We've become accustomed to hyped MMO releases. Back in the day, Everquest was the thing, then we moved on to WoW. While it's possible to say that World of Warcraft still reigns king of MMO population, there have been several releases since then that were hyped as "WoW-killers" or games that were going to rival the big game as the current largest MMO. These included games like the following: Age of Conan, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and finally Aion. Each of these have had varied success, of course, with some going free to play, some changing their subscription methods, and some just enjoying what popularity they have.

Aion is the game of interest today, since they announced a few weeks ago that Europe servers were going free to play. Then, with the success of Lineage 2's free to play, NCSoft has decided that Aion would be doing better if it followed the same ideal. So... here we go, then!

Aion, in my experience, was a beautiful game and the graphics of it were unrivaled by anything else I've ever seen in the MMO genre. However, it's Western release didn't live up to the expectations that were placed in it. The grind and the hardcore PvP nature of the game didn't fit in well with the Western ideal of a MMO. This move to make it free will hopefully bolster the game's population. I know that personally I'll be going back to the game again to see how things have been since I left a month after release.

The new free to play style that NCSoft is using, models after Lineage 2 exactly. According to press release by NCSoft, the game will be entirely free. You can play all of the game without ever making a purchase, though people will obviously be buying micro transactions from the store. What the store itself will contain is as yet unknown, but it will be interesting to see if it unbalances the game or it's a mainly cosmetic shop.

Overall, seeing another of the huge subscription games going free to play is an interesting phenomenon. Western civlization is becoming an interesting place, where people feel entitled to things, so this move towards free to play will be something that we'll follow with great interest.

EDIT: Forgot to put in the link to the webpage itself. The main Aion Free to Play website is here.

I'm already looking forward to the outcome!

I've already dropped MMGaming's official vote into this poll. But before I reveal all... I'll give you the list of the other nominees and why you should/shouldn't vote for them!

• Batman: Arkham City - If this game wins the Game of the Year then I won't be surprised in the slightest. It absolutely deserves pride of place in any gamers collection and easily deserves any prizes you care to throw at it. All the MMGamers loved it and everyone else should love it too! (You can see our review here)
• Battlefield 3 - While an absolutely excellent shooter Battlefield represents a lack of imagination in the Gaming industry. A big, modern FPS with a colour scale ranging from brown to grey. It's certainly an excellent shooter, but it lacks what I think makes a truly great game. (You can see our review here)
• Modern Warfare 3 - See what I said about Battlefield 3... only this is actually technically worse in all respects. However, despite this, it's massive fanbase might insure it's victory... That would be a sad day for the industry...
• FIFA 12 - BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! No... While a fun game to mess about with the lads and actually a surprising step up from previous games (if our review is anyjudge), it is NOT a fantastic game. Good? Yes... But it does not deserve game of the year... (You can see our review here)
• L.A. Noire - I actually can't really make an accurate judgement here having never played the game and having heard mixed reviews. Tim has played it a little I understand, but he didn't exactly rave it about it. Based on what I know L.A. Noire is a good game but once again it's simply not Game of the Year material
• Minecraft - Ah... A tough one... Not only does Minecraft fall under the banner of "Indie" games (at least it does in my approximation) it's so vastly different to the others that it's tough to decide. I do think though that Minecraft is easily one of the best games of our time and deserves a space in any "Top 10" lists, but while it's amazing and I think you should play it I, once again would not give it Game of the Year. May Notch slam my face onto my keyboard if I'm wrong-blhefUIui;FWG
• Portal 2 - Another candidate that absolutely deserves Game of the Year if it wins. Excellent soundtrack, voice-acting, gameplay. A cool story and setting. An amusing multiplayer. This game has it all! It's absolutely fantastic and is easily one of the best games of last year. (You can see our review here)
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - I won't even write down fake laughter here. That's because I want to convey to you just how seriously I want you to NOT vote for this. Yet another game on the already massive pile of Zelda games, thrown down to it's fans who go after it like dogs after a bone. If it weren't for the fact that, for a great many, Zelda comes with enough nostalgia to smother a horse I think we would have heard the last of it a long time ago. It, alongside games like Mario and Call of Duty represent what I dislike most in the gaming world: a lack of innovation and imagination...
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - As far as I am aware this is the one game that no MMGamer played at all last year. Not even Tim. Again, like L.A. Noire, I have heard some mixed things and I think I will simply say: "It might well be a great game, but again it's not a Game of the Year".

Now if any of you have already toddled over to the voting website then you will have noticed I am giving out these games in the same order they have on the website. And a few smarties amongst you might have noticed I have missed one out. In fact if you follow MMGaming at all then you will, not only have noticed that I left one out, you will know what I'm going to say next. Yes folks, the last game on the list is indeed:

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - a massive fantasy, RPG, epic. Dragons, swords, magic, elves, orcs, trolls. This game has everything. For me it easily wins Game of the Year for 2011 (and it did in the MMGAwards). It's epic story, fantastic graphics and setting, excellent gameplay, amazing balance and customisation. Everything about it comes together in one ocean of pure and unadulterated ecstasy... While some of the games on the list do deserve a Game of the Year award, Skyrim simply outshines them all. It's a bright sun of pure awesome which fills me with hope and joy. (You can see our review here)

So yes, there you have the list and my rant on each one! So go now! Vote for Skyrim! Dovahkiin, naal ak zin, los vahriin!

Well unless the player absolutely cannot stand having to shower every time after gaming from having pissed themselves in fear too much.

Yes I realise it's actually almost as cliche to say this about Amnesia: The Dark Descent as it is to actually review Amnesia: The Dark Descent, but the game is bloody scary. And despite it being a cliche, it's still worth saying as it is what the game is ABOUT! And I don't just mean scary. I mean you WILL crap your pants... Repeatedly...

You see I've only played a few games that could be described as in the "horror" genre. Or at least in the genre where they are trying to scare you. And in all honesty Amnesia is the only one to do it properly. Most of them are along the lines of Doom 3 where there are repeated "cheap scare" moments. You know the sort thing, wandering along a dark and dingy corridor and seeing a grate on the ceiling or floor or walls and when you get close enough, sure enough out jumps a monster trying to suck your ribs out through your skin. And despite expecting it and knowing it's coming it still will make you jump or gasp with fright, most of the time anyway.

Then there are the games which despite being classes as horror barely even manage to pull off any of those cheap scare moments. Games like the most recent Aliens vs. Predator game from last year. Despite having a history of the movies actually being quite scary and the monsters being scary enough in their own right the game was simply not scary at all. This was because the jumpy moments were so obvious and predictable and it was then perfectly easy to blast the enemies apart with a storm of high-calibre gunfire.

Amnesia is nothing like these for a number of reasons but I think it might be worth pointing out first off that in all the other horror games I have ever played you have the ability to fight back and often in numerous ways. In Amnesia having absolutely no weapon what-so-ever means that running is the only option and knowing that you're utterly defenceless, even if it's just in a game, just adds another layer of psychological fear to the game.

What Amnesia did so well that so few other horrors do is that it understands the beauty of the human imagination. No matter how gruesome or horrible you make something the human imagination can almost always do it better. So what Frictional Games mostly focused on was the atmosphere of the game rather than the monsters themselves (although I will be honest the monsters are bloody terrifying in their own right as well).

Every single time the music playing in the game drops down to a low ominous note, every time a door creaks open or slams shut, every time something groans or growls somewhere nearby, every breath or gasp of wind and even the pounding of your character's heart all add on to your paranoia that something is going to jump out at you from somewhere and do terrible and horrible things to you. And it IS paranoia because for the most part, it never actually happens!

Case in point: I would say that if you had nerves of steel and a fearless attitude to life and death you could make it through the first part of the game to where you first actually see a monster (and even then it's just a glimpse of it from afar and round a corner) in about 15 minutes (less quite possibly). It took me the better part of an hour to get to that stage. This was because I jumped at every slightest sound and movement and spent ages hiding in shadows even when I was actually perfectly safe. My nerves were drawn tighter than a bowstring and I every single muscle was tensed in sheer bloody terror.

It's all because the tension and build up in a game like this is where all the fear actually lies. The "cheap scares" in some games make you jump, sure. But in this you genuinely feel afraid. And I mean properly scared. Frictional worked out, as I said, that the imagination is stronger than anything they can really throw at you and they also know that the more you see of the monsters the less scary they become (this is also why Aliens from AvP are no longer scary, because we've spent too much time looking at them and actually killing them). In Amnesia you so rarely see the monsters that they never lose that mystery, that aura of "the unknown". Because what you don't know and don't understand is scarier than what you do.

I know I heard something... Where is it? WHERE IS IT?!?

Alongside all the psychological fiddling with your tiny brain there are a number of other elements which just add to the fear and terror the game produces. What it does best actually is pacing. Every single thing seems calculated to keep you right on the edge of absolute terror, that knife edge before you actually piss yourself. And they hold you there, taut and tense for ridiculous lengths of time with nothing actually happening. Then there will be a sudden 20 or 30 second period of adrenaline fuelled panic with piss flying everywhere, followed by a further minute in which you try and calm yourself down. And then it starts all over again. And every single sound, sight or movement in the game is designed perfectly to keep that atmosphere.

As an example, further on in the game the monsters do actually roam and patrol various sections of the game and you have to sneak or run by then. But earlier on the monsters actually only have scripted appearances, mostly from a distance such that unless you actually go out of your way to attract their attention they won't notice you and attack you. Despite this knowledge their simple proximity was often enough to reduce me to a drivelling wreck and I would have to go have a cup of tea to calm down.

Graphics wise the game still looks really rather good. It IS around a year and half old and it is an Indie game so top notch graphics are not to be expected. But as long as you don't look too closely both the graphics and the physics engine are perfectly suited for the purposes of the game.

The puzzles in the game required to move from level to level are a little bit on the tedious side of things. You have to find an object, pick up object, use object on other object and move on to the next area. That in itself would have been boring, except that by advancing through the story (e.g. picking up objects or using them, or finding notes and other specific objects lying around) also usually results in a monster appearing or some other sort of scary thing happening.

A section where you have to find glass vials and then put the glass vials into a chemistry set

The story is a little hard to follow as it requires making assumptions and deductions from the variety of notes and bits of paper left lying around, but it's pretty secondary and it's not really necessary to understand the story to grasp the general gist of what's going on.

The gameplay is fairly straightforward. I've explained the puzzles and I've hopefully made it clear that for the majority of the game you sneak about the place and the rest of the time you need to run as fast as you can in brief chases. The one last thing that ought to be mentioned is the fact that your survival does not hinge entirely on your character's health. As well as actually having health (of a sort) you also have a sanity level and should you either die or become insane (if either one runs out) you lose. Sanity decreases when you observe supernatural things, look at monsters and stand where it is too dark. This means that when monsters do inevitably come close to your location you are forced to choose between hiding in the darkness and apparently dying of insanity or moving out into the open and having your lungs ripped out through your eyes.

While it's a clever idea that only enhances the fear aspect of the game it does strike me as a little bit ridiculous (you know in the same world where dark magic and evil monsters roam about) that your character wouldn't associate darkness with safety. At least when monsters are staring right at the only patch of light in the room...

I've been talking an awful lot about the main game here and not really mentioning Justine, the free stand-alone expansion which while set in the same universe doesn't actually have anything to do with Amnesia itself. And the reason I haven't mentioned it is because it's simply more of the same. It's shorter than Amnesia (a lot as far as I can tell) and there are actually only three monsters, all of whom are always present, so it's a case of sneaking around them and avoiding them rather than them appearing when you least expect (okay, I lied, that happens too).

The screen goes all blurry as you go insane... But you're going to die anyway, so who cares?

There are also people who need saving in Justine, which is different from the main game in that you are no longer the only human about. Saving them takes longer and is more bother and gives the monsters more opportunity to catch you or you can just take the easy way out and kill them. But you wouldn't be so callous and cruel would you? Apparently the number you save changes the end of Justine but I haven't reached the end because of the one biggest difference. You can't save in Justine, at all, so you are expected to play the game for about an hour straight and I imagine if you reach the end you'll once again be sitting in a massive puddle of piss.

If there is any real problem with Amnesia (and by extension Justine) it's that it's TOO scary. I know that this is what the game sets out to do but I was honestly getting to the stage where I viewed playing the game with some trepidation as I knew I wouldn't get too far in it before I'd have to turn it off and go have a little cry. I've played a fair way through the main story but each time I consider playing further it I only get as far as the loading screen before the music sets my tension level to max and I decide it's just not worth the loss of sleep.

Rating: B

Amnesia is available on Steam for £12.99 and comes with Justine and a short novel of sorts... Which I haven't read...

ALSO! Check me playing it for a bit:

Well, that's how I felt when I was watching it. No doubt, the game is very pretty and the gameplay certainly looks fast paced and fun. But I imagine that's how it feels to play Modern Warfare 3. I mean while it looks cool and there are some pretty damn nifty moments where you go "Daaaaayyuuum!" it doesn't look like it really has much innovation or does anything particularly interesting.

Now normally I'd just shut up at this stage and embed the video but for some bizarre reason the Youtube video has been taken down by Ubisoft. And this is the same video embedded over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun... Whether this video has actually been leaked without Ubisoft's permission, I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, the only other copy I could find had what appeared to be a German voice-over. So instead of embedding I'm going to have to direct you over to Eurogamer who have the footage in their own annoying format.

Curious...

Their force is coming in for another major city, it's a well coordinated attack. And so far... it's been damned effective. Don't know what they are, what they want, or where they come from. Only one thing is certain. If Shepard doesn't bring help soon...

There won't be an Earth left to save...

All right chums... Time's up! Let's do this.

LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOYYYYY JEEEEEEEENKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNSSS!!

Seriously though, this new cinematic trailer for Mass Effect 3 gets me all sorts of riled up. My body is ready! I simply cannot wait to dive back into what I consider to be one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Nay, one of the greatest series of games of all time. And this trailer doesn't help ease my anticipation by being absolutely fucking awesome!

Seriously! Watch! Watch! I have to go and clear up all these used tissues...

Hey guys! I am bored of studying (for the moment) and have decided I want a break. But I also felt I should do something for the wonderful MMGaming. The resulting combination is me playing League of Legends ranked solo queue, straight to your monitors.

Enjoy the embedded video below!

EDIT: After a 2 loss streak, hungry and tired, I crawl back to my cave.

It may not be the dance or dubstep you expect from us to help prepare you for the weekend, but it certainly ties in with last week's theme of calm but stirring music! So I suppose we should all break out our Master Swords and turn into wolves and ride some horses and Triforce this bitch up!

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Amidoinitrite?

ALSO! It has to be said about this particular video. In the words of our very own Josh: "She's fit, wot?"

Civilization V was a monster of a turn-based game... the fifth in a series that has reshaped the 4x strategy genre. When it released, there were many complaints among the community with the three largest being the following: No Religions, Terrible Optimization, and Awful AI. After releasing an almost nauseating wave of small Civilization DLCs for the game, Sid Meier's team is finally announcing an expansion to Civilization V!

Does it fix the problems? Are we just going to get more civilizations and a couple more scenarios?

As it turns out, according to the official blog post, there is some serious work going into this expansion, which is great news. In addition to the inclusion of three new scenarios and nine more playable civilizations and some more city-states, they are fixing two of the three big issues. This expansion will see the release of a full religion system in Civilization V. This is absolutely exciting in itself, but they have also said that they are fixing the AI to play better which is a huge bonus.

Now many people are still complaining that they can barely play the game because of its ability to bring super powerful computers to their proverbial knees and I understand where they are coming from. I wasn't able to put nearly as much time in the first game as it deserved due to the slowness of the game and how badly it ran on my PC (which, incidentally, runs high res graphics at ultra in Skyrim). I would absolutely love to see some of the optimization problems fixed.

Maybe this expansion will bring that with their fixed AI (the AI slowness is definitely taking a toll), but the biggest excitement about this expansion is that they still care about Civilization V. It's a fantastic game in my opinion and I've really enjoyed my time with it, but it needs some work and perhaps this expansion will herald a new effort to fix some of the problems.

Either way, we're going to get religions (which are supposed to be even better than Civ IV's religion system) and that's exciting in itself. One more interesting piece of news about this expansion? One of the scenarios is reportedly set in Victorian Sci-Fi England... can't wait to see what that's all about.

Release Date? 2k Games is claiming that we're going to see this expansion released late Spring 2012. That's so close that I can almost taste it!

Now the reason I'm mentioning this is because I have bought a copy of Amalur on Steam AND those lovely folks at Paradox have been kind enough to give us a copy of Crusader Kings. I am in the fortunate position that I will be playing (and therefore reviewing) both of these games. I may even write a diary of my experiences in Amalur, I haven't decided yet.

Anyway, I say this just so you all know that reviews and thoughts on both these games ARE in the works. It just might take some time as they are both pretty damned big games. That also means I might not be able to play many other games during this period, we shall see! Keep an eye out folks!

Also, if you are wondering how on earth that picture at the top is related, I suggest you check this out.

Hah, I'm kidding I never go out into the real world. It's scary... That said, what's also scary is the image I used at the top of this post.... Scary GOOD I mean!