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.

Know someone who thinks gaming only counts if it’s around the table, with friends? Now things get trickier if you’re actually trying to buy a surprise gift he’ll or she’ll like. Tabletop gamers are a bit finickier than your usual gamer and it’s all too easy to get something that might be a surprise but also not something the gamer particularly likes. To avoid such an act of despair, here’s a quick guide of sure-fire gifts to satisfy all but the most finicky of tabletop gamers:

Memoir ’44 uses an award winning system of cards to get around the issue of overwhelming complexities, as each turn a player can only play one card, allowing him to use but a few of his many forces. Even a child can manage the Normandy invasion…

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.

This October (2010), Electronic Arts’ will release its latest Medal of Honor (MoH) game, for the PC, XBox 360, and Playstation 3. The biggest change for the series is that it will finally leave the World War II theater and head for a modern world area of operations: Afghanistan.

It might be a bit unsettling, after all, coming home from fighting in Afghanistan and loading up a game to play as an actual Taliban member, shooting at animated characters wearing the uniforms of US military personnel.

Looks like this won’t be an issue, as a recent interview with nine troopers revealed that all of the interviewees have no difficulty separating what goes on in a game, even a violent and…

Coming out of left field, rumor has surfaced about a possible Call of Duty MMO.

IGN reports that, while speaking to a group of investment analysts yesterday (February 4 2008) at the 008 Morgan Stanley Technology Conference, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick commented that his company might be considering turning its Call of Duty series into a massively multiplayer online game. Whether or not this statement has any truth to it, or is just Kotick thinking out loud, certainly shows that Activision, who last year joined in a partnership with Blizzard, sees that a MMO could be the next…