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.



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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!



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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!



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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.

Early impressions of Batman: Arkham City - Batting for a home run?

Being one of my top 5 games for Q4 2011, I was extremely excited to finally get a chance to play the Xbox 360 version of Batman: Arkham City.
So far I've only had time to scrape the grimy surface of Arkham City, but I have gotten enough dirt under my fingernails to bring you some initial observations and impressions.

It's a strange time when one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year is a comic book franchise one

Like Gears of War 3, which I reviewed earlier this week, Batman: Arkham City is a pretty looking game that feels like it is really doing its best to wring out every last drop of graphical juice that can be found in the current generation of consoles.
However, it is also clear that the graphical juices are limited, and I feel that some of the animations, and particularly the facial work, is a bit lacking.

The big question that you're all waiting to be answered is of course; did Rocksteady Studios pull off another stunning Batman game?
Since I'm only a few hours into the game I'm not prepared to give a final answer on that, but I do think that I can already answer this question with a firm yes... and no.

Exclusive Preview of City of Steam - Your chance to play a mechanical Dwarf!

There are only so many traditional fantasy based MMO's that one man can stomach. When you're walking through a magical Eleven forest for the 24th time, you can start to suffer from some real Tolkien related fatigue.
Enter "City of Steam".
This free to play browser based MMO is going to take your Elves, your Dwarves and your medieval themed fantasy world, and process them in a giant, hissing piece of brass decorated machinery, spitting out a distinct steampunk setting, where the world is one giant machine and one of the base elements is rust (earth is so quaint).

Trains and airships. This isn't your average Lord of the Rings fantasy world

City of Steam is being developed by the China based "Mechanist Games" and has been in development for a couple of years.
I've had a chance to interview lead designer David Lindsay and Ian Morgenheim, who has been part of the process of creating the RPG books that the game is based on.

Q: First off, can you tell us about how you came up with the background for City of Steam?

A: City of Steam is actually the third iteration of the a setting that began as simply "Industrial Age Fantasy". That first version was a... bloated unwieldy beast of a thing! It had horns, tentacles and a monstrous index, I tell you! Imagine the Necronomicon from Army of Darkness: Painful to open, terrible to behold, but definitely a force to be reckoned with. But as a first product, and a solo writer/developer, it was a massive learning curve and a great experience.
I keep it in a locked trunk so it will never see the light of day, but without making any of those mistakes, today's game would never have been possible at all.

Gears of War 3 Review - Duck and cover FTW!

The "Gears of War" series is one of the console defining games of the Xbox 360. Combining great visuals with satisfying cover based 3rd person shooting, it provides a thrilling action packed experience, whether you play alone or with friends.

The third game in the series promises to provide us with a satisfying conclusion to the games story line, as well as giving the multiplayer modes a new coat of paint and ensure that you'll have fun killing Lambet and Locust for months to come.

I think these guys work out

I have personally never really been all that into Gears of War. I played through the first game and found it to be enjoyable enough, but it did not set my world on fire and make me yearn for the sequel. So when Gears of War 2 came around I actually ended up giving it a pass.
It was therefore with some shoulder shrugging that I greeted the announcement of Gears of War 3. I had no doubt that it was going to be a competent shooter, but I did not think it would really be for me.

But as more footage of the game was shown, I was really blown away by how gorgeous the game looked, and how fun the gameplay appeared to be. I realized that in the years since the first Gears of War, I had not really played any 3rd person shooter that presented such a smooth and polished experience as the original Gears did.

This lead me to ultimately decide to pick up Gears of War 3 and give it an honest try.
And I'm glad I did.

Guardian Cub hits World of Warcraft auction houses

I've previously written about the new Guardian Cub vanity pet for World of Warcraft.
My initial post detailed how this pet will allow you to indirectly buy WoW gold for real cash, while my follow up post focused on Blizzards justification for this move.

Does this look like a 10k gold pieces pet to you?

Now the Guardian Cub has been released into the wild and has made its way onto the auction houses of WoW servers everywhere, giving you a chance to lay down some Blizzard coin for a pet bought with Real Coins (tm).

Of course, the really interesting question is, how much are these pets selling for?
What is the price of a Blizzard sanctioned gold buying service?

Warhammer 40k: The Necrons march again

In the world of Warhammer 40k tabletop, Games Workshop is announcing a big push for the Necron faction.
These soulless servants of ancient star munching gods of ages past will be spruced up with the addition of several new models to bolster their ranks.

The Necrons make for a pretty cool race in Warhammer 40k, I think.
They are a slow plodding force of grim determination and make a nice contrast to the elegance and speed of the Eldar, or the unbridled war loving savagery of the Orks.

Grand Prix Story Review - Could have used some more time in the pit

After my extremely positive experience with Game Dev Story, that I reviewed a little while back, I decided to revisit the world of phone gaming by picking up another of Kairosoft's "Story" games.
This time I bought "Grand Prix Story", which should be right up my alley, as I am both a fan of racing games and also enjoy watching races on TV.

Grand Prix Story puts you into the shoes of a racing team owner, letting you build cars, hire mechanics and racers, and generally lets you go about living out your Frank Williams fantasies (sans the tragic spine injuries).

Initially your choices will be limited. You'll only be able to build one type of car, a roadster, and select between two different drive train configurations, front wheel drive or rear wheel drive.
But in good "Story" game fashion, you will soon be presented with more options, getting to research new parts or vehicle types, or upgrading your existing vehicles or parts.
This means that you will soon be tweaking and tuning your cars so they perform optimally for the various races that you participate in.

Sci-Fi Do Want: The Imperial Star Destroyer

Welcome to the first post in my new series "Sci-Fi Do Want", where I will be writing about my favorite gadgets, vehicles and technology from the realm of science fiction.
These articles will contain no useful information whatsoever, but will let us all nerd out to the awesomeness of the coolest pieces of tech from books, movies, games or any other medium that science fiction is present in.

For the first "Sci-Fi Do Want" I present to you: The Imperial Star Destroyer

The pagoda like superstructure of the Star Destroyer makes for even more hard angles
on the already aggressive looking design

The Imperial Star Destroyer has always been a very special spaceship for me, ever since I saw the Star Wars movie.
The awe inspiring intro that the Star Destroyer makes in Episode IV establishes it right off the gate as a giant bird of prey that will mercilessly hunt down any ship that is unfortunate enough to be labelled as an enemy of the Empire.

New Syndicate trailer shows off 4 player co-op gameplay

A new Syndicate trailer has just been released.
This time we're treated to some high quality murder entertainment courtesy of the games 4 player mode:

I continue to be cautiously optimistic for this game.

Also, I really dig that remix of the old Syndicate soundtrack!



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Mechwarrior stomping onto our screens summer 2012

Yesterday it was revealed through a tweet from developer Piranha Games that the next game in the MechWarrior series is heading to PC's next summer.

Mechs! Shooting rockets!

The next chapter of this bipedal vehicular warfare games has been a long time coming, and many feared that the game had been lost in development limbo.
But now it looks like we won't have to wait terribly much longer before we can get back into the cockpit of our Timberwolf and let loose with deadly hails of rockets against our similarly mechanized enemies.

Online and for free.

What?

Is it time to jack back into "The Matrix"?

The other day I was overcome by a sudden wave of nostalgia and urge to revisit the wonderful world of "The Matrix". So I blew the dust of my DVD case (physical media, how delightfully old school), and popped the disc into my PS3, diving into the 1999 science fiction classic.

It's hard to believe this is already a 12 year old movie

After watching the movie, I was once again reminded of just how cool a movie it is, and how sad I am that the Wachowski brothers managed to completely bury the universe with the confusing piece of over worked misshapen lump that was Matrix Reloaded and the complete abortion that was the steaming pile of cow manure AKA Matrix Revolutions.

I don't think I remember a popular science fiction franchise ever rising so fast, full of so much promise, only to explode in mid air and pepper the dazzled onlookers with its CGI entrails.
And this was done by the Matrix's own creators, no less. At least if the franchise had been taken over by a soulless company that had no idea what The Matrix was really about, then I could have understood.

Coming up next week on Light Speed Gaming

It's been a blast of week for me this week!

I finally got my dirty mittens on Battlefield 3, I got my ass handed to me by 17 year old X-COM, and I got down and serious with a post on the place of gaming in modern society.

But as always, there is even better stuff coming up for you all next week!

"Holy stacks of games, Batman!"

It's Q4 and the top quality games won't stop coming.
Already I've played two of my Top 5 games for Q4 2011, namely Forza 4 and Battlefield 3.
I've also already got Batman: Arkham City just lying on my desk, begging to be played (disturbing images of Christian Bale whispering in a husky Batman voice "play me. Play me now..").

Battlefield 3 Review - Stop Playing With Yourself

Battlefield 3 is the last in the long line of modern day military shooters, which was popularized by Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
It's been hyped as the new king of the hill, and EA has very deliberately positioned it up against Call of Duty, with the marketing tagline being "Go beyond the call" (Subtle, guys. Real subtle).

It's here!

Now the game is here, ready to impress us with gorgeous graphics, a compelling campaign and orgasmic multiplayer madness.
Or that is what the hype would have you believe at least. Read on to find out if Battlefield 3 is going to leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling of delight, or the unpleasant buzz of frustration.

Dancing Darth Weekend Fun Time!

What?

Well... This!

And now you're ready for the weekend!

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Steam holds Halloween "scary games" sales blowout - Get your 5 euro Bioshock now!

Never ones to miss any excuse for a crazy games sales bonanza, Steam is holding a Halloween themed sales fest, where a bunch of "scary" themed games are discounted to low low levels.

These happy pumpkins know the goodness that is the Steam Halloween sale!

I've had a looksie at what is available in this gut filled bucket of pumpkin festival related game titles, and here are a few fantastic games that you can pick up for cheap, if they have not already made their way into your gaming collection:

Nintendo reports $589 million loss for the last quarter - 3DS sales improving

Nintendo today announced that it came out of the last quarter with a net loss of $589 million, and lowered it's full year projections from a $260 million profit to a $260 million loss.

Nintendo says that the poor results are due to several different factors, among them are sales declines on software and hardware, as well as a hit on profit margins due to price cuts.

The color of the logo matches the color of the numbers on Nintendo's quarterly results

It is of course no secret that the 3DS handheld console has not done at all as well sales wise as Nintendo was hoping, but at least Nintendo are seeing increasing sales now that they have implemented a significant price reduction on the system.

Nintendo states that the decrease of game sales are due to lack of "hit titles", with the only exception being the 3DS version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

So what to make of this?

I am not surprised that Nintendo is experiencing severe setbacks in their earnings.
The Wii seems to really be a "done" console by now. There are very few games of significance coming out for the system, and the general public seems to have tired of the novelty of motion controls, which the Wii really pioneered.

Furthermore, both Microsoft and Sony have by now tried to steal the motion controlling thunder from Nintendo, by bringing out their own versions of motion controls in the form of the Move and the Kinect (With Kinect itself adding a new novelty of controller free motion control gaming).

Will games ever be considered a "legitimate" pastime?

The other day I was skimming through one of my game forum watering holes, and I was struck by a post that was titled something along the lines of "Do you think you will still be gaming in 10 years?"

Wondering if this was a post about the death of all games or the coming of the end of the world in 2012, Mayan style, I clicked on it to find out.

It turned out to be a post about gaming when you "grow up".
The poster was a college kid and he was writing how he could not see himself still playing games in 10 years.
It just didn't seem "appropriate" to him that a 30 year old, probably with a family and job, would be playing video games.

This is still the kind of image that pops into many peoples head when they hear the words "video game"

This got me thinking about video games and their place in the culture of our modern day society (Because my brain likes to over think things like that).

X-COM Journal Day 1: This could all go very bad...

As I proclaimed yesterday, I have bought a copy of X-COM: UFO Defense and immediately jumped into the world of small grey aliens and flying saucers (brings back nostalgic memories of X-Files it does).

Yesterday I was bombastically bragging how my many years of gaming experience would easily enable me to subdue this old sci-fi gaming antiquity, and I launched the game with high hopes of easy battles against inferior computer enemies.

Approximately 45 minutes later I found myself alt+F4'ing out of the game with a sense of deep despair that would make an emo goth seem cheerful.

A fresh game of X-COM ready to be conquered!

There is no doubt that the last 17 years since X-COM's release has seen great leaps and bounds in terms of easing players into a game and helping them get a feeling for what the hell is going on.

I think the death of the big paper manual has probably helped with this, as back in 1994 you would still find a nice little book for you to read through, whenever you bought any game more complicated than Space Invaders.

However, without a manual (or the patience to read one, even if I could find a PDF document online somwhere) I threw myself headfirst into the game and hoped to figure it out as I went along.

Mistake number one came after around 20 seconds of having selected difficulty level and started the game.

Rockstar announces GTA V

In perhaps one of the least shocking pieces of gaming news to hit the web in a while, Rockstar has just announced the existance of GTA V.

Of more interest is the fact that we are going to be treated to a trailer of GTA V on the 2nd of November.
The GTA V website is up here, but is so far just a title screen and the promise of said trailer.

This is what you see at the official GTA V site at the moment

When we get our first peak into GTA V next week, it will be very interested in seeing if Rockstar will continue the rather sombre and serious story tone that they tried to set in GTA IV, or if we're going to to see a more crazy GTA that is more along the lines of the previous entries in the series.

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Sci-fi blast from the past: X-COM: UFO Defense

Following my own, rather fantastic, advice on cheap sci-fi games on Steam I just picked up a copy of X-COM: UFO Defense

Something strange in the neighborhood?
Who you gonna call?
X-COM!

I intend to deep dive into a pool of DOS powered gaming nostalgia and relive the magic of the strategy game that helped spark my love affair with sci-fi computer gaming.

Either that or I will run away screaming, horrified by the outdated graphics and cumbersome gameplay mechanics.
Either way, it should provide you with top quality entertainment!

X-COM was one of those games that I had a bit of a complicated relationship with, just like I do with Eve Online.
It continually kicked my ass every time I played it and I only managed to finally complete it by cheating (trainer programs and hex-editors for the win! "FFFFFF" for lots of money).

Blizzard releases new Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm trailer

Blizzcon 2011 happened over the weekend and brought with it a flood of new content.

Probably the most interesting to me was actually this new trailer for the next Starcraft 2 outing, which will be the Zerg centered "Heart of the Swarm".

Check out the trailer below:

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5 Video game phenomenons that we'd like in real life

The world of video games is a little microcosm of its own.

There are so many gameplay mechanisms that we as players have become so used to that we don't even think about them at all.

I have 3 lives?
Makes perfect sense to me!

Things such as a checkpointing system is an example of a mechanic that you would probably only really notice if it was absent.

These things all make playing games a more enjoyable and relaxing experience, but imagine if we could transfer them into the real world.

If you could pick 5 video game mechanics to transfer into reality, which would be the ones to pick?

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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