Mass Effect 3 will be a renegade punch in the neck of its predecessor. Here's why.

If you've been paying attention to Mass Effect 3, you'll be au fait with a handful of headline features. The new cooperative multiplayer. Kinect voice commands. Freddie Prinze Jr.

You'll know this is the third and final act in a galaxy-wide fight for survival. The implacable Reapers are preparing to purge the Milky Way of organic life, for real this time, setting the stage for an epic, space-operatic endgame.

You'll have noticed how pretty it all is, from the scuffing on Shepard's N7 battle gear, to the sleek squidbots descending on Vancouver harbour. In our recent hands-on with the upcoming demo, we watched red storm clouds roll in over the Mars horizon, flickering with otherworldly lightning, and they looked spiffy too.

But beyond the all-new co-op, celebrity cameos, and ever shinier visuals, Mass Effect 3 is about to hand Mass Effect 2, masterful though it was, a beating on a galactic scale. Here's why.

[Warning: may contain traces of spoiler. If story hints bring you out in a rash, click away.]

Don't fear the Reapers.

1. More customisation

Mass Effect's weapon and character customisation is richer and more meaningful than that of its forerunner, which cut a bit too deep when trimming the customisation fat. Options are still on the streamlined side, but this time your Shepard (and his or her crew and gear) will be a creation all of your own.

Biotic, tech, and combat powers are at the heart of customisation again. You can level up each of a character's powers through six ranks, with a branching choice after rank three, offering a couple of tempting specialisation options. Compare that to the four ranks per power in Mass Effect 2, with the option to finally evolve it into one of two more-powerful versions right at the end, in rank four. Evolving a power much earlier makes the choice more significant, not least because you'll spend much more time using it before (probably) nipping through a Mass Relay for a heroic final rumble with the Reapers.

Weapons also hit a sweet spot of streamlined customisation. Take scavenged upgrades to a weapons bench, and you can add a couple of mods to each gun, boosting damage, range, and the like. And your choices are reflected in the weapon models as well as the all-important stats so, hey, your gun will look different to how your gun looked before.

2. Shepard's got moves

Shepard is scrappier and more agile this time around. In addition to that flashy omni-blade melee kill, Shepard can sneak in, grab an enemy from behind cover, and give it a surprise helping of holographic stabbing. Other abilities include tossing grenades, sliding into cover, and vaulting up onto obstacles without pause.

Getting in, out, and around cover is smoother in general, and there's more up-and-down action, too; the levels we saw were generously populated with ladders to showcase Shep's all-new ladder-climbing power and designated points for hopping down onto lower levels.

And those early concerns that some shooter extremists at BioWare were turning Mass Effect 3 into a balls-out gun game and nothing else have resolved into something much more agreeable: shooting stuff is just plain more fun in 3 than it was in 2, whether you're sniping a riot-shielded enemy right in the eye slot or peppering a Reaper minion with space bullets from up close.

Omni-blade action.

3. The old gang is back

So what has Liara been up to? Is Miranda still genetically perfect? Did Garrus ever fix that gaping hole in his armour? This we need to know. Tighter gunplay and fuller character customisation are grand, but it could all go hang if this last game in the trilogy weren't a big old Mass Effect reunion party. Luckily, it's a little bit of just that: all the squad members from the first two games make a return in Mass Effect 3. If you didn't get them killed, obviously.

They won't all be coming back as playable squad members; we're told there are fewer characters to team up with than in the expansive Normandy roster of the second game, with its crowded character select screen. But everyone's back in some form, with "a lot more of an organic feeling to the relationships," says associate producer Mike Gamble.

The first mission, in which Shepard swings by Mars on the way to the Citadel to investigate a Prothean technology archive, reunites her with two Mass Effect old-timers: Liara and either Kaidan or Ashley, according to which one you sacrificed all the way back in the first game. With Liara conjuring biotic singularities over clusters of bad guys, Kaidan snap-freezing them with cryo blast, and you gunning down the lot, it feels just like old times. Aw.

4. Cerberus are baddies, for real this time

We spent Mass Effect 2 uneasily cooperating with Cerberus because they had the resources and the intel we needed, but they were always shifty pro-human militants named after a triple-headed hellbeast; it's well past time those guys showed their true colours. Look for that in Mass Effect 3.

As the game begins, Shepard has severed ties with the Illusive Man and his posse, though Kaidan (or Ashley, presumably) is still giving you trouble for having done their dirty work. And up on the red planet, Cerberus soldiers are getting their hands bloody, executing the staff of the Mars base housing the Prothean archive.

They may have spared no expense bringing Shepard back from the dead in game two, rebuilding him or her around a charred scrap of corpse, but like holographic Martin Sheen says: he needed you once and now "your time is over." We predict plenty of Cerberus thugs mixing it up in the enemy ranks, alongside all the multiracial Husk variants. As a pitiless, genocidal machine-race, the Reapers are officially the Big Bad, but we're looking forward to being back on the right (wrong) side of Cerberus.

He's back as well.

5. Earth, at last

Though we had a tantalising peek at Earth from the moon, Mass Effect never let us set foot on the blue planet. Through all of Shepard's planet-hopping, there has been no trip back to the cradle of humanity--until now.

Mass Effect 3 kicks off in future Vancouver, home of humanity's Defence Council, and with respect to that city, we can't imagine that's the only Earth location in the cards. Though the early trailer depicting a Reaper attack on London may have been just for flavour, not a promise we'd be omni-stabbing Husks in Hyde Park, we'd bet on Earth turning up more than just once.

"Earth in general has some significance," says associate producer Mike Gamble, and that's all the encouragement we need to be daydreaming of epic ground battles across semi-familiar territory. Because there's no place like home(world).

The Mass Effect 3 demo launches on February 14.

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SSX makes its return after a five-year vacation. We highlight what makes it different from previous games in the series.

The latest entry in EA's snowboarding popular snowboarding series is available on February 28. We've compiled a small list of features to help get you caught up on just how different this SSX is from its predecessors.

RiderNet

As we've seen with Autolog and Battlelog before it, RiderNet is your way of connecting with friends, racing against them, and posting scores. It lets you go all out to prove that you're the best SSX player around. RiderNet will appeal to you in the number of ways you can compete against friends and earn rewards. The longer you are better than your friends, the more rewards you get. You don't even have to be playing, and if your friends can't beat your score, you still earn credits.

[ Watch Video ]

RiderNet will give you the option of selecting which of your friends to focus on and letting you race only in the races where they have better scores than you. On top of that, with recommendations, you'll get around a dozen course suggestions, so picking the next challenge to beat will never require you to do a lot of searching.

And just like Autolog, RiderNet will have an app that lets you not only track your friends' progress on the various courses, but also send them messages outside of the game to really rub in your greatness over them. Who doesn't love to intimidate while stuck in a boring meeting or on the bus?

Global Events

On top of racing and challenging friends, being able to compete in global events against hundreds of thousands of players around the world for snow supremacy should be quite a treat. In these events, you can go after the highest score on a particular peak, and if you think you can do better, you can try it as many times as you want before the event ends. Online is the focus in SSX, and the better you are, the more rewarding being that awesome is. Rewards for global events will be based on percentages. The top score, along with those within 3 percent of it, will get diamond status. But even if you're not good enough to diamond an event, you can settle for platinum, gold, silver, or bronze. The rewards will work dynamically based on the number of people who take part. You'll want a lot of people taking part, so when you win it, you have even more reason to gloat.

[ Watch Video ]

Deadly Descents

Want to experience the thrill of a squirrel suit? Perhaps you enjoy racing through areas filled with fallen trees and other debris. Well, the Survive It courses in SSX will have you riding through some extremely dangerous locations in the hopes of lasting as long as possible. A cool aspect of these courses is that even after you successfully reach the bottom, you get right back in the chopper, return to the peak of the mountain, and do it over again. Surviving a descent down a mountain once is nice, but doing it three times is super rewarding.

GeoTags

Apparently geocaching is a popular thing, and SSX will have its own version of it online. You can buy and place geotags on courses and have your friends try to collect them. The rewards work the same way as being the best on a course; the longer your geotag is in a spot without someone collecting it, the more you earn. It's up to you where you place them on a given mountain, so picking a spot you think others won't be able to get to will be a game in itself.

[ Watch Video ]

Customization

Customization isn't new to the SSX series, but customization goes further thanks to the number of race types, specifically the different Deadly Descents courses that you'll encounter. Character progression goes up to level 10, so you'll want to unlock the coolest gear to be successful down a mountain. You can unlock and purchase different snowsuits and boards, and items like armor, oxygen tanks, geotags, and other treats will help separate you from your competition. Leveling up a character won't take long, especially if you're a seasoned SSX player, so the only thing separating you from getting the coolest gear is the amount of free time you have available.

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We pick up our scythe and get harvesting with a look at the role-playing elements in Darksiders II.

It would have been easy to dismiss the original Darksiders as the equivalent of a gaming pickpocket; liberally pilfering ideas from third-person action adventure titles such as God of War and The Legend of Zelda. But, for a game that borrowed so heavily, Darksiders carved out its own clear and fascinating identity. At the centre of the experience was War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who had been summoned to Earth believing the last of seven seals keeping the forces of heaven and hell at bay had been broken; in the process signalling the end war.

Darksiders II takes what the development team at Vigil confesses was originally a game of experimentation, and refines the formula by stripping back the ideas that failed to meet the grade, and expanding further on its strongest traits. We recently got an updated hands-off look at the sequel, and found that while much of the basic structure that made it such a solid first outing has remained intact, this isn't the safe, cookie-cutter follow-up many may have expected.

The game takes place during the same time period as Darksiders, and runs concurrently to explore what older brother Death was doing while War sliced and diced his way through the armies of angels and demons. With the stage for battle set, the development team is using the sequel to branch out with more exotic locations than it did previously, and move away from the human planet setting to investigate events occurring above and below the surface.

Though of the same stock, Death and War are very different in their approach to movement and combat. War–s hard-hitting, lumbering way made taking care of business deliberate and brutal. Death is no less violent than his brother, but forgoes blocking and slower, more powerful strikes for zippier hit-and-run pokes and scrapes with scythes and fist weapons. That–s not to say that slower, higher damage-dealing weapons like hammers aren–t available in his arsenal, but that they act as secondary tools of the trade. New ethereal powers allow you to trade energy earned in combat to summon tombstones filled with zombies that act as crowd-control in multi-target fights. Alternatively, you can take a page out of the skunk playbook, dousing yourself in shadow and dealing hurt to anyone who invades your personal space.

Straight brawling has been tossed aside here to usher in combat that rests on two new skill trees. Spending points in Harbinger abilities increases Death–s agility, speed, and proficiency with melee strikes, while earning and unlocking those on the Necromancer side boost his magical prowess. The addition of these trees gives the game a much more role-playing game feel, while other changes include enemies receiving designated levels of difficulty, complete with visibly depleting health bar as you whittle them down with your attacks. Damage figures scroll across the screen as you land hits, and though Vigil is playing its cards close to its chest for the moment, we saw sporadically increased amounts of damage that suggests the new gear items that drop from bad guys may help raise your chance to perform critical strikes.

Before you go throwing your hands up to condemn this new attempt at a more cerebral experience, it–s worth noting that the platforming, puzzle-solving, and skull-splitting with big metal weapons that made the original so great are back in spades. In fact, in response to user feedback, Darksiders II will be more difficult than its predecessor, and giving less generous windows of timing when performing specific objectives. Quickly rising lava in one room showed an example where precise pillar jumps and Death–s wall running and Ghost Hand skills needed to be used to avoid being burnt to a crisp. The new Construct robot unit allows you to smash corruption crystals blocking access to new areas, like the gauntlet did previously. Firing chain-tethered arms from the machine as makeshift walkways help you retrieve items, while its raised control position from on top of its humanoid body keeps you safe as you coast across dangerous environmental hazards.

If you–re going to be traipsing across the newer, more open world, you–re going to want rewards for your troubles. Darksiders II hopes to provide both tailored gameplay and incentive to replay the campaign by offering multiple sets of armour to collect and wear. We were told about the Slayer, Necromancer, and Wanderer ensembles, but so far we don–t know where they all comes from, or what we'll need to do to obtain them. Loot dropped frequently during our demo, and while we were impressed with having the simplicity of quickly equipping it on the spot, or tossing it in a bag for later with a single button press, new items seemed difficult to spot on the ground. Optional side quests and dungeons will now also be available, some of which may take several hours to complete outside of the main campaign. It's worth pointing out, while this is a single-player game, Vigil has hinted at the possibility of allowing players to trade bind on equip items online with friends rather than vendor trash them.

Our demo ended with looks at two of the nastier foes players will encounter in their travels. The first, Ghorn, was a mini-boss who exploded and rebuilt himself at will. Carrying a huge clever, he spurted waves of lava through open grates on the floor of the arena. The second enemy was a mixture of organic and robotic, with giant black tendrils pulling together parts to build a kit-form monster who loved to pound the ground. Doing so sent out a huge shockwave, but in both cases, Death–s nimble movements allowed us to deftly jump to safety before returning fire.

Certainly not as pointy-headed as some of the other action RPG games already available, or soon to be released, Darksiders II appears to be cutting its own path. The addition of a more open world map, optional side content, and a more fluid and thoughtful combat system has us interested to see more of the game running. Look for more on it during 2012 ahead of its launch on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC.

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We pick up our scythe and get harvesting with a look at the role-playing elements in Darksiders II.

It would have been easy to dismiss the original Darksiders as the equivalent of a gaming pickpocket, liberally pilfering ideas from third-person action adventure titles such as God of War and The Legend of Zelda. But for a game that borrowed so heavily, Darksiders carved out its own clear and fascinating identity. At the centre of the experience was War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who had been summoned to Earth believing the last of seven seals keeping the forces of heaven and hell at bay had been broken, in the process signalling the endwar.

Darksiders II takes what the development team at Vigil confesses was originally a game of experimentation and refines the formula by stripping back the ideas that failed to meet the grade and expanding further on its strongest traits. We recently got an updated hands-off look at the sequel and found that while much of the basic structure that made it such a solid first outing has remained intact, this isn't the safe, cookie-cutter follow-up many may have expected.

The game takes place during the same time period as Darksiders and runs concurrently to explore what older brother Death was doing while War sliced and diced his way through the armies of angels and demons. With the stage for battle set, the development team is using the sequel to branch out with more exotic locations than in the previous game, and to move away from the human planet setting to investigate events occurring above and below the surface.

Though of the same stock, Death and War are very different in their approach to movement and combat. War's hard-hitting, lumbering way made taking care of business deliberate and brutal. Death is no less violent than his brother, but forgoes blocking and slower, more powerful strikes for zippier hit-and-run pokes and scrapes with scythes and fist weapons. That's not to say that slower, higher-damage-dealing weapons like hammers aren't available in his arsenal, but they act as secondary tools of the trade. New ethereal powers let you trade energy earned in combat to summon tombstones filled with zombies that act as crowd control in multitarget fights. Alternatively, you can take a page out of the skunk playbook, dousing yourself in shadow and dealing hurt to anyone who invades your personal space.

Straight brawling has been tossed aside to usher in combat that rests on two new skill trees. Spending points on Harbinger abilities increases Death's agility, speed, and proficiency with melee strikes, while earning and unlocking those on the Necromancer side boosts his magical prowess. The addition of these trees gives the game a more role-playing feel, while another change is that enemies receive designated levels of difficulty, complete with visibly depleting health bars as you whittle them down with your attacks. Damage figures scroll across the screen as you land hits, and though Vigil is playing its cards close to its chest for the moment, we saw sporadically increased amounts of damage that suggests the new gear items that drop from bad guys may help raise your chance to perform critical strikes.

Before you go throwing your hands up to condemn this new attempt at a more cerebral experience, it's worth noting that platforming, puzzle-solving, and skull-splitting with big metal weapons, which made the original so great, are back in spades. In fact, in response to user feedback, Darksiders II will be more difficult than its predecessor and will have less-generous windows of timing when you're performing specific objectives. Quickly rising lava in one room showed an example where precise pillar jumps and Death's wall-running and Ghost Hand skills were needed to avoid being burnt to a crisp. The new construct robot unit lets you smash corruption crystals blocking access to new areas, like the gauntlet did previously. Firing chain-tethered arms from the machine as makeshift walkways helps you retrieve items, while its raised control position from on top of its humanoid body keeps you safe as you coast across dangerous environmental hazards.

If you're going to be traipsing across the newer, more-open world, you're going to want rewards for your troubles. Darksiders II hopes to provide both tailored gameplay and incentives to replay the campaign by offering multiple sets of armour to collect and wear. We were told about the slayer, necromancer, and wanderer ensembles, but so far we don't know where they all come from, or what we'll need to do to obtain them. Loot dropped frequently during our demo, and while we were impressed with having the simplicity of quickly equipping it on the spot, or tossing it in a bag for later with a single button press, new items seemed difficult to spot on the ground. Optional side quests and dungeons will now also be available, some of which may take several hours to complete outside of the main campaign. It's worth pointing out that though this is a single-player game, Vigil has hinted at the possibility of letting players trade bind-on-equip items online with friends rather than vendor-trash them.

Our demo ended with looks at two of the nastier foes you will encounter in your travels. The first, Ghorn, was a miniboss who exploded and rebuilt himself at will. Carrying a huge cleaver, he spurted waves of lava through open grates on the floor of the arena. The second enemy was a mixture of organic and robotic, with giant black tendrils pulling together parts to build a kit-form monster who loved to pound the ground. Doing so sent out a huge shock wave, but in both cases, Death's nimble movements allowed us to deftly jump to safety before returning fire.

Certainly not as pointy-headed as some of the other action role-playing games already available, or soon to be released, Darksiders II appears to be cutting its own path. The addition of a more open-world map, optional side content, and a more fluid and thoughtful combat system has us interested to see more of the game running. Look for more on it during 2012 ahead of its launch on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC.

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By incorporating sandbox level designs, varied weapons, and other tricks, Rebellion looks to deliver a different action experience with Sniper Elite V2

The number of military action games based on the events of World War II has tapered away during the past several years, with the setting focusing on either current or futuristic storylines. Bucking this trend, Rebellion Games is going back to the tail end of WWII with its upcoming third-person action game. Sniper Elite V2 is the follow-up to the 2005 game Sniper Elite. The developers are hoping that the game's open-ended nature and "kill cam" camera mechanic will set it apart from other games.

Sniper Elite V2 puts you in control of Karl Fairburne, a US sniper. He has been sent to Berlin in the midst of post-WWII conflicts between Nazi and Russian forces with the mission of trying to eliminate, capture, or rescue those involved in the famous V2 rocket program.

The story is spread across 11 missions, but how you approach each mission is where the game's open-ended nature comes into play. Like so many other action games, you can customize your arsenal to best suit your play style. Fairburne is equipped with a primary sniper rifle, a machine gun, and a sidearm, as well as a number of different supplementary items. These include explosive mines and trip mines, which can be set up in locations to serve various functions, such as defense mechanisms or traps.

Even though Fairburne is a sniper, you won't be restricted to playing as stealthy soldiers. The different weapons and items let you approach an area in various ways. With your silenced sidearm, you can slowly creep behind enemies and eliminate them. If you're the kind of person who enjoys running and gunning, then your machine gun will let you play with no regard for your safety.

Still, the primary focus is to snipe enemies and use the terrain to your advantage. Enemies will often be far away, so you can eliminate entire squads before they can react. When sniping, the game features both a heart-rate monitor and breathing bar, which factors into shooting. Holding your breath will allow for a more precise shot, but if you're being fired upon and under a lot of pressure, Fairburne's high heart rate makes shooting more difficult.

Proper sneaking will help you to accomplish any task.

Kills with your rifle also showcase the game's kill-cam mechanic. When you pull off incredible kill shots, the game momentarily stops the action and goes into a bullet animation that slowly highlights the bullet's trek from the muzzle of your rifle to its target. Based on where the bullet goes, you are treated to an X-ray animation that points out exactly what internal damage has been done, such as shattering skulls and exploding livers. During our presentation, these animations were shown a lot, but we were promised that the frequency of these moments--which can take you out of the experience--will only happen at key moments.

Sniper Elite V2 is scheduled to hit the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 this May.

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Dynamic AI highlights some of what baseball fans can expect later this year with MLB 2K12.

It's hard to argue against the fact that pitching is the most important aspect of baseball. Regardless of how everyone else is playing on the field, if your pitching is lacking, then the likelihood that your team will win is diminished. 2K Sports understands this, and for this year's MLB 2K12, on top of the many things 2K is addressing, pitching is seeing the biggest changes.

Great pitchers know how to adjust when facing any batter.

For 2K12, there are a number of different things being tweaked to improve the pitching aspect of the game. For starters, there is greater feedback thanks to the inclusion of more detailed pitch counters and trackers. Past games have included markers to showcase the history of throws for the current batter, but now you can get a look at all pitches thrown. On top of that, there are pitch trackers that highlight all pitches thrown to the specific-handed batters. This way, you can get a better idea of what is working depending on the kinds of batters you are facing.

Because of the game's new dynamic AI system, it's important to know which pitches work. Now, batters will make adjustments to combat the pitches being thrown at them. If you rely too heavily on one kind of pitch, even if you've been throwing strikes, batters will notice this and change their approach accordingly. With the dynamic pitching, after every throw, markers will show you which pitches are working, will suggest which ones to use, and will highlight the ones to avoid.

In addition, as you progress through a game with the same pitcher, the response in terms of how effective he is in both accuracy and speed will be shown to give you a better idea of what to expect. As you move deeper into the game and increase your pitch count, even with a fantastic pitcher, the effectiveness of all your pitches will suffer, and deciding the best course of action will come heavily into play to ensure your team leaves with a win.

Pitching is not the only aspect of the game that 2K Sports is addressing for 2K12. 2K heard the complaints about past games and is looking to adjust everything that fans of the series have noted as being weak. Fielding is being worked on to ensure better throwing by outfield players. Also, player animations, specifically for the catcher, have been heavily worked on to ensure the players move as they would in real life. Lastly, the graphics engine and lighting have been tweaked to give a more realistic viewing experience.

2K Sports is promising a more realistic-looking game.

If you haven't been keeping track, baseball season is only a few months away, and MLB 2K12 is on track to deliver a solid experience. If you're not having a fun time pitching, then it's almost impossible to enjoy virtual baseball. 2K Sports knows this and is hoping that what it's doing with 2K12 will please fans of the sport and bring back those it has lost over the years. Expect to see and hear more about the game as we approach its March 6 launch on all major consoles.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Dynamic AI highlights some of what baseball fans can expect later this year with MLB 2K12.

It's hard to argue against the fact that pitching is the most important aspect of baseball. Regardless of how everyone else is playing on the field, if your pitching is lacking, then the likelihood that your team will win is diminished. 2K Sports understands this, and for this year's MLB 2K12, on top of the many things 2K is addressing, pitching is seeing the biggest changes.

Great pitchers know how to adjust when facing any batter.

For 2K12, there are a number of different things being tweaked to improve the pitching aspect of the game. For starters, there is greater feedback thanks to the inclusion of more detailed pitch counters and trackers. Past games have included markers to showcase the history of throws for the current batter, but now you can get a look at all pitches thrown. On top of that, there are pitch trackers that highlight all pitches thrown to the specific-handed batters. This way, you can get a better idea of what is working depending on the kinds of batters you are facing.

Because of the game's new dynamic AI system, it's important to know which pitches work. Now, batters will make adjustments to combat the pitches being thrown at them. If you rely too heavily on one kind of pitch, even if you've been throwing strikes, batters will notice this and change their approach accordingly. With the dynamic pitching, after every throw, markers will show you which pitches are working, will suggest which ones to use, and will highlight the ones to avoid.

In addition, as you progress through a game with the same pitcher, the response in terms of how effective he is in both accuracy and speed will be shown to give you a better idea of what to expect. As you move deeper into the game and increase your pitch count, even with a fantastic pitcher, the effectiveness of all your pitches will suffer, and deciding the best course of action will come heavily into play to ensure your team leaves with a win.

Pitching is not the only aspect of the game that 2K Sports is addressing for 2K12. 2K heard the complaints about past games and is looking to adjust everything that fans of the series have noted as being weak. Fielding is being worked on to ensure better throwing by outfield players. Also, player animations, specifically for the catcher, have been heavily worked on to ensure the players move as they would in real life. Lastly, the graphics engine and lighting have been tweaked to give a more realistic viewing experience.

2K Sports is promising a more realistic-looking game.

If you haven't been keeping track, baseball season is only a few months away, and MLB 2K12 is on track to deliver a solid experience. If you're not having a fun time pitching, then it's almost impossible to enjoy virtual baseball. 2K Sports knows this and is hoping that what it's doing with 2K12 will please fans of the sport and bring back those it has lost over the years. Expect to see and hear more about the game as we approach its March 6 launch on all major consoles.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Mass Effect 3's Kinect integration works great when you're talking to squadmates. When you're talking to yourself, it gets a little weird.

Now that the Kinect has been out for a while, we've begun to see developers use the technology for more than just gesture-controlled sports compilations. BioWare might be the most high-profile example of this, having implemented the Kinect as a tool for voice commands in the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 3. It's one of the few Kinect-compatible games that completely eschews any use of the sensor's built-in camera; this space opera is all about shouting.

Having played some of it for ourselves at CES last week, it's clear that BioWare's done a good job of getting the technology to play nicely with its sci-fi shooter action sequences. Pretty much everything you can do from the radial menu can also be done with your voice. And in a nice touch, you can say "quick save" to make the game, well, quick save. Take that F6 key!

But there is something odd about voice commands in Mass Effect 3. It's something that makes you take a step back and think, "Maybe I should tone it down a bit." See, you're supposed to be role playing as Commander Shepard, right? So isn't it a little weird to shout "shotgun!" to switch to your boomstick, or "incendiary ammo!" to switch to fire bullets? At that point, aren't you kind of yelling at yourself?

The Kinect voice commands are great for issuing squad orders. If James is playing it too safe, you can yell "James attack!" and he'll charge forward just as you commanded. If you need to get at an enemy pinned behind cover, you can shout "Liara lift!" and she'll instantly turn your foes into a bunch of helplessly floating bull's-eyes. It works; it feels natural. You're Shepard commanding your troops like the space general you are.

But yelling at yourself to open a door instead of hitting the A button per the giant onscreen button prompt? That's a little weird. There's some mild mental instability bubbling beneath the surface there. But, hey, maybe it's just us. Take a look at the demo below and let us know what you think of Mass Effect 3's voice commands in the comments.

Want to know more? Visit our Facebook page and vote on which fan questions you want us to ask when GameSpot UK meets with BioWare next week!

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Mass Effect 3's Kinect integration works great when you're talking to squadmates. When you're talking to yourself, it gets a little weird.

Now that the Kinect has been out for a while, we've begun to see developers use the technology for more than just gesture-controlled sports compilations. BioWare might be the most high-profile example of this, having implemented the Kinect as a tool for voice commands in the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 3. It's one of the few Kinect-compatible games that completely eschews any use of the sensor's built-in camera; this space opera is all about shouting.

Having played some of it for ourselves at CES last week, it's clear that BioWare's done a good job of getting the technology to play nicely with its sci-fi shooter action sequences. Pretty much everything you choose to do can be done from the radial menu with your voice. And in a nice touch, you can say "quick save" to make the game, well, quick save. Take that F6 key!

But there is something odd about voice commands in Mass Effect 3. It's something that makes you take a step back and think, "Maybe I should tone it down a bit." See, you're supposed to be role playing as Commander Shepard, right? So isn't it a little weird to shout "shotgun!" to switch to your boomstick, or "incendiary ammo!" to switch to fire bullets? At that point, aren't you kind of yelling at yourself?

The Kinect voice commands are great for issuing squad orders. If James is playing it too safe, you can yell "James attack!" and he'll charge forward just as you commanded. If you need to get at an enemy pinned behind cover, you can shout "Liara lift!" and she'll instantly turn your foes into a bunch of helplessly floating bull's-eyes. It works; it feels natural. You're Shepard commanding your troops like the space general you are.

But yelling at yourself to open a door instead of hitting the A button per the giant onscreen button prompt? That's a little weird. There's some mild mental instability bubbling beneath the surface there. But, hey, maybe it's just us. Take a look at the demo below and let us know what you think of Mass Effect 3's voice commands in the comments.

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A varied training regiment and more expansive career path make the dream of becoming the next great virtual UFC champion possible.

Respected journalist Malcolm Gladwell came up with an interesting concept entitled "The 10,000 Hour Rule" that stated in order to be really good at something, you have to invest at least 10,000 hours into it. Those people who have reached that goal can lay claim as the best at their respected professions. The best athletes manage to hit this mark early in their lives, but others aren't that lucky. Thankfully, in THQ's upcoming UFC Undisputed 3, creating a virtual fighter and becoming the best won't take you 10,000 hours.

The Career mode has seen a number of changes and adjustments to ensure that the experience doesn't drag on too long. While UFC 3 still lets you create a customizable character, this time around, preexisting fighters can be thrown back in time and given the opportunity to rewrite history. If you're a fan of a particular underdog fighter, now you have the opportunity to change his career and make him a champion.

Regardless of the fighter you choose, your career starts off the same. At the start, you'll be asked to complete in three tutorials: Standup, Clinch, and Ground. Your performance in these will dictate the fighter's initial stats. Once that's all said and done, your character begins in the World Fighting Alliance as an up-and-coming fighter. There, you'll face off against other wannabe MMA fighters in the hopes of catching the eyes of the UFC. Your time in the WFA can vary based on your performance. In as few as four fights, you can fight for a shot at the title and a potential call-up to the UFC. Winning the WFA title opens the door to the UFC, but if you think your fighter still needs additional training, you can hold off and join the next time an offer is made. But once in the UFC, the real magic starts and the highs and lows of an MMA fighter are shown.

Some of the other changes in the Career mode include a wider array of training options. In regular training, there are eight drill exercises, as well as six different sparring challenges. Each of the 14 training minigames focus on different aspects of your character's skill sets, and mixing up which ones to work on will factor heavily into your success.

This isn't where your training ends. In fact, there are two additional training options available. The first of these is Camp Sessions. The development team has included six real-world fighting academies, such as the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, CA and Greg Jackson's Gym in Albuquerque, NM. There, you can spar with other fighters, level up your character's skill on particular move sets, and learn new ones. Because these are real gyms, the actual fighters who frequent them will be among those your character interacts with in training. On top of that, the gym you choose to be a part of will become your entourage and the trainers will be by your side at fights.

The final training aspect is Game Plans. Just like in real life, fighters will go into an upcoming fight with a plan of attack. This lets you choose from eight different approaches your fighter should use going into the fight, such as focusing on counterattacks, working the clinch, or improving your ground and pound. Prior to the fight, your character takes part in a sparring exercise, and success here will give you a significant edge when it comes to facing off against an opponent in the ring.

One of the facets gone from Career mode is computer-generated cutscenes. In their place, THQ and the UFC partnered up to create a series of miniclips with footage from real fights and interviews with current UFC fighters. These clips highlight specific moments in a fighter's career, including discussing his first professional fight, first loss, and his training regiments.

San Jose's American Kickboxing Academy is one of the six gyms your fighter can train in.

Having a successful Career mode in place is important in ensuring that fans of the sport and the series are kept entertained. The changes and additions made to Career mode, including the ability to fight in Pride, should do a great job of keeping you playing for long periods of time. If playing through the life of a fighter isn't what you crave, then there are a number of additional options, such as Title Defense, Ultimate Fights mode, and the ability to create customized UFC events. UFC Undisputed 3 will be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America on February 14.

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