Coming up next week on Light Speed Gaming

The week is almost over and that means it's time to look ahead on the navigational charts and see where our plotted course will be taking Light Speed Gaming this coming week!

It's almost here!

Next week will see the release of Battlefield 3, which is on my Top 5 games for Q4 2011 and which I have previously shared my impressions about the multiplayer beta on.
As soon as the game is released proper (Thursday for us Euros), I will be giving it a good kicking and bring you  my impressions from the front ASAP.

In our more contemplative corner, I'll be bringing you another "Point of view" post, where we'll take a look at the status of video gaming as a socially acceptable past time for grown ups and discuss whether video games are cursed to always be equal to Super Mario in the eyes of the general public.

I'll also be bringing you a book review on a Warhammer 40k novel that I just recently finished. And I'll share with you if it is pleasing to the Golden Throne or if it should be cast into the Eye of Terror for all eternity.

Of course no week on Light Speed Gaming would be complete without a "Silly" post or two, so I'll be throwing in some light humor in an attempt to make all our dreary lives just a little more tolerable.

All this and of course, as usual, other stuff that crosses my path and inspires me enough to create a few lines of incoherent ramblings for you all to consume.



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My ambivalent relationship with Eve Online

The other day I was reading through one of the gaming forums that I usually visit.

In the forum was a post about Eve Online, asking about peoples experiences with this game.

This prompted me to think about my complicated relationship that I have with Eve Online.

As a giant science fiction nut and lover of space ships with frigging lasers on them, I should be the obvious candidate for being a hardcore Eve Online player.

This makes my inner sci-fi geek scream "Yes! So cool. I must play this!"

Eve Online lets you explore a whole galaxy of possibilities, giving the player the possibilities to grow into a legendary space hero.

But it is also a complex experience that has no qualms about punishing your mistakes and will only hold your hand long enough for you to think "oh, this doesn't seem too bad", which is inevitably followed by horrible flaming vacuum infused death.

Blizzard follows up on their thoughts of the indirect gold selling by dragon cub proxy

Following up on their earlier announcement of the "Guardian Cub" pet for World of Warcraft and its potential opening of the Pandora's box of a Blizzard sanctioned cash-for-gold program (Which was discussed in this previous post), Blizzard now further elaborates on its views about the Guardian Cub.

The Guardian Cub controversy continues!

In this post on the official WoW blog Blizzard states that 3rd party gold sales are a problem for WoW, because the money that is being sold is, for the most part, made up of gold that has been taken from hacked accounts.
Therefore you are helping to fuel the industry of hacking other peoples accounts whenever you buy gold from 3rd party sites, you naughty naughty boy.

Impressions from the fast track on Forza 4

Being something of a racing game fan, Forza 4 made my list of my Top 5 games for Q4 2011, so it's no surprise that when it launched last Friday, I immediately picked up a copy and started burning rubber (and also playing Forza 4).

My thoughts pretty much echo all the reviews of Forza 4 that you may or may not have been reading.

Forza 4 is pretty much pure car porn

Basically I think that Forza 4 is a better game than Forza 3 in pretty much every single way.
It is further polishing the winning formula that Turn 10 has been developing over the course of the Forza Motorsport series.

However, it also feels like a much smaller step up than 3 did from 2.
Racing around a lot of the same tracks as you did in Forza 3, you will often be extremely hard pressed to see any difference at all in terms of visual quality.

Perhaps the one area that does feel like it has gotten a significant visual upgrade is the cockpit view, which now looks even better and has actually become my preferred racing view, after pretty much having been a "behind the car" racing guy for all of my life.

New DLC out for Dawn of War 2: Retribution

To all my fellow Dawn of War 2: Retribution fans, Relic has just released a few juicy pieces of DLC to sate our 41st millennium cravings.

The Tau Commander in all his tabletop glory

First up is the Tau Commander DLC pack, which adds aforementioned character to the "Last Stand" multiplayer mode.

This Japanese anime mechwarrior looking little fella comes complete with all newly designed and unique wargear, which will allow you to customize your bipedal robot friend to your specific liking.

And here in all his digital glory!

The other two pieces of DLC are custom packs for Chaos Space Marines and Imperial Guard.

The PS Vita coming to the rest of the world on February 22 - Should we care?

It was just announced today that Sony's new handheld system, the PS Vita is being released outside of Japan on February 22nd.

There can be no doubt that this is one serious piece of handheld gaming hardware

This is a couple of months after the launch in Japan and almost exactly a year after the release of the Nintendo 3DS, which is the other big player in this space.

The 3DS has really struggled out of the gate for Nintendo. It has not at all managed to live up to the massive expectations that were naturally created for the successor to the DS.
How seriously Nintendo is taking this was evident, when the 3DS recently received a very significant price drop to entice buyers away from their Pokemon toting systems of yesteryear.

Obviously Sony should be rubbing their hands at the apparent lack of success for the 3DS.
Surely this means that the PS Vita has a very good chance at usurping the Nintendo handhelds as the mobile gaming platform of choice, and start raking in money hand over fist.

However, there are deep rumblings in the handheld gaming market.
Since the birth of Snake on old Nokia phones, there has been a competing handheld product to these "pure bred" systems like the DS and Vita.

Why the "Geth" from Mass Effect are awesome

*Warning, contains Mass Effect 1 and 2 spoilers*

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of the Geth from Mass Effect.

In fact I'm such a big fan that learning more about them and their development is high on my list of things I'm excited about in Mass Effect 3.

But what is it that fascinates so much about the Geth?
Surely, they're just another two-dimensional machine race that cliche-like turned on their makers and now want nothing more than destruction of life, galaxy supremacy and voting right for toasters? (remember to vote "no" on proposition #1253B!)

"Is that a flashlight on your head or are you just happy to see me?"

Or, as I have seen one ME fan describing them; "baby Reapers".

Ah, but that is exactly what the Geth are not!

10 signs that you have been playing too much "Dawn of War 2"

Okay, so this post may just be for the nerdy niche of a nerdy niche, but hey, isn't that what Light Speed Gaming is all about?! ("Yes", in case you were confused and thought this was a big mainstream site)

Dawn of War 2 gives you a chance to wage real time strategy battles in the wonderful world of Warhammer 40k, giving you a choice between several of the different iconic Warhammer 40k factions such as Space Marines, Orks, Tyranids and more.

Is there really such a thing as too much Dawn of War 2??

Most hardcore gamers probably know the feeling of spending so much time with a game that your brain just keeps on being in "game mode" even after you've turned off the computer (or perhaps that's just me and the early signs of a disturbing mental disease).

If you experience any of the following symptoms, then it may be time to consider laying off the DoW for a little while..

Orcs Must Die! Review

Following up from our previous coverage of "Orcs Must Die!", which has been a video look of the demo and a Q&A with developer Robot Entertainment, it's now time for a review of the game.

Over the course of the weekend I've been murdering why way through the game and am now ready to render a verdict on the qualities of the game.

In this game the orcs must die. And so they do.

Orcs Must Die! is another entry in the growing niche of "tower-defense-meets-3rd-person-action" games, which have most recently been successfully visited in "Trenched" and "Toy Soldiers: Cold War".

Dumping you into a colorful fantasy world of poorly planned fortresses and inept orcs with extreme suicidal tendencies, Orcs Must Die! gives us a fairly fresh setting to play tower defender in.

As the inept, wisecracking wizard apprentice, you find yourself as the last hope of the world against the orc hordes, after your master is killed in an unfortunate intestinal slip incident.
Not easily deterred, you immediately set about defending the magical "rifts" (no affiliation to "Rift" the MMO, as far as I can tell. At least no weird tentacles coming out of these ones), which are located in 24 different fortresses that comprise the main campaign of the game.

1:30 mins of Warhammer 40k lore basics

I stumbled on this short funny video giving you the basics of the Warhammer 40k setting that I think you should check out:

For a more lengthy explanation of the greatness of Warhammer 40k, check out my post proclaiming my love for all things Warhammer 40k-y.




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Sneak peak of what is coming up on Light Speed Gaming next week

Hello guys

Another busy week is coming to a close and I thought I'd take a few minutes to whet your appetite for what we will be serving on the digital plate that is Light Speed Gaming in the next weeks time.

I've been spending some time with Forza 4, a game that made my Top 5 Q4 2011 games and that has gotten some pretty great reviews.
I'll be reporting in with my own impressions of the game and how it fares against its predecessor.

"Orcs Must Die!", the 3rd person action / tower defense hybrid has been featured a couple of times on the site.
First we took a look at the demo and then we brought you a short Q&A with developer Robot Entertainment.
Now I've picked up the full game and will be bringing you a full review of the game.

We're also going to be taking a closer look at the Geth from "Mass Effect" and I'll try to give you my opinion of, why they are just such a frigging cool race and why I'm so excited to see more of them in Mass Effect 3.

Finally you'll also find one or two more "silly" posts that will add absolutely no value to anyone, but will hopefully make you smile and give you a couple of minutes of respite from your ceaseless worries about the financial crisis and the impending ecological apocalypse.

And of course, I'll manage to stuff in some delicious nuggets of random info that I will no doubt pick up in my weekly travels on the interwebs.



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