Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours. And, of course, that means even more E3 coverage from the floor of the convention and in the conference rooms where we were hands on with many popular titles.

	E3 08: Hands-on with Spore So you have likely been playing with the Spore Creature Creator for a few weeks now, either in its free version or the full $9.99 version. But how, you may ask, is the actual Spore game actually looking. Quite well, thank you. In fact it's a lot deeper experience than we first imagined.
	E3 03: Hands-on with Fallout 3 It's extremely hard to really get a feel for what a game that has about 100 hours of gameplay in less than 30 minutes of time. Yet that was our constraints while playing Fallout 3 at Bethesda Softworks' E3 2008 meeting room. It was enough time to confirm that the game plays well in those 30 minutes but that's about it.
	E3 08: Hands-on with Far Cry 2 We named this game our most anticipated PC title of E3 2008 and when we went behind closed doors at Ubisoft's meeting room to check out a PC demo build of Far Cry 2 our expectations were certainly high. We came away from the demo impressed by the game's promise, even though we are still scratching our heads as to why the game is even named Far Cry 2. With the exception of a couple of minor similarities, there's really nothing that ties in this game with Crytek's original 2004 shooter.
	E3 08: Hands-on with Project Origin Last year, Warner Bros. Interactive had a hands-on theater demo of Project Origin, the long awaited true sequel to developer Monolith's 2005 scary shooter F.E.A.R (in fact the official name of the game had not been announced at its 2007 E3 appearance). The demo was more akin to what was seen in F.E.A.R.. it took place in an office corridor. It had some shooting of AI driven soldiers and it had a scary scene at the end.

So you have likely been playing with the Spore Creature Creator for a few weeks now, either in its free version or the full $9.99 version. But how, you may ask, is the actual Spore game actually looking. Quite well, thank you. In fact it's a lot deeper experience than we first imagined.

At Electronic Arts' E3 meeting room we got to play with just one aspect of the full game of Spore, namely the beginning of the game where you evolve as a microscopic organism. As it turns out the game is more than just a series of mini-games linked by editors. It really looks and feels like you are controlling the evolution of one small creature into a massive space-faring civilization.

{Editor's note: This hands-on preview is based on playing an Xbox 360 build of the game)

Last year, Warner Bros. Interactive had a hands-on theater demo of Project Origin, the long awaited true sequel to developer Monolith's 2005 scary shooter F.E.A.R (in fact the official name of the game had not been announced at its 2007 E3 appearance). The demo was more akin to what was seen in F.E.A.R.. it took place in an office corridor. It had some shooting of AI driven soldiers and it had a scary scene at the end.

By contrast our hands-on time with the E3 2008 demo of Project Origin was mostly a standard first person shooter, but still very well produced. The demo began with our new character, a "normal" soldier that was caught up in the nuclear blast created by scary eight year old girl Alma at the end of F.E.A.R. We were told that the E3 demo we played takes place at the beginning of the third act with the new soldier finding himself in a subway station.

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours. And, of course, that means lots of E3 goodness.

	E3 08: Hands-on with Left 4 Dead Developer Turtle Rock Studios had been working for some time on Left 4 Dead before the company was bought out by Valve Software (Turtle Rock helped out on various Valve projects in the past and was using Valve's Source engine for Left 4 Dead). So that means that opportunities to play builds of the game have been fairly frequent in the past year or so. However, shooting zombies never really gets old and at E3 2008 today we got yet another chance to make a lot of blood go on the walls (virtually speaking of course).
	E3 08: Hands-on with Crysis Warhead When Crytek and Electronic Arts announced that the next game in the Crysis series would not be a sequel but a parallel story to the events in the first game, some folks scratched their heads. What? Why? Well, after playing a single level of the game at E3 2008 today we are certainly not complaining. Crysis Warhead is looking to be a more aggressive and faster paced game than the original, and not just because you are playing as "Psycho", one of the members of the original squad in the first game that was a tad more prone to shoot first and ask questions later.
	E3 08: Left 4 Dead videos reveal new player characters Valve Software's Gabe Newell took the stage at EA's E3 press conference to present the cooperative horror game Left 4 Dead. We have the video of that presentation on the other side of the jump, but here are the Cliff's Notes.
	E3 03: First Singularity gameplay info revealed Earlier today we reported that Activison had announced plans to release a new first person action game called Singularity. At Activision's press event tonight the company revealed more info about the title from developer Raven Software. According to the company the game will feature time as a major factor in gameplay and that that Singularity will see "controlling time in a new dimension not seen in a game before" (of course the 2007 game Timeshift also featured temporal effects as a gameplay feature)
	E3 08: Wolfenstein gameplay trailer at Activision press conference During Activision's press conference tonight, the company had a new gameplay trailer for Wolfenstein, the next game in id Software's first person shooter series. This time the game is being co-developed by Raven Software and will feature B. J. Blazkowicz yet again shooting up Nazis. id CEO Todd Hollenshead demoed the game during the press conference.

We named this game our most anticipated PC title of E3 2008 and when we went behind closed doors at Ubisoft's meeting room to check out a PC demo build of Far Cry 2 our expectations were certainly high. We came away from the demo impressed by the game's promise, even though we are still scratching our heads as to why the game is even named Far Cry 2. With the exception of a couple of minor similarities, there's really nothing that ties in this game with Crytek's original 2004 shooter.

The game takes place in a section of Africa where your character has to take out an arms dealer that's up to no good. One of the many interesting features in Far Cry 2 is that you can select a different character that is set up with different weapons. Some have powerful but close range weapons while others have longer range arms to set up. There's no sci-fi or mutants here; Far Cry 2 is deadly serious.

(Editor's Note: This hands-on impressions article used the Xbox 360 version of the game)

It's extremely hard to really get a feel for what a game that has about 100 hours of gameplay in less than 30 minutes of time. Yet that was our constraints while playing Fallout 3 at Bethesda Softworks' E3 2008 meeting room. It was enough time to confirm that the game plays well in those 30 minutes but that's about it.

Still it was our first time actually playing the game that has a rabid fan base and while we wonder if anything will truly please every fan of Interplay's first two games in the series, Fallout 3 does at least have some high production values, a ton of options on how you can play as your unnamed character and some nasty mutants to blow away. As with Bethsoft's last two Elder Scrolls games Fallout 3 is played primarily as a first person game although you can switch to a behind-the-shoulder third person viewpoint if you wish.

Developer Turtle Rock Studios had been working for some time on Left 4 Dead before the company was bought out by Valve Software (Turtle Rock helped out on various Valve projects in the past and was using Valve's Source engine for Left 4 Dead). So that means that opportunities to play builds of the game have been fairly frequent in the past year or so. However, shooting zombies never really gets old and at E3 2008 today we got yet another chance to make a lot of blood go on the walls (virtually speaking of course).

Along with some human teammates we got to play the first level of Left 4 Dead's first scenario (there are four such scenarios in all, each with five levels). Our goal was to get basically from one point to another without being taken by the zombie horde. After each of our characters loaded up with head, weapons and ammo we left via a rooftop and went down the stairs through the building. It didn't take long for the zombies to start swarming all over the place. They acted like they need a human fix. By the way, these zombies are of the Dawn of the Dead remake variety; they are fast, relentless and hungry for your brains.

When Crytek and Electronic Arts announced that the next game in the Crysis series would not be a sequel but a parallel story to the events in the first game, some folks scratched their heads. What? Why? Well, after playing a single level of the game at E3 2008 today we are certainly not complaining. Crysis Warhead is looking to be a more aggressive and faster paced game than the original, and not just because you are playing as "Psycho", one of the members of the original squad in the first game that was a tad more prone to shoot first and ask questions later.

Our single player demo began with us driving a armored carrier armed with a heavy gun as we escorted a friend of ours through the jungle in another section of the island featured in the first game. The demo had us shooting tons of targets who wanted use to die painful deaths. North Korean infantry, jeeps, manned gun emplacements, trucks and even helicopters stood in our paths as we traversed the path. However, the armor of our vehicle combined with our powerful cannon on top made short work of most of out opponents. It was very much like playing a rail shooter except you did have some freedom to shoot at targets and even get out of the vehicle to take on the enemy on foot. Oh, and stuff exploded. Exploded in large quantities. It was basically like being in a Michael Bay movie on steroids.

Ever since the Diablo 3 announcement, we've hosted a ton of downloads for Diablo 2, for both Mac and PC. However, if you're running the latest and greatest Mac hardware, you're likely shut out of reliving your D2 days of glory, unless you run it in Boot Camp. It's clear that the gameplay of D2 holds a special place in our hearts. So much so, in fact, that any game featuring similar gameplay is usually warmly received, if not continued to be played once the initial romance wears off.

Such a game is Depths of Peril, a top-down isometric RPG in the style of Diablo, Ultima VIII, etc. There are many qualities unique to this title that makes it stand out from the pack, including some of the most complex and vast histories in any game I've ever played, and gameplay which does a great job of simulating the MMO experience, even though Depths of Peril is a single-player game. We take a look after the jump.

The world of fairy tales is full of heroes who courageously right all wrongs. Prince Phillip fought his way to Sleeping Beauty and awoke her with a kiss, thereby removing a curse placed upon her by a wicked witch. Little Red Riding Hood ventured deep into dark, foreboding woods to deliver a basket of food to her sickly grandmother. Cinderella lived a pauper's life, humbly serving her cruel step-mother and -sisters before her handsome was able to track her down and carry her off to happily ever after.

And then there's Grimm. Short and stubby with grungy clothes, grease-riddled hair, and a hankering for corrupting everything chipper and cheerful, the titular protagonist of American McGee's Grimm lives by a simple code: "Happily ever after ends now!" Armed with a corruptive nature that literally oozes over everyone and everything near him, Grimm has taken it upon himself to visit fairy tale worlds and wrong their rights rather than right their wrongs. A recent private demonstration of the game with GameTap Vice President and Content & Creative Director Ricardo Sanchez provided more insight into how Grimm will carry out his dastardly mission, as well as how PC gamers will get to join his cause.

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

	DC Universe Online MySpace page reveals first (tiny) screenshots Sony Online and DC Comics are apparently getting ready to reveal a lot more info about their long awaited super hero MMO DC Universe Online. Thanks to ads in new DC Comic books this week, we got wind of a new MySpace page for the game that reveals the first publicly released screenshots for the game. The problem is that these shots (five in all) are really tiny so we will have to wait until later (we are guessing E3) for more high-res screenshots from the game.
	Big Download Interview: Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People When you have completed two "seasons" worth of an acclaimed episodic adventure game series, what do you do for an encore? Thankfully we have a perfect example in Telltale Games. Their well received Sam and Max series got them a lot of attention and later this month they will follow it up with Strong Bad's Coll Game For Attractive People. The multi-part game with the long title is based on characters in the cult hit Homerunner.com animated web series and will be released via download for both the PC and for Nintendo's Wii console via their WiiWare service.
	Hands-on: Bionic Commando Capcom fans rarely need worry about their favorite title becoming another forgotten digital relic: Mega Man sequels, ports, and revisions are almost virus-like in their ability to multiply, Resident Evil 5 (actually the sixth core game) is due for release early next year, Dante recently made waves with Devil May Cry 4, and Street Fighter fans will receive a double dose of Hadoken later this year with Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.
	Blizzard to face "immense pressure" from Activision for console version of Diablo III An anonymous source close to Vivendi Games has told videogames247 that "Blizzard will face immense pressure to produce a console version of Diablo III" due to the impending Activision-Blizzard merger.

Since 1991, Sid Meier's Civilization games have allowed armchair gods and generals several opportunities to "build an empire that would stand the test of time," as per the game's documentation. From the Stone Age to the Space Age, gamers pleading with loved ones for just one more turn have spent countless hours conquering barbarians, building cultural wonders, and launching space shuttles to Alpha Centauri.

Despite the popularity of the four core Civ titles and their all-encompassing historical time span, many conquerers preferred another Sid Meier title's emphasis on the year 1492 when, as we all know, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Rather than plop them into the stone age with a loin cloth and the urge to discover fire, Sid Meier's Colonization tasked settlers with occupying the New World over the time period of 1492 to 1850. One of Meier's more popular titles, Colonization has remained a classic that many fans, enviously noting multiple Civilization sequels and expansions, hoped would receive a remake.

Enter Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization.

Capcom fans rarely need worry about their favorite title becoming another forgotten digital relic: Mega Man sequels, ports, and revisions are almost virus-like in their ability to multiply, Resident Evil 5 (actually the sixth core game) is due for release early next year, Dante recently made waves with Devil May Cry 4, and Street Fighter fans will receive a double dose of Hadoken later this year with Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

Since the year 198X, Bionic Commando fans have waited for their time to shine. Nintendo's Game Boy platform assuaged some of the rabid craving for more bionic arm adventures with a 1992 revision of the NES classic and even a sequel in 1999 -- but fans wanted more than remakes and slight iterations. In 2007, Capcom granted their wish by announcing the plainly-titled Bionic Commando, a 3D sequel to the arcade and NES installments due for release on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

Your daily wrap-up of the hottest stories in PC gaming in the last 24 hours.

	Diablo II PC, Mac demos available on Big Download For many PC gamers, this weekend's official Diablo III announcement instigated a resurgence of Diablo purchases and re-installations across the globe. If you're interested in Diablo III but haven't partaken in the previous two installments, Big Download will happily take you back in time eight years with the Diablo II demo, which is available for PC and Mac gamers.
	In-Depth: Alone in the Dark It goes without saying that Alone in the Dark was one of the most intriguing games from Atari (see also Infogrames), in what seems like eons. Initial information released regarding the revival of the original survival horror title had gamers genuinely excited to step back into the shoes of the mysterious hero, Edward Carnby. So how did the franchise reboot turn out?
	Mac Monday: Freeverse's Neon Tango "If Chuck Norris had his action removed and hot-glued onto Jack Bauer, and then Mr. Bauer was blended into a protein shake, it would be called "The Neon Tango" and ... it would be Delicious!!!" It would also be extremely difficult to come up with a greater summary for any game than this one, posted on the homepage of Freeverse Software's Neon Tango.
	Hands-on: Space Siege Space Siege, the latest Gas-Powered Games title designed by Chris Taylor, looks to fill a void for action-RPG fans who prefer guns, grenades and aliens to bows, spells and dragons. But whether you prefer fireballs or flaming gas canisters, snarling aliens or slobbering orcs, Space Siege is a click-fest at its core, and it is that tried-and-true mechanic that should entice all breeds of action-RPG players to Space Siege.
	Guide to TF2 Pyro Achievements, Part 6 We have crafted for you this very guide to ease your attempts to fulfill the strange objectives given to you. You have read the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth parts, so here is the sixth and final installment. Now you are ready to go and purge the world of flora, fauna, and anything else flammable.Firefighter

Though nothing is ever absolute, even the simplest overview of video games reveals a reliance on particular themes within certain genres. FPS games are typically modern or futuristic, with only rare instances of a fantasy theme used to any degree of success. On the other hand, action-RPGs often favor fantasy rather than science fiction.

Space Siege, the latest Gas-Powered Games title designed by Chris Taylor, looks to fill a void for action-RPG fans who prefer guns, grenades and aliens to bows, spells and dragons. But whether you prefer fireballs or flaming gas canisters, snarling aliens or slobbering orcs, Space Siege is a click-fest at its core, and it is that tried-and-true mechanic that should entice all breeds of action-RPG players to Space Siege.