Deciding on your Diablo 3 class - Swords, Toads and Great Balls of Fire

Even though the hope of getting Diablo 3 before the end of the year has been mercilessly crushed by Blizzard, the game is still on track for an early 2012 release. And if you're the kind of person that like to over analyze stuff, like me, then it's really time to start thinking about what class you're going to be playing.

Difficult choices to be made

After thinking long and hard about it, I think I've finally been able to reach a decision.
Read on for my thoughts on the different classes and hopefully get some inspiration for your own class choice.

10 Reasons not to have a Predator as your roommate

Following up on my post on the coolness of the Predator Shoulder Cannon, you may be thinking "hell yeah, Predators are awesome". You may think that living with one of these fantastic fellas will be nothing but great times and shooting up Aliens.

I know what you're thinking: "How could living with this guy not be completely great?!"

But wait! Before you let a Predator move in as your new roommate, consider these 10 points that could be a real deal breaker for a harmonious relationship with this head hunting homie.

First Video Look of Forging Life

Our exclusive preview of "Forging Life", the Minecraft/Ultima Online indie game that throws you into a dynamic and evolving world got a lot of interest from our readers.

Now the developers are ready with the first small piece of video content that shows the game in motion.
Check out this video of some gathering in action.

Action packed it is not, but it's nice to see some actual gameplay footage.

 Subscribe in a reader

Light Speed Gaming hits Facebook at maximum speed

Continuing our relentless march onto the social media of the internet, I have now brought to life a Facebook page for Light Speed Gaming.

I hope that this page will enable you guys to give more feedback on the development of the site and simply provide a place for us to sit down and have a nice chat, courtesy of Zuckerberg.

I hope that you'll "like" my page, so we together can create a mighty army of sci-fi and gaming lovers that will one day topple the foolish Earth governments!

-End Transmission 

Skyrim Review Round Up

The time for donning your horned helmets and losing yourself in Skyrim is upon us!
If you haven't already laid down cash for a preorder and you're still sitting on the fence, wondering if this latest entry from Bethesda can sufficiently slate your dragon slaying thirst, then wonder no more!

Reviews are now up of Skyrim, and it's looking rather well:

Gamespot (9/10)
IGN (9.5/10)
Giant Bomb (5/5)
Joystiq (5/5)

So across the line it's top marks for Skyrim. Even if the game does still feature some of that open world jank that we've become used to suffer from Bethesda open world games. The favorite bug I've seen so far are the flying mammoths that spawn in mid air and plummet to their doom.
Maybe one of the programmers was inspired by the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Gamespot video review after the break

Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Class And Weapons Guide

I'm very happy to present to you my first guest post here on Light Speed Gaming.
This one comes in from Mike Derges from stinkyink.com, who gives us the low down on the various classes and unlocks in Battlefield 3

A question many gamers ask when they first play a class based shooter is “What class is for me?” this is almost always followed by “Which gun is good?” The purpose of this post is to give new players an overview of what each class offers and a look at some of the top gear for each.

Assault

The Medic class. By default Assault players spawn with either an M16A4 or the AK-74M and their tool of the trade a Medkit.

This allows Assaults to begin their careers as medics, throwing a medkit at your wounded teammates feet cases them to heal rapidly and you to gain points. The ability to keep your team alive is bolstered by the classes first unlock the Defibrillator.

The defibrillator has no kind of ammo supply and can be used without any kind of cool down other than it’s animation. Once hit a player will be given the option of pressing “A” (or “X” for our PS3 friends) to be revived. As well as getting them up and letting them get back into the action revives earn the medic equivalent points to a kill and negate the deaths impact on respawn tickets. For veterans it’s worth noting that unlike in some previous games de-fibbing an opponent does not damage him.

As for weapons the Assault class uses Assault rifles, while still deadly at close range ARs are geared to mid to long range combat and most come able to fire fully Auto or single shot. Key weapons to watch out for are the F2000 which is locked until the player gains 124000 points in the class and the M26 Mass under-slung which adds a shotgun attachment to the under-slung rails provided by most of the assault rifles.

New X-COM game delayed - UFO's on galactic detour

Those of you looking forward to the new FPS reboot of X-COM that 2K Marin is currently waiting on. are going to have to keep watching the skies for longer than first anticipated.

You'll have to postpone those monolith shooting activities to sometime well into 2012, at the earliest

In the fiscal Q2 2012 earnings report the X-COM publisher, Take-Two, have announced that they are now expecting the game to ship in "fiscal 2013", meaning somewhere between April 2012 to March 2013.
This is bumped back from the previously announced March 2012 release date.

I am actually really sad to hear this news. While I was initially (very) skeptical about a FPS X-COM game, the last showing of the game at E3 managed to impress me quite a lot, and I was looking forward to playing in this 50's Americana setting.
Especially the increased focus on research and management of your men has piqued my interest and provide a clearer connection to the X-COM games of old (the original of which has been kicking my ass).

E3 2011 X-COM mission play through:

 Subscribe in a reader

Sci-Fi Do Want: Predator Shoulder Cannon

Last week I kicked off the new series "Sci-Fi Do Want" here on Light Speed Gaming by describing the awesomeness that is the Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars.
This week I'm scaling way down to something much more handy and portable.

It's the shoulder mounted energy cannon carried by our favorite Alien hunting skull collector; Predator.

The head tracking shoulder cannon: All the fun of shooting people without the hassle of using your arms!

I've always been very fascinated with the Predator aliens ever since I first saw the "Predator" movie as a kid.
Of course, I was around 10 by the time I saw it and the hideous unmasked mandible face of the Predator gave me nightmares for weeks. Still... pretty cool movie!

Modern Warfare 3 Review Round Up

Modern Warfare 3 reviews are exploding onto the internet, bursting at the seams with the low down on the latest entry in the mega blockbuster FPS series.

A few people have been looking forward quite a bit to this game, I'm told.

It seems that the reviews are generally very positive overall. Here are the verdicts from some of my favorite sites:

Gamespot Review (8.5/10)
IGN Review (9.0/10)
Joystiq Review (4.5/5)
Giant Bomb (4/5)

It seems that the game breaks down in much the same way that I found in my review of Battlefield 3, in that the singleplayer campaign is a bit on the "meh" side, but a really enjoyable multiplayer makes up for it.
It does seem though that the campaign is of a quality that is better than what you had in Battlefield 3 (so you won't want to actively stab yourself in the neck while playing), and actually manages to provide satisfying closure to the story of the main characters in the Modern Warfare series.

On the multiplayer side, minor changes have been made to the competitive modes, which makes for a more interesting experience.
However, the part that I am personally interested in the most are the two co-op modes. Spec Ops makes a return, with missions that are apparently more fleshed out and feel better put together. A new entry in the co-op multiplayer is the new Survival mode, which lets you and a friend defend against waves of increasingly difficult enemies.
I always enjoy competent co-op gameplay, so these will probably be the two modes I'll find most entertaining, if I get into MW3 multiplayer.

Still, I think I will be sticking mostly to Battlefield 3 for my modern military multiplayer shooter antics, as I just prefer the pacing and the vehicular mayhem that the Battlefield games provide.



 Subscribe in a reader

Shadowrun Browser Based MMO - Trolls With Guns!

Hot on the heels of our preview of City of Steam, which promises a relief from the standard fantasy setting by throwing in a hefty dose of steampunk, we're taking a look at the MMO "Shadowrun Online".
This article is based on an interview from "Rock, Paper, Shotgun", so head over there if you want to know more.

Like City of Steam, Shadowrun Online is going to be a free to play browser based MMO, which means a low barrier of entry for anyone interested in jumping in.
The game is based on the pen and paper role playing game of the same name (just Shadowrun, not the "Online" part, in case you were wondering).

Not sure what Sam Fisher is doing here...

The Shadowrun universe is a cyberpunk setting with a twist. Set in the year 2073 (putting it within spitting distance of Anno 2070, then!) Earth has become populated with Elves, Dwarves and Trolls, which are a result of genetic mutations.

Aside from the presence of these fantasy freaks, the world has also seen the emergence of magic, so you have a fireball to go with your Elf (but do you have a plan to go with that fireball?).
The result is an interesting setting that features spellcasting Elves, who can also wield assault rifles, and Dwarven martial arts experts that dabble in computer hacking.

Video look of the Anno 2070 demo

Here's a commentated video look of the demo for "Anno 2070", which is similar in style to something like "The Settlers" or the old "Caesar" games.

The Anno series have previously been set in the past, with the last entry being Anno 1701, so this is new ground for the series.

Looks like an Anno game to me, and that ain't a bad thing at all!



 Subscribe in a reader

Coming up next week on Light Speed Gaming

What a crazy great week it has been for Light Speed Gaming!
From checking back on the merits of the Matrix franchise, to two new reviews of Grand Prix Story and Gears of War 3.
Not to mention the two exclusive previews of the cool looking steampunk MMO City of Steam and the very indie Minecraft-esque Forging Life.

Oh, and of course the launch of our new article series "Sci-Fi Do Wants", with the launch article describing the coolness that is the Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars.

And those are just the highlights!

But of course, next week is going to be even better.

Next Friday sees the release of the hotly anticipated next chapter of the Elder Scrolls series; Skyrim.
I can tell from the poll on our site (Look at the top right corner of the page and remember to vote and let your opinion be heard!) that Skyrim has a solid lead as the most anticipated game of November.
I'll be grabbing that as soon as it launches and I'll give you what impressions I can soak up by the end of the week.

This small little title will be quietly releasing on Friday

While we were cheated out of a Diablo 3 release this year, I'm still frothing at the mouth in anticipation of it's release sometime early 2012.
Next week I'll be giving you a rundown of the different classes and let you know what I'll be playing and why (and hopefully inspire you as to what you want to play).

I'll also bring you the next article in our new "Sci-Fi Do Want" series, and this time the subject of the article is going to be a lot smaller than a Star Destroyer (which barely narrows it down at all, really).
Here's a hint. It's the weapon of choice for one ugly motherf**ker.

I will also have some video content coming up, showing off the demo of the upcoming Anno 2070, which takes the colony management game from the past of 1701 and catapults it straight into the near future.

All this and more news, point of view posts and other goodness coming straight towards your screens at the speed of light!



 Subscribe in a reader

Exclusive look at the indie game "Forging Life" - It's a jungle out there

For several years their has been a tendency towards making games more accessible and easier for players to get into.

More focus has been put into ensuring that games never frustrate a player and that they always feel like the center of attention in the game world.
This is a development that I am mostly pretty happy with, as I described in my post "Please Dumb Down My Games".

Forging Life can ambitiously be called a "world simulator"

However, even a lover of casual games can find himself wanting more of a challenge.
Sometimes you *want* a game that tests the limits of your skills and is not afraid to punch you in the face if you mess up.
The success of Demon's Souls is a testament to the fact that there is a demand for a game like this.

And Minecraft showed us that players are also perfectly happy with running around in a large world, where it is left to the player to make their gameplay.

The indie game "Forging Life", developed by a couple of Danish guys embraces some of these elements that you'll find in Demon's Souls and Minecraft, throws in a pinch of Ultima Online's sense of being just an insignificant cog in the machine and mixes it all together with some elements of their own to make a tasty stew of survival goodness.