Hmm, the kids seem to be into these tower defense games, and everyone loves zombies. Why not put the two together? Popcap, the king of casual gaming, has done just that with Plants vs Zombies. You play as a homeowner, and hordes of the undead are invading your lawn. All that stands between you and the undead holocaust is your garden and several lawnmowers.. These aren’t any ordinary plants however, these are sentient plants with combat abilities to fight off the zombie horde. You stockpile sunlight so you can have enough money to place your seeds. Each level you gain access to new plants, so you’re learning how to play the game as you move along. Your neighbor Crazy Dave helps you out by selling you seeds at his store, and you can take part in bonus games such as wall-nut zombie bowling. There are several unlockable modes, some of which parody Popcap’s other games such as Bejeweled.
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The hotly anticipated RTS game, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty has been slated for release on July 27, 2010.

If you haven’t already pre-ordered the game, you can do so on Amazon and recieve a free beta key!
The Collector’s edition also includes, but is not limited to, the game’s soundtrack and a 2GB USB thumb drive that contains the original Starcraft and the expansion pack Brood War. This intrepid RTS fan will be getting the collectors’ edition. Pre-order either version via the links below!

Looking for something to do until Diablo III comes out? Torchlight does a good job of taking care of your dungeon crawling fix until Blizzard gets done. Developed by Runic software, a team which includes people who have worked on Fate and Diablo I and II, Torchlight is a simple-to-play yet complex dungeon crawler. Just like Diablo, players take control of one of three character classes, each with upgradable abilities, and explore the mines below the town of Torchlight, battling monsters, gathering items, and completing quests. The town of Torchlight serves as a hub world where players can purchase and sell items along with other stuff. The player also travels with a companion animal whose form can change. The game isn’t graphically intensive, and there is even a graphics setting for netbooks. Players can create their own adventures using Torchlight’s easy-to-use modding tools. Unfortunately there is no multiplayer, but the developer is working on a free-to-play MMORPG set withing Torchlight’s universe. If you’re looking for some good dungeon crawling to take your mind off the fact that Diablo III is a while away, you’d do well to give Torchlight a visit.

Hope you guys had a good laugh for April Fools day. As you guessed by now, those aren’t this week’s real $20 GOTW and Lost Classics. So, for being a good sport, here you go. To make sure there is no hard feelings, I threw in an extra $20GOTW. All three of this week’s features allow players to flex their creative muscles, so click below and read the rest.
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Little known fact for all you World of Warcraft players: before it was the massively multiplayer online hit that it is now, Warcraft was a real time strategy series that, while it may not have been the cultural icon that its online cousin is, it was just as critically acclaimed. In fact, Warcraft 2 (along with Command and Conquer) are credited for establishing many of the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) concepts prevalent in most RTS games, and many of the events in WOW are based on Warcraft 3, which is collected in this box. Like the Starcraft Battle Chest, the Warcraft Battle Chest contains Warcraft 3, its expansion, strategy guides and manuals for both games, and a 2 week trial for WOW. If you played Starcraft, then you should feel right at home, as many game mechanics here are similar.
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Rise of Legends is a sequel/spinoff of Big Huge Game’s Rise of Nations, which is one of my favorite PC RTS games. While it doesn’t stray too far from Rise of Nation’s formula, there are a few key differences in both the presentation and the gameplay. First of all, instead of a historical setting, ROL takes place on a fantasy world and tells a tale of 3 warring races: The Vinci are a steampunk style human civilization with mechanical units inspired by Renaissance painter Leonardo Da Vinci. The Alin are an Arabian-knights style group of creatures, magicians, and sorcerers. The Cuotl are a Meso-American inspired race of mythical creatures with advanced technology. You step in the role of an inventor out to avenge his brother’s death and finds something bigger going on, and the quest takes you through all three factions. The game’s factions include several hero units, and the 3D graphics give the game more impressive visuals.

Other than that, the gameplay will feel right at home for veterans of RON. The campaign makes use of a map similar the RON’s conquer the world campaign, and you’ll spend lots of time in battle researching and upgrading your tech tree. While Rise of Legends doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it is still an excellent RTS game, and it does a good job of following up Rise of Nations, even if its scope is scaled down in comparison.

Warning: If you’re one of those people who believe pro wrestling is real, or you’re confused about weather or not it isn’t, then you’ll want to skip past this review.

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

Duke Nukem. Halo. Call Of Duty. Resistance. Killzone. Goldeneye. Bioshock. Deus Ex. Quake. Timesplitters.

The list of great first person shooters goes on and on, and each game has left its own unique stamp on the genre, weather it’s the RPG-like stat progression of Bioshock and Deus Ex, the cinematic realism of Modern Warfare and Rainbow Six Vegas, the zaniness of Timesplitters and Duke Nukem, or the multiplayer action of Halo and Goldeneye. However, all of these games owe their existence and popularity to one name: Doom. While ID Software’s classic didn’t create the FPS genre (that honor many would say belongs to ID’s previous effort Wolfenstein 3D), it helped shape the face of the genre for years to come. This article will take a look at the classic and its impact on gaming.
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