Certainly one of the more interesting promotional videos released recently! Lollipop Chainsaw is set for a staggered release on XBox 360 and PS3 between 12th-15th June in various regions.

- Darren “you set it in Japanese mode!” Fotheringham

I say ‘Just’, everything announced so far for this edition sounds pretty awesome; from the value package of having access to a ton of DLC maps from Launch to the ultra sexy steelbook case. Yeah, alright 343i, you’ve got my attention now.

Here’s what else potential buyers can look forward too in the Limited Edition:

Limited Edition Contents (nine multiplayer maps) – £69.99/$100
War Games Map Packs: The Limited Edition includes access to nine maps – three future competitive multiplayer map packs, each including three locations, available for download post-launch on Xbox LIVE.

Specializations: Receive early access to six Specializations, available at launch on Xbox LIVE, and use them, one at a time, to achieve higher ranks in your Spartan career. In addition to gaining access to new ranks, Specializations unlock new customization options.

The Special Edition of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, a 90-minute extended version of the live-action digital series which will take fans back to the terrifying beginning of the Human/Covenant war, when the Master Chief inspired a young cadet who would eventually become a leader aboard the UNSC’s greatest vessel ever: the UNSC Infinity.

Digital Content also included: Bonus in-fiction bonus content expanding the characters and stories of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn; Special Featurette: Bringing Gaming into Reality; Making of Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn

Bonus digital content through Xbox Live:
Unique in-game Spartan IV armor skin
Unique in-game weapon skin for the Assault Rifle
An exclusive in-game emblem
Xbox Live Avatar prop
Xbox Live Avatar Spartan IV armor set

Those getting the regular edition will also be in for a treat though as Microsoft just also released the box art for the vanilla game too. Which, I might add, may be the best artwork to grace a Microsoft Studios game.

Halo 4 is expected to Launch on November 6th on Xbox 360

Not always staying on point, but coming back to humanity eventually, enjoy the first part of the opening episode!

- Darren “zombie-killer” Fotheringham

The ending there of 0100010 00110011 is binary for E3, so we can expect more news (likely a final video) at the Konami pre-E3 event!

It’s been a long time coming and it seems that it can’t be far off with the way these videos have been coming, roll on E3, we cannot wait.

- Darren “bring on the Kojima!” Fotheringham

The Rebellion Multiplayer Expansion opens two new fronts against the Reapers: Firebase Jade’s jungle reservoir and Firebase Goddess on Thessia. In-game reinforcement packs now include three new weapons as well as equipment, consumables, and six new classes: Quarian Engineer and Infiltrator, Vorcha Soldier and Sentinel, Phoenix Adept and Vanguard. The battle continues – hold the line!

This war isn’t going to be over any time soon, so stay true and watch the skies! The new DLC is expected to touchdown over the next week!

- Sean ‘Hold The Line‘ McCarter

In a report on thier blog, Admiral Hackett said the following:

Re: Operation SILENCER

Confidentiality Classification: XB-PRIME

Distribution: N7 Forces Only

Soldiers of the Milky Way –

It is with great regret that I must announce the withdrawal of forces from several colonies in asari space. Reinforcing them proved untenable. While Operation SILENCER inflicted substantial casualties, the Reapers learned from our victories against the brutes, and they now know how to protect their own.

Rest assured that we too are learning from this conflict. Already, we are implementing plans to supply our forces with a better arsenal so that, when we next meet the enemy, they are ours. Until your next deployment, keep calm and carry on. We will pay the Reapers back soon enough.

–Admiral Hackett

So no Victory Pack this week troops! However, you should still recieve a Commendation if you completed the Team Objective. So be sure to show up for the next Operation so we can push back those enemy forces!

- Darren “failure is not an option!” Fotheringham

‘Gamers will now have access to seamlessly play the world’s best titles anywhere, anytime, from phones, tablets, TVs or PCs,’ claimed Phil Eisler, general manager of cloud gaming at the graphics giant. ‘GeForce GRID represents a massive disruption in how games are delivered and played.‘

Based on the Kepler Architecture that powers the GeForce GTX680 and utterly amazing GTX690 that I investigated earlier this month, the GRID will be made up of several specialist boards featuring two physical GPUs with a dedicated encoder. Each board will feature 3,072 CUDA cores and shader performance of 4.7 Teraflops.

Through a process called virtualization, each set of processors can be accessed by multiple users at the same time whereby each user is logged in to their own instance of the Operating System, a well established system for office or school networks where the server takes the brunt of the processing to launch applications, but in this system each application (game) will be able to deliver the highest quality of graphics available, streamed across the internet in a new capture process.

The capture process, called fast-frame capture, renders a frame then encodes it using a single pass at the same time, the results show a reduction in latency for this form of encoding to only 10ms. To prove this nVidia invited on to stage the CEO of Gaikai, Dave Perry, to use an LG Smart TV preloaded with Gaikai and connected to a new GRID server 10 miles away from the conference centre. The system was playing one of the latest PC games at an impressive resolution using only a USB connected gamepad.

Last year we were wary about the advent of cloud gaming, yet somewhere at the back of my mind I knew there was always room for improvement. Has the age of GaaS finally dawned? Well if the gameplay is as near flawless as they way it is then it’ll make reviewing PC games a HELL of a lot cheaper.

~Stewart “Head in the Cloud Server” Loudon

Headset Abuse: 16/05/12

Mark makes a triumphant return on this week’s podcast as we discuss his bizarre trip to Japan. We also talk about Dave’s mysterious trip to Tallinn (that’s in Estonia), Mark learns what Awesomnauts is and…porn?

So come join us, but remember: NO PICTURES!

(Right-Click and ‘Save Target As’)

Questions? Comments?

So last night, in preparation for my acquisition of Blizzard’s mighty Diablo III, I logged into battle.net to update my friends list and add some of you lovely folk who have requested to play alongside me when evil rears its ugly head once more. Whilst doing so, I checked my stats for the games I play using battle.net and realised something shockling and terrible: I hadn’t played Starcraft 2 in months. I was aghast, how could this have happened? I had always made time for Starcraft 2, a game I love dearly and one that I had poured a whole lot of effort into. You’re talking to someone who had spent well in excess of 200 hours on the games amazing multiplayer alone, and was in the upper reaches of Gold hoping one day to bust into the higher leagues. But one day, I just seemingly stopped playing. This will not do!

I’ve decided to relaunch my Starcraft 2 career!

For those of you unaware, I used to be really good at Starcraft 2; really, really good. I was known for my insanely quick Zerg rushes, my ceaseless harassment, my shock assaults using burrowed Roaches and Zergling swarms, my instant recognition of enemy faults thanks to constant scouting and my piece de resistance: the high-speed Hydra/Muta Swarm. If let loose I could easily trounce both Darren and Dave, who both used early-turtle tactics befitting their role as Terrans: if I denied them their early build-up period they fell apart. Ex-QOTPA member Kenny couldn’t hold me at bay with his Proxy-Protoss tactics; there are just too many Zerglings for him to handle. And Mark wouldn’t even play me out of sheer fear; I have literally asked him hundreds of times for a game only to be met with the very valid excuse of “no, I won’t play you. You’re terrifying.” So to say I was feeling pretty confident about taking up the Starcraft baton is a slight understatement. Surely it’s just like riding a Hellion, you never forget right?

Oh Sean, how very, very wrong you could be.

I decided to boot up a skirmish match against a hard AI, just to get my bearings and reintroduce myself to the games latest balance updates. My online rank had been reset in an earlier update and I had five placement matches to decide where I would be allocated, and I wanted to make sure I was in good form before entering the arena against live opponents. This should be a piece of cake, thought I; I’ve fought harder opponents than this. What followed was a gruelling half hour matche were I was royally trounced by my digital opponent. I was rusty, rusty as hell if hell was comprised mainly of rust-covered rust. I made every mistake that there is to make in competitive game of Starcraft 2, mistakes I had always lambasted my colleagues here at QOTPA HQ for. I had become what I have always feared to be: a Starcraft 2 Noob.

The Horror!

However, I am a man who can admit my failings and air them on the internet for all you lovely folk to learn from and possibly mock (most likely the latter if I know anything about our readers). I have no shame in admitting that I now stink at Starcraft 2, and the first step on the road to recovery is admitting you have a problem. That in fact may actually be the route out of alcoholism, I can’t really remember. So please find below, the mistakes that I made and how best to combat them so you do not end up facing a ‘You Have Been Defeated’ screen in abject shock.

The above phrase was coined by good friend of the site Dan Soup after he was forced to endure another lecture from me on the importance of scouting in Starcraft 2. Well guess what Dan, I’m doing it again: Scouting is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO IN STARCRAFT 2. If you do not know what your enemy is doing, then you may as well surrender there and then. You may be confident in your Bio-Ball and MMM tactics, but if your opponent has set up buffed Roaches and Banelings in response and you have no idea, then you’re pretty screwed.

And I don’t just mean scout early, I mean scout constantly. In my last game I forgot this and wasn’t prepared for my opponent’s sudden expansion to a gold mineral field lying at the most direct route to his base. When I sent a Hydra and Ling swarm towards his main base I was caught in a Hellion/Marauder Sandwich which completely flattened my assault and robbed me of momentum. So kiddies, remember, scout, scout, scout! It may just save your life.

There’s an interesting meta-game inside Starcraft 2, and that game is Starcraft 2’s economy. Striking the correct balance between collecting resources and actually using these resources is a tricky balancing act that I used to be very good at. I am not good at it anymore. Throughout the match, my mineral count was constantly over 3000 and my Vespian was non-existent. A learned Starcraft 2 player will no doubt shudder at the implications. It is a classic sign that someone has lost control in-game, having an abundance of resources, but nothing to spend them on. Minerals lying in the bank are minerals that could have been spent on drones, buildings, Zerglings and research. Woe betides the player who finds he is drowning in cash and the blood of his slain forces.

Starcraft 2, despite what serial whiners will tell you, is one of the most balanced multiplayer games there is. Along with my beloved Team Fortress 2, it stands testament to how a game can benefit from both keen user insight and constant care and attention from its developers. Every troop in the game has both a hard and soft counter, a unit that is the antithesis to its abilities. For every Terran Marine Ball, there’s a Baneling Bust. For every Thor Storm, there’s a Zergling/Corrupter Counter. For every Marauder/Medic Charge, there’s a Muta Defence. Remembering your counters and having the ability the produce these quickly is the key to playing Starcraft 2 well. I did not do this last night. I am ashamed. My opponent adapted quicker than I did and therefore won the match almost amusingly easily. Make your opponent react, and when he does, counter his reaction quickly and brutally.

There is a crucial stage in every game of Starcraft 2 that you need to recognise or be forced onto the back foot for the rest of the game: you need to recognise when to expand from your main base onto a secondary mineral field to fund a larger army and more upgrades. It is a risky time in the game, and if done incorrectly can seriously mess up your battle plan.

I messed it up yesterday, I messed it up colossally

I expanded at the right time, but I messed up the method I used and left myself wide open to attack. Usually, when expanding I wait until the expansion is around 50% done and then create around 6 or 7 new drones waypointed to the minerals at the new expansion. Sometimes, if I’m feeling daring, I’ll send my initial Queen to the secondary base as well whilst spawning a new one at main base. This way when they spawn and head to the mineral, the new base is ready and they start to harvest immediately, rewarding me with more minerals per second and more time to build a bigger army. I did not do this, and left my expansion unmanned (or should that be unzerged?) for crucial minutes, backing up my whole production line and leaving me at a loss for the rest of the game. Silly, silly Sean, why you no macro better?

Hotkeys are one of your best tools in Starcraft 2. They allow you to quickly choose troops and with a press of a button assign queues and build new structures without the need to click-scroll-click. I totally neglected this in my last game and I paid dearly for it.

My usual tactic is to assign all my hatcheries and hives to the six key on the keyboard. By tapping six, I have access to every larva currently at these bases. I can then spawn troops across every base and waypoint them all at the same time. When you have in excess of 6 bases, all with full complements of larvae and you spawn them all into Roaches waypointed to your enemy’s base, this can be quite terrifying. Even more so if its speedlings: six bases each with seven larva is 42 possible spawns, equating to 84 speedlings. Having them suddenly show up to a fight in progress is severely demoralising for the enemy, especially if you’ve also boosted their melee and armour. It also means you can react quickly if the enemy brings an unexpected unit to the fray. Bunch of Banshees ruining your elaborate Roach/Ling assault? Hotkey 6, spawn 2 overseers and 20 Mutas, 20 Hydras and BANG problem solved! Hotkeys are your best defence, apart of course from guns.

And there you have it, my five biggest mistakes and ones I will most certainly be fixing in the future. I have taken the first step back onto the winding and messy road of competitive Starcraft. Let’s see how far I get this time…

- Sean ‘Six-pooling is still for the soulless and damned’ McCarter

Not sure if you want to play Diablo III? Well, you can try it out for free as Blizzard will be releasing a Diablo III Starter Edition which lets you play the first chapter of the game (up to the Skeleton King).

Limitations on the Starter Edition are:

• Limited to level 13
• Can’t play with paying players, only other non-payers
• Can’t use the Real Money Auction House
• Access to the Starter Edition is exclusive to Guest Pass recipients for the first 30-days, after which it becomes free for the friendless

With only a few hours until its release, I personally can’t wait for some new dungeon crawling action in Sanctuary!

- Darren “demon hunter” Fotheringham