With a passion for trying out every game that comes across our paths, we at QJ.NET went through a few skirmishes in developer DragonFly's Soldier Front on ijji, a Western portal for free games. It's a first-person shooter that shamelessly takes cues from Counter-Strike down to the core, but if you're itching to get a hand on the trigger to shoot other players online without having to pay money, Soldier Front may be worth a try. Find out why by reading our review at the full article.


Originally posted on February 22, 2008 at 1:32 p.m.

What do you get when you combine guns, swords and Matrix-like moves in a game set in a semi-steampunk world? You get GunZ: The Duel, a game that turns players into a pumped-up-to-the-max action star with a predilection for running along walls and without the subtle philosophical and environmental lessons you usually get from a Steven Seagal movie. Hit the "read more" link below for QJ.NET's review of GunZ: The Duel.

Originally posted on Feb. 15, 2008 at 1:13 p.m.

 

2K Games' BioShock is still riding waves of success, being top pick for various gamers around the world. The Swedish are no exception either, for the first-person shooter from 2K Games Boston and Australia steals number one spot for their all platforms chart - well the Xbox 360 version, that is.

It also managed to squeeze through four popular PC, MMO games in the region, which include NCSoft's Guild Wars expansion Eye of the North, Creative Assembly's Medieval II: Total War expansion Kingdoms, and Blizzard Entertainment's two-hit combo - World of Warcraft and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - in that order from second to fifth.

BioShock's Games for Windows version settled into sixth place, while Insomniac Games' Resistance: Fall of Man and Revolution Studios' Motorstorm also found a place in the top ten titles, having grabbed a solid seventh and eighth respectively. 

Counter-Strike 1: Anthology from Valve Software at ninth closed the PC game count to six in PC-dominated charts, while PS2 title Guitar Hero 2: Rock the 80's from RedOctane concluded the top ten games. In essence, Guild Wars: Eye of the North topped the PC list, Resistance: Fall of Man trumped the PS3 list, BioShock rocked the Xbox 360 chart, and Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess was king of the Wii mountain.

In the handheld scene, Nintendo's Pokemon Diamond was favored in the DS list, while WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2007 from THQ crushed competition in the PSP chart. Here's the top ten in the Swedish multi-format charts:

1. Bioshock (360)
2. Guild Wars Eye of the North (PC)
3. Medieval II Total War Kingdoms (PC)
4. World of Warcraft (PC)
5. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
6. Bioshock (PC)
7. Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
8. Motorstorm (PS3)
9. Counter-Strike 1: Anthology (PC)
10. Guitar Hero 2 Rock the 80´s (PS2)

Buy: [Bioshock (Games for Windows)]
Buy: [Bioshock (Xbox 360)]

What are they playing over at Sweden? Aren't you curious? This bit of info just might save your life one day, y'know. The region's data trade firm, Dataspelsbranschen (now try saying that as fast as you can, ten times consecutively), has just released the top sales charts of video games for Sweden.

The Multiplatform chart is dominated by the MMORPG mogul that is The World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade from Blizzard. This is followed by Pokémon Diamond on the Nintendo DS. MotorStorm and R:FoM have also landed a place in the multiplatform chart, and unsurprisingly, both titles get bragging rights in the PS3 chart.

The 360 chart has Guitar Hero II fronting the musical act - and smack dab in the middle is Gears of War on fifth place. The Wii has Leon Kennedy and Ashley Graham running up to first place with Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, while Twilight Princess is galloping up to the Top 2 spot.

On the handheld side, the DS chart has both Pokemon (Diamond and Pearl) titles on top, while the PSP chart has Pro Evolution Soccer 6 kicking into the goal - Konami's sports title is enjoying the kingly spot on top.

 Multiformat

1. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
2. Pokémon Diamond (DS)
3. World of Warcraft (PC)
4. Counter-Strike 1: Anthology (PC)
5. Guitar Hero 2 Rock the 80´s (PS2)
6. The Sims 2 H&M Fashion (PC)
7. Pokémon Pearl (DS)
8. Motorstorm (PS3)
9. Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
10. Singstar 90's (PS2)

Check out the Full Article link below for each individual chart per platform!

This week it's another new stretch for the World Series of Video Games tour, as the WSVG 2007 hits Dallas, Texas for another round up for Counter-Strike, World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero II, Call of Duty 2, Gears of War, Quake 4 and Fight Night Round 3 competitive players.

Prizes totalling up to US$ 90,000 will be given away at the event, starting July 5, Thursday up to July 8, Sunday. The highlight of Dallas is the inclusion of Xbox 360 titles Gears of War from Epic Games and Guitar Hero II from Red Octane, so the event might be worth checking out for the Xbox 360 gamer.

And if you can shrug off the US$ 10 admission fee, you might want to pick up a few tips from James ‘2GD’ Harding on dominating with your trusty Quake 4 railgun. Listen carefully, and see tips being put to practice on the grand arena floors.

Cheer for your select team or players and get your face plastered all over CBS Sports news, while demoing some of the industry's latest games and winning some free swag. But first things first: you'd have to figure out how to get to the Gaylord Texan Resort on time.

How much did Team Pandemic win, anyway? Aside from gaining bragging rights for winning the World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade segment of the World Series of Video Games, the team has also been awarded a cash purse of US$ 9,000. As for the rest of the runner-ups:

• Fnatic: US$ 4,500
• MoB: US$ 3,000
• Part of Shadow: US$ 2,400
• Obsidian: Warden: US$ 500
• Warden: US$ 500
• Extra Order: US$ 500

A total of US$ 50,000 was reportedly handed out in cash prices for China's WSVG event. Other champion teams we make mention of are team wNv.cn, who bagged a whopping US$ 10,000 prize for their Counter-Strike 1.6 bouts, and team Moon, who earned US$ 5,000 in the Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne matches.

That 's the short on the rewards for the first segment of this year's WSVG. Stick around in case details pick up for the upcoming fights to go down this June 21 to 24, at Louisville, Kentucky. Or, click on the read link for the full list of winners, and other competition details.

Yes folks, in the other side of the world its already May 1 and the first day of the 2007 World Series of Video Games has already kicked off to a huge start - with pretty fanfare and all. The 2007 WSVG in Wuhan, China is a two-day affair to bring together the world's best in Counter-Strike 1.6, Quake 4, World of Warcraft PvP and Warcraft 3: The Reign of Chaos for a chance to win approximately US$ 750,000-worth in prizes.

The U.S. realms' very own Power Trip, sponsored by the veritable Team Pandemic of WCG fame, will be doing battle against Asia's best in World of Warcraft competitive PvP 3v3 Arena series to be held within the two days of heavy gaming battle. We've oriented you on the inventory, the rules and the prizes before. Now you can keep up to date on the news as well, with WSVG's very own Videos on Demand (VODs) providing in-depth coverage of the entire event.

In league with this, the WSVG 2007 season is also rocketing off to Dallas, Texas with the 2007 WSVG in Dallas. Registrations are now open for participants who want to show their professional gaming skills at the Gaylord Resort in Dallas on July 8 - 9, 2007. The event will sport six games plus one game that has been voted as the Gamer's Choice at the WSCG polls on their website.

So what are you waiting for? Get that mouse moving and navigate your way to the WSVG official site now. We'll keep tabs on the latest developments and especially on the World of Warcraft PvP bracket. So keep your eyes peeled, readers!

 

Xfire has got a whole lot of other interesting statistics for the month of March this year, and it looks like plenty will be head-turners for the PC gamers and avid MMO gamers alike. During Xstatic's official launch, it was made aware that the Xfire community, numbering some 6 million gamers around the world, would be statistically tracked for every game they play.

And for the month of March, it seems that the top 20 games played be Xfire community members are topped yet again by Blizzard Entertainment's cash machine World of Warcraft. Also noticeable in the top 20 games list is the appearance of Electronic Arts' recently released Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for the PC, which sits at one spot away from the Top 10.

Top on the MMO list is (tada?) World of Warcraft with NCSoft's Guild Wars tailing behind. Free-to-play MMO giants JoyMax Co.'s SilkRoad Online and Nexon's (and Wizet's) MapleStory pick up the lower two of three spots on the top five list. Scandalous Eve Online enjoys a comfortable seat at the fifth spot.

Top of the FPS list is Counter-Strike: Source, Valve Software's next-generation anti-terrorism shooter. Activision's Call of Duty 2 in multiplayer mode fills the second spot, and Electronic Arts' Battlefield 2 takes on third. Valve manages to slip another CS title with Counter-Strike 1.6 at the fourth spot, leaving id Software's Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory to bar Battlefield 2142 from entering the top five.

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne peaks off the top 10 strategy games, with Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars stealing second spot. Big news: contending RTS titan Supreme Commander is tailing behind C&C3 with a staggering 20,000 player gap, although February saw THQ and Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander securely at second.

The professional e-gaming scene is not so easy to bust into, but it seems that talent does not go unnoticed. TeamPandemic, pro gaming organization has just added Power Trip into their ranks as their World of Warcraft 5v5 team.

Power Trip is a division - seven members to be exact - of the Notorious guild on the Trichondrius realm. They are currently listed as number one in the Armory GotFrag got a chance to interview the leader of the team, Joseph Romano aka Noktyn and Pandemic|Dolven. E-sports titles include StarCraft, WarCraft 3: DotA, Counter-Strike and others, and it seems that TeamPandemic is readying for the addition of World of Warcraft. According to Pandemic|Dolven:

We believe that World of Warcraft is the next large scale title that will be used for professional gaming. Behind the 8.5 million consumers that subscribe to the game and Blizzard's flawless track record creating competitive titles, World of Warcraft has a bright future in front of it. Some may stereotype the game as breeding ground for casual gamers, but the PVP community within WoW is growing at an exponential rate. It's inevitable that it will take off as a viable platform for professional gaming. Team Pandemic is proud to be one of the first teams to take this risk and not only support a team, but also help grow the game competitively. We want to be one of the founding forefathers of competitive World of Warcraft.

Noktyn expressed that he was glad about the sponsorship. It would naturally be easier to enter tournaments and such with TeamPandemic's backing. Now Power Trip's next goal is to prove themselves worthy of being drafted into the team. Power Trip's members are as follows: Joseph "Noktyn" Romano (Warrior - LEADER), David "Sck" Quick (Paladin), Chris "Reznap" Pacini (Hunter), Jared "Iamvhell" Coulston (Priest), Greg "Ecilam" Risselada (Mage), Mason "Nitrana" Groendal (Rogue), and Nathan "Kintt" Quinn (Priest). Iamvhell had this to say, "Joining Team Pandemic gives us the opportunity to grow as both a team and individuals to reach our goals of proving that we have what it takes to both participate and be successful at a tournament level."

We'll definitely see more of them in the next few days as they are currently still battling in the Ladders of the World of Warcraft 5v5 Arena Tournament. If Power Trip qualifies, they will move on to go against the top teams from each Battlegrounds then go into Live Regionals. We wish them luck.

So we return from the depths of heck with these visual assets from Hellgate: London, one of the newest MMOs on the market coming from Flagship Studios, Namco Bandai, and Electronic Arts (Yes, this writer knows he said "EA". More on that in a bit.). We have concept artwork and PC screencaps of the Hunter Faction, which join the Cabalist and Templar factions to rid London of the scum of the other world.

The Hunter specializes in mid-to-long range weapon attacks, making him a sort of sniper or mid-range counter-fire specialist. The game fiction paints him as an ex-military operative and spies "most comfortable clinging to the shadows and dealing with threats in their own deadly ways." Or, in Counter-Strike parlance, a sniping camper (four-letter word). He's no Buffy (the lass specializes in the up-close and personal, after all), but if they mow down demons like the scythe of Death himself, well, bully for them.

See character artwork at the full article! Yes, and that EA bit, too.