Consider Nintendo Direct, the two-year-old video series in which the company's top brass makes big announcements directly to fans via short videos. We've seen dozens of these over the past two years, but for the most part they've been used to discuss known products or announce smaller, less consequential software and hardware. Some have been downright confusing, like the Nintendo Direct used in the lead-up to discuss the Wii U's user interface. Yesterday, though, the Nintendo Direct took on a very clear and bold tone: We've listened to your requests, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said. And here's what we are going to do about it. Compare this to last year's E3 press conference and its many companion Nintendo Direct videos, where the company was reluctant to announce the big games...

In an industry plagued by endless sequels, military shooters and uninspired copies of other games, Dishonored, for all of its bleak, post-apocalyptic steampunk flair, comes as a breath of fresh air. Inspired by classic stealth games like Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Arx Fatalis, Deus Ex and Thief (games made by Dishonored's creators), but nevertheless surprisingly unique, Dishonored is the kind of game very few thought would ever be made again: An original, stealth action-based first-person game with a deep, character-driven narrative and meaningful moral choices. As you sneak or fight your way to the heart of the game's many mysteries, your path is yours to make. Each goal can be accomplished in various ways. You can be a killer or a savior; an avenger or a protector. Yet no...

But XCOM: Enemy Unknown was also developed by the team who brought consoles and handhelds Civilization: Revolution, which took one of the PC platform's most beloved turn-based strategy series and streamlined it just enough to make it work, while adding a host of forward-thinking tweaks and changes that made it as relentlessly playable as Civilization has ever been. So maybe we should have known. But even the highest expectations born of Civilization: Revolution's success couldn't have prepared me for XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It's a remarkable combination of meticulous strategy and the fallout that results when the fog of war meets the best laid plans. There's an element of the random that does't feel arbitrary, it feels unpredictable and exciting. XCOM presents several viable options for...

In a medium where narrative threads commonly go unresolved, BioWare should be commended for concluding most of the major sub-plots that were introduced in earlier games in the series. The creator-versus-creation conflict between the quarians and the geth comes to a head. The future of the beleaguered krogan race is decided. The schemes of the mysterious Illusive Man come to their inevitable conclusion. And all of it is affected in myriad small ways by the decisions you've made in the past two games — by which party members you've allowed to live or die; by who you have befriended and who you have pissed off; by the direction you've set the galaxy toward from the beginning, for better or worse. No matter how much of a diplomat you've been, most of these situations are going to require...