So without further ado, my first impressions and basic overview.

The first thing you will notice about Medal of Honor is that it is a beautiful game. There are two maps available in the beta, Helmand Valley, and Kabul City Ruins. Helmand Valley is a sprawling mountainous region in Afghanistan that plays home to the Mission gametype. The Mission gametype is similar to Rush from Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the assaulting team is charged with destroying and capturing a series of objectives within the map. Kabul City Ruins is a close quarters urban warzone in which players go head to head in what basically amounts to team deathmatch.

While the game visually striking, the positives really end there for me, I had a friend describe it as being “Beautiful, but basically a cheap Modern Warfare knockoff” while I don’t necessarily agree with the way he put it… he’s basically right.

Before the beta came out for any of the systems, people were describing it as a combination of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2. This description is true for the most part in that the maps are larger and more varied, while the battles still retain the intensity of close to medium range combat that Call of Duty is renowned for.

Unfortunately  Medal of Honor seems to have also acquired the worst parts of both titles. Combat is brutal and unforgiving, and with the state that the beta is in you’ll often find yourself in a state of utter dismay, as the player you just fired half a mag into will simply turn around and put two rounds through your chest… killing you instantly. Most hit detection issues are likely to be gone once the full game comes out, but it makes for a bad first impression.

In typical Battlefield fashion, your character feels sluggish, boxy, and altogether unresponsive. Having a slow character model is something you can get away with in Battlefield, but in an urban environment where a quick dash between buildings means the difference between life and a respawn… it just doesn’t work. And similar to Modern Warfare, you will frequently find your character getting stuck on the tiniest of objects. That brick that you didn’t see in front of your foot? Ya, it just got you sniped.

The weapons and weapon upgrade system are also a source of frustration for me. DICE really has a thing for separate class leveling, just as they did with BF: BC2, you have to level each class individually. With every level you gain in a particular class, you receive upgrades that add and detract stats from the stock weapon.  My biggest issue in regard  to the weapon attachment system? They really don’t add enough of a bonus to affect your weapon in any real way. The M24 (the best sniper rifle available in the beta) doesn’t do enough damage to kill anyone in a single shot (besides a headshot) adding ammo that increases the damage of your weapon still doesn’t give enough power to kill in a single shot.

Killstreaks or Score Chains as they’re known in Medal of Honor are one of the only bright spots in an otherwise unspectacular beta. By getting kills and completing objectives you earn points towards these Score Chains, upon reaching the required amount of points you are provided with a choice between two different actions. At 40 points (the first score chain requirement) you can choose between intel (which basically amounts to a UAV) and a mortar strike.   So the choice is yours, depending on the situation you’re in you might choose to boost your own score, or decide to help the entire team.

Overall the beta is anything but unique. Medal of Honor takes few positives and a great many negatives from the games it emulates. Gameplay mechanics are sketchy at best, poor hit detection and intermittent lag-spikes make a poor impression despite just being a beta. Hopefully most of these issues will be addressed before the full game releases on October 12th.

- Nick Barker

Yesterday Bungie unveiled a batch of avatar awards that will be available to players once they complete certain “actions in Halo: Reach.” Not particularly descriptive, I know. Luckily, we know that Bungie is fairly generous when it comes to avatar awards, so I’m sure everybody will have these at some point. Unfortunately the Noble 6 helmet will only be made available to certain lucky folks who visit Comicon, PAX and GamesCom later this summer.

In their update, Bungie also gave us quite a few more screens and details of their Armory system. Players will have instant access to a number of armor pieces with which to customize their character from day one, but will unlock various other items as they progress through the multiplayer ranks. Unlike Halo 3, Halo: Reach will feature a credit-based progression system that will play a key role in the Armory system and customization process.

On the Achievements front, Bungie has decided to use the power of achievements against the casual gamer. By pursuing and completing achievements, the player will unlock a variety of new gamemodes and features. I’m not kidding here folks, take a look.

“Achievements in Reach were designed with a few principles in mind. We wanted to leverage the power of Achievements – they are something people will chase and pursue – to expose additional features, game modes and systems that players otherwise might miss out on.”

So basically they’re forcing you to go out and complete their achievements in order to have access to features which are already built into the game. Anyone who has ever played a Halo game can testify to the ridiculousness of some of their achievements.

So the casual gamer who just got off work and wants nothing more than to sit down and play Halo for a while is denied the full potential of the game because instead of spending his time chasing achievements he’s at work putting food on the table for his family.

Nice one Bungie.

If the achievements required to unlock these bonuses were just the ones released in their update, I could understand it because they really aren’t that difficult to complete.

Be My Wingman, Anytime – Let a teammate spawn on you 5 times in an Invasion Matchmaking game.
Skunked – Win a game of Invasion in the first phase.
What’s a Killing Spree? – Earn a Killing Spree in multiplayer Matchmaking
I Need a Weapon – Complete the 4th mission on Normal or Harder.
Your Heresy Will Stay Your Feet – Kill the Elite Zealot before he can escape during the 5th mission.

On the other hand, if they’re based on singleplayer and firefight achievements I’m completely opposed to the concept. Some gamers just want to play through the campaign on easy, get the story experience, and move on to multiplayer. Playing through a Halo game on Legendary is no small feat, and getting to 200,000 points in firefight isn’t really a cakewalk for the average gamer.

I guess we’ll just have to see how this all plays out.

For full details check out their blog

- Nick Barker (Dr Strange Lulz)

July 21st -
Limbo: A stylistically innovative black and white platformer that was nominated for awards in both Art and Technical Excellence in the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival.

July 28th -
Hydro Thunder Hurricane: A hidden treasure from Dreamcast’s days of glory, a water based racer guaranteed to remain a fan favorite for years to come.

August 4th -
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair: A brand new Castlevania game? Seriously, do I have to say anything else? A six player co-op based platforming-rpg similar to Symphony of Night in both style and difficulty.

August 11th -
Monday Night Combat: A six-on-six third person shooter set in a horrific future where killing is a sport and athletes go head to head on a nightly basis, similar in style to Team Fortress, this arcade title is designed for pure fun.

August 18th -
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: A co-op adventure which is a far cry from previous Tomb Raider titles, we’ll just have to see how it compares in terms of playability.

All of these titles will run you 1200 Microsoft Points, buying all five will get you a 1200 MS point refund, and buying four will get you 400 MS points.

For $15 each, these games are well priced and designed specifically for Summer gaming.

So go get em.

Due to unknown issues EA and DICE decided to delay the Medal of Honor 360 beta, at first it was assumed that it was the folks over at Microsoft who were to blame, but with the latest delay just announced nobody really has any idea what the cause is.

The developer had this to say on the subject,

“As for the Xbox 360 version of the beta, we are delayed and we apologize. To the Xbox 360 community, we say thank you for your continued patience. We are working to fix the issues that have caused this delay and, like you, we’re eager to get the game up and running at quality.”

Supposedly the beta will be extended for 360 users so that everyone has enough time to play before it officially comes out in October.

Unfortunately since we have no idea what the reason is behind the delay we don’t know how long it’s going to take to fix it, this is the kind of thing the folks over at EA seriously need to tell us.

-Dr Strange Lulz

Best RPG: Deus Ex Human RevolutionOn any other day I would give this to Fallout, but the variety of ways you can complete a mission and long term consequences depending on how you do is far more important to me than the name of a developer (The same reason I’m not falling all over myself about RAGE). Fallout: NV looks nice but it’s the exact same engine as Fallout 3, gameplay hasn’t really changed, and to me it just seems that they’re playing this one safe.

Best Sports Game: NBA Jam

Best Racing Game: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

Best Shooter: Medal of Honor

Ok Ok, don’t shoot me, let me explain myself. The guys over at Treyarch displayed a decent amount of footage at E3, the problem I found was that none of it actually looked fun… at all. It just seemed like they were trying to one up Infinity Ward and coming up short (“Modern Warfare 2 had a nuke? Ya… well… we nuked the whole planet, this game takes place on a terraformed Mars, booya! Ya we went there!”) So you’ve got a chopper, sweet. But I know from experience with every one of your games that the gameplay footage shown was on the easiest mode possible, and that you almost died… every time you showed it off. Anyone who’s ever played World at War will tell you that Veteran mode is one of the hardest things they’ve ever done.

Medal of Honor footage was entirely multiplayer and frankly, 30 seconds of multiplayer footage looked a hundred times more fun than the idiotic chopper level in Black Ops. Medal of Honor seems like it will be the perfect balance between COD and Battlefield, while maintaining some of the scope of the Battlefield games they’ve also managed to introduce the close quarters intensity of COD. Take a look at the beta on June 21st.

Best Platformer: Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Best Fighting Game: Marvel vs Capcom 3

Best Action Game: Assassins’ Creed: Brotherhood

Take one-part Assassin’s Creed add one-part Multiplayer and you’ve got a winner folks. The multiplayer for AC: Brotherhood remains true to it’s origins, allowing players to do all the things they would normally be able to do in singleplayer and then using those abilities to kill your friends. Scarily awesome.

Unfortunately I actually forgot to get my press registration in on time this year otherwise I would have been there, luckily I’ve learned my lesson and I guarantee I’ll be there next year.

Caddies and Aliens? Yes please. Check out the Trailer.

Now nine years later 2K games, specifically 2K Marin (The developers who brought us Bioshock 2) are making a play to revitalize a PC classic by bringing XCOM to the next-gens.

In 2K Marin’s latest game, you take on the role of FBI Agent William Carter and are charged with studying and defending against the alien threats that have begun to plague the US. In stark contrast to the horror of Rapture, XCOM takes place in picture perfect 1950′s America.

In an attempt to incorporate both of their previous gameplay styles XCOM will be a mix of strategy and combat. The strategic element comes into play in the form of Research. Using a camera and a similar mechanic to Bioshock 2 players will take photographs of the aliens and their technology, this in turn will reward the player with new weapons and information about the alien threat to aid in your investigations.

Take a gander at the XCOM website, it sure is swell.

Investigation plays a large role in XCOM, you’ll track down leads and eventually enter a large area in search of alien phenomena, once in the map players will scour the area for clues that will hopefully lead you to the alien menace.

From what we’ve seen of combat it seams like a HUD is non-existent, but we’ve only seen a single trailer so it’s unclear whether one will be in the final product. In another parallel to Bioshock, it appears that the player will be treated to a variety of weaponry, ranging from a standard pump-action to a grenade in the form of a “Blobatov” which is used to burn the ink-like blob creatures we’ve seen so far.

Hopefully 2Khas what it takes to bring a PC classic into the future… or the past, and judging by their previous games it’s safe to say they have a good chance of pulling it off.

So we’re finally getting our first glimpses at Killzone 3. The teaser trailer shows brutal hand to hand combat between a member of the I.S.A and a Helghast trooper, the trailer ends with I.S.A agent picking up the iconic Helghast helmet and putting it on. What this alludes to is only speculation at this point. The third installment in the series will once again be developed by Netherlands-based Guerrilla Games, who have so far delivered two outstanding titles, and having seen the amazing new teaser, I cant wait for the third.

- Nick Barker
(Dr Strange Lulz)

I knew the moment I posted the Black Ops Teaser that Treyarch would come out with more information within a couple of weeks and I’d be forced to make another post about it. Luckily they decided to come out with a few things at the same time so  I don’t really feel like this is a wasted post.

New Trailer

Recently the teaser trailer has been playing on TV, so it was only a matter of time before Treyarch released a new trailer. Later today during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN we’ll be treated to the first full trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Gamestop Pre-Order Bonus

Earlier yesterday Gamestop announced that they would be offering a limited bonus for people who pre-ordered Call of Duty: Black Ops. The first 300,000 people who pre-order the latest installment of COD from Gamestop will receive a limited edition two-sided COD: Black Ops poster, which from the pictures on the Gamestop website actually looks really cool. The posters will be available when you go in to pre-order the game, so you wont have to wait until November.

Again, I’d love to give you more information, but there just isn’t any. Make sure to check out the trailer later today, and get your pre-order in while poster supplies last.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will be available November 9th.

Abstergo Wallpaper

The website opens with a video narrated by Dr. Warren Vidic, our out-of-animus nemesis from the first and second games.  The website along with an email that went out to everybody on the Ubisoft mailing list are disguised as Templar recruitment tools, and serve as the only available information about the upcoming title.

So far we know that Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood will continue the story of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, now as an experienced and hardened assassin, doing battle against the Templars in the games new location, Rome.

The website offers a glimpse at five weapons (axe, fan, syringe, dagger, and claw), plus a sixth weapon that can be viewed once you’ve completed a simple puzzle. After finishing the puzzle, you’re also given the opportunity to download the image above as a wallpaper in a variety of sizes.

I would love to tell you more, but this is the extent of our knowledge about AC: Brotherhood.

- Dr Strange Lulz

So lets start off with a little back story shall we?

skate. (referred to as OG skate in the community) was developed by EA Black Box and released in September of 2007. A first time venture into the genre, skate. revolutionized skateboarding games with a groundbreaking control scheme. Instead of the tired “push a button – do a trick” method used in games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater, skate’s controls were instead based on using the controller as one would use their body if they were actually skating. The left analog stick controls the players body, allowing him to turn, rotate, and flip; while the right analog let the player control the action of his board and feet, mimicking the actions of the feet in order to manipulate the board into doing flip tricks.

This control scheme, while seeming incredibly simple allows for a much more detailed level of control, leading to outstandingly innovative new tricks coming out every day.

The singleplayer of Skate 3 is based on taking your skateboarding career to the next level, in OG skate the player took the role of an up and coming skater just getting signed to a team, in skate 2 you were making a comeback after some time in jail. Skate 3 has the player forming his own company and trying to sell 1,000,000 boards.

You go about selling the boards by completing challenges, filming, photoshoots, creating skateparks and graphics that other people download, it’s been stated that you don’t even have to play the singleplayer in order to unlock the entire game.

Skate 3 takes place in the brand new city of Port Carverton, which is significantly larger than San Vanelona as well as being a skater’s mecca. Instead of being chased away by security guards, they will tell you where to find some of the best spots in town.

We’ll have more on this over the course of the next few days.