The Defiant Map Pack is the very first offering from 343 Industries, the new caretakers of the Halo Franchise. Bungie produced the previous map pack, but its unknown if they have any more due later or if 343 will take over producing maps and the Matchmaking offering in the future.

What is known is this set will offer two competitive multiplayer maps and one Firefight arena. Condemned takes place on a UNSC space station above Reach and is built for slayer and objective games in that 6-12 player range. Highlands is a big team battle map on a nature preserve with vehicles available. Finally, Unearthed is a large Firefight map with multiple drop zones and a Rocket Hog good for all variants. As the multiplayer spaces always fit in somewhere within the Halo fiction, all three maps take place after the events of the Lone Wolf campaign mission, with the Covenant forces completely overrunning the planet in the background.

If you look closely in the trailer, you’ll spot bs angel, a former Halo blogger who joined 343 last year.

Source: HaloWaypoint

Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

Grand Theft Auto is a 1977 film that marked former child actor Ron Howard’s debut as a director. Howard stepped in the role of a young man who runs away with his girlfriend when her rich and overprotective father tries to hook her up with a rich young socialite. The Grand Theft Auto part of the film comes into play when the girlfriend steals her father’s Rolls-Royce, as the two have their sights set on a Vegas wedding. The socialite puts a bounty on his head, and hi-jinks ensue.

Grand Theft Auto is no laughing matter however. In 2005 alone, there were approximately 1.2 million reported cases of motor vehicle theft, costing an estimated $7.6 billion in property losses. As you can see, it is a very serious crime in any state, along with most of the civilized world. Offenders can expected to spend up to 15 years or more in prison, depending on the severity of the crime.

The GTA I’m referring to is neither a Ron Howard flick or the real life crime. It is a game franchise created by DMA Designs under the direction of Lemmings creator David Jones. The games cast players in the shoes of criminals, and as the title suggests, they must commit Grand Theft Auto (along with other crimes) to get ahead. The series has spanned 10 separate installments and 4 expansion packs. Its formula of open-world gaming and criminal mayhem has earned the franchise a special place on the shelves of many a gamer. Yet, GTA remains one of the most controversial franchises in gaming, and not just for its adult content.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

High Moon, the studio responsible for last year’s excellent War For Cybertron, is shifting to the movie universe. Transformers Dark Of The Moon’s game will be a precursor to the movie’s events. Which is nice considering these games always come out 2 weeks before the movie and the last thing you want to do is spoil whatever story is there with a 2 minute cinematic and bad voice acting.
(via IGN)

Long before Fable, Peter Molyneux’s Bullfrog Productions produced what was considered one of the first “God” Simulators. And a God simulator it certainly was. You played as a deity out to guide your people towards prosperity….by bringing about the apocalypse and beating the crap out of the other deity. You flattened and raised land so that your worshipers can build houses to produce more worshipers. You also have access to several spells that can unleash disasters upon your opponents, such as earthquakes and floods. While it’s primitive by today’s standards, Populous is still a fun game that contains just enough strategy to keep players reeled in. A Nintendo DS update was released a few years ago by XSeed featuring new gods, new maps, and stylus play. It’s available for cheap, so if you haven’t experienced this classic, then there is no better time to do so.

You may remember a little known PC game by the name of Battle Chess. When you went to capture your opponent’s pieces, the game showed a battle animation. Sadly, you couldn’t control it, but it was fun to watch. What if you could control the battle however? For one thing, your queen would never be taken out some pawn of knight. Several years ago, there was a game with such a concept, Archon. Designed by Paul Reiche III and Jon Freeman (with the programming being done by Freeman’s wife Anne Westfall), Archon had a similar look to chess, although there were several dynamics in play that made it different. First of all, each piece has its own set of powers to use. When two rival pieces entered the same square, they engaged each other in combat, and players could control both pieces. Also, depending on what color the square was, one piece could gain an advantage over the other. While the game received a few sequels and remakes, it’s this 2010 remake that stands out. Archon Classic adds a number of new options. Power-ups during battle, new animated pieces, a campaign mode, new maps, and pieces that level-up during the game are but a few of the new additions. Best of all, you can turn off any of the new additions as you wish and play with classic graphics, the new updated look, or somewhere in-between. Up to four players can play against each other. Unfortunately, there is no true online multiplayer besides hot-seat play. Even so, Archon Classic gives gamers a new way (and new incentive) to experience this classic game, especially for its price.

We saw the last DC Universe Online Trailer way back during SDCC 2010 and it really blew our socks off.

This new one is also pretty crazy. You’ll recognize Lex Luthor right away, but that mysterious helper threw me for a loop. Future Luthor is an interesting character!

Any readers taken a dip into this new MMO? What do you think? Are you on PC or PS3?

During the 16-bit days, it seemed that alongside the Sega vs Nintendo console awards, there was another video game war brewing as well. Ocean was competed directly with Sony Imagesoft and Acclaim to see who could make the worst movie tie-in video game. Or so it would seem that way, as all three companies dumped crap after crap after crap on our consoles with each popular or semi-popular sci-fi and action flick that hit theaters. Every once in a while, there was a gem, like Sony Imagesoft’s Hook, or at least something resembling a gem, like Acclaim’s Stargate. Sadly, most of the product that the three companies collectively produced was only a few steps above of Atari’s “classic” E.T. game. One of the missteps was Ocean’s Lethal Weapon. In this SNES game, you take the role of super-deformed cartoon hunchbacks vaguely resembling Danny Glover and Mel Gibson (before he became an anti-Semite douchebag) as you ice skate through nondescript locations and battling generic looking enemies, all the while overcoming your inability to fire while crouching. Released around the time of the Lethal Weapon 3 movie, video games based on Lethal Weapon also hit the NES, Game Boy, Amiga, and other systems, but this Maximum Letdown focuses on the SNES game. Although I’m sure the other systems have an equally crappy (or worse) Lethal Weapon video game.
[Read the rest of this entry…]