PC Games 2008 Gift Guide

Time to fire up your personal computers and enjoy some great game titles (all release dates subject to change).

Computer users can enjoy playing Guitar Praise (purchase at store.digitalpraise.com), which features a large catalog of great music. Music maniacs can also enjoy Disney Sing It, High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance (Oct. 28) and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (Oct. 13).

Dairy Queen (DQ) Tycoon (Dec. 2) lets players micro-manage their own special restaurant managing staff, upgrading machines and creating satisfying confections for customers. MySims (Oct. 28) makes the jump from Nintendo Wii while the simulation series Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization, Guild 2: Venice (Oct. 7). The Sims2 continues to expand with Mansion and Garden Stuff (Nov. 17).

Role playing fans can choose EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction (Oct. 21), World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Nov. 13), Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir (Nov. 18), which lets players create their own group, and Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria (Nov. 18) with a collector’s edition also available. Another EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey (Nov. 18), and Orb and the Oracle (Nov. 11) provide even more RPG choices.

Draw up some masterworks with Etch a Sketch or solve a mystery with Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft, Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy (Oct. 10) and Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile (Oct. 28). Players can boost their smarts with Brain Training for Dummies (Oct. 14) or Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Make the Grade! (Oct. 15). Other board game titles include Trivial Pursuit Daily 20 and Operation Mania.

Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway has World War II first person shooter action with a limited edition. Other military action titles include BattleForge (Oct. 7), Far Cry 2 (Oct. 21), Fallout 3 (Oct. 28), Combat Wings: Battle of Britain (Oct. 14), Tom Clancy’s EndWar (Nov. 4), Defense Grid: The Awakening, and Call of Duty: World at War (Nov. 11), also in a collector’s edition. The war game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Oct. 27) features a recognizable voice cast and enhanced graphics plus a premier edition.

Action gets some fear factors in Dead Space (Oct. 14) and Left 4 Dead (Nov. 20). Lost Secrets: Bermuda Triangle (October) follows a young librarian’s search for a family member while Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches has a young girl’s haunted adventure. The point-and-click adventure Vampyre Story (Oct. 21) combining 3-D animation with 2-D designs. The crime mystery Still Life 2 (Nov. 4) lets players manages two female characters with parallel storylines.

Rise of the Argonauts (Oct. 14) has Greek mythology themed action while the sequel Sacred 2: Fallen Angel features "Light" or "Shadow" campaigns. Urban action games include Grand Theft Auto IV (Nov. 18) and Saints Row 2 (Oct. 14).

NHL 09 (Oct. 20) features a single player career mode while soccer fans can try Worldwide Soccer Manager 2009 (Nov. 18), FIFA Soccer 09 (Oct. 14) or PES 2009: Pro Evolution Soccer (Nov. 11). Shuan White Snowboarding (Nov. 16) has high speed winter fun and Backyad Football ’09 (Oct. 21) features pro players rarely seen on the PC. Hunters will enjoy the continuing Deer Hunter series with a Tournament game releasing on October 14. Bigfoot: Collision Course (Oct. 28), Tales Runner (Oct. 16), Moto GP 08 (Oct. 28) and Need for Speed Undercover (Nov. 17) cover the racing genre.

The multilanguage The Witcher Enhanced Edition includes new dialogue, animations, reduced loading times and expanded item inventory plus the official soundtrack and “inspired by” music. Prince of Persia (Dec. 2), Tomb World Underworld (Nov. 18), Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Path of Zuko (Oct. 15), and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (Oct. 21) continues their successful game series.

Luxor 4 (Nov. 4) continues this series in Middle Eastern/African settings. Players can take flight with Traffic X on November 14. Authentic action titles include History Channel: Civil War Secret Missions and Secret Service: The Ultimate Sacrifice, both releasing November 4. The pirate game Age of Booty (Oct. 15) features online play while Bella Sara (Oct. 28) features fantasy horse card play with exclusive cards to activate on the official website.

Damnation (Dec. 16) features intense firefights in single-player campaign, drop-in-drop-out co-operative play and innovative multiplayer modes. The shooter game Huxley (Nov. 25) pits sapiens and alternative humans while Rise of Argonauts (Nov. 18) has Greek mythology action. The sequel Gothic 3: Forsaken God (Nov. 18) feature new quests and monsters plus a collector’s edition.

Epic battle titles include Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, Dynasty Warriors 6 (Nov. 18), Steel Fury – Kharkov 1942 (November), set in World War II, and Legendary (Nov. 4) a Pandora’s Box action shooter that sets up a full scale war between man and myth.

Wanted: Weapons of Fate (Nov. 25) adapts high paced action from the movie as does James Bond 007 in Quantum of Solace (Nov. 4). The younger crowd can choose from Tale of Despereaux (Dec. 2), Bolt (Nov. 18), Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Nov. 4) and Shrek’s Carnival Craze (Oct. 28). Other kids titles include Neopets Puzzle Adventure (Nov. 25), Littlest Pet Shop (Oct. 14), Pet Pals: New Leash on Life (Oct. 1) and two Petz titles – Sports: Dog Playground (Nov. 4) and Horsez Club (Oct. 21).

The SAT Prep video game begins a new futureU learning game series to help students learn while having fun in reading, writing and math. Players can experience the more negative side of school with Bully: Scholarship Edition (Oct. 21).

Save those gift card balances for Gravity (Dec. 29), Tom Clancy’s HAWX (Jan. 13, 2009), Mirror’s Edge (Jan. 6), Hei$t (Jan. 13), Diner Dash Hometown Hero (Jan. 12), Burnout Paradise (Jan. 20), Pictureka! Museum Adventure (Jan. 13), Secret Margrave Manor (Jan. 13), Red Faction Guerilla (Jan. 9), The Agency (Jan. 1), Lord of the Rings: Conquest (Jan. 13), East India Company, Velvet Assassin (Jan. 13) and the serial series game AOsphere.