Warhammer 40K: Space Marine

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Been looking at some trailers. Got to say this looks really good. I don't think it will sell those because of the name and how they ripped off WOW. Everybody has to ripped other people off. I just picked up a book called journey to the west that totally stole all its ideas from the dragon ball anime.

Hehe, oops.

It's the other way around. (another way of saying what that Penny Arcade strip is saying ;))

LiquidMantis wrote:

IMAGE(http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215543608_oPsC3-L-2.jpg)

That is, without a doubt, my favorite comic strip ever.

Jeff-66 wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Been looking at some trailers. Got to say this looks really good. I don't think it will sell those because of the name and how they ripped off WOW. Everybody has to ripped other people off. I just picked up a book called journey to the west that totally stole all its ideas from the dragon ball anime.

Hehe, oops.

It's the other way around. (another way of saying what that Penny Arcade strip is saying ;))

Guys, I'm pretty sure he was saying it from the general consumer's point of view... which is probably accurate to how it's going to go. Only difference is that it's not going to be WoW in this case, but GoW. Even if they don't really handle alike.

... so many acronyms ending in oW.

Fxeni wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Been looking at some trailers. Got to say this looks really good. I don't think it will sell those because of the name and how they ripped off WOW. Everybody has to ripped other people off. I just picked up a book called journey to the west that totally stole all its ideas from the dragon ball anime.

Hehe, oops.

It's the other way around. (another way of saying what that Penny Arcade strip is saying ;))

Guys, I'm pretty sure he was saying it from the general consumer's point of view... which is probably accurate to how it's going to go. Only difference is that it's not going to be WoW in this case, but GoW. Even if they don't really handle alike.

... so many acronyms ending in oW.

Guys, I think your irony radars are jammed.

Spoiler:

Journey to the West gives it all away.

Guys, if you're interested and haven't seen, you can play the demo about 24 hours earlier than the official release time by signing up to that 'Honor Guard' on the space marine site.

LiquidMantis wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

I don't think it will sell those because of the name and how they ripped off WOW.

IMAGE(http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215543608_oPsC3-L-2.jpg)

Nice! Last month I had a Chapters clerk impart to me the storied history of Starcraft as she was ringing in my W40K novel. Apparently Starcraft started off as a RPG and pre-dates the 25+ years lifespan of W40K.

More bemusement than outrage, really. I think being en route to a yummy BBQ helps to avoid the reaction observed in Penny Arcade.

This game screams for cameos of Ciaphas Cain and either Eisenhorn or Ravenor. I actually dropped 80 bucks on ebooks from the Black Library after playing the demo to death. I picked up all the Cain books, some really good Space Marine collections, and the first Horus Heresy book. I love that they have started to really support ebooks.

SpyNavy wrote:

This game screams for cameos of Ciaphas Cain and either Eisenhorn or Ravenor. I actually dropped 80 bucks on ebooks from the Black Library after playing the demo to death. I picked up all the Cain books, some really good Space Marine collections, and the first Horus Heresy book. I love that they have started to really support ebooks.

Dan Abnett is the man. Anything by him is gold.

kincher skolfax wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:

This game screams for cameos of Ciaphas Cain and either Eisenhorn or Ravenor. I actually dropped 80 bucks on ebooks from the Black Library after playing the demo to death. I picked up all the Cain books, some really good Space Marine collections, and the first Horus Heresy book. I love that they have started to really support ebooks.

Dan Abnett is the man. Anything by him is gold.

concur.

aaaand purchased... so many good games coming out...**doesn't notice the pile of games behind him**

kincher skolfax wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:

This game screams for cameos of Ciaphas Cain and either Eisenhorn or Ravenor. I actually dropped 80 bucks on ebooks from the Black Library after playing the demo to death. I picked up all the Cain books, some really good Space Marine collections, and the first Horus Heresy book. I love that they have started to really support ebooks.

Dan Abnett is the man. Anything by him is awesome and yet depressingly bleak.

FTFY

Nevin73 wrote:

Dan Abnett is the man. Anything by him is awesome and yet depressingly bleak.

Well, to be fair, in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war.

Pre-ordered the game with the weekend sale on Steam. Just played the demo (twice) and Space Marine has moved near the top of my wanted list. There are two missions in the demo. The second features the jump pack. Graphics and effects are great, action is intense and visceral. There is an extremely cool slow-mo/freeze effect when you hit a melee combo so you get a stop-action shot of the bloody mist and carnage.

If you are on the fence, definitely check out the demo when it is publicly available later in the week.

If i do bite on this I will require some Goodjer love. The regional price on Steam is $89.95

So no 'Honored Guard' demo for 360. Just PC/Steam?

Could I impose on someone to gift me the game so I can save quite a bit of money? Paypal required.

Donan wrote:

So no 'Honored Guard' demo for 360. Just PC/Steam?

360 demo will be out tomorrow, PS3 demo on Wednesday. Looks like THQ couldn't swing enough influence with Microsoft or Sony to get an out-of-cycle release through XBL/PSN Store.

Dixie_Flatline wrote:
Donan wrote:

So no 'Honored Guard' demo for 360. Just PC/Steam?

360 demo will be out tomorrow, PS3 demo on Wednesday. Looks like THQ couldn't swing enough influence with Microsoft or Sony to get an out-of-cycle release through XBL/PSN Store.

O.k. Thanks for the info.

Dixie_Flatline wrote:
Donan wrote:

So no 'Honored Guard' demo for 360. Just PC/Steam?

360 demo will be out tomorrow, PS3 demo on Wednesday. Looks like THQ couldn't swing enough influence with Microsoft or Sony to get an out-of-cycle release through XBL/PSN Store.

O.k. Thanks for the info.

SpyNavy wrote:
kincher skolfax wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:

This game screams for cameos of Ciaphas Cain and either Eisenhorn or Ravenor. I actually dropped 80 bucks on ebooks from the Black Library after playing the demo to death. I picked up all the Cain books, some really good Space Marine collections, and the first Horus Heresy book. I love that they have started to really support ebooks.

Dan Abnett is the man. Anything by him is gold.

concur.

Ok, I have never read anything out of the 40K - what would be a good start?

Adding Darksiders as a pre-order bonus is actually making me interested in pre-ordering Space Marine. I'll try the demo out sometime this week.

Barab wrote:

I haven't read any of the books that has really blown me away. At the least stick with the Abnett stuff. This is coming from a guy who plays 40k or WFB at least once or twice a week! I kind of like the fluff/unit descriptions in the rulebooks better.

I thought 40k's background was cooler when the Hersey stuff was more clouded in mystery, the Horus Hersey books kind of ruined the legend of it, I think.

I'd also recommend Sandy Mitchell's "Ciaphas Cain" series, which takes a somewhat lighter and more tongue-in-cheek approach to the grim darkness of the franchise. It's the memoirs of a man widely hailed as a Hero of the Imperium!!! who's actually a cowardly self-serving schmuck whose instinct for self-preservation keeps leading him into situations where he comes up smelling like roses. (At least, he says he's a cowardly self-serving schmuck -- interpretations differ.)

It's definitely pure 40K, but it's also extremely funny. The usual comparison that applies: if Abnett's "Gaunt's Ghosts" series is Sharpe's Rifles in space, then Ciaphas Cain is Harry Flashman in space.

I haven't read any of the books that has really blown me away. At the least stick with the Abnett stuff. This is coming from a guy who plays 40k or WFB at least once or twice a week! I kind of like the fluff/unit descriptions in the rulebooks better.

I thought 40k's background was cooler when the Heresy stuff was more clouded in mystery, the Horus Heresy books kind of ruined the legend of it, I think.

armedbushido wrote:

Ok, I have never read anything out of the 40K - what would be a good start?

I've been told Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett is a solid beginning point, because the books don't take place on any linear timeline so you might as well start strong. I ordered the first part of Eisenhorn as an ebook from The Black Library. Black Library has a good where-to-begin? guide that I looked it; it told me to get Eisenhorn and the Tales of Heresy short story collection. I have yet to read either though (I have another book to finish first) so I have no first-hand advice... only 2nd hand.

(Can anyone confirm/deny?)

Forte wrote:
armedbushido wrote:

Ok, I have never read anything out of the 40K - what would be a good start?

I've been told Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett is a solid beginning point, because the books don't take place on any linear timeline so you might as well start strong. I ordered the first part of Eisenhorn as an ebook from The Black Library. Black Library has a good where-to-begin? guide that I looked it; it told me to get Eisenhorn and the Tales of Heresy short story collection. I have yet to read either though (I have another book to finish first) so I have no first-hand advice... only 2nd hand.

(Can anyone confirm/deny?)

I haven't read Eisenhorn, although I should because I read the Ravenor books. Those were great—Ravenor is an Inquisitor psyker with a ragtag team of agents who investigates a galactic mystery. There's a really great payoff in the third book. The omnibus should run you about $15.

Just bought the first collection in Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series, which I guess were his first books. Haven't dug into them too much yet, but they seem promising. Abnett focuses on non-Space Marine characters (Gaunt is Imperial Guard), which makes things a little more interesting since the Astartes can be kind of...same-y.

That said, the few Horus Heresy books Abnett did are excellent. Horus Rising was my first 40K book, and I'm glad it was, since had it been another in the Heresy series I might've been turned off to 40K altogether. He also did two others in that series, Legion and Prospero Burns. The latter is the better one, I thought, since it plays around with narrative structure and character in some really offbeat ways, and also gives us some of the mythology behind the Space Wolves chapter.

What I like about Abnett as a writer is that he gets character. The 40K universe is such a preposterous and awesome playground that the battles are always fun—but without great characters, the books can get stale really quickly. I'm hoping Space Marine gets that balance right.

armedbushido wrote:

Ok, I have never read anything out of the 40K - what would be a good start?

I'd agree that the Eisenhorn omnibus is a decent place to start, but I'd recommend the Gaunt's Ghosts series (starting with The Founding)as an even better one. I think the Imperial Guard is a bit of an easier background to immerse yourself in the universe with compared to the Inquisition or the Adeptus Astartes.

If you favor reading from the Inquisition viewpoint, Eisenhorn followed by Ravenor is a lot of fine reading.

Grahm McNeil's Ultramarines would be my recommendation for the first space marine book to pick up.

SallyNasty wrote:
ranalin wrote:

You get Darksiders for free too. That was a nice surprise.

If they do that on console as well, I will pre-order. Here is hoping!

It looks like the console pre-order bonus is a golden chainsword. Yep.

+1 on the Abnett's books being great. I haven't read all of them, but what I have read has been really enjoyable. Kincher hit the nail on the head - he writes believable and enjoyable characters that are believable and consistent with the crazy-ass 40k universe.

armedbushido wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:
kincher skolfax wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:

This game screams for cameos of Ciaphas Cain and either Eisenhorn or Ravenor. I actually dropped 80 bucks on ebooks from the Black Library after playing the demo to death. I picked up all the Cain books, some really good Space Marine collections, and the first Horus Heresy book. I love that they have started to really support ebooks.

Dan Abnett is the man. Anything by him is gold.

concur.

Ok, I have never read anything out of the 40K - what would be a good start?

For the all powerful and dreaded Inquisition, I'd start with Eisenhorn's Omnibus and them move to Ravenor. For the goodness that is the Imperial Legion, I suggest Ciaphas Caine (dark humor) and Gaunt's Ghosts (brutal infantry combat). Straight up Space Marine action is covered greatly in The Ultramarines Omnibus. You can only get the Omnibus versions in paperback, but can get each book as an ebook direct from The Black Library. There isnt really a chronology to read by like Star Wars or Star Trek and each can be enjoyed separately as long as you start each series with the first book. Lots of great single stand alone novels as well.

Here's the thread purely about 40k fluff. I think I've probably read most of the 40k fluff, but still enjoy Abnett the most. (New Gaunt novel next year!)