I meant to get this review out sooner but I wanted to put the game through a few more paces.

So, the renowned Modern Warfare series gets a third iteration and at that it should be the last one. Both previous games got great reviews so one should expect the same from this one as well.

With these games, a lot of people decide to play the multiplayer first and sometimes only. However, I always play the game's single player first.

As such, let's get the story out of the way. I was a little foggy on the previous games story as I had not played it for quite awhile. However, this game allowed me to figure things out pretty easily. Saying that, anyone knew to the series would have no idea on what is exactly going on. This happened to me when playing Modern Warfare 2 before playing the first one. But, at the end of the game you get the general jist anyways.

The controls throughout the game are what you would expect from a game of this caliber. They are a little different from other FPS games I have been playing recently but they didn't take long at all to get used to.

Graphics seem unchanged in my opinion. They might be a little bit better but I really can't compare side by side as I do not own the previous game. That isn't to say they are bad though. I really couldn't find any complaints about the graphics.

Now, most people get Modern Warfare for the multiplayer. And, the multiplayer is pretty expansive. There is the standard multiplayer and the Spec Ops. I tend to spend more of my time with Spec Ops.

Spec Ops has two game modes, survivor and objectives. Both modes have to players fighting side by side. Survivor just has you fighting wave after wave of enemies. This mode is a lot of fun and really gets difficult the further you get. If you want to get far you are eventually going to have to come up with some strategy. The only downside to it in my opinion is that the waves really don't change all that much. They might spawn at different locations but you can expect the same enemies every game.

Objectives are familiar to me from Modern Warfare 2 which I played a lot with my cousins. There are a lot of them and you unlock more after reaching certain levels. These offer to fine tune your skills so that you can complete the task with the best time.

Then you get to the normal multiplayer. There is a lot of game modes in this so I am not going to go through them all. Some have objectives like blow up or protect things from being blown up, capturing flags, and the normal kill everybody that isn't on your team. I mostly play Team Deathmatch but Kill Confirmed might be an even better mode. Kill Confirmed requires your team to collect killed opponents dog tags to get the point.

Like most FPS games these days, the more you play online the more you level up, and the more you unlock stuff. I won't go to far in to detail on this as most should already know about it.

There are a lot of things to like about MW3. However, I have found a lot of things to not like and they mainly stem from the multiplayer. My biggest problem is lag. This wasn't much of a problem when I first started playing but just recently it has gotten real bad. I have played games where everyone is in the green and the lag just became to much to continue to playing.

My next huge grumble is that things just don't add up. I have heard similar complaints from others so I know it isn't just me. I will shoot about 10 rounds into an opponent. This is enough to kill them. However, I mysteriously die and when I watch the kill cam I don't get a single round off. Probably stems from a smaller amount of lag, I don't know but it still pisses me off. I don't care if I die but if the other person should be dieing on my screen they should be dead.

Finally, there is the funny habit of people dieing behind objects. I start getting rounds pumped into me so I run behind something. I am out of view(and I know I am from the kill cam) but rounds magically bend in midflight to find me.

Overall, I can't complain to much. Single player is awesome with a somewhat overused but still interesting ending. The multiplayer is actually fun when you get past all the stupid stuff that happens occasionally even if it is worse than any other FPS multiplayer I have experienced. I really suggest you Play This Game. You will always find a match even if it takes a bit and hopefully some of these lag problems are fixed and the multiplayer will be all that more enjoyable.

Here it is, the debut Trailer for Grand Theft Auto V. V is for 5 just in case you didn't know.

They even had the trailer available before the release but had a countdown timer on it before you actually play it.

I'll let you view before I give any opinions or details on it. Hate to spoil it for you.

Below is the video. The above is just an image. Just in case you get confused.

Something that you may want to take note on if you are a huge MechWarrior fan is that you can reserve your pilot name now before the game is released. That way, you can make sure you get the name you want.

I already did this and luckily got a name that is hard to get on the interwebz. If you must know, it is IceNine. So, be sure to look me up when the game releases.

Doing this will also allow you to access and use other parts of the site, most notably the forum. 

Go here to get your name reserved before it is taken.

It has been two years since Piranha Games has released any information on the new MechWarrior game they are supposed to release. If you have been following the franchise at all, you saw the completely badass video they released those two years ago. Many a gamers were jizzing in their pants. 

Well, now it is official. And, it is being called MechWarrior Online. This game is to be PC exclusive(absolutely no complaints here). The game is also set to be F2P and sounds like strictly online. Don't quote me though. This is both a good thing and a bad thing for me. F2P done right could expose the game to a lot more people. But, I loved the single player campaigns. 

MechWarrior Online is obviously set in the Battletech Universe but will be around the 3048 era. The developers are saying this era will allow the game to flow with the style they want to do. Each day on Mechwarrior Online will be a day in our world and events will happen as they do in the story. Pretty exciting for me. 

There isn't a whole lot of information yet. However, PC Gamer(bastards) seem to be getting a lot of exclusive info today so you will want to keep an eye on them for more information if I don't put it up on here. 

Also, be sure to check out the official MechWarrior Online website here.

Blizzard always seems to have a heart. Or, maybe they just like the positive light/more playage they receive. I am an optimist so I will stick with the former. Blizzard is now hosting a series of auctions for former server parts that they used in the past for there WoW servers. 

Now, I mentioned that they might have a heart. This is for the fact that the proceeds from these auctions are going to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital which in all respects is a great institution to support.

For more information on the auction, go here.

For more information on St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, go here.

A lot of anniversaries it seems. This time Steam is celebrating their first Manniversary. What the hell is a manniversary you ask? 

Steam has released their new Workshop. The Steam Workshop is a submission hub that they improved upon for community created content. The perk is that Valve will comment and rate the entries as well. We will call this part one to the celebration.

Part two actually is about the Manniversary. The Manniversary is for the Mann Co store. The Mann Co store is a store for the previously mentioned user created content. With it, they are updating the store and having a huge sale. They have an awesome epamphlet here for all the details. So check it out!

FYI, if you don't check it you are an idiot. The pamphlet cover is just pure awesome. 

Let's be honest, it seems that THQ and Steam have a very loving relationship. Yet again, Steam is having another deal for THQ games. This promotion is a week long deal. If you don't know, THQ is responsible for such games as Metro 2033, Company of Heroes, Saints Row, and many more.

Today's deal is get Metro 2033 for $5. For this new of a game and frankly any game that has received decent reviews and a fair amount of press, it is extremely cheap.

New deals will be revealed the rest of the week until the 17th of this month. There is also the THQ Hit Collection that features the following games for $50(that's half off): Company of Heroes, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts, Darksiders™, Homefront, Metro 2033, MX vs ATV Reflex, Red Faction Guerrilla, Red Faction®: Armageddon™, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Saints Row 2, Titan Quest, Titan Quest - Immortal Throne, Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II, Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Retribution, and Dawn of War II Chaos Rising. 

So ya, if you are into Steam check out these deals now!

My persistent quest to find a suitable DotA replacement has led me to a game called League of Legends. Really, this game should have been my first attempt. However, I will get to that later. 

For those that don't know what DotA is, the description for League of Legends gives a good general description. "League of Legends is a session-based, multiplayer online battle-arena game where rival teams compete against one another for victory on highly stylized battlefields and landscapes. League of Legends combines elements of the role-playing and strategy genres with addictive battle action.  League of Legends brings accessible, replayable and endlessly competitive gameplay that deepens with the player's commitment."

I am going to be get straight to the point, this game just works beautifully. It is a blast to play. It has depth. 

The first thing to notice is the graphics. While not cutting edge graphics, the graphics are suitable. The art style is fantastic. You can definitely see that the game takes some of the elements from its origins. The game is colorful and pleasantly so. 

The maps are well done as well. The ones I have played thus far vary enough that they don't seem repetitive. They seem to be pretty well balanced. And, there are enough elements in them to provide some strategy. For instance, the bush idea is pretty amazing. Essentially, you can only see enemies in the bush if you are in the bush. The side quests also an alternative element that can not only help you and your team but provide more alternatives.

The heros are what you would expect from a game like this. You have your various types such as caster, ranger, and warrior. Each has their own unique special abilities. 

The abilities are upgraded as you level. You can choose which ones you want to start leveling but they only can be leveled up so far based on your level. So ultimately, you you start investing in other abilities. Overall, I would consider this a positive even though it does limit customizability. At the beginning of each match, you can select which non class based abilities you want. For instance, there is one that heals, one that revives, and one that does damage to an enemy. There are more obviously but those give you an idea. I do wish there was a more tree type structure with skills. This I feel would complete the customization.

As with most of these style of games, the true customization is with the armor, weapons, trinkets, etc. And really, these will make or break your hero. You pick the wrong combos or don't even bother with upgrading or even buying and you are sure to fail in every way possible. There is an upgrade path with these as well. Instead of just buying an item and paying for the upgrade of the weapon, you can combine different items to make an even better item. However, these upgrades can be bought outright. So, the upgrade paths are not critical but they can help with getting the better items without having to buy and then sell all the time. I just find myself buy items that I feel fit my character and they almost never end up being the items required to upgrade to a better one so I end up just buying and selling. 

Now, I feel there is one very specific reason why this game captures the essence of DotA. The people who created DotA were apart of the process of the League of Legends development! This is the reason I should have tried this alternative first.

Overall, League of Legends feels like a well polished game with an active community and user base. Best of all, it is free to play! I highly suggest you Play This Game!

Have you ever played DotA? You know, Defense of the Ancients? Essentially, it was a map for Warcraft III and its expansions. However, it had its own set of rules and goals that were unique. The goal was to destroy the enemies Ancient which was the main structure. Players control heroes that have rpg elements. The hero would level as it flights. This would allow new skills to be utilized to help in the battle. You could also purchase various items to further increase the stats of the hero. Than, there were creeps which were AI controlled minions that would spawn and go off and attack the nearest enemy unit or structure. 

I was first introduced to DotA while I attended Full Sail. I actually had never played Warcraft III before than either. However, my friends started lan'ing the game and I decided to join in. Needless to say I was hooked. 

Now, Rise of Immortals is a DotA like game without the need of Warcraft III installation. There is a desktop client for the game. Even better, the game is free. Well, there are things that you can pay for but there are no startup costs and no need to buy anything if you don't want to.

Rise of Immortals is in open Beta right now. So, knowing that fact please take what I say with a grain of salt. Some things may not be improved upon when the game reaches stable release.

For me, Rise of Immortals sucks. I love these types of games and I just can't get into it. I was really disappointed.

First, the mouse controls just don't seem right. There is nothing wrong with the setup of the keys and such. Just during the game, using the mouse just seems to not hit the correct level of responsiveness. I found my self constantly moving to spots that I didn't want to and as result faced something bad. Usually, it was my character's death. Actually, if it wasn't for this the game would be alright. For instance, I am trying to run away before I die. I move my mouse and I go to a part of the map out of the way from my healing area. I am struggling to get it back on track while also trying to click so I don't die. Bam! I am dead. I learned to get around this a bit though by just clicking on the minimap in the bottom right to get my camera where I want it. However, this isn't the ideal scenario for everything. 

Second, I found that the skills were a little under thought/developed. In these style games, your skills are a huge part of how you do battle. The mouse problem mentioned above actually hinders some of the spell use. Anyways, you get 4 skills that you can unlock and upgrade. Which is fine but there really is no skill tree and seems more like a cheap thrill. It is fine to upgrade your skills but you are stuck with the same skills with no other options. Also, by the time I reached level 20, which seems to be the max level, you have all your skills unlocked and fully upgraded. Just seems to be not very intuitive. 

The final thing I am going to point is the training map. I probably shouldn't be bringing it up as it is just to get you familiar with the game. However, there are some flaws. First, there really is no training. You just face a NPC and battle it out. You still have to figure out the controls and the workings by yourself. 

But, my biggest complaint is how it seems to be very unbalanced. Every time I manage to lose. This could be just that I suck with the Immortal I use or just suck in general. However, every time the enemy immortal seems to have all the equipment he can have and it is all fully upgraded. This could be that he actually gets more gold. However, I have more creep kills than him and more or the same hero kills as him. I can barely afford to fully upgrade three items if that. In my eyes, that is just unbalanced gameplay. 

Now, this is a beta and my experience is somewhat limited but I have already been turned off. There are some things that I do like about Rise of Immortals though. For instance, the items upgrades are setup pretty well in my opinion. The game seems to run fairly smooth otherwise as well. It really is a shame because this could be a pretty fun and entertaining game. But alas, it is Beta and I won't be able to make my final conclusions until the game becomes stable.

Duke is finally back. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to play it yet. I want to but the money isn't there. Yes, I run a gaming website. But, we are not that popular and we are not bringing in any money right now.

However, the reviews are less than stellar. Actually, the scores are much lower than the Duke 3D. Some are shocked as the game has been in development for so long so they were expecting an awesome game. However, times have changed. Gamers expect a lot more. They don't want just a crass hero. They want awesome graphics. Awesome gameplay. Awesome storyline. Let's be frank, we can't expect all of that from Duke. Duke is about blowing shit up and throwing singles at girls with some bad ass one liners.

My thoughts are still unsure. I don't expect an amazing game. I don't expect a terrible game. What am I looking for? I am looking for the same Duke as old. Lots of shooting. Lots of blowing stuff up. Lots of weird ass aliens. Lots of scantily clad female pixels. And overall, I am here to kick ass and chew bubble gum, but I am all out of bubble gum.

Now I know Rift has been out for a while but I am someone who happens to like trying MMORPG before actually buying them just for the straight fact of when i play one I want to play it for a while and actually get my moneys worth. Not to mention the main point of any MMORPG is that they are supposed to be almost infinitely long even if you get to end game the good ones will come out with expansions keeping the players coming back for more. So onto my point in all of this. I have heard rift was a good game from quite a few people and yes some people are even calling it the WOW killer(but thats a whole other rant in itself) but as i said above i like to try games before hand so when i heard Rift finally came out with a 7 day free trial i was on that like butter on corn....wait......butter on......well anyhow I suppose I will say I will try the game if i like it I will actually get it then of course review time ^_^

Ah Giveaways. It is hard to not like them. Well, except maybe when you enter and you don't win. But, the idea of the free stuff you could be getting is intoxicating.

If you are into Giveaways and you are a PC gamer you should be entering this giveaway. It is pretty easy really. Just like Cyberpower PC and Facebook. Comment on their March Madness page. Post on your Facebook with a link to the march madness page, http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/LandingPages/Facebook/MarchMadnessGiveAway/. Take a screenshot and send it to their email for the contest, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Yes, it is just that easy. And they are giving away a lot of stuff to numerous people.

I already entered. Also, the more people that join the running the more they give away! So, you better be entering and checking out the above mentioned page. If not, well you might be a little on the dumb side.