Amanita Design has lovingly crafted Machinarium’s art, but does this pretty adventure game play as well as it looks?

The latest entry in the iconic Wolfenstein game series, simply titled Wolfenstein, had a lot of history to live up to. I have to say that story wise, the game succeeds in upholding the theme and feel of the series. However, the game play just doesn’t back it up.
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Cryptic announced that it is taking applications for the upcoming Star Trek Online Closed Beta. You can apply here:

http://www.startrekonline.com/preview_application

If you if you already have a six-month or lifetime subscription to Champions Online then you are automatically enrolled in the beta and don’t need to apply.

Star Trek Online is set 30 years after the 2002 Star Trek movie Nemesis. The game play revolves around each player Captaining a star ship and crew in battles and adventures. Some of the various Star Trek races players can play are: Klingon, Humans, Vulcan, Gorn, Orion or a race of your own design. Star Trek Online is shaping up to be a grand adventure in the post Star Trek: The Next Generation universe.

One might could say that I like to play God. …and what more fun could it be than to play God on your home computer? As a huge fan of Sim City 1 through 4, I can honestly say that Cities XL looks pretty impressive. I can only assume that there is more to the game than zoning and watching the buildings pop up as this video might lead some to believe. While it’s release is October, 2009, I hope more comes out about the game showing some of the finer points to creating the ‘city of your dreams’ in the very near future. Until then, I’ll keep obsessing over Sim City 4, hoping that this game is exactly what I think it is. A true replacement for the Sim City that I once knew and loved.

Fallout fans everywhere, including myself, are ready and waiting for Broken Steel to drop tomorrow for the PC and Xbox 360. The expansion will raise the level cap to 30 (I think it should be much higher, but I’ll take what I can get) and add to the main quest of the game. The ending will be “removed” to facilitate the continuing story and allow you to keep playing for as long as you please after a large number of fans asked for it. As expected, there will be a number of new goodies for you to get, I’m sure, as well a few side quests. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow if the download will be as promising as many of us have hoped it would be. Enjoy!

I don’t own a 360. So, when Braid released on the XBLA last August, I was jealous. Like the poor kid watching his neighbors play with their shiny new Christmas toys. I heard podcast after podcast of critics musing on about how great this game was. With their praise came the inevitable spoilers. To keep the experience untainted, I left many sections of podcasts unheard that month. Even then a few details about the ending found their way to my ears. Has the hype and spoilers ruined this game for me?

Uuugh, BRAID. Thinking with time is a lot harder than thinking with portals. Maybe it’s difficulty isn’t as elegantly balanced as Portal’s but that was probably not Jonathan Blow’s intention. I can’t seem to take more than an hour of this game’s puzzles without getting a headache.

Controls:
The typical point of contention in console to PC ports and Braid is no exception.

Nvidia’s booth at this year’s Screenburn convention showed off their 3D technology on Burnout and Left 4 Dead. Playing the games in 3D required a special set of glasses that synchronized with a wireless receiver placed to the left of each monitor. When I first put on the glasses, they didn’t seem to do anything to the blurry images on the monitors.

At this year’s SXSW Screenburn exhibition, Dell debuted Bionic Commando’s multiplayer to the public. The booth was a cross promotion between Dell’s Alienware line of gaming computers, and Microsoft’s Games For Windows initiative. Along with BC, the booth displayed PC versions of Guitar Hero III, Call of Duty: World at War, and Burnout: Paradise.

If you don’t know by now BC is Capcom’s “next-gen” reboot of its NES era franchise.