The state of gaming as of right now is about to get a whole lot better. With the 2009 fiscal year ending in October, it's finally time to say goodbye to a fairly bleak year, and say hello to a really good year. For the purposes of this article, I am writing about the fiscal years: 2009 means October of 2008 to September of 2009 with 2010 meaning October of 2009 to September of 2010 Sure, 2009 had it's hits: Fallout 3 Left 4 Dead Dead Space Rock Band 2/Rock Band Beatles/Guitar Hero World Tour/Guitar Hero 5/Lego Rock Band/Band Hero Fable 2 Call of Duty: World at War KillZone 2 Halo Wars Resident Evil 5 Batman Arkham Asylum Halo 3: ODST They are all just some of the great games of 2009 but most of them came out right at the beginning of fiscal year 2009 (and the end of calendar year 2008) Fiscal year 2010 got started off with a bang with Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank: A Crank in Time, Borderlands, Assassin's Creed 2, and Forza 3, (not to mention the PSPGo, who was released on the very first day of fiscal year 2010) but will include: A New Wii? Project Natal? Sony PS3 Motion Controller Left 4 Dead 2 Modern Warfare 2 Halo Reach Splinter Cell Conviction Bayonetta Crackdown 2 Gran Turismo 5 God of War III BioShock 2 Mass Effect 2 Metal Gear Rising Max Payne 3 Deus Ex 3 Dead Rising 2 The Saboteur MAG Final Fantasy XIII/XIV Star Wars The Old Republic Those are just a few of the really exciting games that 2010 will have in store for us. Read More...

Since the Wii has come to market and the need for keeping those WiiMotes charged and useable has been a concern for hardcore gamers. So then the rechargeable AA batteries got pulled back out and WiiMote specific chargers began to get pumped onto the scene. Some were good. Some just horrid. But they all kept things working as long as it was just the WiiMote you had and nothing else. Not even the gel jacket to protect TV's around the world. These chargers were workable as long as you didn't care taking the extra time to slide out and disassemble everything to charge the batteries or swap in new ones. Read More...

Infinity Ward recently announced that their upcoming Modern Warfare 2 won't be supporting dedicated servers, something that PC gamers have 99% of the time, replacing it with something called IWNet, a proprietary server system ran by Infinity Ward themselves. Before we get ahead of ourselves, let's make a list of pro's and con's. Pros: Less Cheaters Less Lag Better Matchmaking No Clan Servers No Custom Configs Cons: No Mod Support Chance that IW could disconnect and end servers at anytime for any reason No Clan Servers No Custom Configs Unable to play on “favorite” servers, only way to play with same group of people is to be in the same party or clan While console gamers have never had their own dedicated servers (save a few games like Section 8, Evolution 4x4, and a few others), it's rare for a PC game to do away with it (and yes, COD4 had dedicated servers). Why this move was made is beyond anybody's idea however it seems that Infinity Ward would like to either Nazi their PC players Pave the way for a pay-for service Get rid of Modders Genuinely want to get rid of hackers Announce that they are taking it away, to drive some gamers away, then announce that they will include it, and gain even more gamers to it due to the news (IE: New Coke) Kill the ability for pirated copies of MW2 to be played online. Read More...

Get ready to set your alarms. Make sure you get that small bowl of popcorn ready. Ubisoft has announced today that the first three episodes of the new Assassin's Creed: Lineage short movie will make its way on YouTube, October 27th. YouTube plans on having the first episode on its homepage in eight countries around the world for only 24 hours. Wow that's it? Can't keep it there for at least a couple of days? Read More...

I remember Jim. The funny earthworm with bionic suit that made so many tounge-in-cheek jokes I could hardly stand it. I had the action figure, I watched the cartoon. I played it on every console that it was available for. Now Jim is returning, guns and blazin', to consoles and handhelds all over the world. Cow launching, check. Laser guns, Check. Read More...

The combat in the first Assassin's Creed was nothing to write home to mom about. You had the few weapons and the few stances and moves you could employ. You couldn't even use you hidden blades for anything other assassinations and counter moves. It just wasn't all that extravagant. This was something that Ubisoft definitely wanted to fix. That and the variety of guards that you had to take down to move about the game world. Something I know I wished for when going through the first play through. Read More...

Just under a month away from the release of the God of War Compilation and we still have not yet seen any of the solid gameplay and visuals. Well outside of a pirated, cell phone camera clip from GamesCon. Something that was burring and full of Parkinson Cam style shot. So we couldn't really judge if the upgrade will be worth shelling out the cash for the two games again. Although it is less than the price of a single BluRay game, and you do get two full games for that price. But for fans that are not as into this game as me, will the trophies and graphic be enough to drop $39. Read More...

Nintendo is by far the most kid-friendly system company, but how does is stack up against other things that kids love? A recent study done by Smarty Pants that tested “brand awareness, popularity, and love” of various brands among kids in 2009 puts Nintendo right at the top. Nintendo, which for some reason counts as 2 different brands, takes the top 2 spots: Nintendo Wii Ninendo DS Oreos McDonald's M&M's Doritos Nickelodeon Kraft Macaroni&Cheese Cheetos Disney Other game related brands that make the list:     14. Sony Playstation     31. Sony PSP     42. Read More...

Ok, so it is no surprise that another movie is getting the video game treatment. This time Clash of the Titans from Legendary Pictures is getting it's very own game based on the original film and the remake that is coming out next year. When you think about it, it could be a decent game, if done in the same epic style as God of War and Dante's Inferno. This is the type of film that brought the epic style to mainstream entertainment and out of your mother's basement. DnD player you know what I'm talking here. Read More...

Episode 44 of the Aggrocast has landed and unfortunately for the crew, we have had some busy weeks lately. This has resulted in too few games being played. We do talk about the few we got our hands on, including Halo 3 ODST, Beatles Rock Band, Aion and more. We also bring you some interesting topics this week. We go over the PSP Go launch and Binh discusses his hands on with his launch day system. The possibility looms that I bought one as well, but refuse to say if I did or not. Read More...

With the new Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, set to release in less than two months, more information about some of the the enhancements have trickled out in the form of developer diaries. In one of the recent developer diaries, the LOTRO team discussed the revamped mount system set to release in this next expansion. This is especially significant because this feature has always been a bit of a dark smudge on the gameplay. To me, the mount system in LOTRO has always felt a bit tacked on. Read More...

A Call of Duty movie?!? There's a laundry list of great games turned into horrible movies (many of them belonging to Uwe Boll) and it looks like Call of Duty may be added to that list. While it may not be for certain, a trademark filing followed by a mysterious tweet certainly make it look like it could be “in the works” at the minimum. Activision is known for trademarking far more things than necessary, however it would make sense with all the other video game movies that have been announced. The tweet is here: http://twitter. Read More...

What you see below you is the scenario that Canabalt presents. You begin the game fleeing from a crumbling building and whatever has assaulted that building is following you, and all you can do is run and leap to potential safety. The counter in the upper right will tell you how far you have been able to travel in your attempted escape. The maker of the game, Adam Saltsman, made a post over at the Experimental Game Project about the original version, "I made Canabalt in 5 very long days (at least 60 hours) – 1 day at the start of the month, two days at PromJam, and then this weekend. Danny B made the music for it tonight. Read More...

Tuesday Turbine announced the release date and pricing for the second expansion for Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood. If you want to know more about the expansion itself, check out the expansion's announcement here. In that article I speculated about the digital download's price as it does not feel like a true expansion but rather the second half of the Mines of Moria expansion. As such, I had said that Siege of Mirkwood would be priced at $20 and for the most part, I was right. Sort of. Read More...

If you were not excited for the new Assassin's Creed yet, this new trailer, fresh from TGS, will do some more to get you interested in playing this sequel. Or at least following the story of Assassin's Creed. As if you haven't been already. Am I right? In case you have yet to skip onto the video and are still reading, this clip shows you in an epic way why Ezio does what he is doing. Where he came from. Why he is out for vengeance. Read More...