The first two instalments of the Mass Effect series are widely considered to be some of the best games ever made. Certainly they rank among the greatest RPGs. With the outstanding quality of their story telling, and their stunning audio and visuals, they set the bar so high for the third instalment that some began to wonder if disappointment was inevitable. Thankfully the doubters have been proven wrong, as with Mass Effect 3 Bioware has not only cleared the bar, but they raised it several not...

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was just updated again, making a number of changes and additions to the game. The default map has been switched from Inferno to Train, which appears to be a far better recreation than Inferno, apart from the fog issue. There are also a bunch of new weapons: the Para, the TEC-9 Pistol, the SG 552 (pictured), and the AUG....

I've been shooting some face in the CS:GO beta for the first time this evening, and there's quite a bit to talk about. I should preface this impressions article with the note that while I used to play at a national level, it has been years since I've delved into any CS in any serious capacity. I'm sure there will be a number of current day elitists out there who disagree with my opinions, but I'm not claiming this as gospel, so append as much or as little weight to these opinions as you care to....

Who wants a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta key? We haven't got many, only 8 in fact, but we're about to give them away to a bunch of lucky readers! How do you put yourself in the running for one of these CS:GO beta keys? Just follow us on Twitter, and retweet the Tweet we've just made:




The first 3 GU Premium members...

Who here is looking forward to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive? Considering that this community's roots were founded in the early betas of Counter-Strike, I'd hope at least a few of you still have an interest! The next lot of CS:GO beta keys will be given away based on the results of a new Steam survey and participant selections will be made over coming months. "Sometimes we might add experienced players, other times new players. Sometimes 1.6 players, sometimes CSS players, sometimes people who ...

Borderlands was a big hit and the sequel is unsurprisingly highly anticipated. 2K Games has today revealed that it will be available for Australians on September 21, 2012. "Today is a good day for all who have been vying to return to Pandora: Borderlands 2 has a release date! The much-anticipated sequel will be arriving in North America on Tuesday, September 18th and internationally on Friday, September 21st." A new trailer is also available to gawk at, titled "Doomsday." Have a look at the vide...

Aired on US television during the latest episode of AMC's Walking Dead is the full length CG trailer that so many Mass Effect fans have been hanging out for. The Mass Effect 3 trailer in question, titled "Take Earth Back", is now on YouTube, so we've embedded it here for you to watch. And it's amazing. In other Mass Effect news, publisher Electronic Arts are sending copies into space. Yes, literally launching copies of the game into space, using weather balloons that will be released in major ca...

Sure, we can't buy Syndicate in Australia upon the February 21 release, but you can import it - and it sure looks well worth the trouble. This latest excellent trailer is again scored by Nero so make sure you give it a watch. "With no government to question their intentions or actions, the three mega corporations - Eurocorp, Cayman Global, and Aspari - are at the forefront and Business is War," says EA.

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I'm sure there are many sci-fi inspired pants-tent parties in at least a few computer rooms as I write this: Mass Effect 3 has gone gold ahead of its March 9 release. And that is of course confirmation there be no further delay and we'll all be playing as Shepard very shortly. If you're not sure what going 'gold' is, it simply means the game is finished and is ready to be written to discs for distribution. Joy....

Quite a few members here at GU have been keenly anticipating more news on the forthcoming Unreal Engine based mech shooter, Hawken. If you missed the trailer, check it out! It turns out that the beta sign-up for the free-to-play Indie creation has just gone live! The game is due on December 12 of this year, but we're assuming beta access will be granted well before that.


Anyway, head on over and get registered: www.playhawken.com...

Another Aliens: Colonial Marines treat has arrived in the shape of the gameplay trailer that has been embedded here for your viewing pleasure. Since the news of the delayed release Gearbox has revealed its plans for multiplayer component showing "very soon" having given it "a huge amount of attention". Stayed tuned for that!

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The guys over at Unknown Worlds have just deployed build 194, titled "Gorilla". In celebration of this release they've also release a new three minute trailer which is sure to impress fans of the IP and sci-fi alike. A long, long list of changes, additions and fixes have been made. Here's a list of the key features:

• You can now evolve to Onos when your team has three hives.
• The Onos can toss marines with his Gore attack, smash structures and Stomp on the ground, sending a shockwave that

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]8795[/ATTACH]DICE have announced on their Battlefield 3 blog that spectator mode will be added to the game in an upcoming patch. The BF3 community has been clamouring for spectator mode since shortly after game

There's some nervous anxiety building amongst fans of the Max Payne franchise, as it has been dormant for a decade and Max Payne 3 is being developed by Rockstar with no input from the original developer, Remedy Entertainment. Rest assured that Remedy are very happy with how it's all turning out.

Remedy's head of franchise development "Ozz" Hakkinen told Kotaku, when asked what his thoughts on Max Payne 3 were, that it's "Brilliant." He continued on to say "We absolutely love what they've...

It looks like we're stuck with another Origin exclusive for the third instalment of the massively popular Mass Effect franchise. Being released on March 8, BioWare has made the announcement that the game will be available through EA's Origin service and a number of third-party retailers, but due to "restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content" we won't see it on Steam. "We are intent on providing Mass Effect to p...