Xbox Event

Yes it's finally here! The new generation Xbox console, following on the heels of the Playstation 4, will be announced tomorrow and you can watch the whole thing live on Xbox Live, Gametrailers and numerous other websites.

It's airing about 6pm in the UK so I'll probably only catch the tail end of it but I'm excited to see what the future holds for Xbox gamers even if it'll be a while before I can afford to buy the shiny new console (assuming it's shiny that is!!).

I'm hopeing for some fun new features - PS4s on the fly video capability and allowing another player to remotely take over your game to get you past a hard boss are pretty revolutionary features and I'm hoping that Xbox can top them with something awesome. 

Anyway, hopefully there'll be a swath of new game announcements, trailers and other tidbits for me to spill over onto this blog.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

It's been a while but I'm going to post something current on this blog!!! It's been rumoured, hinted at and anticipated with trembling but the first official trailer for Marvel's 'Agents of SHIELD went online yesterday and here it is in all it's glory!!

It looks like these new agents are going to be investigating the other-worldly and finding their place in a world that is starting to fill up with super-heroes. It looks like it's got great potential with Avengers and Firefly director Joss Whedon heading up the show it's a sure hit!!

I'm hopeful that it can be the new Torchwood and be consitently good, unlike the Who spinoff, which had some great moments but wasn't consistently good.

I've no doubt it will come to Sky and I won't get to see it or blog about it till it's out on DVD but nonetheless I'm excited for this one!!!

Next Up: Doctor Who

Blogga's Wall - February - April 2013

So a bit of a catchup post again - here's what went up on the wall over the past few months.

1) Star Wars: The Essential Reader's Companion

An avid collector of the Essential Guides this was high on my birthday list and it didn't dissapoint. A chronological summarisation of Star Wars literature with editor's notes and fantastic illustrations highlighting the key moments in the stories. For me it's great to show my wife where Star Wars stuff we're reading fits into the big picture, check out the timeline placement of certain stories and also read succinct summaries of all the prequel-era stuff I never bothered to read!!! If you want to quickly refresh your knowledge or introduce friends to the EU then this is the book for you!!

2) Star Wars Legacy: Prisoner of the Floating World #1

The return of Legacy is awesome!! The comic book series set 100 years after even the latest novels is what got me into Star Wars comics in the first place and a chance to continue that story is well worth jumping on board. I have to be honest in admitting I miss the old series and style but I'm certainly willing to give Ania Solo and her friends a chance and spent more time in this era. You'll have a review when the story arc finishes in a few month's time so I won't say more at this stage.

3) Chocky

One of a large pile of John Wyndham novels given to me by my pastor when he left for France, I enjoyed this novel about a boy with a not-so-imaginary friend. I didn't find it as enjoyable as 'Triffids' or some of the other books I've read and I don't know if the father's hapless attitude was symptomatic of the time (smoking in front of kids and ignoring serious psychological disorders - very pre-health and safety!!) or just annoying writing but it was fun to the end.

4) Assassin's Creed III

With the fourth installment due later in the year I thought I'd better lay my hands and this game as soon as the price came down a bit and thankfully it did. I'm still plodding my way through Halo's Spartan Ops but I've had a few forrays into this game and found it just as gripping as the rest of the series even in it's early chapters.

Thanks for reading - up next: Doctor Who!

Mass Effect 3: The End

It's finally time!! The last post covering Mass Effect 3!!! It's been a while since I finished, enough time for me to finish the campaign of Halo 4 in fact, but it's still great to look back on this epic adventure as Shepard finally takes the fight bacvk to Earth.


With Cerberus out of the picture it's time for an all-out assault on Earth, not only to free the planet but to activate the Crucible, which requires the Citadel as it's key component, now orbiting the planet with the heaviest force of Reapers guarding it. Anderson outlines the plan, the allied forces are split into three fleets:-

The Sword - which will engage the Reapers directly and occupy their forces
The Shield - which will hold back and protect the Crucible until it is ready to activate
The Hammer - which will punch through to the ground and attempt to infiltrate the Citadel from the city of London.

All forces are committed and a fierce battle begins.

Upon landing Shepard is asked to meet up with the rest of Hammer forces, but on the way they find Hammer troops being picked out of the sky by Reaper anti-air so Shepasrd is diverted to take it out.

The Hades Cannon is a massive Reaper device, the size of a Destroyer-class Reaper. It is capable of damaging large targets and picking nimble targets such as shuttle out of the sky. Shepard used the power of the M-920 Cain to take it out. 








Shepard pushes through to the Forward Base where he meets up with Anderson and also Wrex who is rallying his forces, while Javik is reflecting on the first war with the Reapers and how close his people came. There is also a communications station where Shepard spoke to all his former comrades scattered throughout the warzone, thanking them for all they have done to keep the fight alive. After a moment of peace with Liara Shepard heads through to the briefing.

London is a complete warzone, but their goal lies ahead - the conduit which will transport ground forces up to the Citadel where they can secure it. 






A Reaper destroyer lands ahead of the conduit. Shepard manages to defend and activate some Thanix missiles ahead of the Reaper and uses them to take it out with a precisely timed shot.  With the destroyer out of the way it's time for an all out push to the Citadel.

Just when it couldn't get any worse - Harbinger shows up!!







Despite the valiant efforts, most of the Hammer force is wiped out and Shepard's crew have to retreat to the Normandy leaving him to fight on alone, injured, to the Citadel. After wandering through the now empty station he meets up with Anderson only to find them both ambushed by the Illusive Man, now a slave of the Reapers, he kills Anderson before Shepard convinces him of the truth and he kills himself (much as Saren did) leaving Shepard free to finish the process.

Now under his control, the Crucible docks with the Citadel, completing the device. 








Shepard  now confronts the Catalyst and has a hard choice to make.

The Catalyst (taking the form of the boy that haunts Shepard's dreams) is the intelligence that the Leviathans created, which in turn created the Reapers.









The Catalyst confirms that the Reapers 'harvest' organic life due to the constant conflict between organic and synthetic life that threatens to eradicate both kinds. Because of this the Reapers were created to harvest sentient life at it's peak before the conflict grew and then start again every 50,000 years with the organic life becoming integrated into a new Reaper. 

It gives Shepard the power to choose the Galaxy's fate, destroy the Reapers (and all other synthetic life with them) or take control of them as the Illusive Man wanted to, with Shepard becoming the new Catalyst. Shepard, unhappy with these choices, uncovers a third - synthesis with organic and synthetic life merging into one and bringing unity and peace to the galaxy.

Shepard starts the process, at the cost of his own life, but he brings a new era of peace to the galaxy. The Reapers now merged with organic life offer their knowledge and help the races of the galaxy rebuild and look to the future. I'll leave you with this vid which shows the ending, slightly different from mine (ignore the female Shepard and dead Miranda!!) but which covers the future fought for by Shepard and the conclusionm of the game

I hope you've enjoyed hearing about my adventures in Mass Effect - there's a new comic series starting in a few month's time, the Citadel DLC I may get and BioWare have strongly hinted that they are not done with the universe even if they are finished with Shepard's story so I doubt this will be my last ever post on the subject!!

SF at the Movies - April '13

Here's the Sci-Fi on our screens this month


Oblivion

 Iron Man 3

That's all I can see - but they're pretty good ones, I'm looking forward to seeing Iron Man next week.

Blogga's Video Game Diary - 24/4/13

So I'm finally playing The Old Republic, the Massively Multiplayer Online Game from Lucasarts and BioWare. Set in the ancient days of the Republic (and 300 years after their massively successful Knights of the Old Republic series) it is a dark age as the Sith have returned and taken over huge portions of the galaxy forcing the Republic into an uneasy truce after years of war. In this restless peace heroes will emerge to change the fate of the galaxy.

I'm really enjoying playing this game and being in the living world of Star Wars again with other players sharing the gamespace. The multiplayer aspect means I can play with my wife and it's a lot of fun sharing the experience with her. She's playing a Jedi Knight and I'm a Smuggler and we're currently playing our starter quests to try and reach the point where we can meet up in-game. So every now and again I'll post about my progress because there are plenty of exciting new species, droids and characters for me to get excited about and post up here.

New Characters

There are of course hundreds of characters in the game willing to offer quests and interact in other ways, I will do my best to condense the information to the essentials.

Kaled Ors

Species: Human
Sex: Male
Occupation: Smuggler








(How typical - my character blinks when I take a picture of him!!)

Kaled Ors is a seasoned smuggler loyal to the Republic, willing to transport any cargo to any destination...for the right price of course! The main hero of my story he arrives on Ord Mantell to deliver a cargo of high-spec blasters to Republic troops to find that this shipment may be more complicated than he'd like!

Skavak
Species: Human
Sex: Male
Occupation: Mercenary








Kaled's first contact on arrival on Ord Mantell, Skavak worked for the Republic port authority. He enlisted Kaled's help to clear the Seperatist anti-air battery so that Kaled's ship could leave safely, but this was a ploy to get Kaled away so he could steal the blasters for his Sepratist employers and also help himself to Kaled's ship!!

Corso Riggs

Species: Human
Sex: Male
Occupation: Soldier








Corso is an accomplished soldier who worked for the port authority and helped Kaled when he arrived on Ord Mantell and gave him help on how to fight the Seperatists. After being duped by Skavak he gave Kaled the right contacts to help him track down his ship and has agreed to join Kaled to get back at Skavak for his betrayal.

Viidu

Species: Human
Sex: Male
Occupation: Freight Management






Viidu was known as the 'King of Cargo' on Ord Mantell, most shipments to and from the planet went through him and his vast warehouses. When Kaled's shipment went missing, he was pointed to Viidu who was eager to assist him recover them, especially as they were to go to a particularly vicious crime lord who would not be pleased to lose his shipment.

New Factions

Mantellian Soldiers

The local forces on Ord Mantell are locked in a wearying battle with the Seperatists on the planet. They are grateful for assistance from Republic soldiers...and are also willing to pay for the help of anyone skilled in using a blaster to clear out the enemy forces.

Mantellian Seperatists

Fed up with the corruption in the local government, this group of armed citizens have decided to force the planet to leave the Republic and have turned peacful villages into a battleground as they seek to push back the local peacekeeping forces, forcing the Republic to deploy troops to the planet. A range of species have joined this movement and they have a number of specialists, from rocket troopers to snipers, deployed to hamper Republic efforts.   

New Droids

Drelliad Service Droid

 










This model of droid was used at the port of Drelliad on Ord Mantell, managing ship arrival and maintainence as well as cargo delivery.

Medical Droid

Medical droids are used by the Republic to treat wounded soldiers on the battlefield and provide emergency relief. They are also authorised to sell supplimentary medical supplies and take other items in trade.

Package Sorting Droid

Not exactly significant, but I couldn't resist including these little guys, a downgraded astromech-type model used for sorting cargo at Viidu's vast warehouses.

Seperatist Liberation Droid

These heavy patrol droids are used by Seperatists to harass Republic supply lines and maintain control of their territories. There is also a heavy-duty version of the droid called a Freedom Droid equiped with missile launchers.

Separatist Assault Droid

Another model of battle droid employed by the Separatists, these humanoid machines were used as guards to key Separatist facilities.

4-SEN

This droid was the companion of Separatist soldier Gorry and deployed to protect a Separatist base at Mannet Point. He detected the dead bodsies of guards killed by Kaled when he inflitrated the facility and put the base on alert, requiring Kaled's best smooth talking to get out of the situation!!

New Species

Gapillian Grazer

As suggested by the name, despite their massive size and armoured bodies equiped with powerful horns, the beasts are herbivores; docile and for the large part harmless unless provoked or frightened. They are seen moving around the wilds between the settlements on Ord Mantell.

Map

I'll update the map as I progress - as it stands all the action takes place on Ord Mantell for the smuggler.

Story

All that remains is to write about what little of the story I haven't given away!! I'll endaevour to be brief and summarise the key quests my character has undertaken - if you want more information look at the wiki TOR Head which was invaluable in making this post, especially for providing much better screenshots than I can produce!!

Kaled Ors, an accomplished smuggler with Republic ties arrives on Ord Mantell with a high prize shipment of blasters. On arrival in Drelliad port he finds a warzone between Republic troops and Separatist forces, holding up the delivery of his cargo. He ventures out into Drelliad village to disable Sepratist anit-air emplacements and other equipment delaying his job, picking up work taking out Separatist enclaves along the way - for a reasonable price of course!! On his return he finds the port in uproar and his cargo gone, stolen by Skavak. He turns to Viidu, the local crime boss and cargo king who agrees to help him retriev the cargo to save both their necks. Kaled travels to Mannet Point, a Separatist stronghold, to meet Reki who has access to a Separatist database. After decoding the information in Reki's safehouse Kaled breaks into the Separatis base and downloads the information, smooth talking his way out of a confrontation with Separatist forces. With the information in hand, he prepares to return to Viidu to find out the location of Skavak and his ship!!

Ok that's about it, more on The Old Republic in a few weeks time!! The final Mass Effect post and a new Doctor Who post coming up!!!

Mass Effect 3: Cerberus

OK nearly at the end now  - a bit ridiculous I know with the game long completed and all of Halo 4 still to update, but up-to date relevant content has never been my thing anyway. In this post I'll cover two major battles Shepard fought against Cerberus before turning his attention to the Reapers in the final battle for Earth.

Horizon

After detouring to rout Cerberus from Omega, Shepard brings the full Normandy crew to bear on Cerberus - to retrieve the data stolen on Thessia and to pay them back for their crimes against the galaxy. The Normandy crew discover that Sanctuary, a facility supposedly able to provide refugees safety from the Reaper onslaught, is actually a key Cerberus base, located on the planet of Horizon, where Shepard had his first major battle with the Collectors.

On arrival at the seemingly abandoned facility the crew find Cerberus and Reaper forces locked in a deadly battle - about time they fought each other Shepard remarks.







After examining the facility, and playing the messages of hope recorded by civilians entering the Santuary, hoping the staff can secure their future against the Reapers, they venture in to find the dark secrets that Cerberus have been hiding. Activating a console Shepard sees a message from Miranda warning him that Sanctuary isn't what it appears to be and to turn back, but Shepard presses on, especially after seeing on the recordings that Kei Leng is in pursuit of her.

Journeying into the base, Shepard discovers Cerberus's true purpose, they are experimenting on people and turning them into husks for their own purposes!








Determined to put an end to this sick experiment they press on after Miranda, determined to get to her before Kai Leng does, but as they near the headquarters they hear the sounds of a battle inside.

Henry Lawson (voiced by Alan Dale) has gained his way back into Cerberus's favour with his ability to create husks and understand Reaper technology. 






Henry is holding his genetically modified daughter Oriana as a hostage, while Miranda is nowhere to be seen. Shepard convinces Henry to let Oriana go and give up the project, at which point a wounded Miranda kills him, ending his tyranny over their lives forever. Miranda leaves to take care of Oriana but tells Shepard she planted a tracker on Kai Leng during their encounter.

The Final Push

EDI and Traynor use the tracker to locate the Illusive Man's headquarters. Shepard readies the fleets to attack Cerberus, but Hackett warns him that once the data is ready there will be no choice but to press on directly to Earth. Shepard spends a few more days rallying as much support as he can so that the galaxy is ready for the final conflict.

Cronos Station

 Orbiting a red giant, well off the charts of civilization, Cronos Station is where the Illusive Man controls asll Cerberus operations from. Only the most trusted Cerberus officials serve here. 














At the start of the mission EDI volunteers to go and proves her worth instantly by detecting a Cerberus code to vent the air from the hangar bay they land in. They battle to override the controls and then stumble on a solution to get them through the sheilded doors, taking over the automated controls, they launch a fighter directly into the station itself, causing chaos and clearing a path for them.

Journeying through the base Shepard encounters more information about EDI, that she started life as a rogue VI that Shepard battled against in his casmpaign against Saren and that she had proven her loyalty to Shepard on several occasions without his knowing, including preventing an attempt by Cerberus to remotely take over the Normandy.

Cerberus had kept and transported the remains of the Human-Reaper constructed by the Collectors and were using it for their own experiments on the station.







On reaching the Prothean VI Shepard finally discovers what the Catalyst which powers the Crucible is - only it's not an answer he likes - the Catalyst is in fact the Citadel itself!!! They are interrupted at this point by Kai Leng who engages Shepard in a ferocious battle, before finally meeting his end at Shepard's omni-blade.

Shepard speaks again to the VI, assuring him that there is still hope - but the VI reveals that the Reapers have become aware of the Catalyst's nature, due to the Illusive Man, acting under long-term indoctrination, revealing it to them in his bid to take control of the Reapers. Worst of all the Reapers have moved it somewhere where their presense is strongest

To Earth.


And now for the last time I'll update the War Assets

The following are War Assets gained by ending the Cerberus plot on Horizon

Alliance 6th Fleet - After being ordered to avoid engagements with the Reapers and preserve it's strength, this fleet is eager to join the fight.

Miranda Lawson - A key Cerberus operative, she has given the Alliance intel on several under-cover Cerberus operations


The following are War Assets gained by travelling the Galaxy

Shadow Broker Support Team - Through her connections as Shadow Broker Liara is able to lay her hands on any supplies or resources the Alliance need.

Shadow Broker Starship Tech - Technology from the former base of the Shadow Broker has gone toward the Crucible construction

Void Devils Fighter Wing - A team of highly trained Vorcha committed to destroying Reapers after the occupation of their homeworld

Vorcha Labour Team - A rare team of skilled engineers among the Vorcha, they are useful to the Crucible due to their natural resistance to radiation.

Governor Grothan Pazness - A former Batarian extremist, he now urges Batarians to embrace the support of other species and join in the fight for the future.

Volus Dreadnought Kwunnu - The only dreadnought-classs ship built by the Volus is commited to fight the Reapers

Turian SpecOps team - a highly trained team of turians renowned for action on several worlds

The following War Asset was gaine on Cronos Station

Reaper Brain - The mind of the destroyed Reaper creation is now used as a massive computer on the Crucible as well as providing data on the Reapers


One more post to go!!