Socialise, cheat, modify… or all of the above!
Gamervision
Finally, gamers, too, have embraced Web 2.0 and social networking and all things new. Gamervision is a social networking site with an interesting tagline: “By Gamers, For Gamers.”
Gamers willing to share their thoughts with other gamers can create their own communities: just register and create a profile—then start writing your own articles. All the rest is Web 2.0—save drafts, publish whenever you want, create or browse blogs… you get the idea.
All content on the site is entirely gaming-related. Gaming news on the home page includes reviews by Gamervision as well as community-based reviews. Members can create groups for discussing anything they think about any game. Sort of lends a perspective… Join any gaming group—such as “Halo 3”—to learn and discuss ways and tricks from other members.
You’ll find everything that makes for a useful Web 2.0 site—commenting, rating, bookmarking, sharing, etc. of the content. For example, you can comment on news, articles, and even blogs.
Mod DB
Once you’ve completed all levels of a game and almost mastered them, what next? Junk it? Actually, you can still have hours of fun. Add modifications (mods) to your games and multiply the fun. Moddb.com has a large database of game mods—2,000, to be precise.
The site has simple, well-classified content to browse through—read about, develop, and discuss mods. Check out galleries of in-game screenshots and details about the game as well as the mod used. Register if you want to download and be part of the growing community.
Loads of mods, skins, maps, models, and other files for most popular games are available for download. If you’re bored of playing the same old maps for multiplayer games like Counter-Strike, then why not make a one on your own? There is a good number of tutorials (basic / intermediate / advanced) and help for creating mods, maps, skins, models, and various other gaming elements to feed your hunger for more fun. Also listed are the tools that were used for creating the mods.
If you want develop mods along with an elite group of developers, join groups such as Source Developers or Valve—or start your own. And if you’ve made a mod on your own, submit it along with a tutorial. Discuss your mod-creation problem with other members… this is a very focused site!
Ultimate-Cheat.com
Everyone loves to cheat—it’s good, clean fun, of course, because not everybody is born a pro gamer.
Head to ultimate-cheat.com: this site is entirely for cheat codes, news, and tips and tricks on a huge number of games on different platforms. You get cheats for titles on the Atari 2600, Lynx, and Sega—all the way to the Xbox 360. The site is updated daily, so you can find cheats and hints even for the latest titles.
The coolest thing here is that you can leave your feeback (if a cheat doesn’t work, for example) at the end of the cheats and hints for any game across all platforms. Along with the cheats, you’ll find news related to the game platform and genre, and game titles similar to the one you’re looking at.