Starting November 22, 2011 (and ending January 8, 2012), Matrix Games is having their big holiday sale. For the first two weeks, their ridiculously fun Panzer Corps game will be at 50% off (and they’re seriously selling themselves short at this price). After that, it’ll still be 25% percent off, and many of their other popular games will be on sale.

Panzer Corps is an awesome game, if I don’t say so myself (and I already have). Despite the design being a throwback to games of nearly twenty years ago, Panzer Corps has been well reviewed by others, for good reason. This is a highly playable game, with the only weakness being it’s easy to play it to death. One can conquer Moscow so many times before it gets a little stale, after all.

When it comes to reviewing Panzer Corps in 2011, there’s one huge elephant in the room: Panzer General, from 1994. I’m going to shoot that elephant first: If you played and loved Panzer General, then you need to get Panzer Corps. Yes, it’s just about the same game but the design has aged well and all the ideas that made Panzer General great are here, with (admittedly small) updates.

For everyone else, let’s take it from the top. Panzer Corps is a turn-based wargame set (at least for single-player) entirely from the perspective of the Wehrmacht in World War II (WW2). It’s a brilliant idea, as it pits the player as the aggressor. Artificial intelligence is always going to play a better game on defense and, just by forcing the player to generally be on the offensive, the game generally is going to be better. You can play starting in 1939 and cover the whole war, or start in later, more difficult scenarios, dealing with the Allied invaders as they press on every front.

From now until October 31, 2010, Matrix Gamesis having a sale on three of its best titles, John Tiller’s Campaign Series, Steel Panthers: World at War – General’s Edition and Norm Kroger’s Operational Art of War III, with prices reduced from 25% to 50%. If everyone was a wargamer, these games as a whole offer something for everyone.

Although Matrix is calling this a Fall sale, they’re only running it a week, ending it on Halloween. I guess if you’re looking for something to do besides answer the door and hand out candy, these games give a good reason to turn off the porch light and hide in the computer room. That said, these are all turn-based games, so it’s not like you’ll get shot or something if you get up to answer the call of costumed candy-beggars.

PC game publisher Matrix Games has announced the late 2010 release of Panzer Command: Ostfront, the latest in the Panzer Command series of war games. This incredibly flexible series of 3D turn-based games based on World War II tank battles handles operations from the smallest of scales up to full warfare campaigns.

Ostfront will be available free to owners of Panzer Command: Kharkov, as it replaces that and Panzer Command: Winterstorm, including the content of both as well as new battles and many bug fixes and rules tweaks.

Title: The Ultimate Matrix CollectionPrice: $129.95System(s): Blu-ray (and DVD)Release Date: October 14, 2008Publisher: Warner Home Video, IncRating: “Restricted” for sci-fi violence, language and sexuality; “PG-13″ for sci-fi violence and language.Pros: High-def goodness, lots of extra content and amazing transfer. Includes iPod/Windows Media version of The Matrix.Cons: It’s so clear some character in CG fights scenes look extra rubbery. The price. Dupe of the 2003 collection.Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

The Ultimate Matrix Collection will quite simply amplify your feelings about The Matrix movies.

If you love them, you’ll enjoy them even more and happily gorge yourself on the multitude of extra content. If you hated them, you’ll now be able to pinpoint the tiniest flaws and laugh at them in glorious high-def…