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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