Mass Effect 2 is Bioware's follow-up to their awesome-but-flawed space opera role-playing game. The sequel is a beautifully crafted game that knows exactly what scifi notes to hit to get player's blood pumping and keep them engaged, even as the main story is less than stellar.

The game – and that I almost wrote "movie" tells you a lot about it – picks up where its predecessor left off. Exactly where that is depends on the choices you made in the previous game. My main character was woman named Xandra Shepherd, a tough-as-nails, victory-at-any-cost commander who hated the anti-human Citadel Council, the ruling body of much of the galaxy. When their base of operations – a massive alien construct known as the Citadel – was attacked by life-destroying entities known as Reavers, Xandra didn't lift a finger to save the Council. She did, however, defeat the Reaver incursion. As a result, my game began with a new human council in charge of the Citadel … and the galaxy in denial about the threat of the Reavers.

In recent months there have several major disasters involving superhumans. A cry has gone out amongst the people to hold the superhumans accountable for their actions. Congress answer that cry with the Superhuman Registration Act. The act requires anyone having or utilizing any form of superhuman abilities to register with the government as a "living weapon of mass destruction." Unfortunately this law splits the superhuman community.

Those for the act, lead by Iron Man, believe that this is the only way to show the people good faith that what they do is the right thing. Those against the act, lead by Captain America, believe it is against everything America stands for. The act is now law, and the lines have been drawn. Will you join Iron Man and the pro movement, or Captain America and the resistance movement? Regardless of what you choose prepare for a superhuman Civil War!

This is a brief background of Marvel Comics 2006 story-line entitled Civil War. It also serves as the background for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.

Dragon Ball is a series well known for it's long fight sequences. Some may say too long, and when referring to the anime they would be right.

The popularity of the manga caused the animators to fast track the series, so fast they rand out of source material. To slow down the pace of the anime the animators drew out the fighting sequences, causing the long drawn out fights the series is so infamous for. So it's no surprise the a majority of the games created from the Dragon Ball franchise are fighting games, the latest being Dragon Ball Raging Blast.

When I ran my 4E D&D playtest campaign, I decided to make it larger than life. That meant going planer. The churning unpredictability of the planes, the potential for exotic locations, the alienness of its inhabitants calls to my imagination. The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos, which details 4E's churning elemental wastes, is just my cup of tea. Or it would be if it had retained more of the 3E cosmology. As is it's more like a cup of chia; worth a sip, but not as satisfying as I'd hoped.

Arthur Dent beverage metaphors aside, The Plane Below is a 159-page source book that builds on the foundation laid down by last year's The Manual of the Planes. The Elemental Chaos is 4th Edition's catch-all planar setting for D&D's traditional elemental planes, as well as the Nine Hells, the Abyss, and the rest of the rest of the D&D cosmology that isn't the Astral Plane or Ravenloft.