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It’s got tanks, jets, robots, jumping out of planes, close combat with helicopters and more bullets flying than an A-Team mission to rescue B.A. Baracus.

[via EA]

That ought to get you ahead so you can start leveling up ahead of your friends and make them jealous. This promotion began on Saturday, October 1st. I don’t know about you, but I say that this beats waiting for the full game to be released on Tuesday, November 1st. That’s a full month away.

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You’ll also find some exclusive Subway items hidden throughout the maps that will unlock additional content. Hopefully we aren’t just talking coupons here.

[via Playstation Blog]

Over the last decade or so, gaming has moved out of our living rooms, basements and dens, thanks to innovations in hardware and network infrastructure. No longer are we confined by the boundaries of the number of controllers one can connect to a console or the number of people you can fit on your couch.

My first experience with what might be called “social gaming” was with Quake on my PC. I was working at an Internet startup at the time, and a coworker mentioned that they were going to have an afternoon break where we’d meet up and play Team Deathmatch. It took me about a day before I was hooked. Even though we were all in cubicles in the same office, I was communicating and interacting with people that I would never have the reason to talk to on an everyday basis. For the first time in a long time, the idea of playing games with other people, even though I might not have had lots of gamer friends since I was a kid, became a reality.

Photo Credit: Will Merydith

Of course, Quake seems primitive by today’s standards, and there’s nothing quite like fragging your alien buddies in a round of Crysis 2 on one of today’s totally maxed out gaming PCs. Personally, I can’t wait to play it on that cool new Alienware Razer Blade laptop on a speedy wireless Internet connection.

Over the years, social interaction in games has evolved from its humble beginnings as a venue for taunting enemies in FPS games. Achievement and friends systems on game consoles and social networks have advanced social gaming to where it is today. So-called “gamification” rewards players with virtual trophies, prizes and leaderboards in exchange for achieving milestones in games. These badges of honor generally have no cash value, but the psychology behind them is pure genius.

People like to win and share their achievements with their friends and peers. With social games on platforms like Facebook, and a world that is connected virtually all the time, there’s a perfect storm which seems to have gathered. Not only do you have the opportunity to meet and interact with a seemingly infinite number of players at varied skill levels, but there’s an inherent sharing system built into the ecosystem. Sure, not all of your friends care that you just planted some new tomatoes in Farmville, but it still feels good to make it to that next level, and to let those who do care about the game know you’re a serious competitor. And the LEGO-like level-building tools in games have allowed users to get really creative and share their worlds for others to play in and enjoy.

Image Credit: Kevin Johnson

One of the coolest things about the tools being used to enable social gaming is that the basic infrastructure (the Internet), and platforms (i.e. Facebook, Google+), and delivery technologies (i.e. HTML5) are becoming ubiquitous across virtually all modern devices. Whether you’re on a laptop, netbook, smartphone or tablet, these games are starting to find their way to more and more players, no matter where they are. And it’s only a matter of time before these always-on connections will find their way into other consumer electronics. I can imagine a day in the not-too-distant future when your refrigerator and coffee maker will alert you when you lose your ranking on the Angry Birds 2013 leaderboard so you can jump online and reclaim your spot.

So how about you guys? Do you regularly play online and social games? What’s your favorite multiplayer game? What do you like most about it? Is it the game, the social interaction, or both?

This is the first post in Technabob’s Innovations Series, in partnership between Technabob and Intel®: Sponsors of Tomorrow. The Innovations Series is here to enlighten and stimulate discussion about technology and its impact on our everyday lives.

First off, you now have to choose your class of soldier. You can choose Assault, Support or Specialist. The choice that you make will effect how you play, so choose wisely. If you like rushing in and raising hell, choose the Assault class. Support is more team-focused, while Specialist is for expert players or veterans. Your kill-streaks have now been replaced with point-streaks, and any bonuses will depend on your class. For example, Assault gets perks like a remotely controlled laser missile called the Reaper, while the Support class has perks that are good for the whole team like a Ballistic vest after 5 kills. I like the possibilities here.

Two new games modes include: Kill Confirmed and Team Defender. In Kill Confirmed, you kill the other team members and collect their dog tags to confirm the kill. You’ve seen that one in countless war movies. At least it isn’t collecting ears. Team Defender is just a version of capture the flag.

So this game is already sounding very promising. Hopefully we will have more details very soon.

[via computerandvideogames]

They gave no explanation as to why they decided to do this, but I imagine it won’t sit well with PC gamers. When asked why, game designer Alan Kertz said, “It starts up REAL fast.” Thanks for the in depth answer, Alex.

So basically console players will be good to go, but PC gamers will have to stop playing and leave the game to switch servers. That’s not how you make people want to buy your game.

[via geek]

First let me just try to collect myself as I point out that this 64 player multiplayer combat game has jets! Yes jets. But that’s not all. They have thrown everything but the kitchen sink into this one.

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One of the coolest things that you’ll notice in the trailer is the inclusion of military robots, which i am psyched about, because before Black Ops came out I was hoping that some robots would be in that game. Of course sadly they were not. In this game we have tanks, helicopters, robots, jets and enough explosions to make Michael Bay wet his pants and subsequently dry them with wads of money.

[via Joystiq]

Here’s the announcement from the official UFC Undisputed forum:

Personally I don’t care about the online multiplayer aspect of most games, since I have a dodgy Internet connection, so I don’t even bother checking them out. But if you’re liking the details of this patch, just keep an eye on the official UFC Undisputed forum for more updates. Or we could all just wait for the patch to be released.

Hacked together by Zhek Kromtor, his computing rig is used for playing multiple rounds of EVE Online simultaneously. It looks like he’s able to play 12 games at once, thanks to his giant multi-mouse and multi-keyboards, held together with dowels, and tape.

Apparently Kromtor was banned by EVE because they thought he was using software macros to hack into the game. But using multiple actual computers isn’t against the games’ terms of service, so that should do the trick.

Frankly, I can’t imagine anything in EVE that would make me build something like this, but Kromtor deserves a pat on the back for his MacGyver-like ingenuity, and anyone who works this hard to push the boundaries of the rules deserves a gold star in my book.

[via Gossip Gamer]

It’s a little hard to figure out just what’s going on here. Oh, the gameplay seems simple enough: one team has to capture the Little Sister, and the other team defends. What’s strange is that the capturing team’s goal is to return the Little Sister to her vent… and the defending team (which includes a Big Daddy) tries to stop you. Shouldn’t lil’ girl want to go back to her vent? The gameplay begs the question of the different dynamics in BioShock 2, and whether or not this setup is just a way to keep the multiplayer mode from being too over-the-top. The game is already a little uncomfortably kidnap-tastic… maybe they wanted to keep the added creepiness of harvesting the Little Sisters out of it.

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Though, to be honest, all philosophical concerns fly right out of my head while watching this trailer. The Little Sister’s reactions – all of them – are enough to make the skin crawl.

[via SCRAWL]

If you are not familiar with Civilization, you might just be an alien or golem of some sort, but take heart all the same: you’ll soon be educated by your friends’ wall posts about their adventures in world domination. Sid Meier’s Civilization is a legendary series of highly addictive turn-based strategy games that are equally incredible in their multiplayer and single player forms. Civilization has turned up on computers and consoles of all sorts over the years, so the franchise’s move to Facebook is not altogether surprising… only sad, because come 2010, I don’t know if I’ll be able to peel myself away from Facebook long enough for important things like eating and leaving the house.

The game was just announced, so there isn’t much in the way of news beyond the fact that the Facebook version will launch next year, and there will soon be a beta in which a few lucky players can get an early start on playing their lives away.

[via Games.com]

The demo, available October 27 (just in time for the game’s November release) will feature not only the game’s new melee weapons, but of course, multiplayer action, because everyone knows it’s no fun much less fun to hunt zombies alone. More dangerous, too.

I may have already pre-ordered the sequel, but you can bet I’ll be getting in on some demo action. I’m dying to know whether or not the big guy hates vans (and everything else).

[via Joystiq]

Forget the Circus of Values–this is a circus of death. Violent, flaming, bullet-riddled death. BioShock in multiplayer looks like a very bad day in Rapture indeed. Something tells me that frequent, inescapable death will be the order of the day when settling down for a few rounds with all the crazies.

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Just in case you didn’t die enough in the single player mode. Or maybe that was just me.

[via NeoGAF]

Survival mode sounds like the kind of thing that could be serious business. Many of the game’s fans have idly wished for even more of a challenge (as though the game’s expert mode wasn’t hard enough!) and who knows? With a name like that, I can hope it will deliver that very thing.

That’s not all Valve’s got up their sleeves for Left 4 Dead, however; the DLC will be released concurrently with a “Critic’s Choice” edition of the game that will include the new content, for those who have yet to pick up the game. PC players will also have access to the first Left 4 Dead release for the Source Software Development Kit (Source SDK), which means we’ll be seeing a lot of custom campaigns soon after. No prices yet, or a firm date, but Valve says spring.

[via Game Focus]

GayGamer has quoted Squeenix, saying that they promise “seamless, hassle-free in-game switch from single to multiplayer mode”, and that the switch from solo to mutiplayer can be done at anytime. The screenshot above is from the Wii version of the game. This one is from the DS version:

Squeenix didn’t exactly go into the details of the multiplayer, but GayGamer’s Wootini thinks it’ll probably make use of Nintendo’s stupid friend codes. Let’s hope not.

What I want to know is if multiplayer on a single Wii console is possible, because even though the DS actually has its own version of the game insteaed of being a mere controller, this setup is still quite expensive, especially if you and your friends don’t have either platform. I guess in Japan shooting stars are more common than people who have no Wii or DS.

iPong is a variant of Atari’s classic paddle ball game, with a multi-device, multi-player twist. Using some clever trickery, players can actually bounce their ball off of their iPhone’s screen onto the display of another phone. While the game can’t actually detect the proximity of the devices at this point, it does appear to store the exit position of the ball on one screen and transmit that as the entrance point on the adjacent screen.

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Given the fact that it only took the guy who developed iPong a couple of hours to put this game demo together, I can’t wait to see what sort of games emerge when there’s actually time to design and develop. Very cool stuff indeed.

[via Waxy via TUAW]

It seems like only yesterday, but on November 15, 2002, Microsoft’s groundbreaking online gaming platform made its debut as an add-on to the original Xbox. Five years later, it’s still leaps and bounds beyond the other onling gaming platforms, with easy downloads of add-on content, always on chat, a unified friends list, and a robust online movie store.

In celebration of the big day, Xbox LIVE is throwing an Live is 5IVE online party on November 15th and 16th, including chances to win prizes, play against game developers, get your ass handed to you by some serious gamer girls, and much more.

Congratulations to the Xbox LIVE team for hitting this important milestone. You’ve stolen countless hours of my life that I can never get back. Thanks for the memories.

[via Kotaku]

Now Microsoft Research is working on a solution to this problem. The project, codenamed “DonnyBrook” is developing a system that enable FPS games to have hundreds of players duking it out on the same map at the same time.

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At this point, it’s just a research project, but hopefully the tech will find its way into some commercial FPS in the future. There’s a little more detail on how it all works in this presentation.

[via on10]