Marauder's BattleTech Web Site

Sony Online Entertainment is preparing the release of another expansion for Everquest II, its long running MMO. It will be known as The Shadow Odyssey and it will be focused on adding some much needed high level content. The developers are planning 20 zones for the expansion, specifically for level 80 players. Leading into the new expansion, the game is set to receive one big update, called...

I try to look for the best in every situation. In the grand scheme of things, getting bumped from the first shipment of pre-ordered Xbox 360s to the second wasn't the end of the world. Indeed, it allowed me to focus on launch news and information, posting stories for the games page and absorbing the mood of early adopters. The reports that came back were mixed, with occasional technical difficulties and tepid gameplay marring the first next-gen launch. Overall though, gamers seemed to be pleased with their purchases. When my local game store called to let me know my console was in, I bit the bullet and swiped the plastic. Today I have for you a rundown on what it's like to go where others have gone before. Read on for my impressions of the Xbox 360 experience after a month of retail sales and a week of gameplay. While I don't feel the need to bore you with pictures of the packaging, the out-of-the-box experience is attractive and intuitive. It only took a few moments to set things up before I was working with the setup wizard. As per the copious recommendations across the internet, I made sure that the console's power brick was not on the carpet once the system was in place. The bottom of my entertainment center has wire shelving, and the free flow of air around the brick has so far allowed my 360 to be glitch-free. It is, unfortunately, as large as everyone says it is. Pulling the massive thing out of the box, I had a flash of a bad bumper-sticker: "My second console is my 360 power brick." The cables are all surprisingly lengthy, with a nice long piece of cat5 cable making the trip to my router with more slack than the one I was using for my Xbox. One important consideration: If you're fortunate enough to be using your console with an HDTV, make sure and flip the switch on the component cable before you start up the console. It's set by default to 'TV', and if you want to experience the HD signal right away you're going to want that switch flipped. With everything plugged in and set properly I hit the large central button on the controller, and the console whirred to life. The setup wizard asked for little more than the time zone and my Passport account. The Live account I had with the Xbox was still in good standing, putting me into the 'gold' version of the Live system. This apparently allows me the opportunity to get to some additional content, and make use of the Trueskill ranking system we reported on a while back. The only annoying part of the setup was the grueling process of entering my email address and password. Selecting letters from an on-screen keyboard seems like a good idea until you start entering your 32-character-long email address. As a final touch I was asked my preferences for controls in FPS and Driving titles. I don't know why, but I like inverted look on console games. It just works better for me. By entering the setting on my Live account, every FPS I play on the 360 will use that setting by default. Setup completed, I had m...

Special thanks to Kyan Mehwulfe for spotting them and announcing them quickly over at the Vault Network Message boards!KyanMehwulfePosts: 819Registered: Apr 01Date Posted: 12:12pm Subject: three new screenshots www.Gamona.deApparently they we...

Research group NPD's list of the 20 best-selling PC games in May shows mostly the usual players--Blizzard and Maxis--in their usual comfy chairs, slightly rearranged.Spore climbs five places following a $10 price cut, while StarCraft 2's imminent beta no doubt plays a hand in the StarCraft Battle Che...

Every year, a small army of new video games is released, but how do you know which one to spend your money on? Unless you've actually had hands-on time with each game, its a really hard decision, and it's a decision that I've had a lot of experience with, so I decided I would attempt to share my knowledge, and hopefully help someone make the choice.1) World of Warcraft - Unless you've been livin...

Wielding the power of shadow, Warlocks make formidable enemies. Destroying her enemies over time and mastering her command over demons, the WoW Warlock is fearsome.The Warlock in World of Warcraft is a DPS class, using damage over time (DoT) spells to cripple, weaken, and destroy enemies. Making efficient use of the Warlock’s crowd control spells – Fear, for example – can allow the Warlock and her summoned demon to handle multiple enemies at once. Because of this, the Warlock is an excellent solo class and a formidable enemy in PvP combat.WoW Warlock T...

This thread will contain information on the free character moves to and from PvE, PvP, RP and RPPvP realms we currently have available to assist in population dissemination. In the event that these realms meet our transfer goals before the scheduled end date, the transfers to these realms will be disabled. We highly recommend that if you are planning to tran...

Listed below are recent fixes we have applied to the game. Keep in mind that some of these changes may not be active until after the realm has been restarted. To review previous in-game fixes, please visit: http://forums.worldofwar...

Blizzard has banned more than 5400 World of Warcraft players from the game for good as part of plans to clamp down on gold farming and cheating in general. A further 10,700 accounts have been suspended for "participating in activities that violate the game's T...

Despite a number of irritating delays, Raven Shield expansion Athena Sword has officially gone gold this past Friday, and is on track for a March 19th showdown with, er, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Battlefield Vietnam. Wow, Ubi really knows how to pick a release date!Developed b...