How do you say no to a man who can straight one-arm lift your product over his head 26 times? Bruce Pechman, The Muscleman of Technology, Scores First Alienware M17x All Powerful Notebook! The Alienware M17x “All Powerful” Notebook Unboxing and First ImpressionsBy guest writer Bruce Pechman, a.k.a. Mr. Bicep - www.mrbicep.com! For those of us fortunate enough to attend this year’s E3 and partake in the annual ritual of “The Mecca of Gaming” in Los Angeles, where the sights, sounds, and smells of games and related garnishments never cease, there always lies one segment of the show for me that never disappoints—the hardware. Well, maybe that and the Bayonetta chick—I still can’t believe she let me goose her! We’ll talk more about my security confrontation in another article. There really was only one major computer builder at this year’s show, and I’m pleased to let you know it was Alienware. The main reason for their larger than life presence on the show floor was for the unveiling and debut of their new M17x laptop—not just any 17” gaming laptop, but “The Most Powerful Laptop in the Universe”…per the glossy brochure. I got abducted into the Alienware booth complete with...

Logitech Flight System G940 I had the honor of checking out Logitech’s G940 this year.  Logitech has went out of their way to check out actual cockpits of a wide variety of air planes and helicopters to help give gamers the best available experience. The first thing you’ll notice about the G940 is the sturdy design. Steel encasing for the joystick, throttle control and steel rudder pedals. The bottom of the rudder pedals includes a Velcro like pads to prevent the rudders from sliding around on a carpeted floor when you’re performing those all to important defensive maneuvers.  They bottom of the pedals even include rubber feet if the flooring is wood or concrete to prevent the aforementioned sliding. The rudders, joystick and throttle can also be secured with screws to a desk. Gamers who have logged tons of hours in Warbirds, Flight Simulator X and quite possibly the Battlefield gamers will find this excellent for dog fights. Impressions To be quite honest, I’ve been out of the flight/combat sim scene for quite some time.  I was surprised I was able to get the plane up in the air without too much trouble. I’m not used to actual rudders, so...

Runes of Magic takes off in Romania Photo of developer and logo on right Official website now available in RomanianBerlin, 2.06.2009: There’s no stopping Runes of Magic – as a result of the sustained huge demand, Frogster has now just launched a Romanian version of the official website. It can be accessed right away by clicking on the flag icon at the upper right of the page or directly via: www.runesofmagic.com/ro. The community development is being taken care of directly in the territory by the Romanian portal Computergames.ro, Frogster’s marketing partner who is responsible for the translation of the Internet presence, too. With the localized website being started, Romanian players have now a comprehensive native information source about the game world of Runes of Magic at hand. Simultaneously the Romanian forum has been started to facilitate the active communication within the community: http://forum.runesofmagic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=609.“We are in train to meet the large international interest in Runes of Magic by successively expanding its language versions. Computergames.ro is the partner with the widest reach in the Romanian market. The team has already worked successfully with other international publishers and is excellently cross-linked with the community”, comments Andreas Weidenhaupt, CEO of Frogster Online Gaming and...

ARMA II coming to Steam!Bohemia's next hit ARMA II arrives on Steam in June 2009Prague, Czech Republic, June 2nd – Bohemia Interactive, creators of award winning military simulator games Operation Flashpoint and ArmA: Combat Operations and Valve Corporation, a developer of leading-edge technologies and software, announced today one of the most anticipated PC Game of 2009, ARMA II, is available for pre-purchase worldwide via Steam®, Valve’s leading platform for digital content distribution and management.Bohemia Interactive once invented the genre of realistic military sand-box games and it aims now to re-define that genre with its upcoming game ARMA II, the ultimate military simulator, powered by the 3rd generation of their original Real Virtuality engine that's also used to train soldiers in numerous countries from Australia to the United States.ARMA II will offer the ultimate realistic combat simulation experience in a modern day setting. With unprecedented freedom of movement, actions and tactics, the game will allow players to immerse themselves in battle as never seen before.“Steam is one of the world's leading digital content distributors, allowing us to offer ARMA II to millions of their customers online” said Marek Spanel, CEO of Bohemia Interactive. “Bohemia Interactive is creating genre defining PC games...

Tennis Elbow 2009 v1.0b released for Windows PC & Mac OSX Tennis Elbow just got hotter, can you take the heat?Tennis Elbow comes back with a big update, including a lot of new features and gameplay tweaks.Tennis Elbow 2009 is a tennis simulation with an easy and intuitive learning curve, but with exceptional gameplay depth.In this tennis game, you’ll have to show all your tactical skills, use an iron mind and quick reflexes, as well as a sharp eye to guess the ball trajectories, all of this to choose your next strike wisely.To beat your opponent, you have the choice between all the possible strikes on a real court, from the safe strike to the acceleration, including the drop shot and the topspin lob.This tennis simulation is designed for all tennis lovers, whether gamepad mashers or keyboard novices, because of its numerous difficulty levels. In addition, a visual help system will assist you in aiming the ball and positioning your player. You can turn this option on and off whenever it suits you.TE2009 features one of the most complete World Tour ever made in a tennis video game. With 3000 players evolving other 35 years, competing in 300 tournaments each...

Screenshots of BattleForge for pc from EA, click to the right

EA drops some more detail on their upcoming persistent MMO...

EA JOINS FORCES WITH REALTIME WORLDS FOR ALL POINTS BULLETIN Highly Anticipated Persistent Online Multiplayer Game Coming to PC in Early 2010 Redwood City, CA – June 1, 2009 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Realtime Worlds, Inc. announced today that they have entered an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement for North America and Europe that will bring the highly-anticipated All Points Bulletin™ (APB) to PC in early 2010. Founded by industry veteran David Jones, creator of Lemming’s, Grand Theft Auto 1&2 and Crackdown, Realtime Worlds’ latest project takes the universal theme of Criminals and Enforcement and brings it to a persistent, open world multiplayer setting in a modern, crime-ridden city.“After a few years of quietly working on APB I’m extremely excited to be able to show it publically for the first time” said David Jones, Founder and Creative Director of Realtime Worlds. “To also be able to announce our marketing and distribution agreement with EA Partners at the same time is the cream on top. It’s very evident that EA Partners are clearly in-sync with our vision for APB and between us we aim to ensure gamers understand why it’s unique, and share our excitement”“Throughout his career David...

All Points Bulletin (APB) screenshots and artwork; click the image after the jump to check it out.

Don't miss the awesome new trailer for Sega's Empire: Total War.  We've got it for you FOR FREE in HD quality--spread the word. :) Free HD Video From DigitalChumps.com! We'll have more on Empire: Total War as soon as we get our hands on it.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 There are few Command & Conquer fans that are as devoted to the franchise as editor-in-chief Steve and myself. To us, Command & Conquer is the defining RTS series and since the original title, we’ve enjoyed the series like none other. Though I really haven’t loved the more recent titles such as Generals and Command & Conquer 3, I still enjoyed the titles despite my longing for the days of old. You see, it is a consensus with me and Steve that the greatest C&C games have to be the original game as well as both of the previous Red Alert titles. These games capture the essence of true RTS glory and the balancing in Red Alert 2 is what makes it such an appealing multiplayer title (probably the best in the series yet). Therefore, when we began to learn more about the specific gameplay in Red Alert 3 and how it has conformed more to the gameplay from Red Alert 2, we immediately became giddy. According to EA’s developers (most of which worked on Red Alert 2), the Red Alert universe will always remain separate from the tiberium universe, in terms of story and game design,...

ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) Release Date: September 2008 Web Site: http://www.civilization.com Product Overview: Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization™ is the third offering in the award winning Civilization IV® series. A re-imagining of the classic Colonization game Sid Meier created in 1994, Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization is a total conversion of the Civilization IV engine into a game experience in which players will lead a European nation on their quest to colonize and thrive in the New World. Players will be challenged to guide their people from the oppressive motherland, discover a New World, negotiate, trade and fight as they acquire great power and battle for their freedom and independence. Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization does not require the original Civilization IV game to play. Features: Classic Game Design Rebuilt for the Modern Era: Usher forth a new generation of Sid Meier’s Colonization with gameplay built on the award winning Civilization IV engine, providing the beautiful visuals, famously addictive gameplay and endless fun that are synonymous with Sid Meier strategy games Fight the Homeland and Establish a New Nation: Play as the English, Spanish, French or the Dutch and journey to a brave new world in search of  freedom from your oppressive...

Empire: Total War I’m always a sucker for strategy games and the Total War series is one of the more in depth ones that I enjoy. Though I have only really played Rome: Total War, I am very excited to get my hands on Empire: Total War because the game looks down right beautiful. The game was in the pre-alpha state but it still looked magnificent. It takes place during the colonial times of the U.S.A. and the focus is on the Revolutionary War specifically. Players command a faction as they have done in previous games and play through a chunk of history to their own tune. But this time around, Empire has many new tricks up its sleeve. First of all, I must put out there that I’ve never seen more realistic water in a game ever. The water is absolutely realistic and the rest of the game is equally beautiful. I don’t really know what kind of a video card this game is going to require but I’m sure it will be a higher end one because of the visuals and the level of combat that ensues. The good thing to know though is that the game is at least...

Earlier today, I spent a considerable amount of time with one of Sony Online Entertainment’s newest creations, The Agency. The game is affectionately referred to by its developers as an “online persistent shooter”, which really translates, I suppose, into a grand online experience featuring spy action and military finesse. While The Agency hasn’t even yet entered the alpha development stage, it’s still got some grand ideas to bring to fruition. It follows the conflicts of two rival factions, the U.N.I.T.E. agency, which is rooted in spy work and closely resembles something out of a Bond film, and the Paragon agency, which is considerably more military-oriented. You can choose to be a member of whichever faction you like. Once you’ve made your choice, you can then put on an outfit to assume a role. Rather than implement a class system, the development staff behind The Agency felt it would be less restrictive if they allowed free, on-the-fly switching between roles. However long you spend working within a specific role, you will be awarded experience specific to the role and thus grow within it accordingly, improving your abilities in that area. But what if you don’t want to (or can’t) spend every waking hour...

"Earn money while playing!" Vanilla Live Games announces new city racer – BETandRACELiezen (Austria), 14th of July 2008. In August 2008 Vanilla Live Games will release BETandRACE, the first online arcade racing game, where the user has the possibility to race in real cities, with authentic cars against real opponents for real money. The user has the chance to select between different cars (such as Volkswagen).For the release there will be street circuits of Vienna and Berlin available and soon you will have the chance to download more cities and free updates atwww.betandrace.com. The city racer contains three track-types in each city: a round circuit, a sprint track and a drag track.The user has the possibility to train offline and improve his own racing times. When you play online in the ‘play money mode’ you can race against 3 opponents to train up your skills.It’s possible to race for play money, which you receive for free from Vanilla Live Games when you register for the game. Real racing atmosphere offers the real money mode (you must be 18+), where you can multiply your stake with only a €1,- bet against 7 opponents. Great money- and goods prizes are waiting for you...