Avermedia Game Capture HD

• Records from: Component
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 720p
• Editing software included: No
• Price: $119.99

Avermedia Live HD Gamer

• Records from: HDMI
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 1080p
• Editing software included: No
• Price:$179.99
• Warnings: Will NOT work on laptops; this is a card to be installed into the PC tower

Avermedia Game Broadcaster HD (For livestreaming)

• Records from: Component; HDMI
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 1080p
• Editing software included: Livestreaming software
• Price: $119.99
• Warnings: Will NOT livestream PS3 gameplay.

Black Magic Intensity Pro

• Records from: HDMI
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 1080p
• Editing software included: Yes
• Price: $189
• Warnings: Requires a PCIE slot in your desktop

Black Magic Intensity Shuttle

• Records from: HDMI/Component
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 1080p
• Editing software included: Yes
• Price: $199
• Warnings: Requires a USB 3.0 (not 2.0) port and must be run on a motherboard using Intel’s x58 chipset

Dazzle Video Recorder

• Records from: Standard Audio/Video
• HD Passthrough: No
• Best video quality: 480p
• Editing software included: Yes
• Price: $35.99
• Warnings: Needs an S-video and AV cable (Not included) if you want to play on your TV while recording without delay.

Elgato Game Capture

• Records from: Component; HDMI
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 1080p
• Editing software included: Yes
• Price: $159.95

EasyCap Video Recorder

• Records from: Standard Audio/Video
• HD Passthrough: No
• Best video quality: 480p
• Editing software included: Yes
• Price: $12.90
• Warnings: Needs an S-video and AV cable (Not included) if you want to play on your TV while recording without delay

Hauppauge HD PVR

• Records from: Component
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 720p
• Editing software included: No
• Price: $169.99

Hauppauge HD PVR2

• Records from: Component; HDMI
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 1080p
• Editing software included: No
• Price: $149.99

Roxio Game Capture Standard

• Records from: Component
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 480p
• Editing software included: Yes
• Price: $129.99

Roxio Game Capture HD Pro

• Records from: Component; HDMI
• HD Passthrough: Yes
• Best video quality: 1080p
• Editing software included: Yes
• Price: $149.99

And that’s the end of this list, hope i helped!

Should you be able to play online on the xbox live for free?

Currently, There are 2 types of Xbox live accounts you can have, the Free (previously called Silver) and the Gold. With several features such as online gaming restricted to the Gold service.

It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming.

You have to pay $60 a year to purchase the gold account, That might not seem like much, but having to pay a fee to be able to access online features on games, doesn’t seem so nice.

Is this business model good, or the best way to make a profit?

Well it is generating over a billion dollars a year for Microsoft (where that is at a loss or profit Microsoft doesn’t disclose)

Could they change their current business model to increase profits and provide a free online multiplayer experience?

Well Sony does it with the PlayStation Network. Anyone can register an account with PSN and access online features for free. Although there is a subscription base service as well it is completely optional.

How much does the PSN make a year you might ask?   About $800 Million dollars. Mostly from services such has the playstation plus and digital sales. Instead of a paid subscription base.

While many people might argue that Xbox Live Servers are better and more costly, we have no evidence until both companies decide to “show off” what they have.

With all that being said what could all this mean for the future  of online console gaming, it just means that companies need to take a good hard look at how to structure and possibly change drastically how we play online.

TLDR version of this can be seen here.

]]> http://theallgamingblog.com/should-xbox-live-be-free/feed 1 http://theallgamingblog.com/leaked-black-ops-2-dlc-revolution?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=leaked-black-ops-2-dlc-revolution http://theallgamingblog.com/leaked-black-ops-2-dlc-revolution#comments Sun, 30 Dec 2012 14:20:11 +0000 admin http://theallgamingblog.com/?p=748

Earlier on today we had a photograph being posted online showing the new promotional posters for the first DLC for Black Ops II.

Revolution, is the new map pack with 4 multiplayer maps 1 zombies map and a new weapon!

Hydro, is a new urban futuristic map, it is considered as a large map with tons of close quarters areas and buildings.

Grind, is a desert based map, not much info is out there at the moment.

Downhill is another large map, something that is lacking on the game at the moment, set in 2025 in a snowy field, players battle against the weather aswell.

Last but not least, Mirage, set in somewhere in asia, it is a small map with vilages.

Die Rise (the risen in german) is a zombies map that will be added for survival modes only and features nazi zombies.

Last on this DLC content is something new to the call of duty series, a new SMG weapon called Peacekeeper, semi-futuristic and fictional weapon, it is going to be the first dlc gun in the game, it will be added to the DLC category and will level up separately from all the other smgs so players don’t lose their diamond cammos.

This DLC will be avaliable on January 29th for the Xbox 360 and on march 1st for the ps3, Price is still not available at this point.

The sequel to 2009′s Borderlands, Borderlands 2 is an upcoming first-person shooter with role-playing elements currently under development by Gearbox Software for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3and Xbox 360 platforms.

Plot

Five years have passed since the events of Borderlands, when vault hunters exposed the secrets of the Eridian Vault. A man called Handsome Jack has taken credit for the vault hunters’ actions and claimed the wealth of the Vault, allowing him to take over the Hyperion Corporation and effectively gain dominion over Pandora. Promising to clean the lawless planet up, Handsome Jack embarks on a campaign to exterminate Pandora’s existing colonist population and industrialize the planet. The main symbol of Handsome Jack’s rule is a massive supply base built in the shape of an “H” on Pandora’s moon. The base is always visible, and can deploy Hyperion forces to any point on Pandora.

Borderlands 2 begins with the player fighting to the death to win a priceless cache of loot in a gladiatorial tournament run by Handsome Jack for his personal amusement. The player succeeds and gains notoriety, but Handsome Jack sees this as a threat to his popularity with the people. At the tournament’s end he denies the reward and leaves the player for dead in a tundra. The mysterious Guardian Angel from the first game then contacts the player and explains that Handsome Jack must be killed, directing the player to rescue the four original vault hunters from Hyperion’s clutches to accomplish this. Although Jack’s full intentions are unknown, part of his plan involves finding an ancient evil named “The Warrior” that is located somewhere on Pandora.

Characters

Like the first game, there are four playable characters in the game, though the characters are all new. The first new character is Salvador, nicknamed “Gunzerker” who resembles Brick from the first game in abilities, but also can dual-wield any combination of guns. The second character is a siren named Maya, similar to Lilith from the first game, but has a different ability to Lilith called Phaselock. The other two characters are a commando character called Axton, who relies on turrets like Roland from the first game and an assassin character called Zer0, whose ability creates a decoy of himself and becomes invisible for a short time, where he can unleash a critical hit on an enemy with his sword or gun. Non-playable characters Guardian Angel and Claptrap return to aid the player during quests. The four characters from the first game, Roland, Lilith, Brick, and Mordecai, all return in the form of NPCs that the new characters will encounter on Pandora or in various missions. In addition to Axton, Zer0, Maya and Salvador a fifth playable character was revealed at PAX East by Gearbox referred to as the “Mechromancer.” The character, who is a red-headed cyborg that can summon a D374-TP (“Deathtrap” – a hulking, floating machine made of scrap parts), is currently in concept stage and Randy Pitchford stated that they would begin to work on her some time after the main game is completed “in a couple months.” It will be post-launch date DLC (Gearbox hopes around holiday time/before Christmas) and will be free for people enrolled in the “Premiere Club” by preordering the game.

Gameplay

Locations

Arid Nexus – Blight region.
Caustic Caverns – An area with thick, sometimes hostile, flora and natural bridges spanning corrosive pools of acid.
Eridium Blight – Blight region.
Frostburn Canyon – Arctic region.
The Highlands – Highlands.
Opportunity – Urban region.
Sawtooth Cauldron – Blight region.
Thousand Cuts – Highlands.
Three Horns – Arctic region.
Tundra Express – Arctic region.
Wildlife Exploitation Preserve – A nuclear-ravaged area populated with aggressive fauna and Hyperion robots.                                                                                                                                                        Creature Slaughter Dome –  pre-order bonus. An Underdome-style arena that pits players against the toughest monsters in Pandora. Includes Moxxi’s Rocket Launcher as an added bonus. Experience and gear gained in this arena will transfer over to the main game.

Vehicles

Party Truck – Driver and gun turret positions with space for two extra riders in the back. Riders in the back of the truck will fire their own equipped guns.
Vehicle suspension and physics were all redone, adding the ability to power slide. Hitting a rock will no longer stop the vehicle dead in its tracks.

Buzzard – A flying vehicle. Buzzards are piloted only by bandits and will not be available for control by players.

Weapon Manufacturers

Bandit brand weapons – Bandits themselves have started making their own weapons. Their weapons sport the largest magazines in the game.
Jakobs – Jakobs weapons will fire as fast as the trigger is pulled.
Tediore – Tediore weapons have a different feel for Borderlands 2, having been described as “Cheap, plastic pieces of crap” and “Wal-Mart guns” by Randy Pitchford himself during a demo presentation. Instead of being reloaded, Tediore weapons are thrown away and explode like grenades; the more ammo left in the clip, the bigger the explosion. A fully-loaded gun regenerates in the user’s hand after the expended weapon is discarded. Due to their explosive capabilities, there is a chance they will explode in the user’s hand before throwing it away.
Vladof – Vladof continues with their tradition of weapons with extremely high rates-of-fire. Vladof weapons have variable numbers of minigun-like barrels and feature fire rates that increase as the trigger is held down. The more barrels the weapon has, the faster it will fire.
Torgue – Torgue weapons will feature Gyrojet ammunition.
Dahl – Dahl’s guns will focus on stability, precision and burst fire, and feature camouflage coloring.
Hyperion – Hyperion weapons will retain their customary high accuracy, with a “sci-fi” styling, featuring glowing elemental effects and bold stripes. Unlike other weapons, the accuracy of Hyperion weapons will increase the longer the trigger is depressed.
Maliwan – Maliwan weapons will retain their focus on elemental damage.

Game Features

Character customization – New gear, skins, and “heads” will be made available as drops from bosses and certain enemies and as mission, challenge, and levelling rewards, and will feature varying grades of rarity.
E-Tech – A holdover from the original Borderlands’ Eridian weapons E-Tech is a barrel modification technique that works with all brands of weapons.
Badass Points – Used for tracking overall ranking. The harder the challenge is, the more Badass Points are racked up.
Elemental nerfing – Whereas in Borderlands an elemental-based enemy (e.g. a fire skag) could be killed with sheer bullet damage from a similarly based elemental weapon (e.g. a Hellfire SMG), in Borderlands 2 enemies will take significantly less damage from weapons utilizing elements they have a resistance to.
Multiple Choice Quests – Some quests will feature a choice in how they will be completed. For example, after retrieving questionable photos of Moxxi for Marcus, Moxxi makes a counter-offer to deliver the photos to her. These choices are largely for entertainment but Gearbox has hinted that decisions made during some of the quests can significantly affect the storyline. The player will also have choices in mission rewards.
Trading Interface – A trading system will allow players to formally trade or sell items. Players can also wager items to be dueled for.
Traps – Some normally loot-dropping items (chests, plant pods, etc.) will contain traps (monsters jumping out, corrosive goo spraying, etc.).
Adaptive Shields – Some shields will grant the elemental resistance of whatever damage type they were last struck by.
One Point Wonders – “Game changer” skills that can change available options and gameplay style but only require a small investment to unlock at a basic level.
Eridium – A new element that can be used to augment other elemental powers.  It is also a currency that can be used to buy the most powerful weapons. Eridium also can be used as in-battle temporary buffs.

Borderlands 2 will be coming out in september 18th 2012 for the,  PC, Ps3 & Xbox 360.

If you pre order it before it comes out, you will get a free map.

Assassin’s Creed III is  the fifth major installment in the Assassin’s Creed series, and the third numbered title in the series. The game is set for release on October 30, 2012 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The release date for Wii U is yet to be announced.  The game will be bigger than any of its previous installments.

Assassin’s Creed III will be set before, during and after the American Revolution from 1753 to 1783,featuring a new protagonist: half-English and half-Native American, Connor Kenway,

In addition to the historical period, the game will also feature more of the “present day” setting than in any previous titles, as the plot revolving around the main character, Desmond, will develop and then come to a conclusion. Players will also experience more Desmond than in any previous titles.

Plot

Set in Colonial America, the Assassin-Templar war has become involved in the American Revolution. As series’ protagonist Desmond Miles, the player controls a young half-English, half-Native American man named Connor Kenway, drawn into the fight against tyranny when his home is attacked by colonists. Over the course of the game, Kenway will encounter historical figures including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Lee, Israel Putnam, Paul Revere, General Lafayette, John Pitcairn,William Prescott, King George III, Samuel Adams and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. The story will span 30 years of Connor’s life, from 1753 to 1783. Boston and New York will be cities that can be explored, as well as the Frontier—an open world area full of forest, cliffs, rivers, Connor’s Mohawk village, and the settlements of Lexington and Concord. It will be open for the player to take part in hunting activities, and approximately one third of the story will take place in the Frontier. The entire eastern seaboard will also be explorable via Connor captaining a ship.

Gameplay

With twice the production capacity of any previous title from the publisher. The game features a new engine, AnvilNext, for improved visuals, character models and AI, allowing for battlefields full of fighters. Ubisoft later said it’s aiming to make Assassin’s Creed III ”look next-gen” on current-gen consoles using the new AnvilNext engine.

While many people wanted to see female assassins in the series, the American Revolution setting makes it difficult this time round. Despite this, however, exactly the same timeframe and setting are used in the portable spinoff Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, which does indeed feature a female Assassin as the playable character.

It is recommended for PC gamers to play this with a controller, while the game will be fully compatible with mouse and keyboard, it is better played with a controller.

the Wii U version of the game. The player has the ability to change weapons on the go and the map is always visible on the Wii U Gamepad.

The multiplayer mode. It was announced that there would be over 12 modes, one of which is Domination where players hold certain points on the map. You will be able to play as the British military and the mode is “run” by Abstergo, as with previous games. Game mechanics from the single player will be carried over to the multiplayer, therefore requiring players to utilise stealth and advance assassination techniques. Finally, female assassins will be included. Ubisoft also revealed the naval aspect of the game. The entire eastern seaboard is an explorable area, much like New York City, Boston, and the Frontier, and will have its own missions, action, side events, and map. In the area, Connor will captain a ship, where the player can attack enemy ships.

a new co-operative multiplayer mode called ‘Wolf Pack’. The mode allows players to form teams of up to 4 people and work collectively to eliminate NPC assassination targets, known as ‘Moles’. There are a total of 25 sequences, or ‘waves’ to complete, with each wave increasing in difficulty.

Game Editions

The Freedom Edition features a retail copy of the game, a steelbook case with cover art drawn by award-winning comic artist Alex Ross, George Washington’s Notebook, a 24cm high-quality figurine of the protagonist Connor and 2 exclusive lithographs. In-game content included is two exclusive single player missions (Ghost of War & Lost Mayan Ruins) and an additional multiplayer character (Sharpshooter). The Freedom Edition is a GameStop retail exclusive.

The Join Or Die Edition features a retail copy of the game, a collector box, Connor’s medallion (The medallion of the Assassins with its high-quality curd ladle), George Washington’s Notebook. In-game content included is one exclusive single player mission (Ghost of War) and an additional multiplayer character (Sharpshooter)

The Special Edition features a retail copy of the game and special packaging. In-game content included is one exclusive single player mission (A Dangerous Secret).

The UbiWorkshop Edition features a retail copy of the game, the second edition of the Assassin’s Creed Encyclopedia and a new graphic novel titledAssassin’s Creed: Subject 4.

The Limited Edition features a retail copy of the game, a 24cm high-quality figurine of Connor, an embroidered 28″ x 48″ Assassin’s Creed-inspired colonial flag and a 3″ x 3.25″ sturdy metal belt buckle with the Assassin insignia. In-game content included is an exclusive single player mission (Lost Mayan Ruins).

The Digital Deluxe Edition features a retail copy of the game, George Washington’s notebook and a collection of the best soundtracks from previous Assassin’s Creed games. In-game content included is three exclusive single player missions, two skins (The Captain of the Aquila’s uniform and The colonial Assassin outfit) and two additional multiplayer characters (Sharpshooter and Redcoat). The edition is exclusive to PC.

DLC Content

Assassin’s Creed III has a dedicated team working on post-launch DLC, which will be purchasable with a season pass.

Precedents set by previous “season pass” offerings dictates that a variety of DLC (multiplayer, single-player, or both) would be packaged and sold ahead of its launch, giving the buyer an aggregate discount across all of it. Ubisoft enacted such a scheme with the last AC title, Revelations, albeit only via PC. Still, neither Ubisoft nor Gamestop can confirm this letter or a “Season Pass” for AC3. And no, DLC for Assassin’s Creed 3 has not yet been announced, outside of the ambiguous “special DLC” heading exclusively to PlayStation 3 players.

This is still not 100% confirmed, but i think we all know and assume that DLC will be coming for this game.

All the information posted here is confirmed to be true, i will post more when new information comes out.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is an upcoming first-person shooter video game, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision.  Black Ops II is the ninth game in the Call of Duty franchises and a sequel to the  Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Black Ops II is the first game in the Call of Duty franchise to have a completely futuristic setting and feature future warfare technology. It also presents branching story lines driven by player choice for the first time in COD history.

Set  to be released on November 13, 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.

I will post a collection of confirmed information for black ops 2, as of today.

Single Player Campaign

The single-player campaign will feature two connected story lines, one set in the late 1970s and early 1980s and the other in 2025. The protagonist of Black Ops, Alex Mason returns as the protagonist in the cold war section, where he will be fighting in proxy wars for the United States in the Cold War. Known locations for this section of the game include multiple sites in Central America and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This section of the game will also see the rise to infamy of the game’s primary antagonist, Raul Menendez. Mason’s friend and colleague Frank Woods will also return, and narrate the story into the 2025 section of the game.

The 2025 section of the game features as a protagonist David Mason, son of Alex Mason. In it, a new cold war has broken out between China and the United States after China bans the export of rare earth elements following a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese Stock Exchange. In this era, war is defined by robotics, cyberwarfare, unmanned vehicles and other modern technology. Taking advantage of this stand-off, Raul Menendez attempts to bring the two powers to a full-blown war by inciting conflicts between the two. Known locations for this section of the game include Los Angeles and Socotra, Yemen.

In the 2025 section of the game, the player will have access to special ‘Strike Force missions’, that feature permanent death and the outcome of which can affect the course of the campaign’s storyline.

It has been hinted at that the side-plot of Viktor Reznov and his relationship with Alex Mason, which began in Black Ops, will be continued in Black Ops II.

Black Ops II will be the first Call of Duty video game to feature branching storylines, in which the player’s choice affects both the current mission and in turn, the overall course of the story. The game will feature special ‘Strike Force’ missions that are offered as a choice to the player during the campaign. Choosing one of the missions locks out the others unless the player begins a fresh campaign.

Strike Force missions allow the player to control a number of different war assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters and robots. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint. The player’s progress in the Strike Force missions may go on to change even the plans of the story’s antagonist, Raul Menendez. By the end of the game, the player may have changed the results of the new Cold War, and the player will be shown what could have gone differently.

Zombies

Obviously zombies will return and better than ever! it’s the third time for the zombies mode to appear in a call of duty game, but this time will be very differently.

first time to have its own campaign along with the main story. Treyarch has also confirmed that Zombies will implement the multiplayer engine, allowing for a deeper community experience along with new game modes. It has also been confirmed that the Zombies mode will support 8 player co-op, unlike Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops, which only support 4 player co-op. One of the new game modes will be a 4 vs 4 player. What does this mean? well instead of being 8 players vs the zombies it is now players vs players vs zombies, that’s right players will fight against each other while surviving zombies. For the ones who still prefer the old zombies mode you can choose it, however Treyarch has finally moved zombies mode from just a single player setting with online capabilities to a multiplayer setting, making this zombies mode the best one up to this point. So far not much else is known about the zombies mode, not much specific was said by the developers, i guess we find out more when it comes out.

Online Multiplayer Mode

There is much speculation about what everyone really likes about black ops 2 and that is the multiplayer component of it. Here is what we know so far.

Game Modes

Escort, a new game mode. Similar to Search and Destroy however a live player must be escorted to one of three areas (or two depending on the map) without being killed. The match will have rounds, consisting of one life only.

Drop Zone and Kill Confirmed will return

Team Defender and Infected will not return

Point Streaks

Return from the modern warfare 3 system, to enlarge the emphasis on objective game modes.

The Specialist Pointstreak has been modified

2 kills now gets you 1 perk

The 4th kill gets you 2 more perks

The 6th kill gets you 3 more perks

The 8th Kill gets you 4 more perks

You do not get every perk when you reach 8 kills

Perks only become “Pro” when you have them Pro

RC XD will not return

New Point Streak reward: Heat vision. (Scope to see enemy’s through walls) When you get the required points, you can activate this Pointstreak and your player pulls out a scope and attaches it to your weapon.

Note: the scope can only be attached to primaries not including shotguns

Item Packages,Requires 5 points, Fall along side care packages and air drop traps. Features a list of package items only Including ammo, mini gun, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, and body armor.

New Point streak:  Rc Drone. Like the rc car this drone will be controlled by the player, having 2 main weapons. One is the machine guns and the other an explosive. Yes just like the rc car you can explode the drone and will kill any enemy in the blast radius.

Prestiges

There will be 15 prestiges, and 50 ranks. Every two prestiges there is a 5 rank increase, and the final prestige has 90 levels.

ELITE 2.0

ELITE is being fully incorporated into Black Ops 2

Combat record has been modified and re-named as ELITE Stats

There will be a specific lobby for clan matches (new way of leveling clans)

Clan Tournaments can now be implemented

Premium elite members will get DLC content first.

Removed

No MOAB or Nuke

No last stand, final stand

No death streaks

No flame thrower attachment

Customization

Every perk you choose will change your appearance. Instead of just the one. Appearance of a player is a combination of all perks,point streaks types and weapons.

Weapon customization is returning with clan tag and emblem as well as players name on the weapon.

Hardcore Mode

Larger emphasis on hardcore than ever before

No grenade launchers

Only vehicle guided rocket launchers permitted

Respawn timings decreased (for most modes)

1 bullet in the foot will no longer kill a person, a head or chest shot is usually required.

A person will now bleed out if severely injured.

Perk System 2.0

The Perk Pro system has been upgraded

There is now 2 options a perk can advance to. Both require different challenges to unlock, Once the desired Pro version is unlocked, the player can select that as their “Perk Pro”. Once selected, the only way to choose the other option is by entering prestige mode.

For example Perk slot 1 has the perk called Speed

Speed – Reduces the time taken to aim down the sight

Pro I – Swaps weapons faster

Pro II – Throws equipment faster

Combat Training

Will be returning with vast improvements.

Difficulty is no longer based on how long the bots take to start shooting.

Bots now have an advance AI system.

Similar to the behavior seen in the MW3 Spec Ops survival

Bots can now play in objective game modes.

And that is it so far.

Note: The information posted here is only accurate as of right now, the game is still in development and it can still change some aspects making some of this information not valid.

Dragon’s Dogma, The upcoming action RPG developed by Capcom to be released for Xbox 360 and Ps3.

The game features an open world with hack and slash elements and some survivor horror.

With the same people that worked on titles like Resident Evil 4 and the Devil May Cry series, Capcom’s hoping Dragon’s Dogma will be its next big thing. With over three years of planning and two years of production, it may currently be Capcom’s largest game in production.

Plot

A dragon, the first seen in decades, appears in the game’s world. As tends to happen when legendary beasts manifest, the world is thrown into chaos. While the dragon is seemingly arbitrarily wreaking havoc on the land, the game’s Hero is singled out. This hero’s heart is  stolen by the dragon, the hero’s death is inevitable. However, through some unknown miracle, the hero is saved from certain death. Now revived as an “enlightened one,” the hero is destined to find and kill the dragon that stole his heart.

Gameplay

The player will be able to select between various types of vocations, of which nine have been revealed: Fighter, Warrior, Mystic Knight, Strider, Ranger, Assassin, Mage, Sorcerer and Magic Archer. Gender choice and appearance settings will be available aswell.

The class system, makes a difference to the gameplay and options available to the player, ranging from Fighters relying on hack and slash combat (with a move-set similar to  Devil May Cry) to Striders relying on climbing over large enemies (like in Shadow of the Colossus).

One of the game’s main innovations is the “pawn” system. While the player’s party is exploring the world, the three party members who accompany the main character will be controlled by artificial intelligence, but the player can issue orders like “Go”, “Help” and “Come to them”. One of the party members is a non-playable character (NPC) and belongs to the main character’s world. The other two party members are NPCs borrowed from other players by connecting online, but the game will not require an internet connection. However, the player can only borrow the NPCs from other players, not their main character.

The pawns are vocal, yelling out useful hints and strategies, which are often vitally important to surviving tough boss encounters and dungeons, which is seen as an evolution of the message-leaving system in Dark Souls. The game will feature a “grab” action, where the main character can grab on or cling to enemies, objects, or NPCs. The player can use this feature for more advanced attacks. For example, the main character can either grab on to a giant griffon’s legs and attack it directly, or climb up to reach its head for a more lethal blow.

The game’s large open-world environments have drawn comparisons to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.In addition to the large open world, Dragon’s Dogma will also feature a large city environment with over 200 NPCs who will move about according to their own time schedules. The player will be able to communicate with the residents in full voice.The game features a persistent world with a day-night cycle; this affects the gameplay during the night, when the game takes on a more survival horror feel reminiscent of Capcom’s Resident Evil series. In addition, the game’s art style and character movements have been compared to Dark Souls, the hack-and-slash combat elements have been compared to Devil May Cry and Dark Souls, some of the fantasy elements have been compared to Breath of Fire, and the combat and party systems have been compared to Monster Hunter.

The game is being designed to be playable even by those who are not too skilled at action games. These types of players can recruit strong NPCs and let them do the fighting during combat as they watch over the battlefield. Players can look forward to up to 30 hours of main quest play and up to an additional 70 hours or more of side quests.
Set to be released in May 22, 2012 Dragon’s Dogma will be released with a demo of Resident Evil 6.
Another thing to look forward on the release. The big question now is, Will this game be any good.Well it’s too soon to tell however it will certainly be unique.

Now i don’t mean the best games for the consoles, but the best selling ones, one could easily confuse this, but it’s determined by how many units in total the game has sold. (North America, Europe,Japan,etc)

I am only listing the top 5 most sold games of each system and i will be covering the following consoles:

(arranged in alphabetical order)

Game Boy Advance
Game Boy and Game Boy Color
Mobile phone
Nintendo 64
Nintendo DS
Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo GameCube
Pc
PlayStation
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 3
PlayStation Portable
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Wii
Xbox
Xbox 360

Site Naviation:

Press CTRL + F To search for a console or game.

Click the game’s name to view a screen shot.

Note: this list is only up to date as of 21/01/2012 and may change during the course of the year.

Starting with:

Game Boy Advance

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (13 million)

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (11.82 million)

Pokémon Emerald (6.32 million

Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 (4.179 million)

Super Mario Advance (3.938 million)

Game Boy and Game Boy Color

Tetris (35 million)

Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue (23.64 million)

Pokémon Gold and Silver (23 million)

Super Mario Land (18.06 million)

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (6.05 million)

Mobile phone

Tetris (100 million)

Pac-Man (30 million)

Angry Birds (12 million)

Sonic the Hedgehog (8 million)

Fruit Ninja (6 million)

Nintendo 64

Super Mario 64 (11.62 million)
Mario Kart 64 (9 million)
GoldenEye 007 (8 million)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (7.6 million)
Super Smash Bros (5 million)

Nintendo DS

New Super Mario Bros (26.88 million)
Nintendogs All versions (23.26 million)
Mario Kart DS (21.04 million)
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (18.72 million)
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (17.39 million)

Nintendo Entertainment System

Super Mario World (20.60 million)
Donkey Kong Country (9 million)
Super Mario Kart (8 million)
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (6.3 million)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (4.61 million⁾

Nintendo GameCube

Super Smash Bros. Melee (7.09 million)
Mario Kart: Double Dash‼ (7 million)
Super Mario Sunshine (5.5 million)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (3.07 million)
Luigi’s Mansion (2.639 million)

Pc

The Sims (16 million)
The Sims 2 (13 million)
StarCraft (11 million)
Half-Life (9.3 million)
Half-Life 2 (6.5 million)

PlayStation

Gran Turismo (10.85 million)
Final Fantasy VII (10 million)
Gran Turismo 2 (9.37 million)
Final Fantasy VIII (8.15 million)
Tomb Raider II (8 million)

PlayStation 2

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (17.33 million )
Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (14.89 million)
Gran Turismo 4 (11.44 million)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (9.21 million)
Grand Theft Auto III (7.509 million)

PlayStation 3

Gran Turismo 5 (7.43 million)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (4.8 million)
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (3.8 million)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (3.8 million)
Call of Duty: Black Ops (3.269 million)

PlayStation Portable

Monster Hunter Portable 3rd (4.12 million)
Gran Turismo (3.61 million)
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (3.1 million)
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2.70 million )
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (2.59 million)

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Sonic the Hedgehog (15 million)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (6 million)
NBA Jam (1.93 million)
Mortal Kombat II (1.78 million)
Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (1.65 million)

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Super Mario World (20.60 million)
Donkey Kong Country (9 million)
Super Mario Kart (8 million)
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (6.3 million)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (4.61 million)

Wii

Wii Sports (76.76 million)
Mario Kart Wii (31.91 million)
Wii Sports Resort (29.87 million)
Wii Play (27.38 million)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (25.47 million)

Xbox

Halo 2 (8 million)
Halo: Combat Evolved (5 million)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (3 million)
Fable (3 million)
Project Gotham Racing (2.5 million)

Xbox 360

Kinect Adventures (18 million)
Call of Duty: Black Ops (12 million)
Halo 3 (8.1 million)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (7.481 million)
Gears of War (5 million)

One of the greatest advantages of PC gaming is the ability to modify your games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, they can include new items, weapons, characters, enemies, models, textures, levels, story lines, music, and game modes.

While consoles still do not support modding, they do support DLC (downloadable content). Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similar to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes, objects, levels, challenges, etc.

But unlike the mods on the pc, the dlc has a price, while the game mods are free and developed by third parties, DLC is official from the game developers and generally comes with a price.

Now they both have good points and bad points, Let’s see some of them.

Modifications

Pros

• Free
• Improves gameplay
• Extra replay value
• New game/Gameplay

Cons

• Pc only
• Hacks
• Viruses/malware
• Cross platform not supported

Downloadable Content

Pros

• Console support
• Official
• Replay value
• Portable consoles support

Cons

• Overprice/costs money
• Unable to transfer/resell
• Official developers only
• No exclusivity

Ultimately i do hope consoles will support game mods, but the question still remains as to which one is better, while i do still prefer mods over dlc, i will leave up to you to choose which one is better.

Just a year ago gaming on social networks was thought to be the next big thing in the industry, it could already be on its way out according to new figures.

The beginning of 2011 was the high point of social gaming, at least according to official Zynga numbers. At that point almost 300 million people played Farmville, Mafia Wars or their equivalents each month. Fast forward to just 12 months later and that figure has dropped to a small  220 million.

Facebook rocketed to prominence as a gaming platform in 2009 and 2010,However, with equal speed, the market then settled into a state of maturity in 2011, with conditions becoming markedly more challenging for game operators. While Facebook remains a worthwhile opportunity for companies able to meet these challenges, the tone of the market in 2012 will be somewhat muted compared to the optimistic outlook of the past few years.

The numbers are still strong, with potential for continued online gaming via social networks, but it might begin to change throughout 2012.

While social network games are dropping, mobile phone games are actually rising.

With the increase in video game developers going to mobile gaming, it’s not a surprise that it is an increasing market for casual gamers.

The industry is undergoing a  shift, factors like the ease of publishing to the App Store, the extremely low cost to become a developer, the growth of Freemium games (games given away for free with revenues coming from alternative sources) and the rise of the female gamers (53% of mobile gamers are female) are rewriting the rules.

Just as the social network based games are dropping so can the mobile ones, the question now is, will it keep rising or not?