I know a lot of people who build a new gaming computer, and then jump right to Crysis, Age of Conan, or any other game that became notorious in the last year, maybe two, the most. That's fine, but I think most of those who get their first gaming computer these days are missing a lot of games, like Far Cry(the original, not the new one!), Warcraft 3(addons included) and, of course, Half Life and Half Life 2!

While Half Life, the original, may seem like a Ford T on the highway, these days, Half Life 2 is a game worth checking out, especially since Half Life 2: Episode 3 won't come out that fast. After all, despite its age - over 4 years now, Half Life 2 can still put most low-end video cards to the test when pushing settings to the max, and that's pretty good for such an "oldie."<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

The sad story is that when Valve announced the gaming community that Half Life 2 would get Episode 3 in time for last year's Christmas, everything was looking just great. Unfortunately, things proved to be quite different, since we'll soon reach another Christmas, and I see no sign of Half Life 2: Episode 3. I don't have eagle eyes, but I'm not blind either, so I have to ask: when will we get Half Life 2: Episode 3???

Talking to Kikizo, Doug Lombardi, Valve's the marketing director and official voice, made a terrible confession - "The next time you play as Gordon will be longer than the distance between Half-Life 2 to Episode 1, and Episode 1 to Episode 2."

Why such a big distance, to push Half Life 2: Episode 3 way into 2010? Well, it seems Valve is very busy to promote Left 4 Dead, its upcoming zombie shooter, but I only hope one thing - they won't leave all Half Life fans to die waiting for the third episode. After all, I am sure even some gaming chicks are waiting for a new encounter with Gordon Freeman, right? Anyway, since boys will be waiting for Alyx Vance to come join Gordon once again, we all have somebody to wait for, but 2010 sounds sooo far...

I know the title should say it all, so let's stop wasting time - my friends into gaming, Crysis Warhead is available! Call your boss and tell him you won't be able to work in the next 3-4 days, since you don't have to wait for any package to arrive, as long as your Internet connection is fast enough to bring you the game in less than a day or so. All you have to do is remember to pay first...:)

The official press release says it all clearly - "The next installment in the award-winning Crysis franchise, Crysis Warhead is now available as a digital download on Direct2Drive." Even more, if you missed playing the original Crysis game, now you can get the Crysis bundle(Crysis+Crysis Warhead) for a $7.00 discount!<-125x125 Button - right->

If you missed all the articles around the Web about this topic, including on PlayerzBlog, then let me give you another useful excerpt from the official press release: "Crysis Warhead takes place alongside the events of last year's critical hit, with players experiencing the explosive battles against waves of challenging enemies on the other side of the island through the eyes and nanosuit of the bold and aggressive Sergeant "Psycho" Sykes. Crysis Wars features 21 maps and three diverse multiplayer modes, including InstantAction, frenetic deathmatch enhanced by the power of the nanosuit, PowerStruggle, a hardcore team-based mode and introducing TeamInstantAction, a mix of fast-paced action in a team-based environment. Both are built on Crytek's award-winning CryENGINE 2, optimized now to deliver the high-fidelity graphics Crytek is known for with an improvement in performance across a wide range of PCs."

The bundle is priced at $62.95, and Crysis Warhead costs $29.95, $10 less than the original, priced at $39.95 when purchased separately.

Without any doubt, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a great game. If you have a computer capable of running it properly, this game is "a must," no matter if you're a fan of the FPS genre or not. Anyway, if your computer is very old, you can try running one of the older games in the series, like the first one, a game I'll always remember. After all, people are still looking for Call of Duty cheats, so it's not THAT OLD, don't you think? All right, let's move to Call of Duty 6, now.

While Call of Duty 5 still needs to be released, and it doesn't have any release date announced yet, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick confirmed that what's in store after Call of Duty: World at War will arrive in retail stores during 2009. Well, I guess that's going to be the end of my current computer...or not, if they optimize the game as well as they did with Call of Duty 4!<-125x125 Button - right->

Currently, Treyarch are taking the Call of Duty series back to WWII with the forthcoming World at War I mentioned above. They are those who previously worked on the third game of the franchise, so we should also have high expectations from Call of Dutty 5. Hey, what am I saying here? Call of Duty has always been a game that I expected much from, and I never got disappointed.

Drawing the line, it seems we'll have Call of Duty 5 in a few months, and Call of Duty 6 is thought to be placed in a futuristic landscape, but that's not something confirmed just yet. If you ask me, I would enjoy to be a crossbowman in the Medieval times, but that would surely take us way off the concept of the "Call of Duty" franchise...or not?

It doesn't matter if you served your term or not, it doesn't matter if there's no compulsory military stage in your country and you wouldn't volunteer for service in a million years - duty calls! This is not about just any kind of military duty, because I am talking about something even I would get involved(just a note - I wouldn't volunteer in a hundred years!) - World at War duty!

I hope that Call of Duty doesn't sound like something new to you, but if you're one of the young ones who missed it so far, be sure to grab at least two of the games in the series and give them a spin, all right? You won't be wasting your time, I promise!

If you want to start your World at War duty time earlier than most other gamers, you may even get lucky, since Activision announced the Call of Duty: World ar War multiplayer beta is arriving next month, allowing its players to<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right-> "experience the game's new squad system, as well as fan favorite perks and kill streaks."

Mark Lamia, Treyarch Studio Head, says "We are excited to share a sneak peak of Call of Duty: World at War multiplayer with the community. The team has worked hard to build upon the great history and foundation of Call of Duty multiplayer and we can't wait to go online to ramp up for our November launch."

"November launch" sounds good to me, especially since anyone who's interested can easily register at CallofDuty.com to participate, and pre-ordering the game is already possible.

I don't know what others say, but here's what I think - if you don't like Call of Duty, then you'll surely hate any WW2-based shooter, and maybe even the entire FPS genre. Why? For me, and many of my friends, Call of Duty is one of those games that, despite being the first in its field, helps giving a certain genre its flavor.

If you don't agree with me, be sure to drop your comments below, but I think we should wait until the 11th of November launch, or maybe we'll get to face each other in the Beta, who knows? Boys, your World at War duty hour is drawing near, be sure not to disappoint!

I love special editions, that's nothing new. The most interesting part about them is that I am used to see limited/gold/collectors editions being released for games that were made public some time ago. Now, it seems this is no longer "a must," and one of the reasons lays in front of us, if I can put it this way. Unfortunately, we only have the info, but I don't have the box here, so let's see what's special about Far Cry 2 Collectors Edition, shall we?

This time, it's not just the regular game and some bonus in-game items, or a special box. You will also get a Far Cry T-Shirt, but it's much more than that! Just check the interesting part of the press release I extracted for you below:

"To celebrate the release of Far Cry® 2, Ubisoft is happy to unveil the Far Cry® 2 Collectors’ Edition that will include:<-125x125 Button - right->
- Exclusive wooden box
- Original Far Cry® 2 Game
- Limited edition Far Cry® 2 t-shirt
- “The Art of Far Cry® 2” Art book
- Collector 50km² map
- Making-of DVD

Far Cry 2 Collectors’ Edition is now available for pre-order at Game and www.game.co.uk

For more information, visit www.farcry2.com"

Yeah, yeah, yeaaaah! Bring it on! The official announcement says the game will be released on the 24th of October for the PS3 and Windows PCs throughout all EMEA territories, and it's enough to say that Far Cry 2 will change the FPS genre once again, as its predecessor did some years ago.