Assassins Creed II Lineage - Full Video

For those of you who missed it, the folks at Ubisoft made a live action prequel for Assassins Creed II and well... it's amazing! Beautifully crafted and directly tied to the new game this live action film sets up the story for the newly released title. Originally released in multiple episodes, below is the full length (30+ mins) version. Enjoy...

Borderlands DLC - ZOMBIES!!!

Not tired of killing Zombies just yet? Can't get enough undead fun? Well good because Borderlands is jumping on the Zombie band wagon with an all new DLC add-on. The download, titled The Zombie Island of Dr Ned, will be available on November 24th for both the PS3 and 360 and is expected to cost $10. This all new DLC will bring new locations, monsters, and missions with a very dark and creepy feel mixed with the classic Borderland humor we have come to love.

So what do you get for your 10 bucks? A pretty good bit as it turns out. Gearbox claims somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-10 hours of new gameplay along with new enemies, bosses and dungeons to explore.

Oh and in case your wondering, No, the level cap is not raised with this addition but I would be willing to bet that future downloads might be in the works. Perhaps we will see new expansions later down the road. Stay tuned.

Thanks to IGN.com for the screens and check out their Preview. It's a good read with lots of info.

Best Wal-Mart Ad Ever?

Well, I think so. Wal-Mart's newest 'fastest way to play' ad is one of the best yet. Featuring the same guys from the Madden ad earlier this year, this time they have just picked up a copy of Modern Warfare 2. Trash talking and hilarity ensue. This one had me rolling. Check it out...

Forza 3 - Final Verdict

Well, the guys at Turn 10 set out to develop the definitive simulation racer of this generation... So, were they successful? The answer is a resounding Yes. They managed to take all that was good about Forza 2 and add to it creating one of the best racing experiences ever. Fantastic cars, wonderful graphics, amazing physics and great tracks are just the start. This game is a deep and rewarding sim racer. Everything from the tuning/upgrade options to the robust custom paint program allow you to truly create an original one of a kind car. The cars in my garage are different from anyone else. I created them and they are unique to me. It's upgraded different, tuned different, drives different and looks different.

Being able to truly make your very own version of any car in the game adds a real sense of pride and ownership. It's very satisfying to make a car, take it online and beat the competition knowing that YOU made it. You took this stock car, upgraded, tuned, tweaked it and made it into a perfect racing machine. Then you took that car online and destroyed. It's really an almost surreal experience and you certainly get a greater sense of accomplishment then you would in a standard arcade style racer.

Of course that is exactly why I like sim racers. You win largely based on skill. Tuning aside, if you can't hack it on the track, your not going to win. In fact, I have beaten faster cars simply because I was able to drive the course better. Fortunately, Forza 3 has all the tools in place to help out the novice and turn him into a pro. From driving assists to the auto-upgrader, the average joe has all the tools needed to compete with the big dogs.

Now the best place to start is the Single Player portion of the game. It's a great place to get your bearings and begin your road to glory. A perfect place to test cars, learn tracks and generally get your feet wet. The Single Player mode is all about what they call 'Season Play' which is basically a streamlined (and better designed) version of the events from Forza 2. There are 6 seasons to play through and each one is longer and more difficult than the last. As you play through you'll earn both money, which is used to buy and fix up cars as well as experience which gifts you new cars with each level you progress.

Each season is filled with one main 'World Championship' event which you race every other week and many smaller weekly events in between. Now while the 'World Championship' events are set and mandatory the weekly events are of your choosing. As you start each week, you will get to choose a specific series you want to race for the next two weeks. These will also change based on what car you are driving. So, if you want to race 'A Class' races simply get in your 'A Class' car and select an event to race.

Note: One race takes up one full in-game day and races are usually spread out 2-3 days apart.

As you chug through the multiple seasons you will begin to learn the tracks and which cars are your favorite. You'll start to find out which cars are competitive in which classes and what the best driving lines are around the course, all of which will be invaluable when you take the game online later on. And trust me you'll want to play through a few seasons before you head online. With over 400 cars and 100 tracks you are going to need to spend some time getting to know the game before you jump into the deep end of the swimming pool.

To further help you on your way to becoming a Pro are the driving options mentioned earlier. The options include everything from the standard options you'd expect to full driving assists. Standard options include things like being able to select automatic or manual transmissions or turning on or off the traction control and stability control. These are the basics that the more seasoned drivers will tweak to their liking to get the car to handle and break like it should. But beginners can dive even deeper and mess with some of the more advanced assist options.

One such option is the driving/breaking line which tells you what line to take, when to accelerate as well as when to brake. Not good enough? No problem because you can also turn on the auto brake assist which will actually apply the brakes for you. With these assists on you can basically go around the track problem free. All you have to do is hold in the gas and follow the line. Perfect for the beginner trying to get a hang of the game and how it works. The only real problem (and this only really applies to the auto brake feature) is that it's not going to be quite as fast as a seasoned driver. You see, the computer will often break too much and error on the side of caution. After all the idea is to allow the user to make it all the way around the track and slower is safer.

Still it's a good starting point for most new comers and allows them to jump right in. My best advise is to use it as it's intended, which is as a learning tool. If you are someone who needs such assists, by all means use them. But as you practice and get better, start turning them off one by one (or at the very least the auto brake) until you are driving under your own power. In the end you'll be a better driver and faster around the track.

One more helpful tool is the "rewind" button which allows you to actually rewind the action if you make a mistake. This feature is a benefit for all users, regardless of skill. Even the best of the best will be using this bad boy. Mostly because it allows you to erase even the smallest error during the single player seasons (not available in online multiplayer matches). With the single press of a button you automatically rewind the action a couple 2-3 seconds at which point the game pauses and asks you if you want to continue from here or move back some more. Once you have reach the desired amount of rewind, simply select the continue button and off you go... again. Only this time with a better understand of what you need to correct in order to avoid whatever it was you messed up the first time. It's really great for when your learning a track for the first time and have no idea how to judge the corners. A truly priceless learning tool.

Of course once you learn what your doing and have some cars built up, it's time to try your hand at the online multiplayer portion of the game. Forza 3 shines just as brightly here as it does anywhere. Allowing players to put up their own custom rides against each other in the ultimate test of driving. You think the computer was tough on 'hard'? Try racing against a real person. There is no greater test of skill than lining up in a full room of real people from across the world and going a few rounds. How will you react? Can you keep up? All this and more is put to the test and it's a ton of fun.

You can also create private matches and race with your friends. Get together, check out each others cars and see who is the best around the track. And with tons of changeable settings you can custom make the race to your liking. Pretty much everything is available for you to mess with and tweak. Car classes, tracks, lap numbers, damage, collisions, assists, HP rating... you name it. The end result is an incredibly enjoyable online experience. It even has a party system so you can take your friends with you into public rooms.

At the end of the day, when you take into account all of the above, you have possibly the best racing simulator games ever made. Tons of cars, full customization, great tracks, wonderful physics, full damage molding... the list goes on and on. And that's not to say the game is without it's faults. I have experienced some minor audio glitches and some strange AI glitches when using the rewind feature (every now and then one of the AI car suddenly crashes into the wall for example) but the total package more than makes up for any of the minor flaws. Forza 3 has accomplished what it set out to do and has set the bar very high.

Final Verdict - 9.2/10