The Best Games of 2011 So Far...

We take a look at some of the most kickass games 2011 offered us so far.

September onward, gamers will be buried under an avalanche of high profile titles all the way to 2012. But before you prepare yourself (and your wallet) for this barrage, we suggest you finish off your backlog as 2011 had quite a few titles worth checking out. Today we list out ten of the best.    Crysis 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) Tech2 Review: 8.5/10 Saving New York Crysis 2 may not have been the game to bring your uber powerful PC to its knees, but it sure was pretty. In fact, Crytek made the game highly scalable so even year-old PCs could enjoy Crytek’s version of post-apocalyptic New York in all its visual glory. The action, like its predecessor, was fast and satisfying, offering players a healthy blend of stealth and all out action. Sure, the painfully dumb AI did hamper gameplay a bit, but at the end of it all, lofty production values and solid gameplay across both single and multiplayer prevailed, making Crysis 2 a must-buy this year. Dead Space 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) Tech2 Review: 10/10 No one can hear you scream in space Taking a gamble with new IPs in this day and age is a risky proposition, one that paid off real well for developer Visceral Games. Dead Space was a game that combined action and horror to near perfection, offering players a chilling ride, playing as an engineer forced to face his fears aboard a derelict ship. With the sequel, Visceral expanded upon what we loved about the first game, introducing some truly impressive set pieces along with a multiplayer mode reminiscent to the one from Left 4 Dead 2. Dirt 3 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) Tech2 Review: 9/10 Getting DiRTy The Dirt series was Codemasters’ attempt to move from pure rally (the Colin McRae Rally series) to all-round off-road racing, which they did well in Dirt 2. But the fans still wanted rally, so in Dirt 3, it made a return and comprised 60% of the game, alongside the other event types from previous games. The responsive car handling, the well-designed tracks, the slick menus and the stunning EGO engine-powered visuals – all hallmarks of Codies games – were in evidence as well. The game also add split-screen racing and several fun online modes, making this one of the best off-road racing games ever. Fight Night Champion (Xbox 360, PS3) Tech2 Review: 8/10 Lights out The Fight Night series was struggling, and EA had to take drastic measures to keep it alive. Fight Night Champion gave the boxing franchise a new direction, and it couldn’t have done a better job of it. While the roster of pro boxers from earlier games remained, the main focus of the game was its new cinematic story mode that included slick cutscenes, great characters, an engaging story, and some very intense gameplay scenarios that constantly kept you on your toes. Throw in a little bit of bare-knuckled, no-hold-barred brawling, and this game had everything a fighting game fan could want. Infamous 2 (PS3) Tech2 Review: 9.5/10 The Last Guardian It’s hard to put a finger on what exactly makes Infamous 2 a great game, because many of its core elements are carried forward from the first game. There aren’t too many sweeping changes this time around, but it’s the little things that Sucker Punch has done that together combine to make this one of the most fun games of the year and one of the best open-world games in a long time. The new city of New Marais has a ton of character, the missions (and side missions) are well designed, and the morality system, however superficial, works brilliantly. Infamous 2 doesn’t exactly break new ground for the franchise, but when it’s this much fun, who cares!

Killzone 3 (PS3) Tech2 Review: 8/10 Go to Hell-ghan Killzone is one of the most popular first-party PS3 franchises; right up there with the likes of the God of War and Uncharted. After the success of Killzone 2, expectations for the next game were sky high, and Guerrilla Games didn’t disappoint. The explosive single-player campaign was packed with cinematic set pieces, massive bosses, large, varied environments, and lots and lots of intense FPS action. Of course, multiplayer is a massive draw in Killzone games too, and the developers rebuilt the multiplayer from the ground up, addressing the issues from Killzone 2 and adding more features and brand new maps, while keeping the signature Killzone experience intact. L.A. Noire (Xbox 360, PS3) Tech2 Review: 8.5/10 It's a hard knock life In what can be described as a radical departure for Rockstar Games, L.A. Noire was a story-driven whodunit, where players spent their time solving cases as opposed to embarking upon killing sprees across urban America. The star of the show, without a doubt, was the game’s wicked facial animation system that tied into gameplay, allowing players to catch lying suspects based on their facial reactions during interrogations. The game was initially released on consoles, but PC gamers will also be able to have a go at it when Rockstar brings L.A. Noire to PCs later this year. LittleBigPlanet 2 (PS3) Tech2 Review: 10/10 Awwwwwwww What started out as a cutsey little platfromer, became a whole different beast with LittleBigPlanet 2. While the first game gave players powerful tools to create and share their own levels, this time around, you can create whole new games of any genre within LBP2 itself, complete with cinematics, characters and narratives. These creation tools were also put to brilliant use by the developers themselves for Sackboy’s new story mode adventure, which as before, can be played solo or by up to four players in co-op. LBP2 is great for all ages, but don’t let the cute art style fool you; it’s a game that’ll challenge even the most seasoned gamers. Portal 2 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3) Tech2 Review: 9.5/10 Two to portal Portal 2 was a tiny little game bundled with The Orange Box that garnered cult status thanks to its sharp writing, sarcastic humor and innovative gameplay. For the sequel, Valve turned it up to 11, with a fully fleshed out single player campaign as well as a separate and equally awesome co-operative campaign, in addition to some of the best voice acting we’ve come across all year. Portal 2 was also used to launch Valve’s online service, Steam, on the PS3, allowing cross-play between Portal 2 owners on PS3 and PC. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (PC) Tech2 Review: 8.5/10 Don't mess with Geralt You probably wouldn’t expect a stellar RPG from a relatively unknown Polish developer, but you’d be wrong. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings greatly improved upon all aspects of gameplay laid down by its predecessor. You had gorgeous visuals, improved combat, and a riveting story that sucked you in till the very end. Be warned though; the game is not very noob-friendly and can appear pretty intimidating (even on normal difficulty) with its erratic difficulty and steep learning curve. But if you’re the patient type, there’s a vibrant, dangerous and exciting world ripe for exploration.

Go Green - Recycle Your Old Phones With Atterobay

Attero Recycling has announced India’s first ever mobile recycling service, where people can trade in their used, old mobile phones for a voucher or hard cash. This initiative is a step forward in the Green revolution and helps reduce one's carbon footprint. If the phone is not in a working condition, then it's directly recycled, else Attero will fix up the phone and resell it.

Get rid of e-Waste the right way

Just to try it out, I entered my year old Galaxy S, which apart from a few bumps and nicks, works just fine. To my surprise, Attero valued my phone at just Rs. 4,800, if I chose cash and Rs.6,000 if I chose the voucher. Another option is to have a tree planted in my name. Now, I know for a fact that if I sell this phone in a shop, I can expect at least 13 -14K, so I wonder how many people would actually do this. To be honest, It doesn’t really seem like a good idea if your phone is in a good condition. However, if there’s something wrong with the phone or it’s dead, then you might as well give it for recycling, since you won’t be able to sell it anyways.

Attero claim that they will fix up the used phones and 'put it in the hands of someone who needs it. We're not sure if they mean to donate or resell it. There’s also no option on the site to buy a used phone, so I wonder what exactly happens to them. Head on to their site to have a look.

Google Encourages Reading News With Google Badges

If you’re an avid follower of news, irrespective of the beat, and spend a considerable chunk of your online time rummaging through articles, then this might interest you. Search giant, Google has come up with a unique offering.

A basketball fan's badge collection

Beginning solely for U.S.-based customers, at least for now, Google plans to reward avid news readers based on the number of articles they manage to read over a period of time on Google News. The more articles of a particular beat one reads, the higher are his chances of earning a Google News Badge. An average, regular reader will find himself worthy of the bronze badge, and then as he increases the number of his news pieces read, he’ll find himself earning Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The best of the lot, will win themselves the Ultimate badge – the highest level.

According to an official blogpost, Google currently has a collection of over 500 badges on itself. So users can choose to enhance their proficiency in any level and begin earning badges. Additionally, Google also lets users share their badge collection with their friends, share their expertise, or stay private about it.

In order to avail the services, users will have to visit the Google News service after they sign-in to their Google account, with their web history enabled. Once there, users can visit the Help Centre page for further instructions.

PopCap Acquired by Electronic Arts for $1.3 Billion

In a bid to gave its gaming portfolio, comprising of social and casual gaming a major facelift, popular video game publisher, Electronic Arts has locked up a $1.3 billion deal with PopCap games, yet another popular player in this space. As per a post on their official page, PopCap stated that it was being acquired by Electronic Arts. PopCap will be paid $650 million in cash, and the remaining would come to it in the form of common stock. This latest move by Electronic Arts comes at a time when the video game industry in particular is undergoing several behavioral changes. Users are no longer buying games on CDs, it is observed.  Instead, it’s more of a digital domain now. Makers like Electronic Arts are increasingly looking out for ways to get their content on different, innovative platforms, the most formidable ones being the mobile, PC, and social networking platforms like Facebook among others. Pop goes PopCap all the way to EA In addition to the $1.3 billion that EA will pay PopCap during its purchase time, there is an amount of $550 million reserved, if PopCap helps EA see better days. In contrast to EA’s image in the market, PopCap has an easy to get along with kind of an image in the market. It has authored games on Facebook, RenRen, Google Android, Apple iPhone and iPad, and thus observers believe that their union should do wonders. Also, since a long time, EA has been struggling in the same space as that of Zynga, and believes that the buyout should give it some breathing space, and who knows an upper hand, too.

Should Facebook Add a Music Service?

 A software engineer on Thursday uncovered references to a music download service called "Vibes" in Facebook's new video chat desktop software.

Jeff Rose, of lifeisagraph.com, uncovered the code when looking into how the FacebookVideoCalling.jar file worked on his Apple machine. He noticed references to two Facebook services, one called "Peep," a video chat plugin, and "Vibes," a music download dialogue. (See the code below).

if (paramString.equals("com.facebook.peep"))
return this.window.getMember("VideoChatPlugin");if (paramString.equals("com.facebook.vibes")) {
return this.window.getMember("MusicDownloadDialog");
}

Rose and Mashable, who also picked up the story, are guessing this could be a reference to Facebook's upcoming music service.

Now that we're starting to see solid proof of some sort of Facebook music service it begs the question, does anyone really want a Facebook music service? I'm guessing that depends on what its definition of "music service" is.

We heard rumors that it might involve a variety of existing music services that will work with Facebook to share users listening habits with their friends. Enabling users to share information about themselves (if they choose to do so) is a part of what Facebook already does and makes this option a pretty logical choice.

Where things get dicey is if the social network hopes to start selling MP3s to its 750 million users.

I'm all for competition, but quite a few services out there aready allow people to purchase their music online. If Facebook enters the digital storefront game, it's going to need to give its users a reason to buy songs through Facebook instead of somewhere else.

Facebook might also want to be careful not to adopt too many new features all at once. Considering it just announced the addition of Skype-powered video calling to its chat client last week and hinted at similar partnerships in the future, that might be a problem.

The last thing Facebook wants to be is a Swiss Army Knife website where its users can do anything and everything they would ever want to do online. Or maybe that's exactly what they want. Either way, I'm pretty sure that approach didn't end too well for MySpace.

What do you think about the idea of Facebook Music and what would you like to see the service look like?

Bethesda Announce Dishonored

Yet another game has been revealed via American video game magazine, Game Informer. The title at hand is a first person stealth action one from Bethesda called Dishonored. The game is being developed by Arkane Studios, the very same guys who brought you the flawed, yet totally awesome Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. An ode to Half-Life 2? According to Game Informer, “Dishonored is the antithesis of a edge-of-your-seat roller-coaster ride. It's a game about assassination where you don't have to kill anyone. It's a game about infiltration where you can set up traps and slaughter the entire garrison of an aristocrat's mansion rather than sneak in. It's a game about brutal violence where you can slip in and out of a fortified barracks with nobody ever knowing you were there. It's a game about morality and player choice where the world you create is based on your actions, not navigating conversation trees.” The game will be benefited by many talented developers like Todd Howard (the driving force behind the Fallout series) and Viktor Antonov, the man who designed Half-Life 2's iconic City 17. We can’t wait to see more of this game.

Zapak Introduces Subscription Gaming Service in India

Popular gaming company in the country, Zapak has announced the launch of Zapak Plus, the brand’s way of introducing the system of subscriptions to the gaming service. The first of its kind in the country, users will be able to subscribe to a full version of a PC game, for less than a rupee. The 'Plus' plan The subscription plans currently available are the monthly, and the quarterly subscription for a limited time period. However, ‘the playtime per game’ duration for the same is unlimited. With over 120 games on board, including popular titles like Dirt 2, Ashes 2009, Flat Out, Luxor, Sherlock Holmes, Jewel Quest, Mysterious City – Cairo, among others, it is poised to get popular with the masses.

The 10 Most Annoying Trends in Video Games Today

The video game industry may have evolved by leaps and bounds, but it has in a lot of ways regressed, as well. Today, the cynic within takes a look at ten of the most annoying trends plaguing the video game industry.

Motion controlled gaming

Do you really wanna be the controller?

Oh look at me, I’m controlling this character with my body. Oh wait, no, go left. No don’t drop the weapon pick it up. Not the pistol you dumbass, pick up the freaking shotgun. In case you missed the point of that rather exaggerated example that was me trying to control my character without a controller failing miserably at everything. Be honest, when was the last time you played a game on the Kinect or the Move and felt in complete control of your character? Yeah, thought so.

Multiplayer for the heck of it

Did BioShock 2 really need MP?

I love me some multiplayer games. In fact, most of the games on my Steam list are multiplayer ones in which I’ve spent countless hours killing dudes on the battlefield. But, do I want multiplayer in every single game out there? No, I don’t. I am perfectly happy with games that offer an engaging and enthralling single player only experience, as well. Forcibly putting a multiplayer component in there just to appeal to the Halo/CoD crowd is just plain stupid.

Anal checkpoints

What!! I have to kill aaaaal of them again?

You’ve killed that annoying boss and his legions of minions, but that battle has left you on the brink of death. You wonder why Autosave didn’t kick in when you kicked his butt. You stumble around searching for health desperately but instead of medical aid, you come across a whole bunch of people baying for your blood. You try to survive but you go down faster than a Chicken McGrill (why are those burgers so freaking small?). And guess what, you have to restart the game aaaaaaall the way before the first boss fight. You scream, you break the controller, burn the game and slit your wrists. See what happens when you don’t allow players to save where they want?

Short games

Huh? Game's over? Already?

I’m down with the whole short and sweet mentality, but then there’s something called painfully short. I’m talking about games that finish in under five hours making you wonder if the developers ran out of ideas or were just plain lazy to complete the game. 

Quick Time Events

Kill that monster for me. I'll be back in 10

Back in the day, when studios were limited by the power of consoles, Quick Time Events were designed to let players experience jaw dropping moments simply by pressing a few buttons in succession. Today with all the tech at their disposal, it just seems a tad lazy when at the press of a button my character can leap into the air, dodge rockets, blast fools in the face and land on his feet with cigarette in his mouth. Why don’t I just sit back and let the game play itself for me hmm?

Weapon limit I need moar GUNS! I play games to forget about the real world and shoot people in the face. I don’t need my shooters hyper realistic limiting me to just two or three weapons at a time. I would like to return to the days gone by where the generic space marine/earth’s savior/ultimate badass could easily carry nine weapons without breaking a sweat. Crappy rushed sequels Shame on you BioWare I’ve touched upon this topic a great deal in my opinion here and sadly this is one trend that’s taking the industry down fast. When a sequel’s done right, not only does it please fans of the series, but it allows the developer to draw in a wider audience. A rushed crappy sequel churned out to capitalize on the other hand is just appalling. Incessant whining Cry me a river Now this obviously isn’t an issue from the developers; it’s the gamers and journalists (yes us) at fault here. Even though both the Xbox360 and the PS3 released eons ago, there are still console wars igniting forum threads the world over. And then you have these “video game journalists” who instead of quelling these wars pour even more fuel on them with articles like “PS3 version of Battlefield is sub-par” or “Xbox360 version of Black Ops is sub-Hd” and so on. In fact just the other day I came across an article on N4G where the author seemed butt hurt simply because there was no animation of entering or exiting vehicles in Battlefield 3. Really now? Movie to game adaptations Why do games like this exist? Nearly a decade and countless crappy movie to game adaptations later and it’s still not dawned on people that for some unfathomable reason, this transition really doesn’t work in the real world. Yes, there have been a few exceptions to the rule but compared to the gargantuan amount of crap, it’s really surprising large studios are still spending huge amounts of the green stuff on horrible cash-ins. Downloadable Content The evil that started it all Like sequels, when done right DLC allows players to enjoy more of the same. Studios like Rockstar actually offer players a ten plus hour experience in some of their DLC packs completely justifying their price tag. But for every Episodes from Liberty City there are shameless add-ons that should have been added into the base game itself. Yeah I’m looking at you Bethesda for starting all of this by the way. So anyway, that’s pretty much it from my end. If you feel the need to rage against the industry further, don’t feel shy and pour your feelings out in the comments below.

Uncharted 3 MP Beta Now Available to All

The Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta that was previously limited to PlayStation Plus users and inFamous 2 owners has now been made public. This means anyone who has a PSN account can download this beta and play it till the 14th of July 2011. No need to hunt for an invite anymore The beta offers players a multitude of game modes such as Team Deathmatch, Free for All, Team Objective, Hardcore and Co-op Hunter. As of now players have access to just two maps – Airstrip and Chateau but a new one called Yemen will be added in by the 10th of this month. Besides this there are a bunch of goodies waiting for you in the final version if you manage to play through the beta such as: Download the UNCHARTED 3 Beta and receive the exclusive UNCHARTED 3 PSN Beta Tester Avatar! Complete 10 matches in every mode of Competitive Multiplayer and receive the Exclusive Beta Decal Pack 1! Complete 5 matches in every mode of Co-operative Multiplayer and receive the Exclusive Beta Decal Pack 2! Complete 4 Treasure Sets and receive the Treasure Hunter’s Starter Pack! Rank up to level 25 in the Beta and receive a handsome reward of in-game cash on day one!

Inspan Launches Genius HS-300A Multimedia PC Headset in India

In Feb of this year, we reported that Genius, who specialize in PC peripherals, had announced  new lightweight multimedia headphones called the Genius HS-300A. The HS-300A has finally made it to India in an official capacity through Inspan Infotech who is one of the big name IT distribution companies for motherboards and hardware components. The Genius HS-300A is a rear band PC headset that’s designed for Internet chatting and listening to music. The special design should give users a personalized fit and the rear band form should provide a slightly better level of comfort as compared to the traditional style. The ear pads are designed to prevent audio leakage and offer good sound for music. The Genius HS-300A also features a rotational microphone. The single-sided cable reduces tangles making storage more comfortable. Colorful and comfortable? The Genius HS-300A headphones come with a sensitivity of 108dB +/- 3dB, frequency response of 20Hz~20KHz, unit driver at φ30mm, impedance of 32ohm and cable length of 1.8 meters. The Microphone is omni-directional with a sensitivity of -36 +/- 3dB, frequency response at 50~15KHz and impedance of 2.2k ohm 2VDC. Genius has priced their HS-300A headset at Rs. 579 (MRP) with a 1 year warranty. The HS-300A will be available in 2 colors – silver and blue, ex-Stock.

Crysis Coming to Consoles?

The success of Crysis 2 on consoles may have spurred developer Crytek to release Crysis on the Xbox360 and PS3, or so says the game’s listing on the ESRB’s (Entertainment Software Rating Board) official site. As of now it’s just the base game that’s showing up for consoles while its expansion, Crysis Warhead is still listed as a PC exclusive. Crytek have yet to officially confirm this listing. Maximum Awesomness Either way, this is one game you shouldn’t miss out on if it does end up (re)releasing not just because it still is a looker, but gameplay in my opinion was a lot better than Crysis 2. The game world was bigger, which in turn opened up a lot more options for gameplay be it stealth, all out action or a healthy blend of both. Plus unlike Crysis 2, the AI in this game was actually good, especially at the higher difficulty settings.

Games of July 2011-July is probably the most mellow month for games this year

July is probably the most mellow month for games this year. Now this really isn’t a bad thing since your wallet will probably need a bit of rest till the deluge of games begins this September. Catherine (Xbox360 PS3) You wanted weird, you got it I’ve seen some weird games come out of Japan but this one takes the cake. Dubbed as an erotic, horror, action-adventure from the makers of the Persona series, Catherine is the story of a bloke called Vincent who meets a girl called Catherine. From then on his life kind of goes down the pooper as he’s haunted by nightmares of giant fork wielding she monsters who want nothing more than to skewer his body. If that wasn’t bad enough, he’s near naked in these visions protected only by his pillow and if he dies in these dreams, he dies in reality. And you thought you had it rough.    Call of Juarez: The Cartel (Xbox360 PS3 PC) Can you guys keep it down, on a call here The Call of Juarez series may not be the most well known games out there but this Western themed shooter is high on action, style and entertainment. For the third iteration dubbed 'The Cartel', this series has moved into modern times and tasks players with defending America’s borders from the neighboring Mexican drug trade. As one of three law enforcement agencies, players must do whatever it takes to keep this menace out of Uncle Sam’s backyard. And unlike previous CoJ games, the campaign in The Cartel will support three player co-operative play. Ms. Splosion man (Xbox360) Ready to splode Like its predecessor, Ms. Splosion Man is an action platformer with a heavy emphasis on puzzle solving. Splosion Man’s weakness for cakes finally gets him captured so it’s up to the missus to traverse the shady underground research facility transforming fat little scientists into juicy chunks of meat. Developer Twisted Pixel have promised a plethora of new gameplay elements across fifty single player levels. In addition to this and a separate co-operative campaign, the game will also feature a unique mode where players will be able to control both Mr. and Ms. Splosion Man using one controller. Note: Ms. Splosion man will only be available as a downloadable title via Xbox Live.   El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (Xbox360 PS3) Tripped out visuals Ever since UTV picked up Ignition Studios, both companies have had it rough since most of the stuff that came out of Ignition was either subpar or complete poop. Hopefully El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron can change things up a bit for both. A visually unique action game, El Shaddai will fuse fast paced combat as seen in games like Devil May Cry with some of the more conventional platforming made famous by the Prince of Persia games.

GeForce StarCraft II Online Tournament Comes To India

The GeForce StarCraft II Pro/Am online tournament is now open for gamers residing in India with registrations having begun. Indian gamers can participate by visiting GeForce.com and secure
a spot to play one of the world’s most popular PC games. Gaming enthusiasts can lunge into StarCraft II Pro/Am Tournament to win prizes worth over $22,000 which include cash and hardware.

Over $20,000 worth of prizes to be won!

There are two levels of participation in this tournament which are Pro and Amateur. In the Pro Open; the top StarCraft II players in the world will be competing in the pro line-up with no limit to the number of players. In the Amateur Open, registration is open and free to all ages of 16 and over with no limit to the number of total entries per Protoss, Terran, or Zerg. All tournaments are one versus one (1 Vs 1) battles. There will be at least 5 weeks of guaranteed group play, with the top players from each group moving on to the double-elimination championship brackets.

Speaking about the tournament, Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director of NVIDIA, South Asia said that gaming runs in NVIDIA nerves. As a GPU inventor and leader, they have always believed in advanced graphics abilities that touch new level of accomplishments each day. This global tournament allows a hardcore gaming aficionado to put their best efforts and emerge as a winner across boundaries. To encourage and enthuse gamers, NVIDIA has initiated this tournament which wants to gather the support of users around the world.

A user must be 16 years or older to participate in this online gaming battleground. The tournament encounter will be carried out in a Group Play Format with the participation of 250 groups. Post to registrations up till 16th June, 2011, users can fight it out at the online tournament beginning 23rd June, 2011. To register for this tournament, one can visit the official website here