With the holidays just around the corner – or passing for those who celebrate Chanukah – everyone is trying to find that perfect gift. However, if that perfect gift is a video game, it may be a little difficult to determine just which game from 2012 or 2011 to choose. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Assassin’s Creed III are great choices, but also rather expensive. Instead, here are some games in the $30 to $50 range that are definitely worth having.

Sleeping Dogs is a game that is available for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. In this gritty drama the player is Wei Shen, an undercover cop in Hong Kong, who is trying to take down a gang known as the Triads from the inside. However, in order to gain trust and climb his way up the Triad ranks, Wei Shen must take part in their criminal activities. Throughout the game the player is able to explore the city of Hong Kong both on foot and through driving vehicles. Sleeping Dogs got an average 9.2 rating out of 10 on Gamestop’s website.

Resident Evil 6 is the latest incarnation of the zombie-ridden video game series and can be purchased for PC, Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. Several things have been changed since the previous games. There are several new characters, four new ones in total, with two recurring characters: Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield. Additionally, the location and scale of the game has changed. Now, instead of being limited to one location the gameplay is global, taking the players to North America, Europe, and China.

Resident Evil 6 has great co-op opportunities – just as Resident Evil 5 did – so that two players can play together both online and offline. This feature is a definite benefit since the zombies are now more agile and able to use weapons, making them even more of a threat. Additionally, mutant creatures will be formed by the outbreak of the C-virus, creating more unpredictability. Ultimately, the game has gotten bad reviews but there are many new features and it is the next part of the franchise.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is also the most recent game in its franchise, but it has gotten excellent reviews ever since its release in 2011. This incarnation is set 200 years after Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and much has changed in the world of Tamriel, both in the story and in game play. Skyrim has a new combat system, new graphics, and a whole open world to explore. The player can also affect the direction of the story; if the player kills an important character that character’s family will try to hunt him or her down, giving the world a very realistic spin. Playing Skyrim is like having another life in a magical world. Skyrim can be purchased from Gamestop, pre-owned for the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360.

Another fantastic game that some players may have regrettably missed is Batman: Arkham City. This game is available on PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and has gotten incredible reviews. Similar to Skyrim, this latest Batman video game allows the player to explore an entire city while also fighting several different enemies such as the Joker, the Riddler, and Harley Quinn. The gaming world in Arkham city is five times the size of the previous gaming world in Batman: Arkham Asylum. With a 10 out of 10 from ‘Game Informer’ and a 9.4 out of 10 from GameStop customers, this game is a can’t miss for any gamer.

The last game that was particularly noteworthy for the 2011 to 2012 year is Rayman Origins. This game is a great platformer for kids and adults with incredible graphics and sound integrated into the game play. For example, for some of the levels the characters jump off of musical instruments, creating their own music as they jump their way through the world. The game is available for almost every system including Playstation 3, the PS Vita, PC, and Nintendo 3DS.

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Redmond, U.S.A — October 1, witnessed the launch of two new software titles that will have people broadening their artistic horizons and deepening their love of creative wordplay.

Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone! and Crosswords Plus are now available for the portable Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo 3DS XL systems, giving consumers a variety of fun ways to learn about how to draw and paint or challenge their puzzle-solving skills anytime, anywhere.

“Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone! lets everyone learn about how to draw and paint creatively, regardless of their current skill levels,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “And Crosswords Plus is a blast whether you’re a vocabulary enthusiast or just love solving word puzzles. Both of these new titles offer something for everyone, whether you consider yourself a traditional gamer or not.”

With Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone!, people of any artistic skill level can learn to unleash their imaginations using varying painting and drawing techniques. The skills learned can be easily transferred to real-life art projects. An in-game tutor guides users through more than 30 new lessons covering numerous concepts, including techniques for paints, pastels, sketch pencils and colored pencils. Each lesson can be completed at users’ own pace and paused for later completion.

Art Academy also features Free Paint mode, which encourages users to let their creativity run wild. Players also can take photos using their system’s built-in camera and use those images as the subject of a new drawing. Users can also purchase additional lessons from within the game to further hone their artistic skills. There are two lesson packs available at launch with additional lesson packs available in the future.

Crosswords Plus lets users try to solve more than 1,000 professionally designed different crossword puzzles at a variety of different skill levels. Players use the touch screen to input their answers, and a helpful hint system will give clues or fill in letters when they get stuck. Crosswords Plus also includes word-search and anagram puzzles and a vocabulary-building Word of the Day feature.

Additionally, with giant-sized puzzles, players will feel more like they are working through multiple crossword puzzles at a time. Players can also use a broadband Internet connection to access additional puzzles via SpotPass. They can even receive and share puzzles with other Nintendo 3DS owners using the built-in StreetPass feature. In the U.S. and Canada, players can also receive exclusive puzzle distributions from a Nintendo Zone location. Nintendo Zone locations offer a free and automatic connection to Wi-Fi and can be found by visiting http://www.nintendo.com/3ds/nintendozone.

Shoppers can purchase both packaged games as usual at retail locations nationwide. Or they can simply purchase and download the game on their own from the Nintendo eShop using a wireless broadband connection. Regardless of the purchasing method, both Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone! and Crosswords Plus sell at a suggested retail price of $29.99 each.

Also, Club Nintendo members who purchase either of these games through the Nintendo eShop and register them before Jan. 6, 2013, will receive a download code for the Donkey Kong: Original Edition game for free. This is a special version of Donkey Kong with content never before seen in the U.S. and is not available for purchase.

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Mons, Belgium – On September 21, 2012, Fishing Cactus, the Belgian video game studio behind Shift and Creatures 4, announced, in partnership with Armor Games, Aksys and Rising Star Games that the brain-smashing puzzle hit Shifting World for 3DS is hitting the shelves of all European stores while you’re reading this. A free one-level demo is available for downloadthrough the 3DS eShop.

Originally released as a browser game that has now been played by over 20 million players worldwide, then ported to mobile smartphones and tablets, on which it has been downloaded and enjoyed by 16 million people, Shift is now making the jump into full 3D in this exclusive 3DS edition titled Shifting World. This is by no means a straight port but rather a reinvention that takes full advantage of the extra dimension.

The famous monochrome styleremains, and so does the core principle of the gameplay: invert the world to best the levels. Player will constantly switch between 3D and 2D views to find his way through 60 levels spread over 5 unique worlds.

Shifting World has been developed and designed by Fishing Cactus, in collaboration with license-holder Armor Games and U.S. publisher Aksys. Aksys has already launched the game in Northern America and Japan, where steady sales have already established the title as a solid slowburner. Shifting World is brought to European shores through reputable distributor Rising Star Games.

“We are very proud to bring the Shift franchise to a Nintendo platform, and we truly believe we have done the 3DS justice by exploiting its best features in this Shifting World opus. We’re also excited to team up with a savvy publisher such as Rising Star Games for distribution of the title across Europe.”, stated Bruno Urbain, Studio Manager at Fishing Cactus.

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Teyon, a video games developer and digital publisher, announced on September 10, 2012, that the successful WiiWare series, Heavy Fire, is coming back with another installment on a new platform. Gun down enemies in Heavy Fire: Special Operations 3D on Nintendo 3DS starting from this Thursday, September 13th. The game will be available via North American Nintendo eShop for just $4.99.

Gear up and join an elite Special Forces unit in Heavy Fire: Special Operations 3D, an arcade-style on-rail shooter for Nintendo 3DS. Choose from three character profiles, each with unique attributes, and use a combination of brains and brawn (but mostly brawn) to blast your way through a variety of dangerous ground, vehicle and air-based stages. And if you’re really feeling trigger-happy, you can earn additional points by blowing up the environment. Each victory sees your military rank rise, earning you increasingly powerful and upgradeable weapons.

You’ll need preternatural reflexes and a never-say-die spirit to restore peace in the ever-volatile Middle East. When the smoke clears, will you be a Special Operations legend?

Features:

• An interactive, destructible environment featuring exotic Middle Eastern locales
• Slug your way through six diverse, challenging levels
• Higher military ranks enable more powerful weaponry
• A game store bursting with all kinds of cool power-ups

The official trailer of the game is available via Teyon’s YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5eVHNuYEvw

For more information visit the game site:http://www.teyon.com/games/heavy-fire-special-operations-3d/

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Continuing our list of some of the most influential games of all time, we include one of the best on-rail shooter for the Nintendo 64, two arcade classics that pretty much started the entire video gaming industry as well as two online games from Blizzard that have revolutionized the strategic and role playing game genre.

5. StarCraft (strategy)

StarCraft is virtual war taken to the highest level. A favorite national pastime in certain countries as well as a simulator for war, this game has taken strategy to a whole new level with Zerg, Terran and Protoss clans. The variations in tactics depended upon both player style and whichever of the three distinct and unique races a player used. There was a cost and benefit system that changed the way players looked at strategy, forcing them to think outside the box. One of the best selling PC games of all time, this game and its later iterations are still played today.

4. Star Fox 64 (On the Rail Shooter)

In the same vein as Dead Space: Extraction or old school Virtua Cop, Star Fox was one of the best on the rail shooting games on Nintendo 64. While subject to certain terrain and challenges, players were still controlling a weapon, albeit one that simulated flying. Players liked the smoothness of the animation as well as the non-linear level designs and the acceleration control.

Not a single player by any means, the game was a favorite multiplayer past time for gamers as well. The affect that Star Fox 64 had on games remains true even to this day as examples such as the Time Crisis shooter, Jurassic Park and Resident Evil games are found in arcade cabinets all over the world. Today, Star Fox has a new lease on life as 2011 saw ‘Star Fox 64 3D’ released for the Nintendo 3DS

3. World of Warcraft (MMO)

Perhaps the most enveloping PC game since the original Warcraft from Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft has since swept the world with its expensive open world game play, excellent character design and the uncanny ability to suck in every person we know for months at a time.

This game hosted weddings and parties online over a virtual world that players were proud to be members of and was so worth it that gamers still continue to flock to its updating mega pixels like rabid wolves. Dubbed W.O.W for short, this game received rave reviews from critics and players with over 10 million+ registered subscribers. No wonder we never see our friends unless we’re playing too.

2. Pac-Man (Classic)

The stealth game that started it all, with walls to hide behind and ghosts that hunt you down and then devour you, this is one of the most classic video games in all of history. A maze of death, the mantra of Pac-Man was avoiding enemies rather than fighting them, using tactics over brute strength to overcome large enemy numbers. Spanning the arcade, console, PC, Mac and handheld gaming devices, Pac-Man is widely credited as the origin of the stealth genre.

Descendants of the Pac-Man game include the Wolfenstein series on Mac and PC, the much vaunted Metal Gear Series, the Tenchu: Assassin series, Hitman as well as the more recent addition of the Assassins Creed series. Other games that included stealth elements include Batman: Arkham Asylum, Tom Clancy’s Splinter cell and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Always striking from the dark, recent games have followed Pac-Man’s knack for avoiding enemies and using leverage tactics to fight an opponent.

1. Pong (Arcade)

One of the earliest arcade games that also eventually landed onto personal computers, this tennis sports game in modest two dimensional graphics was considered the triumph of its time. Pong gave the player the ability to play against a simpler Alternate Intelligence than those of today, one that simulated human intelligence to a small degree as a first step into the world of single person gaming.

The next step was therefore to include a second set of controls for the Pong players at the arcade before the idea to move the game to a smaller personal computer was born. From there, the branches that are created from this game span generations of designers, programming languages, spoken languages, operating systems and genres of gaming.

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There are certain games that changed the face of the gaming landscape. They are not necessarily the titles that lasted the longest in our memories or the ones that made the most money, though significant overlap occurs. These are games that have challenged the perception of what it means to make a game and increasing, what it means to play a game.

Consoles and PC’s of every design, color and accessory will come and go but certain game plays stay with us because they fundamentally change the way we game. Their concepts were bold and while not always the newest, still innovative today. In no particular order, here are 10 games that changed the face of gaming.

Honorable Mention: Duck Hunt (Peripherals)

Easily one of the best gaming accessories in modern gaming history, the gun for duck hunt symbolizes accessories that have made gaming more than just pushing buttons but an interactive experience. Technology has grown today where items like the Wii Fit, Xbox Kinect and Playstation Move allow gamers an interactive involving experience with their games.

Duck Hunt isn’t so out of place in the modern world that a child cannot pick up the game and play it today. The graphics may have gotten better and wireless capability change the look of these peripherals but at the heart, shooting at the screen is much the same as it was 20 years ago. In a few years time peripherals will have a heavier hand in shaping game development but for the moment these items have not become a major concern for all developers, just some.

10. Star Wars: Rogue squadron (Franchise Game)                                                                                 

‘Rogue Squadron’ gets credit for being one of the most successful games based on a movie. In the franchise world of gaming, Star Wars has a mostly positive history of gaming successes. Featuring stunning graphics and excellent controls, the game was a riot for Star Wars fans to sink their teeth into. A meaty game with great sound design that made aerial combat come alive for the seriously discerning Star Wars fan.

Games such as ‘Star Wars Episode One: Racer’ and ‘Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic’ are mentioned in the same breathe as fan favorites that tied well into the main Star Wars Canon storyline. More recent games that tie just as well into their respective universes include ‘Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2′, ‘Transformers: War for Cybertron’ and ‘Matrix: The Path of Neo’.

9. GoldenEye 007 (Shooters)

Not to be confused with ‘Duck Hunt’ for its shooting peripheral, GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo 64 was the seminal shooting game that started it off for many adolescent gamers. The 007 games have a checkered past, with GoldenEye 007 being well received while others such as 1999′s third person shooter Tomorrow Never Dies was negatively received by fans due to its awkward controls.

GoldenEye 007′s innovations include precision aiming, sniper shooting and generally accurate targeting profiles not seen in many other games of that era. Its commercial success may have started off because ‘GoldenEye’ the game was a tie in for the ‘GoldenEye’ movie, but the real success was built on its multiplayer level design, weapons selection, and music.

In many ways it is not unlike current First Person Shoots of today because many of those elements were taken from GoldenEye’s design. Gamers that play Call of Duty or Battlefield will have no issue playing GoldenEye 007 though they will complain about the graphics for a game designed in 1997.

8. Street Fighter (Fighters)

There were many mediums for which Street Fighter was played. There was the console, which on Nintendo and Super Nintendo were a smash success. There was the arcade, of which fans argue which variant of Street Fighter was the best and tournaments are still held today. There was the PC, where fans could not only play but also watch it played on a huge 22 inch TV size monitor.

No matter the way you played, Street Fighter made Capcom a household name. Not to be confused with a different Ken that drove a fancy car and had a beach house, these are hard core fighters with attitude. Spawning live action and animated movies, the Street Fighter franchise has grown into a powerhouse hit of fighting entertainment. From humble beginnings in the 80′s to great success in the modern era, Street Fighter remains the king of fighting games.

7. Super Mario Bros (Platformers)

The platforming plumber we all love, with a theme song that no one will ever forget and characters that never grow old, Super Mario has lasted the test of time. Those faithful to Nintendo have been awarded with a series that has grown and evolved in amazing ways from its original title, Super Mario Bros in 1985.

Since then, there have been imitators and replicators, but none shall ever top the awesome power of plumbers, mushrooms and Yoshi. Super Mario Bros continues on today, with Nintendo releasing games such as Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 as well as Super Mario 3D Land on the Nintendo 3DS.

6. Pole Position (Racers)

One of the first racers and still inspiring racers today, Pole Position set the foundation in both arcade and simulation racing. Known for popularizing the above and behind driving prospective, Pole Position is also known for tracks based on real life racing circuits, adding the first taste of realism in racing simulators for that era.

Successors now feature environmental factors and a physics engine of unparalleled power add to the experience. Games that followed in the wake of Pole Position include the Forza series, the Gran Turismo Series, the Ridge Racer series, Sega GT as well as countless others on consoles, computer and in arcade cabinets.

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