The Total War series is a fairly popular and well-liked series of strategy games. While its cousin Rome II has been the one being talked about most recently, being patched and re-patched over and over, it’s Shogun II that has been announced to be getting a port to Mac.

The people doing the port is Feral Interactive, no stranger to the Total War series having also handled the ports of Rome 1 and Empire, as well as the ports for Civ 4 and XCOM and its expansion; they’re also the ones responsible for porting each new Tomb Raider game to the Mac. So there’s experience and pedigree there, which is a good sign that the port will be done properly for users of Apple’s computering system. They say that they’re happy to be doing the port of Shogun II specifically as they see it representing a “unique expression of the Total War series’ magnificent heritage” set in a location that pays homage to Japan’s culture and art.

No release date yet, only that Mac users should be expecting it “soon”.

August’s line up of free games for your XBox Live Gold subscription was just announced and DAYUM! I want them all…

First up on XBox 360:

Motocross Madness by Bongfish GmbH (Xbox 360, $9.99 ERP)

Available Aug. 1-15, back on earth Xbox 360 gamers get to tool around the dirt tracks and mud pits of their imaginations with Motocross Madness, an off-road motorcycle racing game. Racing against the clock (or other racers) is just a small part of this one, as you’ll be able to perform tricks, run through obstacle courses, or just motor around big maps and explore as you please. Asynchronous multiplayer via social networks means you can involve your friends, even if they’re off doing something else while you’re playing. Unlimited potential!

Dishonored by Arkane Studios (Xbox 360, $19.99 ERP)

Finally, available Aug. 16-31, Xbox 360 owners get to experience Dishonored, an award-winning steampunk stealth/action title. You play Corvo, erstwhile bodyguard of the Empress, turned assassin. Your job is to protect the princess, take out the bad guys who are trying to take over the Empire, and do it all undetected. You have an arsenal of gadgets, weapons, and magical powers to help you, but the most important is your own brain. Challenges in Dishonored often have multiple solutions, so lateral thinking is more important than a quick trigger finger. You can blast your way through, too, to be sure – there’s something for everyone here – but cleverness is rewarded more than aggression.

Then for XBox One we have:

Crimson Dragon by Grounding / Land Ho! (Xbox One, $19.99 ERP)

Available Aug. 1-31, Crimson Dragon, originally an Xbox One launch title, and acts as a spiritual successor to the much-beloved Panzer Dragoon saga. It’s a fast-paced rail shooter set in a beautiful fantasy world, where you can join with up to three other players for online co-op battles. You have a half-dozen majestic draconian steeds to choose from, and they level up as you progress through the game’s epic story. Crimson Dragon also features a killer soundtrack, courtesy of Panzer Dragoon composer Saori Kobayashi.

Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut by Born Ready Games (Xbox One, $19.99 ERP)

Also available Aug. 1-31, Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut has its origins in crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and was the first title from the ID@Xbox program. You take on the role of a pilot of the titular suit, flying it against aggressors in epic space battles. One of the key hooks is that you are only a small part of these battles, with huge ships duking it out around you, and your objectives within them clearly defined – but it’s up to you to accomplish them as you see fit. With fantastic ship design, gigantic battles, and plenty of weapons and enemies to deal with, Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut gives space-sim fans on Xbox One plenty to chew on.

Crimson Dragon and Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut will replace July’s Xbox One Games with Gold titles Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition so be sure to grab them while you can!

I’ve been wanting to grab Crimson Dragon and Strike Suit Zero for a long time now, now I can, for nothing 😀

Give us your thoughts int he comments below!

Landmark is a voxel-based building game currently on Steam in Early Access. Graphically it looks quite nice and the chance to build anything you fancy is pretty appealing, it’s one reason why games such as Minecraft are quite popular, besides the whole mod-making scene that is.

Previously the cheapest pack to get Early Access was the Settler Pack, costing about £14.99/$19.99. If this was too much to get your interested but you still really wanted to play Landmark then you might be in luck. For a day all the Landmark packs are discounted by 66%. That is QUITE a hefty discount.

The Trailblazer is the ‘best’ of the packs, having all the gear from previous packs plus some unique gear and 4 extra codes to hand out to your friends, all for £25.83/$33.99 when it’s usually £75.99/$99.99. That does seem like quite the deal if you’ve the money to spend.

Are you tempted? Tell us below!

So, the BETA weekend for Destiny has come and gone and i played most for the weekend on the 360 version.

Ok, I’ve played first person shooters since some of the first came along and MMO’s for as long as they’ve been around (any one that’s seen my XFire game time list will attest to that), and such, I have high impressions for both genres.

Games like Borderlands kicked things off for me int he right direction for Multiplayer shooters with an RPG element, and Destiny is very much in that vein, but has massive leanings to HALO, for obvious reasons.

BUT, this is a console game, which means it also suffers in every way a typical console based FPS falls flat.  The Controller!

HALO is spot on, its built around a controller, it has just the right amount of twitch and its easy to get going, even our own Digmbot can’t disagree with that.  Destiny, somehow, drops the ball on that perfect HALO balance.  The controls feel at times stiff, at others, too sprung.  The auto aim is more a hindrance than a help, then turning it off (thank the gods you can turn it off), the aiming then becomes clunky, especially for a twitch shooter

Then there’s the maps and map transitions.

Between maps, the loading screen is your ship flying down to the zone you are heading too…   This was cool once or twice…  The third time? I took the chance to go get a drink.

Then there is the maps themselves.   I played the same map four times for four different missions.   And every time, it started me at the same point in the map, even though I then had to slog across the map I had already done to get to the next point.  I honestly found it a little boring to do it over and over again.

Now one thing I did like was the Melee attack, as you can see in the screenshot below, it’s more a close range force push, but it has a few second cool down, meaning you can’t just run around force pushing all the enemies, and some of the enemies come at you thick and fast for sure…

So, did I like the game?

Honestly, not so much, I got bored very quickly and just wanted to go back to playing HALO.   I very much doubt I’ll get it on console, but I may change my mind next year IF and ONLY IF the rumoured PC version makes an appearance.

Did you play the beta weekend?   Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Valve has been busily working on their Steam Controller for some time now. Initially, the controller debuted with two touchpads, and a touchscreen.The touchscreen was later dropped in favor of added buttons. Now,SteamDB has uncovered a new design of the pad, this time with an added analogue stick. Its likely this won’t be the last change to Valve’s new controller, and the changes made to date seem to be heading in the direction of more traditional gamepads such as the 360 pad or DualShock controllers. With Valve having pushed the release date of the controller from 2014 to sometime in 2015 theres still plenty of time for tweaks.