Wanna make your very own game? Well, here’s your chance!

Epic Games has released the Unreal Development Kit. Wondering just what the UDK is? Says Epic:

The Unreal Development Kit is the free version of the award-winning Unreal Engine 3, the software development framework used to create computer and video games, 3D simulations, TV shows, films and more

Anyone can download UDK and work with the same game development tools used to create blockbuster games, architectural walkthroughs and digital movies. UDK ships with the latest version of the Unreal Editor, with its unrivaled content creation toolset and rapid prototyping functionality.

UDK is free for noncommercial and educational use. Licensing terms are available to those who wish to sell UDK-powered games or to create commercial products or services for business use at www.udk.com/licensing.

You can grab your very own copy of the Unreal Development Kit, as well as trailers for the kit and sample games built using the kit, over on FileFront. So, go get your game making on!

Grab it here: http://www.filefront.com/listing/pub2/Unreal-Development-Kit

Well, to my great surprise, it appeals to me quite a bit. While Nostalgia is a new IP, its level design and programming were done by Matrix, the same development team responsible for Final Fantasy III and IV on the Nintendo DS. The game runs quite smoothly, but don’t expect anything in the graphics and sound to leap out at you as groundbreaking. The perspective remains in top down, and since the game is in 3D, this limits the area you can see by quite a bit.

Of course, we don’t play turn-based RPGs for graphics, so let’s talk gameplay. Much like Final Fantasy IX, you’ll control up to four characters in your party, and you’ll keep the same characters for the entire game. Each character has a specific weapon, so the decision of who gets what items is always fairly straightforward.

You’ll travel an alternate past, circa the late 19th century. As Eddie, the son of famed adventurer Gilbert Brown, you’ll take up the mantle of adventurer when your father disappears. Whether completing quests for the Adventurer’s Guild, or following the trail or your father, you’ll travel the world in an airship outfitted with guns, a cannon, and an enormous blade on the prow to visit cities and dungeons throughout the world. Beginning in London, you’ll visit Cairo, Cape Town, and a host of other real world cities.

Combat is exactly as you’d expect, with random battles popping up as you walk through dungeons. Something new is the random battles that pop up while you are flying your airship. These airship battles are interesting, requiring you to compensate for weather, as well as rewarding you for using the proper weapon for each way you are facing. A number of special attacks and spells are available, with some characters focusing on magic, and others on melee.

Overall, Nostalgia is simply fun. I enjoyed getting back to the roots of a classic turn-based RPG, and there is a ton of content to explore. Along with the main quest, you can revisit old dungeons to complete quests and seek out world treasures that can be turned in for gadgets to arm your characters.

If you’re a fan of turn-based RPG’s, you should definitely check Nostalgia out. It’s worth your time, and a worthy successor to the lineage of the classic turn-based RPG’s of the past. One thing is for sure, it definitely lives up to its name.

Gaming Today gives Nostalgia an 8.5/10.

So you can imagine that I was a bit incredulous when I got a copy of Muramasa: The Demon Blade to review. Sure, I knew the game had won all sorts of ‘Best of E3′ awards, but I was still not sure about it. I sat down and started playing, and I found myself really enjoying the game.

Muramasa is a classic, side-scrolling action RPG. This first thing that hits you when you start the game is the look and feel. If you played Odin Sphere on the PS2, you’ll recognize the style, and you’ll be impressed. The graphics aren’t 1080p, or high-def, but they are endearing and attractive. The graphics are more like living art than what you’d expect from a video game.

You can choose from two characters, Momohime and Kisuke. Each story has its own campaign, but the two do intersect. Momohime is being controlled by a demon that possesses her sword, and Kisuke has lost his memory and is on the run for something he’s not even sure that he did.

The actual combat is smooth and flowing, as you draw your sword to fight enemies that randomly appear. Combat also requires you to manage multiple combo attacks while also using health items and special attacks. One of the more interesting features is that the swords (you can have three of your choice equipped at any time) you use are taking damage as well. Parrying and repelling attacks causes your swords to take damage, and once a sword has taken too much damage, it will break. To combat this, you can switch between your equipped swords on the fly, or use potions that will heal the blade.

Collecting blades is a core mechanic of Muramasa. There are 108 swords in all, and you gain the ability to forge swords early on. The fact that each sword has its own special ability means that you can benefit from having certain swords equipped to take advantage of different weaknesses in your enemies.

Boss battles in Muramasa have a nice random element in them. While the bosses retain the same abilities each time you fight them, the same boss may use its abilities at different times in the same fight. Unfortunately, the difficulty of bass battles fluctuates wildly, especially between the two characters. I had little trouble with bosses when playing as Kisuke, but Momohime’s bosses are much more challenging.

Completionists among you will find a ton of gameplay here. Beating the game through with both characters takes about 15 hours, but you could eaily double that time if you want to finish collecting all the items, forging all the swords, and beating all the challenge caves. Not only that, but beating the game a second time can yield a different ending, making the effort worthwhile.

All in all, Muramasa presents an excellent game for Wii fans. If you own Nintendo’s console, you should definitely own this game. It’s arguably the best third party title yet published for the Wii, and worth a purchase. One word of warning: the game has retained its original Japanese voice tracks, so if you don’t like subtitles, that may be a turn off for you.

Gaming Today gives Muramasa an 8.5.

My trepidation was somewhat relieved when I got my hands on the demo and found it to have great atmosphere, great pacing, and great voice acting. Now I’ve had my chance to play the full game, and in short, it far exceeds any expectations I had.

Arkham Asylum opens as Batman transports his arch-nemesis, The Joker, to Arkham Asylum. Soon after arriving there, the Joker breaks free of his restraints and takes over the asylum, leaving Batman to pursue him through a myriad of obstacles the Joker puts in his path.

One of the much ballyhooed features of the game prior to its release was the dynamic combat system, and it does not disappoint. The flow of melee combat is excellent, and the gadgets that one would expect Batman to be packing around become a major part of dispatching your enemies. Batarangs knock foes prone, explosive gel incapacitates enemies, and Batman can even pull foes to him with his grapple.

Chaining together long strings of combos gains you experience that can be spent to improve Batman’s abilities and to unlock new gadgets. Even more fun is the ‘Detective Mode,’ which allows Batman to see his enemies through walls, see their current heart rates and states, and even tell if they are armed or not. Watching a goon’s heart rate increase when he finds the unconscious body of his buddy is satisfying in and of itself. This mode helps tremendously if you’re trying to be very sneaky (my preferred method of playing). While staying completely stealthy is rarely required in the game, it’s more challenging if you try to be the true ‘Invisible Predator.’

Combat is excellent, but where Batman: Arkham Asylum really shines is in its presentation. Arkham is dark, creepy, and reflects the fact that the Joker and his goons have had their way inside its walls. While I don’t want to give away anything that you might encounter in the game, I’ll just say that the morgue scene is very well done, and reminds me a bit of parts of the original Max Payne.

Not only is the atmosphere well done, the voice acting is outstanding. The Joker’s paranoia and lunacy shine through as Mark Hamill brings years of experience in the role to the game, and Kevin Conroy’s Batman is quite fitting. Classic villains like Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and the Scarecrow bring their own unique personalities to life through the quality voice and visual presentations.

I also got a chance to try out the ‘Play as the Joker’ feature in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. While it’s only available on challenge maps, it’s not just a skin. The Joker has a full complement of personalized moves, and even packs a pistol for taking out those really tough guards. It’s enough to make the decision of which console to play this one on a pretty easy choice.

All in all, Batman: Arkham Asylum lives up to all the hype. To this point in 2009, nothing I have played surpasses this game. If I had to submit a vote for Game of the Year right now, there’s no question that Arkham Asylum would get that vote. RockSteady has grabbed ownership of this title, and made a strong case for more games in the same vein, and I have no doubt that Eidos will happily acquiesce.

If you haven’t played Arkham Asylum yet, you need to go out and at the very least grab the demo, and then the full game. Don’t miss out on the chance to play the best superhero game of the year.

Batman: Arkham Asylum receives a 9.5 out of 10 from me, and is definitely a title worth a purchase, even now when money is tighter than normal.

In short, he refers to the recent rumors that Blizzard’s Chinese World of Warcraft servers aren’t going to be coming back up anytime soon. For those of you who aren’t aware, Blizzard recently transferred their license to operate WoW in China to NetEase, away from The9.

The9 filed several lawsuits in an attempt to stop this transfer, and the Chinese government accordingly refused to give NetEase a license to operate WoW, saying that “in order to protect the interests of domestic gaming enterprises,” they would “suspend review of all games belonging to foreign companies in the event of lawsuits or arbitration between foreign companies and Chinese companies.”

The Chinese servers have already been down for a month or so, and there’s still no word on when they might return. This really doesn’t hurt Blizzard as much financially as you might think, as they received little revenue from the Chinese players, who pay as little as 6 cents an hour to play.

But how does this get Blizzard down to 5 million subscribers?

Well, that number is admittedly an estimate, especially since Blizzard doesn’t release subscriber numbers by country…anymore. This number was arrived at by using the percentages from the last press release they revealed these numbers in, which as I recall was just after the release of The Burning Crusade expansion. However, it stands to reason that the country to country proportions wouldn’t shift that far from what they were then. After all, it’s not like WoW wasn’t already an established presence at that time. As Tobold himself explains in the comments of the post,

The source is the last Blizzard press release which still announced user numbers by continent. Unfortunately they stopped doing that a while ago, and we can only assume there have been no major shifts since then.

Blizzard has to be concerned about this. After all, their ‘11 million subscriber’ claim is without a doubt the 800 lb gorilla in the MMORPG room. If this outage continues, they will undoubtedly see players trickle away to other MMOs that are up and running. As we all know, once a player is gone and established elsewhere, it becomes difficult to lure them back.

Many of the affected players have moved to Taiwanese servers, especially those who raid regularly. As for the others, even if Blizzard were to lose every single subscriber, they’d still be somewhere between five and seven million (estimated) active subscribers. That’s still a massive base of playing customers, and it’s still the bulk of their income base, which makes me wonder: Why haven’t we heard about this from Blizzard already? I’d expect them to come out and try to get the court of public opinion on their side (not that it would make much difference to the Chinese government). Still, why haven’t they?

My questions: When will hear the details of this from Blizzard, and how long do you think those servers can remain down before they reach a point where they will not recover the majority of those players? Even more intriguing: Does this whole snafu have anything to do with Electronic Arts’ purchase of The9 in 2007?

Regardless of what we may think, Activision isn’t content to sit back and count all the money they’ve made from Guitar Hero so far. No, they’re going to release yet another iteration of the title.

Guitar Hero 5 will add some new functionality to the title, and strangely enough, it’s actually functionality that makes it a better party game than before. Chief among these new additions is the ‘Pick up and Play’ mode. This will allow anyone to grab an instrument, jump in, play for a few minutes, and drop out without failing or causing the rest of the band to fail. It’s perfect for those unscheduled bathroom breaks in the middle of a song.

They’re also including a RockFest mode to let you face off against four players locally, or up to eight online. Heck, you can even throw down with four guitars at once if you so desire. But the question remains: Do we really need another full game for this? Wouldn’t these features be awesome DLC for the folks who spent nearly $200 on Guitar Hero: World Tour? You could probably even convince those folks to pay for them!

Ah well, maybe I’m just a spoilsport. After all, at least they’re including 83 songs in this version, and all the World Tour DLC will carry over as well. Maybe I’m just sick of having all these plastic instruments clogging up my living room.

At any rate, there’s a brand new trailer showing off these new features. You can grab it over at FileFront, or catch the embedded stream after the break.

Gaming is a great hobby, one I’ve spent most of my life enjoying as a whole while moving from system to system, player group to player group but in reflection I find that I can illustrate my past with RPGs in one basic role – Storyteller.

I’m one of the lucky few out there who seems always consigned to the role of preacher, and never groom or groomsman. What do I mean by this? Well its simple. In over 20 years of playing pen-and-paper RPGs I have almost always been the DM. Sure I’ve gotten to play in more than a few campaigns over the years, but by and large if someone gets excited about a new setting or rule system and wants to have adventures in it (including myself I might add) for whatever reason I end up the one tasked with learning the rules, building the world and running the adventure.

I guess it’s rewarding to be in this position of trust and pseudo-respect. (pseudo because players tend to only respect you insomuch as it benefits them over the long term – which is painful to admit but true). I’ve been at it long enough that regardless of the actual system I find it easy to weave together a story. I also  learned long ago that too much preparation is not only unnecessary to the fun, but can be detrimental to your mental health as a storyteller.

This month, Wizard’s of the Coast is really pushing the concept of Dungeon Master Appreciation month. A concept introduced within the monthly column by staffer/blogger/sorcerer Shelly Mazzanoble, the self-appointed D&D Player-in-Chief. Shelly’s column in last month’s Dragon Magazine discussed her realization that the DM in her colorfully discussed tales often goes unappreciated by his players, and from time to time it’s a good idea to thank the person facilitating the game you enjoy playing.

I see any role playing game as a collaborative effort. While I may frame and adjudicate story and rule points, I try and make sure my players are the real decision makers and storytellers in my weekly games. That said, sometimes being the DM gets tiring too. Being the one expected to judge and respond to the actions of the players, to play the roles of the various denizens of the fictional worlds not controlled by the players directly, and to help ensure that the needs of your friends are met during the campaign or session is a big responsibility for those of us who cherish it.

Players who really enjoy the game can easily forget that there is an element of work, logistics and planning to running a game and assuming the role of storyteller, and while the DM is a player, like the others, the nature of the role makes it a schizophrenic experience to say the least.

My suggestion is to keep this in mind as you play. Not everyone is a great storyteller or would want to assume the role of DM. Many players recognize their limits and also that they are not interested in the project management aspects that running a collaborative RPG require. The DM usually started out as a player in some game before they stepped up or were in some cases thrust into the role.

Let the DM play from time to time and you’ll find most of us are happier and better DMs.

Aside from giving your DM a break, consider how often you reward them for their good work. DM is by no means a thankless job. Most of us do it to gain the reward of being a part of a memorable campaign or to weave an interesting tale with our gaming buddies. Work with your fellow players to share your enjoyment of specific actions, remind the DM of a choice or twist or story detail that really grabbed or excited you. Tell them you enjoy their work.

Wizard’s of the Coast’s “DM Appreciation Month” activities center around using their excellent Twitter and Facebook team. @emilrodriguez and @betterwithmayo will be Tweeting using some new tags to draw attention to DM related celebrations. These tags include: #dnddm #worldbuilderdm #storytellerdm #actionmoviedm so do a search and keep out an eye for announcements alongside the normal #dnd tag.

I had planned to discuss the newly revealed Psion class for D&D 4.0 this week but at the risk of diluting the DM love I’ll leave you with a challenge dear readers.

Thank your DM, no matter what game you play in, no matter how long they toil and try to make the game fun. Then, if you have the inclination or interest – give them some time off. Pick up the cowl of Dungeon Master and try to tell the next story yourself. You might see your weekly or monthly game sessions just a bit differently from the other side of the dungeon.

I recently had the pleasure of going on an expedition to Shavarath lead by Kate Paiz, Senior Producer of Dungeons & Dragons Online. As we fought our way across the blasted battlegrounds, she revealed a wealth of information about the future of DDO: Ebberon Unleashed. Prepare for a divination on the Ebberon setting, the DDO store, the free-to-play model and why keeping your subscription and becoming a VIP member is an awesome deal.

The Infernal forces have breached the borders of the planes. The destruction has even struck at the heart of Stormreach itself. Soon stalwart heroes will step up to strike back, taking the fight to these devils, tieflings and other dread minions. From the rise where you teleport in, you can see the Infernal abode of the devils, as well as the Abyssal lair of the demons and the Celestial fortress of the archons giving you a glimpse into future content releases. You will not fight alone in this desolate place. A warforged titan stands ready to battle beside you. This immense construct is awe inspiring in itself. You’ll be grateful its your ally.

The design of Shavarath is a tribute too just how good graphics and effects can be done not only in DirectX 10, but in DirectX 9 as well. The menu options allow you to choose how you view your world and the effects and animations. As you prepare for battle remember to select your favorite key mapping option from the menu. You can choose between the classic DDO setup, the more common MMO key mapping or a setting geared towards FPS fans.

The Shavarath raid is just one of several new adventure modules for DDO Ebberon Unlimited. Players will also battle in Gianthold and Sorrowdusk. The Drow Crime wave premium adventure is also on the horizon for excitement and intrigue that doesn’t require as great an investment of time. There are two new adventures set in the Cerulean Hills as well for everyone to enjoy. One of the features of DDO that makes it ideal for a free-to-play model is that when you don’t have the time to log in for hours to complete a module, you can find quick adventures close at hand to play on a 15 minute break.

The new challenge scaling system tailors adventures to each player or party based on what types of characters and how many party members are adventuring together. The initial assessment is made when instance starts, but will change on the fly as hirelings are brought in or players have to drop out. This should really take the pressure off players who find it hard to schedule in their fun. Life happens and DDO is prepared to roll with it.

As in the pen and paper DnD, your characters progress slowly through levels. However you earn action points along the way that allow you to upgrade your characters abilities as you progress. This also gives you the chance to tailor your character to your personal gameplay style. You could have 3 clerics in your party that are very different in how they play.

The DDO store allows players to purchase premium items, modules and other fun stuff like. There are several handy features you should check out. Everyone should take a look at the list of popular items to see what other players have found useful. The store has a cart to help you work within your budget and prioritize purchases. You can add items that you shop for regularly like healing potions, buffs and hireling contracts to your Favorites list for easy grab and go. You can’t sell, trade or auction DDO store premium items. However DDO points are shared across servers. You can use them to purchase a shared bank tab, at the bank or in the DDO store, which will allow all characters on a server to use your premium content.

You can purchase Turbine points to spend at the DDO shop, but you’ll also earn them as Favor Awards as you play. Each of your characters will be awarded these at certain milestones. This allows those who have the time to invest, but not money to farm points for premium items. The popular Drow race and the Favored Soul, a clerical version of the sorcerer, are unlockable as well as available for purchase.

Players whose time is more valuable than their money can purchase experience buffs and other convenience items like magic armor and weapons with up to a +2 bonus. However, you’ll find that the best items are still the ones given as quest rewards, found as drops or in chests. Of course if you’re deep in the heart of a dungeon and a rust monster just ate your favorite flail or you’ve run out of spell components, you can hit the store and make a purchase right then and there and have it waiting for you in your inventory without having to leave the instance.

DDO Ebberon Unlimited may be free-to-play, but Turbine is making current subscribers quite a deal. These players will transition to VIP accounts. Those fortunate few will receive a generous monthly stipend of Turbine points to spend at the DDO shop. They’ll automatically have access to premium modules and content such as the monk and warforged classes as well as a gratis shared bank. VIP players embark on adventures in Ebberon with a 2 day head start beginning August 4th. The Bazaar tent will be raised once more as DDO: Ebberon Unlimited goes free-to-play for everyone August 6th. I recommend you check it out. After all the price is right.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but the announcement that LucasArts was reviving some of their back catalog got me excited. After all, who didn’t love games like Star Wars Republic Commando and Battlefront II? In addition, there’s Tales of Monkey Island as a brand new title from Telltale Games.

If reading Eva’s impressions of Monkey Island got your interest up, I’ve got some good news for you.

FileFront now has the playable demo of Guybrush Threepwood’s triumphant return for you to download and try out. Simply click this link to head over and download the demo from FileFront’s fast, free servers.

I fully expect you all to come back here and tell us what you think of the demo. After all, that’s why we have the comments section.

Telltale is bringing a new generation of gamers fresh Tales of Monkey Island. The new episodic adventure games plays like Sam & Max or Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. That is to say it plays like the original classic point-and-click adventure game, the Secret of Monkey Island. For the maiden voyage of Tales of Monkey Island, Telltale presents the first of five monthly episodes, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal available today for the PC or as WiiWare..

I’m a veteran of the Monkey Island series. Although I’m really looking forward to the re-imagined Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition coming out later this summer, I was very excited about new stories featuring Guybrush Threepwood, and those mysterious monkeys. I can honestly tell you that Telltale has done an excellent job retaining the bumbling, yet witty and sarcastic Guybrush Threepwood and the ensemble of characters that keep this setting fresh almost 20 years after the first game launched.

The Monkey Island series is steeped in pirates, voodoo, mystical monkeys, insult sword fighting, jaunty Caribbean reggae and grog; lots of grog. The secret of Monkey Island’s popularity, as if you couldn’t tell by the title, is the wry sense of humor that runs rampant through the series. Launch of the Screaming Narwhal has a good mix of in jokes and running gags from previous games while subjecting a new generation of players to fresh forms of pop culture punishment. Telltale also makes use of describing a scene to you and letting your imagination run wild rather than showing you.

Launch of the Screaming Narwhal plunges you right into the thick of things as Guybrush. As you struggle on the high seas to save your lovely wife Elaine from the clutches of the dead pirate LeChuck, things go suddenly wrong and you’re forced to improvise. After disaster ala Army of Darkness strikes, your epic adventure begins with a whole new set of challenges. You’ll face the daunting task of halting the spread of a malignant evil, saving Elaine and defeating LeChuck, but first you have to find a way to get off Flotsam Island.

Your first challenge comes in getting the cooperation of a journalist for the island’s shady newspaper. You’ll have to drum up some excitement before he’ll give you his secret source. Gameplay moves forward as you keep a sharp eye out for objects to pick up or interact with. Guybrush will talk you through everything, giving you hints on whether you’re close to solving the puzzle or way off base. He also guides your hand as you solve puzzles by combining objects in your inventory and use them with others you find around you.

The local color marooned on Flotsam with you will patiently deal out advice for a small fee. You’ll have a list of snarky comments and questions to choose from although Guybrush tends to deliver your lines more diplomatically. At other times you’ll have to follow maps through Flotsam’s jungle that seem to make no obvious sense. This is where creative thinking and turning up environmental sounds come in. Fortunately, if you falter you can start over again, and again if necessary. It’s very easy to start back at the beginning and once you’ve discovered any important landmark or destination, it will appear on your map as a fast travel option.

Just a word of warning. The Tales of Monkey Island series will teach you about persistence and kleptomania. You will swipe everything that isn’t nailed down to be neatly deposited in the portable hole in your pocket. You’ll rarely find anything that you won’t need at some point. You should also make sure to back track when you’re stumped. Often you’ll find that things you’ve already done will turn out differently after you’ve changed something else in the game. People you’ve already interrogated will have new information for you too.

Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is definitely a game I can recommend for purchase. It’s entertaining for both kids and adults with creativity, imagination and a sense of humor. I declare it mother tested and kid approved.  Experience it for yourself by taking on the Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Playable Demo. You can order the full Tales of Monkey Island series from the Telltale website. This week they’re sweetening the deal by throwing in an episode from one of their other games. Now I have to go pick that deal up before my kids force me to walk the plank.

Magic is like paper crack to me. I find it consumes my life when I’m playing it. It becomes my goal in life, I will forsake food, personal hygiene and even intimate relations when I’m on a bender. It’s a sad part of my life but I thought it was behind me.

Struggling through Magic addiction is a daily challenge. I fight to avoid the Magic cards at the grocery, I refused the free Magic tournaments at the local game store. I’d been clean for almost a year when it happened.

I’m ashamed to admit my weakness but here, amongst a gathering of others with my problem I feel relieved to admit it. I had a moment of weakness and I slipped up. It wasn’t with that shiny foil packaging, I wasn’t huddled in the alley behind the game store.. no, I gave in to Magic last in my home and there was no physical evidence left afterward, just a note on my bank account for the purchase of 2500 Microsoft points. ( I only needed 800, but I wanted some extras on hand to buy cards later)

There is something so insidious about the digital version. It’s too perfect a translation in fact. While currently I can’t sidle up to the counter and pay for my next fix of booster packs and I don’t have access to the thousands of cards in my physical library I have little doubt the masterminds behind my addiction already have the plan for my digital downfall in the works.

What the online version of the game does do is simulate the game table well. The selection of cards is limited to the current core set and the ability to customize and modify the included pre-built decks lacks a bit of flexibility but overall this is the first time a digital version of Magic has come so close to stealing my soul. There have been a few other digital choices over the years, and Magic is no stranger to the online play space but unlike the old PC game, the horrible non-Magic Battlefront game and the long running Magic Online, the Xbox version is just insidious because its invaded my gaming life.

The once safe retreat of my recovery has become unsafe. Playing against others is as simple as firing up the 360 and hopping into a ranked match against people who are obviously just as addicted as I am. I’ve found the computer opponents pale in comparison to the challenge of playing my fellow addicts (except Ron), which in turn fuels the addiction. I feel the burn. I want to win.

The current selection of cards makes the game feel like its far more about the strategy and the deck build than it is about the cards you own – a problem that often plagues the physical games I’ve played. This is also a problem as it pulls on my addiction to new cards, new strategies and new options. I can feel my craving to buy more virtual cards, to build my library beyond the basics offered in the game currently.

Maybe Magic on the 360 is a safe alternative to going completely off the wagon. So far I’ve managed not to run to the store and buy a case of the latest release, Alara Reborn but I had to be emotionally honest and share with you all that I’d fallen. I’ve failed to resist and I wanted to warn you that the temptation to succumb is strong even with the seemingly safe Xbox 360 version.

I have failed to resist it, and I have to admit that some part of me wants all of you to fail as well. If you’re strong enough to resist its pull then I admire you. If, like me, you’re only human and give in, well… I guess I’ll see you online. I’m afraid this is my last visit to Magic Anonymous. I think I can manage the addiction now, thanks for all your help and support over the years.

According to an article at InformationWeek, “the Chinese government has declared that virtual currency cannot be traded for real goods or services.”

Obviously, this was enormous news. Since it’s been estimated that 80-85% of the world’s gold farmers are located in China, this would have likely meant a huge drop in the amount of available virtual currency.

Unfortunately, there’s news today that the law being referenced actually does not reference gold farmers at all.

This morning I read that this ruling doesn’t apply to gold farmers at all. Over at ICTs for Development, Richard Heeks had the following to say,

This is a government restriction on the use of the quasi-Paypal-like currencies (mainly QQ coins) that are used extensively in China to pay for virtual game stuff. As announced they can now only be used to pay for virtual stuff, and you can’t buy real things with them as game companies were allowing to happen, nor can you gamble. This therefore is not about what gold farming clients do: use real money to buy these virtual currencies; it’s the mirror image. And it’s not about the major trade in gold farming such as World of Warcraft, which relates to other types of virtual currency. And it’s not about buying/selling in-game items. And it’s not about the power-levelling of avatars. Bottom line: it’s not about gold farming.

Thus it appears that all the furor and uproar over the last 24 hours was in vain. Apparently the Chinese government had no intention of stopping gold farming, which should come as no surprise. After all, it’s an industry that employs a lot of people and brings a lot of money into the country.

All this did get me thinking…who actually buys gold anymore? I mean with the current gold distribution in World of Warcraft rivaling our national debt, is there really a need for it anymore? Obviously some people think so, since the gold farmers are still in business. Personally, I’ve never understood the reasoning behind paying real money for pretend money.

Sure, you can argue that it’s just an extension of the concept of paying a monthly fee to play a game, but that a fallacious argument. After all, when you buy gold, you’re paying so you don’t have to play, and that whole concept just seems ridiculous to me.

Have you ever bought gold? Do you think it’s a defensible thing to do, or do you despise those who do it?

Well, that may be changing in the near future. According to Siliconera, Sony has secured a U.S. Patent for the technology that will apparently allow the Cell Processor in the PS3 to emulate the Emotion Engine of the PS2.

Couple this with the rumors of a price cut and the release of the PS3 Slim this fall, and you start to think that Sony may have a fundamental strategy shift under way.

After all, allowing the PS3’s Cell processor to emulate the Emotion Engine would allow Sony to sell PS2 titles via digital distribution on the PlayStation Store. Not only that, but couple that with the 160GB PS3 becoming the lead SKU, and you see a lot of storage that can be used for downloadable games.

This seems to be the business model Sony is trending towards, as evidenced by the UMD-less PSP Go. Tie in the price cut (rumored to be as much as $100), and you have a massive library of available games for a system that would be sneaking in under $300.

Now, all of this is speculation, of course. I just can’t seem to come up with any other reason for the patent to be filed other than backwards compatibility for the PS3. Here’s hoping that we see a fall firmware update that gives everyone the ability to play their PS2 games in their PS3.

Now if I could just get my PS3 to print out hundreds like the one in the image above…I doubt that’s coming in firmware anytime soon.

Of course you have, I think it might be one of the few constants of the gamer experience – disappointment when a game fails to live up to its potential and promise. Well, Prototype is one of those experiences for me.

It has all the ingredients of a smashing good time – a super powered hero, a sandbox city, even a conspiracy relating to the military industrial complex manipulating people for their own nefarious ends only to have it go wrong somehow.

Well, despite the mix of interesting pieces, the sum of Prototype just ends up coming out as a fairly bland experience. Maybe my expectation was improperly set by the history of the developer. These same talented folks turned out one of the best super hero games ever developed – Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction. That title featured a super powered hero running around in a sandbox New York city setting solving missions and running side missions just like Prototype but somehow the fun factor seemed to be higher in that title.

Prototype is the story of Alex Mercer, a military man whose dealing with a nefarious genetics corporation leave him altered and amnesiac in  New York City. A city which is about to come under siege by a sentient virus and its offspring. Players start the game in full possession of Alex’s unique super powers under full assault in Times Square by a military task force. This method of dropping the players immediately into the action – a cinema term called in media res – might work normally in a game played in flashback but something about the technique feels jarring. The juxtaposition  is odd primarily because the “present time” sections of the game often feature a much more powered up version of Alex and then the next flashback segment removes all those neat abilities from you leaving you as weak as a super powered cannibalistic kitten.

The time jumping aside,  Prototype relies a bit too heavily upon the most popular of gaming cliche – a hero with amnesia. Now that said, the amnesia in this case makes some story sense. Players discover that Alex is effectively dead before he wakes up leaving him running around seeking to discover how he returned from the dead. Alex uncovers that his condition is directly related to exposure to the same virulent contagion that will soon be destroying New York City.

Along with discovering his new powers, Alex seems driven by a need to revenge himself upon those who left him this way and his super senses enable him to detect folks involved in the process merely by coming into proximity of them. Conveniently, a DNA helix symbol appears above those citizens who store a clue to Alex’s condition and he can use his powers to extract this information forcibly.

Extracting information here presents another issue – for a game where I imagine the creators intended the players to identify with Alex and want to help unlock his mysterious origins, I think they forgot a key piece of information: You have to make the character likable. Alex comes off in the game’s story scenes as a reasonably nice guy but exhibits absolutely no problems using the random bystander of New York City as popcorn to fuel his powers.

I can somewhat understand if he executed his revenge only on those who wronged him but come on! What did that tank commander ever do to Alex except get stationed in New York during this crisis? I mean he probably has a family and fiends who will miss him since Alex just eats anyone who has a skill he needs or frankly will get in his way. This sort of lack of moral impact left me feeling less than sympathetic to Alex’s plight and I wonder if it wasn’t just a shortcut to play up the coolness of a guy who absorbs foes like John Carpenter’s The Thing without doing the work of injecting any repercussions to that choice.

Couldn’t Alex just simply incapacitate someone, snake his fleshy tendrils into their brains and take what he needed without completely consuming them, leaving the full on absorption/consumption for his revenge motivated justice against the real bad people? Or is that just not “awesomer” enough to make an impact on today’s gamer?

Story considerations aside, Prototype is a fun sandbox super hero title. The powers Alex gains through the title do evoke a sense of strength and speed. Alex  reminds me far more of Carnage, one of Spider-man’s more dastardly symbiont foes, than he does Superman or the Hulk. His gory flesh spikes and tendrils as well as ability to create blades from his flesh also mirror the Marvel villain. Alex gains experience in the game by completing missions and can power up his abilities in increments, adding new power stunts and developing some completely off the wall abilities like his gliding power which is apparently powered by spraying his blood from his hands and feet. The concept itself of using blood spray as propulsion is laughable, but the effect comes off as cool on screen.

The key to any open world game is how the environment augments the character’s powers. In Crackdown, inFAMOUS or any of the better Spider-man games (i.e. not Web of Shadows) the city always seemed to complement the player with tall buildings and elevated rail. Prototype has some element of this but the setting feels a bit more bland than expected. There is not as much variety in the game’s setting and sometimes that made it difficult to immediately grasp my location on the mini-map without resorting to using the games full map which broke my immersion completely. The best open world design features distinct visual landmarks and clues to help the player navigate the playground, Prototype has a few of these but most of the landscape just doesn’t cut it.

You might likely think I was not a fan of Prototype. While its not going to remain on my must play list too long, I have to say I did have fun playing Alex Mercer in short bursts but it just didn’t grab me. The fighting can be frenetic at times, which is good. The story misses a few beats overall but is well scripted and its nice to have the choice on how to power Alex up.

Ultimately, Prototype suffers somewhat in comaprrison to the recently released inFAMOUS in that the games both feature similar protagonists, settings and core concepts. Both titles offer open world super hero fun but one thing missing from here, which makes inFAMOUS that much more fun, is the moral path in the story. Cole McGrath, the character in Sony’s game, is presented with a decision to be a hero or the ultimate destroyer. Alex however mopes a bit about how bad things are but ultimately still eats the granny walking down the street if he’s low on health and doesn’t bat a tendril over it. One advantage Prototype has however is its platform independent nature, meaning for 360 or PC owners who can’t choose inFAMOUS over Prototype the game really will provide some good open world fun, but for those with a ability to choose between the two titles I feel Sucker Punch got it more right.

Mac users can download The Battle for Westnoth and Warzone 2100 for Mac OS X. Linux fans haven’t been left out of the line up. You can snag the Alien Arena 2009 Linux demo.

Links and details on all demos follow the jump.

Alien Arena 2009 Playable Linux Demo and Alien Arena 2009 Playable Windows Demo – This demo lets you try out Alien Arena 2009’s fast paced, arena first-person shooter action running on the CRX engine. Alien Arena 2009 boasts of  a large community which keeps maps, models and accessories coming. The game offers Team Core Assault, a mode in which players must work together to disable their enemy team’s central metal spider, as well as the Team Deathmatch, Cattle Prod, Capture the Flag, Deathball, and All Out Assault mode or duel 1 on 1.

ArmA 2 Playable Demo – Welcome to Bootcamp. This demo shows off ArmA 2, a large-scale game world with authentic and detailed modern units, weapons, vehicles and environments. You’ll receive training on the basics, parachuting, and team skills as well as getting a crash course in piloting a helicopter. Just a note here, the demo does require the latest DirectX 9 Redistributable so if you’ve been lax about updating your system, get moving soldier!

The Battle for Wesnoth v1.6.3 MacOSX and The Battle for Wesnoth v1.6.3 Windows – The Battle for Wesnoth is a free, turn-based tactical strategy game with a high fantasy theme. Build up a great army, gradually turning raw recruits into hardened veterans to fight a desperate battle to reclaim the throne of Wesnoth. The full game supports single-player, and online/hotseat multiplayer combat.

Crazy Cooking Playable Demo – Crazy Cooking is a cookery simulation game. It contains 40 various tasks split into 4 levels – start out as a dishwasher, and work your way up to be the head chef! Crazy Cooking includes almost thirty authentic recipes you can try at home.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – This free Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Playable Demo will give you a taste of potion making, dueling and playing as the Captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team.

Hell Throne Lepteria Playable Demo – Hell Throne, the upcoming action-slasher-RPG from Hell Entertainment.The screens definitely scream Daggerfall to me. To run the demo you’ll need Physx Drivers and .NET 2.02 running.

Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships Demo – It’s up to you, as Nancy Drew, to discover the treasures of the sunken “Seven Virtues” fleet and find the missing artifact that the kidnappers are demanding in exchange for Bess. Work with George to hand over the ransom.

New Soccer Star 4 Demo – Start as a young footballer on a premier team or in the lower leagues. You’ll need to prove yourself on the pitch and off it, build your skills in training then show the boss what you can do on match day.

P.U.R.E. Playable Demo v. 1.2 – P.U.R.E. is a real time strategy game set in a world where Humanity is fighting the Overmind to reclaim their devastated civilization.

Trine Playable Demo – This demo lets you try out Trine’s up to 3 player cooperative play, featuring physics based puzzles and dangerous enemies. The wizard, warrior and thief must each use their unique skills to conquer these obstacles.

Warzone 2100 Mac OS X Universal Binary (no videos) – Command the forces of “The Project” in a battle to rebuild the world after mankind has almost been destroyed by nuclear missiles. This real-time strategy offers campaign, multi-player and single-player skirmish modes. An extensive tech tree with over 400 different technologies, combined with the unit design system, allows for a wide variety of possible units and tactics.

WW2Total-v115b30.zip – WW2 Total is a unique combination of grand strategy and shooter war game. The game is playable in the single player mode against a learning AI (Neural network) as well as in multiplayer mode over LAN or Internet. Up to eight players can control the armed forces of the axis and allies.

Sims 3 breaks the sims out of the confines of their beautifully constructed prisons and allows them to freely roam the world around them. You can follow your sim to work at the theater or the military base or watch as they jog, bike, or drive to the beach for a sunny afternoon. You can walk around town collecting little treasures like unpolished gems and mystery seeds or go introduce yourself to your neighbors. Just walk up and ring the bell.

The tediousness of taking your sims to the bathroom and feeding them has been greatly reduced. There are even lifetime happiness rewards to practically eliminate the need all together. As long as you give them some free will, your sims can pretty much take care of the mechanics themselves leaving you to direct them in duties and opportunities above and beyond the daily routine. Visit the Cemetery and science lab to catch exotic fish and insects and find other cool easter eggs.

Fishing and gardening go well together and both are great ways to get special items like the death flower that can prolong an elder’s life. You plant produce from the store or the seeds you find around town and fertilize with the fish you catch using some of your produce as bait. You’ll also find much more to do with computer now, especially if your sim has the Genius or Computer Whiz trait.

Pregnancy and child rearing is a bit more challenging. You have to work at keeping your mother healthy and well informed during pregnancy by reading baby books or going to the hospital for prenatal advice. you can choose a home birth or go to the hospital to deliver. After the babies are born you must teach them the skills they need and maintain their motives throughout childhood to be able to choose their traits. Fortunately, you can age them up faster by having them blow out the candles on the birthday cake early which is great to get them from infant to toddler. The only sims you can’t age up this way are pregnant mothers who stop aging until they give birth.

The sims communities you build can actually be dynamic on the highest free will settings with aging and storytelling options on. You can choose between several life spans for your sims. If you’re into slowly developing the community you can set the maximum life span for up to 960 sim days or you can go through generations with sims aging from birth to death in a mere 25 days. As you play one family they interact with all the others in town who live, love, reproduce, and age right along side your focus family. This can be a double edged sword. Switching between families may be disconcerting. Your toddler is now a teen and Grandma is taking a dirt nap. In your absence, the parents have neglected the kids who consequently picked up undesirable traits like “kleptomaniac” or “insane”.

You can turn off aging and free will all together and toggle story progression which determines whether non controlled families keep developing and working towards their goals in the background. There is no way to turn off aging or story progression for individual families. It’s all or none of them. Fortunately your custom families are all stored safely in a library. You move a copy into play so if you’re really attached to any of them, you can always start over fresh.

Somehow the game feels incomplete at this point. Although this is the base game with none of the plethora of expansions for Sims 2, there’s a feeling of detachment soon after your sims leave their local neighborhood and head for town. You can visit any outside location including the pool, park or beach. You can go inside the the gym, the art museum and the library. Although you can buy a partnership and gain control of other businesses in town, you can’t actually enter any of the businesses, eateries or the school. You’re left standing outside while your sims buy groceries and books. Feel free to take a stroll through the graveyard, but you can’t tour the mausoleum or explore the catacombs with your Sims. Taking a tour, going to the cinema, and completing opportunities take a couple hours of game time for you to wait out. It also very irritating that if you send your sims to the hospital to have a baby, you wait outside as well.

People who were looking forward to seeing special cut scenes as rewards for reaching milestones in sims’ lives will be disappointed as well. This part of the previous games is completely missing. I’m sure there are others that will be relieved these pop up events will no longer interrupt gameplay.

There’s a lot to appreciate about the Sims 3. It’s truly an evolution of the game, adding new layers of gameplay and smoothing out many of the frustrations of the previous series. Sims fans will enjoy this game overall if they can keep remembering that options they had with later expansion packs for previous games will eventually be theirs. If you have trouble keeping this front and center in your mind, it’s going to be a long wait.

Return to Mysterious Island 2 puts a modern day spin on Jules Verne’s classic novel “Mysterious Island.”  Following in the footsteps of Captain Memo you’ll switch between Mina and her monkey pal Jep as you race to save all life on the island from an ecological threat. Catch the adventure in the Return to Mysterious Island 2 Playable Demo.

In case you missed the goods on the Anno 1404 Dawn of Discovery Playable Demo earlier this week, this gorgeous real time strategy demo is available tailored for the US and the UK as well as in German, and French.

The last demo patch for the All Aspect Warfare is is ready to go. Duck and cover your team of Marines as you head through hostile territory to find a way off a hostile planet before you’re nuked out of existence… by your own hidden bomb. Get you psyched for the real deal playing the All Aspect Warfare Demo v. 1.18.23.

Superstars V8 Racing drives gamers into the high powered world of Italian Championship racing. Get your hands on the wheels of some of the world’s most prestigious V8s to test the game’s specialized engine features. Superstars V8 Racing PC Demo models include BMW, Audi and Jaguar.

Circuit Defenders is a Tower defense game where you play security. Defend your circuits from viruses infiltrating via the BlueTooth port. You can also build and share your own levels for play. Pick up the Circuit Defenders Playable Demo v. 2.1.2 (Windows) courtesy of File Front.

DDO is an MMO that players can get into quickly and play for hours if they have the time, but unlike Turbine’s other licensed MMO, Lord of the Rings Online, it can be enjoyed in smaller more digestible bites as well. If players only have ten or fifteen minutes, they can log on DDO and still have a good time.

Turbine is working diligently to get the new free content for DDO: Eberron Unleashed out complete with several new features which should get players into the game faster than ever before. Adam mentioned that one day you should be able to create a new character and be adventuring in two minutes. The new DDO download manager will stream content for installation and updating while you’re playing. For any of you who haven’t ever checked out the Eberron setting or want to know what’s new, take a look at the latest Analog Gamer: Robots and Airships for details on the D&D 4.0 update.

The DDO store is opening soon assuring that gamers will have their pick of any must have items. Careful consideration has gone into the offerings as far as balance. Turbine wants to make sure that the biggest wallet doesn’t equal win. You’ll be able to earn points while you play the game or purchase them.

More details on the DDO store follow the break.

DDO is a licensed game based on the Dungeons & Dragon pen and paper RPG. The store will offer additional adventures for you and your companions just as TSR and Wizards of the Coast have offered adventure modules like “Temple of Elemental Evil”, “Queen of the Demon Web Pits” and “Against the Giants” over the years.

You also be able to buy prestigious classes and races like the Monk, Drow and Warforged.

There seem to be a few character customization items as well. It look like the DDO Store links nicely with the traditional D&D RPG. Our parties are always shopping for new gear. Expect to see more details coming out for DDO: Eberron Unlimited by the end of the month

According to MCV, Kotick said in an interview,

“I’m getting concerned about Sony – the PS3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don’t make it easy for me to support the platform. It’s expensive to develop for the console, and the Wii and the Xbox are just selling better. Games generate a better return on invested capital on the Xbox than on the PlayStation.

They have to cut the price, because if they don’t, the attach rates are likely to slow. If we are being realistic, we might have to stop supporting Sony. When we look at 2010 and 2011, we might want to consider if we support the console — and the PSP too.”

That’s a big shot fired across Sony’s bow. So, will Sony take him seriously, and how will they respond?

According to Industry Gamers, Sony has already responded to Kotick’s statement (sort of) with the usual PR blurb, saying,

“PlayStation has tremendous momentum coming out of E3, and we are seeing positive growth with more than 350 titles slated to hit across all our platforms, including many anticipated games from our publishing partners. We enjoy healthy business relationships with and greatly value our publishing partners and are working closely with them to deliver the best entertainment experience.”

So what does all this mean? Basically, it means nothing. Activision is flexing their considerable muscle at Sony; probably in the hopes of getting a cut in their licensing fees, or a cut in the cost of the PS3 to increase sales of their games. Sony’s responding by touting how amazing their platform is, and saying nothing to respond to Kotick’s actual concerns.

This sort of thing isn’t all that unusual in the world of business. Besides, there are rumors flying of a $100 PS3 price cut to coincide with the release of Madden 10 in August, so Sony is likely to just ignore this and move forward as planned.

It’s unlikely that Activision will take any further steps unless the PlayStation situation worsens. After all, Call of Duty 4 alone sold 4.34 million copies on PS3, and PS3 is a leading seller in much of the world. Dropping support for the PS3 would be like cutting off their nose to spite their face.

So, taking all this into account, it all boils down to a bunch of corporate dick waving. Not all that original after all, is it?

Remember the good old days, when you’d sit around playing SimCity? You’d build a massive, bustling city, and then you’d unleash a massive disaster, just for the joy of watching the mayhem.

Just imagine if you could get that same thrill now, but do it online with your friends. Well, now you can. FileFront has 500 beta keys to give away for CitiesXL, a new online city-building game from Monte Cristo.

CitiesXL lets you build a city, power up its economy, trade with your friends’ cities, and connect your cities into a sprawling metropolis. Slated for release December 31, 2009, CitiesXL will take place in a persistent online world that puts players in charge of their citizens’ happiness.

If you think this might be right up your alley, you can now grab your beta key by visiting the download page on FileFront. Be sure to make note of your beta key (it’ll be displayed in red at the top of the download page) before you start your download.

There are only 500 keys available, so make sure you get yours early so you don’t miss out.