Update:  Our apologies, it seems this video has been pulled -- cuz awesome I assume.  Just use your imagination and imagine how cool it was.  Yeah, that's about right.  

When the world beats you down, do you stick to your guns and stay true to your moral compass, or pull out a gun and steal your happiness from others?  These are the difficult questions in Almost Sometimes Monsters, an upcoming RPG about the grey areas in our lives.

As much as we would love it, most big choices can't be painted in black and white, in ASM you play an out-of-luck character selected from a variety of races, genders, and sexual orientations -- a character that has had the happiness kicked out of him by circumstance.  As you progress through the game you are faced with tough choices that will put your morality to the test.  How you decide to react shapes not only the character but also the world around you. 

“Developing Always Sometimes Monsters has been a continual process of evaluating not only our game mechanics, but also an evolution of how we regard ethics and morality.” said Justin Amirkhani from developer Vagabond Dog. “Concepts of right and wrong can easily whittle away within the game, so we are very much looking forward to seeing what choices players make during their unique journeys.”   

It's easy to catch news of how bad gaming is for society. How it drags kids and impressionable adults into the depths of depravity and sometimes even murder. So it's nice when we get wind of stories like the one about a family who found a way to include their daughter in their game time thanks to the Wii U and the GamePad. The GamePad has had it's fair share of naysaying. When it was made available, Jeremy Powers was hoping he found a way for his nearly blind daughter Jennifer to watch movies on Netflix. Unfortunately you couldn't stream the movie to the GamePad screen and the main TV but that didn't stop him.

Going through several of the Wii U titles he found that most were just too difficult. Enter New Super Luigi U. With the addition of the character known as Nabbit, Jennifer was able to participate in games. Thanks to his near invulnerability it wasn't a frustrating experience for her either. Now with her nose only a few inches from the GamePad screen she can join in with the family game time and seems more than excited by it.

After a very long wait, Final Fantasy XIV launched (again!). I've been fortunate enough to be a part of the beta as well as early release and I even played 1.0 so now let's see what I can muster for this edition of "The First Fifteen." In all honesty, I spent the first fifteen minutes of my first moments of actual launch waiting in queue for a dungeon so it would definitely be rather difficult to write this and make it interesting... of course, unless you're into: [4:32 P. M.] Queued for dungeon......... [4:39P.M.] Queue pops!... Someone withdraws... /Cries.

I have often said that my two favorite things are Disney and World of Warcraft.  I even got engaged during BlizzCon weekend at Disneyland.  You get the picture.  So you can understand why I am jazzed that Slightly Impressive has combined my two favorite things into a clever little machinima project.

Hijinks ensue when iconic Disney moments take place on Azeroth.  Eric runs from a naga version of Ariel, Jasmine can't get on the carpet because it's a solo mount, and Bambi changes form and kitteh's up the Hunter that shot his mother.  I only wish some more forethought had gone into this video because it could have been great.  Great it is not, but it's definitely fun, so hit the jump to watch it for yourself, then leave us a comment about which Disney moment  you would have put into the video.

After all the troubles coming from vanilla Final Fantasy XIV to the four beta phases all the way up to this very day, all I can say is we are finally here. With Naotoki Yoshida at the head of FFXIV's development, a small budget, and the burden of hate-filled fans resting on its shoulders, the MMO made the closest thing to a full 180 degree turn you can get out of any re-launch. Yoshida himself took the stage to give a speech of this journey at the official launch event in Tokyo.

The work put into this game is remarkable and its amazing what good game developers who truly love what they do can do for the community who enjoy the games they make. So far everything about the game has been rather brilliant. A few rocky moments entering the beta phases and early access but everything has been addressed so quickly and promptly that it really shouldn't matter. The story is great, the mechanics are great, and there is content that caters to the casual base as well as the hardcore section.

I'm going to save all the in-game talks for later write-ups but this one goes out to those who stuck it through. I would also like to thank Mr.Yoshida once again for being one darn good game director. Click the jump for the speech and the translated transcript:

The craze of survival games has been around for longer than your PC. Seriously have you ever heard of Gladiators? Of course the level of drama and interpersonal relationships have been increased and highlighted as stories evolved but the core function hasn't. Still for most younger Americans it was Hunger Games that brought this back into the light. Some of us older folk may remember such classics as Battle Royale or Running Man.

A successful survival game requires a remote location which the participants cannot exit until it's over. Also a group of people who will have one goal, to annihilate each other till only one is left standing. Of course the draw is the social dynamic, as each contestant is tested to see how trusting they will be. Each knowing they will have to kill the others to survive but they some how convince themselves that they can team up and make it out alive. Then you have those of lesser scruples who will team up fully aware that they will be killing all their team mates when the opportunity is best, keep your enemies closer.

Every time we get another DevSpeak released out into the wild, I am once again struck with just how brilliant the design team over at Carbine Studios really is. During the course of developing WildStar, they have been systematically tackling the big mechanic issues inherent in the way current MMOs are designed and coming up with solutions that put gameplay and fun at the forefront. The most recent DevSpeak, on the topic of Crowd Control is no exception.

For those who are not up on their MMO vernacular, Crowd Control is a broad concept term for anything that can temporarily immobilize a player or enemy and take them out of the action for a few seconds. Stuns, Blinds, Disarms, and Fears are just a few examples of ways that you can lock a target down, so that you could either focus on another target or lay into the beat down without fear of retaliation. Crowd Control is strategic when it works for you, and infuriating when it works against you. WildStar has added a few interesting twists to the CC formula that may very well alleviate that frustration all together, but I will let the video have the pleasure of sharing that info with you.

The full DevSpeak is after the jump, so be sure to check it out. The video is both stunning and disarming (yes, I really just said that.) and features a small nod at the end to the previous video about Aiming - make sure you've watched that one first!

I have a fondness for tricks, be they of the mind or slight of hand. The things people can pull off amazes me. Sure there is science behind every one, there is no magic in these at all. That was a bummer to learn as I reached my teenage years. Still it doesn't take away from how amazing some of the individuals who practice this can be. Take for instance Derren Brown, he's been around for a bit now and the man can trick you into thinking the zombie apocalypse has started. 

Well let me take that back, he could fool a small percentage of us. Not everyone can fall into a hypnosis deep enough to pull this off and that's one of science parts to most of the tricks we see. It's up to the performer to single out people in the audience to help him work his magic. These people are easily led by suggestion, that's part of the smoke and mirrors. A true master has to understand psychology, they need to be able to read body language, and they need to have a commanding presence when necessary. There is an entire formula to work out when performing these feats. So even when the curtain is pulled back it's still pretty fantastic what they can pull off.

Square Enix has put out Part Two of their "Dungeon Diving" video series for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and it reveals a whole new set of dungeons we haven't seen before. A lot of people are going through withdrawals waiting for the final release of the game, including me, so I'm quite delighted by the presence of this video, heh.

The gameplay trailer gives us a taste of old enemies, like Tonberries, and even some faces we've seen in past games (do I see Shiva as well as King Tonberry?). Also, I think the last boss was revealed too but this guy was expected. Perhaps there's a part two surprise within the fight? I can't wait to find out!

The video does all the talking. The beta featured dungeons in Part One of "Dungeon Diving" but this set is totally new and never-before-seen. Check it out after the jump:

Every year there's one game that captures my heart.  This year I think I may have very well found my gaming crush in Contrast.  In this charming puzzle platformer you play Dawn, the stoic dolled-up imaginary friend of a lonely little girl named Didi.  Throughout the story you shed light on the secrets within Didi's family, ultimately helping Didi in her quest to reunite her parents.

The main mechanic in this game is Dawn's ability to meld into the shadows at any given moment.  This enables her to solve puzzles and traverse a hauntingly beautiful 1920's Paris that seems ripped straight out of a vaudeville stage set.  

At Gamescom this week Compulsion Games released a gameplay trailer, and this is what caught both my eye and my breath.  I admit that this game has until now been completely off my radar.  Now that I've seen what the combination of innovative mechanics, deep thoughtful storytelling, and female-centric characters can look like, I'm hooked.  

Exciting news out of Gamecom 2013: Watch Dogs is heading the movie route. Ubisoft Motion Pictures is partnering with Sony Pictures Entertainment to bring Watch Dogs to the big screen. After seeing the trailers for this game I'm fully behind the choice; hopefully they land the right creative talent to drive this project. I'd love to see an intense action thriller with a huge emphasis on the psychological aspects of what Aiden is doing in the game proper. Of course I'd also still love to see an Assassin's Creed movie, but I guess I'm just dreaming for the moment.

Along with the news Ubisoft released the DedSec trailer, bringing an Anonymous-influenced faction in the world of Watch Dogs. It appears they aren't on our protagonist side and are instead using his antics to forward their own agenda. The message is clear:  You are not safe. Check out the trailer below.

I spent a good amount of my weekend sitting on Youtube watching and rewatching WildStar videos.  Some would call me unmotivated, or lazy, but after today's announcement I'm just going to say I was "conducting preemptive research".  You see, Carbine has announced their novel way that players will pay to play their MMO when it launches next year.  

First of all, and this should be no surprise to anyone who's kept up on the amount of content coming to the game, WildStar will be a subscription game.  But Carbine is, well awesome, and so they didn't stop there.  They realize that in today's climate it's pretty much a death sentence for a new MMO to launch with a simple subscription pay model, and so they are introducing something they call the C.R.E.D.D., or Certificate of Research, Exploration Destruction and Development.  This ingame item will be available for purchase on the game's auction house Commodities Exchange, and can also be bought on the WildStar website.  This means that if you don't have the time but you do have the cash, you can buy the C.R.E.D.D online and sell it to other players, who then can use their massive amounts (time ain't cheap people) of ingame gold to buy their month's worth of game time.  

“Gamers have strong opinions when it comes to business models and monetization in MMO games,” said Jeremy Gaffney, executive producer at Carbine Studios.” In combining a classic subscription model with C.R.E.D.D. and Game Time cards, we think we’ve struck a good balance. It supports players preferring to pay monthly, while the availability of C.R.E.D.D. enables players to continue enjoying WildStar by taking advantage of a player-driven economy.”

Today Realta Entertainment announced that their upcoming guitar rhythm game BandFuse: Rock Legends will be hitting shelves November 19th.  I've been waiting for this news for months, ever since I got a chance to see this game in action at E3.  By far the coolest rhythm game I've ever seen, BandFuse teaches you how to actually play guitar like the professionals do, and does so on an actual guitar.  While other games deal with plastic peripherals or strange lag and feedback, BandFuse promises seemless connection to real guitars, basses, and microphones. While it is primarily a tool to teach guitar -- and includes hundreds of hours in tutorials taught by some pretty famous music legends -- there is also a multiplayer option that allows you and your friends to join up and play the songs you love together.

I love rhythm games, and have since I first picked up a mic for Karaoke Revolution back on the original Xbox. I've always been a little frustrated that my shredding skills on the plastic guitar never really got me any closer to learning to play the real thing.  But with BandFuse I know I will be learning how to play the real thing because I will be using a real guitar.  

The first couple trailers I saw for Thief had me interested but not really invested. It wasn't until I saw this trailer for Gamescom 2013 that I perked up. Garret is narrating as usual, talking about how he takes what he wants. Then things start to take a turn, we hear the talk of progress at all costs. We see the sick and poor line the streets looking up with wanting eyes. Rebellious leaders stir crowds of the unhappy masses and we watch the city burn. All the while Garret seems disinterested in the plight of the people around him. And then something happens in his life, and we are left to surmise that he has finally paid the price for something. 

The brief glimpse of story here really has me wanting more. I'm a huge fan of the old series and I'm glad to see the theme of progress is here in the game. Technology was always a problem in the original series; there was a heavy nature-versus-technology theme. I'm sure it won't go into the nature side of things to the extreme the old one did but from what I see I am happy with the direction things are headed. Take a look at the trailer and let us know what you think.

Hello my name is Martin, and I'm addicted to Minecraft. I'm 8 hours clean as of this moment, but I know at any point I will be off the wagon again. I'm not apologetic for this addiction, this need to explore, to craft, to mine. See it's a deep-seated desire, something first presented to me by building blocks as a child and later fostered by LEGO blocks. I can't escape it, I won't escape it. For me there will always be worlds to explore and kingdoms to build, I feel sorry for those who don't understand this.

In all seriousness some people don't get Minecraft or games like it. Honestly I don't get those people, sure I'm friends with a few but I can't understand why they don't realize what Minecraft is. Of course maybe they left their LEGO blocks and dreams behind. For me I don't see that ever happening, between my need to create there is also my kids. Each one of them loves to build and I love to build with them. Minecraft is family time in our house.  I know that it will never introduce my kids to hookers, drugs or police genocide. Sure, everything has it's place, but the place for those things isn't with my kids. I'll keep those to late night endeavors as I slaughter undead hordes while they slumber.

Master Sword, I remember the first time I held you in my pixelated hands. It was A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo. Years later I would wield you again, and thanks to your odd time-traveling ability I would pass through virtual puberty relatively quickly. No one can say how many foes we vanquished together -- we didn't have achievements tracking our every move back then -- but there is no doubt you left your mark on the world.

Link's Master Sword has to be one of my favorite video game bladed weapons. It is simple in design but the amount of time I've invested into the series has seeded a deep fondness in me. Beyond my love of swords and all things stabby I also enjoy seeing how things are made. I enjoy it so much that I used to disassemble my Transformers as a child to understand what exactly it took to get all the parts into the right positions -- though my parents didn't appreciate that.

From the Awe channel on Youtube we have Man at Arms -- sorry he's no master of the universe.  Rather he is a master blacksmith who builds a lot of movie props. On this channel they take suggestions and the most popular he recreates -- from Cloud's unwieldy Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII to Sora's Keyblade from the Kingdom Hearts series.

There's a lot of weight on the shoulders of Activision as they unveil their first taste of multiplayer for their next-gen shooter, Call of Duty: Ghosts. Not only do they have to deliver a great game for new consoles, but they also have to compete with EA's upcoming mega shooter, Battlefield 4. Has this multiplayer reveal trailer they just put out delivered? Well that's for you to decide.

Microsoft's new Xbox One controller will work with your PC sometime in 2014. Unfortunately, the controller uses all sorts of new technology so the programs and drivers for this new device won't be ready by launch this Winter.

Quite frankly, I was impressed by Xbox One's controller. It has a sleek design and the multiple impulse trigger motors felt really nice and add to the immersion factor in games. Of course being 'too sleek' could potentially be its down fall, primarily for those with larger-than-average hands. Though the biggest feature this new controller sports is "wired mode" which allows the device to disable its radio functions once plugged in via usb-mini and functioning as a full-on wired controller.

Microsoft is aiming for Xbox One Controller usage on PC for 2014. It's said to work with all existing games that support the current Xbox 360 controllers when the device is ready for Windows. Just incase you want to know more about the new controller, check out this video that explains everything after the jump:

According to an IGN Interview with Xbox Vice President Marc Whitten, the Xbox One will not require the Kinect 2.0 to be plugged in to the console in order to function like people have feared. The thing is you lose all Kinect-based functions like additional in-game features and control over your console via voice which makes sense. The device, at this time however, still comes packaged with the console at launch so this news is good for those who do not feel safe about "24-hour camera" or perhaps people who fear they would have to shell out extra cash if their sensor were to break.

So you've mined your mines. You found the diamonds, built a nether portal. Then you gathered components, hunted ender men and found the strong hold. It was there you took the last stand against the ender dragon in the end. After that you built a roller coaster that circled your world, but what's next? Tekkit, that's what. With all the power of Minecraft and the capabilities of industry, Tekkit takes your Minecraft experience to the next level, literally. Be that level another dimension or space, it's possible now.

It's Friday! So as Frigg sits sipping apple martinis on some shore of Iceland we get to wrap up the week. What better way to do it then with videos and music. This weeks Video Geex feature is "Game Launch Rock" by Brentalfloss, a parody of the old School House Rock songs. With the looming threat of new consoles on the horizon the debates have heated up. Which one is the best? Which has the better launch titles? What about launch pricing? I personally have only ever bought one console on launch day and that was due to extreme boredom and a desire to try a new game by this company called Bungee. To this day I've not bought a console at launch since and I never will. This music video hits on all the right notes as to why you should wait. Sit back and take a listen to this informative PSA. If you don't get the parody, because you are most likely half my age, I've included a video below that of one of the most famous School House Rock songs, "I'm Just a Bill".

Treyarch released a new video for Black Ops 2 on their youtube channel titled "Origins." It's a shame other news outlets dropped the ball on this one because every Call of Duty fan should know that the four characters in the trailer are the original cast from Call of Duty: World at War zombie maps. That means this whole video is one big zombie tease and we can expect a new survival map here in the near future and yes, it would appear Tank, Nicoli, Takeo and Rictofen are coming back for one last battle with the horde... Guessing the giant robot threw everyone off.

Despite the nature of Call of Duty zombies... you know, kill zombies and survive, there actually is an expansive story that spans three whole game titles ( World at War, Black Ops 1, and Black Ops 2). Though, it was a shame we saw our original iconic characters just vanish after Black Ops' final zombie map "Moon." I'm glad we get to see it all unfold and finish here in Black Ops 2... Or begin? The video, and maybe even the map, is titled "Origins" meaning we may finally get to see how everything began. Sort of bitter sweet though, I spent a lot of hours resisting the undead and to see it finally end... I just can't.

I'll leave you to the teaser trailer. Click the jump below to view Treyarchs' "Origins" trailer:

In fall of 1998 I loaded up my first MMO addiction, Everquest. It's been 15 years since that late autumn day and SOE has brought us a product that has me salivating, Everquest Next. Last week they dropped the bomb of information on us from their SOE Live event and I'm still feeling the shock waves. Everquest Next appears to be the answer to what is next in the MMO gaming space, not just because it's what a console might call next-gen but because of the intelligence built into the product. I'll share with you what I mean by that.

Generally speaking MMOs are static theme parks, you give them your ticket and go for a ride. Some rides let you hit things, some let you interact in other ways but in the end the ride is the same for almost every other person in the park. It was the answer to the call of confusion that earlier MMOs had caused, something to make them more accessible. In the process of building this there was a sacrifice of immersion and innovation. The hardware powering these worlds has continued to get beefier and the level of coding behind them has grown giving way to new abilities like procedural generation. Variables are plugged into an algorithm and out comes a world, early versions of this would lack feature and be random. Now Everquest Next is claiming they can generate engaging content and worlds for their players. This means those strategy guides of past would be almost impossible to create in the same way, there would be no static walk-throughs because the content would continue to shift and grow, giving it a faux life.

Hello all and welcome to the first installment of Minecraft Mondays. Each and every Monday we'll dive into the world of Minecraft to bring up something cool or fun that lingers out there on the internets. This week before we dive into the game itself I felt it'd be good to just take a quick look at controls. While Minecraft was originally a computer only release it has since moved on to the world of the Xbox 360. The translation from keyboard/mouse to the Xbox controller for me personally was far less cumbersome than I expected. With that in mind I present to you Minecontrol.

This past Friday we got a front seat, if sitting at our computers counts, to the live stream of Elder Scrolls Online at Quakecon 2013. A live stream of gameplay presented us with a more up close and personal look into how things are shaping up for the upcoming MMO. Graphically things are still looking nice and the departure from realism to a slightly stylized look is still holding up in my eyes. Slightly shiny new graphics aside, I was far more impressed by how well ESO mates adherence to canon with fluid multiplayer.

The Game Geex Report is an almost weekly exercise in transparency.  We will pull back the curtain and show you the workings of how we do things around here, what we are planning for the future, and what we've learned from the past.  And then we'll ask for your input on how we've been doing with the site.

Something has happened to game journalism of late, something dark and dangerous.  It's become standard practice to spew vitriol in order to gain pageviews.  Writers would rather debase the industry they love, because controversy breeds traffic.  This week there was a prime incident of this sort of troll warfare when the brilliant mind behind Fez Phil Fish was attacked for not responding to the news that Microsoft was now going to support Indie development on Xbox One.  

There's a pretty good reason for such a notorious hothead as Fish to not respond:  He was probably still weighing his options when it came to Fez 2.  Had he lambasted Microsoft for flipflopping, or even come out in favor of the policy, he would be taking sides on a still developing issue -- and one that greatly affects him as an Indie developer.  Fish rightly decided not to comment on the story, and was attacked by Game Informer's Marcus Beer for it.  Well, actually Beer decided to attack both Fish and Indie innovator Jonathan Blow (the two have been paired up in the blogosphere as BlowFish since starring in Indie Game: The Movie).  That was when it all hit the fan.  

Good morning Geex and welcome to the first installment of Video Geex. Our debut video is of an important topic presented to us in an entertaining format. In the world of Geekdom and Nerdom there is some unspoken rule by the male gender that females must prove themselves worthy of being Geek. As a father of three lovely young ladies and of someone who holds high regard for female gender I call shenanigans. It's this thinking that pulled me at a young age out of the spiritual texts for which I raised to respect. This same reaction to the female form at conventions that continues to repulse me as fanboys and creepy old men stalk young ladies with cameras and then heckle them for being fake geeks.

Ladies, there is never a moment that you need to justify yourself based on gender. Anyone who asks you to is an ass hat. No one wears a hat on their ass and therefor they are useless. I applaud the continued call to arms to bring the dark age mindset into the modern world. I could go on for hours on this topic, the history is rich and far more reaching then the word Geek, but that is not why we are here. So sit back, enjoy this little diddy and let's show some respect.

If ever you hear someone say that video games are a waste of time, you can now tell them about the boy who used his Mario Kart skills to save his great-grandmother's life.  

10-year-old Gryffin Sanders of Golden, Colorado was traveling down the highway with his great-grandmother and 4-year-old brother when 74-year-old Darlene Nestor passed out at the wheel.  Going around 60 MPH, they were headed for disaster, until Gryphon grabbed the wheel and navigated the speeding SUV into a roadside ditch.  

It's amazing to think that this boy learned driving skills from a game as basic as Mario Kart.  The game must have also taught him to react quickly to stress, because even adults who know how to drive wouldn't have had the instincts Griffin had.  Hit the jump to watch the news report on this heroic little gamer.

Everyone loves The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, unless you hate puppies of course. Yes, I said it! But recently, top streamer, Vinesauce (or Vinny, whichever), played the game for his viewers enjoyment with such an unusual twist. He used a mod that replaced Link with Sanic... No typo there, wise guy.

With all that being said, The Legend of Sanic: Ocarina of Fast was born! And suddenly, SEGA realized they could make Sonic more awesome... I love mods. I really should take the time to try a bunch out because I can... Mod Monday, anyone?

Click the jump below for the video. It's really amusing and beats nothing!

You know your life is going to be amazing when the first major pep talk you receive as a baby is from Wil Wheaton.  At the Calgary Comic Expo back in April the King of the Nerds was asked by an audience member to talk to her child about why being a nerd is awesome.  The resulting speech is more than just a one-sided conversation with a newborn, it's a call to arms about nerd-dom and what it means to love something so much that it defines who you are.  

What he says here is so important I wrote it out for you to read.  I did remove a couple word whiskers and the occasional sentence fragment for the sake of clarity.

What you're about to hear is a message that speaks to the core of what Game Geex is all about.  We are here because we love games so much we can't stop talking about them.  We live and breathe games, and we are proud of our geek status.  Celebrate your nerdiness and realize that your passion is what makes you so very special.  This is required watching for anyone who calls themselves a geek or a nerd.  

Yesterday I saw something intriguing on LinkedIn.  One of the people I'm connected to at Blizzard Entertainment added the "Social Games" skill to their profile, and suddenly my brain was awhir with possibilities.  Could there be a WoW social game in the works, or perhaps a Facebook Diablo III inventory tie-in?  How about a scaled down version of Heart of the Swarm? What exactly would a social game designed by Blizzard look like?

I'd love to know what you think on the subject.  Would you play a Blizzard social game?  If so, what flavor of social game do you think they would put out? 

Phantasy Star Online, even since the days of Dreamcast, had some of the most extensive character customization ever. With height, weight, color, and accessory options all across the spectrum, one can make their character truly look like how they want it to be with time. Of course, with Phantasy Star Online 2, those options have been multiplied and taken even further.

See what kind of character the GGX team was able to cook up in this morning video, captured from a live stream session of PSO2. Now that I look back on it, I think we had a little too much fun with our options...

Click the jump below for the video:

It's strange to think that a game named BioShock Infinite has an ending.  Apparently the game's rather twisty format has spawned a fascinating Film Noir DLC that pushes the notion of an infinite game even further.  Burial at Sea seems to take a page out of the best Noir has to offer, setting a mysterious story against the backdrop of a Rapture like we've never seen it.  It's speculative fiction at it's finest, and deep enough (see what I did there?) to be split into two parts.  

For those of you who need something to tide you over (I'm on fire today!) until Burial at Sea launches, today Irrational Games released a little run and gun madness DLC pack called Clash in the Clouds.  With four new maps and additional trophies and leaderboards, players can pit Booker DeWitt against the toughest baddies in Columbia. 

Clash in the Clouds is out now for $5.00, but if you are interested in getting all three pieces of DLC (That's Clash and Burial at Sea Episodes I & II) then you can plunk down $19.99 now.  If you're a peace meal kind of person, you can pick up each of the Burial at Sea Episodes for $14.99 when they come out.  Of course, if you have the Season Pass then you're good to go.  Watch the trailers for both DLC campaigns after the jump.  Sam Spade eat your heart out. 

Snail Games' upcoming MMO, Black Gold Online, has seen a huge boost in money for its development and global promotion. It seems four Chinese banks; the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Bank of Nigbo, have agreed to loan Snail $94.7 million on top of the publisher's $32.6 million. More money means better games, right?

I thought this was interesting because I got to see this game at E3. The game is rather difficult and would appeal to its own kind of fanbase. It also leans more towards the PvP-side of things from what I remember through the usage of vehicles. Honestly, It's really hard to rate an incomplete title, especially since the mechanics in this game were so broken and the combination of skills against certain monsters make fighting them solo too hard for some classes which is a no-no in North America.

Either way, Snail has a lot of time to put that money to good use. Black Gold Online is in beta in China and the expected launch for North America is 2014. Hopefully, that gives them enough time to polish the game.

If you asked me what game this particular screenshot was from, I would have probably guess the next Nintendogs.  It turns out that Grand Theft Auto 5 features at least one canine character, and his life looks pretty swanky.  A lovely view of the Sunset and all the stolen dog chow he can eat.

In a press release sent out yesterday Activision Blizzard declared they have claimed their independence from parent company Vivendi Universal.  The move apparently was spearheaded by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and Co-Chairman Brian Kelly, who pitched in a total of $100 million so they could buy out shares of the company.  

Ultimately this is all rather complicated business speak, but it comes down to the power to control your own destiny (see what I did there?).  Activision can now steer their own course as they look toward the next generation of consoles, and Blizzard no longer has to answer to corporate suits about their work.  Once news broke out about this the cost of shares in Activision Blizzard soared, and so even the shareholders are happy.  

The more interesting part of the announcement came a little later on, when the release mentioned that World of Warcraft has only 7.7 million subscribers, down from 11 million in 2008.  While it seems that no other game was able to step up to the plate as the fabled WoW-killer, time and player apathy have eaten away at a steady chunk of the MMO's success.  Blizzard isn't done yet though.  They have one more WoW expansion coming, and Project Titan, which promises innovation at the highest levels.  

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is approaching fast and the biggest question the goes around buzzing through the heads of potential customers is "What is the endgame like?" Legitimate question considering past titles, much like Star Wars: The Old Republic and even the past rendition of FFXIV had little to no endgame content at launch. Naotoki Yoshida, FFXIV's director, put out his 48th 'Letter from the Producer' and he gives us a glimpse of what to expect:

Last week Carbine Studios announced the final two races rounding out their cast of colorful characters in WildStar.  I had the chance to sit in on a conference call with Creative Director Matt Mocarski, and Lead Narrative Designer Chad Moore to hear about the influences, origins, and design choices that went into the two new races.

As with any interview discussing an upcoming title, this interview contains spoilerific information.  Readers enter at your own risk.

First of all, before we get to the interview proper, here's the nitty gritty about the two races:

Whether it's RPG, MMORPG, or even some modern-day shooters, you're always going to be choosing whether or not you equip a particular piece of gear because of its effectiveness or its style points.

Personally, I'm guilty of trashing something just because it doesn't look good, but sometimes that ugly helmet is significantly better than anything else you could ever find and choosing not to equip it reduces positive outlook towards l33t gamers by 35%. Ultimately, it comes down to the player choice. I've seen people willing to scrap their sexy plate armor for leather spandex just because it gives you 2 stats somewhere. On the other hand, I've seen those who say "be gone!" to the leopard, skinny-fit jacket unless that's their style of course...

So how about you? Tell us reasons as to why you choose what to wear on your virtual gaming avatars. Let's try and ignore gear obtained through natural progression since equipping the next item is almost a given... or is it? (YELLOW DRESS!)

One of the most prominent questions in the gaming industry most certainly is: Subscription or free-to-play for MMOs?

Anyone can argue that the industry has shifted over the years to a larger, more casual consumer base and the 'free-to-play' (F2P) sticker is the most attractive sticker. It's clear we're in the golden age of F2P since a bunch of MMOs on the market have shifted to such a model but what has forced publishers to make the change? After all, aside from companies that are known for making F2P, how many large triple-A MMOs actually start out with no monthly fees? As far as well-known names go, not very many.

Naotoki Yoshida, director of Square Enix upcoming MMO, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was asked this very question in an interview with Venturebeat, which I'm going to reference quite often. His answer was rather compelling and made it worth while to write-up this post. As some of you may or may not know, FFXIV will be going down the subscription path but is that logical considering the game technically failed in the past? He thinks so.

Quite an interesting, yet relatively common in context, topic was discussed today in the Final Fantasy XIV sub-reddit. TchotchkeAficionado of reddit expressed her disappointment in the gamer stereotype reaction: "of course you're a healer, you're a girl."

As we all know, unfortunately, parts of the gaming industry still holds a bit of sexism especially among younger males towards females but the broader range of this kind of discussion is for another time. Still, it's really odd to me how we label certain aspects of anything really as gender-based rather than the expectation that someone does something because its their preference. See, I'm a guy and I generally prefer to play the healer-role in every MMO. I'm also a hardcore, competitive gamer and one that's had his arse kicked around on occasion by female pro players.

It's funny because as a male, I can seemingly play anything yet not be commented on it. On the other hand, some of my female friends are ALWAYS criticized in some shape or form. But let me tell you, the ones I do play with are mechanically exceptional with one even topping the DPS chart in my FFXI linkshell, which mind you was server #1 and geared to perfection on Caitsith.

My phone would not stop ringing. Blurred numbers began to make sense after a few blinks: 4:00 AM on the nose.  The recording didn't wait for a greeting but launched as soon as I picked up. “Congratulations, you won our contest and will be receiving…” I muttered profanities and moved to hang up. The recording changed its tone, “You don’t want to do that.” I froze. “I’m sending you a link. If you don’t want to see your world end, you will follow the instructions exactly.” Click. Smiling into the darkness, I remembered the online contact form I’d filled out the previous week. The game had begun.

[Update] Just a quick note to let you know Blizzard just released these items on the North American version of their store.  I suppose the EU team just works faster and this wasn't a pander to the NA community after all.

[Original article]

Today three vanity gear items were added to the Blizzard Store, but only outside the US. Some time back we stumbled on the story that Blizzard would be adding an in-game cash shop to World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria.  Right after our story Blizzard confirmed the rumor, saying that they are exploring the option, especially in the Asian territories where cash shops are more acceptable.  Then they announced that they would be adding transmog gear to the Blizzard Store, a move that seems to support the in-game store format.

Today's screenshot comes to you from D4, also known as Dark Dreams Don't Die, an episodic murder mystery coming to the Xbox One.  I'm not sure what exactly is going on here, but my guess is Mr. Purple insulted this guy's mother.  Or he took the last Twinkie on earth and sold it to buy that fantastic medallion.

It was announced by Riot Games eSports Manager, Nick Allen, that the US Visa Bureau, and thus the United States, now officially considers the mega-hit MOBA, League of Legends, as an actual "professional sport." That also means its players are technically "professional athletes." Can't say I'm surprised by the news at all actually and am sort of happy eSports is headed in a more mainstream direction.

Of course, there's still a lot of hate going on for this type of news because in every book-related technicality, League of Legends is now officially on par with Soccer, Basketball, Football, etc. Does that mean it's as grand as the "real" sports leagues on a cultural level? Of course not and definitely not in North America. I love eSports to death but I'm not going to flail a banner saying Team Solo Mid or Curse are equal to The Lakers.

The whole point of Riot pushing for this was to make it easier for pro players to acquire visas to play for NA teams. Up until recently, being a pro eSports player wasn't considered a real job and thus made it difficult to obtain a work visa. Now that's just silly... If only you knew the amount of work pros put into their game. This news could potentially make LCS, as well as future eSports titles, much more dynamic. With Curse's recent acquisition of European LoL All-star, EDward, it won't be long before other current and upcoming teams look to other countries for battle-proven elites.

The following does not reflect Game Geex' technical opinion on Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. "Journals of an Archer" is merely a fun editorial narrative that creates a Parody of one's adventures in Eorzea. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Welcome everyone, to a stunning tale. One with passion, drama, and bloodshed. This story will span the lifetime of a lone, young Archer as he begins his journey in the land of Eorzea... (what do you mean they're gonna wipe the servers!? I can't say that! That's just bad storytelling!) Ahem... That Archer, is War Chao, and even at the young age of Level- something low, he has already alerted the world of his presence, single-handedly became the bringer of hope, and reduced the population of all monsters that get in his path, or so he believes. So it was forever set in stone that War Chao was born to be an archer and be one with the crystal:

Here's a note for any PC gamers out there:  The Steam Summer Getaway Sale started yesterday.  Now is the time to start picking up all those titles you couldn't afford throughout the year.  

As with previous sales there are daily deals, but this year Valve is introducing something called Steam Trading Cards.  Certain games come with a Trading Card which you can collect and unlock badges and discounts.  Great, like we needed another thing that feeds our obsessive collecting.

The sale runs between July 11th and July 22nd.  Grab your games before they go back to their ridiculously inflated original prices.

The Game Geex Report is a weekly exercise in transparency.  We will pull back the curtain and show you the workings of how we do things around here, what we are planning for the future, and what we've learned from the past.  And then we'll ask for your input on how we've been doing with the site.  

We’re reaching a tipping point here at Rogue Knight Studios.  For three years now we’ve been working on creating a successful gaming blog, and things haven’t exactly gone the way we expected.  Our dreams of spearheading a shift in how people interact with gaming journalism just fizzled, and in the end I was left in a place I did not want to be in.  I was writing articles simply to put something on the site, and wondering why we had no community.

I won't make any attempt to mask my enthusiasm for Carbine's up-coming Sci-Fi MMO, WildStar - the game is looking absolutely brilliant. From it's cartoon-like, lively art style to its intelligent systems and game mechanics, I have yet to hear a single thing about this title that I didn't absolutely love. And with this latest entry into the DevSpeak video series they have revealed their Free Form Targeting system, which is looking to be yet another ingredient in the massive serving of steamy Awesome Pie that I can't wait to savor. Pardon me, I may have drooled on my keyboard a little.

Check out the DevSpeak video after the jump, and be sure to watch all the through the end for a little extra Apocalypse Now inspired fun.

Rockstar Games have finally released game play of Grand Theft Auto V. I've always been a fan of the GTA series and can't wait to see what new stories lye within this crazy new carjacking game. The game is set in Southern California and will feature a vast open world. There will also be a multiplayer mode called Grand Theft Auto Online. Basically the world is filled with people everywhere. There is no news on what the multiplayer features will hold. Intrigued? You should be.

My love for Grand Theft Auto has always been strong even though the fourth game wasn't the greatest. I started off back in Vice City when I was twelve years old. At first I was just expecting some mindless carjacking and shooting game, but the stories behind all these Rockstar Games are incredibly good. The characters are very likable and it feels like your living life throughout a movie. Getting drunk and doing cocaine in make believe is fun too.

The primary thing that annoyed me was that Grand Theft Auto IV lacked vehicles. San Andreas had tons of vehicles, from cars, motorcycles, down to jet packs and planes. Grand Theft Auto V will have an huge array of vehicles making it that much more exciting, especially since all the vehicles are fully customizable.

Ever wonder what kind of communication goes down when playing a game at a higher level? Here's a match that took place during yesterday's Rogue Knight Gaming Call of Duty practice. The team isn't so hot yet as we're still going through the process of getting accustomed to a new player on the roster. Nonetheless, the game's ending came down to a valiant effort of trying to come back from a 140 point Hardpoint mode deficit against another team of four.

Major League Gaming has come such a long way. I remember watching Halo and sitting on bleachers! Heck, not too long ago, Call of Duty could barely sell any tickets. This year on the other hand, your three main stage titles; League of Legends, Starcraft II, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 each had their seats filled so tons of spectators were forced to stand in order to cheer for their favorite teams. On top of attendees, each game had over one hundred participating teams and competitors duking it out for that spot on the main stage.

Look out for the blue fireballs, little dragon.  They're pretty sneaky.

Ever wanted to know what it was like to climb on the back of a dragon and shoot fireballs at other winged creatures?  Crimson Dragon is definitely the game for you.

Yoshida put up another Tour of Eorzea video and this time around, we follow what once was our little Warrior through Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn's higher-end areas and get a glimpse of what's to come on your Eorzean adventures. The game's scenery and stages are beautiful and the dungeons, even at pre-level 30, are incredible.

In Part 3 of a Tour of Eorzea, we get a glimpse of higher level players as they travel the land on both PC and Playstation 3. Pay close attention because you'll see things that haven't been directly revealed yet such as one of the avatars the Summoner has along side him. We also get a glimpse of the Scholar in artifact attire which is always an added bonus.

I'm just going to let this trailer speak for itself because it really does. Enjoy! Click the jump for the video.

They say Mondays are boring so let's brighten up the mood shall we? It's time for some Monday Amusement and let's stick to cliche's and just do an "Akward Video Game Moments" thing! Guess some of these can pass as funny, but hey, that depends entirely on your taste in comedy.

Click the jump for today's list!

It looks like Lightning, as well as some of her friends, will make an appearance in Square Enix' upcoming MMO, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm reborn. This was confirmed at the Japan Expo that took place this weekend. The only partner of this female fatale that's been officially announced is Snow Villiers.

When people talk about successful subscription MMOs, World of Warcraft is always held up as the shining example of how it's done right.  Now it appears that Blizzard might be looking into mixing up their payment model.  

According to Wowhead, there is at least one item in the Patch 5.4 PTR build labeled with the mysterious phrase "in game store."  The item in question is an elixir, called the Enduring Elixir of Wisdom, which looks like it grants a 100% experience bonus for killing mobs.  The in-game store label on this single item is enough to send the mind reeling.  What exactly does this mean for the future of WoW?

At it's most basic, an in-game store would mean that players could buy vanity items with Real Money Transactions. Granted, the Real Money Auction House in Diablo III has had its share of issues, which I would assume would make Blizzard leery to do something similar with their MMO giant.  Still, the microtransaction pay model is a lot more lucrative than the subscription model is, and they may be testing the waters in anticipation of whatever Titan may become.  

Now this might come as a shock to, well, none of you, but I don't really have time to play all that many games.  That's why I love to find out what other people are playing.  We here at Game Geex live and breathe gaming, so I asked our writers what they are currently playing.  Here's what they had to say:

Arthur

My current (very limited) game time gets sunk into Borderlands 2, Rift, Minecraft, and Final Fantasy XIV beta (when the servers are up). I've also been messing around with a handful of smaller/indie games on Steam, such as Defender's Quest, a tower defense/RPG mashup that is surprisingly addictive.

Ohan

All I need in my life is League of Legends. I recently beat the Deadpool game and enjoyed all of it. Let that be a sneak peak for a certain upcoming article. Unfortunately I've been stalling until the new Star Wars Battlefront comes out!

When I first wrote my about my initial impressions of Firefall, I came away from the game feeling like it was missing something.  It was a fun little sci-fi romp, but lacked a major storyline to immerse me in the game world.  As it turns out Red 5 Studios had some major story coming, they were just biding their time.  With just a few days until the game rolls into open beta, they have released the Blackwater Anomaly trailer, full of intrigue and really huge boats.  Darn them, now I'm going to have to play the game to find out what the heck is going on down there.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  Sign up on the Firefall website to play the open beta starting July 9th.