World of Tanks Review

Today I have another guest post for you. This one comes in from Penny Cooper and is a review of the MMO blast-em-up "World of Tanks". Take it away, Penny:


Game: World of Tanks
Publisher: Wargaming.net
Type: Team based MMO
Score: 7/10

When video game makers release a game for free-to-play, many assume it not of the best quality. But World of Tanks breaks that notion and exuberates a grandeur that you are unlikely to have expected of a free game! What makes World of Tanks a class apart from other MMOs is its graphics. A straight “A” for the effort the makers have put in designing the tanks and the maps. World of Tanks can surprise you, if you play it without any expectations in mind.

An Introduction to the game

World of Tanks is a game developed by Wargaming.net, a Russian game studio. It is a massively multiplayer online game which is set up in the period of World War II. The tanks of Germany, the US and the Soviet Union are designed accurately keeping in mind the actual war tanks of that period.

Gameplay

It is a First person shooter game where instead of being a human shooter, you will be a tank! This might seem funny for someone who has never heard of this game, but once you start playing, it keeps you hooked. There are more than 100 tanks to choose from and up to 60 players can be involved per battle. There are two teams, each consisting of a maximum of 30 players. The first mode is a deathmatch, where each team is assigned a player randomly. The eventual rounds are the clan and flag deathmatches, where the player has to play hard to fit in the team he/she likes.

As a player, you have to find enemy tanks and destroy them. It surprisingly helps in busting stress but then again, the experience depends on the rest of the players too.

Wii U - Wiill it be any good for U?

Today I have another guest post on the digital menu here on Light Speed Gaming. This one comes in from Andrew Grush, who will take us through the magical world of the upcoming console from Nintendo, the "Wii U".
Take it away, Andrew:

The eighth generation of console gaming is nearly upon us and it starts first with Nintendo's Wii U. While some might argue that the Wii U is next-gen thanks to slightly more modest processing power than the 720 and PS4 are rumored to have, the truth is that it isn't just graphics that make something 'next-gen', it is instead the new ways it pushes gameplay and the way we interact with gaming experiences.

This is no denying that the Wii changed the way the users around the world interacted with their games. While not everyone fell in love with motion-sensing technology, it is very clear that the Wii had a major impact on the way games are played during the seventh generation of consoles. Unfortunately, Nintendo's Wii wasn't built with the same longevity in mind that the PS3 and 360 targeted and so the time has come for a next-gen HD replacement, the Wii U. So what exactly is the Wii U and in what unique ways could it change the way we interact with gaming in the near future?

Let's start by taking a look at what we do know about the hardware:

Wii U Hardware

The Wii U is capable of full HD, while most current-gen games only support 720p HD, all Wii U games should have basic support for 1080p. The Wii U is said to be at least 50% more powerful than the current-gen Xbox 360 and PS3.

The processor inside the Wii U is a custom 45nm multi-core IBM PowerPC processor with embedded DRAM, although we don't know the exact specifications or speed of the processor. We also know that some form of AMD Radeon HD graphics will be equipped in the new console.

While we do know that the Wii U will have high capacity discs (though it won't run Blu-ray movies), it is going to be fully compatible with Wii games, remotes, and even the Wii Balance Board.

Out of all the hardware features touted by the Wii U, the biggest is without a doubt the addition of its new Wii U Tablet controller. This tablet is a 6.2-inch device that has an accelerometer, gyroscope, dual analogue sticks, rumble feedback, a D-Pad, a front-facing camera, triggers and shoulder buttons, and even a built-in microphone.


In What New Ways Does The Wii U Change The Way We Game?

The touch-screen can certainly offer many new ways to play. For example, imagine playing a real-time strategy game like Starcraft 2 with this bad boy. All your commands could easily be issued with the swipe of your hand from the touch-screen while you could control the cursor through the more traditional 'gamepad' elements like dual analogue.

Outside of this, there is a huge potential for first person shooters thanks to the use of the devices motion-abilities. The control can be used as a 'scope' of sorts for your gun and if you move the control left or right it can change the way your character moves. The traditional buttons, like triggers, would make perfect sense for firing off your weapon in a Call Of Duty-type shooter experience.

The Darkness 2 - The Shining Light of Over-the-top shooters?

It's time for another guest post. This time coming in from Dani, who has jutted down his thoughts on the latest entry in the "FPS with crazy snake/eel arms" genre (it's a pretty narrow genre, I'll admit).
Take it away, Dani:

The first Darkness game was an enjoyable over-the-top shooter with a strong focus on gameplay as opposed to an engrossing plot or realistic graphics. It told the story of Jackie Estacado, a young mafia hitman involved in an attempted assassination, hiding in a cemetery when an ancient demonic force called the Darkness contacts him and kills his assailants.

The game then becomes a fairly standard first person shooter with the added powers of The Darkness, which form tendrils at your side. Throughout the course of the game, Jackie also visits the otherworld to further develop the plot and sees his powers grow. One of the strongest gameplay features allow for dual-wielding of weapons whilst also using the Darkness powers, in a mechanic unofficially called ‘quad-wielding’.

Despite favourable reviews hovering around the 7.5-8 region, The Darkness was never deemed that much of a hit; however has sold a million copies and warranted enough demand for a sequel.

The Darkness 2, one of the latest game releases, continues the story of Jackie Estacado who has risen to the top rank of the mafia and now wants rid of the Darkness. I won’t explain the full details of the plot; however it is safe to say that they have really upped the stakes in the storytelling department.

Featuring an updatable ability tree that can be progressed with by collecting the hearts of the victims, as well as a stronger focus on the Darkness, particularly the Darkling. This feature allows Jackie to kill enemies from greater distances, interact with environments and access otherwise unreachable areas and paths.

A clear improvement over the original, the Darkness 2 has really found its feet and established it’s placed in the shooter genre; however unfortunately still suffers from a relatively short single-player campaign and continued issues in multiplayer (which was also one of the biggest complaints of the original).

Suspend your beliefs, crank up the sound system and immerse yourself in the comic-book world of Jackie Estacado – however, if you’re after another Modern Warfare or Battlefield-style playstation 3 games, you’re looking in the wrong place. For one of the best gameplay experiences of the year, as well as a ludicrous yet enjoyable story, packaged in an unconventional yet satisfying game, you can’t go far wrong with the Darkness 2.

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Rediscovering James Cameron’s Aliens

I'm glad to be able to bring you another article by Jordan Siron. Jordan has previously written about the first "Alien" movie and what he thinks makes it so great.
This time Jordan takes on the sequel "Aliens" and illuminates us as to why he thinks it is a lesser movie than the original.

The (not so) cleverly named Aliens has been considered by many fans to be the best in the series. While I respect others’ opinions, I am afraid I have to respectfully disagree. Directed by Hollywood Hot Shot, James Cameron, Aliens is vastly different in terms of tone, themes, and effects. It’s so different from Alien that one such as I have often wondered if it had originally been planned as the first entry in a totally different franchise. It is by no means a bad film – it’s downright entertaining, to say the absolute least – but it left me a tad sad over what might have been.

The Story
It just so happens that the planet from the first film has since been colonized, but all contact has been lost. A team of Marines, accompanied by Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and an obnoxious bureaucrat (Paul Reiser), venture to the planet’s surface in hopes of discovering the catalyst behind the radio silence. The team discovers the entire colony has been torn asunder by the titular creatures, and must fight to survive.

The best Sci-Fi movies of 2011

I have another guest post for you today. I've just been busy with bringing you my thoughts on the best sci-fi games of 2011. Now it's time to look at what great sci-fi works that we got from the world of cinema in 2011. Tyler has penned out his thoughts on which movies were the best at really tickling our sci-fi craving fancy (let me just state right away that I disagree strongly with Transformers 3 being on the list, but to each their own ;) )

Even though it seems the multiplex was stuffed with crappy romantic comedies or unnecessary sequels this year, 2011 did have its fair share of quality science fiction cinema. If you missed any of these, you should rent, download or stream them at warp speed.

1. Super 8
   
   Combine the writing and directing talents of J.J. Abrams, add in a side order of Spielberg channeling the early ‘80s magic of E.T. and sprinkle in some incredible acting done by kids no older than 12, and you’ve got a recipe for the year’s best sci-fi movie. From the intense and chaotic train crash, that everyone saw in the trailer way too many times, to the tension that comes from not knowing what’s going to happen next, to the superior performances and nostalgic ‘70s era cinematography, this was easily the year’s best.
   
   

   

   
   

2. Source Code

What may initially seem like Groundhog Day on a train is actually a taut thriller that consistently keeps the audience guessing and rooting on Capt. Colter Stevens. As a soldier who wakes up in the body of a man on a train that was eventually destroyed by a bomb, Jake Gyllenhaal gets only eight minute increments to investigate whatever he can to find out the identity of the bomber before they can wreak even more havoc. Yes, the premise sounds idiotic and redundant, but Source Code leaves you feeling thrilled and thoughtful.

A Living Machine With A Human Heart

Today I have another great guest post for you. This time Simon Horrocks  has taken some time to give us a fascinating look at the disturbing sci-fi movie "Third Contact", which he is currently working on.

Science fiction, known as a ‘literature of ideas’, has emerged as a genre only in relatively recent human history. We looked out into a vast, unfathomable universe and saw that we were far from the centre of it. So, something of an irony, then, that the more science enables us to dominate our environment, the less in control of it we feel.

Set in dystopian futures where civilisation has broken down, or inflicting on us irresistable warrior-races from alien worlds, or even monsters of our own making (from Frankenstein’s creation to The Terminator’s Skynet and beyond), sci-fi reflects an age of human paranoia, where every new discovery forces us to question everything around us.

American novelist Philip K. Dick’s stories were mostly driven by one theme; a question central to our existence – what does it mean to be human? Are we no more than a genetic machine? Are we merely a device for carrying memories around? If one day we can replicate this machine, so that neither we nor the machine can spot the difference, will this machine be human too?

But now some science has apparently lost the plot entirely. Yes, at the sub-atomic level, things are looking increasingly weird. You can be put in a box and be both dead and alive at the same time. The Quantum Suicide thought experiment suggests the conscious mind is immortal. As The Joker says in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight – “Whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you… stranger.”

The Steampunk trend is perhaps a reaction to these uncertain times, harking back to a day when science was as unsettling as a chemistry set on Christmas morning. H. G. Wells time machine was, somewhat quaintly, made out of nickel, ivory bars and ‘sawn out of rock crystal’. The intrepid Time Traveller embarks on his journey by pulling smartly on the machine’s ‘starting lever’.

However, there is perhaps a suggestion Wells had some foreknowledge of the Many Worlds theory and immortality. As the Time Traveller is about to set off on his journey, he describes the moment he is about to operate the machine as “a suicide holding a pistol to his skull”. Did he somehow get a premonition of the Quantum Suicide idea?

At some point in the (probably not too distant) future, ideas we now consider the height of cutting-edge sophistication, will inevitably seem humorously quaint to those looking backwards. But we science fiction creators hope we will have touched on some timeless theme, even if it’s a little bit by accident.

So it was, in 2007, I began to write a story about the uncertainty of everything. That story, through various incarnations, eventually became a movie, Third Contact. At the time, I was moving through many dark places in my mind. They’re not always the most pleasant places to be, but what I brought back from those lightless caves went into the screenplays I was writing.

Alphas: A Better Version of Heroes

I'm very happy to bring you another guest post here on Light Speed Gaming. This one comes in from James Ged, who is going to share his fondness for the TV show "Alphas" with us and explain, why he thinks it is actually in many ways the TV show that "Heroes" should have been.

Alphas (SyFy) is what Heroes should have been. Everyone agrees that Heroes had a great first season, but it quickly went to crap after that. Alphas, on the other hand is stronger both narratively and structurally. Although these shows share the same basic idea—there are people among us who have extraordinary abilities and powers—they are very different in the way they approach plot and style, and Alphas pulls it off where Heroes failed.

Structure and Narrative

Part of the weakness of Heroes was that it didn’t set itself up with a particular structure from the beginning. That is, it set itself up as a free-for-all drama with no real structure or regular plot elements, so when the show had to grow and become something else in its second season, it had nothing to fall back on, and thus fell apart.

Alphas, on the other hand, has established itself as a procedural-type show with a plot structure based on a team of “Alphas” (or people with enhanced physical and mental abilities) who investigate crimes and track down other Alphas who may be a danger to themselves or others. Although the show broke with the procedural structure throughout the first series, the writers regularly returned to it, giving a continuity and framework to the show that allowed for good character development strengthened the overarching storyline.

Rediscovering Ridley Scott’s “Alien”

Today I'm happy to bring you another great guest post. This time Jordan Siron joins us to rekindle our love for the original "Alien" movie. I remember being seriously freaked out after watching Alien as a small kid, and it still remains one of my personal favorite scary sci-fi movies.

As a fan of science fiction, it shames me to admit that I had not once watched the Ridley Scott classic Alien over the past six years. For sci-fi fans, that is essentially akin to a gambler saying he hasn’t stepped foot in Las Vegas since Frank Sinatra used to roam the strip.

It isn’t that I didn’t love and respect the film, but my focus had drifted elsewhere for a moment. However, upon hearing murmurs regarding the in-production prequel (Prometheus) that should hit theatres next year, I knew I had to revisit my old friend.

How does Alien stack up after all of these years? Is it still the classic example of space-horror as so many have claimed? The answer, of course, is a resounding “Yes!”, and here’s why.

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.