, which allows for one of two styles and one of two modes, gives players four different options that they can switch to depending on the situation at hand. Upgrades which are available during the course of the game will even allow players to customize their suits for more specific types of play. It's all about adapting, engaging and surviving.

We saw a good bit of this in the demo level. It begins with the player standing high up in a damaged skyscraper, looking down at the Crynet guards on nearby roof below. Activating power and stealth modes, the player turns invisible and jumps down on the roof. Sneaking up behind an isolated guard, the player gets the option for a quick and quiet stealth kill. Pulling out a shotgun, the player takes a few shots at the other guards and quickly switches from stealth to shield mode to maximize his armor.

The battle has come to New York and it's up to you to protect it.

As he makes his way through the firefight, the player switches freely back and forth between stealth and shield approaches. When the last enemies are down, he switches off power mode and activates the tactical awareness mode. The tactical mode reveals rocket-armed guards on a nearby building, so the player switches back to power mode to quickly jump away from danger. Power mode also allows the player to pick up a gun mounted on the side of the building and use it as he would any other ordinary weapon.
The second big pillar of the sequel is the location of New York. Drawing on the concept of the "urban jungle," Crytek has created levels that have a much more vertical focus than those on the previous game's island. Given the city's ruined state in the game, there are also lots of opportunities for cover. Despite the move to a city setting, Crysis 2 remains a game that takes place mostly outdoors, so you won't be spending much time running in and out of buildings as you fight against the aliens.

Using New York as a setting also makes the game much more emotionally relevant to players. Where many players had to be told they were supposed to care about protecting the island, most will presumably already feel some initial motivation to save New York. The game's writer, Richard Morgan, even revealed that New York will be treated a bit like an actual character in the game with its own story arc and its own destiny. It is, in his words, the world's most iconic city, so it makes sense to use it as the backdrop for this latest story.

Unfortunately, the team isn't quite willing to talk about the specifics of the story and they aren't likely to reveal many of the surprises or twists in store. Richard likes to present the story to the player like a freefall, forcing them to cope with danger without exactly knowing what's going on. To that end, he would say that the Crynet security forces aren't necessarily the bad guys. The player will find himself in opposition to them, of course, but their separate agendas might line up from time to time as they both fight back against the alien invasion.

The nanosuit still allows players the option to play different ways.

We saw a bit of that in a scene where the player has been captured by Crynet and is being loaded into a helicopter to be taken to a nearby prison. As the chopper lifts off, an alien construct explodes out of the building below and destroys the chopper. As the player lays there waiting for the nanosuit systems to come back online, he watches as something strange happens to the Crynet security guards lying beside him. A larger ship flies down the street, dropping massive alien soldiers all along the block where you've crashed. As soon as your suit is functional again, you find yourself in a firefight alongside the surviving Crynet forces.

The third and final piece of the puzzle is highly interactive destruction, which was amply demonstrated in this street level firefight. Grenades and bullets are whizzing through the air and stonework and steel are exploding all around you. Not only does it make for an outrageous spectacle, but the smoke and fog it kicks up seems designed to keep the view distances from getting out of hand on the long straight streets of Manhattan.

The city of New York has its own destiny and story arc.

Naturally, Crysis 2 will feature all the latest features of the new CryENGINE 3 technology, which was recently showcased at GDC. Real time lighting, complex shading, procedural destruction and physics based effects will make the world seem more alive, while a dynamic cover system, lifelike AI and credible hit reactions will add a sense of realism to the actors in the game. The tech demo shows off many of these features and explains which platforms they're being rendered on. When asked if PC gamers need to be worried that the performance ceiling on the consoles will set a lower limit on the PC presentation, Cevat said that the team is fully committed to taking full advantage of the PC's expanded graphics power.

Crysis 2 has definitely been one of the game's we've been the most curious about this year, so it's great to finally see it in action. You can check out the trailer and the tech demo yourself on our media page, and be sure to stay tuned to IGN for even more details on this amazing and ambitious new shooter.

NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr. NASCAR is the largest sanctioning body of stock car racing in the United States. The three largest racing series sanctioned by NASCAR are the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. It also oversees NASCAR Local Racing, the Whelen Modified Tour, the Whelen All-American Series, and the NASCAR iRacing.com Series. NASCAR sanctions over 1500 races at over 100 tracks in 39 states, and Canada. NASCAR has presented exhibition races in Suzuka City, Japan, Motegi City, Japan, Mexico, and Melbourne, Australia.
NASCAR's headquarters are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, although it also maintains offices in four North Carolina cities: Charlotte, Mooresville, Concord, and Conover. Regional offices are also located in New York City, Los Angeles, Bentonville, Arkansas, and international offices in Mexico City and Toronto. Additionally, owing to its southern roots, all but a handful of NASCAR teams are still based in North Carolina, especially near Charlotte.
NASCAR is one of the most viewed professional sports in terms of television ratings in the United States. In fact, professional football is the only sport in the United States to hold more viewers than NASCAR. Internationally, NASCAR races are broadcast in over 150 countries. NASCAR holds 17 of the top 20 attended single-day sporting events in the world, and claims 75 million fans who purchase over $3 billion in annual licensed product sales. Many marketers consider NASCAR fans the most brand-loyal in all of sports and as a result, Fortune 500 companies sponsor NASCAR more than any other Motor Sport.

Gears of War 3

Gears of War 3 is the spectacular conclusion to one of the most memorable and celebrated sagas in video games. Developed by Epic Games exclusively for Xbox 360, Gears of War 3 plunges you into a harrowing tale of hope, survival, and brotherhood.
In Gears of War 3, fight on as Marcus Fenix, the grizzled war hero and leader of Delta Squad. Eighteen months after the fall of the last human city, the war against the Locust rages on. Meanwhile, deep beneath the surface, a fearsome new threat is infecting the planet from within. With survivors scattered and civilization in ruins, time is running out for Marcus and his comrades as they fight to save the human race.

Dead Space 2

Game Info

Engineer Isaac Clarke returns in Dead Space 2 for another blood-curdling adventure in the sequel to the critically acclaimed Dead Space.
After waking from a coma on a massive space city known as "The Sprawl", the lone survivor of a horrific alien infestation finds himself confronting a catastrophic new nightmare. Battling dementia, hunted by the government, and haunted by visions of his dead girlfriend, Isaac will do whatever it takes to save himself and dominate the gruesome onslaught.
With an arsenal of tools to dismember Necromorphs and new determination, an engineer will bring the terror to space.

The Mortal Kombat 2011

 Mortal Kombat 2011 PC Announced - Top Fighting Games

Warner Bros. announced a new Mortal Kombat title, which goes on sale in 2011. The game is being developed in the study Netherrealm before WB Games Chicago. Syndicated as “the most brutal edition” of Mortal Kombat, it will be released on PS3 and Xbox 360 next year.
The official announcement said that the new release “marks the triumphant return of the series to mature presentation and a reinvention of the classic 2D fighting mechanics. Powered by a new graphics engine, the crowd favorite Fatalities are back, and presented with a level of detail bloodiest ever. Additionally, Mortal Kombat introduces a number of new game play features, including team combat and deep story mode of any game genre. ”
At the same time, Warner also promises that the game will incorporate “the most extensive online experience never before seen in a fighting game, in which up to four players can fight in groups and two players, can play at the new Cooperative Arcade mode.
For its part, the co-creator of the series and creative director Netherrealm, Ed Boon said that “we can not wait for the players he put a hand on Mortal Kombat. This game really an answer to what players have been clamoring for: a mature presentation, reinvented 2D fighting mechanics, and the best and most gruesome Fatalities never seen before. ”

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2

The Star Wars® Saga continues with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, the highly anticipated sequel to the fastest-selling Star Wars game ever created, which has sold more than seven million copies worldwide. In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, the world was introduced to Darth Vader’s now fugitive apprentice, Starkiller—the unlikely hero who would ignite the flames of rebellion in a galaxy so desperately in need of a champion.
In the sequel, Starkiller returns with over-the-top Force powers and embarks on a journey to discover his own identity and to reunite with his one true love, Juno Eclipse. In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, Starkiller is once again the pawn of Darth Vader—but instead of training his protégé as a ruthless assassin, the dark lord is attempting to clone his former apprentice in an attempt to create the Ultimate Sith warrior. The chase is on – Starkiller is in pursuit of Juno and Darth Vader is hunting for Starkiller.
With all-new devastating Force powers and the ability to dual-wield lightsabers, Starkiller cuts a swath through deadly new enemies across exciting worlds from the Star Wars films - all in his desperate search for answers to his past.

Mass Effect 3

According to the project director Casey Hudson Mass Effect 3 is in its early stages of development. However, it has been confirmed that game is to be announced by late 2011. Casey Hudson latest interview with MTV revealed certain details about the upcoming Mass effect 3. The game is supposed to have an epic conclusion, which is overwhelming. Hudson also told MTV that there are about 1000 variables that are already lined up for variations in the new chapter. After quantifying the variables in the story line, Hudson has exaggerated the pre release hype for the game. Putting a huge divergence in the final chapter of trilogy would be a remarkable thing to do, from which we can sense more twist in the upcoming game.

So far revealed, the game is expected to have Richer RPG features, more combat options and more complex enemies. The developers seriously need to work at RPG features and combats as they weren’t very appealing in the ME2. We can expect that ME3 to be an excellent role playing experience, something that was quite missing in the Mass Effect 2.

Crysis 2

Game Info

 

The world has been ravaged by a series of climatic disasters and society is on the verge of total breakdown.  Now the aliens have returned, with a full invasion force bent on nothing less than the total annihilation of mankind, starting by trying to rip the heart out of Earth's most iconic city.
In New York, terrifying alien invaders stalk the streets and a nightmare plague strikes down the city's myriad inhabitants with brutal epidemic speed.  The city's systems are in chaos, its streets and skyline are smashed and in flaming ruin. This is New York City like you've never seen it before.
Neither paramilitary law enforcement nor the might of the US military machine can stand against the invaders, and all who choose not to flee are dead men walking.  Just to survive in this maelstrom of death will require technology beyond anything any modern soldier has ever seen.
One man will inherit that means to survive. One supersoldier, wielding the combat enhancement technology of the future with Nanosuit 2, will make the last stand to save humanity from destruction in the urban jungle that is New York City.