Responses to the Medal of Honor beta got me thinking about the various kinds of gaming, from straight-up singleplayer to online-only massively multiplayer gaming.

Some people adamantly refuse to buy a game if it doesn’t have a solid multiplayer component, whereas others stubbornly refuse to go online. There are even gamers who rarely play anything if it’s not at a LAN party and those who’ve taken to solely playing co-op games.

I find it interesting that there are so many differing opinions on this topic, most of all because I actually have no real preference between any of them. But I’m sure that many of you do, so I’m posting up a new poll which asks: “How do you prefer to play?”. It’s possible to select up to three answers.

Be sure to leave a vote and read on for the results of the previous poll.

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StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty is only a few weeks away from launch and will soon see a return of its extensive multiplayer beta test. Yet I’ve participated in the previous beta phase and recorded a few matches during that time, which I’ve taken to uploading to my YouTube channel. I kicked this off last week with a Terran vs Zerg game, but this time I’ve got an intense Terran vs Protoss match-up lined up for your viewing pleasure.

I’ve embedded the two part match commentary below, but you can also visit my YouTube channel to watch this game in full 1080p glory. I feel it’s a major improvement over last week’s commentary, but be sure to let me know what you think.

Should you have lived in a cave for the past couple of years, then it might be important to point out that StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to the most popular real-time strategy game in recorded history. It’s a three-race RTS with a science-fiction setting that’s heavily inspired by the Warhammer 40.000 universe. This sequel will hit store shelves on July 27th and has seen an extensive first beta phase, with a second beta phase set to start any moment now. There are still some issues left to be worked out, such as the Battle.net system, but that’s another story.

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In GameDrone Monthly I give a recap of my gaming activities in the past month, some new articles on GameDrone that you might have missed and what I expect to be doing in the coming month.

Maybe you’d like share your experiences, send in a game you’d like me to cover on GameDrone or team up for a multiplayer or co-op game this month. Whatever the reason, feel free to leave a comment and we’ll discuss :)

Now June was a month of numerous interesting new releases, but I actually haven’t gotten around to trying out most of them just yet. There have also been some huge summer sales on Impulse and Steam, so I’ve added a few more games to the ‘to be played’ list. I still have plenty of games to play and talk about, so be sure to stick around.

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In Games Worth Playing I take a look at noteworthy games released during the previous month. It contains both a list of worthwhile new games and coverage of the most highly anticipated releases of the month.

Of course I can’t play every game that’s released in a month, but I’ll do my best to get a good sampling in. If I haven’t played a game and still list it, then that fact will be mentioned and the guiding commentary will be based off of reviews and player comments.

So if you’re looking for something new to play, then check back in at GameDrone every month for a list of games you might want to give a go.

In June we actually saw a lot of interesting new releases and with this month looking even better it certainly seems like there will be no such thing as a summer lull this year. There can be only one Game of the Month however and this time we actually have a great singleplayer shooter serving in that role: Singularity.

Read on for the good stuff.

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An observant gamer can save a lot of money by frequently visiting digital download sites to check for new special offers. You can sometimes save as much as 80% on games with these deals, or even gain a free game for pre-ordering an upcoming title, which can quickly lead to a very healthy gaming collection at surprisingly little cost.

It’s a pain to constantly have to check all of these services for good deals however, so I’ll be doing that for you in this weekly feature! Short descriptions and recommendations are included per game. If the currency used on the site is not in euro (GamersGate and Good Old Games) then I convert the pricing at the current exchange rate.

There’s still a massive summer sale going on over at Steam that lasts until the 4th of July. Nearly half the Steam catalogue is on sale and they also have even better daily deals. Also be sure to check back in on GameDrone every week for a simple overview of all the special offers available on the wide variety of digital download services out there.

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A new IGN interview introduced the activities aspect of Guild Wars 2 mere hours ago and now ArenaNet is following up on that with a much more detailed look at what exactly these activities are with an article on their blog. This new article sheds some light on several activities in the game and promises the return of one of the most popular Guild Wars holiday event mini-games.

Take a look at my previous Guild Wars 2 coverage if you’re new to this innovative upcoming fantasy MMORPG. I’ve covered the design manifesto, combat system and elementalist profession, dynamic events system #1 & #2 and the personal story system. And of course the recent reveals of the Warrior profession and traits system #1 and #2.

Also visit the official Guild Wars 2 website for a wealth of game media and the ArenaNet company blog for further game coverage. You can also simply subscribe to GameDrone for constant bullet point lists containing all the latest information in a concise format, as seen below.

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More new Guild Wars 2 information keeps streaming in with yesterday’s exclusive interview by IGN with ArenaNet. It casually mentions a few rather significant new details, such as feats being daily achievements, but mostly focuses around the activities or mini-games system that has thus far only been hinted at. The lack of detail does seem to imply that ArenaNet intends to reveal a lot more about activities themselves sometime soon, but at least we now know a bit more about these non-combat activities!

Be sure to check out my previous Guild Wars 2 coverage if you’re still a bit in the dark on this incredible upcoming MMORPG. I’ve covered the design manifesto, combat system and elementalist profession, dynamic events system #1 & #2 and the personal story system. And of course the recent reveals of the Warrior profession and traits system #1 and #2.

Also visit the official Guild Wars 2 website for a wealth of game media and the ArenaNet company blog for further game coverage. You can also simply subscribe to GameDrone for constant bullet point lists containing all the latest information in a concise format.

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New MMOGs are launched nearly every day, but with developers and publishers not providing any official statistics it can be hard to judge their relative success. I’d still like to give it a try with this top 10 list of what I think will be the most successful subscription-based MMOGs this year in the west. That means no free-to-play or cash-shop MMOGs are included!

Most of this list is supported by actual statistics, albeit generally rather old statistics. The rest is formed by the potential of these titles or their popularity on gaming forums and websites. Some of these may be mildly surprising, but I’ve done my best to include my reasoning for each game and its position in the list.

Disagree with these results? Feel free to comment with your own lists or criticisms. I’ve tried this once prior and it’s interesting to see how much the list has changed in half a year’s time.

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