“If you purchased just a cd key for the game then you purchased from an illegitimate seller and the game has been revoked.”

He went on to say that users should try and get a refund for their keys and get a legitimate copy of the game. Perhaps through Steam.

The story in Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D 2) followed the same type of story and gameplay as its predecessor, the main campaign follows four survivors, played via online co-op with three other players, where the point is to escape through a maze and myriad of zombies of all kinds. It’s a style of gameplay where teamwork absolutely counts, in L4D 2, it counts even more. Don’t even think about going solo — you’ll be picked to your bones very quickly. The new campaign follows four new survivors, this time they seem to be more varied with better personality, however the AI is still lacking a bit behind, where they’ll often run in front of you, despite that it’s very clear that you’re shooting a very big gun right next to them. But this, of course, is gone when you play co-op — which you should, that’s the whole point, anyways.

The campaign spans around 5 diverse maps, which are are now part of the same overall story, in style of classic survivor zombie movies, music and games, this time, set in the South. Good stuff, really. On top of that, there’s a 2 player split screen mode, which also works online, so you can team up with a friend in your living room, and join two other players online.

The new game modes include Realism, which, as the name suggests, offer a lot more pain-in-the-ass-tense action that the regular mode, something L4D junkies will certainly enjoy. There’s a ton of new weapons too, which include melee weapons as well, but with the exception of melee weapons, the guns available don’t have a good feeling to them, often come across as toy guns, both in looks, sound and feels. Valve has made Half Life, Counter Strike Source and Day of Defeat; all of which had weapons that were pretty solid. But not Left 4 Dead and L4d 2, unfortunately. It also brings us to another area where the game lacks: visuals. The Source Engine, while doing great in Episode 2 (over two years ago), seems to be far less advanced in L4D 2, the textures are bland, the visuals treats are rarely there and the effects have also taken a step back. This might have something to do with the fact that it’s a co-op multiplayer game and the maps are large, but still, it feels very 2004-ish.

The new content in L4D 2 is good enough to justify a $50 purchase for the die hard fans, but for everyone else, there’s isn’t much new in addition to the original game. If you haven’t tried to survival horror co-op shooter, you might as well pick up the first game, which is sold at around half the price. The gameplay is 99% the same, actually 100% but I’m sure Valve has changed one bit somewhere. Probably.

The Good:
Still fun gameplay
Interesting campaign
Nice audio and soundtrack

The Bad:
Looks dated
Some AI issues
No gameplay improvements

Overall score: 8/10

Hollywood usually takes most of the slack when it comes to criticism for lack of originality, but in fact, the video game industry is even worse at creating original content, it’s a world dominated by franchises of every kind, from sports to action games, publishers and developers are usually taking the easy and safe way: sequels. And spin offs. And remakes. Etc.

We’ve compiled a list of top 10 original games that are scheduled for release for 2010 — and it was quite a challenge: out of the 130 games confirmed for 2010 by major publishers and developers, we found 19 that were original. Just 19.

10: Brink (Spring 2010)

Brink, an FPS developed by Splash Damage and published by Bethesda, centers around a two sides: Resistance and Security, and is a team based multiplayer shooter much like Quake Wars, which was also developed by Splash Damage. It looks promising as a multiplayer game, as it’s story based, much like Quake Wars, where one battle takes place over several maps, with a story connecting everything together.

9: Alpha Protocol (Spring 2010)

Alpha Protocol, developed by Obsidian Entertainment — developers of Star Wars: KOTOR 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 — is a third person action RPG where the player assumes the role of Michael Thorton, a CIA agent who’s been betrayed and must not only fight his way through enemies, but also uncover the conspiracy that set him up.

8: Singularity (Q2 2010)

While time travel is a known concept in games, albeit underused, it’s still something that is difficult to fit in wiht the overall storyline, and the time feature never seems to be used properly. In Singularity, the player will have control over a TMD (Time Manipulation Device), a “weapon” which will be used to solve puzzles, for instance, if a door is locked, instead of looking for the key, you use the TMD and speed up time for the lock only, which will rust, and voila, door opened! Or use it on an enemy and watch him turn into a skeleton. The concept certainly seems intriguing, and offers some truly original puzzles.

7: Dante’s Inferno (February 9, 2010)

Dante’s Inferno has already caused a lot of controversy, from the fake E3 2009 protest, to gameplay elements where players can slay children. The gritty, hell based game is loosely based on the actual Inferno by Dante in The Divine Comedy, and the player assumes the role of Dante, who has to fight his way though monsters and demons in the 9 circles of hell, and decide whether he’ll be good and spare some (like children) or go reckless. It definitely looks as one of the darkest games of 2010.

6: MAG (January 26, 2010)

MAG (Massive Action Game) is a PS3 online FPS multiplayer who’s main feature is a massive 256 player online matches, with 128 players per team, divided into 8-player squads, 4 squads into a platoon, and 4 platoons into a company. With 256 players on the map, MAG is set to deliver some of the most intense and frantic combat yet, and will offer detailed stats and rankings, where higher ranked players will be able to command the battle and give orders to individual squads and platoons.

5: LA Noire (Q3 2010)

LA Noire, an open ended adventure game set in a recreated 1940s Los Angeles, which players can freely roam around, and chose to solve a number of murders around the city. The game has a great feeling of classic noir films based in LA, like LA Confidential, The Maltese Falcon and Chinatown, and draws inspiration from such works as well.

4: Rage (Q4 2010)

It’s been a while since Id Software has made an original game — actually, the last original game Id Software made was Quake, back in 1996. Id finally shows something new with Rage, a fusion between a first person shooter and a racing game set in a post-apocalyptic Mad Max styled world. It’s built with the all new Id Tech 5 engine, and shows very promising visuals, to say the least.

3: Heavy Rain (Q2 2010)

Heavy Rain has been on the radar since it was originally showcased at E3 2006, and will be released almost four years later, in Q2 2010. The gorgeous looking game centers around a serial killer known as “The Origami Killer”, and players assume roles of different characters who try and solve the murders. It’s one of the most stylish and atmospheric games to come out in 2010.

2: Alan Wake (Q2 2010)

What Heavy Rain is for the PS3, Alan Wake is for the Xbox 360. Developed by Remedy, Alan Wake is a psychological thriller inspired by the likes of Twin Peaks and Stephen King novels, where players assume the role of Alan Wake, a writer who seeks refuge at a quiet place where he can write his next novel (much like Stephen Kings “Misery“). However, when his wife vanishes, it’s up to him to get her back.

1: APB (March 2010)

APB is not only the most original MMO game to his the stores in 2010, it’s also the most original game overall. It’s the classic cops vs. robbers gameplay, but on a massive scale, with endless customizations and options, tons of missions and weapons. Created by David Jones, the original creator for GTA, APB is hailed as everything he wanted to do wince he made GTA, and while originally trying to pitch and sell APB to Rockstar as GTA Online, it’s good that APB is on its own now, we need a great, original game. And an MMO that’s not fantasy based.

Modern Warfare 2 is the Transformers 2 of the video games. A huge blockbuster with plenty of thrills and action, but a confused to no plot, and, for the PC version which we’re reviewing, a crippled multiplayer part. It feels like a genuine overhyped piece of entertainment, which will be swallowed up by fans no matter what, still with all the great ingredients of Modern Warfare 1, but with not much new, not chances are taken by the developer, in fact, it’s far too much like its predecessor, in almost every aspect.

Modern Warfare features the same style campaign as the previous game: short, confused and on steroids. In the campaign, you’re more or less thrown in the action — there’s no act 1 here — and the levels are short, and likewise, feature no formal introduction or ending, and are extremely linear in design and gameplay. If you’ve played Crysis, or Far Cry 2 or Battlefield Bad Company, where you had a ton of options and could take on a level the way you wanted, Modern Warfare is nothing like that, and keeps the strict linear gameplay, forcing you through a set route, with planted enemies every few yards. You reach the end, you win. Big deal. There is little to no new things in the campaign, it feels the same way, plays the same way, looks and sounds the same — the changes are microscopic. The visuals are lacking as well, as the engine is showing its age, no matter how high they can crank up the textures and lighting effects, while better than Modern warfare 1, it’s still years behind the likes of Crysis and Battlefield Bad Company. Destructive environments should be standard now, especially for a game of this caliber.

The campaign is not only short — you’ll be done with it in less than 5 hours — it’s also filled with cliches and seems like an interactive Micheal Bay movie. There is no connection between the levels and it feels like the designers merely had a few great idea for some levels which were completely disconnected, then wrote a show-string hack story to somehow hold it together. It doesn’t hold it together, there is no decent narrative, no structure, just a bunch of action filled levels. We’re not buying it, Infinity Ward. Having said that, the campaign and overall single player experience is great fun and feels polished, but the strict linear gameplay takes away a lot of said fun. There’s also the Special Ops mode, which consists of 23 small missions which you can play alone or in co-op, which is great fun, especially if you’re playing with a friend.

Multiplayer wise, the gameplay feels a bit more varied and fair than previously, and there are a ton of upgrades and perks available. Sadly, there are no dedicated servers on the PC, and if you feared that it was going to be an issue, you were right, it is. In addition, matches are limited to 18 players only, which is another great disappointment, as 32 players have been standard for years, and even Modern Warfare 1 supported 32 players, with some dedicated servers running 64 player modes. While the multiplayer is more balanced and fast pace than before, it feels like a port from the console version, and when it comes to ports from consoles to PCs, they’re always worse on the PC. This is the case with Modern Warfare 2 as well.

Overall, fans of Modern Warfare will have no issues with the sequel — they probably already have the game. And general FPS games will enjoy the short single player campaign and deep multiplayer, but with so much hype surrounding the game, it leaves us wanting something more, a decent campaign for one.

The Good:
Fun gameplay
Polished
Deep multiplayer

The Bad:
Campaign story narrative is non-existent
Very linear gameplay
Aging visuals are beginning to show
PC multiplayer is severely crippled

Overall score: 7/10

• Fixed demo playback for demos with long file names.
• Fixed the accuracy menu to update properly in Clan Arena.
• Fixed the players-left-alive count to update properly in Clan Arena when an alive player disconnects.
• Fixed banned players’ profile pages to once again report the status of their suspension.
• Fixed issues that had arose with the Match tool-tips.
• Changed ‘cg_gibs 0′ to now entirely disable the death spark effects.
• Changed Cobalt Station – qzdm16’s max player limit to 8 players in CTF mode.

Quake Live is currently in open beta release, a state which it has been since February of this year. There is no word on the actual release of the game, but it seems quite stable as it is. You can check out Quake Live on the official site here.

The story of Tekken 6 is slim to non existent to laughable — but that’s expected, it’s not a novel, it’s a fighting game, and the story that’s there basically moves your from fight to fight. Nothing special, and it gets the job done. The single player campaign lets you battle all of the available enemies, which means you’ll be fighting a lot of them — the roster is one of the largest in any Tekken game, with all the classic fighters back, including Lei, Paul, Jin and Kazuya. It also includes characters included in Tekken Dark Resurrection, further increasing the roster to a total of 40. However, not many new members have been introduced, not that it makes any difference, since the roster already feels crowded and it’s gonna take you a long time to identify with all of the characters.

The gameplay is very similar to other Tekken games, although it has been somewhat refined, making it just as intricate for the veterans, while being a lot more welcoming to Tekken newbies, and as they say, it’s easy to learn, hard to master. It still features very complex combos for those who are willing to learn them, but the gameplay overall now appeals to a much broader audience. Each arm and leg has a button assigned to them, which means you’ll have to think what arm to throw the punch with, or what leg to kick with, even if you’re a button masher. When two buttons are combined, the result is a more powerful blow, and the more you combine, the better combos you can pull off.

The single player campaign follows the only two new characters, and two of the most boring ones, to be host, where you can fight through side scrolling missions where you can earn quick points, but the mode is quite boring and very badly put together. Besides that, there’s a ton of fun to be had, as you’ll be fighting away enemy after enemy, and you can even earn points to unlock costumes to each character — and each character has quite a few of them.

Besides the single player campaign, Tekken 6 features an Arcade mode, Ghost battles, Survival mode and most importantly, online multiplayer. The online component is great, provided that you have a stable and fast connection, as connections tend to drop. On top of that, load times tend to go on foreeeever. Technically, the game looks as good as it has to look. It’s by no means an Uncharted 2 rival, but it does a decent job at rendering the characters and environments. The rendered cut scenes are great in particular, but we wished that the whole game would look as good. Tekken 6 will most definitely satisfy the fans, and the new refinements will make it more welcoming to new players as well.

The Good:
Great gameplay
Deep roster
Solid multiplayer

The Bad:
Bad story
Long load times
Fighting can get repetitive

Overall score: 8/10

Furthermore, Iwata said that those numbers will decline if the company doesn’t “take aggressive action” on the online front — which it of course plans to do. All we can say is; it’s about damn time!

Clearly another disappointment for the PC crowd, as 64 players have been the standard for most games, from Counter-Strike to Battlefield (even Modern Warfare 1 supported at least 32 players). It’s pretty much conclusive that Modern Warfare 2 PC version will simply be a port of the console editions, and as ports from consoles to PCs go, they’re always inferior.