Battlefield 3 and Skyrim Gameplay Footage Arrives

Two absolute awesome trailers have just been released for the upcoming games Battlefield 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Both previously had short teasers, now theres some gameplay, and boy do they look good. Battlefield only gives us a tiny peek at the graphics, but I'm so excited by the 10 odd seconds of gameplay that I can see, it should indicate how good it looks. Skyrim looks very much like it is following in the footsteps of Oblivion, this is no bad thing, and if it can rectify the problems with the first game this will really be one you enjoy. Check them both out below.

New Medal of Honor

The Call of Duty franchise faced a big rival last year in the form of the brand new, revamped Medal of Honor game. This challenge looks set to be sustained this year with the confirmation of a new Medal of Honor game. Call of Duty has previously adopted a yearly release schedule and it seems Medal of Honor may well be looking to do the same, with the ambition to overtake it as the FPS played by the most people being clear (for the record I despise Call of Duty).

The previous Medal of Honor did not differ enough from Call of Duty for me, both being fairly generic FPS games. Call of Duty, I believe, does not improve due to it's release schedule meaning every game being a recycled version of the previous one - I don't see how a yearly release schedule for Medal of Honor would result in anything different. That said, the popularity of the series cannot exactly be denied, so if you enjoyed them, as many of you will have, you have a lot more to look foward to.

Sourced from Gamespot.

Dead Island Trailer

This beautiful and strangely moving trailer has just been released to the public, creating rather a lot of hype. Nobody had heard much of it before but now it has certainly got everyones attention, and looks like it could be a great game, if the type of artistry put into the trailer is put into the game itself. Watch and enjoy.

League of Legends Patch v1.0.0.111 Analysis

High Command Katarina: a new skin I am no doubt going to buy.

Hi there and welcome to this weeks League of Legends patch analysis. I've left out the client changes as I can't exactly provide analysis on them, but they all sound good. As a summary their adding Co-op vs AI amongst other features for the client, and changing XP/IP rewards to give out an amount matching how long you have played for. Check out the official site for more details.


Maokai, the Twisted Treant

• Sap Magic (passive): Each time a champion near Maokai casts a spell, he gains a charge of Magical Sap. When he has 5 charges, Maokai's next melee attack drains energy from his target, healing him for a percentage of his maximum HP.
• Arcane Smash: Maokai slams the ground, the force of which knocks nearby enemies back and sends an arcane shockwave forward, damaging and slowing his enemies.
• Twisted Advance: Maokai dissolves into a cloud of arcane energies. He regrows near a target enemy, dealing damage and rooting it in place.
• Sapling Toss: Maokai hurls a sapling, dealing damage on impact. The sapling becomes implanted in the ground, warding a nearby area. When enemies approach, the sapling attacks, exploding in an arcane blast that damages enemies.
• Vengeful Maelstrom (ultimate): Maokai shields his allies by drawing power from hostile spells and attacks, reducing non-tower damage done to allied champions in the area. Maokai can prolong the effect as long as he has mana to spend on it. When the effect ends, Maokai unleashes the absorbed energy to deal damage to enemies within the vortex.

I've already discussed Maokai in my article below, the spotlight pretty much confirms my initial thoughts.

Akali

• Fixed a bug where the sound of Mark of the Assassin could persist after her target died

Amumu

• Base damage increased to 47 from 45
• Base armor increased to 18 from 15
• Tantrum passive physical damage reduction increased to 2/4/6/8/10 from 1/2/3/4/5
• Despair mana cost reduced to 8 from 10 at all levels
• Despair now has a new particle to match the area of effect

It's funny really, Amumu has fallen largely out of the limelight but not really due to nerfs, other tanks just seemed to take over. He was still a good champion, and maybe this might nudge him back towards being played again. Mostly seems to buff his jungling.

Anivia

• Fixed a bug where Flashfrost stunned for 0.75 seconds instead of 1 second as the tooltip stated
• Fixed a bug where unlike other skillshots, Flashfrost could not be cast from out of range
• Glacial Storm
  • Initial mana cost increased to 100/150/200 from 25/35/45
  • Cost per second reduced to 40/50/60 from 50/70/90
  • Slow duration reduced to 1 second from 2.5
• Rebirth
  • Armor/magic resist modifier changed to -40/-25/-10/5/20 from -40/-20/10/40
  • Rebirth now always shows the passive in the passive slot, and an additional buff in the buff bar with the current status (ready, active, or on cooldown)
   
  

Controversial stuff here. The idea behind Glacial Storm was to stop Anivia players 'pulsing' it to chill opponents before hitting them, but the amount of mana it costs now really seems excessive. It's also unclear whether the reduced slow duration means a reduced chill duration, because if it is only 1 second that's barely enough time to actually hit them after they are chilled. The rebirth changes I don't really think solve the problem. It's more of an issue early game, particularly when she dies behind towers. Late game if she becomes an egg Anivia would usually be surrounded and raped anyway, yet it is only the late game that has changed.

Dr. Mundo

• Fixed a bug where Infected Cleaver's PvP.net description was incorrect

Fiddlesticks

• Base magic resistance reduced to 30 from 35

Interesting they are nerfing him now, he has become more common. Shouldn't put you off using him though, his passive means your opponent will still have less magic resist than you.

Irelia

• Fixed a bug where the Transcendent Blades cooldown tooltip was incorrect

Just a small comment here. It's not relating to this change. By god she needs to be nerfed. The 3 real problem characters at the moment are Irelia, Nasus and Renekton. All 3 of them are insanely tough, but can put out an amazing amount of damage despite this. I realize that cooldown reduction items have been hit in an effect to counter these, but I don't really feel any of the items hit are often used on these characters. The main problem, I believe, is their lifesteal. It just makes them near impossible to kill and keeping them out of lane difficult.

A few games ago I played Mord, and had a Jax by my side in a 2 v 1 solo lane against Nasus. I spent the entire time sitting between him and our creeps so that his farm was at an absolute minimum. Other than repeatedly killing him, I could not have made it any more difficult, and out of the 3 aforementioned characters, farming is most important to Nasus. Despite this, he still later destroyed my team. The feeling is that they always seem fed, even if they have done very little. It's an issue that needs to be addressed at the moment, more than any other.

Karma

• Spirit Bond now properly assigns assist markers to allies that receive the haste bonus
• Fixed a bug where Spirit Bond would break friendly spell shields and not apply the haste bonus
• Fixed a display bug where Spirit Bond's beam would appear at Karma's feet for enemy players

Kog'Maw

• Fixed a display bug with Bio-Arcane Barrage attacks on several skins

LeBlanc

• Fixed a bug where the sound of Sigil of Silence could persist after her target died

Nasus

• Fixed a bug where attack damage granted by Fury of the Sands was not showing in your stats/character sheet
• Fury of the Sands now updates the buff tooltip to explicitly state how much attack damage granted

Olaf

• Fixed a bug where Undertow could hit the same target twice

Pantheon

• Heartseeker Strike now deals damage slower - it takes 0.5 seconds longer to deal full damage
• Grand Skyfall now has a small area near the center that deals full damage (previously it was impossible to deal full damage to any target)

The HSS change is a somewhat bizarre one. They changed his stun duration so the HSS could not achieve full effect after a stun - doing this as well feels a little over the top. His original channel time was 0.8 seconds, so the added time is more than half of that, a fair bit.

Rammus

• Powerball speed reduced by about 15%

Probably deserved, previously Powerball could outrun ghost, now you might stand some chance of getting away.

Renekton

• Fixed a bug where Slice and Dice would remember your order after casting, causing him to move toward previous locations

Vandal Twitch: the as yet other unannounced skin

Ryze

• Overload
  • Cooldown reduced to 3.5 from 11/10/9/8/7
  • Base Damage reduced to 30/55/80/105/130 from 50/90/130/170/210
  • Mana cost changed to 70/70/70/70/70 from 30/65/80/95/110
  • Missile speed increased to 1400 from 1200
  • Ability power ratio decreased to .2 from .45
  • Range increased to 675 from 600
• Rune Prison
  • No longer deals damage per tick and deals 60/95/130/165/200 damage up front (down from 80/120/160/200/240 over the duration)
  • Ability power ratio changed to a flat .6 from .4/.6/.8/1/1.2 (depending on snare duration)
  • Now deals 5% of Ryze's maximum mana in bonus damage
  • Cast range increased to 625 from 600
  • Duration reduced to 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 from 1.2/1.5/1.8/2.1/2.4
• Spell flux
  • Ability power ratio per hit reduced to .35 from .38
  • Cooldown increased to 14 from 9
  • Mana cost reduced to 60/75/90/105/120 from 60/80/100/120/140
  • Cast range increased to 675 from 625
  • Base damage reduced to 50/70/90/110/130
• Desperate Power
  • No longer grants ability power but now grants 15% spell vamp
  • Area of effect damage percentage reduced to 50% from 65%
  • Cooldown changed to 70/60/50 from 50/50/50
  • Duration changed to 5/6/7 from 8
  • Now grants a passive 75/150/225 mana
• General
  • Reduced base magic resistance to 30 from 35
  • Fixed a bug where Ryze's base mana regen did not get updated properly during the previous patch's revamp
   
  

Big remake here. The idea was to turn Ryze into a sustained caster rather than a burst. Many people are already complaining about a 'nerf', but the change to Overload could really hurt. Combined with a Lichbane, and Rod of Ages + Archangel's Staff now unbelievable items for him, prepare to feel damage. He still has some of his early game power, but seems to be more angled towards late game now. The addition of spell vamp to Desperate Power I'm unsure about. It may yet work, but I don't really see it sustaining him through a teamfight, which seems to be the intention.


Sivir

• Boomerang Blade
  • Damage reduction to each subsequent target increased to 20% from 10%
  • Now scales from bonus attack damage instead of total attack damage
  • Base damage increased to 75/120/165/210/255 from 20/70/120/170/220
  • Attack damage ratio increased to .95 from .75

 This is apparently a nerf, but the increase in damage is almost as much as the starting attack damage bonus that was taken away. It looks more like a buff to me, a very odd change that suggests thoughtlessness.

Tryndamere

• Fixed a bug where Undying Rage could not be used while suppressed

Many people have claimed this wasn't a bug but a feature, however this apparently was always the case until a few patchs ago where it was accidently changed. Alas, prepare to see your Malzahar's head cleaved in twain.

Vladimir

• Crimson Pact Bonus ability power gained reduced to 1 ability power per 40 bonus health from 25 health
• Sanguine Pool no longer grants a speed bonus on use
• Fixed a bug where Turrets would sometimes idle while Vladimir was pooled
• Fixed a bug where Sanguine Pool would occasionally not properly draw aggro upon exiting his pool

Makes him a bit more bearable but doesn't solve the fundemental problems with his design, but I doubt anything other than a total rework will.

Zilean

• Base magic resistance reduced to 30 from 35

Any nerf to Zilean is welcome for me, I hate the bearded sod.

Items

• Fixed a bug where Vampiric Scepter improperly showed it could build into Malady
• Sight Wards and Wriggle's Lantern wards now have a green top
• Vision Wards now have a pink top
• Doran's Shield
  • Fixed a bug where it said it provided 9 armor but actually provided 8
  • Armor increased to 10 from 8
  • Health regen per 5 seconds reduced to 8 from 10
• Frozen Heart
  • Combine cost reduced to 650 from 800
  • Cooldown reduction decreased to 20% from 25%
• Glacial Shroud
  • Combine Cost reduced to 425 from 575
  • Cooldown reduction decreased to 15% from 20%
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity cost increased to 700 from 550
• Quicksilver Sash magic resistance increased to 56 from 48
• Randuin's Omen cooldown reduction decreased to 5% from 8%
• Spirit Visage cooldown reduction decreased to 10% from 12%
• Soul Shroud cooldown aura reduced to 10% from 15%
• New Item: Morello's Evil Tome
  • Builds out of Fiendish Codex and Blasting Wand (Total Cost of 2350)
  • +75 ability power
  • +12 mana regeneration per 5
  • UNIQUE passive: 15% cooldown reduction

 The cooldown reduction hits don't really affect those it was aimed at, except maybe Spirit Visage. Boots of Lucidity did need changing though as they were stupidly cheap. Quicksilver Sash obviously buffed to make it used more, but it was always a brilliant item anyway. Now it's even better. Morello's Evil Tome is ok, but just an inferior version of Deathfire Grasp. That said, they are already looking at buffing it before it has been released. Riot's testing procedures do concern me sometimes.


General

• Added a new UI to better convey Shields on the health bar.
• Surrender time on Summoner's Rift reduced to 20 minutes from 25
• Surrender time on Twisted Treeline reduced to 15 minutes from 17
• Smite now deals true damage instead of magic damage
• Updated tooltips for Akali, Annie, Ashe, Caitlyn, Cassiopeia, Jax, Malphite, Rammus, Singed, and Zilean

 The smite change might not affect as much as you think, it means slightly more damage to Baron and Dragon. Be prepared to adjust for this. The surrender time change is interesting. I'm not a fan of surrendering as many people do it pre-emptively, but with the changes to the way IP is given out this might be less prevailant. It's very rare that a game is totally over before 20 minutes, but admittedly not much fun when it is.


Thanks for joining me this patch, and hopefully I'll be writing some new articles soon. Until then summoners, try and make sure you have Renekton solo and Irelia jungle every match!

League of Legends: Maokai Abilities and Analysis

Abilities:

Arcane Smash: Maokai slams the ground, the force of which knocks nearby enemies back and sends an arcane shockwave forward damaging and slowing his enemies.

Twisted Advance: Maokai dissolves into a cloud of arcane energies. He regrows near a target enemy, dealing damage and rooting it in place.

Sapling Toss: Maokai hurls a sapling, dealing damage on impact. The sapling becomes implanted in the ground warding a nearby area. When enemies approach, the sapling attacks, exploding in an arcane blast that damages enemies.

Vengeful Maelstrom (Ultimate): Maokai shields his allies by drawing power from hostile spells and attacks, reducing non-tower damage done to allied champions in the area. Maokai can prolong the effect as long as he has mana to spend on it. When the effect ends, Maokai unleashes the absorbed energy to deal damage to enemies within the vortex.

Sap Magic (Passive): Each time a champion near Maokai casts a spell, he gains a charge of Magical Sap. When he has 5 charges, his next melee attack drains energy from his target, healing Maokai for a percentage of his maximum HP.

Analysis

You know what, I think he sounds really powerful. He can clearly lane, his passive gives him sustainability, his mines can ward against ganks and his Q + E combo could really hurt. It reminds me of a kind of reverse Alistair, where he uses his E to close the gap and then Q to headbutt back, rather than pushing back on the dash.

As well as this he could be a really good ganker for the same reason - a dash stun and a knockback could really cause some chaos. Perhaps the tree could be a jungler? Hilarious Riot. A potential little trick I imagine he could use is a bit similar to an AP Shaco's JitB traps. Maokai could plant a whole series of saplings then knock the enemy into the bush for some carnage.

Lastly, his utility is exceptional. Not only do his saplings grant great map control like a support, his ultimate may well prove to be one of the best defensive abilities in the game. It could prove exceptionally powerful against melee teams, but perhaps not so much against AoE teams, with the area effect causing your allies to cluster together inside it. Perhaps you could all hide in the small bush in front of Baron, all inside his ultimate, and launch a surprise. Time will tell, but I think he'll be one of the strongest characters released in a long time, he has it all.

Well, he has it all except looks. He looks a bit weird.

The 'Death' of PC Gaming

Heres a short article I've just written for my university newspaper, and thought you guys might enjoy it.

The death of PC gaming is a phrase I hear thrown around a lot these days, and not by people who play on computers. It seems to be the common opinion that consoles have completely taken over and there remains a last, battered few who still persist with the PC. I come before you as a PC player to explore the actual evidence behind this - am I part of a dying breed or a largely unknown yet thriving community?

Let’s start by having a look at some of PC gaming’s biggest giants. Routinely, when polls are held as to which developer is the best across all platforms, three come out on top – Blizzard, Valve and Bioware. These three also happen to be some of the biggest PC games developers. Blizzard, in itself, is a PC only company making huge titles such as the Starcraft, Diablo and Warcraft series (including World of Warcraft). The console arm of Blizzard is Activision – the makers of most of the recent Call of Duty franchise. Their projected earnings for 2010 were around $4.28 billion, a staggering amount.

Starcraft 2: product of a dying platform? I don't think so.

Valve, as well as developing genre-definers such as Half Life and Counter Strike, provides the Steam service. Steam is a program that allows you to download and subsequently run games through it, including most large games released by any developer. Steam users at last count were over 30 million and Valve made an estimated $1 billion last year. Bioware are well known master story tellers producing Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. However, both Valve and Bioware have only made tentative steps towards console platforms. Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve, had previously derided Sony’s Playstation but has now mysteriously changed his mind (I’m sure you can guess the reason we all suspect). Bioware are just getting round to releasing the phenomenal Mass Effect 2 on Playstation, but the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series remain the companies’ only stabs at the Playstation and Xbox. The developers seem to appreciate there is clearly a lot of money in the console arena, but their aim still seems to be to cater to PC users.

There is also an incredibly strong community within PC gaming. A perfect example of this is the game Minecraft. So far, by attracting the interest of the community alone, it has more than a million players and hundreds of mods being pumped out for it. What makes it special is the fact that it has not even been released! It is produced by the tiny, new developer Mojang Specifications, and is available to buy online and play as a beta version (the stage before full release). Modders, people who independently produce modifications for games, provide new ways to play any game and near infinite replayability. The mod ‘Defense of the Ancients’ for Warcraft 3 became so popular it has spawned an entire new genre of games, and Valve’s hit Counter Strike began as a mod.

I don’t look at it as the death of PC gaming, I see it as the rise of console gaming. PC gaming will always be more of a niche appeal, something that provides for a community of modders and dedicated players with their own culture. Consoles however, have far more accessibility, being both cheaper and a lot easier to use. It’s no surprise that this is a winning formula, but the ascendancy of one platform does not crush another, especially when it has the most dedicated user base of all. Whatever happens, do not write us off.

Counter Strike: a child of all that is good about the PC community.

10 reasons why 2011 is going to blow your mind.

Hi once again and, slightly late I'll admit, here are the games that I'm really looking foward to in 2011. Sequels are very much the theme, so if your a fan of any of the series listed, your in for a treat.

10 - Dragon Age 2

The first Dragon Age was just masterful. Bioware are the absolute epitome of what it is to make a thrilling story within a game, and the sequel has a lot to live up to. There were some gameplay issues with the first, for example if you took 2 mages the game was a cakewalk, if you took any less it was impossible. Any fixes to these would be welcome. The new graphical style, I'll admit, doesn't look very good to me, which is why I'm putting it at 10th.

9 - Crysis 2

To this day, since the release of Crysis, no-one has ever bettered it's graphical magnificence. Sure the plot was a bit cliche but the gameplay, particularly the unbelievably interactive physics, meant that it was such a spectacle it was difficult to see anything else. I like the look of the sequel more than the original - Crytek pledged to try and make a better story out of it and the setting is an urban one, which at the same time looks better than the jungle whilst not killing your PC if you put any anti-alaising on. It's supposedly easier to run due to better optomization than the first, but the fact it is going multiplatform is an understandable worry for PC gamers.

8 - The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

 

Everyone's favourite slashing, womanizing witcher, Geralt, is back. The series carries a theme of being an 'adult RPG', which sounds rather seedy. There is a fair amount of romancing involved, but ultimately the adult refers more to the dark and serious nature that it takes. Frankly, the original was such a breathe of fresh air that almost nothing like it had appeared before, and to see it come from such a small developer (CD Projekt RED) as their first proper game was staggering. Genuinely, only Bioware can claim to produce RPG's with as much quality as the first Witcher. The Witcher 2 boasts a new combat system (I thought the old one was fine to be honest), some great looking, quicktime event themed boss fights and a continuation of it's unique plot style.

7 - Duke Nukem Forever

As Duke himself says in the trailer - after 12 years, it better be good. You know what, it actually looks like it might be. This is a game that is so legendary, I would buy it to mount it on my wall no matter how awful it is. It is the mythical holy grail of games, the Chuck Norris if you will. Nobody ever thought they'd see this, and yet it's coming. Everyone thought the final product, if it did come, would look like a horrible mash up between the various engines and graphical styles of the years it took to produce, and yet it doesn't. If you want to a man, if you want guns, aliens and to rescue hot chicks, there is nowhere else to go. Always bet on Duke Nukem.

6 - Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Lets not beat around the bush. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion had it's flaws. The AI was at times borderline idiotic, and when you levelled up a certain amount, rather than many new monsters that 'troll' has now become an identical looking 'angry troll'. That said, the modding community was huge, and with a load of mods running this game was brilliant. What it set out to achieve, that giant free-roaming RPG world but from a first person perspective was so ground breaking I didn't care about those things. What Bethesda have shown with the Fallout series since then, is that they have entirely learned from their mistakes. None of the problems with Oblivion appear in Fallout. If Skyrim takes all that was great about Oblivion and combines that with the good parts from Fallout, it really could be a genre definer.

5 - Defense of the Ancients 2

You probably won't see this on many of this other lists, it's coming in fairly somewhat under the radar, but any list that omits this is INSANE. Defense of the Ancients created an entire new genre by itself, a mod that was so good it spawned two full blown games (League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth), yet DotA remains the daddy. DotA 2 is being developed with Valve, and everything Valve touches tends to turn to gold. The formula for DotA works brilliantly and DotA 2 will likely leave much untouched besides the graphics. What Valve really want to grapple with is the notorious community. Generally there is a negtive atmosphere overhanging these 3 games, but Valve are implmenting systems such as rewards for helping new players to encourage positive gameplay. I really don't see how this game can be anything but a massive hit, considering how it's predecessor already is, and is just a mod.

4 - Portal 2

Portal was a triumph, I'm making a note here, huge success. It really was hard to overstate my satisfaction. No but seriously if you want a better example of a short but engaging and brilliantly scripted masterpiece, look no futher. If Portal 2 could even emulate the first it would be an instant buy, yet Valve are looking to beat it. Co-op was long thought of as the one missing piece from Portal, and yes, it's here. There is just so much untapped potential it beggars belief, with an infinite array of puzzles that can now be composed with a second player entering the fray. That's ignoring the single player campaign, which promises to be a bit longer this time around. Portal isn't just still alive, it's going to be killing you.

3 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution

 

In terms of an RPG styled as an FPS, the ancient beast that is the first Deux Ex has never been bettered. There was literally nothing you could not do. You want to kill the integral plot characters? Do it, the game finds its way around it. Crysis attempted to emulate it's choice of stealth or action, but ultimately did not manage it at all. Deus Ex is the ultimate tactical game. You can do anything, anyway, all the while being treated to the breathtaking visuals and incredible interaction that this new outing boasts. In the year where a franchise as old as Duke Nukem is being revived, it is only fitting that Deus Ex, possibly one of the greatest games of all time, gets to have a go too.

2 - Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 2 was just so....so.....Bioware. It was beautiful. The story was so incredibly intense and compelling, yet the characters so relatable it is a journey you will never forget. With the ability to move your saves across each game, your decisions impacting upon the future, it's a journey you don't have to forget. Mass Effect 2 really made strides in terms of gameplay over the first, and if Mass Effect 3 continues this theme then we have one of the games of the 21st century. The trailer features the best CGI I have ever seen, ever. I know it's a cinematic trailer and proves nothing but I couldn't help but wee a little in excitement. Time will tell, but if theres one group you can trust to deliver the goods, it's Bioware.

1 - Diablo 3

No-one, not even Valve, can boast a track record like Blizzard. I'm not a fan of World of Warcraft, but even still, you have the Diablo series, the Warcraft series and the Starcraft series. Bam, just like that, 3 of the biggest series' ever in PC gaming. Blizzard are quite famously never rushed into finishing a game, and they proved last year they can always up their game, doing the impossible and beating Starcraft with it's sequel. Warcraft III is still one of the most highly competitive games in existence. Diablo 2 is now 14 YEARS OLD, I just can't believe that, and still has a large online playerbase. Just like Starcraft 2, Diablo 3 looks for all the world to be the next step. Both series' predecessors were arguably the best in the genre, Starcraft 2 is the world's pre-eminent strategy game, if you were going to place your bets on Diablo 3, saying it will be anything other than crazily good would be madness.

League of Legends Patch Notes v1.0.0.110 Overview

Hi again guys welcome to my patch overview, a little something I'm gonna be doing every couple of weeks as the patches are released. Those of you who play League of Legends will know how important the patches are as they tweak so many vital aspects of the game. Without futher adue, here they are with my analysis.

League of Legends v1.0.0.110

Karma, the Enlightened One

• Heavenly Wave: Karma sends forth hidden blades from her fans, dealing magic damage to units in a cone in front of her. Mantra Bonus: In addition to dealing damage to enemies, Heavenly Wave will also heal allies in the cone based on a % of their missing life.
• Spirit Bond: Karma bonds an ally or enemy creating a beam between them. Allied anchors have increased movement speed and enemy anchors have reduced movement speed. Enemy units that come in contact with the beam take magic damage. Karma strengthens the bond to double the effect of the movement speed modifier.
• Soul Shield: Karma summons a protective shield that absorbs incoming damage. Mantra Bonus: In addition to casting the shield, energy radiates out from the shield dealing damage to enemy units around Karma's target.
• Mantra: Karma empowers her next ability to do an additional effect. Mantra is available at level 1 and does not require a skill point.
• Inner Flame (passive): Karma gains increased Ability Power corresponding to her % of missing Health.

So far Karma looks like a great champion, maybe a little too powerful. I really like what they've done with her design for two reasons. Firstly, via use of abilities such as Spirit Bond they've made a support champion that requires skill to play, which is quite difficult. Also, because of the Mantra system, while her concept is very simple she has a second layer of depth that provides a level of choice good players can take advantage of. It's quite comparable to Renekton's fury system in how it achieves this. Her only problem is for a champion that has so much support utility she really does a lot of damage, a bit like Sona when she came out.

Akali

• Twin Disciplines no longer deals bonus damage to towers

Slight nerf but I imagine this was unintentional anyway. Akali should have Sheen/Lich Bane for taking towers anyway.

Cassiopeia

• Twin Fang range increased to 700 from 675

You know I used to feel that Cassiopeia was a useless champion but boy have I seen some do a lot of damage recently. It's only a small buff but they're trying to draw attention to what I've now come to realise is quite an underrated champion.

Ezreal

• Rising Spell Force now has a particle to indicate the amount of stacks
• Fixed a tooltip bug that stated Ezreal was gaining 15% per stack instead of 10%
• Fixed a bug where some of Ezreal's spells were displaying incorrect text on cast

Just graphical update and bugfixes. 



Galio

• Resolute Smite's area of effect size and projectile speed have been increased slightly

Slight buff, but he probably needs more than this. Don't be fooled, his ultimate is still an absolute killer, but since his nerf hes just become a flying R button.

Gragas

• Fixed a bug where Barrel Roll was not properly drawing aggro from towers and monsters

Bugfix.

Jax

• Fixed a bug where Jax would lose health while leveling in some instances

Bugfix.

Katarina

• Death Lotus
  • Base Damage per dagger increased to 50/65/80 from 40/50/60
  • Ability power ratio reduced to .25 from .3
  • Attack damage ratio reduced to .5 from .55

As an avid Kat player I was horrified when I heard they were changing Death Lotus, but I'm ok with this. Slight early game buff, slight late game nerf. I still believe they need to reduce the ultimate's channel time, maybe nerf it's damage a bit, and buff Bouncing Blades' base damage.

Miss Fortune

• Fixed a bug where Strut sometimes wouldn't show a particle while active
• Fixed a bug with Bullet Time where it would occasionally scale off of ability power instead of attack damage even though attack damage provided slightly more overall damage

Bugfixes.

Mordekaiser

• Fixed a bug with Iron Man where the tooltip said it had 5% decay but was actually 3%
• Shield generation increased to 25/27.5/30% from 20/25/30%

Only a small buff to his shield but one that he needed. Seems a little odd that they wrecked his shield and are now slowly putting it back the way it was. It really cries of a reactionary change made with little testing. However I mock those who think Mord is useless now. Even at his most nerfed I was still wrecking with him, I might write a guide on him one day. It's just a matter of build.

As a short little piece of advice for now I build either Boots of Swiftness or Mercury Treads depending on the situation. Then I build a Giant's Belt followed by two defense items, usually Thornmail and Force of Nature unless they are all AD or all AP.  Giant's Belt is then upgraded to Rylai's Crystal Scepter, followed by a Frozen Mallet, and finally a Guardian Angel. Recently I've been experimenting with Leviathan seeing as I always seem to get a lot of kills but it hasn't been too successful.

Olaf

• Fixed a bug where Undertow could not deal damage to the same target within 1 second of the previous hit

Bugfix.

Rammus

• Powerball slow duration reduced to 3 seconds from 4
• Powerball slow percent reduced to 20/25/30/35/40 from 28/36/44/52/60

Somewhat necessary. It won't make a difference a lot of the time as he'll taunt you at the end, but for when you weren't being taunted it really was quite a powerful slow.

Renekton

• Cull the Meek
  • Cooldown changed to 8 seconds from 12/11/10/9/8
  • Base damage increased to 60/90/120/150/180 from 40/70/100/130/160
  • Attack Damage ratio increased to 0.8 from 0.6
  • Healing reduced to 7.5% from 15% (Fury-enhanced heal unaffected)
  • Champion healing increased to 4x from 3x
• Ruthless Predator cooldown reduced to 13/12/11/10/9 from 14/13/12/11/10
• Slice and Dice armor reduction changed to 15/17.5/20/22.5/25% from 10/15/20/25/30
• General
  • Health per level increased to 87 from 82
  • Base health increased to 513 from 508
  • Armor per level increased to 3.8 from 3.2
  • Base armor increased to 19 from 17.2
• Fixed a bug where Renekton was gaining bonus attack damage while wounded

Massive, massive early game buff and slightly late game buff. The change to Slice and Dice makes him a bit worse at killing squishies but a lot better at killing tanks. I still really like his design, but they may have taken it a bit too far in buffing him, as he was only a little way off being good.

Shaco

• Fixed a bug where Deceive could be dodged

Bugfix.

Soraka

• Astral Blessing
  • Base heal changed to 60/120/180/240/300 from 80/130/180/230/280
  • Ability power ratio reduced to 0.9 from 1
  • Buff duration reduced to 4 from 9
  • Armor buff increased to 20/35/50/65/80 from 15/20/25/30/35
• Removed Innervating Locket from her tips

Some people have complained about 'nerfing' Soraka this patch. To those people, what are you smoking!?!?!? 35 to 80 armour, thats HUGE! Yes it's only 4 seconds now, but thats almost a free Thornmail in terms of armour for what could be a vital 4 seconds. Combined with the heal  that could get you out of almost anything. Think about when your saving someone, they very rarely need more than 4 seconds to escape. If they do, their probably dead anyway.

Teemo

• Move Quick - Ability Rework
  • Passive - Now grants 10/15/20/25/30% increased movement speed until struck by a champion or turret
  • Active - Teemo gains double his passive move speed for 4 seconds. This bonus is not lost on hit

Nice idea, but I'm really not looking foward to more Teemo harassment. I hate the annoying little bugger.

Vladimir

• Sanguine Pool
  • Slow percentage reduced to 40% from 50%
  • Slow duration reduced to 1 second from 1.5 seconds
• Tides of Blood health cost reduced to 30/40/50/60/70 from 30/45/60/75/90
• Fixed a bug where Vladimir would lose health when leveling in some instances

Vladimir is NOT OP. This is the main issue that seems to be plaguing LoL at the moment. Hes very annoying to play against, but really not overpowered. Hes impossible to harass, but doesn't do that much damage and can be countered with intelligent play. Don't forget if you have someone with healing reduction like Miss Fortune or Katarina put them in the lane against him. I think these changes were fair enough. Tides of Blood really is crippling if Vlad's use it at all early game. He probably won't be a positive prt of the game until a total rework.

Items

• Boots of Speed now shows Ionian Boots of Lucidity as a build option instead of Ninja Tabi
• Doran's Shield
  • Cost increased to 475 from 435
  • Armor increased to 9 from 8
  • Health regen per 5 seconds increased to 10 from 8
• Doran's Blade
  • Cost increased to 475 from 435
  • Damage increased to 9 from 8
• Doran's Ring
  • Cost increased to 475 from 435
  • Mana regen per 5 seconds increased to 5 from 4
• Last Whisper cost increased to 2290 from 2090
• Fixed a bug with Lich Bane where the cost was inadvertently increased and the mana gain lowered
• Rabadon's Deathcap cost increased to 3600 from 3400

Huge changes. Lets get the smaller ones out the way. Last Whisper and Deathcap both deserved it, both were way too good for how much they cost. The boots display change fair enough. Now for the Dorans' items......wait for it........these changes are......BRILLIANT! Think for a second, before you cry about how the item you always take now is no longer the obvious choice. Surely that's a good thing. Players now have so much more choice, there is no obvious starting item, opening up so many more strategic avenues. You can go for Dorans' for early game dominance but now their not as good it might set you behind compared to other people leaping straight into their builds. Dorans' items also give you less health than a potion heals. They are still viable, just not the obvious item for everyone to get at the start.

Summoner Spells

• Rally
  • Fixed a bug where Rally provided ability power whether or not you had the mastery
  • Fixed a bug where Rally was granting less ability power and attack damage than it stated
  • Each unit now gains ability power and attack damage based on the caster's level, rather than each individual unit's level

Hasn't really changed much, still never going to be used.

Masteries

• Strength of Spirit mana to health regeneration converted reduced by about 33% and clarified the tooltip to show that it was regeneration per 5 seconds
• Meditation mana regeneration reduced by 40%
• Veteran's Scars health reduced to 12/24/36/48 from 15/30/45/60

In line with the rune changes about to follow, and I'll deal with the underlying more then. They are trying to promote more action early game, although whether this leads to more aggression or more defense due to less health is unclear.

Runes

• Clarity Runes reduced in effectiveness by about 33%
• Quintessences of Fortitude reduced in effectiveness by about 20%

A lot of people are going crazy over this, but they seem to have entirely misread what's happening. Underneath it explains how base mana regen is going up. With this, people using mana regen runes actually are not really affected much, it's a tiny nerf if you use regen seals and glyphs. It's more like a buff to characters who don't use mana regen runes than a nerf, and this is fine really. A lot of carries etc had to take mana regen runes which just seemed out of place.

General

• Fixed several spells that did not preload properly, causing a delay the first time used in game
• Adjusted many champions' PVP.net attack, defense, spell, and difficulty ratings
• Removed many PVP.net tags (like heal, stun, and pet) and made the remaining tags more accurate
• Updated many Champion's recommended item lists
• All Champions with mana had their base mana regeneration increased by 2.5 mana per 5 seconds and mana regeneration per 5 seconds per level increased by 0.2
• Dragon is now immune to disables

I've covered the whole base mana regen issue just above. The other changes are nice enough, I haven't really seen the new recommended items so I can't really comment, I'll have faith in Guinsoo that he knows what items are good on who. The big one here is the change to dragon. It doesn't seem like much, but I believe it means Blitzcrank can't pull him anymore, which was a unique selling point of Blitzcrank. I haven't confirmed this yet, but I'm pretty sure, and if so it's something of an indirect nerf.

Thanks for reading guys, I'll be back with with this when the next patch is out. Meanwhile we can be looking foward to Moakai and Jarvan IV!

Information on Battlefield 3

The long awaited next installment in the Battlefield franchise (and I mean proper installement, not that evil, bastardized Bad Company 2) is finally coming, and it looks set for an autumn release.

Information is steadily leaking out. For example, we now know that both 64 man servers and the ability to go prone are returning, which I'm really happy about as their demonstrating their commitment to the PC with this, after the clearly console targeted Bad Company 2.

We also know that fighter jets are returning, so rejoice as once more we will see insane clips on youtube of mind-bending, plane-swapping stunts, probably all whilst juggling a litter of kittens. Lastly the game is using the Frostbite engine, a high performance and demanding engine that will see XP users lose out due to it's need for DX11.

Heres a little teaser trailer, it's not much, but it should keep you going for now.

Sourced from PC Gamer and Game Informer.

Game Review - Dead Space 2

Good points:                                                            Bad points:

Builds on the same great formula.                              Fairly predictable.
Amazing use of audio.                                              Many familiar enemies.
Some good new enemies/features.                             Flawed multiplayer.


 You trudge down another blood spattered corridor. Another screeching monstrosity jumps out and yet again you send it's limbs flying across the metallic surfaces, stamping on it's face so many times you wouldn't even recognise it as a monster, let alone a human. This summises the general premise of Dead Space. When put in such frank terms it really doesn't sound like the great franchise that it has become, and therein Visceral Games' strength lies - with underlying layers of subtlety and some really good, driven story telling a completely linear game (yes they still exist nowadays, the horror!) becomes so much more. This sequel had a fair amount to live up to following the success of the first Dead Space, and what you get is not a disappointment.

In terms of gameplay, Dead Space 2 does not differ in any aspect from it's predecessor. Players of the first will be completely familiar with the need to severe the limbs off opposing necromorphs - the undead and generally rather unhappy looking bunch that comprise the sole enemies. You will still find money to buy equipment in shops and still need to use stasis for puzzle solving/freezing a necromorph's jaw an inch from your face. Isaac Clarke remains the protagonist, albeit this time around has suddenly found his voice (more on that later). What exactly has changed then?

Well, as well as a slightly expanded arsenal you can expect a few more types of necromorph. Some from the previous game, such as those frustrating superspeed marine necromorphs, did not make the cut, but there are some interesting new additions. My personal favourite is the Stalker, a creature that will literally stalk you through mazy levels before charging out to ram you over. Sections with zero gravity has been drastically altered, and this is one of the main changes. Whereas before you had to jump from point to point like some kind of hideously gory, interactive dot-to-dot you now have jets to fly yourself around. This lets the game branch out it's zero gravity sections to include proper segments outside in space, and just generally provides a much easier to use system. One entirely new feature is the hacking system, whereby you must complete a small task involving matching your cursor to the appropriate section, but this is hardly a major feature, even if it does recur a fair number of times.

One thing I'm particularly pleased about is how the game has turned out for the PC. The PC version of the first Dead Space might has well have marched in waving a giant banner saying 'look at me! I'm a port!'. You wouldn't know this was a multi-platform game without being told however, and these kinds of gestures from companies do mean something, I nearly wept a single tear at being able to use my mouse on the menu this time around.

The story has Isaac wake up on a Saturn medical facility only to find his nightmare on the Ishimura is repeating itself all over again - to say your thrown right into the fray from the word go is an understatement, you'll understand what I mean when you load it up for the first time. The focus is simple, you must escape Saturn's facility with as many limbs as possible, while removing as many as you can from anything in your way. It sounds simple and is definately more so than the hallucinagenic confusion of the original, but is brought to life by a few carefully placed, colourful characters. Isaac is foremost among them - he now can speak, and Gunner Wright provides an excellent job as his voice actor. Gone is the faceless, yelling man we knew before, replaced by an intensely likable and, more importantly, relatable character that I think is one of things this game has done best. Ellie and Stross provide the accompanying living comrades. Ellie is a point of mild sanity for Isaac to grip to, whereas Stross is a madman who is disconcerting yet vital, as he is the only who seems to know how to destroy the marker. This two both compliment the game as well, Ellie matching Isaac's new persona, and Stross' insanity tying in with the madness around you.

I listed these two as living comrades for a reason. There is one more accompanying member - Isaac's dead girlfriend Nicole, haunting his memory is what is described as a 'unique form of dementia.' She appears in a serious of hallucinations, but the scenes where she is present feel as if they are supposed to be a lot scarier than they actually are. Her constant terrorizing of Isaac's mind, for me, is done best when she is constantly whispering obscenities without being there, achieving a much greater effect. It feels more immersive, and this brings me on nicely to one of my favourite things about Dead Space 2.

The Brute does surprise buttsex better than anyone.

When your playing this game, it puts you in a certain mindset, and that is one of a survivalist. It takes you, the ordinary human being, and makes you into someone that scavenges ammo, reloads every gun during breathing space, anticipates every monster and checks every corner. I love this, but at the same time it is a flaw. Not only is the game actually fairly easy, it is a bit obvious. 'Oh look, theres another necromorph pretending to be dead, lets just poke you with a stick. Oh look, there a dark corridor, and I'm totally not expecting a monster to jump out at me.' You are powerful enough that theres nothing to fear unless your some kind of crazy person playing on hardcore (I played through on normal just for reference). The game's difficulty curve is somewhat U shaped. The beginning is just so easy, monsters falling like wheat before a plasma scythe. Mid game is the hardest, where ammo is becoming scarcer and monsters tougher, but by the end you have so much money you'll wonder how you ever coped with one magazine in every gun. Even though the game is linear you still have a mechanism whereby you press a button and are told exactly where to go. Generally there are two doors as a choice in a room. The objective marker will point to one, so I always go in the other first as it is inevitably where the goodies are, which ties into what I said previously about it being a bit obvious.

The new guns are something of a disappointment - the Javelin Gun can sometimes be useless, but sometimes instagib your opponent via electrocution. The Seeker Rifle, a sniper basically, has no place in a game where everything is close up. Fortunately all the old favourites like the Plasma Cutter and Line Gun still survive, and really the Plasma Cutter is all you need. The system where gun are upgraded via the workbench is still in place, using powernodes you find out and about, and has not really changed at all.

The start of the game seems to focus around big set pieces, the shiny and spectacular events to draw you in, which lead into what I actually believe is the better part of the game. Later in the game you really don't have these, but it feels better for it. Let me give you an example. Early on you'll find yourself dangling from a train by your foot, fighting off waves as you desperately try and untangle yourself, I really liked this bit. I didn't like it as much though, as the simple walk through the Ishimura upon your return. It's just corridors, corridors covered in plastic to hide the scars of what happened 3 years before. This segment does a phenominal job of building the tension, and you walk through so many familiar, yet subtley visually different areas, that it evoked powerful memories I did not even know I possessed. The game also offers some genuine, head scratching puzzles. Nothing that took me more than 5 minutes to overcome, but a couple surprised be by requiring slightly more than pre-school intelligence to solve. The build up towards the end is really good, but ultimately the climax left me a little disappointed, but I suppose you can't have everything. There is some replayability as some things you only unlock upon completion, such as new armour and hardcore mode.

Visually, the game is good, it's no Crysis but seems to have improved a bit on the first, particularly regarding humans and their facial expressions. If anything it's even more gory, requiring you now to often have to stamp on a corpse to get the items from it, and some of Isaac's death scenes are so violent it's as if you yourself have been personally violated in some way. Where the game really shines is in it's audio. I already mentioned the great voice acting, but the backing tracks of both 1 and 2 are absolutely first class. The game really takes on a different dimension with headphones so take my advice and wear some. It was only after putting them on I noticed tiny, pleasing things so as the blissful thrum that echoes through the air following a discharge of the Line Gun. It also makes things a bit scarier, which is fine, as the game is meant to be scarier than I believe it actually is.

Isaac getting carried away with his new jets. You can almost see his grin.

The big, big difference from the first Dead Space is, of course, multiplayer. Don't get too excited - if theres one thing thats transparently obvious it's that the franchise was never really intended for this format. Many people have compared it to Left 4 Dead and I suppose the premise is the same - one team control surviviors who must complete objectives, whilst the other as necromorphs try and stop them. It actually reminds me more of Aliens vs Predator multiplayer, with the small and claustrophobic arenas, as well as the general feel. It's fun to play for a while, and you should give it a try, but it really has some flaws.

If the humans are organised, it is impossible for the necromorphs to do a thing. All of them are so fragile it really doesn't take a lot. If a couple of humans aren't quite up to basic intelligence then the whole team will be promptly massacred. I have found that even though it is clearly objective focused many humans won't even bother, and just fight the necromorphs. There is almost no incentive to actually get the objectives - there is little reward for doing them at the time, and you usually end up dead if thats all you focus on. Equally, in some sections the necromorphs can attack a human objective, yet I don't think I've seen a single necromorph player attempt this other than myself.

Accompanying the necromorphs players are some bots controlling the standard enemies - 'flailey things' as I like to call them. I think think they need making more powerful, as currently they disintegrate like wet paper. The necromorph spawning system also has some problems. The idea is a good one - you control a camera while dead and manually select your spawn point. However, this camera is neither in no clip mode, nor fast, so it can be really difficult to find somewhere half decent. Ultimately, like I said, fun for a while but I doubt it will keep you playing beyond the initial experimentation (although there is incentive to, via various unlockables.)

In the end, I feel Dead Space 1 is a shade better. Just a tiny, almost immeasurable shade. It had the advantage of appearing a lot more original and the story was marginally better. Dead Space 2 has added to what was clearly a successful formula, with a voice for Isaac, along with new guns and enemies. There were also a few more memorable moments in Dead Space 1, some unique boss fights that here are replaced by two boss monsters that make up most of the battles. If you liked Dead Space 1, then undoubtedly you will like this. If Visceral Games can take on board what they've learnt from both games and combine the best parts Dead Space 3 could be an amazing game. What you get here is the follow up to a very good game that has seemingly settled for being very good as well, rather than going for something potentially great. The big changes like multiplayer have only been introduced half heartedly, and it may be that only next time will everything reach it's full potential.

Score: 8/10

Kids just seem to get worse with every generation.

 Watch the trailer here: