Epictober

It's time to flex those MMA muscles because we're kicking off Epictober with our first Epic Giveaway. We're giving away a trip for 2 to UFC 137 in Las Vegas, courtesy of THQ.

UFC 137, which is set to take place on October 29th, features Georges St-Pierre and Carlos Condit fighting for the Welterweight Championship, along with BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz, Kongo vs. Mitrione and more. Now you'll have a chance to experience the Octagon first hand with a trip to Las Vegas, airfare and accommodations included.

For more details and to enter, just visit our Epictober site and good luck!

We looked to the future as part of Epictober back in, er ... October, but suffice it to say, we're still looking forward to 2011. We've updated these posts with the games that were announced since then, and here's what you can start looking forward to in 2011 and beyond. Just as a friendly reminder, 2011 starts in less than a week. So start your anticipating right now.

Strategy games might seem like they've been slowly fading into the background as console shooters and MMOs dominate the hardcore market, but the strategy gaming market hasn't gone anywhere. In fact, there's a lot on the horizon to be excited about, coming hard on the heels of the successful launches of games like StarCraft 2 and Civilization V

A lot of people say that the strategy market needs to expand on the consoles to really be successful, and we're beginning to see small steps in that direction. Last year's Halo Wars proved that strategy games can indeed work on a console, a concept that R.U.S.E. followed up on, but the double whammy of StarCraft and Civilization proved that the PC market can still churn out strategy titles that cause waves throughout the industry. 

But what's coming in the future? What should you be planning for that's already on the horizon?

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We looked to the future as part of Epictober back in, er ... October, but suffice it to say, we're still looking forward to 2011. We've updated these posts with the games that were announced since then, and here's what you can start looking forward to in 2011 and beyond. Just as a friendly reminder, 2011 starts in less than a week. So start your anticipating right now.

As we look ahead to what lies in store for lovers of quests, booty, dialogue trees, and dozens upon dozens of hours of character progression and inventory management, the forecast for the future of role-playing games is whatever the video game equivalent of 72 degrees and sunny is.

Obviously, you have your heavy hitters like BioWare and Blizzard, who will be delivering some of the most highly sought after games of this generation (Mass Effect 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Diablo 3, etc.). However, for as much innovation as these developers are trying to cram into these titles, there is still something relatively “old-school” about them; especially when you consider what the folks at inXile entertainment are doing with their co-op focused Hunted: The Demon's Forge, or the lengths to which Eidos is going with Deus Ex: Human Revolution to create the kind of RPG-shooter experience that fans of the franchise have been dreaming about for many years.

Still, whether you’re talking about traditional RPGs or RPG hybrids, the future has never been brighter for this time-intensive yet deeply rewarding genre. And on that note, we present to you our list of the top eight RPGs on the horizon that have us +45 excited.

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We looked to the future as part of Epictober back in, er ... October, but suffice it to say, we're still looking forward to 2011. We've updated these posts with the games that were announced since then, and here's what you can start looking forward to in 2011 and beyond. Just as a friendly reminder, 2011 starts in less than a week. So start your anticipating right now.

It's snowing at magic hour. You and your recon partner lie motionless on top of an embankment overlooking an enemy camp, encased in a cold blanket of ice and silence. Your gloved finger hovers over the trigger. You stare down your sight and track one of the guards. With a deep inhale, the world stops as your expertly executed bullet sails through the air. As your target’s skull explodes in a cacophony of bone and blood and brains, your exhale turns to steam against the frigid air and all hell breaks loose.

It’s moments like these that you can only safely encounter in videogames. From the comfort of your couch, you can experience the heart-pumping, adrenaline rush of wielding high-tech weaponry, the likes of which is only limited by the human imagination. This is what makes shooters so special; no matter your station in life, you can be transformed into a badass bullet machine, experience new, foreign environments and still be on time for dinner.

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We looked to the future as part of Epictober back in, er ... October, but suffice it to say, we're still looking forward to 2011. We've updated these posts with the games that were announced since then, and here's what you can start looking forward to in 2011 and beyond. Just as a friendly reminder, 2011 starts in less than a week. So start your anticipating right now.

It’s a good time for platformers. Old school XBLA/PSN redo’s and next-gen, grand-scale adventures are filling our calendars with little beacons of side-scrolling hope over the next few weeks and months. As FPS titles and third-person action/stealth games continue to dominate the market -- spreading a vague sense of sameness from game-to-game -- the classic platformer is rapidly evolving and adapting for modern audiences. 

Pulled from 1980s ooze by new millennia nostalgia, the next-gen platformer is still a fledging property, still trying to carve out its niche while paying homage to its roots. Kept alive largely by handheld consoles like the Nintendo DS, it’s been a tricky road attempting to translate the plat-formula into this console era, and services like Xbox Live and PSN have certainly provided an excellent arena in which to re-release and re-imagine our favorites. 

But which games are likely to propel the trend forward and keep the torch lit as we move steadily from left to right? And which of the upcoming titles will introduce the idea that’ll keep platformers on the radar for years to come? We looked ahead into the next few months to bring back a sense of which platform titles you should be watching…

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We looked to the future as part of Epictober back in, er ... October, but suffice it to say, we're still looking forward to 2011. We've updated these posts with the games that were announced since then, and here's what you can start looking forward to in 2011 and beyond. Just as a friendly reminder, 2011 starts in less than a week. So start your anticipating right now.

Real-life rarely presents us with either action or adventure, and when it does, we almost always regret it. Only truly crazy people like BASE jumpers and firefighters actually seek out excitement; the competing values of safety and sitting-in-a-chair are usually a lot less trouble, and you don't get so messy. But still, something in the human heart yearns to experience moments of pure exhilaration during our dreary march to the grave. No amount of vicodin can squash Man's eternal desire to discover new vistas, do the impossible, and jump very, very high; that's where action-adventure video games come in. Plus, you don't have to wear pants.

Like all modern video game genres, there's no strict definition of "Action Adventure." Games like Bioshock: Infinite lean toward shooter, where something like inFamous 2, with its moral choices and power-up skill trees, is practically an RPG. Gameplay-wise, upcoming action-adventure games run the stylistic gamut as well – inFamous 2, with its colorful, over-the-top hero, wall-climbing and lightning shooting action, and comic book morality will play entirely differently from the deliberate investigation at the heart of L.A. Noire, but all these games hold something in common.

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This week during Epictober, we took a look at the future of the major game genres and highlighted what lies beyond the horizon in the storm of games that are approaching on an imminent tidal wave of inbound 2010 titles. What shooters should you be prepared for? What fighting games should be on your radar? If leaping and jumping is your thing, then what platformers should you start thinking about?

Keep reading to get an excerpt from each of our prognosticating posts, and then head on to read the full features. Thanks for helping us make everything all the more Epic!

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G4's massive Epictober week of exclusives and awesomeness is over, everyone. I know, it's very sad, but we still have our memories to sustain us. I'm sure you have been paying total attention to every Epictober post throughout the week, bookmarking and cataloging each meticulously, but, in case you missed anything, you'll find everything Epic below, in a diary of Epicosity.

Monday

• We dig out our cracked crystal ball and bring you The Future of Shooters.
• We have strong feelings about the five cities Fallout 4 should visit
• Exclusive video of Fallout: New Vegas' White Glove quest line!

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Wave your hands frantically in the air if you’re excited for motion controls on HD consoles! In an effort to go toe-to-toe with Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have decided to release their own version of immersive controls. For Sony, it’s the PlayStation Move: a decidedly Wii-esque controller and camera that tracks your movements one-to-one. Meanwhile on November 4th, Microsoft is set to unleash Kinect: a 3D camera that scans your body and follows your every move without the need for anything in your hands.

While we can’t say which one will reign supreme yet, we can use our virtual crystal ball (the Move works well as a substitute) to look into the future. Join us as we discuss some of the upcoming titles that make us excited for the possibilities that both systems have to offer. Bring your hands!

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Good video games borrow; great video games steal, and Activision-Blizzard’s World of Warcraft is a great video game. Since launch, WoW has systematically added features originating from outside Blizzard's internal talent pool. Whether integrating UI improvements ganked from the massive WoW modding community, or lifting gameplay features straight from competing MMOs or games in other genres, WoW is very good at recognizing what works and bringing it to Azeroth.

In other words, “stealing.”  Theft is a two-way street, of course, and just about every MMO released since the dawn of WoW has boosted some aspect of the 800-pound MMO gorilla’s style. It’s the circle of video game life, and it’s also how the art form of video games (and every other art form and human endeavor) progresses.

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Adam Sessler journeyed to the far reaches of the earth, otherwise known as Guilford, England, and spoke to the developers of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. Since the franchise is returning to its original roots as a cops vs. criminals high-speed matchup, we take a look at everything that a speeding officer of the law needs to have in his arsenal.

From helicopter support to spike strips, you've got a lot of tricks up your sleeve that you'll need to take down the warp-speed bad guys. You know, the criminals that are so callous that flashing red and blue lights just won't deter them. It's time to pull out the secret weapons, and here's a good look at them.

For even more Epictober goodness, you'll want to look at some of our other red-hot exclusives like:

• An exclusive look at the "Kowloon" single-player level and the "Jungle" multiplayer level from Call of Duty: Black Ops
• The Future of Action / Adventure Games
  
• The Future of Shooters
• The Future of Platformers
• Exclusive look - Fallout: New Vegas's White Glove Society quest line
• Your first look at "Tomorrow City" from Disney Epic Mickey

If you're anything like me, driving exotic cars has become passe. My everyday car is a Bugatti Veyron, and on weekends I drive a 1936 Cord 810 Phaeton. They're okay and all, but seriously, there have to be dozens of other people on the planet driving those cars. I long for something special. Something one-of-a-kind. I long to drive the kind of hero cars you can only find in Hollywood movies... and video games.

Unless you're lucky enough to work as a performer at Universal Studios, you'll probably never drive the Ghostbusters' Ecto1, but at least you can pretend in games. Below please find my highly personal list of movie and TV super-cars, and the best games in which to drive them.

KITT from Knight Rider -- If you've ever wanted to sit inside a poncy British butler, KITT. is the vehicle for you. Filled with personality and an Old World fussiness, KITT was always a bigger star than that poser David Hasselhoff. The best place to drive KITT is in Knight Rider: The Game, a forgettable, mission-based driving game where all you do is tool around in the black, super-teched out Trans Am. But don't take my word for it: Check out this ancient review from Extended Play. Nice hair, Adam Sessler!

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There are so many things to be impressed by when you talking about Media Molecule’s recently/sadly delayed sequel LittleBigPlanet 2. Like, for instance, the fact that the developers accidentally stumbled across the idea of using the game’s new music sequencer to build entire levels. Or that the developers built LBP2 using just LittleBigPlanet. Oh, and the fact that instead of limiting yourself to levels, you can now create fully realized games of all genres and styles. You know. No big deal.

To fill the adorable hole in our hearts left by the game’s delay, we present our latest Epictober-fied look at LBP2 straight from the mouths of the folks behind one of our most anticipated games of next year.

And for even more LittleBigPlanet, check out 10 of Our Favorite LittleBigPlanet Levels, or the rest of our Epictober content below:

• An exclusive look at the "Kowloon" single-player level and the "Jungle" multiplayer level from Call of Duty: Black Ops
• Exclusive look - Fallout: New Vegas's White Glove Society quest line
• Your first look at "Tomorrow City" from Disney Epic Mickey
• Fable 3's new enemy reveal from Molyneux's newest

There are over 3 million user created levels in the LittleBigPlanet community, so there are bound to be a fair amount of below average, “What were you thinking?!” offerings, there are also tons of truly fantastic and brilliant levels as well. As we saw in our recent Epictober feature on LittleBigPlanet 2, the creation tools available in the new game are astoundingly capable, and when you consider what people were able to do with LBP (Media Molecule actually built LBP2 using LBP, so don’t get too cocky about your skills), we can only imagine what the madly skilled LBP community will do once they get their hands on the sequel.

To tide us over while we wait for the recently delayed LBP2, we figured we’d suggest to you 10 LBP levels that you should definitely check out. The first five are just all around cool, while the second five are just particularly well designed nods to popular game franchises. Enjoy! 

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On this week's MMO Report...The Warcraft patch paving the way for the series' upcoming Cataclsym has finally struck the community, sending the usual pre-expansion shockwave of balance issues throughout the realm. In addition, we've got our hands on a new Old Republic developer diary in which the ancient Council of Developers discuss the careful construction of the game's light-side mechanics and characters. And lastly, the loud, angry rumblings of an ousted Warhammer developer have hit the interwebs, carrying rumors that Old Republic is being privately regarded as a potential disaster.

Check it all out on this week's MMO Report....

 While you're enjoying the MMO Report be sure to check out our two Epictober exclusives:

• MMO Report Presents: Exclusive First Look at Rift's Plane of Water, Realm of Iron Pine
• MMO Report Presents: End of Nations Superweapon -- The Tactical Nuke

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