MADDEN NFL 13

Madden NFL 13
Madden NFL 13 cover featuring Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson
Developer(s)	EA Tiburon
Publisher(s)	EA Sports
Series	Madden NFL
Engine	Infinity
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3 PlayStation Vita Wii Wii U Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA August 28, 2012 EU August 31, 2012
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player Multiplayer
Rating(s)	8.5

Madden NFL 13 is an American football video game based on the National Football League, published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. EA's Chief Creative Officer, Richard Hilleman, said that defense would receive various changes in mechanics and controls, one of the first known changes in the game. Part of the Madden NFL series, the game was released on August 28, 2012.
A 64-player fan vote tournament to determine the cover athlete began on March 7, 2012. The vote-in round matched up a pair of teammates from each of the 32 NFL teams, the winners of which were seeded in a 32-player bracket. The cover features Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions.

New features

Presentation

• This year, CBS' number-one commentary crew of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will anchor the game in the broadcast booth.
• Nantz and Simms appear in an in-booth cutscene before the game that includes stadium-specific backgrounds.
• EA is introducing 200+ new cutscenes between plays, before games, and more. These cutscenes are inspired by broadcast TV presentation. Replays are also being overhauled for more dramatic effect.
• Halftime features a new stats overlay, but there is no halftime show.
• The game contains all the new Nike uniforms and alternates on the disc. Some of the uniforms may have to be unlocked via a code as they are released in real life.
• Lighting changes based on the time of day occur per play instead of just at quarter breaks.
• Madden NFL 13 features the improved high dynamic range lighting and motion blur of NCAA Football 13.

Passing Game

• EA improved the left-analog stick passing controls so you can place the ball on a receiver's back shoulder, out toward the sideline, up high, down low, and other places where only your receiver can get it.
• Madden 13 integrates new pass trajectories and ball speeds to open up more areas of the field in the passing game.
• New pass animations speed up the time in which quarterbacks get rid of the ball, including a new shovel pass and specific set-ups for throws on the run.
• Pump fakes are now directed toward specific receivers, occur faster, and contain specific animations when performed outside of the pocket.
• Like NCAA 13, Madden features more than 20 new quarterback dropbacks, including those for 1/3/5/7-step variations, screens, and plays with auto-pump fake dropbacks.
• To improve the receiving, EA is including more than 430 new catch animations, some of which are fueled in part by the changes made to the left-analog passing stick. EA Tiburon says it also wants to make user catches easier to do by slowing down players when they select a receiver.
• The quarterbacks have new moves for avoiding the pass rush. A slowed down pocket speed gives you more control when you're trying to not get sacked.
• EA tweaked play-action to include an abort command that cancels the animation for those situations where a defender is barreling in unabated. The play-action also unravels faster in general. Running backs should be better in blocking after the fake (as well as release for passes) and defenders will be faked out more by play-action.
• Receivers have timing windows in their routes. When they expect the ball they'll turn their head to the quarterback. Until this time, their passing icons are grayed out. Passing to a receiver who isn't expecting the ball will often result in an incompletion. However, receivers will sometimes look for the ball earlier if the cornerback across the line of scrimmage blitzes or the receiver beats the jam at the line.

 

AI

 

• Neither receivers nor defensive backs react to a ball unless they are expecting it (like in the case of a quick slant for receivers) or they have their heads turned and are looking at it.
• Defenses line-up opposite receivers in a best-on-best designation. This prevents your linebacker from matching up against an elite wide receiver lined up in the slot, for instance.
• Defenses disguise their man or zone coverage before the snap so offenses can't try to use motion to uncover the defense's plans.
• Defenders use different coverage techniques such as off coverage (where they start seven or so yards off the line of scrimmage and attempt to read the ball), trail techniques (including hand fighting), and split techniques (where the linebacker stands between the tight end and slot receiver).
• New animations allow for simultaneous tackles while the ball is being caught (including being able to knock out the ball in mid-air), and in general the development team says it's been working on the interplay between players while the ball is in the air.
• EA promises enhanced AI playcalling for two-minute drill, goal line, clock draining, and red zone situations.
• New Infinity Engine improves tackle animations and the outcome of player interactions including a balance system.

Audio

• Over 82 hours of commentary from Nantz and Simms, to keep the audio new and different each time, with over 9,000 unique lines. Most of the lines are ad-libbed and Nantz and Simms regularly have interactions and comment on what is actually happening on the field.
• A new "Madden NFL 13 Theme", composed by Colin O'Malley, to be played at the beginning of the game as well as variations heard at quarter breaks, halftime, and postgame. In addition, an approx. 15-16 track, fully orchestrated soundtrack, also composed by O'Malley, will replace EA Trax for the music on the menu screens and other game modes.
• Partnership with NFL Films to get exclusive sound clips, such as QB cadences, hits/tackles, and group chatter.
• New crowd noise, recorded with 24 microphones, opposed to 4 microphones in previous years.

Other

• Special teams coverage has been revamped to get rid of player clustering. EA is also integrating cover and lane logic, new formations, and better wedges on returns.
• Madden's control scheme will now match the control scheme on NCAA Football.
• Kinect is included on the Xbox 360 console.
• "Tebowing" will be included in the game.
• Connected Careers: Combines Franchise, Online Franchise, and Superstar modes as well as historic players into one gameplay option. It will also make it no longer possible to import draft classes from NCAA Football.

Video

                           Guild Wars 2

]Guild Wars 2
Developer(s)	ArenaNet
Publisher(s)	NCsoft
Director(s)	Mike O'Brien
Designer(s)	Colin Johanson Eric Flannum
Programmer(s)	James Boer
Artist(s)	Daniel Dociu Kekai Kotaki
Writer(s)	Ree Soesbee Jeff Grubb Bobby Stein
Composer(s)	Jeremy Soule
Series	Guild Wars
Engine	Guild Wars engine (heavily modified) Havok Umbra Occlusion
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	August 28, 2012
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Rating(s)	N/A
Media/distribution	Optical disc Download
System requirements Windows XP Service Pack 2 or better Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, Core i3, AMD Athlon 64 X2 or better NVIDIA GeForce 7800, ATI Radeon X1800, Intel HD 3000 or better (256MB of video RAM and shader model 3.0 or better) 25 GB available HDD space Broadband Internet connection Keyboard and mouse

Guild Wars 2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by ArenaNet. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild dedicated to fighting the Elder Dragons, a Lovecraftian species that has seized control of Tyria in the time since the original Guild Wars. The game takes place in a persistent world with a story that progresses in instanced environments.
Guild Wars 2 claims to be unique in the genre by featuring a storyline that is responsive to player actions, something which is common in single player role-playing games but rarely seen in multiplayer ones. A dynamic event system replaces traditional questing, utilising the ripple effect to allow players to approach quests in different ways as part of a persistent world. Also of note is the combat system, which aims to be more dynamic than its predecessor by promoting synergy between professions and using the environment as a weapon, as well as reducing the complexity of the Magic-style skill system of the original game. As a sequel to Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 will feature the same lack of subscription fees that distinguished its predecessor from other commercially developed online games of the time, though a purchase is still required to install the game.

Gameplay

Guild Wars 2 uses a heavily modified version of the proprietary game engine developed for Guild Wars by ArenaNet. The modifications to the engine include real-time 3D environments, enhanced graphics and animations and the use of the Havok physics system. The developers say the engine now does justice to the game's critically acclaimed concept art, and that concept art will be integrated into the way the story is told to the player.
Guild Wars 2 will allow a player to create a character from a combination of five races and eight professions, the five races being the humans and charr, introduced in Prophecies, the asura and norn, introduced in Eye of the North, and the sylvari, a race exclusive to Guild Wars 2. The professions, three of which do not appear in Guild Wars, are divided into armor classes: "scholars" with light armor, "adventurers" with medium armor, and "soldiers" with heavy armor. There is no dedicated healing class because the developers felt that making it necessary for every party to have a healing character was restrictive.
The race and profession of the player will determine the skills that he or she has access to. Guild Wars 2, like Guild Wars, uses a skill-based combat system, whereby players must select only 10 skills from a much larger pool, introducing an element of strategy. However, unlike Guild Wars, skill slots have predefined roles, so the first five will be determined by a combination of the player's weapon and profession, the sixth can only be one of a number of healing skills, the seventh through ninth will be skills with no defined roles, and unlocked as the game progresses, and the tenth slot will be for an "elite" skill, which is also initially locked. In a departure from the high number of skills present in Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 will focus on quality of skills over quantity and will also reduce the overall number of game modes to reduce balancing complexity — one of the most common issues present in MMORPG's.

 

The uniquely low level cap of Guild Wars (20) has been replaced with one capping out at 80, which the developers state strikes the correct balance between allowing for character development and avoiding forcing players into the grind-based gameplay that too often accompanies a high level cap, the elimination of which was a core design principle of the original Guild Wars. In PvE, grind is combated with a sidekick system, similar to that used in City of Heroes, allowing two players with a large level disparity to normalize their levels and enjoy content as though they were the same level. In PvP, entry to e-sport will grant access to all skills, items and provide a fixed level, so that all players will be on a level playing field.

In addition to the small-scale, tactical combat described above, Guild Wars 2 will feature "World PvP", large scale combat taking place in a persistent world, with players able to drop in and out "on the fly". Players will be able to join this worldwide PvP battle in a variety of roles, with rewards commensurate with their success.
A more elaborate crafting system and other non-combat interactions are also being added to the game.

As Guild Wars 2 is set 250 years after the original game, players will not be able to carry over their characters from Guild Wars. However, the achievements and honors accumulated by all the characters on players' Guild Wars accounts are commemorated in the Hall of Monuments, which appears in Guild Wars: Eye of the North. The Hall of Monuments will also appear in Guild Wars 2, with the monuments in the Hall reflecting the achievements of characters on a linked Guild Wars account. These monuments are worth points that can be used to provide Guild Wars 2 characters with exclusive titles, items, mini-pets, and animal companions.

Synopsis

Setting

Although humans begin Guild Wars 2 on the back foot, significant technological advances have taken place in the years since Guild Wars.

Guild Wars 2 takes place in the high fantasy world of Tyria, 250 years after the players' defeat of the Great Destroyer in the Eye of the North expansion. Five so-called Elder Dragons sleeping beneath the continent have awoken in the time since Guild Wars, causing widespread destruction to Tyria and corrupting its inhabitants. The once dominant humans of Tyria are in decline, supplanted from most of their land by natural disasters and war with the charr, who have finally reclaimed the last vestiges of their ancestral homeland of Ascalon from the humans. To the north, the norn, a proud race of Nordic hunters, have been forced south by the rise of Jormag, the elder dragon of ice. In the west, the technologically advanced asura have been forced to establish permanent homes above-ground after the minions of the first dragon to awaken, Primordus, took control of the Depths of Tyria. Near the forests where the asura make their home are the sylvari, a new race who have appeared in Tyria in the last 25 years, unaffected by the difficulties that plague the other races but with some as-of-yet unexplained connection to the Elder Dragons.
To the south, the continent of Cantha has been cut off by an isolationist and xenophobic political climate, which is reinforced by Zhaitan's undead navy. The continent of Elona, too, has been cut off; the only hint of its continued prosperity being the ongoing battle between Palawa Joko, a [lich]'s Mordant Crescent and Kralkatorrik, the crystal dragon in the Crystal Desert, as well as occasional reports from Order of Whispers (a secretive organisation) spies. The Battle Isles have been wiped off the map entirely by the tidal wave caused by the re-emergence of the fallen kingdom of Orr, which came with the awakening of Zhaitan.
The advancement of time from Guild Wars is reflected in the changes in culture, including armor and clothing, as well as in the advancement of in-game technology and a unified common language.

Plot

The player is tasked with reuniting the members of the disbanded Destiny's Edge, a multi-racial adventuring guild whose members' struggles and eventual reunion serve as a microcosmic metaphor for the larger-scale unification of the playable races, whose combined strength is needed to effectively combat Zhaitan, the undead Elder Dragon.

Development

The decision to start creating Guild Wars 2 began in a design meeting for Guild Wars Utopia, back when the company was releasing campaigns on a sixth-month development cycle. The team realised that they would not be able to do everything they wanted within the constraints of the scope that they had previously defined for campaigns and the limited amount of time available to them, and at the behest of Jeff Strain, found themselves discussing how the continued addition of features and content in stand-alone campaigns was leading to more bloated tutorials and difficulty in balancing the ever-increasing number of skills. Eventually, the discussion evolved into a blueprint for an entirely new game.

Work on Guild Wars 2 began in 2007.It was announced March 27, 2007 to coincide with the announcement of the final Guild Wars expansion, which was designed to act as a bridge, in both gameplay and story terms, to Guild Wars 2. The development team abandoned the early open alpha and beta testing which they had used for the Guild Wars game. ArenaNet considered that player expectations for open beta tests of MMORPG had changed, and the beta was no longer used to test the game but to trial a nearly finished game prior to purchase. Beta tests scheduled for 2008 were cancelled to ensure Guild Wars 2 had maximum impact and appeal to these players.
In August 2009, two years after the game was first announced, ArenaNet decided the game had reached a state where they were happy to show it to the public. A trailer which mixed animated concept art and in-game footage was released at Gamescom, followed by interviews expanding on the lore of the game world and information about the player races.

In November 2009, NCsoft CEO Jaeho Lee stated the game would most likely not release until 2011, but a closed beta would be made available in 2010. The  2009 shareholders notes further supported this when the CEO stated that "the current development target was the end of 2010 but, Guild Wars 2 likely won't be released until 2011."
A playable demo of the game was made available at Gamescom (19–22 August 2010), Penny Arcade Expo (3–5 September 2010) and Paris Games Week (27 October-1 November 2010).
Guild Wars 2 is being developed for Microsoft Windows with a "very small team" investigating the possibility of a console version.

ArenaNet conducted small closed alpha and beta tests in 2011.On 23 January 2012 it was announced that Guild Wars 2 will ship this year. In February, select press were invited to participate in beta testing. In March and April, the size of beta tests was increased significantly as the beta was made available to anyone who pre-purchased the game.
On June 28, 2012, ArenaNet announced the game would be released on August 28, 2012 and those who prepurchased the game will be able to play on August 25.

Video

         Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Developer(s)	Valve Corporation Hidden Path Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Valve Corporation
Series	Counter-Strike
Engine	Source
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Mac OS X PlayStation 3 Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA 21 August 2012 EU 21 August 2012
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Rating(s)	8.5
Media/distribution	Digital download
System requirements Windows OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or AMD Phenom X3 8750 processor or better Memory: 1GB XP / 2GB Vista Hard Disk Space: At least 7.6GB of Space Video Card: Video card must be 256 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for Pixel Shader 3.0        .Mac OS X OS: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or higher Processor: Intel Core Duo Processor (2GHz or better) Memory: 2GB RAM Hard Disk Space: At least 7.6GB of Space Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 2400 or better / NVidia 8600M or better

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an online first-person shooter developed by Valve Corporation and Hidden Path Entertainment, who also maintained Counter-Strike: Source after its release. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike franchise, excluding Counter-Strike Neo and Counter-Strike Online.
Global Offensive was released on 21 August 2012 and made available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation 3 via PlayStation Network. It features classic content, such as old maps, as well as brand new maps, characters and game modes. It supports matchmaking and leaderboards. An Elo rating system prioritizes matching players by skill.Cross-platform multiplayer was planned between Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and PlayStation 3 players,but was ultimately limited to PC and Mac due to the differences in update frequency between the systems. The PlayStation 3 version will offer three control methods, which include using either the DualShock 3 controller, PlayStation Move or USB keyboard/mouse.

Gameplay

In-game screenshot of the terrorist team.

Like the previous games in the series, Global Offensive is an objective based multiplayer first person shooter. Each player joins either the Terrorist or Counter-Terrorist team and attempts to complete objectives or eliminate the enemy team. The game operates in short rounds that end when all players on one side are dead or an objective is completed. Once a player dies they must wait until the round ends to respawn in most game modes. Players purchase weapons and equipment at the beginning of every round with money awarded based on their performance. Completing objectives or killing enemies earns the player money while negative actions, like killing a teammate or hostage, takes money away from the player. In addition, when a round ends all players receive some amount of money, with players on the winning team receiving substantially more.
Global Offensive features Bomb Defusal, Hostage Rescue, and two new game modes called Arms Race and Demolition. These new modes are collectively referred to as "Arsenal mode" and are based on the popular gungame mod for Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source. Unlike other game modes Arms Race is a deathmatch-based mode where each player is rewarded for each kill with a new weapon, with the first player to get a kill with every weapon in a predetermined set winning the game. Demolition is a round based mode that removes weapon and equipment purchasing, instead challenging players by giving a set of progressively weaker weapons for each kill.

Global Offensive adds new weapons and equipment not seen in previous installments, most notably the Molotov cocktail which temporarily covers a small area in fire, making it impossible to pass through without taking damage.

Development

 
Global Offensive began as a port of Counter-Strike: Source to the Xbox 360 by Hidden Path Entertainment. During the development Valve saw the opportunity to turn the port into a full game and expand on Counter-Strike's gameplay. Global Offensive began development in March 2010and was revealed on August 12, 2011.
The closed beta started on November 30, 2011, and was initially restricted to around ten thousand people who received a key at events Valve attended to showcase Global Offensive. After issues such as client and server stability were addressed the beta was opened up to progressively more and more people (approximately 100,000 beta keys were given out as of 4 July 2012), until the beta became open for anybody to join and play. Before the public beta Valve invited professional Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source players to playtest the game and give feedback.
At E3 2012 Valve announced that Global Offensive would be released August 21, 2012 on all platforms, with an open beta starting roughly a month before that.

Video

Dark Souls

Dark Souls
European/North American box art
Developer(s)	From Software
Publisher(s)	JP From Software NA Namco Bandai Games EU Namco Bandai Games AU Namco Bandai Partners
Director(s)	Hidetaka Miyazaki
Composer(s)	Motoi Sakuraba
Engine	PhyreEngine
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360 JP September 22, 2011 (PS3 only) NA October 4, 2011 AU October 6, 2011 EU October 7, 2011 Microsoft Windows AU August 23, 2012 NA August 24, 2012 EU August 24, 2012
Genre(s)	Action role-playing, open world
Mode(s)	Single-player, online multiplayer
Rating(s)	9.4
Media/distribution	Optical disc, download

Dark Souls (ダークソウル Dāku Souru) is an action role-playing open world video game developed and published for PlayStation 3 by From Software in Japan. It was published for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by Namco Bandai Games internationally.  Previously referred to as Project Dark, it is the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls. It was released in Japan on September 22, 2011, on October 4 in North America, on October 6 in Australia and on October 7 in Europe of the same year. The game is known for its considerable difficulty, which has prompted much interest and discussion. A PC version has been announced which will be released in August 2012. Downloadable content was also announced for both consoles and will be released in October 2012.

Gameplay

Gameplay consists of dungeon crawling in almost relentlessly hostile environments. The challenging nature of the game provides a foundation of achievement and reward, reinforced by penalties upon player death. Dark Souls takes place in a large and contiguous open world environment, with the player able to travel to and from areas and explore various available paths seamlessly. Bonfires are scattered throughout the world; these represent the sole areas of rest and function as checkpoints. Resting at a bonfire causes all non-boss enemies to respawn, but also refills the player's supply of estus flasks (healing items), sorceries, miracles, and pyromancies. The player can be in either undead form or human form, and death in human form reverts the player to undead form. In undead form, the player is unable to kindle bonfires or summon help from other players; at the same time, players in undead form cannot be invaded by other players. Death in either form results in the loss of all carried souls and humanity, both of which act as forms of currency in the world, though they are each used for different purposes. The player has one chance to recollect the souls and humanity by reaching the location of his death; failing this, the items are permanently lost.
Souls are awarded upon killing any enemy, with the amount rewarded generally being proportional to the toughness of the enemy. Humanity on the other hand is significantly rarer. It is required to switch from undead to human form or to kindle bonfires (which itself requires the player to be in human form). Humanity also has several subtle effects on gameplay, such as increasing the item discovery rate or buffing some of the player's resistances. Certain weapons also scale in damage considerably with the possession of humanity.

Dark Souls features an elaborate online mode which is active whenever the console is connected to the internet. The online mode adds numerous dynamic interactions between the individual players, including limited co-op and player versus player, within certain conditions. Communication between players is deliberately limited. If the player is in "party chat" on the 360, the game will be set to offline mode.

The online interactions can facilitate a great amount of PvP activity. Under certain conditions, one player can invade another player's world with the goal of killing the other player. Some areas of the game have been designated unofficial PvP hotspots by the community; in these areas it is common to find hundreds of players either invading or waiting to be invaded in order to engage in 1v1 duels. Two elements of skill are generally involved in PvP: the dueling itself, which relies on reflexes and on-the-spot thinking, and the planning and development of the character build, which involves carefully engineering the character's stats to reap maximum benefits from a chosen configuration of armor and weapons.

Plot

Dark Souls has a minimalistic plot. Events and their significance are often implicit and left to player interpretation rather than fully shown or explained. Much of the story and lore of the world is given to the player through dialogue from characters within the world, item descriptions, or the scarce cutscenes. It is up to the player to put the pieces together.
In the founding of the universe, the earth was unformed, covered in crags, and dragons held sole dominion over the world. However, The Lords of Fire along with the human race eventually came into existence for reasons long lost to time. From the Dark, which gained meaning in contrast to Light from the newly kindled flame, emerged four powerful entities--Nito, the first of the dead; the Witch of Izalith and her daughters of chaos; Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, and his faithful knights; and the furtive pygmy, so easily forgotten--who harnessed the Souls of Lords to combat the dragons, eventually overthrowing them and launching humanity and their new lordly gods into a golden era known as the Age of Fire.
The player character is an Undead, who has yet to become Hollow. The protagonist escapes from the northern Undead Asylum with the help of another Undead and learns of the prophecy concerning a chosen Undead who leaves the Undead Asylum in pilgrimage and rings the two Bells of Awakening in the land of the ancient lords, Lordran.
Once the character has rung the Bells of Awakening, one in the heights of the Undead Parish and the other far, far below in the poisonous swamp at the base of Blighttown, the gate leading to Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo is opened, and the Primordial Serpent Kingseeker Frampt is awoken. He tells the player that he or she is the Chosen Undead who must succeed Lord Gwyn and remove the affliction of the Darksign. It is implied that Frampt is very old and has awaited the protagonist's arrival for a very long time. To achieve this given task, the character must get the Lordvessel from the land of Anor Londo, a forsaken city bathed in sunlight. When the task is done, the character must obtain the four powerful Lord Souls: one from Seath the Scaleless, the proud dragon who betrayed his own out of deep anger over his lack of immortality; one from the Four Kings, ancient rulers of New Londo who fell to Dark and were banished to the Abyss; one from the Bed of Chaos, a mass of life and the source of all demons which was the result of the failed experiments of the Witch of Izalith to recreate the primeval Flame; and Gravelord Nito, the first of the dead.
However, in the Abyss if the player has not placed the Lordvessel on the altar at that point then he or she can instead meet Darkstalker Kaathe, a different Primordial Serpent who opposes Frampt. After informing the player that he or she is a direct descendent of the pygmy, who obtained the Dark Soul, Kaathe will present the protagonist with a different path: to end the Age of Fire and "usher in the Age of Dark." Kaathe stated that Gwyn had wished to "avoid the course of nature," prolonged the Age of Fire, and in doing so branded undead with the Darksign, which only caused suffering. In Linking the Fire, Gwyn sacrificed himself, becoming the Lord of Cinder. The Age of Dark will erase this curse. Kaathe implies that the prophecy of the Chosen Undead espoused by Frampt is a lie crafted by the gods to trick the player into sacrificing himself in order to prolong the tyranny of the old order of deities; indeed, Kaathe implies that the deity status of Gwyn et. al. is only granted to them by the primordial Flame so long as it is kindled. The player must come to his or her own conclusion regarding whether Frampt or Kaathe is telling the truth.
After offering the four Lord Souls to the Lordvessel, with the help of either Frampt or Kaathe, the character must go on to defeat Gwyn. Once the character has slain him, the player is given a vague choice which affects the ending. The player may choose to either sacrifice himself in order to re-kindle the Flame and prolong the rule of the existing order of deities or to let the Flame wither and die, ushering in the Age of Dark (or of Humanity as Kaathe would suggest).

Video

         Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Developer(s)	High Moon Studios Mercenary Technology (PC)
Publisher(s)	Activision
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA August 21, 2012 EU August 24, 2012
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	8.0
Media/distribution	Blu-ray Disc, DVD, download

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is an upcoming third-person shooter video game being developed by High Moon Studios and published by Activision. It is the direct sequel to the 2010 video game Transformers: War for Cybertron. The game follows the events of War for Cybertron as the Autobots struggle to defeat their Decepticon foes in battle for their home planet of Cybertron. The game is scheduled to release on August 21, 2012 in North America and August 24, 2012 in Europe for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. High Moon Studios originally announced that they would not be porting the game to the PC,however, plans were changed. The first official cinematic trailer for the game was shown off at the 2011 Spike TV Video Game Awards on December 10, 2011.

Plot

 

Fall of Cybertron immediately continues the story from Transformers: War for Cybertron with the civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons over control of their home world, Cybertron. The developer, High Moon Studios, hopes to show a darker tone than the original game; as Game Informer states, this game "changes and improves upon so many of the fundamental ideas that the developer considers the game a natural successor rather than a true sequel." Fall of Cybertron depicts the final battle between the two robot factions which results in the destruction of their home world, forcing the Autobots to seek refuge in our galaxy, the Milky Way.
Characters that will appear in the game include: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee (who has now lost his voice), Jazz, Cliffjumper, Ironhide, Sideswipe, Ratchet, Perceptor, Warpath, Wheeljack, Hound, Jetfire, Air Raid, Metroplex, the Dinobots (Grimlock, Sludge, Slag, Snarl and Swoop), and Megatron, Shockwave, Starscream, Soundwave, the Combaticons (Onslaught, Blast Off, Brawl, Swindle and Vortex) and their combined form of Bruticus, and an Insecticon swarm, including Hardshell, Sharpshot and Kickback.

Gameplay

 

Like its predecessor, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron is played from a third-person perspective. The weapon selection in Fall of Cybertron is upgraded, with new weapons that can take on very significant upgrades, including an upgrade that allows a weapon to fire 75 percent faster. The Autobot, Grimlock (a Transformer who transforms into a dinosaur) is controlled differently than other characters. Not having long range weapons (only a sword and a shield) Grimlock cannot transform at will, instead accumulating "rage" as he battles opponents. When he gains enough "rage" Grimlock is able to transform and perform massive damage. Every character will have their own special and unique ability, such as the Autobot Jazz acquiring a grappling hook, Optimus Prime's control of the massive Metroplex and the Combaticons ability to transform into the Decepticon combiner, Bruticus. Bruticus will be playable only in a level where the players will feel "the most powerful." The online co-op campaign play feature in the first game has been dropped. The "Escalation" horde type game-mode from War for Cybertron has also returned. There will be multiple waves of enemies as the game mode progresses, also opening up upgrades in weaponry. Instead of a health system the game will feature a regenerative system. The player will also be able to buy and upgrade their gear. The character creation for online multiplayer has been retooled and will feature more "variety." For online multiplayer, players are able to create their own Autobots and Decepticons from scratch, with hundreds of pieces and thousands of paint job options. Scientist, Infiltrator, Destroyer and Titan are confirmed to be the four "character classes."

Development

In November 2010, Hasbro confirmed in an investor conference that a sequel to the 2010 game Transformers: War for Cybertron would be developed with a release set for fall in 2012. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron was officially announced on October 6, 2011 in an article posted on the gaming magazine Game Informer's website. In the article, Game Informer noted that their November issue would contain an exclusive article on the upcoming game and the cover would feature concept art for the game. 1UP.com wrote that fans would be excited to hear another original Transformers game from High Moon Studios was being developed since the game they developed based on the movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon was disappointing. GamesRadar was also pleased to see an original game being developed, stating, "we're glad [...] developer High Moon Studios is back to what it does best: crafting new/old adventures for the Autobots and Decepticons," and echoing that the prequel was "shockingly good".

Design

Characters in the game will feature an updated appearance, and superior transformation schemes. The character, Optimus Prime was changed to fit a more "warrior" type class, adding more "bulk" on to Prime's body mass. Not only does appearance in character change, but also in weapon design. The designers of the game put out a call to everyone in the studio for ideas of new weapons. Matt Tieger of High Moon explained a main improvement in gameplay with weapons, quoting "We really made a conscious choice to make every upgrade a significant improvement, so one upgrade might increase your firing speed by 75 percent. We could have made the system so that there were a lot of upgrades that each improved your guns a little bit, but we wanted to make each upgrade feel like this giant thing. That way when players buy it they’re really going to feel the difference." Fall of Cybertron has been described to be "more colorful than War for Cybertron".

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