If you’ve been playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 non-stop for the past month-or-so like I have, you’re probably addicted to the action but getting a little tired of being spawn-killed at Atacama Desert and generally playing the same handful of maps over and over again.  I mean, how many times do you need to see the opposing team come to your spawn and steal your chopper before you realize that it needs to either be heavily guarded or in the @$#% air at all times!?  But I digress; the action of Battlefield is hard to beat, so we deal with its little annoyances.

But with a new batch of maps for BF: BC2 way too far in the distance, there may come a time when you just need a break— either when frustration ensues or when you just thirst for a more casual experience.  When that time comes, I have suggestion for you that you might want to remember.

Battlefield Heroes is a third-person shooter that looks a lot like Team Fortress 2 but plays very similarly to Bad Company’s Conquest mode.  Much of BF: BC2’s signature gameplay is incorporated into this pick-up-and-play member of the Battlefield family—including land and air combat and specialized character classes.

Heroes won’t blow you away or anything, but it’s a familiar bit of casual fun that you can play for free on your PC.  And if you already own Bad Company 2, EA’s giving you 700 Valor Points (and 1350 more for every friend you refer  via Facebook) in the game to purchase items for your character—and you should take anything EA gives you for free.

So, if you haven’t signed up yet—and according to EA over 3,000,000 people have—you might as well give it a try next time you get frustrated with Bad Company 2 or are just looking for a fun game to play that costs no money.

Knife zoomed-in jerks that pay no attention to their surroundings now!:  http://www.battlefieldheroes.com/

I had big plans for today.  I was going to create a really great post about the top-ten games to play while celebrating 4/20.  It was going to be epic!  I had big plans for today—and had every intention of doing this—but then I got… well, you know.

Anyway, as to not leave you totally disappointed, I thought I would at-least share with you my top- FIVE games to be enjoyed on this joyous day.  So, sit back. Relax.  And enjoy 420.

 5.  Brutal Legend – I’m pretty certain that the man behind the game, Tim Schafer, assumes that you're high.  You’d have to be to buy it—because it pretty much sucks otherwise. But, Jack Black is funny and the semi-open world style suits stoners just fine.  And although the visuals feel dated, the rock ‘n’ roll art style and music will keep you playing.

 4.  Halo – It doesn’t really matter which one, it only matters that it’s Halo.  The easy to pick-up-and-play shooter fares well for kiddies puffing the magic dragon after school and the millions of “big kids” who still live in their parents’ “finished” garage that puff all day.  I mean, how many of you don’t have some form of “420” in your Gamertag?

 3. Burnout – ‘Nuf said.

  2.  Guitar Hero – Whichever of the half-dozen iterations you choose is up to you, the idea is the same.  Jam to your favorite songs.  Hold fake, plastic instrument.  Follow along while colors flow down the screen—you can almost taste them!  It’s like Blink 182 without the “blink” (whatever that means).

 1.  Grand Theft Auto – The obvious and quintessential time-waster.  It doesn’t get any better.  What time is it, you say?  You mean I’ve been killing pedestrians and driving around aimlessly for 22-hours?  GTA’s open world and great radio stations act as digital Yoo-Hoo for your parched mouth.  Just remember, after you “use” a hooker, kill her and take your money back.  It’s just poor business otherwise.

 Stoner-able Mention: Saints Row – It’s like Volition really knows you.  You see, Saints Row is a lot like GTA but you can actually smoke marijuana in the game, which creates a strange, stoner paradox (just who’s controlling who?)*.

*Smoking Marijuana is illegal and you should never smoke it… near a cop.

Skate 3 arriving in demo form provides the perfect opportunity for us to throw some knowledge your way.  Did you know that FPS Freeks and Speed Freeks each have unique strengths when it comes to the Skate series?  Well, they do.

Speed Freeks–positioned normally on the left stick and vertically on the right stick—can help you keep those thumbs in position and aid in pulling-off certain types of actions like rail tricks and landings into manuals.  Also, Speed Freeks help with your basic player movement and control while keeping your thumbs more comfortable.

Your FPS Freeks function in the same way as they do in first-person shooters.  The extended length gives you an extra amount of precision that really helps you nail some of the game’s tougher flip tricks—like inward heelflips and hardflips.  Many people find that those tough rounds of S.K.A.T.E. are much easier with FPS Freeks attached!

Which KontrolFreek product you choose for Skate 3 is a matter of preference.  We suggest playing around with different combinations to see what’s right for you (try a SpeedFreek on the left stick and a FPS Freek on the right!).  And while KontrolFreek product won’t make you a better skateboarder in real life, you’ll probably become a better virtual one.

If you happened to be awake in the wee-hours of last night/this morning, you may have caught Microsoft’s pre-planned announcement that coincided with Cliff Bleszinski’s big appearance on Jimmy Fallon confirming Gears of War 3.  Apparently, nobody told the folks who add Xbox Live’s content that Cliff’s appearance on “Late Night” had been postponed until next Monday because of a scheduling conflict with Justin Bieber.

The Xbox Live Dashboard’s Spotlight channel read, “Gears of War 3 Announced – The epic story concludes April 2011.”  Clicking the link resulted in nothing and has since been removed, but nevertheless, we all know the truth. Gears 3 will release next April.

Look for the final boss to be a large, bloodthirsty locust with the detached head of Justin Bieber whose weak spot will most likely be his vocal chords that need to be severed with your chainsaw.

... for Europe.  Sorry fellow North Americans.

Microsoft announced today that their exclusive psychological action thriller will be released one full week earlier than the original release date set for European gamers.  This means that you’ll actually be playing a game before everyone else for a change!

I know that this doesn’t matter much to us stateside.  But we should be happy for our friends across the pond.  They usually have to pay way too much for stuff.  They’re very pale and confused about football.  And they are always getting the shaft when it comes to video games.

So, congratulations, Europe.  The rest of the world will be jealous of you on May 14^th.

Alan Wake will release on May 18^th for North Americans.

No, not really.

But some mysterious project will be announced by Epic Games' poster boy Cliff Bleszinski next week.  Rumor has it that CliffyB is set to appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to "tease" at something next Thursday night.  What could it be?  Yeah, it’s almost certainly going to be Gears of War 3.  And I'm not really sure why Epic is being so tight-lipped about the whole thing, either—it's not like everybody didn't already know that there was going to be sequel after the anti-climactic ending to Gears 2.

Whatever the announcement, don't expect too much to be revealed.  I'm sure Epic and Microsoft are waiting for E3 to really announce the game properly.  I can already hear Epic's new, and improved Mantra, "bigger-er, better-er and more badder-ass-er" spewing from CliffyB’s chipmunk-like mouth in June.  No disrespect, Cliff.

Anyway, look for Gears of War 3 on store shelves sometime in fall 2011.