I’ll update the image using my amazing Photoshop skills with a fancy PLAYED text over each image.  If you have thoughts on which ones I should play in whatever order, let me know in the comments!  GO GO GO!

So what is new in Windows 8 that will make it such a significant departure from what you are used to with Vista or Windows 7?

Connectivity

Windows 8 is fully integrated with all your social networks.  Users can check out friends’ latest status on Facebook, tweet a new picture and send email to other contacts right from the same contact card.  Windows 8 is also fully integrated with Microsoft’s cloud based storage service, Skydrive.  By integrating Skydrive, users will be able to have access to their images, documents and other important files from anywhere they have internet access.

Metro Interface

The entirely new main screen has been designed for Windows 8, taking from its very strong and successful Metro interface used in their Windows Phone 7 interface.  The Metro interface wiill be the primary way you interact with Windows 8 – this is your new Start Menu, so you better get used to it! Metro allows users to slide, swipe and zoom in and out of the screen and is a launchpad for Windows “apps”  Additionaly, multiple apps can be open at the same time and can be switched by simply swiping from the side of the screen.

Still Mouse and Keyboard Friendly

I am sure one of the things you thought after checking out the Metro interface is “how does this work with my keyboard and mouse?”  There is absolutely no doubt that not long before Windows 8 makes it was to store shelves we will see an absolute landslide of trackpads, similar to Apple’s Magic Trackpad, hit the market for PC’s, but the mouse is not dead.  Windows 8 has full useability with a mouse.  Users are still able to zoom, swipe, slide and easily open and close programs and manipulate open programs in any ways they choose by using their good ole’ mouse and keyboard.

There is a LOT to digest, even in this little bit of information.  I wouldn’t suggest the average computer user jump right into this Consumer Preview.  Windows 8 is still in development, and there is bound to be bugs and issues with it you might not be able to resolve.  That being said, if you are feeling up for an adventure, here are the links to get your hands on the next Windows!

Download: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download

ISO Download: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

Let me know what you think of Windows on Twitter, or by leaving comments!

Final Fantasy Origins - January 10th

Finally coming to PS3, are the games that started it all, some fifteen years and thirteen games ago.  The classics Final Fantasy I and the original Japanese Final Fantasy II (remember, the North American FFII is actually FFIV), have been repackaged as Final Fantasy Origins.  The updated versions sport new and improved graphics and sound and some CG movies interspersed in the game-play.  For any fan of the series, you may already have these titles in another format, such as PSP, but playing it on your big screen is enough for me to buy this right away.

Soulcalibur V – January 31st

The classic fighting game Soulcalibur returns with Soulcalibur V and sees the return of some of your favorite characters from past games, and the introduction of some new ones.  Certainly the coolest addition to this edition of Soulcalibur is the addition of Ezio Auditore of Assassin’s Creed as a playable character in the game.  Along with new characters comes a slight re-vamp to the guard systems.  This is a go-to game for fighting fans and is a title that sells well every time out.  If you are a fan of the genre, this is another must buy for the winter.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 – January 31st (pre-order this NOW from Future Shop!)

After a generally disappointing showing, Final Fantasy XIII is getting a second life if you will with the introduction of Final Fantasy XIII-2.  Set a number of years after the conclusion of FFXIII, XIII-2 is the story of Serah and her new friend Noel, as they set out to find her sister Lightning, who is missing.  With the game, Square Enix sought to improve on some of the more obvious deficiencies of the previous title by making the game less linear overall and introducing a number of features that people have come to associate and love about Final Fantasy titles such as Chocobos and (gasp!) towns.  Players are able to travel through time, both as part of missions, and in general to explore and re-do missions.  As a result of finishing a mission differently a second time, the player may also change the outcome of future events in the game.  The game has been out for a few weeks in Japan already is a hit seller.  In my opinion, this is the Final Fantasy XIII we were waiting almost 5 years for – its just a shame we had to wait another 2 after the original FXIII to come out to really experience a great Final Fantasy on the Playstation 3.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – February 7th (pre-order this NOW from Future Shop!)

There were two games that utterly blew my mind at E3 in 2011.  One was Skyrim, the other was this title: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.  The first title to be developed by the Curt Schilling owned 38 Studios, Reckoning boasts an all-star lineup of developer talent to be matched with the fabled teams from Bioware, Square Enix and Bethesda as one of the top in the industry.  The head writer is none other than the legendary fantasy writer R.A Salvatore, the lead artist is Canadian Todd McFarlane of Spawn fame.  If those two names weren’t enough to get any RPG fan flocking to pre-order, the lead developer is Ken Rolston who was the lead designer for arguably two of the greatest open-world RPG games ever: Oblivion and Morrowind.  This game features combat that is strikingly similar to a God of War style, with quick, action based moves and fast-paced combo attacks.  There is also a robust crafting and character development system and of course incredible graphical detail and animations.  To make what seems awesome even better, Reckoning is just the beginning of a much larger picture that 38 Studio’s is cooking up, with an MMO in the works based on the same story.  If Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is not a front runner for game of the year in 2012, I will be completely stunned.

Mass Effect 3 – March 6th (pre-order this NOW from Future Shop!)

Believe it or not, I wasn’t a fan of Mass Effect 1.  I’m not 100% sure why to be honest, and I haven’t had the time to go back in re-play it to see if my mind has changed.  My dislike of 1 though, did not stop me from playing, and absolutely loving Mass Effect 2.  The game-play, the story, the choice, the world and travel, all made ME2 pretty much my game of the year in 2010.  So with that in mind, I am very excited for ME3 and the continuation of the Mass Effect story.  I am also excited about the addition of a multi-player mode to the game – I think this will bring a lot of people into the series and add a whole new dimension of replay-ability to the game.  If there is any game that will give Reckoning a run for its money for game of the year, it will have to be Mass Effect 3.

Here is a video showing off the re-vamped (from CBT3) character creation screen for XLGames ArcheAge.  As with most Korean games, the character models are great looking – very attractive.  The male models look maybe a little too feminine, but that I can deal with.  The combat animations are incredible.  In particular the spellcaster who reads from the book and writes the words with her hands – that was VERY impressive!  More to come – enjoy for now!

ArcheAge CBT4 Character Creation

Hugo Barra, who is basically in charge of all Andriod devices, gives a pretty great demo of ICS features at LeWeb 2011.  I’ve seen a lot of ICS video but this one was a pretty good run-down of the update for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.

LeWeb 2011 Eric Schmidt & Loic Le Meur

I also want to touch on the theme of LeWeb 2011 which is SoLoMo – Social, Local, Mobile.  If you watch the video, you will hear Eric Schmidt (Google’s CEO) breifly explain why SoLoMo is so important in this day and age and how, frankly, it has been an intregal part of our existance since the beginning – we just never saw it the way we do now.  Barra tailors his ICS presentation to the concepts of SoLoMo and shows us how Andriod is really zero’ing in on trying to be Social, Local, and Mobile.

Pretty great video, pretty interesting mentality.

First off, two posts in as many days, I think this is a record for me here.

Anyone who has read me the last few years knows pretty well the MMO’s I am completely revved up for that are coming out.  TERA, The Secret World and ArcheAge.  Plenty of Western audiences should know a decent amount about the first two, their marketing campaign in North America has been in full swing for awhile and solid appearences at E3 and other major NA conventions have helped them get a LOT of media attention.  That being said, of the three, I am pretty firmly convinced that ArcheAge has the most to offer.  Check out this video of the character creation process and log-in screen for their upcoming CBT (CBT4)

ArcheAge - Character Creation and Log In Screen (CBT4)

If that doesn’t get your MMO interests at least slightly peeked, I don’t want to know you!  Stay tuned – it looks like yours truely is going to be one of the selected few to get a coveted CBT4 beta key (through official means) and trust me, you will be seeing a LOT of coverage from me!

The Scorched Desert of The Secret World

While still being extremely tuned up for The Secret World, I haven’t been overly impressed with a lot of their video’s up until now.  The hype machine that is Funcom’s TSW PR team has been putting out trailer after trailer for close to 3 years now.  In a large majority of them we get very little sense of game-play style, animations, landscape design – but a LOT of fancy cinematic rendering!

Finally today I saw something that peeks my interest just a touch – enough that I wanted to post it here for posterity purposes.  Enjoy!

I have begun to write for the official tech blog at Future Shop, which is going to be a great opportunity to meet new people, find other writing opportunities, and move forward with talking about more of my interests than just gaming.

I will be posting snip-its of the articles I write elsewhere here for people to read, and ideally head to the place they are hosted and read them there.  I would also like to think I will spend some time here writing other things, but frankly my track record in this regard is pretty bad so I have my doubts that this will happen.  In the end – I like the new minimalist style and I think it meets my current needs for a website.

Across the continents of Auraxis, thousands of players will come together in enormous battles to win control of territory and resources for their empire. With an extensive skill tree and a free-form class-based system, players will be able to customize their soldier, weapons and vehicles to match their play-style, or the needs of their squad, outfit or empire. Battles can last for days or weeks, so players will need to build real alliances and combat outfits to take on long-term strategic and tactical initiatives. With air, ground and seaborne combat, the battles are more intense than ever.