I just love it when my biases are validated by empirical evidence. Do you guys remember Ubisoft? It’s a French company that publishes games. I don’t know about you, but I’m currently boycotting them for their asinine antics. In particular they are in the habit of horribly mistreating their customers. Most people probably imagine Ubi to be one of those tightly run, military-style corporations that don’t tolerate any kind of inaccuracy or lack of discipline. This must be why they are so hell bent on using intrusive and damaging DRM schemes, and making ridiculous statements about piracy.

Well, guess what, this perception is wrong. There was this one episode when they patched one of their games (Rainbow Six Vegas 2) with an illegal third-party No-CD crack. It didn’t get much publicity, but it happened. Now they’ve outdone themselves yet again. Their game Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood happens to have a Digital Deluxe version. And that version happens to have music in the form of MP3s. And those MP3s happen to originate from some pirate who put them up as a torrent. Make no mistake, this is still Ubi’s own music. They just included a pirated version of it with their game. This is the company which claims huge damages from piracy, and “leads” the fight against it. Do what you will, but I’m continuing my boycott.

Publisher: E. McNeill
Developer: E. McNeill
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, .NET 4 Framework, XNA 4 Redistributable, Windows Media Player, 1024×768 or higher monitor resolution
Genre: Strategy
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: Available now

The problem with large publishers and some of the more prominent development studios is that, despite having the know-how and the resources to make great games, they often prove themselves to have lost touch with the common man. When forced to choose between the reasonable and the unreasonable (but popular with the ignorant shareholders), they tend to reliably go for the latter. The result is a slew of otherwise easily avoidable problems for the end users, which in turn pushes people towards unsavory acts such as piracy. All of this is yet another good reason to look closely at the indie scene, which, while having smaller budgets, is arguably more creative and certainly friendlier to the consumer.

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Manufacturer: SteelSeries
MSRP: $149.99

Last time I reviewed a set of headphones, I didn’t get to hang onto them for long. About a month after publication, they were stolen from me by the marauding employees of Iberia Airlines. I was furious and almost declared war on Spain, but then decided it wasn’t worth it. Those were some good headphones, and I got them for free, and well…easy come, easy go. The true problem was that I was left without a decent set of phones. Since I am very particular about my requirements, it took me 11 months to find something that I felt was reasonably close to what I wanted. Sadly, there wasn’t a way to play with the headset before buying it, but after talking to some people I decided to place my trust in the words of Bones, an Avault forums regular who speaks very highly of SteelSeries. Although he recommended the Siberia V2, I decided that I might as well go for top of the line, so I bought the 7H USB instead.

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Publisher: Phoenix Online
Developer: Phoenix Online
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7; 1 GHz Intel or AMD CPU; 512 MB RAM (1 GB for Vista/Win 7); 256 MB DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphics card; DirectX 9.0c or higher.
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

Earlier in my review of The Silver Lining: I went through Episode 1 nearly unscathed, but then braved Episode 2 and got pretty scathed. That’s pretty much what happened. The good thing is that now, with the third installment pitted against me, I don’t have to worry about writing of things like graphics, voice acting, and mechanics. I already covered them all, and unless some drastic change occurs in future episodes, assume that whatever I said in previous reviews still holds true. This frees me up to talk about some of the finer points of Episode 3, so here we go.

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Publisher: Kalypso Media
Developer: Realmforge Studios
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.0 GHz Dual Core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphics card, DirectX 9.0c, 2 GB disk space.
Genre: Strategy RPG
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Dungeon Keeper 2 is one of my favorite games. Yes, I know I am supposed to be reviewing a game called Dungeons; just bear with me, will you? As I was saying, DK2 was a great game. In it you assumed the role of a malevolent being who designs, creates, populates and defends a dungeon. That’s the sort of dungeon where adventuring heroes go, not the other kind. It was a welcome change of pace from every other game out there in which you had to be the hero. There was also the original Dungeon Keeper (designed by Peter Molyneux), but trust me, DK2 was the one you really wanted to play. There was going to be a DK3, but it was cancelled, and then Bullfrog Productions, the developer of the series, closed its doors forever.

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Starting today, Mortal Online is offering a free trial. Simply create an account and participate in the game for 14 days. No credit card information will be required to set up the trial. Trial accounts are restricted to 600 skill points and the maximum for all skills is capped at 60. Players new to the game should take a look at the Character Creation Tutorial Video (left). The video was created by the Mortal Online Community and offers helpful insight for new players.

As I sit down to review my facts and write this article, I am once again overcome by feelings of anger, helplessness and indignation. Ladies and gentlemen, I have been robbed. You have been robbed as well, you just don’t know it yet. No, I’m not talking about taxes. This time around, all of us calling ourselves “gamers” have been wronged by a person who probably imagines him or herself to be a mighty pirate, but in reality is nothing but a contemptible thief. I am talking, of course, about the recent theft of Crysis 2 from its developer, Crytek.

So what actually happened? According to certain forums, a near-final build of the game, which included both single-player and multiplayer, was stolen. To make matters worse, a master authentication key is believed to be lost as well. Apparently all of the above is now being made available via torrents, and a lot of dishonest and not particularly intelligent people are both downloading and seeding it. Screenshots and videos of Crysis 2 abound, and publisher Electronic Arts has released a statement condemning the criminals and reminding all of us that “Piracy continues to damage the PC packaged goods market and the PC development community.”

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I was going to write an article about why no MMO currently out (or in development) stands a chance at beating World of Warcraft, but then I noticed that Extra Credits already explained it eloquently. As I was watching their video, I found myself in agreement when it came to all things except one. I genuinely do not believe that transition to free-to-play models is the future. It may sound nice in theory, but upon closer examination it becomes evident that games are not magically exempt from the notion of “you get what you pay for.”

There are three types of free games. The first type is genuinely free. It usually includes small, indie offerings, proofs of concept, and student projects. Sometimes the developers ask for donations, but it is always clear that they are not expecting to get paid and not counting on the money. The games in this category can be quite good, excellent at times, yet it is evident at first glance that they have low production values. Indie is a good thing, but they are not in the business of competing with AAA titles, and just as it would be premature to dismiss the value in indie games, so is it immature to dismiss the value of big AAA games.

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Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Neocore Games
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista/Win 7, 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent CPU, 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB for Vista/Win 7), 256 MB Radeon X700 or equivalent graphics card, DirectX 9-compatible sound card, DirectX 9.0c, 8 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Strategy RPG
Release date: Available now

I feel the need to start off on a bit of a somber note here. Perhaps even tragic, depending on the way you look at it. Ladies and gentlemen, we historians universally agree that King Arthur did not actually exist. The logic-nerds among you have undoubtedly made the connection already—yes, this means he cannot possibly return to rule England once again. Sorry, I hope you aren’t too upset about this. If you are, allow me to offer something of a remedy. You can escape into games, like you always have. In this case, I even have a reasonably fitting game in mind: King Arthur: The Druids. I say “reasonably” because The Druids is an expansion in which you don’t play as Arthur himself, but since you have to own the full game to enjoy it, most of your basic Arthur-related needs should be met.

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Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.3 GHz Pentium IV or equivalent CPU, 1 GB RAM, GeForce FX/Radeon 9500 or better graphics card, 25 GB hard-drive space, broadband Internet connection
Genre: MMORPG
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

How does one review something that is vast? World of Warcraft has had its cataclysm, and now everything is changed. All of the old zones in Azeroth have been modified in one way or another. Aside from topographical changes such as chasms and volcanoes, there are lore-based alterations such as castles built and towns destroyed. There are also numerous quest changes, with each zone receiving a thorough overhaul in quests and storyline. There are also a number of new zones, two new races, a new profession, a gear and talent overhaul, guild advancement, and many other things. A month ago when I wrote about the changes to two of the zones, it took me seven paragraphs to barely scratch the surface. Today I will try to describe an entire world, so let’s get started.

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Did you know that tomorrow is New Year’s? I too did at some point, but then I forgot because I was playing World of Warcraft. What? No, YOU’RE a nerd! And then I switched to programming this really cool thing that extracts data from the World of Warcraft Armory. Anyway, last night I was gently reminded that it would have been nice to turn in my “Best Games of 2010” article that was due a week ago. You know what I did then? I went and I programmed some more. In fact I was programming until 12:30 AM, which is actually later than I usually stay up playing games. (I hope my editor doesn’t read this. Oh wait…)

In all solemn seriousness, 2010 has been a good year for me gaming-wise. I beat 16 games and played many others that I did not beat. To be honest most of them were actually older ones, such as Psychonauts or The Witcher, but some were quite new. I played and reviewed Supreme Commander 2, Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising, and a bunch of smaller games. Most notably, however, I played Starcraft 2, and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

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Publisher: Ronimo Games
Developer: Ronimo Games
System requirements: Windows 7/Vista/XP; 1GHz CPU; 256 MB RAM; 64 MB graphics card; 300 MB drive space
Genre: Strategy Tower Defense
ESRB rating: Everyone 10+
Release date: Available now

“Did we really need another game of the X genre?” A lot of reviewers seem to ask that question. Usually it’s a rhetorical one, and the implied answer is no. Personally, I like to give explanations that are a little more open. So, if someone was to ask me whether we needed another tower defense game, I would say that we absolutely do not…unless the game is fun to play, pretty, humorous, and not set in World War II. Speaking of such games, I was lucky enough to score a copy of Swords & Soldiers for PC, which I played from start to finish and am now ready to pass judgment and share my cynical pronouncements with anyone who will listen, which should be everyone.

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Basement virgins, rejoice! Real relationships may not be a part of your life, but now, thanks to your brethren over at ThriXXX, you can grope poorly modeled virtual women to your heart’s content. Known (among your peers) for games such as 3D SexVilla, Fetish 3D and 3D Slut, this developer has announced a new project, which will leverage the power of Microsoft Kinect to allow you to “use full body or hand gestures, voice commands and even real world [objects] to control interactions in-game and between two active participants.”

Source: MSNBC

I come bringing glorious news for all you Blizzard fans! Earlier, there was a leak of an internal Blizzard schedule, from which the following release schedule can be derived:

Diablo III – Q4 of 2011
StarCraft II expansion 1 – Q4 2011
World of Warcraft movie – Q4 2012
World of Warcraft expansion 4 – Q2 2012
StarCraft II expansion 2 – 2013
Diablo III expansion 1 – 2013

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Ars Technica reports that Federal authorities in the criminal Xbox modding trial dropped their case yesterday.

“The government has decided to dismiss the indictment,” prosecutor Allen Chiu told the judge.

The government had charged 28 year-old Matthew Crippen, a hotel car-parking manager who ran a small business from his Anaheim home modifying the firmware on Xbox 360 optical drives to make them capable of running pirated or unauthorized games. It was to be the first jury trial to test the anti-circumvention provisions of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act as applied to game consoles. The law makes it a crime to offer a product or service that circumvents a technological measure designed to protect copyright material. Each of the two charges carried a maximum five years.