Crysis 2 PC Multiplayer Demo

After the Xbox 360 Crysis 2 multi-player demo was released about one month ago, on January 25, 2011, now PC player can test Crytek's newest first person shooter. Not only the gameplay but the performance on your PC can now be seen directly in the multi-player part of Crysis 2.

Nvidia has released Benchmarks with different video cards, beginning with the 8800 GT, which is reaching over 40 frames per second with the lowest quality and 1680x1050 pixels. The GTX 580, Nvidia's top video card, is reaching over 140 FPS and even 70 FPS with the 'Hardcore Settings'. For the whole Benchmarks, see Crysis-2-Benchmarks-by-Nvidia.

You can download this 1.6 GB demo from many sources, like EA, Gamershell or Mycrysis, including two very different maps and two modes for a maximum of 12 players. The first map 'Skyline' features some rooftop and indoor fights and the second one called 'Pier 17' is also a mixture of indoor and outdoor but on a destroyed harbour. Both can be played as a Team Instant Action map, meaning classic Team Deathmatch, or as a Crash Site map where you have to capture alien drop pods, like control points, and defend them against the enemy team.

The full version of Crysis 2 will include six game modes and twelve maps with New York City as setting, so you can play 72 different versions of the multi-player. It also supports DirectX 9, DX10 and DX11. Unfortunetly the demo supports only DX9, neither DX10, nor DX11, so the full potential of the graphics isn't realised yet.

So far there are a few problems with the demo because the log-in server are overloaded at the moment. The log-in is necessary so many players can't play at the moment. Crytek is working for a solution at the moment.

In the multi-player part of Crysis 2 there will be 50 ranks to get, and if you buy the Limited Edition, beside other features, you'll get boosted to Rank 5 immediately. The system is quite similar to Call of Duty's leveling system. With each rank you earn different upgrades for your weapons and your nanosuit. You'll get experience by killing the enemy team and in the demo you can play to rank 10. The release date of the Playstation 3 demo is March 15, 2011.

Mario Games: A Family Tradition

Mario games are awesome computer games that I loved as a kid and it's hard to admit that until now I still enjoy playing these Nintendo games. Imagine a tiny plumber Mario, conquering a dragon spitting out big balls of fire - saving the princess is his ultimate quest. It is a lot of fun just how colourful and improved the graphics of the games has been developed over the years.

Nintendo has never failed to innovate Mario games to still appeal to the children of today's generation. Mario games has definitely become a tradition - a family tradition, actually, that has passed on through generations and as a parent I would not think twice of introducing it to my children and allowing them to fall in love with it as much as I have fallen in love with this game. Unlike some video games that could really get violent, Mario games are very kid-friendly that no adult would prohibit a child from playing.

Over the years, Mario games had created many equally fun games from role playing games to solving puzzles, from sports to racing and so much more. From Mario being the popular character of the game, Nintendo created several other characters to choose from. Luigi is Mario's brother, Princess Peach, Mushroom, Baby Mario and a lot more characters that make the games really interesting. Those varieties, I mentioned, made it so much more appealing to kids and to parents, as well. These games are not just for fun, they are also educational.

Solving puzzles make kids think and analyze situations. When it comes to sports, they are able to understand the rules of the game and develop skills of thinking fast and accurate. It enhances a child's computer literacy. When a kid gets bored playing a certain computer game, he tends to explore the internet and the computer controls which makes him develop computer skills.

There are Mario games available online. These are commonly adventure games wherein Mario, controlled by the player, finds his way to saving the princess. On his way to finding the princess, there are many battles that have to be won and power ups to earn along the way. These power ups would help you attain more lives to survive the increasing level of difficulty of the game. It helps the player learn critical thinking and analyzing, problem solving and dexterity. Kids who love playing video games grow up to be knowledgeable about computers. However, we still encourage parents and guardians to supervise your children when using the internet because children love to explore out of curiosity. Moderate use of the computer may still be enforced for your child's physical and social interaction with other children in the community.

The Sims Medieval Game

The ever-popular Sims game has come up with a whole new perspective. Sims Medieval for PC and Mac is mostly a typical Sims simulation game, although with some role-playing features. As suggested by its name, the game is located during medieval times, and brings you on a voyage of adventure, mystery and romance.

Continuously developing from the first Sims game, Sims Medieval contains much better animations, graphics, and the characters look a whole lot more realistic.

You will be ultimately responsible for developing a Kingdom, and making it grow. You must ensure that your subjects are content, and have everything they need to stay alive every single day. There are a variety of goals that you may decide to achieve within your Kingdom, whether it be political, military or economic. The particular goal that you choose then determines the quests you will get and the remaining gameplay.

In the game, it is possible to create hero characters and train these to accomplish quests. These heroes are created after you construct different kinds of buildings, and you must boost their skills and personalities. These heroes may very well be anything from knights to craftsmen, or rulers to doctors.

The quests are a fresh element to the game, and enable players to build up skill points, experience points and kingdom points. The points are then accumulated to help you to level up. Levelling up, in turn, uncovers new sections of the game, and unlocks unique quests. These quests can be accomplished by one single Sim, or might require the help of some heroes.

All of these variations mean that the game is invariably new and intriguing, and can be played repeatedly with different stories and scenarios every time you play.

Pros

One player who is used to previous Sims games said that they were quite impressed by the enhanced graphics and how lifelike your Sims seem. They also said that there were huge amounts of activities to do, so the game never got dull or boring.

Most people said that the game was fairly stable on Windows 7, and didn't crash as Sims 3 was liable to do sometimes.

Cons

A recommendation made by one player was to allow sufficient time the first time that you play Sims Medieval. There is really a lot to master, and it takes you through a Tutorial. Having said that, you are unable to save midway through the Tutorial, so if you would like to come back to it at another time, you will need to start again.

Some players found the movement from A to B and the "camera" or viewing controls somewhat cumbersome and clumsy.

Other individuals thought that the quests didn't leave a great deal for the individual player to decide - you have to go through the quests making it a kind of "click and play" game, and not one with much strategy.

Build and take control of your very own Kingdom in Sims Medieval. With pretty much infinite story variations and possibilities, you can imagine yourself back in time with all of the excitement and drama of knights, castles and fascinating quests to undertake.

PlayStation Adventures

In which our hero (namely me) compares and contrasts three big-selling adventure games and reports to you, the consumer, which one he likes the best.

   1. Assassin's Creed - Released by Ubisoft in 2007, Creed's major selling points are twofold; firstly, it has a long and absorbing storyline for players to engage with. A young man is captured by mysterious forces, and placed in a machine that forces him to re-live the past adventures of his ancient ancestor, who belonged to an ancient cult of (you guessed it) Assassins. The second thing is the gameplay; Creed is tremendously playable, evoking memories of such classic games as 'Metal Gear Solid' and 'Prince of Persia.' What's more, the story ends on a cliffhanger that leaves you wanting more. Fortunately there is now a whole series for you to play, together with at least one more ancestor to inhabit as our young hero struggles for his freedom. It is, in short, excellent.

   2. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) released this game in 2007 and our second game choice is another story-based romp. In this story, Nate Drake (apparently related to Sir Francis Drake) goes looking for the lost treasure of El-Dorado, accompanied by a journalist and plagued by a series of not-quite-sexy 'will-they-won't-they?' scenarios. The blatant tip of the Stetson to Indiana Jones and out and out rip off of the 'Tomb Raider' series notwithstanding, the story is interesting and the graphics are incredible. At times, it's like watching a movie. Unfortunately, Drake is less fortunate than the aforementioned Dr. Jones, as whoever directed his story is no Spielberg. Far more interested in cinematic camera angles than actual gameplay, Uncharted is frequently mired by the player's inability to see what is going on right in front of them. It's fine at first, but gets tedious after the 200th death on a simple jump just because you can't bloody see where you're jumping to!

   3. Batman: Arkham Asylum - (I'm cheating a little bit here, as this game is two year's younger than the others, being released by Eidos in 2009). Batman is a mighty game with a style and panache all on its own. While not as engrossing or interesting as Creed, (Comics writer Paul Dini ensures that most of the script is true to the comics but offers little in the way of actual plot) it is still immensely enjoyable. The asylum itself (now an island for creative license purposes) is rendered with such attention to detail that it becomes almost a character in its own right and Mark Hamill's incendiary turn as The Joker will put chills up your spine. The gameplay is as swift and graceful as Batman himself. Is it any wonder the Batman comics team recently re-designed the Batsuit to resemble the look of this game?

Summing up: Drake loses out on the grounds of poorer camera angles and gameplay. Now to choose between Assassin's and Batman...hmm...It's a draw.

Computer Game Genres

Categories in the computer game industry are used to group games based on their style of game play or game interactions. Genres in the gaming market are setting independent, meaning that a title can be classified as an action title whether it set in a fantasy setting of goblins and warlocks or a futuristic city setting with aliens and hover cars.

The following is a list of some popular computer title genres and a description for each. Each one of these categories could be divided up into a several sub-categories but I haven't covered any of these in this list.

Action Games

Playing action games requires quick reflexes, and the skills to overcome obstacles very fast and sometimes under pressure from enemy characters. The action game category is very open and covers lots of types of games from modern first person shooter games mainly focused on combat-like or fighting right the way back to some of the first video games like pong or PAC-man.

Adventure Games

Everyone loves playing adventure games, being taken to some far off land, of goblins, monsters and spell casting. Adventure titles were many of the first games created. Starting with text based adventure games and evolving into the massive adventure, role play and puzzle solving games of today.

Adventure games often require the gamer to directly interact with his or her game environment either by conducting conversations with other characters or by quickly solving problems to proceed to new zones.

Action-Adventure Games

Action-adventure titles contain all the greatest parts of the genres action and adventure. The games often need the player to quickly solve simple puzzles while also being directly involved in fighting situations. These titles often have open ended stories where one action at the beginning of the story can indirectly affect the outcome not only of the current scenario, but also of the story ending itself.

Role-Playing Games

Role play games (RPG's) have come a huge distance in the last 10 years, from being influenced by original tabletop pen and paper games. Role play games are commonly set in ancient or medieval times where gamers take on roles of travelling adventures or mercenaries and take on quests in order to gain experience and progress through the game.

Fighting, puzzle solving and conversational persuasion of in game characters is very common. RPG's (role-play games) can either be fairly open where the player has huge amounts of available options and can wander off exploring on his own (i.e. Baldur's Gate) or follow a quite strict and linear storyline (i.e. Final Fantasy Series).

Role-play titles are very often played online with hundreds of other human played characters. These MMO (Massive Multi-player Online) titles are hugely popular with games like World of Warcraft having thousands of online players at any one time.

Simulation Games

Simulation titles frequently put the players character in a god-like role, where they directly control either the world as a whole, a town, a theme park or a railway. These simulation games tend to be grouped into either a construction based sub-genre where the character must build up a city or theme park from nothing to a hugely popular destination.

There are also simulation titles where you are in control of just one character. Life simulation titles are hugely popular with teenage females players, because not only can you control a single character but sometimes you can nurse an animal from being born into a fully grown adult pet. You can sometimes manage a full ecosystem like an aquarium.

Strategy

Strategy titles are frequently played by quick thinking skilled players. Using carefully planned and advanced strategies their aim is to destroy opposing characters or clans. Strategy games can be both real time or turn based.

Real-time strategy games are much more complex than turn based as character decisions are often made on the spot and during combat with opposing teams. Turn based games are like chess where you consider every move when placing your pieces then when the time is correct you execute your strategies in the hope of winning.

I hope this article gives you a better understanding of the various categories used in the video game industry, and inspires you to play some other genres or games.