Guild Wars 2 Thief profession was first in the spotlight one week ago. The master of stealth and surprise was the sixth archetype character of the Guild Wars 2 universe to be revealed to the public and promises to be a challenging, yet rewarding character to play with. As expected, it relies heavily on the element of surprise and it’s quick on its feet and extraordinarily evasive in order to compensate for its relatively low health points and light armor. If placed in the right hands, with skills which allows it to vanish into thin air, travel through shadows, or steal items from its opponents which then can be used as weapons, the thief will be a difficult enemy to face in PVP and a welcomed allied in group play. … More

A new “Ruin Mode” trailer and the final box art for the upcoming Red Faction: Armageddon, have been recently released by THQ. The game developed by Volition is set to be released in May 2011 on XBOX360, PS3 and PC and promises to set new standards for game defining physics-weaponry in the shooter genre. The action takes place under the surface of the Mars in ice caves and lava tubes, fifty years after the resistance originally freed the red planet. The players, walking in the shoes of Darius Mason, will fight against a new horrifying evil that threatens to extinguish all life on the planet.

… More

A new trailer video and a new website was unveiled today, March 10, 2011 for The Secret World, a massively multiplayer online game developed and published by the leading game developer Funcom. The trailer gives the player a unique peek into the gameplay, the myths and monsters and the modern-day story of the much anticipated game. Players will not be limited to classes or levels, giving them the opportunity to play their characters as they wish, in their own style, as they make their way through the real-world locations featured in the game.

“It is truly exciting for us to show gamers just how much freedom they will be able to enjoy in The Secret World,” says Director and Producer Ragnar Tørnquist. … More

War is far from over. The murder of Scholar Visari (at the end of Killzone 2), the leader of the rebellious forces, galvanized once more the Helghast into an unstoppable war-machine seeking vengeance at the cost of the ISA troops. The story picks up exactly where the one in the previous installment left off, focusing on the handful of ISA soldiers which were the spearhead of the last assault against the palace, now cut off from the rest of the ISA forces evacuating the planet and left behind on the brutally hostile Helghan homeworld. The start of the game is surprisingly promising from a plot perspective, with new, interesting and highly promising characters joining the old cast on both sides of the barricade and with a flow of events which leaves no room for breathers. The story that follows is … More

With seven open beta sessions under its belt, Rift: Planes of Telara is probably one of the most polished fantasy MMORPGs at launch. The graphics range from pleasing to breathtaking depending on one’s tastes, bugs are nonexistent or if some managed to survive they are certainly not show-stopping or heavily frustrating gameplay wise and all the game’s elements come together to create a fluid gameplay experience. But is that sufficient to keep a subscription based MMO afloat on a market in which free-to-play is the new rage? We took a look for you at what Rift hides under its shiny polished cloak so you can decide for yourself. … More

Three nVidia GTX 580 in SLI – that’s what it took to reach the high end capabilities of the new Unreal engine, unveiled today at Game Developers Conference. Epic’s VP Mark Rein clearly pointed out that the demonstration is way above the technical capabilities of the current console generation and added that “this this is our proposal for what the next generation of gaming is going to be. […] The whole idea behind this is to tell the hardware manufacturers that this is what you should be doing down the road.”

The demo used to demonstrate the new engine’s capabilities focused on a … More

During a presentation held yesterday at Game Developers Conference, Chris Donahue, head of OnLive publisher and developer relations, revealed some of the plans for the payment methods to be implemented in Europe for the cloud streaming service, such as cashcards and mobile payments.

“Our economy engine is a little bit limited at the minute but we’re looking at it,” stated Donahue. “We’re launching in Europe later this year, so we’ve got to change. They don’t accept US credit cards there. There’s pay by mobile and all those other billing things.” … More

Today, Feb 24, 2011, a partnership between Unity Studios, sister company of the leading 3D platform provider Unity, and Exit Games, the leading provider of network engines, was announced in order to introduce the perfect “couple” for MMO game development with Unity: Legion and Photon.

The powerful MMOG development framework, provided by Legion for Unity developers, comes to be complemented by Exit Games’ Photon. Easy-to-use MMO development tools of the Legion will be combined with the existing Unity work-flow as an extension of the Unity editor. … More

On March 1, 2011 a multiplayer demo of Crysis 2 will be available for download on the game’s official site. Crysis 2 is the latest installment in the science-fiction 1st person-shooter Crysis series, developed by Crytek Frankfurt and published by Electronic Arts. The demo will feature two maps, two exciting modes and multiple hours of multiplayer gaming.

The war-torn Manhattan will become an arena where players will battle six vs. six on two maps: Skyline and Pier 17. The battles taking place on the first map, Skyline, will be held on top of the rooftops and interiors of the city buildings, especially on the skyscrapers, while Pier 17 will feature an open environment. … More

Dead Space 2, the survival horror developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts, was one of the most highly anticipated games of the last twelve months. After its release it sky-rocketed in top positions in software charts across the globe and in the UK alone it stood anchored in pole position for two consecutive weeks with competitors such as Call of Duty: Black Ops and Little Big Planet 2 at its heels. And all this not without merit as the game takes the horror genre one step further. A little step, a tiny one even, but nevertheless taken in the right direction.

The action in Dead Space 2 takes place three years after the first episode which focused on the Ishimura tragedy, … More