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Assassin’s Creed 2 review

Assassin’s Creed was one of the few original and interesting new IPs that was released two years ago, bringing a new setting not often explored by games, alongside some original combat and acrobatics. The sequel — and of course there’s a sequel — looks to build upon the success of the first game, and offer something new. While the gameplay remains mainly unchanged, the new setting, in Renaissance Italy looks just as great as ancient Jerusalem did in AC1.

The story continues where the previous ended; Desmond, in today’s time, escapes from the complex that kidnapped him and captured his mind. This time he teams up with the good guys, and gets back in the seat in the machine that sends him back a few hundred years to Italy, during Leonardo da Vinci’s time, where he’ll play an assassin, in order to train himself the skills. We won’t go into detail of the story, but rest assured that it’s pretty well told and written, although the cut scenes and dialogue aren’t exactly top notch. Read the rest of our Assassin’s Creed 2 review

BioShock 2 cover revealed

2K Games has revealed the cover of the highly anticipated BioShock 2, which is scheduled for a February 2010 release. As you can see above, it’s quite similar to the original BioShock 2, this time though, as the PS3 cover suggests, PS3 owners won’t have to wait a full year to play the game.

Supreme Commander 2 coming Spring 2010

Square Enix, the new publishers of Supreme Commander 2, have announced that the Gas Powered Games RTS will be released during Spring 2010 on PC and Xbox 360. As you may recall, the original Supreme Commander was released during Spring of 2007, so a good three years without a great sci-fi RTS. SupCom 2 is set 25 years after the original game, and features a ton of new units, maps and campaign missions, in addition to a much more streamlined game engine.

Left 4 Dead 2 review

There was understandable outrage when Valve announced a sequel to Left 4 Dead, to be released only a year after the original game, giving a hint that it might be a yearly series, something very untrue to the Valve spirit (which is quite the opposite: quality delays). Is there merit to the criticism and concerns? Has Left 4 Dead 2 too little to offer compared to last year? In short, yes, in long: yes, but it’s still a heck of a lot of fun.

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. Read the rest of our Left 4 Dead 2 review

Nvidia launches GeForece GT 240

While we wait for Nvidia’s next gen chip, codenamed “Fermi”, the company has followed its old style of re-branding and re-releasing old chips. Well, not quite this time, as the new GT 240 chip is still the same technology, but is built on 40nm process and includes DirectX 10.1 support — at a time where the big deal is DirectX 11.

The new graphics card is mainstream oriented, and should offer decent performance and low power consumption, at a decent price. The chip is outfitted with 96 stream processors clocked at 1360MHz, while the graphics core runs at 550MHz, with idle power load at just 9W. It’ll retail later this week for $99.

Modern Warfare 2 airport scene cut in Russia

The infamous Modern Warfare 2 airport mission “No Russian”, all 5 minutes of it, has apparently been cut in the Russian version of the game, in fear of sparking outrage in the country, but, more importantly for Activision, it could result in a ban. The mission, where the player basically mows down Russian civilians at an airport, has already been altered for the German public, where if you shoot any civilians, it’s game over. Which means that pretty much means the mission is useless in that case.

Modern Warfare 2 sells close to 9.4 million copies in first week

It’s no surprise that Modern Warfare 2’s launch was anything less than a huge success considering the game was pre-ordered over 4.5 million times but VGCHartz has rounded up some preliminary week one data and the results are quite outstanding.

It seems that all together, the game has sold close to 9.4 million copies across the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC raking in an astounding $600 million for Activision. Now let’s just wait until the holiday season comes and goes and we’re sure to be seeing some ridiculous numbers.

I think it’s safe to say we will be seeing Modern Warfare 3, 4, 5 etc because I mean, it is Activision, after all.

Half Life 2 turns 5

On this day, five years ago, one of the most critically acclaimed games was released: the sequel to Half Life, Half Life 2. The game was originally delayed for a year or so, after the source code was leaked and much of the game had to be rewritten. Since then, we’ve seen two expansions and a ton of mods. Half Life 2: Episode 3 is slated for release in 2010, with Half Life 3 coming in late 2012. Coolvibe has a great collection of early Half Life 2 concept art, worth checking out.

Crysis and Crysis Warhead only $15 on Steam

We know you’re probably busy playing Modern Warfare 2 — we don’t blame you — it’s just that there’s this very good looking game that was release a two years back, and an expansion pack as well, Crysis and Crysis Warhead, you might have heard of them? In any case, both games are now only $15 a pop on Steam. If you’re tired of all that linear shooting in MW2, you might wanna check out Crysis.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 PC to support DirectX 11

In a rather surprising move, DICE confirmed (via Twitter) that Battlefield Bad Company 2 for the PC will support DirectX 11, which was introduced with Windows 7. The news was announced by AMD, which is in cooperation with DICE to add DX 11. The game will still use the fist edition of the Frostbite engine, while Frostbite 2 will fully support DX 11, and is the engine used in the upcoming Battlefield 3.

Modern Warfare 2 boycott works. Yeah Right.

The above screenshot shows a group of Steam members who joined the group “Boycott Modern Warfare 2 — We want dedicated servers”. As you can see, it’s not really working, as most of them are playing… Modern Warfare 2.

Fallout MMO screenshot appears

While Bethesda and Interplay are in a legal battle surrounding the Fallout MMO which is in development (at least last time we heard about the game) — which Bethesda think is moving too slow — according to 1UP, the above screen is one of several which were leaked, alongside concept art, which Interplay allegedly submitted as evidence in court, a sign that they’re working on the MMO — a statement Bethesda is contesting.

Alan Wake premiering in May 2010

Remedy has always been secret about Alan Wake, and has been very careful not giving a firm release date on the gorgeous adventure game. Now MCV claims that a source tells them that the release date is set for the end of May on the Xbox 360, and will receive a “Hollywood-style promotion”? Does that mean we’re gonna be seeing a lot of Alan Wake merchandising? T-Shirts and cup-holders?

Modern Warfare 2 PC review

Modern Warfare 2, the most anticipated game of the year, is out and has already broken the sales records. And it’s already showered in rave reviews, so let’s be clear from the get go: this is not one of those reviews. In fact, we were quite disappointed by Modern Warfare 2. Even though we were fans of the first game, the sequel feels a lot like going from a great movie to its sequel: nothing new and much of the same.

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. Read the rest of the Modern Warfare 2 review

New Mass Effect 2 screenshots

EA has released a bunch of new Mass Effect 2 screenshots, well, actually only 9 screenshots, but they give a good preview of the game and its visuals — unless we’re talking about bullshots, of course.