Tom Clancy’s The Division is one crazy game, set in post-apocalyptical Manhattan where every player is literally for themselves; with player versus the A.I, and player versus player scenarios. Lots of trigger happy bad guys from various factions spread out across a post-virus city; play with your squad as you clear out buildings of enemies, and even get caught up in violent street battles.

The selection of weapons is not that great, and the game-play can feel a little repetitive; the enemies however come in a variety of skill levels, from plain stupid to mean and dangerous, with weapons ranging from baseball bats to flame-throwers.

The Division’s PvP area is a mind-storm though and you have to be extracted by chopper, which you signal by a flare; firing this flare attracts other players who will try to get to where you are to steal your loot that you looted from the infected areas in the dark zone. It can become quite tense when players start shooting, and you have to shoot your way out just to get to your chopper, and also to protect your loot.

Mindcraft is an open-ended creation focused game within an exploration based environment; there are no rules and no real story to the game. This game is primarily aimed at children, though it’s for people of all ages who want to create something from nothing and build their own world within a virtual environment, using materials they harvest from the world around them; what they build and how far they build their world is up to them and their imagination. There are also monsters that players will encounter; though there is no blood and gore. They will be aggressive and players will use swords and bows to defeat them; though for some players they may appear to be scary due to how they appear and the sounds they make, especially when they appear out of nowhere and attack.

For some reason it has taken off like a rocket, and has become one of the best selling games on the market; though it’s hard to understand how a game that has retro blocky graphics can even have such an appeal. If one had to guess, it’s down to the learning aspect that can help kids learn math and science through creation, and to be creative as they use thinking and reasoning skills to build and develop their world; as well as interact with other players with the online game-play and learn how to collaborate effectively. The downside with online game-play is that parents have to be aware that the servers are hosted by private non-moderated servers; therefore any player can create a monster in any shape or form and profanity could also be incorporated into their game play.

All in-all if you’re looking for a well-suited game for children that can be played online or offline, that can keep kids occupied for hours, and out of trouble then Mindcraft is the game for them; alternatively for adults with nothing better to do and in desperate need of an escape from the pressures of the real world, then this game can provide the escape they need and so much more.

It is always an easy target, especially after some of the incredible success that their games have had, but Valve have made a number of mistakes in recent years, but almost all of them have been in aid of making Steam, and PC gaming in general, a better place. Steam Greenlight was Valve’s attempt to limit, or at least improve the quality of, games getting released on Steam. The idea was that these games would face a vote on Greenlight from the community; those with overwhelmingly positive votes would make it onto Steam, those without would linger until they improved their showing.

That was the idea anyway. Instead we had games from recognisable developers and publishers being forced through Greenlight, while other games, extremely rubbish ones, that used Valve’s proprietary engine would skip the process. Steam Greenlight has taken a back seat on Steam recently though; with games coming out and being filtered into “New Releases” and “Popular New Releases.” Steam’s problems continue.

Thomas Was Alone is the charming tale of Thomas. A coloured square. A coloured square who is trying to break free and live his life outside of an oppressive computer programme. It sounds bizarre, and creator Mike Bithell has a reputation for making off the wall and unusual games, but the game is relatively straight forward. You play as Thomas and along the way you recruit other shapes of various colour and sizes, each with their own unique ability. Some can jump higher, one floats, one is heavier etc all in the name of solving the game’s many puzzles.

The game features, among other things, a famous actor doing the voiceover. It can get a little smug at times (such is an advantage of being English) but overall the story, writing and voice work are all really strong and add to what is, already, a really good game. Mike Bithell has already started work on his next game, Volume.

Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto has suggested that the gaming veterans will stop focusing making games for passive gamers, and focus on hardcore games instead.

Interesting statement, as the Wii’s success came from casual gamers getting into the system for the first time, with games like Wii Sports proving extremely popular.

The designer of Mario has suggested his interest lies in hardcore gaming, with this quote from CVG;

“[These are] the sort of people who, for example, might want to watch a movie. They might want to go to Disneyland,” he said. “Their attitude is, ‘OK, I am the customer. You are supposed to entertain me.’ It’s kind of a passive attitude they’re taking, and to me it’s kind of a pathetic thing. They do not know how interesting it is if you move one step further and try to challenge yourself [with more advanced games].”

He suggests the casual gamer is more interested in smartphone gaming nowadays, so focusing on actual core gamers will make more sense.