Editor’s Choice: Jake's Top 10 Games of 2015

The voice over narration perfectly sets up the conflict that the Horde and Alliance have remained locked in for the last ten years and by focusing on unnamed heroes, rather than icons of the Warcraft world , players are able to imagine themselves as the Orc warrior going berserk or the Dwarf hunter exploring the snowy mountains. Maybe it's just nostalgia taking over, but we're tempted to roll a new character every time the drums of war start beating in this trai World of Warcraft has been out for 12 years and counting and over that time, Blizzard has produced a massive amount of lore and history to serve as the backstory for player adventures. Trivial Pursuit: World of Warcraft features 600 questions, some of which will put even the most experienced adventurer to the test. The board is a custom Blizzard-approved design and players will take control of adorable Baby Murloc movers as they progress through the game. Categories to choose from include Geography, Player Characters, Lore, Loot, Enemies and Encount <img src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1572847951892-c2112fdb0e3d?ixid=M3wxMjA3fDB8MXxzZWFyY2h8MTh8fG1vYmElMjBnYW1lJTIwd2Fsa3Rocm91Z2h8ZW58MHx8fHwxNzU2OTk4MzU0fDA\u0026ixlib=rb-4.1.0"; style="max-width:440px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;" alt="dessert during daytime" />Tyrael's Sacrifice is the first of a few tear-jerkers to make our list. Unlike the World of Warcraft opening cinematic, this Diablo 3 cinematic is entirely devoted to established characters in the game's universe. The three-minute cut scene contains lots of flash and action in the heavens, but what makes it great is how well it pulls at the player's heart stri And yeah, I know these $60, AAA titles still have some greed to work through (like $10 DLC for Titanfall that's just three maps), but it's all manageable, and Dota 2 is still the only game to do free to play right. Beyond Dota 2, The Last of Us just had a completely free multiplayer map pack released for it. It can be done. All gamers want is a model that fosters mutually and equally beneficial purchasing. Give it to them. Pokémon is my absolute favorite franchise and it was very unfortunate there was no entry to the series this year. However, Pokémon was wise enough to appease me by releasing something, even if it was a puzzle game. Pokémon Shuffle has been a game I’ve constantly replayed. I’ve been enjoying it for over a year and I show no sign of stopping. New levels are constantly being added and timed challenges keep it interesting. It’s perfect to play on the go and with it now on mobile devices I highly recommend giving it a play. I admit that Dota 2 has the benefit of an established fan base unmatched by almost any free-to-play game (League of Legends excluded). Not many games have fans who are willing to pay for something that doesn't benefit them in any way. Taking that into account, though, there still is no good excuse for free-to-play micro-transactions that benefit the company more than the player. Honestly, the solution is just to make your game cost money. Remember that? When games cost a flat fee for the entire thing? This was a largely successful model, and the only reason I can see for the shift is pure greed, especially by a company like EA that already has boatloads of money to roll in. Not only have we gotten two Avengers movies in the last five years, The CW has aired yearly crossover events since 2014, and Netflix even debuted their own small screen superhero team-up this summer with The Defenders . Ultimately, the team-up aspect of Justice League is something comic book TV and film fans have seen many times now, though not necessarily with these exact characters. While there's undoubtedly excitement each time a team-up event occurs in either film or TV, Justice League simply using different heroes in a story we've seen before - even though they're unquestionably some of the most beloved and storied heroes in comics - isn't quite enough anym Arthas and Nova should never really end up in a battle together as far as Blizzard lore is concerned, but Heroes of the Storm allows players to live out that "who would win in a fight?" fantasy over and over in an addicting MOBA format. This trailer does a stellar job of showing just how fun things can get when you relax and <a href="https://Diigo.com/010ngye">Diigo.Com</a>; don't think too m Plants vs. Zombies 2 already has 10 "premium plants" for a total cost of more than $30 altogether, tax included. And that's just plants. You can also pay for upgrades and in-game coins. To my knowledge, Plants vs. Zombies never went higher than $20 for the whole game, with no micro-transactions, so I can only assume PopCap is making a truckload off of this. Now I know people like to point out how less than 10 percent of people who play free-to-play games participate in micro-transactions. This makes it seem like the companies are doing what's best for the player by offering a portion of their game for free, while only making a small chunk of change on the side to get by. It's a compelling narrative that doesn't hold up to scrutiny. This number conveniently leaves out how much money they're actually making from those ten percent of people who want a full gaming experience. I don't have many vivid memories of things I saw on my Facebook news feed, but this is one of them. I'm scrolling past updates from my friends who play League of Legends, and one post was about how a new champion added was so good. One of their friends commented "Is he worth?" to which my friend responded "So worth."