Five days ago, I had never played Minecraft. I didn’t understand the fascination, or obsession, with it, and I was content. Having spent the past five days in my personal realm of Doompocalypse, a land of opportunity, freedom, and dreams fulfilled, I begin to understand. Minecraft is the frontier. When Americans were blazing new trails into the west, they went with what they could carry or cart, and built everything else they needed. When settlers participated in the Land Run of 1889 into unincorporated Oklahoma, they traveled as light as possible to get to ground as quickly as possible. From nothing, they build civilization. That is Minecraft. From nothing but the clothes on your back and a map in your hands, you build…anything. Read the full story

New York City lays sprawled below me as I glide through the air in a descending arc. An air dash restores my momentum, extending my flight and allowing me to reach the skyscraper in the distance. I land on the side of the skyscraper, and smoothly transition into a vertical run, defying Sir Isaac Newton and his thoughts and discoveries on gravity with my actions. As I reach the top of the building, I somersault off, and begin a new glide. I send out a radar ping, and find an object of interest in a nearby clearing. I continue to jump and glide until I find the object of interest below me, at which point I dive down and shred the poor man to bits with my giant viral claws.

Did I mention that I did all of that while in the form of a little old lady, bent with age?

Welcome to Prototype 2. Read the full story

I generally prefer wireless controllers for my everyday gaming experiences. I like the mobility and freedom that a wireless controller provides, especially since I fidget and move around quite a lot when sitting down. I can definitely understand, however, the functional benefits of a wired controller, like the Mad Catz Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Pro GamePad. So while I may prefer a wireless controller for the sake of convenience and comfort, a wired controller is almost always a better choice when you’re getting serious about your game and quick reactions are vital to your success. Read the full story

At last year’s E3, Mad Catz made passing mention of a game in development titled “War Wings: Hell Catz.” Well, as time has passed, so have passed the days of our lives. Er…I mean, as time has passed, one of life’s inevitabilities, change, has taken hold of the game. No longer “War Wings: Hell Catz,” this title will be moving towards release as “Damage Inc. Pacific Squadron WWII.” Originally intended to be a “historically accurate…recreation of World War II aerial maneuvers…,” the developers had an epiphany: gamers like shiny, explodey things. To that end, Damage Inc. is aiming to provide a historically accurate planes, campaigns, and story with arcade style gameplay keeping it all…you know…fun. Read the full story

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about The Elder Scrolls in MMORPG form. My experience with the series, while they only go so far back as some Morrowind and Oblivion with a large serving of Skyrim, has been decidedly solitary. Now, that private, unique world-shaping experience will be opened, and control over your own personal Tamriel is potentially lost. Game Informer has the exclusive cover story in their upcoming June issue, where we can hope to see some more details about the title and how it will play out as an MMO, but for now, here’s what we do know. Read the full story

A couple of weeks ago, we got our first look at Dishonored, the upcoming first-person steampunk-sorcery assassination title from Bethesda and Arkane Studios. Yesterday, Bethesda released a handful of screenshots for the title, which you can see below. You can also see the original massive batch of screenshots that were made available during the original announcement. Read the full story

If Mortal Kombat is to be remembered for, and associated with, one thing for the rest of eternity, and one thing only, it should be this: bloody gore and incredibly violence. Okay, that’s two things. I find it easier to simply acknowledge the mistake and move on rather than edit my opening sentence. That being said, Mortal Kombat introduced a level of brutality and disturbing visuals that has become its trademark and calling card. The combat, characters, and story all came secondary to Mortal Kombat being the game in the arcade that was just badass. Read the full story

I’m not sure what happened between Peter Molyneux and one chicken whose viciousness and fowlness (heh, get it?) we can only assume were such that the world has never seen before. All I know is that it resulted in the common chicken being singled out and having one hell of a hard time in the Fable universe. From a player stat specifically urging the player to kick a chicken farther and farther each time to the poor chicken getting struck by lightning in the opening titles of Fable Heroes, Fable is not kind. Read the full story

One of the things that impressed me most about Ghost Recon: Future Soldier back at E3 last year was the Gunsmith feature. It remains one of the features I am most eagerly anticipating when I get my hands on the game. Gunsmith is an absolutely phenomenal feature in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier that allows you to customize your weapon piece by piece, using your controller or using voice/motion through Kinect. While the functionality itself is great, it’s really the way Kinect control is implemented in Gunsmith that makes it shine. Using gestures, basic “point-and-click” motions, and voice commands, you can disassemble your weapon and begin interchanging available parts smoothly and easily. Want something customized for a certain mission? Simply say what you want, and Gunsmith will provide, ranging from “Randomize for range,” “Randomize for close combat,” and “Randomize for Badass.” And yes, “Randomize for Badass” is an actual randomization command.

I believe it was an assault rifle with a shotgun pump and taser attachment. Read the full story

The second entry in the inaugural Arcade NEXT XBLA promotion from Microsoft is Climax Studios’ Bloodforge. Up to this point, Climax Studios has had a nearly unbroken run of ports, spin-offs, and media tie-ins, with the occasional original title thrown in for a bit of variety. From the PlayStation port of the first Diablo to the Ghost Rider movie video game adaptation, it looks like Bloodforge could be Climax Studios’ breakout title. In much the same way that Return of the Jedi is the weakest entry in the original trilogy, but still a great movie (except for those damnable Ewoks), Bloodforge may end up being the weakest title in Arcade NEXT, but a damn good title nonetheless.

It’s good, is what I’m saying. Read the full story