Gears of War 3

Gears of War 3 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios exclusively for the Xbox 360. Originally due for release in April 2011, the game was delayed and eventually released on September 20, 2011.
Gears of War 3 made over one million pre-orders making it one of the most anticipated games of 2011. It is the third installment of the Gears of War series, and the final game in the current story arc.
The story was written by science fiction author Karen Traviss, who has authored four Gears novels and is working on the next one.

Gears of War 3, like its predecessors, is a third-person shooter that emphasizes the use of cover and squad tactics in combat situations. The player's character can carry four weapons: one pistol, one set of grenades, and two other weapons, all which can be swapped with other weapons dropped by fallen foes or at stockpiles throughout the game. Most weapons feature a secondary fire mode; the game's signature rifle, the Lancer, includes a chainsaw bayonet that can be used at close range to slice through enemies. When the player reloads a weapons ammunition, they have an opportunity for an "active reload", shown by a small cursor moving over a line with a marked section on the player's heads-up display (HUD). If the player hits a control button when the cursor is in the marked section, they will reload faster with the resulting reload being slightly more powerful than normal bullets. If they press the button outside this section, this temporarily jams the weapon, leaving the player vulnerable. Alternatively, the player can opt to not try to for the active reload, reloading the weapon at normal speed. At times, the player can carry a heavier weapon, such as a mortar or gatling gun, which slows their pace while it is carried.

When in combat, the player can take some damage from enemy fire, filling a blood-colored "crimson omen" on the HUD as a measure of the player's health. By staying out of the line of fire, this will dissipate, but by taking too much damage, the player will become downed, and must be brought to their feet by an ally within a short "bleed-out" period, or else the player will die, unless playing the game on Insane difficultly level in which case a player will die immediately after taking too much damage. The player can also be killed during the bleed-out by the use of an execution move by the enemy. Some types of damage, such as explosives or head shots, can kill the player immediately without the bleed-out period. Similarly, the player can also cause enemies to fall into bleed-out in the same manner. The player and their allies and enemies can use nearly any structure as cover, firing blind from behind it or leaning out to take aimed shots. Players can quickly switch between nearby covering walls or jump over lower cover to rush forward. Within Gears of War 3, some cover can be destroyed after taking some amount of damage, which can be used to a tactical advantage to draw out enemies from cover.

New to Gears of War 3 is the ability to tag enemy opponents; computer-controller allies will then concentrate fire on these marked enemies, while human allies will be alerted to their location on their HUD. Players can now also swap weapons and ammunition with other allies in the course of battle.

The player maintains an experience level that persists across all game modes. The player earns experience through kills, performing special types of kills, reviving and aiding teammates, and through general process of the campaign or competitive modes. Earning levels unlocks the use of special character skins and weapons within the game's multiplayer mode.

Upon release, Gears of War 3 received universal acclaim, garnering an aggregate score of 91.59% on GameRankings and 91/100 on Metacritic. Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb gave Gears of War 3 a review of 5/5; stating "Gears of War 3 is a fantastic follow-up that answers important questions about the nature of the Gears universe while backing it all up with an even bigger, better multiplayer suite." IGN called it "the spectacular conclusion to one of the most memorable and celebrated sagas in video games." Game Informer gave it a 9.5/10, saying that "Gears 3 is a fantastic idea polished to near perfection by an enormous crew of talented developers and a bottomless budget," with "a constantly shuffling deck of threats that encourage players to experiment with new weapons and tactics," "hilariously over-the-top set piece moments," and a "smart approach to network play."

After Eurogamer published an 8/10 review for the game, Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski reported, saying "When people rated Gears 2 higher than Gears 3, it kind of upset me because I know Gears 3 is a better game on every level." His comments were criticized by Destructoid and GamePro. In GamePro, McKinley Noble argued that "slamming a "bad" review that's actually pretty favorable does come off as selfish".

Dragon Age II

Dragon Age II is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare's Edmonton studios, and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second major game in BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Mac OS X on March 8, 2011 in North America, March 10, 2011 in Australia and March 11, 2011 in Europe.

Set in the same mythical world introduced in Dragon Age: Origins, the player assumes the role of Hawke, a human mage, warrior, or rogue who arrives in the city of Kirkwall as a lowly refugee but becomes its legendary champion over a turbulent decade of political and social conflict.

Set in the mythical world of Thedas, Dragon Age II tells the story of Hawke, who fled the nation of Ferelden during the events of Dragon Age: Origins and traveled across the Waking Sea to the Free Marches and the city of Kirkwall as a refugee. Within the span of a decade, Hawke would rise in power and influence to become the legendary "Champion of Kirkwall", and the center of events that change the course of Thedas forever. The game focuses on Hawke's rise to power and is framed through flashbacks by one of Hawke's old companions, Varric, who relates the Champion's "true story" to Cassandra Pentaghast, a Seeker of Thedas' religious Chantry. Hawke's companion characters are Aveline (a former Fereldan soldier who joins the Kirkwall City Guard), Varric (a crossbow wielding dwarf with a penchant for storytelling), Fenris (an elf and former slave in the Tevinter Imperium), Merrill (a Dalish elf rejected by her clan), Isabela (a pirate captain stranded in Kirkwall after her ship crashed), and Anders (a former Grey Warden). The Exiled Prince DLC adds Sebastian Vael, a Prince of Starkhaven who comes to Kirkwall seeking aid after his family is deposed.

Dragon Age II has a linear framed narrative story, mainly based on the protagonist's choices. Romance is possible with five party members in the game. New combat experiences and spells have been added. Dragon Age II is set in a city called Kirkwall located in the region known as Free Marches, which is referenced in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening but not shown. Unlike Origins, Dragon Age II features a fully voiced main character, which is part of the reason the main character's race is fixed, and a new dialogue wheel based on the dialogue system from the Mass Effectseries has been added. In addition, races such as the elves, dwarves and kossith have been redesigned. Saved information can be imported from Origins as well asAwakening. This data will affect the background story of Dragon Age II.

Orders placed before January 11, 2011 were automatically upgraded to the Dragon Age II: BioWare Signature Edition, with additional content. Orders placed before March 8 qualify for pre-order bonuses. In an attempt to discourage purchasing used copies of the game, purchasers of a new copy (before or after the release date) receive access to additional features. Further in-game bonuses can be obtained by completing the free Dragon Age II demo, through Penny Arcade, and by signing up to the newsletter. Purchasing the game Dead Space 2 before March 31, 2012 also unlocks a Dead Space themed armor item. Bioware announced that 2 in game items would be unlocked for all users if the total number of demo downloads reached 1 million in the course of one week (which occurred), and that a further and more powerful item would be unlocked if each post on the official Facebook account between February 28 and March 4 received 1 million impressions the day it was posted.

In March 2011, reports began emerging from consumer-advocacy website Reclaim Your Game that Dragon Age II was being distributed with the controversial DRM software SecuROM, despite assertions from EA that it would not be. Producer Fernando Melo stated that although the game uses software made by the makers of SecuROM, it is a different program completely. "They have the same support site through which is the URL you're seeing." The software is a form of release-date checker, designed to prevent copies of the game from being played before the release date in that territory. The software runs from the disc, and does not install anything on the system. BioWare confirmed that there is no SecuROM DRM in the game and clarified that in the case of downloaded versions, the release date check program's executable deletes itself after having performed the check.

A BioWare employee was caught posing as a consumer on the review site Metacritic. The employee, Chris Hoban, who posted under the name of Avanost gave a score of 10/10 saying "Anything negative you'll see about this game is an overreaction of personal preference." A representative for EA responded after much online controversy saying "Of course the people who make the game vote for their own game. That's how it works in the Oscars, that's how it works in the Grammys and why I'm betting that Barack Obama voted for himself in the last election", though it is unclear if Hoban acted on his own behest or on that of the company.

League of Legends

League of Legends (often abbreviated as LoL) is a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) video game developed and published by Riot Games for Microsoft Windows, inspired by the popular DotA All Stars. map for Warcraft III. It was first announced on October 7, 2008, and released on October 27, 2009. The game was in a closed beta from April 10, 2009, to October 22, 2009. It then transitioned to open beta until release.

Players are formed into 2 even teams of Champions, 3v3 or 5v5. As of 14 December
2011 there are 89 different released champions. Each team starts at opposing sides of a map in an area called the fountain, near what is called a Nexus. A match is won when either teams nexus is destroyed. To destroy a Nexus, each team must work through a series of Turrets. Turrets are often placed along a path to each base referred to as a Lane. Along the way, each player gains levels from killing the opposing team's champions and Minions (small NPCs that constantly spawn and attack the other team) and defeating neutral monsters (some of which grant buffs known as crests upon death). Completing objectives rewards players with gold which is used to purchase items. In League of Legends, each player starts at level 1 at the beginning of the match and can obtain the maximum of level 18 with their champion, leveling 4 different champion-specific abilities.

Steve "Guinsoo" Feak, the previous designer of the popular Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne custom map, DotA Allstars, and Steve "Pendragon" Mescon, the administrator of the former official support base for the map (www.dota-allstars.com), were involved with Riot Games in the development of League Of Legends. Using the original DotA created by Eul (the original Defence of The Ancients map for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos) as a base, Guinsoo made DotA Allstars by inserting his own mix of content, largely expanding the number of the heroes, and adding recipes, numerous items and various gameplay changes. Guinsoo then passed version 6 of the map on to its current developer, IceFrog.

Riot Games has signed deals regarding the distribution of League of Legends in Asia, Europe, and North America. The game is expected to be released in the rest of the world also. The game has already released and is distributed in Australia, the United States, Canada and Europe. No public announcements regarding other regions has yet been made.

In Asia, Tencent Inc., China's largest Internet value-added services company, best known for its QQ Instant Messaging client will be in charge of the distribution to Tencent's growing 300 million Internet user base through its leading QQ Game portal. The deal is one of only a handful of partnerships to bring a U.S.-developed online game directly to China.

In Europe, Riot Games has signed an international licensing partnership with GOA, the videogames department of Orange's Content Division and Europe's largest gaming portal. On October 13, 2009, GOA and Riot announced that they would start channeling server access for players located in Europe, to GOA's dedicated servers. This restriction meant that players located in Europe would not be able to play on Riot's servers in the United States. Due to negative community feedback, the channeling decision was rescinded October 16, 2009. In North America, Riot Games will self-publish and operate the game and all of its customer service aspects.

On May 10, 2010, Riot Games announced that they would take over distribution and operation of the game in Europe. To do so, Riot Games established a European HQ in Dublin. On July 14, 2009, Riot Games announced that League of Legends will be free with "no catch". There will be a digital copy for download, but there is also a Digital Collector's Copy that will be available to purchase that contains exclusive skins, $10 credit for Riot Points, and 20 champions to access without unlocking them normally via gameplay as well as 4 "special" runes; the Collector's Pack is currently available for $29.99. Even though the game is free, Riot Games "plan[s] to continue to add content (characters etc...) with a full production team at very frequent intervals." Using both free-to-play and freemium models, the game is supported by microtransactions (see store) rather than ads or boxed copy sales.

On 25 February 2010 Riot Games announced that League of Legends will be distributed in Southeast Asian countries by an unspecified publisher and blocked SEA IP addresses pursuant to its distribution agreement. The community has raised a number of concerns about the deal and the immediate IP block. On July 16, 2010, Riot Games announced that Garena will publish the game in Southeast Asia. Additionally, Southeast Asian players have the ability "transfer accounts" to import their progress stored in North American or European servers, into the Southeast Asian server.

League of Legends has received generally favorable reviews, and currently holds a Metacritic score of 78 out of 100.
IGN awarded League of Legends 8.0 out of 10, highlighting an enjoyable game design, inventive champion design with good customization options and lively visuals. However, the game's confusing launch was criticized: it was felt that the title was released too early, with some features missing and others to be removed. Finally, the reviewer noted that high level players in the game have "little patience for newcomers," though the reviewer believed that matchmaking (not implemented at the time of review), would solve the problem by matching players of similar level together. GameZebo, in contrast, awarded the game 2.5 stars out of 5, criticizing the game's lack of campaign mode and single player options, and stating that "League of Legends feels like a real time strategy game with all of the strategy taken out."
The game has undergone criticism for server unreliability and unmoderated gameplay (such as player grief and harassment). However, a system to report players who misbehave in-game has been implemented, allowing a player to report others for reasons such as verbal harassment, intentional disruption of the game (e.g., 'feeding' the enemy team, making them gain kills and thus gold, by dying on purpose), staying AFK (Away From Keyboard) for extended periods of time, and leaving the game. Riot released a peer review system called the "Tribunal" in May of 2011. Riot rewards influence points to players for reviewing reports entered by other players.

As of November 2011, League of Legends had over 32 million registrations and averages more than 4 million players per day, with the number of concurrent users online at any given time peaking over 1 million, doubling its player base in 4 months.

Need for Speed: World

Need for Speed World (previously known as Need for Speed: World Online) is the 15th installment in the long-running racing video game Need for Speed franchise published by Electronic Arts. This iteration has been co-developed by EA Black Box and EA Singapore. It is the first freemium MMORG in the Need for Speed series (though Motor City Onlinewas originally conceived as a Need for Speed game) and is available exclusively for Windows-based PCs. World was released worldwide on July 27, 2010. However, people who ordered the Need for Speed: World Starter Pack had an early "head-start" in the game, which started on July 20, 2010.

World takes on the gameplay style of Most Wanted and Carbon, focusing on illegal street racing, tuning and police chases, and adds classic MMO elements to the mix such as special abilities. World also features the cities of Rockport and Palmont, the cities of Most Wanted and Carbon into its map design. The game currently features 71 licensed cars consisting of tuners, muscle cars and exotics.

On December 2010, car performance customization was made available to players. On March 16, 2011, visual customization was also made available. On March 31, 2011, Electronic Arts introduced a new game mode called Team Escape, a co-operative version of a police pursuit where up to four players must race as a team driving from point A to point B while avoiding numerous cops. For this mode, two co-op versions of the game's powerups have been released. On July 26, 2011, a new game mode called Treasure Hunt was released. In this mode, played during free roam, players collect 15 gems around a randomly selected area once a day in the World to earn boosts of reputation and in-game cash.

Before September 8, 2010, after reaching level 10 and access to only tier 1 and certain tier 2 cars, the player would not be able to progress further in the game and would cease to earn any more experience points or cash. To continue the game, the player had to purchase the Need for Speed World Starter Pack. Without it, the player was allowed to play the game for as long as he or she wants, but he or she would cease to earn experience and cash. On September 8, 2010World had passed 1 million registrations. To celebrate that, the game was made free-to-play and the level cap was removed.

The game was first announced to be free-to-play. In October 2009, World was opened to public beta-testing limited to residents of Taiwan. There have been seven closed beta sessions in total. Except the first one, all were available worldwide to residents who sign up, meet admission criteria, and get accepted. An open beta was started on July 2, 2010 at 10am PDT. The Beta was scheduled to close on July 6, 2010 but was extended to July 9, 2010. A stress-test was opened from July 13 through 14th, 2010. Players who purchased the starter pack were able to play the game one week before the official release. Players who did not purchase the starter pack were able to play on July 27, 2010.

Need for Speed World has received generally mixed reviews by critics. On GameRankings, the game holds a score of 62.14%, while on Metacritic, World holds a score of 62, meaning "mixed or average reviews".

The highest praise of the game came from GamingXP, which commented that "The game feels like a combination of previous Need for Speed games except the single player has been cut off. Add some role-play elements and you have a racing MMO." PC Format gave a somewhat mediocre review in their October 2010 issue, concluding that the game "feels like a missed opportunity." Eurogamer commented that "It's a real shame that the MMO aspect of World is effectively a needlessly elaborate lobby."

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (メタルギア ライジング リベンジェンス Metaru Gia Raijingu: Ribenjensu?) is an upcoming action video game under development by Platinum Games and produced by Kojima Productions as part of the Metal Gear series, for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was originally announced and developed by Kojima Productions as Metal Gear Solid: Rising (メタルギアソリッドライジング Metaru Gia Soriddo Raijingu?), an action game set between the events of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, before being reannounced as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance under the development of Platinum Games. The game is now set to take place several years after Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and is a spinoff, that is "not part of the Metal Gear Solid series".

Players assume control of cyborg ninja Raiden, the katana-wielding ally of series mainstay Solid Snake. Unlike previous titles in the Metal Gear series, Rising is strictly an action game, focusing on swordfighting and a sophisticated cutting system. The game's cutting system allows players to engage in third person melee combat, as well as precisely slash enemies and objects "at will" along a geometrical plane using a "free slicing" mode. Virtually any object in the game can be cut, including vehicles and enemies, though elements of the environment were intentionally limited to structures such as pillars and walls to better facilitate gameplay. The free slicing mode is similar to other aiming modes in previous Metal Gear Solid titles, but produces a special targeting reticule in the form of a transparent blue plane which can be rotated and moved, tracing orange lines across the surfaces of objects to indicate exactly where they will be cut; it can also be used to enter a bullet time state, giving players the opportunity to precisely slash targets during moments of action, such as slicing through a falling target from multiple angles before it hits the ground. These features can be employed strategically, for example disabling opponents, finding weak points and gaps in armor, severing support columns to collapse ceilings or walls onto enemies, deflecting enemy fire, or cutting through objects to remove enemy cover.

Although Raiden's main weapon will be his high-frequency blade, he will also have "sub-weapons", Kimura revealed; gameplay footage has briefly shown Raiden wielding a dagger in his left hand. In the debut trailer for the rebooted titled, Raiden was also seen grappling and throwing large robotic enemies, and dramatically increasing his running speed for short bursts.

A key gameplay feature initially announced for game was titled zan-datsu (斬奪 lit. "cut and take"?), and would have involved "cutting" through enemies and "taking" parts, energy, ammunition, items, and information from the bodies of dismembered cyborgs and robots. For example, in the E3 2010 trailer, Raiden tears a battery — in the form of a glowing mechanical spine — from a dismembered cyborg enemy, which he then crushes after absorbing energy from it to heal himself. This gameplay element will not remain as the focus of the game, but will still be optional as of the move to Platinum Games, dialogue in the most recent trailer discusses such extracting of fluids from enemy cyborgs in order to obtain electrolytes.

The game's original director, Mineshi Kimura, stated that Rising would carry on the series tradition of encouraging players to progress through the game without killing, noting that there is a moral difference between attacking cyborgs or robots and attacking human beings, and that there's a "certain virtue to simply disabling your enemies instead of killing them." While it was considered important to give the players freedom to do what they want, the game's original producer Shigenobu Matsuyama, indicated that players would never be rewarded for killing human opponents, and that the game will be designed so that players are never forced to do so.

Despite having thought out stories and scenarios for the game, Kojima Productions were finding it difficult to design the game around the cutting concept. The project was quietly cancelled in late 2010, and whilst Kojima had considered moving the project to developers abroad, he felt that a Japanese developer would be more suited to produce a ninja action game. In early 2011, Kojima approached Tatsuya Minami, president & CEO of Platinum Games, about restarting the cancelled project with them. Platinum Games accepted the project and took over development with Atsushi Inaba as producer, reworking the game from scratch using their own engine, whilst Kojima Productions handling cutscenes and story elements, revising the story to now take place after Metal Gear Solid 4 to reflect the new development style. This new version, now titled Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, was first revealed via a trailer shown at the Spike Video Game Awards on December 10, 2011.

The trailer also confirmed that Raiden will once again be voiced by Quinton Flynn, who had previously stated that Konami had not contacted him regarding the game. While Platinum Games is confirmed to be part of the project, Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya, initially thought to be involved, has confirmed he isn’t part of the games development. The game's title was changed to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance to reflect that it isn't part of the main Metal Gear Solid series, but is instead a spinoff that takes place after Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Kojima also confirmed Rising will run at 60 frames per second, a requirement he personally requested to Platinum Games. Inaba took to his Twitter feed to address fans' concerns over the project. He has acknowledged the mixed reaction to the unveiling of Rising, but hopes gamers will spot "a glimpse of the future" in the trailer. Inaba promises its "love and respect will shine through." The negative reactions came from fans noticing the genre switching to a "hack and slash" game.

BioShock: Infinite

BioShock Infinite is an upcoming first-person shooter video game, and the third game in the BioShock series. Previously known as "Project Icarus", it is being developed by Irrational Games for a 2012 release on the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. BioShock Infinite is not a direct sequel or prequel to previous BioShock games, taking place in an earlier period and different setting, though it features similar gameplay concepts and themes. The player controls a former Pinkerton agent, Booker DeWitt, as he attempts to rescue a woman named Elizabeth trapped aboard the collapsing air-city Columbia in 1912.

BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter with role-playing game elements similar to the previous two games. As DeWitt, the player moves about the various structures of Columbia using a grappling hook, a series of railways connecting the buildings called the Skyline, and other transport means to search for Elizabeth. The player will gain weapons which can be used in numerous ways within the environment, including on the Skyline, to defeat enemies. DeWitt gains powers and abilities by using vigors and nostrums that are found through Columbia, the equivalent of BioShock's plasmids and tonics. Vigors grant activated powers such as telekinesis, electricity manipulation, or animal control (as seen by the manipulation of a flock of crows within the gameplay demo), while nostrums are passive abilities that can improve the player's strength or damage resistance. Unlike BioShock in which the player was able to use special Gene Banks to alter the loadout of plasmids and tonics they had, the choice to imbibe a certain vigor or nostrum is permanent and cannot be changed later in the game, placing emphasis on the consequences of the player's choices throughout the game. Infinite does not use EVE, the equivalent of magic points, for powering abilities gained by vigors or nostrums. Each container of vigor has a limited number of charges in it, and while more can be found around the game's environment, the player can only carry a limited number of vigors into battle, with more powerful vigors containing fewer charges. Nostrums are permanent changes to the character and cannot be removed once used. These come in two types, stable and unstable varieties, the latter referred to as "potlucks". Stable nostrums are more expensive, but the player knows exactly what effect applying the nostrum will gain them. Unstable nostrums are cheaper or can be found lying around the environment, but upon use, require the player to select one of four random effects to alter their character, an idea inspired by Heroes of Might and Magic according to Levine.

Once reunited with Elizabeth, who also has a set of such powers, the player must work together with her to escape Columbia. For example, Elizabeth can create a localized rainstorm on foes, which the player, as DeWitt, can then fire upon with an electricity-based attack, electrocuting the foes. The player will not be directly in control of Elizabeth, but instead she will react to the player and the current situation in a manner similar to the AI Director in Left 4 Dead, according to Levine. However, using Elizabeth's powers also harms her, an action compared to the choice of killing or saving the Little Sisters from the previous games. Elizabeth also has the ability to interact with the tears in the fabric of space-time, pulling objects from the other side to use within Columbia, escaping from battle through these, or repairing them. The player will need to protect Elizabeth, but will not need "to babysit and hand-hold" her through the game. Levine has stated that working with Elizabeth in the game is "in no way, shape, or form is this an escort mission", identifying that players reacted negatively to a late-game stage in the original BioShock in which they were tasked to protect a Little Sister.

Several different forces are at work opposed to the player's progress within the city. Furthermore, the player and Elizabeth are chased by both Songbird (sometimes simply referred to as "Him"), who is attempting to snatch Elizabeth from the player, and the Handymen (originally named Alpha), robotic-like monsters housing a human heart and head and with the ability to heal weaker units.

The Skyline is a rail-based system (originally designed for moving cargo around Columbia but later used for personnel transport) similar to the concept found in the Ratchet & Clank games and described by Levine as "a roller coaster, over another roller coaster, over another roller coaster"; players activate a wrist-mounted tool that DeWitt and other enemies wear to jump and hang onto the self-powered tracks. Players can jump onto, off of, and between Skyline tracks at any time, and may face enemies that use the system to attack; the player can use weapons in DeWitt's free hand to defend the character. The freedom of movement along the Skyline allows for several varieties of combat, including flanking, cover, and area-of-effect attacks through creative uses of the system.

Irrational Games has stated that the game's set pieces are not heavily scripted; this statement was made in response to reaction to a gameplay preview video released during the week of September 21, 2010, which, within ten minutes, demonstrated numerous elements of the game. The development team called the game's pacing "likeBioShock 1", and that while there will be some scripted set pieces, the developers want the player to be able to explore Columbia at their own pace. Unlike Jack or Delta, the silent protagonists of BioShock and BioShock 2 respectively, and who are guided by radio commands from a third party, DeWitt will be a vocal character, with dialogue designed to aid the player in leading DeWitt to complete his mission.

At the present time, Irrational Games has not committed to including a multiplayer element within the game. While the team will experiment with concepts for a multiplayer component, Levine has stated that they would only proceed forward if it had elements not otherwise found in multiplayer games like Halo or Call of Duty.

During Sony's E3 press conference on June 6, 2011 creative director Ken Levine announced on-stage that BioShock Infinite will support the PlayStation Move. Though some reports believed that a new Move controller would be produced for the game based on information from Sony, 2K Games debunked these stories, stating that no new hardware is being developed for the game.

BioShock Infinite was on display for the general video game audience at the 2011 E3, and won the "Best of Show" award from the Game Critics Awards, as well as "Best Original Game", "Best Action/Adventure Game", and "Best PC Game".

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic, abbreviated as TOR or SWTOR, is an upcoming massively multiplayer online role-playing game based in the Star Wars universe. Currently in development by BioWare Austin and a supplemental team at BioWare Edmonton, the game was first announced on October 21, 2008, at an invitation-only press event. The video game will be released for the Microsoft Windows platform on December 20, 2011 in North America and on December 15, 2011 in Europe.
At a development cost rumored to be over $135 million, The Old Republic may be the most expensive video game ever created.

The story takes place in the Star Wars fictional universe shortly after the establishment of a tenuous peace between the re-emergent Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, 300 years after the events of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games, and more than 3,500 years before the events in the Star Wars films. The Jedi are held responsible for the success of the Sith during the devastating 28-year-long Great Galactic War (which led to the Treaty of Coruscant prior to the Cold War), and thus choose to relocate from Coruscant to Tython, where the Jedi Order had initially been founded, to seek guidance from the Force. The Sith control Korriban, where they have re-established a Sith Academy. The game begins 10 years later as new conflicts arise.
A collaborative effort between BioWare, LucasArts and Dark Horse Comics has resulted in webcomics entitled Star Wars: The Old Republic – Threat of Peace and Star Wars: The Old Republic – Blood of the Empire, the purpose of which is to establish the backstory as the game opens.
BioWare has stated that the game will have a significant focus on the storyline.

Players will join as members of either of the two main factions – the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Although each faction is led by a benevolent or malevolent leader, it is emphasized that an individual member may possess a morality at any point along the light/dark spectrum. The project's key focus is to differentiate between the player's faction and morality. For instance, a member with ties to the Galactic Republic may belong to the Dark Side while attempting to achieve their own ends, which may be misaligned or dissimilar from the Republic's vision.

While each class in The Old Republic will still favor a certain play style (be it ranged, melee, or otherwise), customization combined with companion characters will make for having a class be able to tackle many different situations, with or without the support of other player characters, and without requiring specific other classes in order to move forward.

Players' choices will permanently open or close storylines and affect players' non-player character (NPC) companions. It is intended that the game should provide more context for characters' missions than any previous MMORPG. Every character in the game, including the player character, will feature full voice dialog to enhance gameplay, and interactions will feature a dialogue system similar to that used in the Mass Effect series. Players will be able to choose from a variety of NPCs, although spending time with a single companion will help more in developing story and content than dividing time among several, and may even develop a love interest. It is possible for players to "blow it big time" if they fail to meet NPCs' expectations. Players will also have access to several planets, including Korriban, Ord Mantell, Nal Hutta, Tython, Coruscant, Balmorra, Alderaan, Tatooine, Dromund Kaas, Taris, Belsavis, Voss, Hoth, Corellia, Ilum and Quesh, and the moon Nar Shaddaa. Every player will receive their own starship, which was announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010.
Footage of space combat was released at Gamescom. The short clip provided by BioWare revealed that space combat would be a "tunnel shooter." A tunnel shooter, otherwise known as a scrolling shooter or rail shooter, is a flying game where the player is on a predetermined track. Game play includes moving right and left on the X axis and up and down on the Y axis; however, players won't have control of the speed of their space craft. Jake Neri, LucasArts Producer, told PC Gamer in their upcoming October 2010 issue that their goal is to "capture the most cinematic moments that we can create. We want players to get in and feel like they're in the movies. It's about highly cinematic, controlled combat moments ... very heroic, action-packed, exciting, visceral and dangerous encounters that'll make you pee your pants."

The title has already received praise from various media outlets several months before its release. Pax East 2011 and E3 2011 provided the public with one of the most recent chances to go hands-on with The Old Republic. Many gaming related news sources gave the project accolades for its showing at the convention. GameTrailers awarded the game both Best RPG and Best Online Game of E3 2010. IGN praised the story of the Jedi Consular, stating that it's easy to focus more on the story instead of the mission at hand.