XBOX 360 AMERICA’S ARMY: TRUE SOLDIERS DEMO NOW AVAILABLE

A demo of Ubisoft's America's Army: True Soldiers for the Xbox 360 is now available for download in The United States only via the Xbox Live Marketplace. Download size is approximately 535.46MB.

While at DigitalLife '07, I actually wound up running into Red Storm Entertainment's Randy Greenback on the floor and we discussed what the company hopes will set America's Army: True Soldiers apart from the other military simulations on the market – realism combined with teamwork.

Simply put, if you don't work with, and take care of, your teammates, don't expect to last long in America's Army. The game may have the real-life slower pacing of combat, but if you prefer being a one-man show, this is definitely not the title for you.

To assist in making players understand the need for true teamwork, the game will have such real world features as voice proximity (at a certain distance, your teammates can no longer hear you even if you shout), realistic injuries, a specialist system that makes each player a unique part of a team, a feedback system that rewards players who play the game as intended and of course, all the little touches that working directly with the U.S. Army allowed Red Storm Entertainment to craft into the title.

While I may be a fan of more run n' gun style shooters, I do believe this title could definitely interest those who find the somewhat over the top technology of the Ghost Recon series a little too unrealistic.

• America's Army: True Soldiers – Official website

DIGITALLIFE ‘07 HANDS-ON: THE EYE OF JUDGMENT

After much procrastinating, I’ve finally gotten around to posting my hands-on experience with Sony’s The Eye of Judgment, a hybrid collectible card game developed with the assistance of Wizards of the Coast, for the PlayStation 3.

Since the article is pretty long and somewhat image heavy, I’ve set up the full article on another page so that those of you who have no interest in the game don’t have to deal with seeing the whole story every time you visit the site.

Just a taste of what you’ll find in the full article – you know you want to read it!

• DigitalLife ’07 Hands-On: The Eye of Judgment – nylatenite.com
• The Eye of Judgment – Official website
• The Eye of Judgment Tutorial Trailer – GameTrailers.com

DIGITALLIFE ‘07 – HANDS-ON: GEARS OF WAR (PC)

Those of you who’ve been coming to the site for awhile have probably guessed that one of the games I was hoping would make an appearance at DigitalLife ’07 was the Windows version of Gears of War. While many of the titles I was hoping to get a chance to play were no-shows, I’m glad to report that Gears was indeed playable on the show floor.

Perhaps the best place to start is with this statement… it’s Gears of War. The section of the game I had the chance to play through took me from Marcus & Dom’s escape from Jacinto Penitentiary, through the meeting with Colonel Hoffman and into the battles in the ruins. Through that part of the game, the Windows port offered the exact same gameplay experience as the Xbox 360 original.

So what is going to make this version of Gears worth purchasing? Well, naturally if you don’t have an Xbox 360, this will be your first chance to play Epic’s masterpiece – and Gears remains an experience that should not be missed. In addition, the PC version will contain five new campaign chapters not found on the 360 (and, according to Epic Games VP Mark Rein, due to changes made to Unreal Engine 3 since the 360 version of Gears was released, these chapters will never be coming to the 360)

Beyond those five chapters, there is one other truly stunning difference between the two versions… the graphics. Simply put, if you thought the Xbox 360 version of Gears was a thing of beauty, you haven’t seen anything yet. The game looked absolutely amazing running on the kiosks in the Microsoft Games booth. Everyone I spoke with playing or watching the game could not get over just how good Gears looked. While I’m sure reaching that level of graphics at home is going to take a monster of a system, if you’ve got it, you’re going to see details that truly make the game a visual treat.

Control wise, the game was set up to be played with keyboard and mouse, and after a bit of trial and error, I was able to easily perform the same maneuvers I could pull off using the Xbox 360 control pad. The only place I noticed any kind of issue was when attempting to take cover from a standing position (as opposed to getting under cover using roadie-run). To be honest, I’m pretty sure that problem was more tied to my unfamiliarity with the keyboard controls. Beyond that one complaint, the default scheme worked quite well – though I will admit that should I decide to pick this one up, I’ll probably find myself using an Xbox 360 controller for familiarity’s sake.

So, what else is there to say? The game seemed extremely stable on the demo PC provided and there were no signs of slowdown or glitches evident. All signs seem to point towards Gears of War being a standout title.

In summing things up, my advice to those who have a system that can handle the game – and haven’t had a chance to play through Gears on the 360 – is to immediately add this one to your “must have” list. As I said earlier, Gears of War truly is an experience you should not miss. However, If you’ve already played the game to death on the 360, you’ll need to judge whether or not the five new chapters will justify the $49.99 price tag the game will carry.

The Windows PC version of Gears of War is scheduled to release on November 6th, 2007.

• Gears of War – Official website