What is your malfunction, Mister?

So the word came out. Batman:Arkhum Asylum was on sale over at Games For Windows Live. The bargain price of $12 for a game still selling at near the original published price after being released in December 2009.

Two things ran through my mind; the few interactions I've had with Games For Windows Live (GFWL) and the possibility of downloading from a source that doesn't have the best reputation on the internet.

My interactions with GFWL was limited to the interference felt in Gears of War and Dawn of War 2. The pulsing box and message reminding me that GFWL was only the press of a button away may have been put there for convenience but  what it meant to me was the gaming division of microsoft was lurking around somewhere in the cyberbackground of my game.

I had been the picture of patience with Batman: Arkham Asylum, refusing to pay full price for a game that wouldn't live beyond the first play-through. And while the offer from GFWL was very tempting, the world of direct downloads is  dark and mysterious place. Money is given and aside from a download link, there is nothing to show for your hard earned money, wisked away in an electronic transaction.

I mentally assured myself it was Microsoft for heavens sake, how terrible or risky could it be?

Working my way through the different screens, I tried to remember login's and passwords that had been typed in the rushed excitement of conquering another planet in the role of a space marine or eliminating the Locust Horde.

The interface was nice, and the whole thing moved along quite nicely. That is until the downloading started.

This impression is given without any exact facts or statistics, I don't know how big the file was that needed to be downloaded. As with most things, it was mixed in with real life and the exact details get lost in the overal flow of things. Nor did I start a timer when the download kicked off. But I came away feeling it took so much longer than any game bought on the popular digital distributor, Steam.

At least three-quarters of my games are from Steam, and while I'm an old time gamer who misses the excitement and joy of buying the box, running home and loading up a newly bought game to take my latest gaming adventure, practicality of the new age has won me over.

I can reformat my hard drive, update my computer hardware and not worry about having all the game DVD's and serial numbers at hand. One software download to install the Steam inteface on the latest incarnation of my gaming computer and viola, I have my games ready to go.

Looking back, I was fortunate real life distracted me from the slow download. After coming back from an evening of family obligations, the game was only at 93% completed, and although not mathematically possible, the last 7% surely took longer than the rest.

Once the game was finally on my hard drive, it only seemed a matter of time before wits would be matched with the Joker and wearing clothes so tight it was obvious I was confident with my sexuality. But that wasn't accounting for GFWL and the cryptic microsoft error codes. For whatever reason, the game wouldn't install. After following the support screens from GFWL and Microsoft (they quickly become intermingled) and another download later, the game wouldn't install again.

I switched off my computer in disgust.

Even as I dreaded the call to Microsoft support to find out where my $12 game was, the thought of just waiting until I buy the game in a more guaranteed manner did cross my mind. So it was with curious interest I noticed the icon for Batman; Arkham Asylum on my start menu. But having been teased by Microsoft in the past with half-installed products, there was only a hint of hope it would work when I clicked it.

The game started.

To be fair, the demo fairly represented the final game with the scenes that were included giving a familiar air to the finished product, finally playing out before me. Sure the game is 'so console' I wanted to look for the X, 0 and triangle on my keyboard, but taking the mantle of the Dark Knight in the moody halls of a Gotham landmark made up for any key punching, power-ups and incessant on-screen tips.

While this game isn't going to make it onto the replay list, playing through the Rocksteady creation will certainly be fun and something to look forward too.

The same can't be said for GFWL.

Gaming for the easily distracted

Choice is a funny thing, turning the most dedicated fan into a fickle dabbler.

Up until last weekend I was burning through the single player missions in Operation Flashpoint 2.

Before going any further. this game has been the victim of an unfair online bashing, although hindsight should have seen it coming. Game developers really can't expect to produce a 'tactical' first person shooter with the detailed heritage of Operation Flashpoint and forget to include a robust multiplayer component. Codemasters did and consequently mulitplayer fans (who by their very nature spend a lot of time online) took the protests to the forums blogs and quite frankly anyone else who would publish their complaints.

Sadly, the game is quite a good first person shooter. When played in hardcore mode its like Ghost Recon Advanced Warrior but with a huge and open sandbox. Admittedly, the lack of save points throughout the entire mission in hardcore has had me playing through the campaign longer than I would have if there was an opportunity to save wherever I pleased or even with preset autosaves. At least the experience hasn't been as painful as say, Mass Effect whose savepoints can make you sit through the same cut-scene over and over.

Back to the point
So, making my way through OF: DR when I see the pre-order offer for Napoleon: Total War on Steam which not only throws in some elite units but also Medievel War 2: Total War. Call me impulsive, but I bought it. While I was waiting for to download I loaded up Empire: Total War.

Well, 22 gaming hours later Sweden is a bustling nation breaking out and spilling over its nieghbor's borders whether invited or not.

As of this moment and according to Steam (which doesn't track all of the games for playing time) I have given my fickle gaming love to ETW first and and foremost lately with 22 current hours and 120 total, OF:DR a not so close second with 5 recent hours and 65 total and bringing up third is my experiment of playing the original Mass Effect with 1.2 recent hours and 9 total.

As mentioned before, the Mass Effect is to see if I like genre and title enough to invest money and time into the upcoming follow up and new release.

The diagnosis doesn't look promising.

Sega going Napoleon on February 26th

The game that brings together real time and turn based strategy fans is going Napoleon when the creators behind the Total War series releases the latest edition on February 26th.

Both the standard edition and the super-special Imperial Edition versions of the Napoleon: Total War will be released on the same day.

The Imperial Edition will include some exclusive game content, such as Elite Regiments. That includes the French 5e Regiment de Hussards, the Russian Pavlograd Hussars, the Prussian 8th Life Regiment, the Austrian 47th (Czech) Regiment and the British 88th Foot "Connaught Rangers".

The Imperial Edition will also include The Heroes of the Napoleonic Wars content, which gives an extra unit for certain nations - the 7th Lancers (France), Brandeburg Uhlans (Prussia), 1st Hussars (Austria), 15th Hussars (Great Britain), 1st East Prussian Grenadier Battalion (Prussia), 6th Regiment d’Infanterie Légère (France), 17th Jäger Regiment (Russia), 1st Regiment Emperor's Own (Austria), 18th Regiment d’Infanterie de Ligne “The Brave” (France) and Moscow Musketeers (Russia).

Empire Total War is on the regular roster to play in the few hours I get to squeeze in. While managing an empire is somewhat challenging to this particular PC player, reliving war strategies from a military age gone by is an experience impossible to find in any other title.

I recently stumbled across the Prince of Macedon' You Tube page which not only features walkthroughs/replays of his online E:TW battles, but also includes self-made mini documentaries about early and mid century battles. Obviously setting up the camera on a stand, the videos are full of interesting information, facts and figures.

Whether new players are looking for a reason to get into Empire: Total War, or those who are already playing are looking for tips and hints, this is definitely YouTube channel to subscribe to.

Right now, I'm heading over to Steam and giving some serious thought to the pre-order offer of Napoleon: Total War Imperial Edition. It comes with Medievel II: Total War for only $10 more than the vanilla version, a bargain at half the price!

Gabe Newell one step closer to ruler of everything gaming

Wow, its official. Gabe is King of the World!

The 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards, the highest honors in video game development, is beginning the announcement of its Special Awards for the tenth annual ceremony, taking place at GDC 2010 this March, and has named Valve co-founder Gabe Newell as the winner of this year's Pioneer Award.

The Pioneer Award -- originated by the Game Developers Choice Awards organizers at the 2008 Awards, and the first award to honor breakthrough figures in the game industry -- celebrates those individuals responsible for developing a vital technology or game design at a crucial juncture in video game history, paving the way for the many who followed them.

This year, the Choice Awards Advisory Committee, which includes notables such as Ben Cousins (EA DICE), Harvey Smith (Arkane), Raph Koster (Metaplace), John Vechey (PopCap), Ray Muzyka (BioWare), Clint Hocking (Ubisoft), and others has voted to give the Pioneer Award to Valve's Newell. He is being awarded for his work in co-creating the PC key digital download service Steam, and helping to make possible some of the most important video games of the past two decades -- from the Half-Life series through Portal to Team Fortress and beyond.

Newell, who co-founded Valve in 1996 after his departure from giant tech firm Microsoft, was instrumental in creating the company's first product, the critically acclaimed first-person shooter Half-Life, which brought sophisticated narrative and cut-scenes to the FPS for the first time, and has sold over 8 million copies. The company's keen, unprecedented encouragement of modding and community based around the Half-Life engine also led to the creation of the Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2 franchises.

Recent years have only buoyed Valve's reputation, including 2004's debut of the much-acclaimed Half-Life 2 episodes, the signing of the DigiPen team behind Narbacular Drop to create 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year Portal, and the Seattle-area firm's work to support and co-originate the co-operative centric Left 4 Dead franchise.

Steam, Valve's PC digital distribution platform, is another particular reason Newell is receiving this honor. Revealed at GDC in 2002 and made available to the public in 2003, the client has evolved from a method of seamlessly delivering game patches to a full community-based digital download ecosystem which regularly has more than 2 million concurrent users. Thus, it has become a key way for many smaller and larger PC game developers to gain fans and make money without requiring a physical retail publisher.

Valve's Newell will be on stage to collect his Special Award at GDC 2010 in San Francisco this March. Over 3,000 of the industry's top developers will be present at the Choice Awards ceremony to honor him and the other, to-be-revealed Special Award winners -- alongside the top games of 2009 in multiple categories.

The Game Developers Choice Awards -- open to any game, and with Main Competition winners being selected by the International Choice Awards Network, a new invitation-only group comprised of 500 leading game creators from all parts of the video game industry -- prides itself on being the most open, transparent, and respected video game awards anywhere. Further Special Award winners and Main Competition finalists will be announced in the near future.

Presented by Think Services' Game Developers Conference (GDC), this year's awards ceremony, held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival Awards, will be hosted on Thursday, March 11th, during GDC 2010 at San Francisco's Moscone Center.

PC Game sales and statistics (really is more interesting than it sounds)

So the powers that be, the NPD Group to be precise, issued its 2009 report for US retail sales. The report was delayed by a week with many wondering if the stay of information meant bad news for the gaming industry.

While the figures were substantially off from last year's mark, US non-PC hardware, software, and accessory sales came in at $19.66 billion for the year, down 8 percent from the $21.4 billion the industry brought in during 2008, industry experts claim the overall trend is looking good.

"When we started the last decade, video game industry sales, including PC games, totaled $7.98 billion in 2000," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said of the industry's performance. "In 10 years, the industry has changed dramatically in many ways, but most importantly it was grown over those years by more than 250 percent at retail alone. Considering there are many new sources of revenue including subscriptions and digital distribution, industry growth is even more impressive."

As for what sold the best?

2009 PC Game Software

1) The Sims 3 - Electronic Arts
2) World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
3) The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
4) World of Warcraft: Battle Chest - Blizzard
5) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Activision
6) World of Warcraft - Blizzard
7) The Sims 3: World Adventures - Electronic Arts
8) Spore - Electronic Arts
9) Dragon Age: Origins - Electronic Arts
10) Empire: Total War - Sega

Yep, you read that right. Gamers would rather live a life on the computer with The Sims, rather than play the latest sensation and shooter on rails, Modern Warfare 2.

Now if you want to know what they're playing online right now, the latest stats from Steam;

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer (116,084)
Counter-Strike: Source (90,252)
Counter-Strike (76,284)
Team Fortress 2 (20,361)
Left 4 Dead 2 (18,212)
Football Manager 2010 (24,977)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (14,188)
Empire: Total War (10,743)
Garry's Mod (4,945)
Left 4 Dead (5,266)
Star Trek Online - Beta (2,942)

The number following the game is the peak number of players at any one time today. What is surprising is seeing a real time strategy such as Empire: Total War attracting so many players and a beta (Star Trek) being so popular.

Will Star Trek Online enjoy the instant success of Star Wars; Galaxies and if so will their fate fair better for keeping players and avoiding gamer disappointment?