FIFA Soccer 12 is a realistic take on playing soccer, which can be refreshing after past years’ complete simplicity. You need to use strategy and develop skills to play defense effectively; just hitting the “tackle” button doesn’t take the ball from an opponent, but tackling in the right way, at the right time, could – or maybe you should fake an injury to get the ball away. On offense, you had better stick to the basics and avoid the flashy plays that pump up the crowd. Those might have worked in previous years, but this shift toward realism demands that you play smart. You can also manage your team in FIFA 12.

NCAA Football 12 continues EA’s high standards for football games. This game has received 4 stars or better from most gaming magazines. It includes the Road to Glory gameplay, in which you focus on a single player as a senior in high school; you get recruited by a college team, and then you play through your college years and aim for the Heisman. There is also the familiar Dynasty gameplay, where you create and play your own team through conferences that you can shape and mold to your preference. EA has also added authentic gameday traditions during a game, so if you play your alma mater, you’ll be reminded of those great times – or maybe times you can look forward to, if you’re planning where you want to go to college. There is also an improved tackling engine.

NBA 2K12 improves everything about 2K11, even the stuff that was good already. The NBA’s Greatest game mode lets you pit classic legends against each other in historical matches, presented in appropriate style. This unlocks both teams, letting you see how Michael Jordan and the Bulls line up against LeBron James and the Heat. 2K12 has more clever AI and gives you more control of the game than previous editions, too.

When it comes to sports games, it’s hard to beat FIFA 12, NCAA Football 12, and NBA 2K12.

The Original Post is Located Here: Three Must-Have Sports Video Games

The DSi and DSi XL share basic principles with other devices in the DS series, including the DS Lite. There are two screens to provide different views of the game for more control. These devices come with a full-size stylus for use with the touch-screen (which is the lower screen). You control the game both with the touch-screen and with several buttons. The DSi XL has larger screens to make gaming easier and to maximize entertainment; the XL is generally targeted at an older audience than the regular DSi or the DS Lite, but it’s still a great option for kids of all ages. Even if you don’t have boys – there are quality games for girls available in the DS line, too.

With their WiFi connections, both the DSi and the DSi XL can download games from the Internet, too. Some come with games pre-loaded onto the hard drive. You can browse the web, share photos and images showing off your skills in your games, and play with others online. These devices also have two digital cameras for taking photos directly with your DSi, each with 11 different lenses for customization.

The DSi and DSi XL come in different colors. The DSi is available in pink, white, matte black, matte blue, metallic blue, Pokemon black, and Pokemon white. The Pokemon colors have designs of Pokemon on the cover. The DSi XL comes in red, bronze, burgundy, and midnight blue.

These are just some basic details about the DSi and the DSi XL. They’re great gifts for both boys and girls of all ages, and they make strong strides forward from the DS Lite. You should look into getting one for the child in your life right away!

The Original Post is Located Here: Nintendo DSi and DSi XL Always Favorites for Christmas Gifts

The original Gears of War was considered to be everything everyone ever wanted out of the Xbox 360. It had beautiful graphics, stunning sound, and a hugely fun cooperative gameplay system in its campaign. On top of that, it introduced us to a new world where everything was on the edge of collapse, and it gave us an opportunity to change all that. Gears of War 2 brought us back to the fight, deepening and expanding the story from the original game. Gears of War 2 made it emotional and personal, especially in coop, when one of the players controlled Dom. It also ratcheted the scale up one or two or ten notches, pitting players against two or three monsters at a time – the same monsters we only saw individually once or twice in the first game.

Gears of War 3 ramps it up even more. Its quality is fantastic, both in multiplayer, where the prior two games really shined, and in single-player (although, sometimes, the campaign feels a little dry and familiar). Some of the story tries too hard to be emotional and comes across as cheesy, but that’s okay, because you can still rip the bad guys up with your gun and chainsaw bayonet. Everything is still pretty familiar from the last two games, though, and there’s not a lot of innovation beyond the new baddies, new guns, and new multiplayer modes.

There are two versions of the game with expanded content – the Limited Edition and the Epic Edition. The Limited Edition includes an Octus Service medal, an unlockable Adam Fenix multiplayer character, a fabric COG flag, the personal effects of Adam Fenix, including his “Last Will and Testament,” the Hammer of Dawn schematic, and other Fenix family mementos. The Epic Edition includes all of that, plus a Marcus Fenix statue, an artbook, and special multiplayer skins for all sorts of weapons.

Gears of War 3 is a fitting conclusion to Epic Games’ epic franchise. It builds onto the features of the last two games, takes it even further, and if you look for them, you can find lots of extra goodies for fans of the game.

The Original Post is Located Here: Gears of War 3 Will Complete an Epic Trilogy of Games

Sony calls its PSPgo the “most portable full-featured gaming machine.” We’ll talk about its portability in a second, but its features are quite remarkable: it comes with a 16GB hard drive, so you won’t need memory sticks again or universal media disks as you did with the older PSP. It also comes with WiFi connectivity for web browsing, communication, and content downloading with access to a library of games, demos, movies, and TV shows for your entertainment. It has Bluetooth connectivity for transfers with a PC, USB2.0 and Memory Stick Micro for faster file transfers, and a microphone for audio input. It can run all standard audio, video, and image files.

And it is very portable. At just five inches (5″) long, it is 35″ smaller than the PSP3000 and 43% smaller than the original PSP1000. Even so, it has a 3.8″ LCD screen that houses over 16 million colors. This means that even though it’s only as big as your hand, its screen is as big as your palm. For maximum enjoyment, it also has stereo speakers built-in, if you don’t want to use your own headphones.

When you buy one of these new, the box includes the system itself either in Pearl White or Piano Black, an AC adapter and USB cable, the Media Go software, and a Rock Band Unplugged Lite voucher, all for $199.99. So if you’re buying this used, make sure you get a good value for your money.

The PSPgo is the natural progression of the handheld system; it can do everything you need it to and it’s completely portable, and it’s reasonably priced for its power.

The Original Post is Located Here: PSPgo a Portable, Full-Featured Gaming Machine

Red Faction: Armageddon is the fourth game in the Red Faction franchise, following Red Faction in 2001, Red Faction II in 2003, and Red Faction: Guerrilla in 2009. There was also going to be a spin-off titled Red Faction: B.E.A.S.T. developed for the Wii, but it was canceled before it was completed. In Armageddon, you play as Darius Mason. Darius is the grandson of Alec Mason, the protagonist of Red Faction: Guerrilla.

On the positive side, Red Faction: Armageddon has plenty of combat and destruction. Just about everything goes “boom” in Armageddon. The non-campaign game modes are awesome and loads of fun, too, so you can have hours upon hours of replay time before you get tired of the game. It also has an innovative cooperative multiplayer, so if you’ve got a friend with the game, you can tackle things together and have a blast doing it. A lot of players don’t care much about campaigns – if this describes you at all, Armageddon is definitely worth your time.

Red Faction: Armageddon does have some shortcomings, though. A lot of the story feels a little forced. Instead of letting the plot unroll naturally, they cram everything into cutscenes, so it doesn’t feel particularly compelling. Over time, the campaign can begin to feel repetitive, but if you love killing aliens, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In short, the campaign has poor pacing, making it a little dull in light of how amazingly fun the multiplayer and non-campaign modes are.

Armageddon is another solid installment in the Red Faction series. It continues the story, if a little awkwardly, and it has exhilirating game modes, too.

The Original Post is Located Here: Red Faction: Armageddon a Challenging Addition to the Series

As competition heats up in the handheld gaming world, Nintendo’s DS Lite is still a quality option for fun, portable gaming. It has a number of quality features and options available, and it plays a large number of Nintendo’s famous video game lines, including the ever-popular Mario and Zelda franchises.

The DS Lite features two LCD screens, each of which produces a 3D graphical display that is better than that of the N64 – and the N64 was five times the DS Lite’s size. These two screens allow the player to control the game and get multiple views of the action; sometimes one is an overhead view for movement control, and sometimes both work together to form one continuous image, but all that depends on the game. The bottom screen is now a touch-screen (rather than just having the buttons that older systems had) that comes with a stylus for control. The DS Lite also has full backwards compatibility with Nintendo products.

Like Sony’s rival PSP system, the Nintendo DS Lite can access the Internet through a WiFi connection, allowing multiplayer with up to 16 participants. Even better, the DS Lite has no subscription fees for access to this service. For communication online, there is also a high-quality microphone in the device (which you can also use to give commands to certain games). The battery in the device supports up to 19 hours of continuous game play on a single charge.

The Nintendo DS Lite comes in a variety of colors, more than it used to. It is now available in a cobalt and black combination, coral pink (which is a bright pink), a crimson and black combination, metallic rose (a sort of darker pink), metallic silver, and polar white.

When it comes to handheld gaming devices, Nintendo holds the longest record of success. The DS Lite is another option in that long line, with features to rival its opponents and many options to suit each player.

The Original Post is Located Here: Nintendo DS Lite Still a Great Option for Fun, Portable Gaming

When it comes to video games, one of the industry’s most iconic characters is still popular: Mario. Recent additions to his long line of quality entertainment include Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and the 25th Anniversary Edition of Super Mario All Stars for the Wii.

The Super Mario Galaxy games are said to be the best platformers ever made. Super Mario Galaxy was to Super Mario 64 what Super Mario Bros. 3 was to Super Mario Bros. 1. Galaxy was considered the pinnacle of Nintendo platforming in its time – but then Super Mario Galaxy 2 came out. Galaxy 2 is built on the same engine and controls as the first Galaxy, but it improves everything; it fixes what small issues the first game had and makes the good stuff even better. IGN gave Super Mario Galaxy 2 a 10/10.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii brings black the classic 2D platformer that made Mario famous. In fact, it brings back everything that made the original games on the NES a success, but it brings in new gameplay that wasn’t possible on the tech back then. A few critics complained that it did not push innovation far enough with its changes, but still praise it as an excellent game.

The 25th Anniversary Edition of Super Mario All Stars brings back the classic NES games. Super Mario Bros. 1-3 and “The Lost Levels” (Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan) are all present in this collection for the Wii. Some complained that it stuck too closely to the originals, not offering the Wii control prompts and so on; others were disappointed that Super Mario World was not included. But the package also includes a soundtrack and a booklet detailing the history of the franchise, so its nostalgia makes up for its shortcomings.

Mario games have always been one of the most popular video games of a generation. That’s still true, even today, 30 years after the character’s creation in the original “Donkey Kong.” Take a look at Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Super Mario All Stars.

The Original Post is Located Here: Mario Games Are Still Popular–30 Years and Counting

The first Forza Motorsport was released on the classic XBOX. It was considered among the top tier of spectacular driving simulators. Forza Motorsport 2 improved upon the original, but some critics worried that it was still focused primarily on cars and did not bring the whole racing experience together, lacking the speed and cool factors of its competitors. Forza Motorsport 3 challenged the norms, giving you every car in the game right from the outset, provided you had enough in-game money to afford them. FM3 also sought to make the experience both accessible and challenging, allowing newbies and hardcore fans alike to enjoy it.

Forza Motorsport 4 has been called an “ode to the automobile.” It’s a car game made for car people. Car people are those people that can see past the steel, past the plastic, past the wires and the rubber, deep down to the soul of the machine. Forza Motorsport’s love affair with cars reaches a new level in the fourth game, making it a must-have for anyone who loves cars and video games both. The game feels very familiar after FM3, but it has been greatly improved in graphics, smooth animation, and sweet, sweet sound.

The full range of cars in Forza Motorsport 4 (with the exception of the Porsche company, which forbade the company Turn 10 from including them in FM4) can make everyone happy; even if you like Porsches, you’ll be able to find some other dream car in FM4. There’s a good spread, too, so you don’t have the whole gamut of one company and only 2-3 cars from another.

Forza Motorsport 4 is an excellent driving simulation game with a focus on the cars – but that’s not a bad thing. This focus is handled so well that FM4 may easily be called the best simulation game of all time. Absolutely buy this for the car-lover close to you.

The Original Post is Located Here: Forza Motorsport 4 Puts Focus on the Cars

Batman is one of the most popular comic book characters in history. He has been the focus of more than eight movies and more than twenty video games, the most recent of which are Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Arkham City has just released you should look into, but Arkham Aslyum is a reliable, proven game that is definitely worth it if you haven’t played it yet. Let’s examine why.

One major reason to buy Arkham Asylum is because Arkham City has just released. It’s a whole new world, much larger than the first game, with classic villains we all know from the Batman franchise. Some of these villains, like the Joker, will be returning from the last game, and others will be showing their ugly faces for the first time. So in order to play this, a lot of people are going to be getting rid of Arkham Asylum, whether to help pay for the new game or just to make room on their shelves. It’s a fine time to look for this solid title.

Arkham Asylum is widely praised. It has been touted as the best comic book video game ever made, easily supplanting games like Superman Returns, which received very poor critical ratings. It has a storyline in classic Batman style, where the Joker takes over Arkham Asylum so that he can attack Gotham City with mutant monsters and Batman must stop him. Classic voice actors Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy make their return in this game, too. Critics noted that the game is intended for a more adult audience than the cartoons; female villains are scantily clad, characters are murdered, there’s some colorful languages, and some sequences – especially encounters with the Scarecrow – can be frightening for a younger audience.

If you want to play Arkham City and you’re just waiting for the price to come down a little bit, then get into the swing of Gotham City with Arkham Asylum. Learn for yourself why everyone is so psyched for the new game and catch up on the story so you’re not left behind. Besides all that, have yourself a really, really, really good time playing through this amazing game.

As Batman games go, the “Arkham” games are clearly the best. But before you jump into the next one, make sure you’ve played the first one – Arkham Asylum is one fantastic game, too.

The Original Post is Located Here: Batman Video Games–Don’t Skip Arkham Asylum

When it comes to immersing yourself in your games, nothing really beats a high-quality stereo gaming headset. But how do you choose one that fits your needs and your budget? We’re here to give you a few tips, both on features to look for, and on a couple of products that we think are great. One is high-end, the X-Tatic 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound Gaming Headset, and the other is inexpensive, the Sharkoon X-Tatic SP Gaming Headset.

What features does a quality stereo gaming headset need? Well, keep an eye out for surround sound options – not just stereo sound, but actual, genuine surround sound. Some headsets include multiple speakers and programming to recreate proper 5.1 (or more) surround sound systems all up next to your ears. Look for wireless technology, too – you’ve already lost the tether to your console with your controller; it’s time to lose the tether to your controller with your headset. Having independent game and chat volume control is important, too, because sometimes, the game will be really loud, and you’ll want to be able to chat with a friend in spite of that.

The X-Tatic 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound Gaming Headset is a very popular model. It supports both the PS3 and the Xbox 360. It has a high-end amplifier, independent volume controls for the game and chat, 5.1 surround sound, and illuminated volume controls for easy locating in the dark. It really is the best value available right now, so if you want high-power for a good price, keep a look-out for this one.

If you need something a little cheaper, consider the Sharkoon X-Tatic SP Gaming Headset. It has simple, straightforward, quality stereo sound and easy-access volume controls. Like the 5.1 model, it supports both the PS3 and the Xbox 360. It is very comfortable and much less expensive than the 5.1 model.

Getting a good stereo gaming headset is a must for most gamers, especially if there’s someone else in the house you don’t want to bother while you play. Watch for those great features we mentioned, and look around for the X-Tatic options, too.

The Original Post is Located Here: Immerse Yourself in the Game with a Stereo Gaming Headset