One of the very first booths I hit on the show floor this year was Bioware’s SWTOR – or Star Wars: The Old Republic – the company’s massively multi-player game set in the Star Wars universe. In development for the last five years, I was excited to learn there would finally be hands-on demos of the game both at the Con as well as off-site at the Hilton Gaslamp across the street.

To coincide with Comic-Con this year, Bioware announced pre-orders for the game on Thursday, which would allow players early access to the game as well as spiffy in-game bonuses. Given that the game’s release window is set for Holidays 2011, it made sense for the SWTOR team to leverage Comic-Con to start showing off their shiny new MMORPG.

After a roughly 45-minute wait, myself and a dozen other eager players were ushered into the booth and each seated at one of the high-end Alienware gaming rigs running SWTOR. We slipped on our headphones and were given 15-minutes on the clock to put the game through its paces. I decided to play a Sith Warrior, went through a brief intro and my character was jumped into a desert-like world ripe for the exploring.

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At the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles late yesterday I spent some time at the Activision booth to learn more about one of my most anticipated upcoming games: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. After being ushered into a small room in the bowels of the Activision booth, the lights dimmed and it began.

First, we were treated to a look at two of the game’s upcoming levels: “Hunter Killer” and “Mind the Gap.” The first took us underwater with the SEALS for some sabotage of a nuclear submarine and then inside the sub for some awesome mano y mano firefight action.

We also got a chance to take a look at what happens when the firefight inside the sub is over and the action moves outside and into a rubber speedboat. Once in the boat we speed through the mayem with missiles and ships exploding all around us. Do we make it to the chopper in time and escape? I’ll leave that to your imaginaton.

Next up was “Mind the Gap” where we join the SAS to infiltrate a stronghold and go house to house in search of the bad guys. The level progreses and we take out most of the hostiles but at the end they try to escape in London’s underground. Of course, we give chase — in two trucks.

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I returned to the show floor bright and early today to check out the second of three independent games featured at this year’s PAX East. Each of these three are puzzle games with clever mechanics, but all stand out individually as awesome testaments to what independent gaming in the Boston area has to offer.

Blinding Science is a sound-based puzzle game, where you play as a blind man who can see through sound. Using a cane to hit objects in the level, players send sound waves out that allow them to observe the game level.

The objects also control workers in each level, who chop wood or smash stones, responding to the sounds you make as a player. The object of every level is to break a crystal guarded at the end, and players use the workers to open up barriers and reach the end goal.

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The third and final game I checked out at this past weekend’s PAX East independent game showcase was an amazing little game called Snapshot, on its way to PC, Mac, and some consoles, sometime very soon. PAX East is the first time in awhile that Snapshot has been available for demo, so I felt really lucky to get a chance to sit down and spend some time with this title.

Snapshot reminded me of Braid right off the bat, and this observation wasn’t far off. Playing as this cute little robot dude navigating some brilliantly designed, beautifully animated levels, players use a camera to solve puzzles. Boxes can be moved, platforms can be relocated, and obstacles can be removed, as the player takes a picture of an object and places that photo over the environment to continue through the level.

It’s not always as easy as it sounds, though, as the objects aren’t always friendly, or aren’t always easily captured with the camera.

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The unique thing about PAX and PAX East as compared to all other conventions is the strong presence of independent gaming on the show floor. This year, three exceptional indie titles are being featured in the Boston Indie Showcase, and I took to the floor to check out what these games were all about.

Available for iPad, iOS, Mac, and PC, Smuggle Truck was the first indie game I tried out for myself at this year’s PAX. With very simple controls, you drive a truck full of refugees through side-scrolling barren wastelands, dark caves, and terrifying forests, all in the hopes of reaching the border without losing all your passengers. The path is wrought with obstacles as well as hills and valleys that test your skills against physics.

Smuggle Truck has caused a certain amount of controversy, but don’t let that steer you away, because this game is a ton of fun. And in talking with the game’s creators, the game is less about pointing fun at illegal immigrants and instead does an incredible job of critiquing the absurdity and difficulty of entering the country and legally becoming a citizen.

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At Toy Fair, we were lucky enough to get the chance to see one of the newest undertakings by Activision called Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. Under developer Toys For Bob, Activision is combining the much loved Spyro video game series with a brand new toy line.

But this isn’t just a tie in with action figures modeled off characters from the game. Instead, players will take these figures and place them on an attachment for their Nintendo Wii to load any of the 32 characters in to the game. Young players will be given the opportunity to do something they never have before, watch their toys come to life in front of them on a video game screen.

Seeing these toys in person, they look as if they were all beautifully hand sculpted. Spyro even has a little bit of a badass feel to him instead of the super fluffy dragon he started out as. What you don’t immediately see is the technology hidden underneath that gives these toys the read/write ability to load information in to the Wii using the Portal of Power and then take the experience and treasure that player has found with them to their next destination.

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At the New York Comic Con, we were lucky enough to get a chance to step in to the closed off Rockstar booth and get exclusive hands on time with Rockstar’s Nick Patterson on the upcoming Undead Nightmare DLC pack for Red Dead Redemption. Now a lot of people have been vocal about the fact they didn’t think zombies belonged in the realistic Red Dead Redemption world. Well luckily for those people, it is a DLC pack that they aren’t required to purchase. For those a little more open minded about the plausibility of zombies coming back to unlife in the old west, Undead Nightmare is their golden ticket.

During our hands on, we got to experience one of the graveyard missions. In this instance, a player must go into a graveyard and set five coffins ablaze. In doing so, the undead awaken from the ground and try to take them down. Much like the classic zombie theme, headshots work best and players can be quickly overrun if not careful. One great addition is the use of the blunderbuss as a weapon that players can shoot looted pieces of the fallen undead with literally explosive results.The DLC pack has great visual additions like a constant fog over the land as well as new skins on the animals roaming the desert.

Though we only got a short time to play, it was a great demo that peeked our interest. Take a look at some screens below as well as the trailer. Stick close to the Flickcast for more on Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare as it closes in on its release.

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At New York Comic Con, we had the pleasure of stopping by the Sega booth to take peeks at both the new Captain America game as well as the upcoming Thor title (stay tuned for that story!). When we got to the Sega booth we were given a hands off demo from Brandon Gill from Next Level Games, the developers of Captain America: Super Soldier which is being published by Sega.

We were told right off the bat that one of the most fun parts of the creative process was working with Christos Gage on an original story as opposed to being shackled to the storyline of the movie. The version we saw will be on the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 but there will be a Wii and Nintendo DS version as well.

The entirety of the title takes place during World War II after his origin. One thing that quickly stood out was the change of Nazi villains to Hydra. In keeping with Marvel’s family friendly image and the youth skew that game may take, it isn’t surprising that they went this route. The entire game takes place with Hydra entrenched in a Bavarian castle with Cap running in to tear them down.

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Last night at a special event held by Activision and Treyarch at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, we got a chance to play some Call of Duty: Black Ops. Specifically, we were there to check out the multiplayer aspects of the game and generally get an in-depth preview of the whole experience.

After being plied with some excellent cocktails we were whisked into the IMAX theater at the center. Once inside and seated, we were shown some terrific demo videos and given the scoop by Treyarch designers David Vonderhaar and Dan Bunting which showcased what players can expect from the game.

Some of the items they touched on were the game’s new multiplayer features using pillars that the company focused on during development: Compete, Customize and Create. We got to see quite a bit of the game and even got some playing time.

Here’s the highlights:

Multiplayer Training

One thing I was particularly interested in was the all-new multiplayer mode called “Combat Training.” This new feature , which is unique to Black Ops, allows you to experience multiplayer gameplay but replaces the threat of real online players (and severe pwnage) with AI-controlled bots.

This allows you to hone your skills while not suffering any real damage or lowering of your standing in the online world. Players can also invite friend into the match, allowing for some co-op play.

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At this year’s Comic Con during the Sony Press Event, we were given the opportunity to get hands on with two of the biggest titles coming to the PlayStation 3 in 2011. Not only are Killzone 3 and Motorstorm: Apocalypse much anticipated sequels to two of PlayStation 3′s top games, but they both will feature PlayStation 3′s 3D technology.

Killzone 3 first and foremost looks gorgeous. Even over a half year before its release date and still in Pre-Alpha build, the visuals look polished. While the 3D experience helps add to the immersion of the title, there is never a time where it felt intrusive. There are never any over the top “coming at the screen for the sake of 3D” moments. What the 3D effects do however is add a convincing level of depth and distance as players make their way through the environment.

The version we got to play was the same one seen on the E3 show floor where players must execute a raid to save prisoners being held at a Helghast weapons research facility with the team of raiders who survived the end of Killzone 2. Gameplay is crisp and fast paced in line with previous versions of the series.

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