A little background may be needed on Duke Nukem, so please, allow me…

Back in 1996 there was a little gem of a game called Duke Nukem 3D. It was released on PC, Mac, Playstation and Saturn and it was the first first-person-shooter to give the hero a personality. Loaded with violence, strippers and foul language, Duke Nukem 3D became an instant classic and attracted the attention of parents and senators everywhere. The game’s appeal didn’t stop there, as it was also a very fun game; so much so in fact that many folks are still enjoying it today on iOS and Xbox Live Arcade.

Fast-forward to today and it seems new owners, a company by the name of Gearbox Software, have stepped up to the plate to finish putting the polish on Duke’s brass. During Penny Arcade Expo this year, attendees were treated to a playable demo of the game that many waited in line for four hours to play. It certainly seems like the developers have abandoned the whole mentality of the game being done “when it’s done,” and it looks like they have a definite roadmap to the finish.

I’m not a fan of first-person-shooters, myself. To be truthful, I get motion-sickness while playing them and I’m not a fan of taking dramamine in order to play a video game. However, because Duke Nukem Forever is such an infamous title and because it is predictably going to be the talk of the industry when it’s released, I’ll make an exception just this once. You know, for Duke.

You can (hopefully) keep up to date on all the latest happenings of Duke Nukem Forever at the game’s official web site.

So, I thought I’d tell you about my successful match and add some helpful tips.

The match took place on the map “Invasion”, and it was a domination game.  I began the match equipping the FN SCAR with a red dot sight and a “thumper” grenade launcher.  I had frag and stun grenades equipped.  (I can’t, for the life of me, remember what my perks were.)  I started out by sprinting to the second floor of a building but got sniped almost instantly.  When I re-spawned, I sneaked behind the enemy lines and killed a sniper.  Using his perch, I took out two other members of the hostile team, as they were advancing up the street.  I called in a drone and moved on.  Luckily, I left the building at the right time, putting me right behind a hostile.  I shot him and called in a airdrop supply kit, which turned out to be a Pavelow gunship.  The gunship racked in 16 kills, making me the highest scoring player on my team.  Then, using my shield class, with my friend covering over my back with a MG4, I got two melee kills, ending the game.

I also promised some tips, didn’t I?  Here they are:

• Fight with friends.  Almost every time I play online, I am playing with a friend or two.  We usually fight in ground war because you can use party chat there.  Playing with a friend allows you to cover each other and fight tactically.
• Pick a weapon, and stick with it.  In my opinion, it’s best to pick one gun you are great with and use it a lot.  Worry about getting mods for it, not what is the next gun.  This allows you to have mastered specific weapons, which is a real value.  One of my friends, a level 45, still uses the M4 as his go-to gun.
• Suicide bomber.  If you have the Javelin and want to get major kills, do this:

1. Equip your Javelin.  Make sure you have Semtex grenades equipped.
2. Tap Y so the Javelin comes up.
3. Hold down RB. DON’T LET GO!
4. Press and release Y.  Don’t let go of RB.
5. Run towards a group of the enemy.  Don’t let go of RB.
6. When you get shot, you will explode in a massive explosion, killing anyone within, say, 200 meters. This is very useful for uprooting entrenched enemies and flags on Domination.

In my opinion (and almost everyone else) , Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is one of, if not, the best FPS game ever.  Just remember my tips and you should succeed!  Happy gaming!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDSRdp6Ar3M[/youtube]

Borderlands is a new Role-Playing/First Person Shooter game for the PC, 360, and PS3 coming out this November.  It looks fantastic, as the game seamlessly blends the two of the most popular game types.  Here are descriptions of four characters you can play as:

• Brick: A massive beast of a man who has the ability to beat the daylights out of anything! He wears a necklace adorned with the paw of his beloved, but deceased, dog. He fills in for the the walking tank role and can take quite a beating, and can chug berserker-state inducing pills for short bursts of power.
• Lilth: Once a human, Lilith at one point was turned into a siren. One of only six known Sirens, they are a group of people with amazing powers but no way to control them.  She can affect time and become invisible.
• Mordecai: Mordecai comes to Pandora in search of a man from his past named Demosthenes. When he learns Demosthenes has died, Mordecai sets off to learn how he died and what he was carrying.  He specializes in sniping and hunting players.
• Roland: A former member of Crimson Lance, a sort of highly trained private military that disregards laws, he is here to fulfill a decade old vendetta.  He is the support player.

There are four more playable characters that haven’t been anounced yet and will have individual roles and stories.

The guns l0ok like the best part and amaze me!  There are to be more than one hundred thousand guns in Borderlands.  In fact, the latest count of the number of guns in Borderlands is 17,750,000.  Holy shnikies!  According to Gearbox producer Simon Hurley, “Silver weapons have greater chance of achieving an extreme critical hit, while black weapons will fire quickly, but lack accuracy”.  A poster on the Gearbox site says that the color of a weapon signifies its type. Yellow is high explosive, green is acid, and blue is electrical.  You may never see the same gun again!

It looks amazing!  I am definitely buying it!