There have traditionally been two main entities that push the limits when it comes to computing. One is the Govornment, they usually have the money to spend on development for the defense department. The second entity is Video Games. As often as computer manufacturers come out with newer, faster computers, Video game developers come out with video games that push the limits of those computers.

Real time Strategy games describes a genre of video games where you control units on a playing field. It is called "Real Time" because you give your units commands on where to go and they carry them out in real time (i.e. they walk from point A to point B over time based on their movement speed). This is obviously as oppose to "Turn Based", which is used to describe strategy games such as Risk where the gameplay goes back and forth. I really enjoy this style of game, as it takes the fun and strategy of turn based games such as risk, but keeps the action going. You never have to wait for your opponent to take his turn. If the opponent hesitates, he looses out.

BFME is an amazing RTS in a number of ways. For any gamers who are fans of the Lord of the Rings movies, this game is a must have. The graphics in the game are awesome, very true to the awe inspiring legacy left by the movies. The units in the game show emotions that heighten the immersion. Soldiers bang their swords on their shields and get riled up when they see orcs near them, they cower away when a cave troll gets near.

In addition to the single player mode, the online muiltiplayer is really fun. The "quick launch" makes it really easy to find players equal to your ability to play against.

Massively Multiplayer Online is a genre of games that has become very popular in the past few years. Traditionally the cycle went like this: buy a game, playing it, beat the game, put the game on the shelf. With MMO's, you usually pay a monthly subscription fee. You have an online account and log in to the server. Thousands of other players are also logged into that server, and through the game you interact with them. Most games traditionally have a handful of servers, your character is on one of them. Becuase of this, communities form within servers. Players often create groups called Guilds, which align themselves with one of the sides in game. These sides are usually defined by the game developers as a main theme in the game, i.e. axis vs allies in WWII games, empire vs republic in Star Wars, and Zion vs Merovingian vs Agents in the Matrix.

MMO's are usually one of two main sub-genres: MMO Role Playing games (MMORPG) and MMO First Person Shooters (MMOFPS). Both FPS or RPG games existed before the concept of MMO, MMO allowed these genres to become a shared experience.

RPG's are games where you control a single character and that character starts out very weak, with few "skils". You usually go out and fight and gain experience (known as XP). Once you get enough XP, you gain a level. With better levels comes better skills, but also harder enemies are needed to gain the same amount of XP. You can usually either explore the world you are in (freelance) or take missions that have specific objectives which give you XP. Fighting in RPG's is based on strategy, it usually consists of picking what moves you want to do (based on what skills you have) and watching your character on screen do those moves.

FPS's are also games where you control a single character, but there is not traditionally the experience/advancement aspect to it. The only advancement in the game is usually better guns you find along the way. With FPS's you usually use the keyboard to move back and forth and side to side, but the mouse to look left, right, up, and down. Because of this, FPS's are sometimes referred to as "twitch games", he who has the best reflex's usually wins. FPS started out with games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.

World War II Online is an amazing online game. It places you in the "virtual battlefield" of World War II. The game's designers put one point above all others: Realism. In this game you can be an infantry (Rifle, SMG, LMG, paratrooper, ATR, Sapper, etc..), you can fly planes (fighters, bombers, air transports), drive tanks, trucks, and transports, Captain boats, or man Anti Tank Guns & Anti Aircraft Guns.

The developers have re-created most of the large cities in a huge chunk of Europe in 1/4 scale. The area they re-created includes all of Belgium & Luxemburg, Northwest France, Southeast England, West Germany, and South Holland. You could literally run as an infantry from West Germany to northern france, then swim across the channel and walk around England (it would obviously be faster to fly).

In contrast to other war games you find online, the realism of WWIIOL makes the game much more interesting. There is no "health meter", as you find in other games, in which each hit you take lowers your hit points, and when you have 0 you are dead. Instead, the damage you take mimics real life.

When you are an infantry and take a hit, depending on where you hit you either are killed (head shots and torso shots usually kill you), or are wounded, in which case you cant run and you start to red-out.

In a tank, the realism means that all the systems of the tank are modeled. If you are hit with a shell, that shell will either be stopped by your armor, ricochet if the angle is too large, or penetrate. If the shell penetrates, it will loose speed based on the width and material it penetrated, and then keep on going. The shell may then hit a critical component such as an ammo cache (which would cause the ammo to trigger), or a fuel tank (causing an internal fire), or a part of a person (killing/injuring the person). This means that instead of the hitpoint system other places use, a single well placed shot could destroy a tank, or 100 poor shots could do nothing.

Planes are another well modeled vehicle in WWIIOL. The flight model is completly based on physics, so if your right wing gets shredded, it will loose lift, and your flight model will react based on that (less lift on that wing).

On a larger scale, the realism means that there is only one server, and everyone plays in that one server. Your advancements and town captures mean that your side (axis or allies) can now spawn at that town and move forward in their attacks. Supply is limited, so if you take the best tank out and get it shot up, you lost it for your side until it is resupplied automatically (hours later) or manually (by someone driving one from a behind the lines town).

You can download WWIIOL and try it out in the offline mode (not very fun because you dont have anyone to fight, but you can play around with the tanks/planes/infantry). Download the latest full version Here. If you decide you like it, its only $14.99/month to play (less if you sign up for more than 1 month at a time). If you do play, my in game name is Ace4Brit

The Matrix Online is a MMO that is based on the Matrix universe. The storyline content is all created by the Wachowski Brothers, the original creators of the Matrix Trilogy, and anything that happens in game (characters dying, major events, etc...) becomes "cannon" in the Matrix universe, and would have to be accounted for if another movie was created. Oh, and by the way this includes the fact that Morpheus was killed shortly after the launch of MXO. You can see that video here (click on cinematic 1.3).

In MXO, you gain experience and advance skills such as Kung-Fu, Karate, Submachineguns, Rifles, Computer Hacking, Code Writing, Stealth, Lockpicking, etc. You choose to work for either the Zionists, the Merovingian, or the Machines, and run missions for your chosen faction. Missions include Assassinations, Infiltrations, Escorts, Retrievels, etc...

My faction is one I started called the Fellowship of Believers.