Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the upcoming, realistic battlefield first-person shooter. As the leader of a four-man fire team, it’s up to you to successfully direct your men to their objectives and accomplish them with minimal injuries to your troops. Along with the standard campaign, Dragon Rising will also feature a multiplayer component to expand the warfare to friends or friendly competition. At a recent event, I got a chance to check out both the campaign and multiplayer, and tested the controls as both a squad member and a team leader.

For those of you who don’t know about Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the game takes place in the near future where China has invaded a small island called Skira off the coast of its mainland for its recently discovered oil. China’s justification for its actions is that the land originally belonged to the country from the 1400s, when it was originally discovered by Chinese explorers. However, Russia has controlled Skira since the end of World War II, leading to regionalized tensions that could erupt in full scale war as both countries amass their armies along their mutual border. The US deploys troops to Skira in hopes of averting this conflict, putting you squarely up against the People’s Liberation Army. While you can play the game by yourself, it’s possible to take three additional friends and deploy into a new campaign as a squad, each player taking on the role of one of the members of the fire team.

FIFA 10 is packed with more authentic gameplay features, including a more realistic system for mastering long distance shots. You can also now fight for balls in the air with heading, avoid sliding tackles and enjoy quick throw-ins, free kicks and corners. More intelligent teammates have better passing and crossing skills. And details like new lighting, untucked shirts and improved net animations all combine to make the game even more realistic. Various gameplay elements have been enhanced for a more responsive, fluid experience. These include an improved animation system for increased responsiveness, a new collision avoidance system, and overhauled, more intelligent goalkeepers. You’ll also find a new Authentic game speed, and a Legendary game difficulty setting.

New Team Styles allows you to change your style of play based on your opposition. Exploit weaknesses in their game and build on your own team’s strengths. You can choose from 26 Team Styles including Wingplay, Target Man, and Offside Trap. Custom Team Styles offers 14 fully customisable options that bring a new depth to the FIFA 10 tactical experience. Set your team out to play the way you like. Learning to play professional football the correct way is even easier now with insights from your manager. Scout Reports provide pre-match advice to help you plan your attack against every opponent. Learn their Team Style, key players to watch out for and receive tactical advice.

Minimum Sys Req:

CPU: 2.4 GHz single-core
RAM: 512 MiByte (XP) or 1 GiByte (Vista)
Graphics card: Geforce 6600 or better, Ati Radeon 9800 Pro or better, Support for Shader Model 2.0 or better, DirectX 9.0c
VRAM: 128 MiByte
Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound device
Input: Keyboard or Dual Analog Gamepad
HDD: 4.4 GB or more, free disc space

Shipwrecked and ready for adventure! Come face-to-face with untold mysteries on a dangerous, forbidden island: ancient temples suddenly bursting forth from the earth, monstrous creatures roaming long lost ruins, active volcanoes, treasures from a distant past, and a ruthless inquisitor who rules inside the city walls with an iron fist. Unlock the terrifying secrets of Risen and never be the same again. This latest open-world RPG by Piranha Bytes delivers a thrilling edge-of-your seat storyline wrapped in a fully immersive sensory experience.

You will enter the Risen world uniquely through mood, emotion, and cultural exploration, in addition to hallmark RPG interactions such as dialogue and combat. A vast reputation system sets a new standard in the genre, lending unparalleled sophistication and subtlety to the game-play.

Features:

* Vast game world with a variety of stunning, living terrain: beaches, swamps, rocky mountains, active volcanoes, earthquakes, and more.
* Powerful combat system with quick learning curve. Gain combos and weapons proficiency as you progress. Unique enemies compel deployment of various combat strategies for ultimate success.
* Graphics engine designed for immediacy and total immersion. Refresh in the light morning breeze or bristle at the scorched earth with visual and aural technology that intensify the user experience.
* A one-of-a-kind reputation system creates hyper-realistic social interaction and tracks standing with both groups and individuals. Integral to success, player will embark on prestige-building quests, engage in secret diplomacy, and factions play against each other.
* Unique mix of intuitive controls and sophisticated story and gameplay elements make Risen attractive to both new and veteran players alike.

Batman: Arkham Asylum exposes players to a unique, dark and atmospheric adventure that takes them to the depths of Arkham Asylum - Gotham’s psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Gamers will move in the shadows, instigate fear amongst their enemies and confront The Joker and Gotham City’s most notorious villains who have taken over the asylum. Using a wide range of Batman’s gadgets and abilities, players will become the invisible predator and attempt to foil The Joker’s demented scheme.

Batman: Arkham Asylum features an original story penned exclusively for the game by famous Batman author and five-time Emmy award winner Paul Dini, whose credits include Lost season one and Batman: The Animated Series.

Key Features:

* Utilize the unique FreeFlow™ combat system to chain together unlimited combos seamlessly and battle with huge groups of The Joker’s henchmen in brutal melee brawls.
* Investigate as Batman, the WORLD’S GREATEST DETECTIVE, by solving intricate puzzles with the help of cutting edge forensic tools including x-ray scanning, fingerprint scans, ‘Amido Black’ spray and a pheromone tracker.
* Face off against Gotham’s greatest villains including The Joker, HARLEY QUINN, VICTOR ZSASZ and KILLER CROC.
* Become the Invisible Predator™ with Batman’s fear takedowns and unique vantage point system to move without being seen and hunt enemies.

Shift into high gear! Designed to deliver a true driver’s experience that reflects contemporary motorsports, Need for Speed Shift is built by racers for racers. Need for Speed Shift delivers an authentic and immersive driving experience, replicating the true feeling of racing high-end performance cars like never before. Players are thrust into the heart of the action with immersive and exciting features including a stunningly realistic first-person cockpit view camera and an all-new crash mechanic, providing an unrivaled sensation of the speed and feeling of racing a car on the extreme edge of control.

General Features

* True Driver’s Experience – A variety of visual cues delivers the true driver’s experience including a three-dimensional HUD that mimics driver head movement, inertia and G-forces. The depth of field also adjusts based on the speed of the car; so when the car is travelling at high speeds the perspective will shift to the distance putting the car/cockpit out of focus.
* Driver Profile – What kind of driver are you? Driver profile tracks the player’s evolution as a race driver from event to event. This system is made up of a driver’s personality on the track, their success rate and any profile points and badges accrued all of which work together to create a tailor-made career and gameplay experience. Driver profile is pervasive throughout all modes: career and online.
* Dynamic Crash Effect - When the player hits a static object or opponent car, the player will feel like they are ‘taking damage’. A combination of visual and audio effects will leave the player disorientated and briefly disrupt the race.

All football fans around the world, believe they know more about football than anybody else. More than the guy sat next to them at the match, more than the people commentating on the game, more than the manager of their local team. Championship Manager is the closest you’ll ever come to the highs and lows of real football management. Championship Manager 2010 has dramatically improved navigation for the user and the game features an entirely new fully animated 3D match engine. Designed and developed to reflect and enhance a management experience, the engine uses over 500 motion captured animations per player and has been built and developed specifically for a PC football management simulation.

Features:

* 3D Match Engine - Featuring over 500 individual player animations, watch your team play out your tactics and formations in full 3D glory.
* Set-piece creator - Create your own unique free kicks and corners.
* Scouting network - Set-up local networks in countries around the world and grow local knowledge to find a future star.
* Practice Matches - Find your perfect XI or trail new players on the 3D training pitch.

Red Faction Guerrilla-RELOADED

In Red Faction: Guerrilla, the player takes the role of a guerrilla member, Alec Mason, as he assists the Red Faction to disrupt and overthrow the power of the Earth Defense Force (EDF) on Mars. This is presented to the player in a third person perspective, a departure from the series’ previous two games which were first person shooters, a change that Volition claims to help the player see and appreciate the surroundings as they are destroyed. Much of the game centers around the game’s Geomod 2.0 engine, which allows for buildings and other structures to take damage, fall apart and collapse. In many cases, destroying buildings will leave behind salvage, the game’s form of currency, which can be used along with salvage rewarded by completing missions to unlock new weapons and upgrade existing ones when visiting one of the Red Faction safehouses.

During campaign mode, the player is always equipped with a sledgehammer-like weapon, used mainly for destroying buildings and crushing enemies, along with up to 3 other weapons or explosive devices. The player also has the opportunity to control armed vehicles such as tanks and walkers for more destructive options.

Features:

* Open world: Carve your own path wreaking havoc across the vast, open-world environment of Mars, from the desolate mining outpost of Parker to the gleaming EDF capital city of Eos.
* Fully destructible environment: Using improvised weapons, explosives, and re-purposed mining equipment and vehicles, tear through fully destructible alien environments and tear down the enemy EDF presence brick by brick.
* Multiplayer: Red Faction: Guerrillafeatures a robust multiplayer component, with several modes focused on destruction-based gameplay.

Europa Universalis-Razor1911

Europa Universalis III delves deeply into the areas of exploration, trade, warfare and diplomacy. This epic strategy game lets players take control of a nation and guide it through the ages to become a great global empire. Unparalleled in its depth and historical accuracy, Europa Universalis III gives the player unprecedented freedom in how they choose to rule their nation from an impressive choice of over 250 historically accurate countries

Features:

* Players can enjoy over 300 years of game play by starting at ANY date between 1453 and 1789.
* Nation building is flexible: decide your own form of government, the structure of your society, trade politics and much more. The possibilities are endless.
* The great people and personalities of the past are on hand to support you. Take history in your hands and call personalities like Sir Isaac Newton, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or René Descartes to your court.
* A lush topographic map in full 3D allows for a rich and complete world view, and contains more than 1700 provinces and sea zones.
* •Lead any one of more than 250 countries that originally existed during the game’s extensive time span.
* Have more than a thousand historical leaders and over 4000 historical Monarchs at your disposal.
* Manage more than 100 individual unit troops to secure as much power as possible.
* Co-operative multiplayer mode allows several players to work together to controla single nation.
* Customize your game: Europa Universalis III gives you the chance to customizeand mod practically anything your heart may desire.Join the constantly growing and incredibly talented Paradox modding community!

Darkest of Days-SKIDROW

In DARKEST OF DAYS , you’ll get to experience some of the most varied gameplay ever released in one title. Things will never get stale as you travel to distant times and fight alongside people from that time period. Fighting in Antietam (the bloodiest day of the American Civil War) feels much different than fighting on the side of the Russians at Tannenberg (where the Russians withstood 140,000 casualties in WWI).

Fight in FIVE different Time Periods - Whether its in Pompeii, Antietam, WWI, WWII, or Little Big Horn you will fight with real weapons from the time period. You will battle against enemies that fight in different ways, all reflective of how fighting was done at the time.

Using a combination of both futuristic and historical weapons, players will be immersed in a world where in one instant they will be fighting against the Germans in the First World War and the next find themselves battling at Antietam in the American Civil War. A variety of combat missions, such as stealth, artillery assaults, and sniper attacks will keep players on their toes through dozens of levels spread out over five historical time periods – all while discovering the secrets of the mysterious organization for which they have been working. Fighting on one side of the action, then sometimes coming back to fix mistakes on the opposing side gives the player a chance to experience conflicts from both sides.