Written by: Michael Smith

Gaming in Manhattan! Most of the major gaming events in North America take place on the Left Coast, including the recently concluded E3 Expo in Los Angeles and the Penny Arcade PAX event in Seattle. So, when Ubisoft invited Adrenaline Vault to their holiday release party in New York City, we jumped at the chance to bring you all of the details about the publisher´s games due out this holiday season. The best of them include an innovative third-person combat game, a sequel offering a more realistic direction than its sci-fi-based predecessor, another sequel featuring a refreshing change of attitude towards the gamer, and a simple yet very addictive restaurant-management sim.

Tom Clancy’s Endwar
Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
Release date: 11/4 (Xbox, PS3), Spring 2009 (PC)

(more…)

I’ll keep this short and sweet. Right now, I feel like our staff of volunteers is the best you’ll find on the Web. These guys and one gal — Andrew Clark, Bob Mandel, Ed Humphries, Jason Pitruzzello, Michael Smith, Michele White and Ryan Asher — have not only been with us since our relaunch in early 2007, they’ve consistently churned out reviews that make me feel proud when I click the “publish” button and a new article goes live on the site.

But as you can see, the list of names is short. And the interactive entertainment industry is big — and growing bigger. How can we keep up? By leaving the past where it is and focusing on what’s new. That includes concentrating our energies on current generation gaming platforms and the PC. The former will soon include the iPhone.

We need to add some names to our ranks, though. We need volunteers who can sacrifice a few hours each week to share their thoughts via AVault about the games they’re playing. We require five things: that you be at least 18 years of age, that you live in the U.S., that you’re passionate about gaming, that you know what works and what doesn’t work in a game, and that you can write well. In exchange, we’ll send you new games on a regular basis.

Here are the positions we’re looking to fill. If you fit the profile, drop me a line. I’d love to add your name to the best staff of volunteer game reviewers on the Web:

• iPhone game reviewer
• PS3 game reviewer
• News reporter

Best,
David Laprad

Written by: David Laprad

For a while now, the PC game has been lying in intensive care, its slowing heartbeat upsetting diehard PC gamers the world over. If we could, we’d send flowers, but those of us who resisted buying a WiiFit don’t have anything left after spending our loose cash on Xbox Live Arcade, so all we’ve got to offer is our sympathy. We’re sure the PC will understand, though, as it draws its last breath and then flatlines. “We’ll always have DOOM (or whatever game drew us to the PC in the first place),” we’ll say as we wipe a tear from our cheeks.

(more…)

Written by: Jason Pitruzzello

This is the final installment in a three-part series.

It doesn’t. In fact, citing Thompson as an example can’t possibly do this for several reasons. First, in order for it to be clinical, a medical professional (mental health or some other kind of medical doctor) would have to use this in a controlled case study. No such thing has happened. Second, if you remember all the claims Walsh made about the school shooters, one of them was that they all spent countless hours practicing with the games before enacting them in real life. But that’s not what Thompson did. It’s quite the opposite. He shows “suicide bomber” behavior precisely because he’s bad at the game and never had enough time to play to get good at it. So which is it? Does playing violent video games a lot result in violent behavior or just playing them a little and being really bad at them? It can’t be both, otherwise there would be 8 million school shooters in the United States alone because, according to Gamespot, 8.1 million copies of Halo 3 alone have been purchased, not counting Doom, Doom II, Doom III, Quake, Quake II, etc.

(more…)

Written by: Jason Pitruzzello

This is the second installment in a three-part series. The final installment will be published on Friday of this week.

Next, we should take up the case of Robert Steinhauser. In April of 2002, he gunned down teachers and students at his former school, from which he had been expelled. Like Auvine, this did not happen in the U.S.; Erfurt is an old town in Germany with roots as far back as 742 C.E. As such, its relevance to the psychological conditioning of Americans is perhaps suspect. Like the case of Auvine, the best sources of information aren’t in English, and thus unavailable to those, like myself, who don’t understand German. In terms of intellectual rigor, I can’t claim to have all of the facts; if Walsh and LaRouche’s other writers were themselves were also intellectually rigorous in their study of non-American cases such as these, they would also admit the same thing. Instead, the following quotations are used as evidence:

(more…)

Written by: Jason Pitruzzello

This is the first installment in a three-part series. The final installments will be published on Wednesday and Friday of this week.

A few months ago, I had the privilege of being given pamphlets about candidates for political office. Despite the fact that I toss all such material in the trash, as I keep up with the candidates for various offices myself and do not need their propaganda about themselves or others to stay informed, I do like the fact that such activities go on because it is healthy political expression. On my campus, there’s a small but dedicated group of students who support Lyndon LaRouche for president, and every few weeks, I’ll get one of their packets handed to me. Most of the time, I toss them away like any other.

(more…)

Written by: Bob Mandel

Recently, I decided to upgrade to a large widescreen LCD monitor for computer gaming, and since that time have spent months educating myself about the surprising complexities surrounding a truly informed choice. Gamers have special needs when it comes to such monitors, including a display that’s large, easy to read, allows for quick identification of foes or pickups in dark areas, can handle lots of animation without hiccups or ghosting and supports multiple resolutions to facilitate playing many different types of games.

(more…)

Written by: Bob Mandel

Now that we’ve begun a new gaming year, I’m writing for the first time about the top hardware goodies of the past year for PC gamers. If you have any extra cash or gift cards from the holidays, this article might give you some ideas for possible purchases. This is an opportunity for me to talk the best new hardware of direct interest to the gaming community. In thinking carefully about what would be of greatest use to our readers, I decided that commenting on standalone products — not components such as graphics cards, motherboards and hard drives — would appeal to the largest audience. Although I do not subject selections to rigorous technical tests or offer comparative benchmarks, I choose products that appear to contain the most useful features and to be the easiest to use. All the selections reflect personal preferences, which I try to make explicit.

(more…)

Written by: Bob Mandel

Despite the unprecedented explosion of blockbuster retail releases this holiday season, the casual computer games market — largely operating through Internet downloads rather than boxed products in stores — continues to flourish. These titles generally sell for a lower price, with lower system requirements and lower minimum time commitment to learn how to play, and they arguably provide more bang for the buck then their retail counterparts. Reflecting the imagination of small independent developers, these modest products may also evidence more creativity and whimsy than many of the “me-too” releases from major corporate publishers.

So for the eighth year in a row, while other game sites focus on conventional retail offerings, I unearth for your playing pleasure the very best hidden treasures casual gaming has to offer. To select the 12 award winners for 2007, I spent many hours scouring hundreds of titles developed in countries all over the world, playing through the full registered versions to get a solid sense of their overall value. One of the pleasures of doing this is meeting some of the nicest and most imaginative people on the planet. Because of intrusive and annoying copy protection schemes, along with many gamers owning offline computers which they frequently upgrade, I tested only offerings where it is possible to register and play the single-player mode on a non-Internet-connected computer.

(more…)

Written by: Bob Mandel

In recent years, personal gaming computers have penetrated everyday life in unprecedented ways. Because of extraordinary hardware developments facilitating dramatically expanded capabilities, the market has been decisively segmented: large, impersonal hardware companies sell low-end gaming computers to mass consumers for as little as $500 to $700, while small, personal boutique firms sell loaded units costing over ten times that much to high-end hardcore users. Recently, however, a fascinating merging of efforts has occurred between these two types of companies. This article analyzes the intriguing implications for PC gamers, utilizing extensive interview responses from key visionaries at the pivotal companies involved: Rahul Sood, chief technology officer at HP Gaming, and Susan Kittleson, director of global gaming strategy at Dell.

(more…)