For many of us gamers, MMORPGs can seem like a huge commitment. They can be time consuming and expensive, and other than World of Warcraft, none of them really seem to retain players for a long period of time.

That’s why many MMOs are choosing to move to a different model of pricing. League of Legends has proved that free to play MMOs with in-game transactions- extra weapons or characters or outfits that players can purchase with real world cash- not only maintain players, but maintain profits.

Firefall is another one of those free-to-play MMOs, and I got a chance to check it out on the show floor at PAX East. During my time playing Firefall, I got a chance to create a character and complete a few quests. I chose a female Assault character.

You won’t have to play cooperatively in Firefall, as I was doing quests on my own, and you won’t have to participate in PvP either. I found the questing system really unique- I was sent on a quest to investigate a water shortage, which turned into me killing the monsters in the area who were causing the problem. A lot of other MMOs would have just sent me after the monsters in the first place, but Firefall gave me a chance to investigate and figure things out on my own. It was a nice touch that I can foresee making the level grinding in the beginning of the game a little less repetitive and more enjoyable.

I have to admit, my favorite part of the gameplay and controls of Firefall was my jetpack, which the entire environment seemed to be built around. The environments of Firefall are really open and well designed. I loved the cell shaded graphics in the game- it made it feel even more removed and unique from other MMOs out there.

If you played the game at PAX East you’ll be able to access the closed beta of Firefall, and the full game will be released later this year.

Last year, indie developer Owlchemy Lab’s Smuggle Truck was a part of the Boston Indie Showcase, and I had a blast playing it. Which was why I was pleased to see them back on the show floor this year with a new game for mobile devices, titled Jack Lumber.

There’s a bit of a tragic story behind Jack Lumber- your character, Jack, lost his grandmother at a young age when she was viciously slaughtered by a falling tree. Now, using your supernatural powers, you’re out to avenge your granny’s death by destroying as many trees as you can, armed with your axe and your trusty sidekick Buck the Beaver always by your side.

Jack Lumber is an action arcade game with familiar mechanics, but it’s a lot of fun to play. Flying bits of lumber zip across your screen, and using your finger, your mission is to chop up as many as you can using one fluid motion. The faster you destroy as many logs of wood as you can, the more points you’ll score. Some trees need to be chopped horizontally and vertically, so you’ll soon be frantically dragging your finger across the screen in crazy patterns trying to annihilate the lumber and avenge Jack’s poor grandma. Due to the mechanics of the game, it works best on a touchscreen, but I’d love to see this game someday ported to the Kinect.

Jack Lumber will be released sometime this summer for mobile devices. In the meantime, watch the latest teaser video after the jump.

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You’re a gopher, minding your own business, trying to enjoy a nice picnic, when all of a sudden dinosaurs crash the party and try to steal your delicious barbecued meats. So of course you have no choice to defend yourself, tower defense style, against the oncoming onslaught of giant reptiles. This is Go Home Dinosaurs, and I got a chance to check it out last weekend on the show floor at PAX East.

In Go Home Dinosaurs, you’ll start out with one lone gopher. By collecting trees you’ll earn enough coconuts to start building defenses around the board. Between harvesting trees, adding defenses, and keeping track of how far the dinosaurs are getting, the game board can get frantic, but if you reach the end of the level without letting any dinosaurs through to your barbequed meats, you win!

As you continue to play and collect coins, you can purchase equipable upgrades- some will increase how many or how strong a particular troop is, or start a level with coconuts already in hand. These upgrades come in the form of trading cards, and you can equip up to three upgrade cards and three types of troops at one time.

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Tabletop gaming has recently become one of my favorite hobbies, but work and other life commitments sometimes make it hard to make time to sit down and play them.

That’s where Playdek comes in. They port games from their physical, tabletop form into full-fledged iOS games. The really great thing is that these games are playable online, so even if you can’t sit down with your friends for your favorite board game, you can play at your leisure on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, or play and pass on long car rides or in long lines.

Another great thing about what Playdek does is that the digital version of these tabletop games clearly defines the rules and explains them, which helps take some of the intimidation factor for those of us who are new to tabletop. And if you love the iOS version of these games, you can buy the physical game fully understanding the rules and ready to play!

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With their two mega mobile games Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, Halfbrick had a pretty big presence on the show floor last weekend at PAX East, and I was excited to see what’s next for Jetpack Joyride, one of my favorite iOS games.
If you’ve played Jetpack Joyride, you already know that the game comes packed with vehicle upgrades and additional jetpacks to enhance the gameplay experience, but in an upcoming update, the game will also introduce new “gadgets.”

Purchasable from the stash, you’ll be able to equip two gadgets at a time. These gadgets all have a unique ability. One that I tried out while talking with Halfbrick was a freezing agent, which activated whenever I crashed and allowed me to slide much further before the game ended, increasing my distance traveled. Another power up allowed me to see exactly what vehicle power up lay ahead, instead of the usual shiny power up symbol.

I’m really happy that Halfbrick is going to continue supporting Jetpack Joyride, since it’s a really fun game and adding these gadgets will only make it more addicting to play.

There will be 15 new gadgets in all, which can be purchased using in-game coins.

Jetpack Joyride is currently available for iPad and iPhone for free. The update should be available sometime this month, also at no cost to you, so just start saving those coins!

You can check out the teaser trailer for one of the gadgets, the “Air Barrys”, after the jump.

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Twisted Pixel’s Splosion Man and Ms. ‘Splosion Man have made a big bang the past few years at PAX East, and this year was no exception, because the first day of the convention they announced that Ms. Splosion Man will be making the jump to iPhone, iPad and Steam later this year. I stopped by their booth on the show floor later that day to see for myself how the game translates over to touch screen controls.

For touch-screens, Ms. ‘Splosion Man has been reduced to a directional stick that moves you left and right. To jump and ‘splode, you just tap the screen. It took me several minutes to get used to this new control scheme.

It’s not as exact as using a joystick or directional pad, and the slippery nature of the iPad screen sometimes caused me to slide the directional a bit further than I would have liked. But after a few minutes it became more natural, and I’m sure once the full game is available for iPad, players will easily make the switch from controller to touch controls.

Retooled for iPad, Ms. ‘Splosion Man looked great. I’m definitely looking forward to this title, and it’s making it even harder to resist picking up an iPad.

We can look forward to Ms. ‘Splosion Man on our iOS devices and PC later this summer.

I think it’s safe to say that Borderlands 2 was the most popular game on the show floor last weekend at PAX East. Luckily, I got a chance to check out the game thanks to the people at 2K.

Partnered up with another player, I chose the Siren, assigned some talent points, and jumped into the game. I was thrown into a giant bunker which, when opened, revealed an industrial, barren landscape surrounded by green pools of slime. Our mission was to reach a locker, but it was by no means easy to maintain, as we were constantly barraged by enemies.

This particular level featured bug-like creatures- some that swarmed up above, others that burrowed underground and rushed us from below or behind- so I was constantly swinging my camera around to meet my next foe with a blast of gunfire. My character also had an ability to freeze enemies midair while my partner pelted them with bullets- just like Borderlands, co-op is well executed in Borderlands 2.

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Formerly known as True Crime: Hong Kong, Sleeping Dogs was showcased at the SquareEnix booth on the show floor this weekend at PAX East. I got a chance to sit down with some of the people who worked on the game, and learn more about this open world crime drama.

Based loosely on Infernal Affairs, Sleeping Dogs takes place in modern-day Hong Kong, and revolves around police officer Wei Shen who goes undercover to take down a Triad organization. The developers I spoke with emphasized that the game will be very serious, with emphasis on a dramatic storyline.

On the outside, Sleeping Dogs may look like Grand Theft Auto set in Hong Kong. But they’ve really taken their time to make sure that while this game is very much a sandbox, it’s not a reskinned GTA clone. I got to check out a demo of a racing mission in the game, and the driving system is very precise. I didn’t feel like I was flying all over the road, and since several developers of Need for Speed had a hand in creating Sleeping Dogs, it makes sense that the driving be top notch.

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Sony’s newest handheld, the Playstation Vita, doesn’t launch officially in the US until February 22nd, but if you’re one of the antsy few like myself who just needed to get your hands on  just a bit earlier than its official US Launch date, the “First Edition” bundle was available for sale yesterday if you preordered. Before I write up my full review on the Vita, I wanted to share my initial reactions to the system, especially for those of you who are still on the fence about picking it up next week.

First things first- the Vita is beautiful, both asthetically and physically. I love the way this device looks, and I LOVE the way it feels in my hands. The 5 Inch OLED screen obviously makes the Vita easy on the eyes, and games look great. I’ve never found myself questioning how much better this looks than the PSP- it’s astounding how much power they’ve packed into this thing, without making it very heavy or cumbersome.

If you’re a veteran of the PSP, or any Sony system really, the Vita is easy enough to pick up and play. They’vre rearranged some buttons, which I really appreciate, as the volume and start buttons on the PSP were too low for me to reach comfortably before. The biggest change has been the addition of a second analog stick. I cannot stress how much better these analog sticks are than the PSP’s, which I had break on me multiple times on multiple PSPs.

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The Bitcast returns this week with their record setting 8th Episode featuring the Flickcast’s own version of Mario & Luigi, though JC and WallE will both always lay claim to being the star of the episode.

In the News of the Week, JC and WallE discuss the upcoming Spike Video Game Awards show and speculate on the upcoming announcement from Epic Games, the makers of Gears of War and the Infinity Blade franchises. They also discuss the 10th Anniversary of Grand Theft Auto III coming to iOS before getting into detail with South Park: The Game coming from Obsidian. They even talk Beta numbers for Star Wars: The Old Republic and announce the current and upcoming DLC for Goldeneye 007: Reloaded, sadly with the absence of Sean Bean.

In the Long Grind in Skyrim this week, JC gets in detail on both the dragons and music of the Elder Scrolls V.

For the Topic of the Week, WallE shows that he can handle both movies and gaming as he discusses the scores composed for some of the most influential titles in gaming history.

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JC and WallE are back again with a new episode of The Bitcast. This week in the news, the duo talks about some exciting news for the Max Payne and Bully franchises from Rockstar, the upcoming movie news for Rampage and address analyst Michael Pachter’s thoughts on the next XBox launch.

This week, The Bitcast introduces The Long Grind, a new segment featuring a longform review of a huge upcoming or classic title. This first edition of The Long Grind will feature The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for this episode and the next three weeks.

In the Topic of the Week, The Bitcast crew examines the classic Mario and Sonic franchises, as well as others, that have gone drastic reboots and remakes and continue to evolve both in gameplay and graphics.

In their Now Playing, WallE talks all things Sonic Generations while JC tackles the thug life of Saints Row: The Third. Make sure to subscribe to The Flickcast iTunes feed to get your weekly episode of The Bitcast automatically downloaded. Also, be sure to follow us on @thebitcast and JC at @thejohncarle and WallE at @JWWallE on Twitter.

New York Comic Con was a huge showcase for the folks at Activision. In addition to the Spider-Man photo booth where people could green screen themselves webslinging through the city, the other side of the Activision booth had part of a full size helicopter people could pose next to. Why a helicopter you ask? Well, remember that question asked about “What is cooler than drop kicking a helicopter?” that was posed for a little game called Prototype? One of the showcase pieces given its first hands on to the public was Prototype 2 on the XBox 360.

During our playthrough we played both a story mission and a challenge mission of the game. Much like the original Prototype, Prototype 2 has impressive visuals and fantastic animation. One thing that quickly stood out though is the change in the field of view.

The player model for James Heller is smaller on the screen which allows players to see furher into the distance, more of what is in front of him and more importantly, more of what is on the side and behind him. This quickly changes up the gameplay as a player can relax a little more without the constant fear from the original of a rocket launcher off screen delivering a killing blow from out of nowhere.

The combat of Prototype 2 seems fairly consistent to the first meaning it is both brutal and fun. This game gives new meaning to collateral damage as players may be aiming at the Blackwatch soldiers but end up tearing through hordes of innocent New Yorkers in the process. Some of the classic powers return as well as updates on the tendrils which in effect turns a target into a magnet for every destructible item close by to come flying at it as seen in the game’s most recent trailer.

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