Teens in Tech Games

Introduction-

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy game currently under development by Blizzard Entertainmentas a sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft. The game is being developed for concurrent release on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Currently the beta is available to play for anyone who pre-ordered StarCraft II. Blizzard has tried not to change too many basic features of StarCraft while making StarCraft II, and one of the biggest changes they had planned was shunned by the players, so Blizzard has their work cut out for them if they want to make an innovative game that can’t be too much different from StarCraft I.

The Good-

Some of the really good features of StarCraft II include the new graphics, smoothness of gameplay, and the online matchmaking system. I can’t tell you if the campaign is good yet, since they have not released it on the beta, but I can only assume it will be amazing. Originally, the updated graphics that Blizzard was trying to use was really hated by the players, so they had to make some tweaks to their looks to make the game look more like StarCraft I, while still looking new enough to be StarCraft II. I think they did a really good job at this, since the graphics look really nice, but you can still see that the game is StarCraft. The online matchmaking system they have is probably one of the best I have ever used. They have really narrowed down the differences in skill levels of opponents by having 5 different divisions (Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum), and within your division you have a rank, which is all then used to match you with the closest match. You might think this would make matchmaking take forever, but it doesn’t! Usually my wait times are less than 10 seconds, and I am able to start new games constantly, it is truly a great system.

The Bad-

My main problem with StarCraft II is that there really is one very basic strategy that will win more than 75% of your matches, and that is the rush. Basically, all you need to do is build as many of the basic attacking units as you can (Marines, Zealots, Zerglings), and upon getting about 5-10 of them, rush them all to your opponents base and take him down, it is really that simple most of the time. I am amazed that this works so efficiently and requires so little skill, yet the game is supposed to be a “real-time strategy” game. To me there should be a lot more thinking involved in an RTS. My thoughts originally were that it would be changed, since this is only the beta, but Blizzard announced that their plan was for matches to last an average of 15 minutes. This means that they actually planned for rushing to win all the time, which really is disappointing. Blizzard took a lot of time building this game, and made elaborate end game units that cost a ton of supplies to make, but with all the rushing that takes place, more than 95% of your matches wont even see any of these units doing battle, which again is just disappointing.

Overall-

Overall I think that the system they used and the graphics are all really good, but the gameplay is not very fun. It is disappointing when a game takes so many years to be made yet is conquered by such a simple tactic as rushing. This definitely is the not the game I was hoping for, but hey, its just the beta, and hopefully some big changes can and will be made by launch time.

Funcom, the developer of Age of Conan, is offering a exclusive pre-launch sneak peek for ‘Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer’, the first expansion for the best-selling massively multiplayer online game ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’. In cooperation with IGN.com, Funcom is giving thousands of gamers the opportunity to jump into the final days of the ‘Rise of the Godslayer’ beta and experience much of the content and gameplay that will be made available when the long-awaited expansion launches online and as a part of an updated package in retail on May 11th.

Starting today IGN.com will be handing out exclusive keys that will allow anyone to jump onto a special ‘Rise of the Godslayer´ beta server and play from Thursday May 6th at 3:00am PDT / 12:00 CET to late Monday evening – the day before launch. Keys are limited and are only available to Fileplanet subscribers. Certain European websites, such as Buffed.de in Germany, will also be distributing a limited number of keys during the next few days. We encourage gamers to keep an eye on the official community sites for the latest news on where to get keys.

Also, here are some interesting status Funcom provided for us:

Launching in May 2008 ‘Age of Conan’ quickly became a smash hit in retail, shipping over 1.2 million copies around the world. In the weeks after launch ‘Age of Conan’ simultaneously topped the charts in 17 countries, and the game received critical acclaim from gaming press across the globe. ‘Age of Conan’ is now available in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and Polish localized versions, and is being prepared for launch Korea. The game has received multiple upgrades since launch, adding new playfields, multiple gameplay changes and several fixes.

Funcom is an independent developer and publisher of online games for PC, consoles and mobile platforms.

Blizzard, the publishing house behind such titles as World of Warcraft, Warcraft, Diablo and others, today announced that on July 27, 2010 the long awaited Starcraft 2 will become available. Starcraft 2 is a long awaited update to the 1998 hit game Starcraft. The sequel game once again pits three reaces against each other: Terrans, the Zerg, and the Protoss, with units from each race pitted against each other both in a single-player game as well as with a revamped Battle.net matchmaking system. The original game shipped more than 11 million copies, including one expansion, Brood War.

It’s good to note that Blizzard kept Starcraft 2 in beta for year, to to polish the gameplay before its release. The game will include 29 missions, plus several challenge mini-modes, according to Blizzard. According to Blizzard;

The solo campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will continue the epic saga where it left off in StarCraft: Brood War®. The story line chronicles the exploits of marshal-turned-rebel-leader Jim Raynor and features both familiar faces and new heroes. Players will be able to tailor the experience, choosing their own mission path and selecting technology and research upgrades to suit their playing style throughout the 29-mission campaign. Several challenge-mode mini-games will also be included, with focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies.

Starcraft 2 will be released in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Pricing for the game has not yet been released. Players will also be able to purchase StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty directly from Blizzard Entertainment shortly after the retail launch.

2XL Games, the company behind the hit game ATV Off-road Fury and MX Unleashed, today announced the release of their new motocross racing game for the PC, 2XL Supercross. The new game offers a new rhythm-based, off-road racing experience that’s fun to play, but adds some challenges as well. 2XL Supercross is also available on the Apple App Store.

There are some hidden features inside the game, like gaining secret jump combinations by mastering the physics of a specific jump. Also, Motocross champion Stephane Roncada designed custom Supercross and Freestyle tracks in this high-speed excursion.

2XL Supercross comes with three levels; Time Trials, Practice and Racing. You can also choose three different types of motorcycles to race on — the 125cc, 250cc and 450cc bikes.

One of my favorite features of the game is the online element — even through the game is played through Steam, there are statistics and rankings live on the web when you play.

2XL Supercross is now available on Steam for $9.99, and is coming soon to additional digital distribution outlets. You can check out a trailer of the game below.

Iceberg Interactive and Gaijin Entertainment today announced that Wings of Prey is now available in the UK at major retailers and independent games shops. Wings of Prey is a Windows based game.

According to Iceberg and Gaijin, the World War II spectacle comes in a luxurious slipcase packaging and will also be released in retail in the German-speaking territories, Scandinavia, Benelux and France by Iceberg Interactive and its partners in May and June 2010.

Some Wings of Prey features include;

• Authentic World War atmosphere: Cutting edge technologies with highly detailed visuals bring the epic battles to life
• Engage in more than 50 missions from famous historical battles over Eastern and Western Europe
• Historically accurate aircrafts: Experience over 40 planes including fighters, battle planes and bombers. Learn to master Spitfire, Mustang, Messerschmitt and many more.
• Flexible difficulty level system: from arcade to realistic simulation
• Downloadable content support: more planes and missions coming in 2010
• Support of 6-DOF TrachIR, TripleHead2Go, Saitek and Thrustmaster joysticks, mouse and voice headsets
• Vast multiplayer: 4 game modes to choose; VoIP, lobby, game system, leaderboards, friends lists, join-in-progress and host migration features provide great experience
• Realistic sound effects and original music from Jeremy Soule

If you’re a reader of Teens in Tech Games, and based in the UK, go ahead and pick up Wings of Prey in your local game shop, and let us know what you think in the comments!

The release date has been announced for the much-anticipated Blood Sports content patch (v1.4), which includes four newly-designed PvP areas, more than 500 achievements, a Clan Wars system and the expansive region of Deadfall. The patch will be available for existing players on May 7.

With more than five months of development on a PvP update, developers at Fallen Earth are introducing Blood Sports, featuring four new PvP matches — Deathmatch, Survival, Capture the Flag and Assault — allowing players the opportunity to queue up for all-out brawls from anywhere in world. Deathtoll Points earned for participation and wins can also be used to purchase new, high-end PvP-oriented armor and gear.

Additionally the Deadfall region, which expands the current level cap to 50, will introduce more than 130 new missions, extended storylines, mutant mounts and several new craftable items with a new component. In Deadfall, players will also experience a vastly changed landscape with five new settlements to explore.

According to the company behind Fallen Earth, existing Fallen Earth subscribers will have access to the content patch beginning May 7, and new players will be able to purchase Fallen Earth Blood Sports from several digital and retail outlets, which includes the Blood Sports content patch in addition to all the original Fallen Earth content.

Introduction-

Assassin’s Creed II is a third person action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and Microsoft Windows. It is the second video game installment of the Assassin’s Creed series and is a direct sequel to the 2007 video game Assassin’s Creed. The game was released on video game consoles in November 2009, and will be released on Microsoft Windows in February 2010 in Europe and in March 2010 in North America.

First Impressions-

When I first watched the trailers for Assassin’s Creed II, I was blown away. The graphics were the first thing that really caught my attention, and they were simply amazing — some of the most realistic graphics I have ever seen. The story line seemed kind of weird, but then again, it is Assassin’s Creed, and the story in the first game was a bit strange too. The whole “explore the world how you want to” idea is really cool, and I enjoy being in control of the game I am playing, not the other way around. Upon first playing the game, I realized that the controls were fairly easy to use and remember, and the overall gameplay was extremely smooth. My first impression of this game was definately that this would be a great game.

The Good-

The good parts of this game are not too much different than my first impressions were, the graphics were great, fun and fairly easy to manipulate gameplay, and the overall smoothness of the game. To me, the most impressing part of this game was in fact how smoothly it ran and how quickly it loads new maps and locations. The generally short load times make the game more fun to play, since you don’t have to wait ten minutes to clear a 5 minute mission.

The Bad-

One thing that can actually be more annoying than good to some people is in fact the openness of the game. Many people might get lost wandering off to some random areas where they no longer are following the main story line, or they will get caught up doing a side story for a majority of their time. For most people, this will add to the greatness of the game, but for some it can cause confusion and frustration.

Overall-

Overall, I thought that this game was really fun, and extremelly addicting. The always changing story and constant twists make for a suprise every time. Sure, the game starts out slow… really slow, but if you just hang in there for a bit, the real fun will begin. Aside from the extremely borin start, this game is truely epic, and I would definately rate it a 4.5 out of 5.

At Spike’s Video Game Awards Medal of Honor was previewed. What can we expect from this game?

The game actually does look cool. Although it looks like a Call of Duty knock off, I think it will be a popular game. Considering the Medal of Honor games made shooters, as we know them, can it compete with Call of Duty?

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was a hit and it would be hard for Medal of Honor to beat it. Call of Duty has both that FPS and RPG aspect to the game. You can level, earn guns, earn challenges, and kill people. I think Medal of Honor will be more of a campaign game. Call of Duty didn’t have one of the greatest campaigns, so I think Medal of Honor will try to beat that.

Medal of Honor will be taking place in Afghanistan. One of the developers stated, “Medal of Honor is “historical fiction” set against the backdrop of the current war in Afghanistan. Much like “Saving Private Ryan” is a fictional story told through the lens of a small band of characters during WWII.”

The game sounds really cool and I can not wait to hear more about it. Maybe more information will be released at CES this spring.

Introduction

League of Legends is a FREE MMORTS (Massivley Multiplayer Online Real-Time Strategy) which was created by Riot games. LoL (League of Legends) was inspired by the Defense of the Ancients map for Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. It was first announced on October 7, 2008 and released on October 27, 2009. The game was in a closed beta from April 10, 2009 to October 22, 2009. It then transitioned to open beta until release.

First Impressions

I played the original version of LoL, which was called DoTA, for a while before I had even heard of this new and improved version which was not being held back by the Warcraft engine. While looking at game videos, I thought that it just looked like they took DoTA, and just made the graphics better, but as you will find out, I was wrong. I installed the game, and logged in. Right away I could see huge improvements with the overall system of of the game was much improved from the old Warcraft servers. I joined a queue for a match, and almost instantly you can enter a game and choose your champion. Overall, the gameplay is fairly similar to DoTA, but there were some improvements on known glitches or abusable features. My first impression was definitely that this game should be really fun, and really addicting.

The Good

There are many good aspects of this game, and probably too many to name in 1 paragraph. First, the queue system is much better than the way you had to find games in Warcraft. Now, you can invite your friends to a match and queue against random other people, and games get started really quickly. The wait times are nothing compared to how long it took to find a match in Warcraft, which makes the game less boring and time consuming. Now, actual in-game improvements include no last hitting your own creeps to cancel enemy experience and gold, tall grass, and the new item buying system. To explain the tall grass inference, with LoL, you will see many areas on the map that look like really tall grass. If you go into this grass, you will be invisible to enemy units, unless they too walk into the grass. This adds a much more aggressive playstyle to the game. As for the new item system, it is much more organized and much easier to use than the old DoTA style shops. Basically, there is ONE shop in town, instead of around 10 different ones. In this one shop, you can choose from many categories of items to find what would fit your style of play for that champion the best. Also, they implemented a new “recommended items” list for beginning players who may not know what items will work well with their champion. The user-friendliness of LoL causes more people to want to play and is really the reason why the game has grown so dramatically in 3 months since its release.

The Bad

One of the only bad aspects of LoL is that since it is a FREE TO PLAY game, the servers will sometimes go down do to server overflows, and you may have to wait a little while for them to get fixed. Also, some champions are still fairly unbalanced, but over time with new patches, this will all be fixed.

Overall

Overall, this game is a HUGE improvement of DoTA, and it is extremely fun and very, very addicting. It is a fairly difficult game to get started on just because of how different the the gameplay is compared to most other games. Once you get started, however, you will constantly improve, and you will not be able to stop playing. I think anyone who loves to play games should definitely give LoL a shot. It is FREE TO PLAY, and it will not hurt to download it and try it out.

When a friend showed me the free-to-play, online warfare first-person shooter Combat Arms for the first time last year, I was blown away. I had been introduced to an amazing world of action and warfare that I would soon become a part of. It was developed by Doobic Studios and published by Nexon, both respectable game companies, and this time they have outdone themselves. Personally, as a complete addict of this game, I can say that it is quite possibly the best free online FPS game available. With 16 high-quality war zones, 8 enticing mission types, fully customizable avatars, well over 100 weapons and even a real-world-money “Black Market”, this game will blow practically anyone away. They regularly patch the game and keep adding more and more amazing content, so you never get bored with what they offer.

It’s hard to know where to start, but let’s begin with quality. This game is free-to-download, and yet it still has first-rate quality, from the intricate and well-thought-out maps to the realistic and high-texture weapons you use. The sounds of weapons, footsteps, explosions, bullet impacts, and hit-confirmations are all top-quality and carefully chosen. I was impressed with the wide range and variety of sounds such as gunshots and reloading noises, because all of them are different. Overall, the visual and audible quality of the game is astounding, considering that it’s a free-to-play game. Next we should look at weapons: there are about 74 standard free ones, not mentioning all the rare and real-money ones. They are fully customizable, with lots of attachments. Attachments and weapons are unlocked as a player gains experience and moves up in the ranks. There are a LOT of ranks, and no one has reached the top one yet! Players can equip themselves with any weapons they want, as long as they have the rank requirements for them. A great thing about Combat Arms that sets it apart from other games is that no weapon is perfect or “cheap.” All weapons have advantages and downsides, making them all equal to each other in the long run. Weapons may excel in one area, such as power, but lack in another, such as recoil. Even the highest ranked weapons in the game have their limitations, so it is impossible to buy a weapon that will automatically own. Overall the weapons in CA make it a great playing experience. Not only does the Shop sell weapons and mods, but it also has a huge variety of character customization options. You can buy things like helmets, vests, hats, camo, etc. with in-game money (you make the money from playing the game) that make your stats better, like more protection or stamina, and also make your character stand out. The huge variety of items is great, and I always enjoy customizing my character with all the gear I need to play my best. You may be wondering: how does this company make any money? Players not only have the option of purchasing free gear in the Shop, but can also use real-world money in the “Black Market,” an online store full of improved and special edition weapons and gear. Just go out and buy a Nexon Gift Card, and buy pretty much any item you want!

There are a few serious backdrops to this game. It’s obviously not as good quality as a store-bought game, and there is the chance that it could infect your computer (free games are always crawling with viruses). Another problem is the huge amount of hackers in the game. While Nexon is doing everything it can do stop it, hackers just keep popping up, and it ruins the game for everyone. So don’t hack! Plus, the Black Market can be a real money-waster, especially since all the items are basically replicas of free gear already in the game.

In short, Combat Arms is one of the top free online shooters out there, and is my personal favorite game of all time. Any player can design their own game room from top to bottom, including what weapons are allowed, what the mission type is, what the map is, and who is invited. With a huge variety of weapons and gear available, everyone can make their avatar function exactly the way they want it to. Every mission type you can imagine is there, including Elimination, Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy, One Man Army, a campaign-mode, and even a zombie-mode! The game is always being patched, and by next month it will probably have 10% more content than when you read this last. If you want a free-to-play, modern warfare first-person shooter with more customization than any of its rivals, choose Combat Arms. It’s unbelievable.