###..::::::Gaming Garden:::::....##

google3aadc5f30867b955.html

Age of Empires III (AOE III) is a real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Microsoft Corporation's Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Released on October 18, 2005 in North America and November 4, 2005 in Europe, it is the third game of the Age of Empires series and the sequel to Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. The game portrays the European colonization of the Americas, between approximately 1500 and 1850 CE (expanded in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs to 1876). Eight European civilizations are playable.

Age of Empires III has made several innovations in the series, in particular with the addition of the "Home City", which combines real-time strategy and role-playing game features. Two expansion packs have been released: the first, Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs, was released on October 17, 2006, and introduced three Native American civilizations; the second, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, was released on October 23, 2007, and included three Asian civilizations.

Age of Empires III has sold over 2 million copies as of May 2008. As well as achieving favorable reviews, it has received awards, including GameSpy's "Best RTS game of 2005", and was one of the best-selling games of 2005.^[3] In 2007, Age of Empires III was the seventh best-selling computer game, with over 313,000 copies sold that year.^[4]

WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth 4 (Exciting Pro Wrestling 4 in Japan) is a professional wrestling video game released on the PlayStation 2 console by THQYUKE's Future Media Creators. It is part of the WWE SmackDown video game series based on the professional wrestling promotionWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). This game was the sequel to WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It and was succeeded by WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. It was the first game not to have The Rock on the cover, although he appeared on the cover of the PAL version along with Hulk Hogan. and developed by

[edit] Gameplay

Season mode was relengthened to two game years, as opposed to the abbreviated season mode in its predecessor. It was the first game to feature the Brand Extension featuring Ric Flair's Raw and Vince McMahon's SmackDown!pay-per-view event per month. If the superstar is a created superstar, or if the original superstar is below a rating of 60, he will start (or be demoted) to wrestle on Sunday Night HEAT. Eventually, the player will have the freedom to fight on the two major TV shows, appearing on two RAW and two SmackDown! shows and the PPV event, even if he did not hold the Undisputed Championship. One of the major angles featured is based on a nWo storyline featured in early 2002 that included Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and X-Pac, who replaced Scott Hall from the original televised storyline, after Hall was released for his problems arising from his alcohol-related actions. Players compete exclusively on the show they are drafted to for the first few months of year 1, consisting of four Raw or four SmackDown! events, plus a

Like its predecessor WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, Shut Your Mouth'sWomen's are included in the game: WWE Undisputed, Intercontinental, European, Tag Team, Cruiserweight, and Hardcore championships. championships cannot be contended for in Exhibition mode and can only be defended in season mode. All of the major titles of the time, except for the

Televised and pay-per-view events are televised from the SmackDown! Arena, which is based on Madison Square Garden, as seen from outside the arena and within the main foyer. Though each week, each event takes place from a different city (as announced by Jim Ross at the start of the events), the areas outside of the arenas remain in Manhattan, New York. Notable areas are a New York Subway stop named SmackDown! Station, Times Square, and The World. Although this game was seen as a vast improvement over Just Bring It, it still had several problems and limitations, many of which are corrected by its successor, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. The game features several arenas that WWE held events at in 2001 and 2002. There are also arenas based on each WWE television show. In certain arenas, players could make their wrestlers scale the TitanTron and jump off it. In addition, The Undertaker's motorcycle could be ridden in some matches.

In terms of graphics, some wrestlers were greatly improved, and included realistic facial features. Fully animated entrances for each character are featured, with their entrance video playing on the TitanTron, and their respective themes playing in the arena. The only exception is Maven, who instead was given the SmackDown! theme (although an instrumental of his real theme can be unlocked with a cheat device). The title belts are also displayed in the entrances realistically (i.e. if The Rock held the title, he would carry it to the ring and toss it above his head in his salute to the people, as opposed to wearing the belt on his shoulder or around his waist). The belts move according to natural physics, as well. This game was also the first to include alternate attires which the player could unlock through Season Mode (the game also holds the record for most alternating costumes in the SmackDown! series with 37 individual superstars collecting either one or two extra costumes).

For wrestler entrances, most of the themes used in the televised and house showsJim Johnston, remakes of Johnston's originals from bands such as Breaking PointOur Lady Peace (for Chris Benoit), and Saliva (for The Dudley Boyz) were featured. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler provide sporadic commentary. Some calls of big moves are missed, as well. However, ring announcer Howard Finkel returned to provide his voice for match introductions and wrestler entrances. were incorporated into the game. Along with the in-house music from (for Rob Van Dam),

Create-A-Superstar mode gives the freedom to manipulate any part of the superstar's body. It also offers over 58 move sets from a combination of wrestlers in WWE not featured in the game or working in different promotions. A gripe, however, is that it is impossible to give CAW's teeth. Rey Mysterio's mask and entrance is unlockable in the game. It is also possible to create John Cena in the game. Also, it is possible to create Darth Vader in the game as his mask is available as create parts.

This would also be the last game not to feature any blood, later being feature on the 2003 sequel, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain.

Global Operations comes along at a time when the gaming public has been screaming for a true squad based FPS. Medal of Honor was Great, but lacked the control of a squad sized unit. Return to Castle Wolfenstein suffered from the same affliction, both are great FPS games but are based on the actions of a single soldier. G.O. (Global Operations) supplies the same level of great graphics and linear mission Gameplay, but based on a squad sized unit which you are but a single member of. The completion of the given mission does not hinge solely on your actions, but upon the actions of the entire squad. Let me explain further, the squad is composed of several specialized members. There is the Heavy Gunner (close to medium range contact with a heavy machine gun, useful for covering advance of the other squad members, and for suppressing enemy fire), Commando (close range, usually the first into a firefight, armed with rifles and submachine guns), Demo Man (responsible for destroying targets with high explosives, lightly armed and fast), Recon (responsible to scout ahead and locate enemy positions, armed with submachine gun and thermal or night vision opticals, fast), Medic (lightly armed and responsible for reaching downed and incapacitated members of the squad with medical aid), Sniper (armed with a high powered sniper rifle capable of taking out the enemy from a distance). Depending on the mission, each member of the squad has a role to play, covering the advance of the Demo man as he places charges on a target for example. If no one covers him and the charges do not reach the target then the mission is a failure. Interfaced commands to the other squad members helps keep everyone together and headed for the same objective, but covering each other is the key to a successful mission, you cannot go off on a "Rambo" style killing spree and expect to complete the mission, it doesn't work in real life and it doesn't work in G.O. either.

G.O. immerses the player in several real world locations that include Mexico, Chechnya, Sri Lanka, Beirut and the South China Seas. These locations are very realistic and full of rich textures and amazing details. They tend to set a specific mood for the mission. Players then will have to choose to play as a member of one of over 25 elite fighting forces based on authentic special forces, peace keepers, rebels and guerilla forces.

There are several innovative features to this game that were unexpected and not yet found in any other FPS game I have played to date. First, footsteps have different tones for different surfaces, for example, gravel, concrete, and wood floors all sound different. Second is the effects of explosives, if a flash grenade goes off close to you, you get a white screen, temporarily blinding you, then the sound goes dead except for a buzzing simulating the ringing in your ears. This is exactly the effect an actual flash grenade would have, temporarily stunning your senses and making near impossible for you to detect approaching enemy troops. Very nice! Also, being hit with a Gas grenade without a gas mask has a nice blinking, blurry effect that is similar to the effects of an actual CS gas, again making it very hard to effectively continue the fight.

Global Operations features 32 weapons and assorted equipment: handguns, shotguns, submachine guns, assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles, body armor, night and thermal vision goggles, knives, timed and remote C4 explosives, grenades (HE, Gas, Flash), LAW rocket launchers, scopes, suppressors, extra capacity magazines, laser sights, TAC lights, and more. With this kind of arsenal at your disposal, you can do some serious damage! They even give you the option of a selector switch for automatic weapons, giving you control over your rate of fire. You may select between single shot, burst, or full auto, this comes in handy when you want to conserve ammo, or control a weapon that jumps around a lot in full auto. Of course your primary weapons indictated by the specialty you select to play as. But if your primary weapon should run out of ammo, you may pick up any dropped weapon and continue the fight.

Multiplayer over the Internet is available and I have played it. Basically the play is the same as single player mode except that the other players are now real people. The missions and objectives are the same. This may be the weak point in the game, it plays well but we need to get some map builders out there working on this game. Multiplayer mode will only improve with time, keep in mind that this is a team game and communication is critical. The other thing I found, or rather didn't find was any kind of game lobby where a player could see what specialties the other players were playing as. This would be helpful, who wants to go in not knowing what his other team mates are doing or who he is supporting. Access to the map during play would be helpful too.

Is this game worth the $30.00 asking price? You bet, this game grabs you and drags you in. The graphics and sounds are all top rate. The varied missions keep your attention. This game gets four paws up from the Ovaldog!

Half-Life 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game and the sequel to the highly acclaimed Half-Life. It was developed by Valve Corporation and was released on November 16, 2004, following a protracted five-year,^[3] $40 million^[4] development cycle during which the game’s source code was leaked to the Internet.^[5] The game uses the Source game engine, which includes a heavily modified version of the Havok physics engine.^[6] Originally available only for Windows-based personal computers, the game has since been ported to the Xbox, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 video game consoles.^[7]

Half-Life 2 takes place in a dystopian world in which the events of Half-Life have fully come to bear on human society, which has been enslaved by the extraterrestrial civilization known as the Combine. The game takes place in and around the fictional City 17 and follows the adventures of scientist Gordon Freeman. Freeman must fight against increasingly unfavorable odds in order to survive.

Half-Life 2 garnered near-unanimous positive reviews and received critical acclaim,^[8][9] winning over 35 PC Game of the Year awards for 2004.^[10] The game has been critically praised for its advances in computer animation, sound, narration, computer graphics, artificial intelligence (AI), and physics.