The following article originally appeared on Video Game Design Schools. It is reprinted with the permission of its author.

Written by Alanna Hardy

Technology has done wonders for the world; it has eradicated disease, brought man to the moon (and soon Mars) and increased living standards across the globe. But its shining achievement doesn’t involve the medical sciences or space travel; it is the invention of the video game. From its earliest manifestations in the 1950s and ’60s, video games have given ceaseless joy to generations of children, who in turn pass their passion for gaming on to their children. Furthermore, the same generation that grew up with SpaceWar!, Atari and Nintendo have now borne witness to two revolutionary inventions that are changing the landscape of video-game design: the Internet and the smart device. The Internet has matured into a veritable digital arcade, where gamers can choose from countless free video games or more sophisticated MMOGs (massively multiplayer online game) such as World of Warcraft. Meanwhile, mobile gaming on smart devices – an industry worth $33 billion – is a field swelling with potential for designers. Thanks to Moore’s Law – that famous formula stating that processing power will double every two years — the nostalgic, cumbersome video game console of old has vanished, only to be replaced by the invisible sinews of the World Wide Web and the sleek smartphone.

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Publisher: Rebellion
Developer: Rebellion
System requirements: Windows Vista (SP2)/Win 7 (Windows XP is not supported), 3.0 GHz Pentium D/Athlon 64 X2 4200 or better CPU, 256 MB DirectX 10-compatible graphics card, 2 GB RAM, DirectX 10-compatible sound device, DirectX 10 or better
Genre: Shooter
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

There are plenty of opportunities out there for shooter gamers to let their inner Rambos escape, spraying bullets around like they’re confetti on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. But rare are the games in which a more careful, thoughtful approach is required for success. Sniper Elite: V2 is one such game. Developer Rebellion has crafted a handsome-looking World War II adventure that pits your covert talents and sniping skills against the Nazis and the Soviets in the blasted ruins of the German capitol in 1945.

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The following article first appeared in TuneUp: Blog About Windows. It is reprinted with permission of the author.

Author: Tibor Schiemann, President & Managing Partner, TuneUp

The resurgence in classic gaming has spurred both the nostalgic and the simply curious to explore treasures like Monkey Island (1990) or Wing Commander III (1994). Back in the old days, you could power on your trusty computer running DOS, Windows 3.x or Windows 9x and point-and-click the day away. But enjoying such classics on modern machines isn’t so easy, especially considering how much hardware and software architecture has changed over the past few decades. About 90% of the time, the good old DOS, Windows 3.x or Windows 9x games won’t even start. There are, however, some tricks for running these retro games on today’s PCs.

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Publisher: Beatshapers
Developer: Beatshapers
Genre: Arcade puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

PlayStation Vita, Sony’s fancy new handheld, released in early 2012 in North America with more than two dozen launch games. Many of them, such as Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Unit 13, were the type of game that require a considerable time investment in each play session. But most adults who play portable game systems only really use them in small chunks of time, such as on public transportation or while waiting for the end of the final spin cycle. Developer/publisher Beatshapers has helped to fill this void with Stardrone: Extreme, a fast-paced, sometimes-maddening arcade game that only takes a few minutes of your valuable time for each addictive level.

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Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Win 7/Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 2.0 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU, 3 GB RAM (4 GB for Mac), 512 MB graphics card, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound device, DirectX 9.0c, 2 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead graphic-novel series has become a cottage industry since its original publication in 2003. The television series based on the comics has become one of the AMC cable network’s most popular shows, several board games have been released, action figures by Todd McFarlane are available. You can even get drinking glasses and beer steins emblazoned with Walking Dead graphics. And now, adventure-game publisher Telltale has added to zombie lore with the first of five video-game episodes, giving you the chance to guide a troubled hero through the opening days of the zombie apocalypse.

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Tired of traipsing around the Elder Scrolls universe all by yourself? Reinforcements are on the way. Today Bethesda Softworks announced that The Elder Scrolls Online, an MMO set in the sprawling fantasy worlds of games such as Skyrim and Oblivion, is currently under construction. Details are sketchy at the moment, but it was revealed that the game will be available for PC and Mac, and has been in the works for several years. ESO game director Matt Firor says that he and his colleagues have been “working hard to create an online world in which players will be able to experience the epic Elder Scrolls universe with their friends.” Firor has set the bar high for ESO: “The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of the Elder Scrolls franchise.”

Gaming website Mass Luminosity today announced that Gaming Tribe, the company’s in-development social network portal for gamers, has moved into Beta 2. The new version of the site features many improvements, not the least of which is its independence from Facebook. Members can now see an accurate count of the number of Tribe members, a list of giveaways in which they’ve participated, and an archive of their messages. You can also see the current status of recent giveaways. In the future, Gaming Tribe will be running promotions reserved exclusively for its first 25,000 members. Currently the site lists just better than 15,000, so you still have time to get in on the action. Cooler Master is sponsoring the first event on the Beta 2 site on May 8. Click here to sign up.

Publisher: Lace Mamba Global
Developer: CBE Software
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 3.0 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU, GeForce 8400 GS/Radeon HD 4200 or better graphics card, 1 GB RAM, 2 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

Indie game development has come a long way in 20 years. It started out as one lone coder peddling 8-bit shareware games on floppy disks in plastic bags to anyone willing to try them out. Things are a bit more high-tech these days, but the passion to create a great game with minimal resources is still alive and well. Witness CBE Software, a two-man Czech development team that has created J.U.L.I.A., an intriguing and visually impressive sci-fi adventure game that tries to give a fresh outlook to a shopworn genre story.

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Apparently reports of the death of Prey 2 have been somewhat exaggerated. Developer Bethesda announced today that the sequel to Human Head/3D Realms’ 2006 shooter has not been canceled, but it will not meet its originally announced 2012 release date. Work on the game is reportedly not proceeding as quickly as first anticipated, so Bethesda has decided not to release it until the quality of the product improves.

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: BioWare
System requirements: Windows XP (SP3)/Vista (SP1)/Win 7, 1.8 GHz Core2Duo or better CPU, 1 GB RAM (XP)/2 GB RAM (Vista/Win 7), 256 MB Nvidia 7900/ATI X1800 or better graphics card, 15 GB hard-drive space
Genre: RPG/Shooter
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

The word “epic” is passed around liberally in critical media, be it the movies or videogames. The unquestioned master of the epic film was director Cecil B. DeMille, whose films carried such massive scope and reach that only Cinemascope could hold them. In gaming, developer BioWare has crafted perhaps the first true epic story in the industry’s short history with the Mass Effect series. The 80 to 100-hour journey finally reaches its end in Mass Effect 3, in which one person truly shapes the future of billions.

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Do you have young World of Warcraft players under your roof? Perhaps it would be a good idea to give your credit card statements a quick look. BillGuard, a service that helps consumers find and deal with fraudulent credit-card charges, has listed the Blizzard MMORPG as one of the top 10 sources of questionable transactions. Apparently a player can pay for their subscription using a service known as PaymentOne PhoneBill, which simply requires them to enter their telephone information on the site. According to BillGuard, “Given the young age and lack of credit card availability to some of [the game’s] users, this option has a high potential for unwanted and unauthorized purchases by young family members.” Blizzard did not immediately respond to MSNBC’s request for comment about their story. If you’re surprised to see “Blizzard Ent Wow Sub” on your bill, then you might want to have a chat with your young warriors.

Fans of the Witcher RPG series should be pleased about the news revealed by developer CD Projekt Red in their annual spring video conference today. One thousand copies of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for the Xbox 360 are being offered a week early to players who want to write their own review of the game and post it on the CD Projekt Red Facebook page. Interested prospective reviewers can find information here. Players who already own a copy of the game for the PC can pre-download the new patch on April 11 (it won’t be applied until April 17), and they can obtain a free digital backup of the software on the Good Old Games retail website. Also, Mac gamers will soon be able to buy the original Witcher game for $9.99 (PC players who own it on Steam will receive a free copy of the Mac version). And a comic based on the series is being released for iPads. Witcher 2 arrives for the Xbox on April 17.

Need money for college? Check out social gaming site Grantoo, which is hosting an online trivia contest for students on April 8. Internet payment site WePay is offering a $5,000 prize fund, which will be divided amongst the top 12 tournament players, provided they agree to donate a minimum of 10 percent of their winnings to charity. Anyone interested in participating can sign up here.

Cancel any memorial services you might be planning for PC gaming. Information has recently been revealed that shows our hobby’s most powerful platform still has some life left in it. According to a report from the non-profit PC Gaming Alliance, global revenue generated by PC gaming set a new record of $18.6 billion in 2011. China led the way with an amazing 27 percent increase over the previous year, followed by the US, Germany, the UK, Japan and Korea, whose numbers grew by 11 percent each. PCGA’s report also predicts up to 37 percent global growth by 2015, aided by digital-only software sales and the spread of broadband availability. So let your console-only friends know that we’re not going anywhere just yet.

Source: Shacknews.com

Publisher: Wadget Eye Games
Developer: Icebox Studios
System Requirements: Windows ME or later, Intel Pentium or better CPU, 64 MB RAM, Direct X-compatible graphics cards and sound devices
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: February 29, 2012

Step into the wayback machine with me for a trip to the 1990s. This was the heyday of the point-and-click adventure. Puzzle solving. Pixel hunting. Punishing difficulty with no hints to be found anywhere. Nonsensical combinations of inventory items. We’d never have the patience for games like this today; we’d just find a walkthrough on our favorite cheats site and breeze through without a care in the world. But indie developer Icebox Studios is taking a chance that there might still be dedicated adventurers out there searching for a new challenge. Hence Da New Guys: Day of the Jackass, a classic point-and-clicker with a hearty helping of dry British wit.

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