Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - More fun than a mime on fire

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is right up there on my list of top sci-fi books.

It is also easily one of the funniest, and probably even the funniest, book that I have ever read.

It is actually the first in a 5 part trilogy (yeah, that is the style of humor that Douglas Adams goes for), but if you like this first one, you will also like the other books in the series, and I recommend simply picking up the complete series right from the get go.

Helpful advice indeed

With it's deadpan humor and outrageous story it never gets predictable and you rarely see the jokes coming until the punchline hits you right in the solar plexus.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy stars Arthur Dent, who leads a dull and mundane existence until he wakes up to one really really bad day.

First weeks of Light Speed in the rear view mirror

Although if you're going the speed of light you should probably not look in the rear view mirror..

Anyway, I've now been beavering away on Light Speed Gaming for a few weeks now.

I have really been blown away by the traction that the site seems to be getting already.
I want to thank every one of you guys that have dropped by and taken some time to read my incoherent ramblings.

A big and sincere thank you.
It is really awesome to see that the things that you dump so many hours into creating actually gets viewed by people out there and that some even come back for more.

One of my goals with Light Speed Gaming is to try to grow a community of enthusiasts like myself, who share an interest and passion for science fiction and video games.
I would love to get more feedback from you all about what you like and what you don't like about the site so far.

Do you think I should be trying to review more games?
Should there be more about books? Movies?

Do you primarily enjoy my more humorous posts?

Is there something else that you feel Light Speed Gaming should be writing about?

I'd like to encourage you all to leave comments on my posts and express your opinion.
Doesn't have to be feedback about the quality of the piece, but also just hearing your point of view on what I'm writing about is actually really interesting to me.

Finally, if you like my posts please do sign up for my feed or follow me on Twitter (I try to be active on Twitter, so it's not just a channel for letting you know when there is a new post)

That is all for me. I hope to hear more from all of you, and once again, thank you for spending time here at Light Speed Gaming.

Looking ahead into Q4 2011 -5 games that I can't wait to play

The fourth quarter (October to December) is traditionally the big release window for video games.

Like a large blob of ketchup suddenly dislodging, it hits me every year with equal measure of surprise and makes me go "oh crap, how the heck will I find time to play all of this stuff?".

Q4 of 2011 is no different.
Sporting mega titles such as Zelda, Gears of War, Skyrim and Rage it is enough to fill a hardcore gamers mind with equal amounts of jubilant glee and deep despair (empty wallet says hi).

For a more detailed overview of every big game coming out in Q4 you can check out this list IGN made

Skyrim alone could eat all your gaming time from November and out

As both time and money are resources that needs to be considered, I have tried boiling the games to get in the next three months down to just five.

This should hopefully let me actually complete all the games that I get, and also it means that I do not have to give my girlfriend a home made present for Christmas (you can only really give someone so many crappy clay ashtrays. Especially when they don't even smoke)

So without further ado here are the games that have made the "do want" list:

The Old Republic - The agonies of your first class choice

Christmas is going to be December 20 this year for me (or whenever the early access for The Old Republic preorders starts).

"Just hang tight for a couple of months more!"

I am looking immensely forward to this game and, like many other fans I'm sure, have already started thinking long and hard about what class I am going to play, when I finally get my grubby hands on it.

So far I have narrowed the choices down a bit by method of elimination:

Battlefield 3 Beta on PC opens for Caspian Border map (Vehicles!!!)

So if you remember back to my piece on my initial impressions on the Battlefield 3 multiplayer beta, then you know that the thing that I was really missing from the beta was vehicles.

It was therefore with great delight and gleeful schoolgirl screaming that I found out that this weekend Dice has opened up the Caspian Border map for PC players in the beta.

This map features a ton of vehicles, including jets, choppers, jeeps and tanks.

I've taken it for a spin and I can only say that *this* is the Battlefield I was looking for!

Got jets? Got f**king jets!

Climbing a rolling hill, watching a jet dogfight in the skies above.

Shouldering your RPG and taking a potshot at the passing enemy tank down on the road, praying it will not spot you and turn you into a red splotch on the grass.

This is the mayhem and large scale battle that I was looking for.

I grabbed a few mins of footage of me playing, sitting in the machine gun of a tank and also taking on an enemy APC on foot with an RPG.

The Old Republic Companions Update Part 2 -Almost as good as a real player

I've previously written about the "companion characters" of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

These are characters you meet and that can accompany you in your adventures through the game.

Today Bioware has released more info about companions in ToR.

It seems that they were initially quite autonomous and players had very little control over them in combat.
Since this was a problem for a lot of people, as the AI is not always smart enough to know that throwing a thermal detonator right into that pack of Rancors might not be the greatest idea, Bioware decided to put in some manual controls for the companions as well.

Time to practice those micro skills. You know what I'm saying?

This gives players the option of for example setting the companions to not use area of effect attacks, or gives the the chance to activate some of their special abilities in a pinch.

Forza 4 review round up

Aside from my sci-fi inclinations I also enjoy a bit of motor propelled entertaining in the form of racing games.

I play both arcade and sim racers, but I have really fallen in love with the Forza series for Xbox.

How can you not want one of these?!

Forza 4 is coming out next week, but the reviews are up now and they are generally positive, although it also looks like Turn 10 will have to really think hard about how they can breathe new life into the series, when they eventually go on to make the inevitable Forza 5 (maybe/hopefully on the next Xbox console?).

Here is the word on the interwebz about Forza 4:

Gamespot (8.5/10) Review

Joystiq (4.5/5 stars): Review

IGN (9.5/10): Review

And a lengthy Quick Look from my favorite guys at Giant Bomb

Enjoy and see you on the race track!

Now to get my hands on that demo...

10 clues that your boyfriend is a Jedi

You've seen the signs.

The blue glow and low humming noise coming from the living room, when your boyfriend thinks you're asleep.

The constant talk about inner peace and calm from emotions.

His best friend is a poorly dressed scoundrel that's always hanging around with a Wookie.

"This? No, this is just a big glowstick, hon"

These are subtle hints that might make you think; "Hang on, is my boyfriend a Jedi?!".

Well, here are 10 clues to help you determine if the Force is indeed strong with him.

Please dumb down my games for me, thanks

Raging on the internet about how games are being ”dumbed” down and simplified is all the… erm.. rage these days.

Hordes of “hardcore” gamers flock to gaming forums and mourn the death of games that don’t hold the players hand and cannot be completed in 7-10 hours of playing.

They say that the “console kids” of today, with their aversion for anything challenging has ruined game design and turned most modern games into;

“click this button to win. No, not that button, over here. Look, this button he… Nevermind, I’ll do it for you *click*”.



Some day this will be all the controls you need for your video game



I am going to confess something to you. I *like* that games have become more casual friendly and that they do a better job of introducing the player to game mechanics and how everything works in the game.

Orcs Must Die -Video look at the demo

I figured I should get my moneys worth out of Fraps, so I went ahead and made another video.

This time I've looked at the silly, but appropriately, titled "Orcs Must Die" demo, which is available on Steam.

It's a slightly zany 3rd person action tower defense game in the vein of "Trenched", tasking you with defending a castle from hordes of marauding orcses.

These guys. These guys must die!

The video shows me taking on the 3rd and last level of the demo and should give you a good indication of what the game is all about and if this is something for you:

(Note that I say the game is coming out tomorrow, that is actually only for Xbox. On PC the release date is the 12th of October)

Here's the video:

Video look at Dawn of War 2: Retribution multiplayer

I made good on my threat to fraps some game footage with comments.

The public demanded (or well, there was one guy) that I show you some Dawn of War 2: Retribution, so I have recorded and commented on a game I played of me facing off as the Eldar vs Chaos.

No one expects the Inquisition!

If you're interested in more info about the universe I have written a piece about why I love Warhammer 40k that you should totally check out

I hope you find the video entertaining and/or informative.

Preordering is up for the next installment of the Horus Heresy series

I am personally very fond of the "Horus Heresy" series of Warhammer 40k books.

Detailing the events around the heresy of Warmaster Horus in the 31st millennium (so really, it's a Warhammer 30k series), you get a lot of the background setup for how the 40k universe got to where it is (IE completely screwed up).

The quality in the series varies widely, but I think the last few books have been pretty decent.

This guy looks like he's about to be pretty dead indeed

I just saw that The Black Library website is now taking preorders for both e-book and physical copies of the next book in the series "The Outcast Dead", which takes place on Terra (AKA Earth).

The book is out in November, so there are still a few more weeks to go, but I know I will definitely be reading this as soon as it comes out.

You can read more about the book and preorder it here.

Rage review embargo ends. Internet goes "meh, not too bad"

The reviews for ID's new shooter "Rage", which is releasing this week, are now up on the internet.

It seems like my skepticism was mostly well founded.

The overall impression seems to be that Rage is a great looking game and a competent shooter.

However it is also rather shallow and the open world vibe that ID has been trying to push is pretty much only skin deep.

Rage: You shoot people and it's not terrible

I will try to get my hands on a rented copy of the game and check it out for myself.

Although, as I am not a very big FPS fan I don't expect I will be all too entertained.

In the mean time I've rounded up some of the reviews out there for your perusal:

Joystiq Rage review (3/5 stars)

Gamespot Rage review (8/10)

IGN Rage review (8.5/10)

Also there is a one hour long Quick Look up at Giant Bomb here

5 things I can't wait to see in Mass Effect 3

I am a huge fan of the Mass Effect series.

I played the first game on Xbox and then again on PC (because I wanted to play the sequel on PC and had to get a save set up).
I have completed all side quests in Mass Effect 2 and played through all the DLC (Lair of the Shadow Broker FTW).

In short, I like me some Mass Effect!

So close, yet so far away..

So it's no surprise that I am hugely excited about Mass Effect 3.
Sadly it got pushed out from it's expected 2011 release window and into 2012, but oh well, more time to play The Old Republic I guess.

The Mass Effect universe is incredibly deep and there are so many things that I am looking forward to learning more about in the final chapter of the trilogy.

Here are the 5 things that I am giddy with excitement to see in Mass Effect 3:

The Witcher 2 first hours impressions

"The Witcher 2" just had a major new patch released for it, patch 2.0.

This patch fixes a lot of the bugs that plagued The Witcher 2 at release.
Additionally it adds a whole new tutorial, which is a couple of small mini quests that sets up the basics for the game, reducing the risk of embarrassment from being killed by the first drunken hobo that swings a sword at you.

You know this guy means business. He's got two swords!

There's also a whole new "Arena" game mode included, which focuses on you fighting arena battles against progressively harder opponents.

The patch also makes some balance changes to combat and even adds some new items and quests as well as a whole new difficulty level!

The release of this patch, couple with Steam cleverly running a sale for The Witcher 2, made me finally get into this game, which I have longed for from a distance until now.

Read on and learn how I found the first few hours in the company of the white haired wolf.

Deus Wars? Star Ex? If only this was an upgrade to the elbow blades in Deus Ex

The Force Unleashed 3 maybe?

5 Deus Ex lessons for wannabe super agents

I've already expressed my opinion on Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The game puts you in the role of Adam Jensen, badass extraordinaire. Ex-cop and head of security of one of the biggest and most influential companies in the world, Adam is a man that can get the job done.

If you wanna become as cool as Adam Jensen, you gotta know the tricks of the trade

Budding agents can take many key lessons to heart from Deus Ex. 

Like how crawling out from a ventilation shaft into someones office and reading their personal e-mails, while the inhabitant of said office is looking right at you, is perfectly fine behavior and will not cause any suspicion at all.

I have managed to narrow down the five points that I think are the most essential for any super agent in the making.

Fraps anyone?

Continuing my blind rush into the future, I have downloaded "Fraps".
A video capturing software for snagging game footage.

I am considering making some commented video showing off some games from my steam library, but I'm not sure what people would like to see.

Therefore I'd like to put it up to you guys and see if there is any interest for this.

Take a look at my Steam library here and let me know in the comments if there is any game you'd like to see me play (and fail horribly at, surely)?