Community Round-Up: 26/05/12

I would write something witty at this point, but I’ve just come inside from sunning myself and can hardly see, because my eyes haven’t adjusted yet. It’s too hot. I don’t like it hot. I’m sure that Some Like It Hot, but not me. Thankfully, I believe they’re predicting that the weather for The Day After Tomorrow should be a little cooler.

Probably not, though.

We’ve got some pretty good competitions on TSA right now, with another couple things planned over the next few days too!

It’s all smashing and crashing, as we ask you to provide us with details (and photos, if you’re so inclined) of your favourite way to get DiRTy, in order win yourself one of three bundles which include DiRT Showdown for Xbox 360, and a themed messenger bag, can cooler and sweat band. You’ve got until Friday to leave a comment describing your ideally filthy escapades, so get to it!

We also still have our Overclockers UK competition to win some nifty gaming mice and keyboards from Zowie. So, head over here, and fill in the form to put yourself in for the chance to win before the closing date, this coming Thursday.

Stay tuned for more goodies…

Heading over to the meets this week, we’ve got mainly the usuals on offer, but quite a few have yet to appear.

Tonight, we’ve got a revived classic title, with Unreal Tournament 3 having a meet at 6PM, closely followed by the weekly Uncharted 3 meet starting at 7PM. Sunday sees the regular Dirt 3 meet at 6PM, with Starhawk following it at 9pm, both looking to be pretty popular!

GT5 is back on Monday at 7PM to celebrate a new patch (not Jew, as Tom loudly (and accidentally) proclaimed on the Twitter) being released. Max Payne 3 is also getting the red carpet treatment, with a packed out meet at 8PM.

Tuesday sees the midweek Dirt 3 meet, before a long wait until Friday’s Wipeout 2048 meet.

That’s far from the end of the meets, though. There’s the regular Friday night Battlefield 3 meet, and probably some Medal of Honor on Thursday, so keep an eye out.

Heck, you can even make your own meets, if you’ve got more than 250 TSA points!

We’ve had plenty going on this week, including my first outing for TSA. More on that later, but first up a couple reviews…

The biggest hitter, this side of an Error 37, got a big, multi-page review from Gamoc, and he seemed to like it. That game was Diablo 3, in case you hadn’t picked up the reference. Somewhat less favourable was the DiRT Showdown review from Dan. He still liked it, but had a few flaws that knocked its score down a few notches. Similarly, Blair enjoyed the new PS Move title, Sorcery, but a few minor areas held it back. More of this please, Sony. Finally, Sniper Elite V2‘s review by Jim and Peter’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier reviews both came out thoroughly average. Some highs, but just as many detractions.

On the cusp between a review and a preview sits Al’s piece on the Western release of Gravity Daze, called Not Quite A Review: Gravity Rush. There’s a full review still on the way, but I’m really, really looking forward to this one personally. Dan has a good long look at Spec Ops: The Line too, with some fairly positive sounds coming from his… fingers, I guess. My first little trip for TSA resulted in a write up of the imminent Free-to-Play title F1 Online, which I rather enjoyed.

Following on from that, I also sat down with one of F1 Online‘s Producers, Mike Rowland and got to ask him some further question in this week’s Meet the Producer. There was plenty more chitter chatter on TSA, though, as we talked to CEO of Leap Motion, Michael Buckwald about their new motion control developments, and also Matt Charles and Anthony Burch (another Producer, and a Writer), working on Borderlands 2 over at Gearbox.

It’s almost time for E3, and speculation is abound as to what will show up. Personally, I despise speculation, but here’s a couple of things in case you do, including some fresh this morning. Enough of that now, how about a piece that slams the Vita’s line up featuring non-native resolutions, the reporting of them and how much we all totally hate Sony? Delivered in spades.

The regulars! Many a fan favourite, that appears every week. WeView gets in the verdict for Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and the new game demanding your opinion being Journey. We also have the usual What We Played #54, TSA Podcast, Sunday Thoughts, on the topic of Zombies, and finally Meet the Reader featuring Kamokazi-UK.

Excellent.

Heading onto the forums, it feels like it’s been kind of busy lately. Lets see what’s been going on?

• Youles wonders what those trophies that got away are? The ones you can’t get, or think you don’t have the time for.
• An-dz get the Skyrim juices flowing once more, with talk of horses being added to the game.
• Played Max Payne 3? Want to share you tales, and opinions on the story? Well this SPOILER FILLED thread should do the trick.
• Sympozium’s considering taking a break or leaving TSA for good. Group hug, and maybe he’ll stay?
• James Bond is back! Hurrah! Have you watched the trailer? What do you think?

If you want more than that, then you’ll just have to do your own searching around the forums. It’s not that scary.

With the closest of margins, Faith won last week’s showdown with Max Payne by 9 votes to 8. This means that she goes into the Hall of Fame, which is nice. Hope she doesn’t let herself slide, now that she’s achieved this. Got to stay in the game for that sequel, right?

So, now we’ve got two totally new game characters to play with. However, I’m not feeling particularly inspired, so you’ll have to make do with John Kozak and Captain Martin Walker of Spec Ops: The Line and Ghost Recon: Futu…. Sorry, it’s the other way around. Kozak’s from GR:FS, and Walker from Spec Ops…

John Kozak

Pros:

• Highly trained, military Special Ops dude.
• Part of a highly trained, Special Ops team.
• He’s in the future, so he’s got all sorts of fancy gizmos, like heads up displays around his gun and stuff. That stuff’s snazzy.

Cons:

• Totally riffing off similar characters.
• Only good enough for the Ghost Recon B-team? Clearly he totally sucks, right?
• I feel like I’ve seen all this before.

Captain Martin Walker

Pros:

• Highly trained, military Special Ops dude.
• Part of a highly trained, Special Ops team.
• He’s in the future, so he’s trapped in a Dubai besieged by sand and bad dudes… And he’s going to take them all down.

Cons:

• He sounds kind of familiar… Kind of like a male Lara Croft, I guess.
• Not as many fancy gizmos as the Ghosts. Actually, why haven’t they been sent in on this one?
• Sand storms make his life hellishly difficult, I’m sure.

Actually, I do kind of like the look of Spec Ops, but which way will you vote? Future Soldier Dude A, or Future Soldier Dude B?