‘Forza Horizon’ Review: A Forza Remixed Is Racing Perfected

While late to the game compared to its platform competitors, Microsoft has been making really good racing games for a long time. Early on, it was Monster Truck Madness for Windows 95, then came the Xbox with Project Gotham Racing and later Forza Motorsport. With the shuttering of Bizarre Creations, it seems that Microsoft wasn’t terribly interested in putting out racing titles that weren’t either high-end simulations like Forza or braindead Kinect stuff, but Microsoft has a powerful hand in Forza Horizon – the accumulation of all of that they have learned – and it is a masterwork.

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‘The Twelve’ Review: More Epic Dystopian Vampire Fiction That Doesn’t Sparkle

Two years ago, at Johnny’s recommendation, I began reading The Passage. I didn’t buy books back then, so when its massive hardcover volume arrived in the mail, I was intimidated. It only took me a page to fall in love, the other seven hundred fell in place after that. I acquainted myself with Justin Cronin’s everyman prose, which falls in line with a lot of what Stephen King’s work, leaving me to simply slurp up his immense universe, taking place before and after the fall of mankind to a new race of ‘taken up’ super vampire bats called virals. The Twelve picks up the reins from that title, but how well does it work as a middle chapter in this vampire trilogy?

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My Biggest Problem With Windows 8? App Developers

I’ve been using Windows 8 for approximately fourteen hours already and I have to say I’m enjoying my experience, in a ‘this is crazy awesome to explore’ as well as a ‘this makes things so much easier’ way. There are definitely some downsides to the OS, like, ‘where the hell is this setting?’ and ‘stop doing that!’, but I’m finding my way around these for the most part as I get used to the new operating system’s quirks. My biggest issue with Windows 8 doesn’t really have to do with the OS, it has to do with the developers making apps for it. Or rather, not making apps for it.

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Trains Versus Zombies 2? YEP!

A few weeks ago, we wrote about Train Simulator 2013, the railroad simulator from railsimulator.com, which allows players to take on the role of an engineer and drive trains across many different countries and routes, checking out all of the scenery and sights along the way.

It has now been announced that railsimulator.com has released a standalone game which features their amazing train simulation, mixed with the horror of the living dead.

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What If Apple Doesn’t Break Records Next Quarter?

In case you didn’t know, Apple’s doing really well. With net margins near 25% – pretty good for a company making most of its skrilla on hardware – and incredible popularity, it seems that Apple can’t do any wrong. Today, Apple released new Q4 numbers that were, just like last year’s, disappointing by measure of most analysts. Like any best-intentioned company on Wall Street, Apple’s stock price is levied on the expectation of never-ending growth and ever-accelerating performance. In a post-Jobs era, how long can it last?

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Are You Ready For XCOM: Enemy Unknown DLC?

This announcement came two days ago and the only explanation for why I haven’t reported on it yet is that it has boggled my mind. Downloadable content for an X-COM (or XCOM) game? Bizarre. Knocked me flat on my ass. When you have an expansion for a game like Civilization – not coincidentally, made by the same people – you get access to whole new civilizations, techs, and so on that would augment future play-throughs. If you’re half-way through Enemy Unknown right now, you might get access to this if you’ve bought it, but if you’re done with the game, do you dare dive back in?

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Need More Dishonored? Get Ready for DLC

Dunwall City Trials, being released in December for $4.99 (or 400 Microsoft Points), will include 10 challenge maps that will test and track your combat, stealth and mobility skills. Ten distinct trials await challengers – including an arena battle against waves of enemy AI, a gravity-defying run of drop assassinations, and a race against the clock. Dunwall City Trials also features a whole new set of achievements and trophies as well as a global online leaderboard that will establish the greatest assassins for each challenge. Read the rest of this article…

Assassin’s Creed III Pre-Orders Break Ubisofts Record

Today, Ubisoft announced that Assassin’s Creed III is the most pre-ordered game in the company’s history. Pre-orders of Assassin’s Creed III already have more than doubled those of last year’s Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Ubisoft’s previous pre-order record holder. “Pre-orders for Assassin’s Creed III at GameStop are nearly 100% higher than last year, putting the game on track to be one of the top titles of 2012,” said Tony Bartel, president of GameStop. “In addition, Ubisoft is offering high quality DLC available at launch to bring even more excitement to this title.” Read the rest of this article…

Windows 8 Buying Guide

This Friday, Microsoft will release Windows 8. After showing off the Metro UI Windows 8 UI, people either loved it or hated it. Where’s the start button everyone wondered. Well the beta OS didn’t get much love either but early reviews of Windows 8 have been positive even though stating that is does have a learning curve. This year Microsoft is making upgrading to Windows 8 friendlier to the wallet with option starting at $14.99. Read the rest of this article…

The Temptation To Upgrade To Windows 8 Is Now Irresistible

When I was a young sprout, at the tender age of seventeen, I said I wouldn’t upgrade my version of Windows until I’d bought a new computer. I looked forward to a new box with a shiny 1GHz processor, 256MB of RAM, and 50GB of hard disk to throw my expanding collection of art and music onto. Instead, I bought Windows XP in October 2001 and got a free stick of RAM, which brought me to that 128MB RAM total, just enough to run the OS in the first place. Like many things, I’m skeptical until the product is about to land and the marketing push is at its extreme. Of course, being able to purchase it on impulse doesn’t help things.

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