Left 4 Dead 2 Under Fire!


Valve is getting major backlash for the launch of Left 4 Dead 2 (due Nov 2009). Gamers who play L4D for the most part feel that the new elements should be included with their original purchase.


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Funcom is fine-tuning a new massively multiplayer online role-playing game, The Secret World.

In development for more than five years, and full production for the last three years, The Secret World is being created for play on PCs and the Xbox 360. The setting is the modern-day real world, in which evil is rearing its head. Monsters, demons, vampires and other threats are all part of advancing prophecies leading up to an ultimate battle between good and evil.


"When you create a character you are a regular person but suddenly you have this awesome power that comes from within you that allows you to use magical weapons, to magic, to allow you to do things that normal people can't do," says Funcom creative director Ragnar Tornquist. "You are being called into action as part of this army to stem evil, to fight … these terrifying shadows from between worlds from rising and causing havoc in our world."

Tornquist did not give a hard and fast release date when he previewed the game at the Game Developers Conference. Instead, he talked about the genesis of the game. Few games beyond Grand Theft Auto and sports games use the real world for a setting, he said. "There's very little that takes in that contemporary dark canvas that is so prevalent in books and in comic books like Hellblazer and Sandman, for example, or movies and TV shows like Buffy and Angel."

Funcom (Age of Conan; Anarchy Online) has woven a backstory that goes 100 million years into the past. "We are drawing from ancient history and mythology, fairy tales, pop culture and conspiracy theories. We are talking all those and combining it into a coherent reality of our own making."
Different from other MMORPGs, The Secret World will have no classes and no leveling up. "We want to get away from the grind," he says. "The Secret World begins where other MMOs end, is sort of our philosophy. We want everyone to participate in the end game. We want everyone to fight the really cool monsters and use the really cool weapons."

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Dragon Age: Origins is a new IP coming out of the BioWare studios. It’s currently slated for release in the second half of 2009 for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. After playing the demo, Dragon Age should be a great buy for those looking for a grittier, bloodier Baldur’s Gate.



The game takes place in the land of Ferelden, where a long forgotten enemy called ‘The Blight’ has once again risen up and is taking over the land. Ferelden is painted as a world in peril, where evil and corruption reign and hope is all but lost. It is up to the player to turn the tide and fight off the Blight to restore the land.The game’s character creation, while not demoed, seems to quite in depth. Depending on which race (human,elf, or dwarf), gender, and economic class, and fighting class (warrior, mage, or rogue) you pick, the world and the people in it will act differently around you. These options will also change the options presented to your character as well as changing which prelude and ending you will experience. There will also be more options to customize your character class. For example, you could make a slow, heavy hitting warrior, or you can have a speed basedwarrior who focuses on quick light attacks.



The demo level took place in a tower and the objective was to get to the top of the tower and kill the boss. The player character was accompanied by four NPC characters, each a different class from the main character. These characters can react according to what your main character is doing or the player can control each of them individually. The AI seemed well balanced and acted according to the situation. For example, the mage would use spells that were useful during the current situation and would heal only when appropriate. They would stay close to the player character unless directed to do otherwise so you don't have to worry about your backup wandering off to follow an enemy who is running away.


The demo used controls similar to Diablo or Baldur’s Gate. The display featured a spell/ability chart at the bottom which you could customize according to which spells you wanted to use. At any time you could pause the game, open your spell/ability tree, and swap out one spell for another depending on what you wanted to use at any given time. The game’s environments are filled with rich color and vivid lighting that really gets the mood of the area across . The environments were also very interactive, with levers to pull, which released dog type creatures to aid your party, boxes to break, treasure to find, and all sorts of things you could set on fire. The environments and spells are dynamic, so finding the right combination of spells can help immensely. If you happened to spill some oil on the ground (say from a barrel in the room) and then use a fire spell, you can ignite the oil and burn any enemies standing in the area. The character models are pretty detailed with their appearances changing depending on what items they have equipped at the time.



Dragon Age: Origins looks to be one of the standout titles for the year. BioWare is returning to its roots with Dragon Age and it's going to be a good move. The demo was just a small taste of what is to come, but this latest offering from BioWare seems like it could engage an entire new generation in fantastic dungeon adventures such as Baldur's Gate.

review credited to: Adell Starr - thanks Adell!

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CHECK OUT THE EPIC MMORPG LEET UBER LOOT GUILDIE RAID-FEST OVERLORD SWEEPS

GameRigs has hooked up with Beckett's Massive Online Gamer Magazine and BradyGames, AMD , Crucial, SteelSeries, NEC, Tritton, Case Ace, to bring you the EPIC MMORPG LEET UBER LOOT GUILDIE RAID-FEST OVERLORD SWEEPS

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Congrats to all the winners of the Crysis Warhead Maximum Sweepstakes !

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