Games

Mass Effect 3: All Origin, No Steam, Mum on 'Origin Spyware' Claims

Editorials, Game Diary

Mass Effect 3: All Origin, No Steam, Mum on ‘Origin Spyware’ Claims

Well, now I guess I will have to wait until Mass Effect 3 eventually lands on Steam or is a bargain title, because I am SURELY not buying it based on what I am reading on the Bioware ‘social’ forums. Here is a snip: 1) Will Origin be a requirement to play all versions of Mass Effect 3? (Digital and/or from a retail brick and mortar store) Yes, Origin is required for all PC editions of Mass Effect 3, physical or digital. 2) Is constant Origin connection required or is it a single one off authentication when the game is…

The Most Pirated Video Games of 2011!

Game Diary, Gear Bits

The Most Pirated Video Games of 2011!

The #1 excuse/reason given for game publishers not putting out games for the PC is … piracy. People downloading and playing their games without paying. And there is no disputing that piracy is a HUGE issue for PC publishers, but the reason I call it an ‘excuse’ is that time and again we are seeing publishers who say that the PC is also a great place to make money DESPITE piracy. Anyway, TorrentFreak recently put out their list of the top games tracked on BitTorrent in 2011. Here are the most pirates games for PC, Wii and XBOX360: Top PC…

Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World iPad Game Review

Game Diary, Reviews

Kaptain Brawe: A Brawe New World iPad Game Review

From the moment I started playing Kaptain Brawe I felt as though I was transported back in time to the days of the classic LucasArts adventures such as Sam & Max and Grim Fandango … but with excellent graphics and great touch controls! Let’s take a look! The Hype: Step into this whimsical point-and-click interstellar adventure and see what it takes to be a real Space Police officer! In this alternate reality, get ready to embark on a journey filled with quests, conspiracies and general chaos. You will have to step into the shoes of the brave Kaptain Brawe and…

The Magician's Handbook: Cursed Valley for iPad Review

Game Diary, Reviews

The Magician’s Handbook: Cursed Valley for iPad Review

Hidden object adventures continue to evolve on the iPad, with PC games being ported that are more complex, more interesting and have better stories. The latest one to try to capture iPad gamer’s interest is the Magician’s Handbook. Let’s see how it does! The Hype: Remove the evil curse in this captivating adventure by finding hidden objects in the dark and mysterious Cursed Valley! The fabled “Magician’s Handbook” has fallen into your hands. You are beckoned to a dark and desolate place whose true name has long been forgotten. Search beautiful, hand-painted backgrounds for cleverly- hidden enchanted objects. Use special…

A Quick Hands-On with the PlayStation Vita

Events, Game Diary

A Quick Hands-On with the PlayStation Vita

  I simply could not leave CES without getting some hands-on with the new Sony PlayStation Vita. Having abandoned Sony’s PSP after the original device, I was hoping to get a feel of what the Vita had to offer. Gaming on a mobile device is coming along quite well, but I still feel the need to have a dedicated portable gaming device rather than a smartphone with gaming capabilities. We found a representative to give us a short demo of the device which highlights some of the features of the Vita and the new OS Sony put together. Sony Rep…

Neverwinter Nights 2 for the Mac (App Store Version)

Game Diary, Reviews

Neverwinter Nights 2 for the Mac (App Store Version)

Neverwinter Nights 2 (NWN2) arrived late in 2006 on the PC, and the Mac version took about sixteen months longer to arrive on Mac OS X. In fact, the first expansion for the PC game arrived before the Mac port, but unlike the expansions for the original Neverwinter Nights there is not a simple way to get ‘Mask of the Betrayer’ (or ‘Storm of Zehir’ or the ‘Mysteries of Westgate’ adventure pack) running on your Mac. I had thoroughly enjoyed the PC version of NWN2 when it was released, declaring it the best RPG of 2006 over Oblivion and Gothic…

Embarrasment for Intel After Faking Ultrabook Gaming Demo

Events, Game Diary

Embarrasment for Intel After Faking Ultrabook Gaming Demo

We’ve seen it all at CES – vapor-products, stuff we won’t see for months (if ever), dummy products as show-pieces, and more. Now Intel – with the demo for their ‘bet the farm on it’ Ultrabooks … got caught faking a demo when the VLC control panel showed up a few times as shown above. The executive on stage tried to play it off, but the credibility of the entire show was lost. Check out the video: Since the demo – more to the point since being CAUGHT – Intel has admitted that the demo was a video done for…

Tiny Token Empires iPad Game Review

Game Diary, Reviews

Tiny Token Empires iPad Game Review

I reviewed Tiny Token Empires on the Mac a couple of months ago, and found it a wonderful game that easily earned its $25 price tag. Now it has moved to the iPad and after a chance to play it through again, I can confirm that it is well worth the $9 price of admission. Let’s take a look! The Hype: Tiny Token Empires is an amazing mix-it’s a puzzle game, « Match 3 » game and turn-based strategy game. The player plays one of the five major ancient empires: Rome, Greece, Egypt, Persia, or Carthage. By developing cities and…

Special Enquiry Detail: The Hand that Feeds Mac Game Review

Game Diary, Reviews

Special Enquiry Detail: The Hand that Feeds Mac Game Review

I already reviewed the iPad and Android versions of Special Enquiry Detail: The Hand that Feeds and absolutely loved it … now that the Mac version is out and I have played it, let’s take a look and see how it compares! The Hype: Try your hand at investigating a crime, crack the case and catch the criminal in this perplexing hidden-object game! Detectives Turino and Lamonte have been assigned to a new investigative unit: Special Enquiry Detail. Their first case is the shocking death of the daughter of wealthy benefactors. Under pressure from the Captain and the Mayor to…

Rocksmith PlayStation 3 Review

Game Diary, Reviews

Rocksmith PlayStation 3 Review

All ages and skills should take the leap for some practical music knowledge with this impressive guitar music game strengthened by a large song list, great sound, split screen multiplayer mode, and appealing “go-at-your-own-pace” format.

Overdone Joke In Context ... Arrow to the Knee

Game Diary

Overdone Joke In Context … Arrow to the Knee

If you or anyone you know is a gamer to any extent, by now you have almost certainly heard the phrase “I used to be … like you, then I took an arrow to the knee”. If not … well, consider yourself lucky – it has quickly become a massively overplayed meme! The phrase comes from the recently released ‘Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’, a single player RPG from Bethesda (Elder Scrolls series including Morrowind and Oblivion, Fallout 3) that is extremely popular on the PC, XBOX360 and PS3. As you travel the MASSIVE world – trust me, any game you…

PC Game (Non) Review: Rage

Game Diary, Reviews

PC Game (Non) Review: Rage

I had planned on reviewing the shooter Rage from id software back in early October – I really did. I had it pre-ordered on Steam, loaded it up when it was released and went to play it that night and … nothing. It simply didn’t work … well, that isn’t completely true. It would seem to want to start, but fail miserably, in spite of rebooting, checking drivers, and so on. A quick check on the Steam forums – and gaming forums in general – revealed that I wasn’t alone. How long have PC gamers had to deal with messy…

You Just Bought a Brand-New Game Console--Time to Upgrade!

Editorials, Game Diary

You Just Bought a Brand-New Game Console–Time to Upgrade!

Image courtesy of PS4 Talk How it started, basically, is because I can’t keep my mouth shut when something bugs the crap out of me.  I complain.  And sometimes, when the topic is gear, I complain to Your Humble Gear Diary Team. So what’s the problem?  Maybe you’ve noticed that when you buy a new game console or device (or even game), the first thing the system does, before you even create your character or run through all the “Welcome!” windows, is . . . check for updates and then “suggest” that you update the system. This happened to me…

Sony PS Vita Sales Drop 78% in Week Two!

Editorials, Game Diary

Sony PS Vita Sales Drop 78% in Week Two!

Sony’s Playstation Vita launched in Japan two weeks ago to what was described as success, selling ~325,000 units and over 300,000 games (yes, that is fewer games than game systems … I’ll let you figure THAT one out). By comparison, the Nintendo 3DS launch last March sold ~375,000 at the initial $249 pricing. So in theory that was a pretty decent start … perhaps it meant that earlier predictions of it being ‘DOA’ were unfounded? Turns out … no. First off think about timing – a March release compared to a mid-December release. One is at a low point in…

GameLoft Abruptly Changes Hero of Sparta 2 to 'Free to Play', Angering Current Owners

Editorials, Game Diary, News & Features

GameLoft Abruptly Changes Hero of Sparta 2 to ‘Free to Play’, Angering Current Owners

Earlier this week in my list of iTunes App Store deals, I mentioned that Hero of Sparta 2 was ‘free for a limited time’. Turns out I was wrong – the update switched the game to a ‘free to play’ model full-up with ads! Those who had actually paid for the game were angered by the sudden appearance of an egregious amount of intrusive ads (I had to check it out myself … it was awful)! Fortunately after a couple of days of uproar, GameLoft has retreated. According to GameLoft’s Facebook page: “Gameloft wishes to apologize to the fans of…

Direct2Drive Being Absorbed Into GameFly ... Prepare to Lose Some Games!

Editorials, Game Diary

Direct2Drive Being Absorbed Into GameFly … Prepare to Lose Some Games!

What is the first thing you do when someone tells you not to worry? That’s right – you start worrying! Earlier this year I posted about how IGN had sold Direct2Drive to GameFly. GameFly is a console game rental subscription service, and had wanted to branch into PC game distribution and potentially rentals and saw Direct2Drive as a possible way to do that. I had basically forgotten about the deal for a few reasons: first, we haven’t heard anything in 7 months; second, because Direct2Drive has been much quieter in general, leaving the big sales for Steam and GamersGate; and…

Star Wars The Old Republic Launches, My Hands-On Thoughts

Game Diary, Reviews

Star Wars The Old Republic Launches, My Hands-On Thoughts

One of the most highly anticipated games of the year launched today – STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ from LucasArts and Bioware. The game is in the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) genre, and has been compared to the hugely popular World of Warcraft in terms of style, though obviously in a very different setting. Here is the press release: EA, BioWare and LucasArts usher in a Force in online games as STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ goes live today From Midnight Store Openings to the Opening Bell of the NASDAQ, Gamers and Star Wars™ Fans Celebrate the…

Gear Games Retrospective: Gothic 3 (RPG, 2006)

Game Diary, Reviews

Gear Games Retrospective: Gothic 3 (RPG, 2006)

I am an admitted fanboy of the Gothic franchise, with Gothic 2 listing near the very top of my ‘all time favorites’ list of games. It had been a while since I replayed Gothic 3 to any extent, so when Good Old Games added it to their lineup a couple of weeks ago, I couldn’t help but buy it … for the fourth time! I have the DVD version sitting somewhere, and have bought it on both Steam and Direct2Drive to get the full Gothic Collection digitally (at the time each only had a subset). Gothic 3 is a game…