Project Torque by Aeria Games

Project Torque is a free mmo racing game by Aeria Games. I have played my fair share of free and subscription based mmo games including taking part in multiple beta tests including Motor City Online and The Sims Online. Most of the memorable free games I have played are the popular ones. Maple Story, Second Life and so on. Those games never seemed to have any sort of affect or impact on me, i remember them, but i never continued playing them for more than a day or two.

I have recently come across the aforementioned Project Torque, and to my surprise it was very well put together, fun and looked pretty good as well. The player is given the choice of a few starter cars to begin their career in a levelling system similar to that of Forza 2. The more races you compete in, the more XP you earn. There is also RP which can be used for power ups and other upgrades.

There are quite a few different race styles and tracks to choose from including Drift, Explore, Cicuit, Thunder Alley (which is NASCARish) stock car racing. There are lots of ways to upgrade your vehicles and upgrade their performance. While Project Torque isn't too bad in terms of realism, it still doesn't compare to Simbin's GTR series, which has brought realism in PC racing simulation to a new high.

All in all Project Torque is a fun and lastingly enjoyable game, and best of all its free to play.

Sound: 70
Graphics: 85
Story: N/A
Value: 100
Replayability: 77

SVSGR Total: 83/100

project-torque.aeriagames.com

PC Gaming Is Here To Stay

Jon Peddie Research has completed a study of worldwide PC gaming hardware. To the surprise of many, it is a $20 billion industry, which is nothing to turn a blind eye at. They say the PC gaming market will grow to over $34 billion by the year 2012. In addition to that is also about $6 billion in software and services.

The economic recession may stunt the expected growth of the consoles in favour of PC Gaming. It makes sense, I mean most people already have a computer capable of most games and with slight alterations and minimal acost, any system can be worthy of most games. Perhaps not the most powerful games like Crysis, but most new games should be fine. PC Gaming has been around for a long time and it is not going anywhere. People don't want to have to spend big bucks on HDTV screens for their Xboxes and Playstations to get proper quality out of them. The resolutions that can be presented on a new PC are extraordinary. The consoles have no chance against a gaming powerhouse.

Another good point to note is that computers can do more than just play games. We all know today's society is reliant on computers, we are not reliant on console gaming.

Release Dates

This list should help with your Christmas shopping or wish list making:

November
November 18th:
- Bolt - a Disney platformer based on the major motion picture.
- CSI:NY The Game - Ubisoft's Adventure game based on the TV series.
- Dynasty Warriors 6 - Action game from KOEI.
- Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods - Aspyr's new action rpg.
- Legendary - Gamecock Media Group's new shooter.
- LOTR Online: The Mines of Moria - Expansion for Turbine's Lord of the Rings MMORPG.
- Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir - Atari's rpg expansion.
- Tomb Raider Underworld - Eidos Interactive's newest iteration of its classic action series.
- Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 - Sega's Critically Acclaimed Sports Simulation.

November 20th:
- War Plan Pacific - A new strategy entry from Shrapnel Games.

This concludes the release date update for today, there will be a few more this month to conclude the month of November.

Age of Conan Update Live

Age of Conan: Hyberian Adventures got its first major content update since the release in May this year. Along with the new content update comes many new areas, characters and quests for players to divulge their role playing fantasies. Many items introduced will be aimed at higher level characters above level 50 mostly.

This is a free update that will be available to all Age Of Conan players.

Valve's Left 4 Dead Is Gold

Over the years, Valve have brought loyal PC gamers some of the most memorable games of recent times. Some of these titles include the Half Life series, Counter Strike series, Team Fortress series and the critically acclaimed and award winning Portal.

Their newest title, Left 4 Dead, aims to fulfill all of our zombie killing needs. It has recently gone gold and will soon be available to play. Gamers who have pre-ordered their copy through Valve's Steam network will see that their game is pre-loading and will be ready to play as soon as it is released. Talk about convenience! Also, those who bought the game through Steam received a 10% discount off store prices.

The game will be available on November 18th.

Lich King Is Out!!

And I definitely do not have it, so whoever does have it should tell me how awesome it is. :)

World War II: Road to Victory 1.21 Update Released

Matrix Games and IQ Software have announced the release of the 1.21 update for their World War II strategy game, which was released in July this year. There are quite a few fixes and improvements over the previous version including several improvements to gameplay and some rule tweaks.

Many of the improvements were based on suggestions from the games online community.

Games For Windows Interface Gets Silent Update

Yesterday, Microsoft released an update for the Games for Windows interface that is a lot cleaner and refined looking. The old interface was similar to the Xbox Live interface where as the new interface takes advantage of many new monitors high resolutions and stretches out along the top of the screen, as opposed to down the middle of the screen.

This update was unknown to the public and was a surprise to many, who assumed microsoft had all its efforts working on the upcoming release of the new Xbox live system.

Titan Studios Forms in Seattle

Epic Games China have opened up a new game development studio in Seattle called Titan Studios. Titan is made up of senior developers with previous experience at such well known dev. studios as Ubisoft, Epic Games, Scion Studios, Blizzard Entertainment, and Lionhead Studios. Quite the repertoir indeed it would seem, but we will have to wait and see what they come up with. They will be making games mostly using Epic's Unreal Engine 3.

According to official statements, a new mmo is in the works. No details on what it might be yet but updates will be available when they are released. Lets just hope for something kickass. Something with electric blanket mobiles and hamburger earmuffs! ok ok, maybe not but hey stranger things have happened....

Fallout 3 Is An Accomplishment In Gaming.

Pictured above: Top: OOooOOh Headshot! Middle: The Wasteland City of Megaton Bottom: What Nukes Look Like in Fallout 3.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have recently acquired my very own copy of the new and highly acclaimed first person rpg, Fallout 3, from the makers of 'Oblivion'. Oblivion was one of my favourite games ever, and from what I've seen of Fallout 3, it may surpass Bethesda's last masterpiece.

You start out your journey in a rather unfamiliar fashion. You begin your life by coming out of your mothers womb. Here you will choose your sex, name and appearance. Once you are born you find out your mother has died during birth.

Next you are a one year old striving to walk his first steps, this is where you choose your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. which is:
Strength: Power, Melee, Encumbrance.
Perception: Explosives, Lockpick, Energy Weapons.
Endurance: Health, Environment Resistances, Big Guns and unarmed.
Charisma: Barter and Speech.
Intelligence: Science, Repair and Medicine.
Agility: Small Guns, Sneak and affects number of V.A.T.S. action points.
Luck: raises all skills and crit rating.

These skills are the base skills for all the other skills in the game.

Next you move on to become a ten year old boy at your birthday party. You meet some story characters and about where you are from and you get your first weapon, the BB gun.

After this you are turning 16 and have to take Vault 101's G.O.A.T. test which will decide your class or set of skills you start with. The skills system seems to be pretty close to the first two fallout games which is a plus for classic fans of the series.

Once you finish those tests and trials you are awoken to find out your father has left the vault and gone out into the post apocalyptic wastelands. You must leave the vault to find him.

I don't want to reveal too much of the story but you get the idea. Once you step out into the wastelands, you start to get the feel for fallout 3. The world is as unique as it is horrifying.

I found myself running around killing super mutants and finding new areas to loot while getting sidetracked from the main story. There is just so much to do in this game, its hard to keep focus. So much depth, it's amazing what Bethesda has come up with this time. The development team is apparently big fallout fans and it shows as the Fallout world finally comes to life in the next generation.

For anyone even remotely interested in Fallout 3, or games in general, should definitely give Fallout 3 a try.

Sound: 82
Graphics: 95
Story: 88
Value: 97
Replayability: 96

SVSGR Total: 91.6/100!!

The Witcher Sells Over 1 Million Copies!

CD Projekt's critically acclaimed RPG has reached a gaming milestone. It has sold over 1 million copies worldwide, after the release of the new enhanced edition. The Witcher was only released around a year ago, so this is quite an achievement for the previously unknown polish developer.