The drop comes from the boss Tenris Mirkblood in Karazhan. Once equipped, the Arcanite Ripper can transform you into a skeletal rock star. Check out the video of the Arcanite Ripper in action below as you can see from the video it will turn you into a Guitar Hero playing a skeleton-like ax.

Now that Blizzard and Activision have merged into one huge super company…it’s a safe bet we’ll be seeing more weird crossovers like this in the future.

Sins of a Solar Empire has been a huge hit since its release this year and the expansions will no doubt add lots of replayability to the game.

Sins of a Solar Empire has provided PC gamers with RT4X gameplay that requires players to eXpand, eXplore, eXploit and eXterminate. In Sins of a Solar Empire the future survival of the human race is at threat, with three mighty races fighting over control of the galaxy. Players have the opportunity to command one of these three races and attempt to survive and dominate the galaxy. Your success depends on your ability to govern your empire and to command your space navy. To succeed in Sins, a carefully balanced combination of diplomacy, economics and military might are required to become the Master of the Universe.

The first expansion, entitled “Entrenchment” will include:

• Star Bases, which can be customized and upgraded over time;
• Race specific Star Bases which will have a unique variety of upgradable characteristics. The ability to upgrade your Star Bases is limited so players will have to think strategically and plan carefully!
• The number of Star Bases each gamer can control will now be limited by a new research feature
• More Star Base goodies both race specific and generic;
• Mine field designs specific to each race and essential for hindering and endangering enemy forces;
• More types of mines;
• More defense systems both race specific and generic;
• New artifacts and planet properties;
• And much more.

The expansion “Entrenchment” for Sins of a Solar Empire will be available via download at the online platform Impulse soon for 4x fans to lose themselves with this Christmas.

First of all, the game is looking great.  The visuals look amazing and the atmosphere is very reminiscent of the Alien Trilogy (Quadrilogy my ass). If you enjoyed watching Ripley battle aliens in dark corridors against insurmountable odds this game should be on your radar.

Second, the story is almost exactly the same as the now legendary Ridley Scott directed Alien film…and that’s a good thing.  Set on a mining ship that is in, you guessed it, deep space, protagonist Isaac Clarke finds himself up against an alien species called “Necromorphs” that have taken over the ship and killed everybody.  It’s a classic science fiction story and one that perfectly creates a situation where you are completely alone and afraid.

Third, Dead Space is a third-person survival horror game that is very similar to Resident Evil 4 and the upcoming Resident Evil 5.  Chances are, if you like those types of games, this one will be much the same…only with less zombies and a sci-fi twist.

Fourth and finally, this game is a brand new IP from EA, a company that is traditionally very hesitant to take chances and move in creative new directions.  There is far too much money involved these days with developing new IP’s and the fact that EA is taking a chance on a new one is a positive sign not only for the industry but for gamers.  If you are tired of playing sequels and the same games that have been rehashed over and over again, now is the chance to throw your support behind a game that is trying something new.   Lets be honest, new IP’s don’t come along very often because of the financial risks involved. Too often a great new IP will be released that is gains universal critical acclaim…only to catch on too late with gamers. Fans of the amazing PS2 game Okami will agree that the game should have had far more success with the gaming community.

If you are one of the many that has not even seen this game yet be sure to check out the trailer below.  Better yet, be sure to see the awesome developer commentary video. Science fiction fans should be excited.

I think this game is going to be worth taking a “chance” on.  To learn more from someone that has actually played the game, check out a hands-on preview written by IGN’s Hilary Goldstein.

To be clear, I’m not advocating that you should go out and buy this game…yet. But if it comes out and is actually really good I only hope that gamers will give it a chance. Otherwise, all we may have to look forward from EA will be the next iterations of Tiger Woods and Burnout for years to come.

Ubisoft has been hard at work on a new Prince of Persia game and has finally lifted the curtain on the next-generation reinvention of the Prince (though apparently he isn’t a Prince in this iteration). Rather than follow the previous storyline, the new game is a full reboot of the franchise. Gone are the abilities to control time and the princess. This time around, you are a vagrant who is swept up in events that lead you into a battle against “the corruption” a black ooze like substance that is released upon the land. While details of the story are still very sparse, it has been revealed that the prince will have an AI companion named Elika who will work with the Prince throughout the game.

While still very early, the visuals for the game look impressive. Instead of going the usual route, the new Prince will take on an “illustrative” look and feel…which is hard to explain and must been seen. The shots look amazing (courtesy IGN).

To see why this game is something to get excited about, check out the first video of the game posted by IGN. I think it’s all CG, but it certainly does the trick of getting Prince fans excited for his return this fall.

To help fill the void as I await the imminent release of Grand Theft Auto IV I started looking into games the PC currently has to offer. Immediately, Sins of a Solar Empire caught my eye. I was a huge Master of Orion fan back in the day and Sins was getting some stellar reviews – check out IGN and 1UP’s reviews for more details.

Sins is not your traditional 4x game: eXpand, eXplore, eXploit, eXterminate. Instead, Sins is a RT4X game that blends those elements with real time strategy. Essentially, Sins is a combination of Master of Orion and Homeworld. Published by Stardock, the ones who brought us another Master of Orion clone in Galactic Civilization, Sins allows you to take control of one of three very different races (the Trader Emergency Coalition, the Advent or the Vasari) and has all the elements that keep that “one more turn” mentality going. Those of course being building and managing massive fleets, developing planets, engaging in diplomacy, fending off space pirates, researching new technologies, fighting real time space combat…and I could go on.

To see what I’m talking about, check the official trailer for the game below.

Put simply, this game blew me away. It is really fun and once you learn how to play (be prepared for a steep learning curve) Sins becomes one of those experiences that will suck you in for hours on end. I have only played through 3 games so far (all on small maps and they take about 3 hours each) and have yet to even think about diving into online multiplayer. This is one of those games that will take countless hours to master and the depth of the game is incredible. For only $39.99, it’s a steal if you have a computer with the specs to run this game. Even better, developer Ironclad is releasing a constant stream of updates to the game and there are already hints that expansion packs are on the way.

For anyone who loved Master of Orion or is a current Galactic Civilizations junkie, this game is a must buy.

Check out some of the screenshots below and a video of some of the space combat (yes, it really is this awesome).

For more information, be sure to check out Sins official website here.

The question is, what happened to this promising game? Has it been cancelled? A quick scan of 10TACLE Studios website will find a link to Elveon, but no new information has been added for several months. Has the project simply gone dark, or can we expect a release sometime this year?

In case you haven’t seen any of the screenshots yet, check them out.

Also be sure to check out the videos that got me excited about this title in the first place. I just hope this game hasn’t gone the way of the dodo.

The first one shows some sweet combat in the game.

Here is the trailer.

And finally a cut scene.

I won’t even go into the inevitable encounters with online idiots that you are guaranteed to come across. Those would be the racists and the little kids whose voices haven’t cracked and spend most of the match squealing like spanked pigs.

This list is about in-game multiplayer annoyances and the people that use them to maximize the frustration factor for everyone else.

Without further ado…

Number 5 – Idiot reaches level 55 and decides not to enter “prestige mode”…ever

We’ve all experienced it. You get into the lobby, check the rank of everyone in the lobby and notice that 5 players are all at level 55. Ok, so they’re good. Then, you get into the match and they absolutely own you. I’m talking you die almost as instantly as you spawn. They know where you’ll be, they have insane proficiency with every weapon in the game and they let you know it. Clearly, they are “prestige mode” material. Then, after you get your ass handed to you at your meager level 30 rank, they decide to call you out for sucking. Good times. Real cool. Man up and make the game a challenge for yourself by entering “prestige mode.” Pwning noobs doesn’t prove anything to anyone. It only confirms that you are a jackass.

Number 4 – This automatic shotgun will go great with my martyrdom perk!

Again, we’ve all seen it. These players constantly sprint around the map flying into rooms with the finger on the trigger and using about as much skill as it takes to blow up a balloon. Then, when they inevitably die, they drop their grenade (thanks martyrdom perk) and hope that their “tactics” were enough to take someone with them. Bonus jackass points awarded to the players that employ this strategy in tiny maps.

Number 3 – Spawning into an air strike or helicopter attack

Ok, this one can’t be blamed on players, so much as on Infinity Ward. Yes, the attack choppers and the air strikes are a cool idea. However, where the game breaks is when you are playing in a map like “shipment” and a helicopter attack kills everyone and everything. The map is so small that you have no chance of shooting the chopper out of the air before someone else takes you out. The result, non-stop sprinting for cover until the chopper is gone. The frustration: in a map as small as “shipment” you can bet those choppers will be out for almost the entire game as elite players rack up 7 kills over and over and over. Spawning into random chopper fire “hilarity” ensues.

Number 2 – Hey, I have 3 frag grenades, I better use them all within 2 seconds of respawning

You can bet that almost as soon as players reach the level to unlock these babies they will be clipping an extra 2 frags to their belts. And why not? You can throw a grenade anywhere and some sucker almost always accidentally stumbles into it. I wish COD 4 kept stats on how you get killed. Was it a sniper rifle? Was it a handgun? Or was it another damn grenade. I spend most of my time navigating the minefield of grenades, especially in smaller maps.

Number 1 – Juggernaut, the second chance for those who can’t get the job done without it

This was easy. Who hasn’t shot a player point blank in the chest after getting the drop on them, only to have them suddenly realize you are there and somehow kill you instead. It happens every game. Its happened to me. Its happened to you. It will happen again. Juggernaut is like the perk for players that accept the fact they need need a handicap to compete online. I have simply lost count of the number of times I’ve heard players scream into their headsets when they get killed by a player with this perk. It happens every game.

Phew. Well that’s it. I know there are other things in there that annoy people so if I’ve missed your personal pet peeve let me know in the comments section.

Now that I’ve got that off my chest, I’m heading back online. Because lets face it, despite these annoyances, Call of Duty 4 is damn fun. Thanks Infinity Ward!

Currently planned for the PC and Xbox 360 (and I hope the PS3), Project Offset first hit the web with some fancy tech demos to show off the new engine and technology. While it was well received by gamers at the time, it has since gone dark, only releasing one gameplay teaser (and even that was an accident). To see why this game is so promising, check out the videos and pics.

Here is a compilation of the amazing tech demos below. Psst, the dragon scene alone is worth it! Oh, and the Lord of the Rings music is more than appropriate.

Below are some screenshots of the game, and it is looking slick already. Notice some of the motion blur effects in some of the action shots.

Finally, check out the only gameplay video that has been released to date. Like I said, the game looks graphically amazing, and is very promising for fantasy fans. Adding a pinch of dragons never hurts either I suppose.

Though still very early, I have been following the game since the first tech demos debuted in August of 2004. If you are a fantasy fanatic, this game should be on your radar.

For more information about “Project Offset” and the Offset team, be sure to check out their website here.

Currently in development for the Xbox 360 and PS3, Fallout 3 is set in the United States after a nuclear war in the year 2077 kills almost everyone on the entire planet. After the nuclear fallout, only a handful of humans who took refuge in Vault 101 in Washington DC are thought to have survived. For 200 years Vault 101 has remained closed…awaiting the day when it is safe to emerge into a world that is completely decimated, and where radiation has mutated those who survived outside the safety of Vault 101.

While very little has been released to the public on this game, the buzz from review editors and industry insider’s that have had the good fortune to see the game is incredibly positive. Early word on the game also indicates that there will be 200 different endings. Whether these are true endings or slight variations on few different ones remains to be seen.

The strength of the game will no doubt come from the huge impact your character has in the world, and how it affects not only the gameplay but the story as well. For example, you may be given the opportunity to nuke a town off the map. If so, it will be gone for the rest of the game. Or, you can save it. The choice will be up to you, and the consequences will play out differently depending on your actions.

I have little doubt that the next installment of Fallout 3 is in good hands with Bethesda. They have proven themselves with Morrowind and Oblivion and are working on a project that really excites them. When the nuclear winter ends, I think that Fallout 3 will be the last game left standing and claim the crown for Game of the Year in 2008. Now lets just hope it makes its scheduled 2008 release in late fall. Only time will tell.

For now, enjoy these in-game screenshots:

If those aren’t enough, how about a little in-game teaser-trailer? Yes, it is actually IN-GAME.