GeekwithEnvy

Product Spotlight

God of War: Ascension

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gowAscensionSS
God of War: Ascension

I have recently started getting back into God of War and I basically fell in love with the game all over again. I really enjoyed the earlier versions and even had fun playing GOW on the PSP. Now, we have a whole new story to follow as God of War: Ascension gets closer to it’s release date.

God of War: Ascension is a prequel to the the original God of War and it dives deeper into the earlier life of Kratos. Ascension is packed with new features including the ability to take weapons from enemies, enhanced graphics, time shifting mechanics and a new online multiplayer mode which will offer up four (4) different game modes. God of War: Ascension will launch March 12, 2013 and it is available for pre-order now for $59.99 for the standard edition or $79.99 for the collector’s edition.

Here’s what the collector’s edition is offering up:

  • Exclusive 8″ Kratos statue
  • Premium steelbook case
  • Official game soundtrack (digital version)
  • PS3 dynamic theme
  • PSN avatar pack
  • Multiplayer double XP unlock
  • Pass for future DLC content

Starcraft II Heart of The Swarm Available For Pre-Purchase

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Starcraft II Heart of the Swarm Logo

It’s official, StarCraft® II: Heart of the Swarm™ will be released to the masses on March 12, 2013, but you don’t have to wait to buy it. You can pre-purchase the new Starcraft expansion now by logging into battle.net. The expansion will cost $39.99.

Heart of the Swarm is the first expansion set to Blizzard Entertainment’s sci-fi real-time strategy game StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty™. Heart of the Swarm continues the epic story from Wings of Liberty with an all-new campaign that focuses on Kerrigan, the former Queen of Blades. This expansion will feature 20 new campaign missions, new gameplay mechanics, new multiplayer maps, new units, and new pre-rendered cinematics.

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Multiplayer Unit Rundown

Shredder

The Shredder is a new unit built from the Factory that allows the terran player to control the battlefield. In its mobile form, the Shredder has no attack — but when set to stationary mode, it channels area-effect damage to both the air and ground. If a friendly unit enters the range of the Shredder, the weapon shuts off.

Warhound

 The Warhound is a small, walking ground mech that wields an effective anti-air weapon with splash damage, much like the Thor from Wings of Liberty. The difference is that the Warhound is smaller and much more nimble, though it gives up some range on its anti-air missiles in exchange for this mobility. The Warhound also wields a small ground attack weapon that does additional damage to mechanical units, making it particularly well suited to taking out enemy Siege Tanks — though it’s not particularly effective against non-mechanical units.

Viper

The Viper is a new flying unit with three unique abilities. Blinding Cloud temporarily reduces the attack range of all ground units inside the cloud to melee range, and prevents energy-based abilities from being used. Abduct allows the Viper to physically pull a unit to the Viper’s location. Finally, the Viper has a one-time ability called Ocular Parasite, which allows it to detach its eye stalk and meld it onto any friendly, non-massive unit, turning that unit into a detector.

Swarm Host

The Swarm Host is a slow-moving ground unit that has no standard attack. When burrowed, the Swarm Host spawns a continuous stream of slow-moving melee units called Locusts that can be used to lay siege and pressure entrenched enemy positions.

Tempest

The tempest is a new capital ship that deals massive area-of-effect damage to air units. It also has a standard ground attack, but its chief role is to help gain air superiority.

Oracle

The Oracle is a psionic warship, built from a Stargate, that uses several unique abilities to raid and harass the enemy. The first is Entomb, which can temporarily block mineral fields from being harvested. Another ability, Preordain, grants vision of a targeted enemy building, allowing the protoss to see which units or technologies are being researched. Rounding out its kit is Phase Shift, which phases a target building, preventing it from being attacked, using its abilities, or granting technology. Not only can structures like missile turrets be prevented from attacking, but using this ability on a zerg Spire would block the production of Mutalisks, Corruptors, and air upgrades.

Replicant

 Replicants have one ability: to transform itself into any non-massive unit. They’re expensive, so cloning a Zergling would not be very cost effective, but transforming into a specialized unit like a Raven, Infestor, or Siege Tank could open up interesting strategic options for the protoss.

New Multiplayer Maps

SCMapWinter SCMapJungle SCMapCity

New Multiplayer Units

SwarmHost
Starcraft II Multiplayer Unit: Swarm Host
WarHound
Starcraft II Multiplayer Unit: War Hound
Viper
Starcraft II Multiplayer Unit: Viper
Tempest
Starcraft II Multiplayer Unit: Tempest
Shredder
Starcraft II Multiplayer Unit: Shredder
Replicant
Starcraft II Multiplayer Unit: Replicant
Oracle
Starcraft II Multiplayer Unit: Oracle
BattleHellion
Starcraft II Multiplayer Unit: Battle Hellion

Halo 4 A Game Rich In Story

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The next chapter in the Halo universe is finally here and it’s just as good as we have expected, and more. Mankind’s greatest hero makes a return in this latest installment of the Halo franchise. Halo 4 is set about 5 years after the events of “Halo 3″. Master Chief and Cortana are back together and discover that an ancient evil is threatening to destroy all of mankind.

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We always expect the usual things from a big title like Halo, better graphics, better gameplay, new multiplayer maps and other various features, but the one thing that makes Halo so powerful is it’s story. I grew up playing many different types of games and 3D shooters were always fun to play.

I grew up in the pioneer days of 3D gaming and I spent many hours playing classic titles like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Rise of the Triad, Quake, and many others. Each game had something a little different to offer over the years. The gaming systems that we used to play our favorite games on became more advanced and the games themselves started to look better, but one game in particular stood out.

 

I had just purchased a new Xbox and I remember being slightly less than optimistic about playing a new Microsoft shooter. I honestly wasn’t expecting Halo to be that good, I admit that now, it just didn’t look too impressive to me from what I had seen. I set everything up and popped in the disc, my journey into the Halo universe had begun.

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From the very start my opinion of the game had changed. Story telling in shooter style games had always seemed more of an afterthought but not with Halo. The story was right there, in your face, and with each cutscene you became more and more emotionally invested in your mission to save the world. The artificial intelligence in Halo was on a level that I hadn’t seen before, the way each foe reacted to my movements forced me to come up with a solid strategy, I was loving every minute of it. Now, fully immersed in this strange but awesome new world I played the game for hours. I actually beat the game in one sitting and it was early morning the next day when the credits had finally hit the screen. This was one of my favorite gaming experiences and I continued to enjoy Halo with friends in multiplayer almost every day during that summer.

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Halo 4 continues to deliver on all aspects of gameplay including a compelling story that’s built in a massive universe in which many stories can be told. 343 Industries has maintained the quality level that we expect from our Halo games.

 

Halo 4 is available in two editions, Standard Edition for $59.99 and Limited Edition for $99.99.

 

 

Angry Birds Star Wars Gameplay

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R2-D2 and C-3PO make an appearance in the latest gameplay trailer for Angry Birds Star Wars. These two famous robots look a little different, as you would expect they look like funny little egg shaped and uncoordinated Angry Birds characters.

Peter Vesterbacka, the Mighty Eagle and CMO of Rovio had a little bit to say about the game,

“This is the best Angry Birds game we’ve ever done. It’s the best parts of Angry Birds with all new cutting-edge gameplay set in in a galaxy far, far away,” said  “As a big Star Wars fan myself, I’m really excited about this new universe. The Force is definitely strong with this one.”

As always, there is already a ton of  Angry Birds Star Wars merchandise available including action figures and plush toys. The game will launch worldwide on November 8th and the game will be available on iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire, Mac, PC, Windows Phone and Windows 8.

Here is the exclusive gameplay trailer!

 

 

Ninite Can Make Your Transition to Windows 8 Much Easier

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If you’re upgrading to Windows 8 from XP or if you just plan on doing a clean install anyway, it’s time to consider how you’re going to get all of those wonderful applications you use re-installed on your system.Ninite Screenshot 1

If you’ve done a clean install, you know how much of a hassle it can be re-installing everything you need. In some cases it can take hours to get back up and running. With Ninite, you can take advantage of a set-it and forget-it mentality. Ninite is super easy to set-up and use, it is truly amazing.

To setup Ninite, simply head over to the Ninite website and choose your platform at the top of the page. Once you select which OS you use, you can begin selecting applications.ninitescreenshot4

After you have selected all of the applications you want installed, head to the bottom of the page and click “Get Installer”. Once the download is complete, just open the installer and you’re done! Yep, you can walk away and do whatever you need to do and Ninite will do all of the work, it really is that simple.Ninite Screenshot 4

What if you don’t see one of your applications in the list?

Ninite offers the ability for you to suggest applications for inclusion into the list.

What about Add-ons and toolbars, does Ninite have them? Does it allow applications to install third-party products on my system?

The short answer here is no, it bypasses all of the garbage. It installs apps just like you would have had you installed these apps yourself. Ninite itself is a legit program that runs without installing adware or spyware. So if you have apps to install, I think this one is a no brainer.