New Games out Dec. 14th 2009

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    Tales of Monkey Island

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 17, 2009

  Guybrush Threepwood tries once again to rid the Caribbean
  

  of the evil pirate LeChuck with the help (and hindrance)
  

  of friends (and enemies) old and new.
  

  Full Review » Genre: Compilations
  
  
  
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  Alien Breed Evolution

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 16, 2009

  Team 17 are reviving the classic Alien Breed franchise
  

   in this all new Unreal powered remake.
  

  Full Review » Genre: Action
  
  
  
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  Virtual City

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 15, 2009

  Virtual City combines a robust city-building simulation
  

   with intuitive, easy-to-understand controls.
  

  • Genre: Virtual Life Games
  
  
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  Konami Classics Vol. 1

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 15, 2009

  Play classics like Super Contra, Frogger and
  Castlevania Symphony
  

  of the Night in its original state or in an
  enhanced mode with upgraded
  

   Hi-Def support at 720p along with a special
  graphics improvement
  

  filter resulting in smoother visual game quality.
  

  • Genre: Compilations
  
  
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  Europa Universalis III: Heir to the Throne

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 15, 2009

  Heir to the Throne is the third expansion for the
  

  widely-acclaimed grand strategy title
  Europa Universalis III.
  

  • Genre: Real-Time Strategy
  
  
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  Tinker

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 15, 2009

  Tinker is an isometric two-dimensional puzzle available for
  

  free that pushes the boundaries of robot deduction.
  

  • Genre: Puzzle
  
  
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  PikGem

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 17, 2009

  
  

  • Genre: Action Adventure
  
  
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  EverQuest Underfoot

  Quick is it 1996 ?
  

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 15, 2009

  EverQuest Underfoot is the 16th expansion to the
  EverQuest franchise.
  

  • Genre: Massively Multiplayer
  
  
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  Puzzlegeddon X360

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 17, 2009

  Select your island of choice and puzzle for resources
  

  to defend yourself and defeat opponents throughout the
  

  many galaxies, game modes, and challenges.
  

  • Genre: Puzzle
  
  
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  Warrior Epic: Battlegrounds

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 18, 2009

  The Battlegrounds expansion includes brand new P.V.P.
  

  gameplay, an all-new hub city, a new region
  

  dozens of new items, and much more.
  

  • Genre: Massively Multiplayer
  
  
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  Konami Classics Vol. 2

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 15, 2009

  Play classics like Contra, Rush 'n Attack and Track &
  

  Field in its original state or in an enhanced mode with
  

  Hi-Def support at 720p along with a special graphics
  

  improvement filter resulting in smoother game quality.
  

  • Genre: Compilations
  
  
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  The Inferno

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 18, 2009

  
  

  • Genre: Action
  
  
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  Cartoon Wars-Gunner

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 15, 2009

  
  

  • Genre: Action
  
  
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  Buzz! Quiz World

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 17, 2009

  Buzz! Quiz World is back with another iteration of the
  

  ultra-realistic quiz show experience featuring 3,000
  

  general knowledge questions and hundreds
  of pictures and videos.
  

  • Genre: Parlor Games
  
  
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  Race or Die 16 Respect

  
  

  • Release Date: Dec 18, 2009

  
  

  • Genre: Role-Playing
  
  

Father's Choice : Windows 7 parental controls

While Windows 7 is not a game it's parental controls make it worth talking about here .

Windows 7’s parental controls allow us to limit what sites our kids can browse to, what programs they can run, and how much time they spend on the computer. But it wasn’t always this way. In Windows XP, Microsoft’s concept of parental controls was mostly a joke, with poorly implemented controls in a handful of applications. With Windows Vista, we saw a major rewrite of parental controls which integrated those controls into the operating system. And now with Windows 7 we have a refinement that begins to get things right.

It comes bundled with Windows: Often times, Microsoft has been criticized for bundling software with its operating system. However unlike the bundling of IE which is just application that runs in Windows, parental controls is a part of Windows. It hooks into the user model, is managed from the control panel, and many of the features control exactly how Windows behaves. As such, I find it difficult to imagine a 3rd party tool that could function as well without this integration.

It’s easy to configure: Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make enabling parental controls easy while also providing information about its features along the way. From the outset, accessing parental controls is front and center in the Category view of the Control Panel.

Pictured here, you can easily access additional information about what parental controls allow you to do, and enabling that functionality is straight forward. Information and options are presented clearly with helpful links peppered everywhere. And it’s nice to see that Microsoft’s help content is actually, well, helpful.

Additionally, keep in mind that you can apply parental controls differently - or not at all - for every account on your computer.

You can control what programs can be ran: Arguably the most powerful feature in Windows 7’s parental controls, you can set which installed programs can be ran under your child’s account. But with that power comes some tedious tweaking. Enabling this feature presents you with a list of every program executable present on the computer.

If you’re cherry-picking programs, you may miss built-in programs such as Microsoft Paint or programs required for 3rd party software such as Apple’s iTunes, meaning those programs may not function correctly. Therefore, you’re better off allowing everything and disabling the specific programs you don’t want them to use, such as a bit-torrent program or your financial software.

Making the program selection (or de-selection) process easier, Microsoft displays any descriptions provided by the application developer are listed in the dialog. So if you’re unsure of what wab.exe is, the description column will kindly tell you that it’s the Windows Address Book.

You can set limits on games: In addition to choosing what programs you can allow your kids to run, you can separately control what games your kids can play. You can set this independently of applications, and with different properties. For example, you can set a maximum ESRB rating that your kids are allowed to play or select specific games to include or exclude. Additionally, you can prevent all games from being run.

While the interface is fairly clear, what remains to be seen is how completely software vendors will identify their games in Windows for this section to be effective. But if you are in control of all software installed on your computer, then you should easily be able to combine this section with the above application filtering to keep your younger kids from playing your M-rated games.

And don’t forget, you can limit your 8 year old to games rated E and your teenagers to games rated T provided they each have their own log in account on your computer.

You can control when your kids can use the computer: Filed under Time Limits, Windows allows you to set what hours of the day your child can use the computer. While this is the weakest of the three basic control mechanisms in terms of usefulness, if you find yourself having to pry your kids away from the keyboard when it’s time for bed, you may find this feature a welcome addition.

Setting up the control is as easy as clicking on the boxes for which you would like to prevent the kids from logging in to the computer. Should they try during a prevented time, Windows notifies them of the restriction. We’d like to see an additional control that allows a certain number of hours per day of computer time, but that may be difficult in practice to implement, should your child leave the computer for a period of time without logging off.

Web filtering has been improved through Windows Live: Filtering web content is a moving target. Black list or white list all you want, you’ll always be modifying the list. Fortunately there are services that can make this job much less tedious. Once such service is the free Windows Live suite which can hook in to parental controls in Windows 7 enabling you to monitor what your kids do online.

Setting up this feature was the most cumbersome of all of the parental controls, requiring a separate download from the Windows Live Family Safety website. Once installed, you need to create a free Windows Live account. But once you have an account, you can turn on the Windows Live Family Safety software under Additional Controls in the parental controls control panel.

Management of web restrictions is done at the Windows Live page. You can set various levels of content filtering or switch to a pre-determined list of child-friendly sites which can also include sites you’ve white listed. You can also prevent file downloads. Other features of this service include activity reporting, contact management (controlling who your kids can communicate with online), and the ability to manage requests by your kids to access restricted content.

It’s extensible: Parental controls in Windows 7 can be extended by third parties to include functionality not included by Windows. For example, the Web Filtering feature described above used to be integrated in Windows Vista’s parental controls. However, Microsoft improved the capability by moving it to a Windows Live service. From the perspective of Windows 7 parental controls, this new functionality is provided by a third party, and there are likely many software manufacturers getting ready to hook in to this interface .

Whether parental controls will be right for you depends on your approach to allowing your kids use your computer. While not perfect, these controls finally give us options without having to purchase extra software. And it’s nice to see that Microsoft’s valued-added features actually begin to add value.

That makes Windows 7 my choice as the best operating system for parents.

Avatar awards game list Update

Update to new games with Avatar Awards

 Halo Waypoint  this is not a game it is free on xbox live 

 Halo Waypoint has 5 to 7 Avatar Awards.

 Valve confirmed  Left 4 Dead 2 will indeed have avatar awards,
 but would not get more specific than that. 
The list below may or may not be the complete list.

Depeche Mode Shirt - "earned by rescuing Gnome Chompski from the Dark Carnival"

Zombie Hand shirt - "earned by killing 10,000 Infected"

Left 4 Dead 2 Shirt - "earned by winning 10 games of Scavenge" 

Bull Shifters Shirt - "earned by winning 10 games of Versus"

Med Kit - "earned by beating all five campaigns" 

Splosion Man. Simply break your first pane of glass. A men's T-shirt and a women's hoodie

Splosion Man. Complete the entire co-op campaign. The Big Science T-shirt and dress

Father's Choice : Dungeons & Dragons Online

So your teen or preteen wants to play a online game but you don't know whats safe or even has content ok for kids and most teens who have tried Free Realms  do think it's lame. Well do I have the game for you and it's free too.

Dungeons and Dragons Online (commonly abbreviated DDO  ) is an MMORPG , that is now free to play , based on the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition roleplaying game. Developed by Turbine, DDO allows players to adventure in the Eberron Campaign Setting, a supplemental rulebook to the standard Dungeons and Dragons game. Players choose from a variety of races and classes, eventually determining a selection that seems most appropriate for their play styles.

As an MMOG, Dungeons and Dragons Online actually steps outside of the box in many ways, taking some of the common mechanics of MMOGs and supplementing them with rules taken from the D&D roleplaying game. Instead of turn-based action, DDO features real-time combat . Instead of being a "sit behind your computer and hit a button every now and then", Turbine wanted DDO to really stand out as a game that brings players together and emulates the true nature of D&D.

DDO has a ESRB of T for Blood , Violence , and Alcohol Reference