Jagged Alliance Online: Multiplayer Modes

Each PvP arena has its own lobby and rankings. An internal ranking system (ELO style) was created for the matchmaking system to determine a player's strength based on a variety of factors such as the mercenaries' level and position in the rankings. This helps reduce the amount of unequal and unfair duels.

The modes:

• Deathmatch: Direct battle, mercenary versus mercenary. The player who is still standing at the end is the winner.
• Bounty Hunter: Who can sneak around the target's guards or take them down best to be the first to eliminate the NPC at the end?
• Search and Destroy: Both players have three objects in this arena. The aim is the destroy the opponent's object while protecting your own.

The arenas:

• Deathmatch #1: North Africa - A warehouse with narrow alleys means fast-paced action on the battlefield.
• Deathmatch #2: Long corridors and narrow passages provide plenty of tactical diversity in this Central American missile base.
• Bounty Hunter #1: Who will be the first to find the drug baron in the South American favela?
• Bounty Hunter #2: Italian blood is being spilled here. Who will be the one to claim the bounty for the general?
• Search and Destroy #1: Morocco - A windy canyon with a bridge in the middle is quite a challenge for both teams.
• Search and Destroy #2: Two abandoned military camps in the midwestern United States that are both under attack from rival mercenary teams.

Battles in Jagged Alliance Online are turn-based, so the length of each turn plays a special role. Players that complete their round especially quickly receive a percentage bonus on their mercenaries' action points in the next round. So in certain situations it certainly makes sense to make decisions quickly for strategic purposes.

Stained is heading to PC in early 2012.

We've been getting some nice emails lately, like fan type stuff. None about me, but I'm sure those ones just got stuck in the tube or something. So how are things then? Everyone happy? Staff being good to you? Just say the word. I'll de-ball those douche-nozzles if they're getting on your tits. I have to go write to my prison pen pal now, ciao!

If you're into electronics, or kinda sorta into electronics, then check out CES 2012 in 60 Seconds, you'll feel like you were there but saved a whole lot of money. Then have a boo at these fine pieces of video mastery... two year old smoker, gun fail compilation, pound on my muffin.

Crazy video action here. Get your barf bag ready and make sure you watch it to the kiss at the end.

The reasons given (below) remain as vague as ever, but I have an inkling that this oft-mentioned "restriction" is monetary in nature and has very little to do with the players themselves.

"Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. We are intent on providing Mass Effect to players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers. "

Puzzle games are stupid and I love them, but I'd never even once played Bejewelled before. This third iteration is such unabashed barrage of positive reinforcement it makes me feel as though I'm being subtly mocked. It's taken it a step too far, beyond even Peggle. I hold a button on my mouse down and drag it a milimetre in one direction and that small movement is met by such a cacophony of ridiculousness - candy-bright blocks turning into hypercubes, glass smashing at every available opportunity, gigantic explosions from nothing and the string of congratulatory phrases following a series of random consecutive block-matching - it makes me feel stupid.

I managed to reach a point in 4 Elements (a low-res puzzle-block game that brought me many hours of joy with its slightly less patronising use of sound) at which my computer crashes every time, without fail. It's not just the program crashing either, it's my entire computer being reduced to one, grating sound (usually "HRRRRRRR") from which the only escape is holding down the power button for an extended period of time. The game is built on a linear series of puzzles too, so I can never go back. There were "spot the difference" sections! I was saving a kingdom! My only source of comfort is the following video.