Michael Lafferty

We don’t often do stories about beta releases of games, particularly not massively multiplayer online games. Why? Because the game can change from the betas to the release version. Neverwinter, a pending game from Perfect Worlds is a game based on the Forgotten Realms, which in turn is a license property of Wizards of the […]

From Family Friendly Titles to Free-to-Play Online Games, There’s Something for Every Gamer Well, it has come again—the season when it is better to give than to receive. Here are the top titles that may crop up on the Christmas wish lists of your favorite gamer. A host of games released for handheld gaming devices, […]

Ready to sweat? Ready to burn off those impeding calories from holiday feasting? Then Microsoft’s 360 Xbox team and Nike may have just the thing for you.

joy without the stick.
“Baldur’s Gate doesn’t hold your hand, it slaps it, then it punches you in the face.” – Trent Oster
Way back in 1996, Black Isle Studios tossed out a team-based role-playing game modeled off the Forgotten Realms’ license owned by Wizards of the Coast. Baldur’s Gate was an incredible undertaking, but it was also a fascinating adventure that consumed hours upon hours of time while immersing players in the realm of the Sword Coast.
Of course there were games that tried to emulate that success, but the games of that era that stood out the most were the two Baldur’s Gate titles, Icewind Dale and NeverWinter Nights. Just when you thought those days might be gone forever, along comes Beamdog.

There have been years when the releases almost stagger the imagination with studios putting one “gotta have” title after another. There have been years when it was a decent year, but mostly rehashes or sequels. But the best may be yet to come. Let’s run down some of the more anticipated games left to release in 2012:
Halo 4 – Set for a Nov. 6 release, this 360 first-person shooter takes place almost five years after the events of Halo 3. Master Chief is back and this has been touted as the beginning of a new sci-fi franchise. The developers have also added to the multiplayer element, introducing the Halo Infinity Multiplayer, named for the starship that acts as a hub for the multiplayer careers of created characters.

The landscape for massively multi-player games (MMOs) contained some new additions in 2012, but only a few of those were high-profile titles. TERA, from En Masse Entertainment, is essentially an Asian-designed game with some changes to reflect the tastes of the North American audience.
While the character and world design sports some unique elements, what makes the game stand out is the combat. For long-time MMO players who remember Asheron’s Call 2 and players’ ability to dodge incoming attacks, that element has returned in TERA. Of course, having such a combat system suffers if there is any lag between the player’s computer and the servers. On several occasions, the game seemed to stutter and combat went from totally owning the non-player character (NPC) enemy to a scramble-to-keep-alive moment.

werTurbine was there at the beginning of the modern age of massively multiplayer online games. The modern (also sometimes referred to as the Second Generation) age of MMOs kicked off back in 1996 with the release of Meridian 59. A year later saw the release of Ultima Online. In 1999, two games were released – Sony’s first EverQuest and Asheron’s Call from Turbine.
Since the first Asheron’s Call title, which is still in release, Turbine has gone on to make Asheron’s Call 2, Dungeons & Dragons Online and The Lord of the Rings Online. What is, perhaps, the most noteworthy of Turbine’s accomplishments is that the latter two games are free-to-play. (Asheron’s Call 2 closed in December 2005 after three years in release.)

The Transformers’ license has been hit hard by too many movies and a slew of video-game titles that left franchise fans with a metallic taste in the mouth—one of those zinc-tablet, ‘did I just chew on aluminum?’ tastes that certainly is not pleasant.
From the moment gamers step into the armor of Bumblebee, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron sets itself apart. This is an intelligent single-player game and enjoyable multiplayer experience that does justice to the license. At first blush, the game may sound a bit on the linear side because players cannot pick a character and just zerg the campaign levels. Every level in the game has a predetermined character to play, and gamers need to rely on the skills of that character—in both ranged and melee attacks, as well as transformed for mobility—to overcome the obstacles in order to accomplish the specific goals of each level.

There have been years when the releases almost stagger the imagination with studios putting one “gotta have” title after another. There have been years when it was a decent year, but mostly rehashes or sequels. But the best may be yet to come. Let’s run down some of the more anticipated games left to release […]