Sunday 29 December 2013

Piano Black Consoles

Usually a bad idea. Of course the aesthetic is what I mean.

The outside of a console seems like kinda of an unimportant detail but once you have it for a while it starts to clearly express the issue with the glossy finish.

What I mean is with the PSP, PS3, and PS4 they all originally had the same issues. A piano black finish (or partial finish) which looks nice but is made of some pretty cheap stuff compared to a grand piano. Leaving finger prints and scratches much easier than a matte finish like the PS2.

During the Christmas season I wanted to get myself something nice aside form all the socks I got from my dear Mama.

I've been on the hunt!

Specifically for a PSP. Everyone can tell me how much I should get a 3DS but I've never been interested in first party Nintendo games and I'm also a cheap student with a frugal attitude. I've held off on a PSP for this long and only a year ago did I start to get into the DS.


Consoles over time get cheaper and at the same time games do too. The best part is with this fact they also get more expansive game collections. This allows for a much easier time when shopping for games (regarding wallet and time spent).

In all it makes sense to get a console with a matte finish (which are usually also textured) and have a longer shelf life in the appearance you expect of them.

 This is similar to the one I got but it's not limited edition and doesn't have
the stylish vinyl. Image source: Kotaku  

 
Aside from that there is also the metal finish. Often a mixture of metals with aluminium (since pure aluminium is way to difficult to get and use). I was lucky enough to get the PSP like this which allows for no finger prints and just a bit of extra protection on a hand-held console as opposed to cheap plastic. The reflection of light on this machine will probably block out any scratches that end up appearing.

Happy hunting.


Thursday 12 December 2013

First 3 Fallout Games Totally Free!

There is no catch. Send them to who you like.

Save 30 dollars! 

All 3 of the wonderfully classic RPGs in a post apocalyptic word have come to your door. And they are gift wrapped!

GOG is having their crazy super great winter sale and I'm going to be buying Papers Please for 33% off and well check out the Fallout Games for free.

Anyway....

Stop wasting time. The games are free. Go to GOG now.

YouTube Copyright Claims Almost Everyone

Some of you might be aware but YouTube has been struck with a lot of issues regarding copyright this week.

Personally there is a hope here at Critical Correspondence to spread to different media outlets by including audio and video in all the content being produced. Being a Google user and attaining to Blogger it was a hope that perhaps YouTube would be a great place to branch off and strengthen the website.

Currently it seems that the things people are being flagged for include cut-scenes, trailers, and music.

This was not the initial plan for the website to really include any of that. If I were to attempt to do a high quality video review listening to a bit of the music or watching a bit of a cut-scene to make a statement on the matter seems a bit harder now with these restrictions.

Assuming that one can show a bit of someones work to review it is within fair use law though it seems YouTube isn't abiding by that.

TotalBiscuit made a video on that subject and how things are very much now in a condition where a lot of people who were with networks are being abandoned by their network due to new organization YouTube has implemented.



Later on after tweeting about recording this video there was also a great discussion on Rev3Games with him and ItmeJP and others about the current state YouTube is in and perspectives from many angles.



This is also odd since it seems to be totally the fault of YouTube. A lot of publishers have clear statements about the whole matter on their website saying they are okay with monetized content with some exceptions (no pay wall for instance). Many have come out to say they will support those who are being targeted but this including Blizzard have come out saying you should challenge these claims since they are not desired by Blizzard or these other companies. 

For the most part that gives a publisher a bad name and a anti-consumer sort of feel. Though this is not the case for every company. Many of these claims are being made falsely which is even more annoying. People who work tirelessly on their content are being content ID matches by companies that have nothing to do with a game being shown or discussed. 

Though this is not to say all the game publishers are against this. Nintendo has made it clear earlier this year that they don't want anyone making money off of their games. By going after their consumers and taking down "let's plays."

People wonder why the WiiU is doing so bad in comparison to the other consoles. A big factor would be the terrible marketing. A lot of gamers use the internet for their news now and with all Nintendo content being removed from channels people trust on YouTube, people just stop finding relevant content. 


Great people who work very hard on their content like The Completionist and Angry Joe are being targeted and they have claimed how frustrated they are with a lot of their work not being usable at the moment. The Completionist even tweeted about having to probably no longer use any music from in games any longer. It really tore at the content by finding matches with the music in the videos.

Angry Joe on the other hand was frustrated when being charged as guilty until proven innocent. YouTube has given the publishers a means to ruin their content creators work and lives without ever there being an issue of actually making a fraudulent claim.



Though things don't end there. Since these are just the people who are more well known when it comes to YouTube. Even in that case a lot of these people don't have the luxury to just stop working and take a break. They have to keep working and posting to keep their audiences pleased and present if they want any money. 

Smaller channels like Edler-Geek.com which posts lots of high quality content can't even afford to spend much time on their channel yet they put so much time into each video. YouTube already doesn't pay very much and yet this is occurring. Anyone who is trying to rise up and make a better place to find content is having a real hard time while YouTube constantly sides against their own employees. Their partners. 

YouTube used to have a lot of great features like recommending channels based on the channel you were on. Having a recommendation for other channels on the same Subscriber level. Now PewDiePie is being recommended on every channel. Even though he is the most popular YouTuber, he is still in need of more advertisement it seems.

That and more is explained here:







Website URL Change

I know I know. I've been lazy, not updating. The truth is it's finals time at university and I'm in the middle of it all. 

I have been slowly working on a few posts. I'll have them ready during Christmas time when I'm free once again.

The main point of this post is to inform you I want to change the unnecessarily obfuscated URL I chose. 

I'll be changing the URL to 

CriticalCorrespondence.blogspot.com

Please update your bookmarks and I will have new content up shortly. 

P.S. I am working on more types of work to expand past the text posts and start working with audio and video. I'm learning some editing after exams are over. My first project will be a podcast with some of my close friends who are quite funny and quite informed on videogames. Other video reviews and other ideas I can create will be coming in the future. 

Things will get better the more time I have to learn how to make them so.

Sunday 1 December 2013

Graphics For Your Spare Change

Now that we are in the Black Friday Weekend and heading to Cyber Monday we have several graphics cards at a really low price.

I would buy two of these if I had a up to date rig. For me, I'll be waiting another year.

The very well received Radeon HD 7850 is being sold for $139.99. After rebate it's only $109.99


This machine has 2GB of GDDR5 inner cache, 1.0Ghz, a beastly fan, crossfire support (so feel free to buy mulitple), 2 DVI ports, 1 HDMI, and 2 Mini-Display ports which are no laughing matter (these things can give you a resolution of 2560×1600).NOW that's not all of course. GeForce has some deals if you like yourself some drivers.


Now this is the GeForce GT 640 sorts of impressive. First, it is selling for $89.99 currently. This machine as you can see has a total of 4 display ports on it: 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, and an ol'VGA if you still have a use for it. It actually comes with 2GB of DDR3 (not GDDR5 like the last one) inner cache, 1.05Ghz and of course a massive fan. 

UPDATE:

If you have very little money to spend on a new graphics card and your rig is as old as mine the GeForce GT 610 can be a decent improvement.
It's only $50 and has dropped as low as $45 recently. With 2GB of DDR3 memory, 810MHz clock speed, with 2 DVI ports, with a nice little Mini-HDMI port. 

Both of these machines use PC-Express x16 encase you're still reading. it would be hard to not get all up on in this but I'm still running a discontinued Motherboard which is a bit of a bummer.

I'll start a savings account to use for next years Christmas part list. I'll be able to play pretty games with the rest of you soon enough. 

Tuesday 26 November 2013

inFamous Second Son ScreenShots

The game I would be most interested in playing as of what I know is coming to the new consoles is probably inFamous Second Son.

The game has a bunch of new screen shots.



inFamous has been a series a very much enjoyed. Both games were pretty good though I did enjoy the original more. The fact they couldn't get the same voice for both games kinda through my off, especially with a different face on the same character. I do enjoy my plot consistency.

The game series (if you are unfamiliar) takes you in the role of a accidental superhero who has a job in stopping super-powered gangs that control the the city. The story line of the original inFamous was also a bit more inciting, with a very satisfying ending. Not one I could have predicted but then again, I might just be bad at picking up foreshadowing. I'm sort of convinced of that actually.


Both ended up having their twists at the end but the second one felt a little forced. The same sort of game with more powers. Which is all some people wanted.

There games are designed to try an emulate a comic book art style. With panels used for cut scenes at times and some generic super villain trying to destroy everything kind of plot. Though as the plots to each game progress the truth is not so cut and dry. 

inFamous Second Son will be the first in the series where the player is no longer in control of Cole. Now a new younger character who seems like the chaotic type. Also unlike Cole he seems to have a different element to his power. From my memory I recall most major characters from each game having their powers themed to an element on nature. Cole used electricity. This new guy seems to use fire in the trailer.


Yahtzee + Game Dev = The Consuming Shadow

Yahtzee Croshaw has made a new game. 





Famed for Zero Punctuation show, Yahtzee has a bunch of other projects that are released every so often. Video games are one of such hobbies. 

He described it as a survival-horror rogue-like. Taking a big inspiration from FTL: Faster Than Light. Using the aspect of a game that places you against small odds and grand foes. The thrill that brings the tension. Trying to apply that to a 'Lovecraftian' story is what The Consuming Shadow is all about.

The first part of that genre probably comes from Yahtzee's favourite video game Silent Hill 2. I recall this from a Q and A at the first Escapist Expo where all the panellists gave an answer to their favourite games.

The game is interesting in concept and is still in beta. Might as well check it out since it's free on his website.

Here is his full description of it.

Monday 25 November 2013

Xbox One Sells Like The PS4

Apparently record breaking sales are typical.


The Xbox has done what the PS4 did when it broke records over a week ago. Just as 1 million playstations were purchased so too were Xbox Ones.




Honestly even though there has been a lot of insults going about the way of Microsoft for not building something up to pare with modern systems they clearly know what they're doing. The Xbox One had a very similar launch line-up.

The Playstation has exlcusives such as Resogun, Knack, and Killzone: Shadow Fall. I'm not very interested in Knack. Though it has an interesting concept it does seem like a very repetitive and tedious game. I was quite the fan of the unique perspective and mechanics from Super Stardust HD, a wonderful revamp of an old series Housemarque has made for the PS3. That's relevant because Resogun is their new game for the PS4. Lots of colours, lots of up beat techno music, and lots of lasers! It has even been gifted as a free game on the PS4 for Playstation Plus subscribers. Which is free too since you get 30 days free access with the console out of the box.


Housemarque is known for their good marketing because this was exactly what they did with Super Stardust HD for the early bird PS3 owners.

Contrast was also free for Playstation Plus subscribers. An exclusive on launch but may just be coming to the Xbox One as well. None the less, it's still a launch exclusive.

Killzone was meant to be the big hot shot AAA title that would demonstrate the PS4's capability. It certainly did just that in it's stunning graphics but the rest of the game is, well, average for an FPS. Which is disappointing because I was hoping things would get a bit more interesting with this instalment into the franchise. The history in the Killzone universe is an interesting one but it played out a bit mediocre. Angry Joe made a review expressing just how average the gameplay really is.

After all I've learnt the only game I am at all ready to play is Resogun which is only one title.

For the Xbox we have Dead Rising 3, Ryse: Son of Rome Read and Crimson Dragon. Two original IP with interesting concepts and a the third instalment in a very well received franchise. Ryse could draw in a lot of people with it's historical appeal and intense action. For me though I am honestly turned away from a game that plays like a movie constantly being put on pause. Though personal preference. God of War is popular isn't it?



Dead Rising 3 is bound to be a cash grabber. Being the seventh game in the series it has a big audience that just keeps coming back like Pokemon players just wanting to get those 100 more sprites in their check-list.
Though customizable zombie killing is the seller which people spend a good time doing, it isn't that rewarding. Honestly it just adds to the mindless repetition of playing baseball with different deformed bats. At least baseball has a set number of innings. In the end there will be dozens of hours logged by thousands of lost souls as they gain achievements for putting a bucket over some dead teenagers head.

Crimson Dragon does have the most to offer I think. Following in the footsteps of one of the most acclaimed rail-gun shooters Panzer Dragoon; this exclusive adds the potential for some very exciting gameplay. Though that is the how disappointments come to be, by having potential. This game was not the next Panzer Dragoon. Check out what Ben Reeves had to say about it's lack in comparison to the older Sega gem.

In the end the strength of the launch libraries seem to be about equal. The Xbox with it's media functionality might have been enough to hook people in. Now everyone can stay on their couch and yell at the TV for what they want. 

Both consoles had their FPS games which grabbed all the frat-boys one could imagine. They both are mediocre and are in need of maturing for a decent set of games to be released. 

Millions being sold on day one, I wonder if it'll be a trend. I'm calling it! PS5 and Xbox Zero will set 2 million day one!



Tuesday 19 November 2013

Vivi Can't "Cast Twitch"



People have been disappointed at the news that Twitch streaming won't be available on day one of the Xbox One's launch. I am sure none of them know the depth of sorrow a person who's sole purpose is to cast.

Casting + Video Games = Black Mage Was Here

Monday 18 November 2013

Despite Warnings PS4s Were Grabbed Like Lost Children

Sidenote: RIP, Charles Bellfield.


As stated before it's probably a bad idea to preorder. Preemptively purchasing a product before knowing anything about it. No reviews, no testing, no bug tests, no patches, nothing but blinding deposits of cash.

Whether or not the world will come to their sense and read this blog as law is still debatable. I do not mean to insinuate that every next-gen console owner is going to be disappointed with their purchase. Far from it. Usually, the ones you buy right away don't have many complaints because being critical requires effort.

This isn't meant to be scathing but just to bring to light a lot of people purchase out of hype and excitement. Not curiosity or research. This means a lot of games are often purchased out of marketing that prides itself on leaching your attention. Smaller indie games have slowly gotten a rise in popularity but their space on the field of PS4 owners is yet to be seen.

I've read that the PS4 is going to be a proud supporter of the little guy and have plenty of indie titles for download. Though I wonder how many of the Battlefield4 or COD: Ghosts players are really into puzzle platformers?

                                                      Image by John Pading and Daniel Shealey

There are all sorts of indie titles. Indie titles span every genre actually. They usually just have much smaller budgets. In fact indie games often create new genres by daring to go where invested developers fear to walk.


If people spent their time to learn about the products they invested their money into the gaming industry would be a lot different. For now, that is the small minority. FPS games get lots of attention because they provide immediate action and catharsis which takes time to develop in a point-and-click such as Wolf Among Us. That's one example.
Also, when I use the phrase FPS, I often just mean modern military shooters. Perfect Dark, is great example of a game which takes the fast pace action the genre brings and takes full advantage by purposely making the game ridiculous.

***

Unlike with the PS3 launch this turned out to boost Sony in a direction that will bloom a lot of growth in their market. The PS3 launch quite a while after the Xbox 360 and as a result, having very similar hardware, the audience for such games was all in the hands of Microsoft. Now things have turned with similar release dates the difference might not be as large. Though the success of the Xbox One launch is to be announced.

It's been 3 days now and I've already seen so many videos splurge the internet. This is due to it's 1 million units sold within its launch day. There were many anticipated games for the PS4 on launch like, Killzone, Need For Speed, and uhhhh Knack? Well, that's one of my many reasons for advising against the purchase of consoles at launch. Every launch line-up sucks. Of course there are some good games but are they really worth getting the whole machine and it's multiple hundred dollar requirement. As time passes, new games arise, and the prices of the confirmed good games you want right now are cheap.

Spoils of money often favour those with a need for a game right now, this second, COME ON! There are some perks people will get to dive into with their Sony loyalty. A company know for it's own loyalty to Microsoft is favouring the Playstation. Bungie has been working on Destiny and even though it's to be released on both systems, the beta access is for PS3/ PS4 first.

Apparently this launch is being recorded as one of the most successful.


This is not without any issue far from. Rumours are going around for how many consoles are defective so far but really no one can know right now. Someone I turn to for news and opinion often is TotalBiscuit. And this all of this comotion, his PS4 was at home and ready to use but the disc tray didn't work. How many are bricked? It's to be discovered. Just like the Red Ring, the true damage is not seen immediately.

Another good example is in this new Escapist video. The host of the show describes getting her PS4 and after turning it on getting a blink light accompanied by a void of fun. It's being referred to as the "blue light of death."


Thankfully there are some solutions that exist which might save some time and shipping costs.

**

There are a lot of complaints about resolution too. That the Xbox will fail because of it's lack of 1080p but then again, this is pretty old news. Since 1080p has been a standard for years and with the 'new' technology apparently not able to meet even the standard it's disappointing/ embarrassing. Higher quality is on the PC and has been for some time. Though these arguments are quite petty. The games and their gameplay really are what determine it's fun. Polygons and pixels are great but their just one element. Having more is not necessarily better.

Now it might be easier to understand through Antonio Banderas:


The old joke about PS3 having no games has some relevance once more. Only now it's about the current generation. Waiting has it's benefits but who's going to listen?

Saturday 16 November 2013

Relic of Blizzard Emerges - Free Game

A new... old Blizzard game available!




Disappointed that none of the memorable characters such as Snake Sanders from Rock n' Roll Racing made an appearance in Heroes of the Storm. Blizzard was supposed to present a game with characters from all of their games. Though it was clearly lacking anything classic.

In an interview with Sixen Dustin Browder said he did plan to working on new characters in the future elaborating on The Lost Vikings after being asked if said game or Rock n' Roll Racing characters would make their debut.

Even though these games are not part of a massive fan-base like the other games, at least people are asking. Blachthorne is another story. It's an old title from 1994 which came out after Warcraft. Some wonderful Blizzard employee has decided to start up development again.


I'm not saying Blachthorne is getting a schedule or will appear in Heroes of the Storm ( though that would be a splendid Easter egg).

The work being done on the game has allowed it to work on modern systems. It is available for free download on Battle.net.                                                                                                      Image from: LazyGamer
The game was originally a Super Nintendo Game but ended up on the Sega 32X. Now it did make an appearance on Floppy Disks which probably were in use while it was on MS-DOS. Eventually it made it's way the super modern optical technology known only as CD-ROM! It made it's way to Mac.

If you want it now, the best option would probably trying to find it for the GBA. That is if you have one or own a DS that isn't 3D. That's not true since it's now available for Windows! Though it is interesting to learn Blizzard made the port for the GBA.

It is a platformer. You as Kyle, climb all around the level and take revenge by shooting whatever gets in your way. A total of 17 levels within 4 different areas — Androth where you will find mines but I don't believe you'll find Dwarves, Karrellian which may have forests and swamps but may not have any wood Elves, the Wasteland that my be home to a desert but without a valut 17, and the Shadow keep which just sounds scary.

NOTE!
The game may be best played on the 32X version since it allows you to access a fifth area. Snowy Mountains which offer white walkers, possibly.
 
I'm not totally sure on what the PC version offers but I will download and review it soon. It would be nice if that was added but if not I may need a 32X.



Refresh! Kickstarters Posted

Recently I elaborated on the games being made by such people as Cyan Inc and Steve Swink.

Cyan has been developing Obduction a new game that is apparently trying to rival some of the most well known classic PC games. This is in reference to Myst and  Riven. Cyan's new project has been a success and has about 30 minutes as of posting this. An adventure that might be point-and-click???????
We'll find out soon enough. I hope.




Scale has also been successful and have a couple hours left for funding. It's a puzzle game that involves with changing the size of everything and manipulating the world.

Scale did reach one of it's stretch goals which means it has promised to have Oculus Rift support which seems like I will easily fall out of my chair. Size changing and being able to do this in every direction. A dangerous combination.

THAT'S NOT ALL!






Admittedly, Obduction sounds riveting but it is only a concept so far. The most anticipate Kickstarter reported on this website was none other than GOD itself! Well, GoD Factory: Wingmen. Close enough.


There is some good news to follow on that game however. They were also on Greenlight and they (along with some 100+ games) got greenlit. This means they were approved onto the Steam page and are making arrangements with Valve to sell the game. It should be available soon for around 10-15 dollars.

Thursday 14 November 2013

PS4! ITS OUT! = Overrated

SO... even though I wrote that you should wait and not pre-order or primitively buy but here we are. This is the launch party. Everyone is going crazy. Interviews with the people in line. Enjoy the party unless you're also waiting in the cold.

Interested to see what this machine can do at least.

Playstation has a live stream you can watch on Game Trailers.

It should be out in about a minute as of typing this up.

#hardcorePS4

Wednesday 13 November 2013

The Humble Store Accepts Your Spare Change

If you're too eager to read click here to go to the store

I've written about The Humble Bundle several times on this website. Many posts were about games I've seen on the bundle or actually bought on the bundle. Such as Botanicula. It's the reason for my 'Games To Play' list being in surplus.








It seems everyone else has beaten me to this. I found out after looking up Neocolonialism yesterday and reading it would be on 'the Humble Store' but I didn't realize what that meant until I click the link. With the same day it seems 3 different sources have written about this topic. Well since it's late and I started this last night I should get it done at least. This is what the bandwagon feel like?

Humble bundle has been known for being attention to indie games and smaller developers by bundling their bundles with different games and developers. This allows for a lot of variety and what's best is it comes at whatever price you want. I've spoken of the Humble Bundle a few times in different posts. Normally you can select how much you pay for the how bundle of games along by allocating your payment in portions to the developers, the charities chosen, and the humble bundle team.

The Humble Bundle has more recently been promoting bigger publishers and has had a lot of AAA games available through their service. Now with the addition of the Humble Store every 24 hours there are new sales what a really good but don't seem to follow any sort of them. These seem great but it is certainly a deterrent from their style yet again. Though different, it is certainly effective. These earning go to the three divisions just like in the humble bundles but set at a fixed rate. The developers getting 75 per cent of the revenue, 10 per cent going to charity, and the rest goes to the site.

An example is System Shock 2 for $2.50. There is no point in posting the titles here since they change so quickly. It's worth going over and taking a look. Support charity, buy cheap games, help bring worthy devs to the top.



It should be mentioned that if you buy a single game there is no need to allocate your payment between developers. All the money is distributed by them and not the customer in this case.

Also there are weekly sales happening as well which sometimes rival the actual Humble Bundle in quality.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Neocolonialism: Greed Drives The World Upside-Down



Neocolonialism is a turn based strategy game to come out from Subaltern Games. This game has a decent tutorial that takes you through everything you might need to know. The mechanics are pretty straight forward so the fun is pretty accessible to most people.

This game is designed for you to manipulate the world in a strategic way and gain power through money. The games are played online against other people. You point is to be the one with the most money at the end. You do this through a system of 12 turns.
Each turn having 3 parts.
  1. Buy votes from different areas around the world. Your goal here is to elect Prime Ministers. These PMs are your fellow players. You want to work with them, making secret deals to try and rise in power.
  2. Afterwords the goal is for the PMs to select certain policies. These policies are for expanding the economy through means such as building factories or making mines, upgrading those mines or making trade agreements? This is done by the PMs making the proposal to the other players who then vote on whether they want to let the bill run it's course or reject the PM.
  3. At this stage the game chooses one of the players as they take control of the international monetary fund (IMF) of the world and then make a decision. The game allows every player to get a turn at this.
The game itself is described as a 'Marxist strategy game for 1-6 players' according to Seth Alter who has been the main driving force in the games production. Different elements such as natural disasters can cause the game to create drastic and unexpected changes which set you or another player back.

The map is upside-down giving the player a sense that they might be looking at a different world. Though this could be symbolic of how politics plays a role in spinning the world around in a perspective that suits certain people. As a result the upside-down orientation express that the world is not as it may seem.


The premise of the game involves a lot of communication between players to make deals other don't know about and see how well the relationships you make work in your favour. Though everyone has to play with a sense of greed and selfishness because the way to win is to have the most money. The idea that other have discussed secretly and may make decision to your detriment or against you specifically is all a representation of how politicians have to do their work. 

The message seems to be; the more power you posses the better you are in life due to your ability to manipulate people.

It's a scary one but as stated in the trailer, "ruin everything."

Seth hopes this game will be, 'a forerunner for what I hope will be a new paradigm for educational games' and for now is available on his website/ Amazon for $10.

                            

He stated in a blog post he first intended the game to require an account to play an of the modes. Since then he has announce a no-DRM policy. He will no longer hold up these restrictions and allow people to play offline without having to sign in. He stated that because of his one man studio business he would really need all the sales he could get and making sure his revenue was coming to him was of high importance. Though he elaborated that DRM seems to directly imply a mistrust between the developer and customer, so he stayed away in the end.

The game is also on Greenlight (which will have the obligatory Steam DRM if it gets passed through there). This is if for some reason you want to use Steam... beats me.

Sources: RockPaperShotgun, Subaltern Games,

Monday 11 November 2013

$5 For 3 Games Or Maybe 13 For $22! GOG Sale!






Get at least 3 games for 5 dollars. That's the minimum donation amount. Though you certainly allowed to pick as many more from the list of games as you like.

The amount of your donation increases by $1.67 for each additional game you decide to pick with your donation.

That's a minimum of $5 for 3 all the way up to a minimum of $21.67 for 13 games. Though if you want to help out this great charity then by all means donate more. There is no limit but there are minimums set for however many games you pick.

These games include some oldies and some indies: FTL, Darwini, Driftmoon , and Botanicula (check out my review of this game here) are some of the 13 game options.

If you want to learn more about this charity:


The sale only has about 16 hours hours left as of writing this post. 

Get them while their cheap! Click here to get to the sale if you haven't clicked the first link already.

Sunday 10 November 2013

PS4 Almost Here But The Details?



PS4 does not support Audio CDs though it will run UMDs...

I'm confused too. Apparently it won't run PSP games but it will run UMD movies.
The CDs aren't available perhaps due to the fact Sony doesn't want to pay for the right to have that functionality. They were apparently struggling to get the price down to $400.

Blu-Ray ability has to be activated by going online (or ordering disc if internet is not an option) and registering apparently. That way Sony saves money and doesn't pay for the activation of every system made but rather, every system bought.

Apparently this feature will allow for 3D Rlu-ray too. Unlike the Xbox One which wont. Though to be fair, both consoles have quite enough gimmicks.

PS4 controllers use micro-usb instead of mini-usb like the PS3 used for it's controllers. These are apparently quite common since all phones now a days aside from all things Apple use these cables. Too be honest I've never seen this thing but that's what some journalists have told me. This seems reliable since the cables go for about a one dollar ebay.



If you really want one of those controllers you can buy one already. It's already at EBGames and Gamestop for the wonderful price of 60 dollars. ಠ_ಠ

Sadly the PS3 controllers are not support for the PS4. Even though the PS4 is supposed to have a much better and ergonomic controller, I would still rather buy maybe one extra controller for 2 player games and just save $120 by using the PS3 controllers. It's a real shame that Sony is making a cash grab like that. Though such is expected with these new consoles. If they want them to stay a float they require a ton of base work from the beginning.

The PS4 controller like the Xbox One and the classic Xbox 360 controller is natively compatible with the PC. Also it's usable with the PS3. Which is all sorts of confusing. I guess Sony wants to spread their market to other audience with their new products and ignore the old ones to make them gain popularity by demand.

If you purchased any of That Game Company's games, you'll be able to download them for free on the PS4. These ports have higher resolution graphics and means you'll be able to get mesmerized that much easier.

It comes with a web browser and also is going to support a bunch of common PC peripherals after the day one patch. This includes but isn't limited to:
  • Most USB headphones.
  • USB keyboards.
  • Twitch and Ustream stream support.
  • Party (Voice chat).
  • “Always on” video encoding systems (this lets you record, take screen shots, and upload gameplay but comes at the cost of constant system strain).
  • Play games as they download up to how ever much you downloaded. This would be more useful if you actually have good internet otherwise the experience would probably be very choppy. The feature is neat but only supported for certain titles. 
  • Online Multiplayer.
  • Background music player.
  • You can use voice commands and have face recognition. This will probably be a great for people who have certain disabilities. Not being able to move with much freedom means those features will allow these people to play without too much issue.   
 The packaged PS4 will included in it's box,
"That box and the packaging for the DualShock 4, its charger, the PlayStation 4 Eye, and the console's vertical stand (yes, seriously) were all revealed on PlayStation Europe community manager Chris Owen's Twitter account earlier today, and they all look like pieces of one big family."
 As stated on Engagement.

Microsoft & PC Games Aren't Dead?

Microsoft trying to give you some treats and make you happy with possibly empty promises?




Games for Windows Live hasn't been a favourable system for PC gamers. I remember getting Dawn of War 2 and having to make an account to play the game. Similar obligatory DRM similar to Steam, it warns down on a casual PC, more internet data requirement, and a never ending set of online issues. 
Microsoft Studios VP Phil Spencer said that he recognized that they have neglected the market. After the success of the Xbox 360 it was clear that Microsoft had a focus on the gaming market. The PC obviously being the oldest success when it has come to video games due to it's ability to be modified. Even though this offers the most in long term sustainability, Spencer told Shack News
"I think it's fair to say that we've lost our way a bit in supporting Windows games."
Though it's supposed to make a come back,
“not what you might consider a more traditional desktop PC game,” 
according to Matt Booty at the XBox One launch event.  

Jason Holtman has come to Microsoft this year after leaving in February. He really drove Valve and their business quite a long way. After all of the issues people had in the beginning he had helped them reach the grand state they had come to. Though for unknown reasons, Valve cut a lot of people's job and Gab (Founder of Valve) said he wouldn't give any comments during an interview with Engagement about why anyone was laid off. 



Even with this trusty new blood within the Microsoft hive, it is still unclear if the monolith of the tech-industry will really start focusing on PC users in a way that thinks about what the consumers want. For now their reputation hold that it's not worth holding our breath. 

The PC Market is for now owned by Valve and the AAA market on consoles is owned by Sony, but we'll see how well the Xbox One does (no that's not the machine that came out in 2001).

Microsoft, wht r u doin? STAHP!

Sunday 3 November 2013

New Pokemon in X and Y?

Pokemon Spoilers



A hacker by the name of Smealum has been searching through the source code of Pokemon X and Y. As the title describes I'm sure you'll understand what this means. 

Probably a form of DLC that is already in game content. The kind of DLC that just unlocks what already exists on the game itself. Preplanned DLC if you will. A pretty clever marketing trick that allows companies to give you an extra insentive to play the game more even if you think you got "100 percent" since there is always more you can unlock. They started this generation off by giving you the chance to experience these new digivolved Pokemon, err, I mean, mega-evolved Pokemon. I'm referring to the
mega-Blaziken you attained early on (this is assuming you own one of the games).

These secret characters include a couple legendaries from gen 3,
Latios and Latias. Blaziken isn't going to make the only appearance from that region it seems. This is a bit funny if you check out the pictures. The original pokemon where esentially legendary airoplanes. Now you can have mega-evolve them into fighter jets!





But the fun doesn't stop there! Oh not at all; for there were three more Pokemon to be announced. 

Well this is presuming that these will be attainable through more special events like theorized before. I think that the fire Pokemon Volcanion actually looks pretty cool for a turtle with a life raft stuck to his back.




There are also some fairy-type or psychic type looking Pokemon. They just seem like the regular weird creatures you have come to love from Game Freak. The names are Diancie and Hoopa.




For now this has been the Pokemon who have been revealed so far. The possibility of more exists and when/ how these will be attainable is yet to be figured out. I'm going to go ahead and assume these are not scrapped sprites and that they will be used since they all seem to be finished. It would be off not to add them in. Perhaps there was a problem this balancing these Pokemon into the game? For now it's a waiting game. The next event is on the horizon and the prize is, one of these fine bundles of pixels!


Xbox One On Launch, Why Bother?

War is among us. We are so close to the next console war.   




With the WiiU already getting its feet in the market we have the PS4 and the Xbox One arriving after a mass of pre-orders. I'd heard that there were more pre-orders quicker for the Xbox One than for the PS4. Though at this point, so close to release, all pre-order options for both consoles are all drained up.

The Xbox One and the PS4 have very similar hardware yet the Xbox is a hundred dollars more than the PS4. This is probably because the Xbox One is a bundle with their new Kinect camera. This machine had a lot of controversy with what it can detect and the privacy it would invade. Since it's been reported that the machine could monitor even the player's heart rate, one would never really know what might end up in the 'Terms of Service Agreement' most people just click 'OK' on and move along.

Many people have complained that the original Kinect was a nuisance and for the most part didn't work effectively. The truth is that I'm unaware of how the second model will work, but it seems like it can't be anymore than a nuisance by forcing everyone to use that external device to operate the main console.

Another issue with this system is the same issue I have with anyone buying a game system the day it comes out. Or even worse pre-ordering one, which I think is a bad idea. For systems and games themselves. But I digress; it's putting money into a product you hope will grow in a favourable way. The investment makes sense, but what would make even more sense would be a chance to let the library of games the console supports grow. Doing that before saying the games to play are worth their 60 dollar price tags along with the 500 dollar flat fee shouldn't be too hard. Apparently no one can figure it out.

I admit I've paid a lot for all my consoles (except the newest addition to the family, my precious Dreamcast [40 dollars for a limited edition black model]) but to be fair I was quite a bit younger then. I haven't bought a console on launch since the PS3 came out. At that age I was nothing more than a youngling sprouting into my teenage years. The price of the games and console drop once the collection is actually worth having. Did I pay attention to that after I was done my collection focus for the PS2 and moving on to the PS3? No. Not at all.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is said to be only up-scaled to 1080p on the Xbox One while on the PS4 it should run on 1080p natively. With the same sort of hardware one would think they should preform the same but nope. Apparently neither will hold up to the standard that PC users have been a custom to for years.

The PS4 will provide such quality sometimes but the Xbox, not at all. Sure some games will be advertised as 1080p but they will most assuredly be up-scaled from 720p. Infinity Ward seems to be focusing on getting 60FPS for both consoles for a very smooth gaming experience. I had hoped for better frame rate on both consoles but if the quality is still that outdated for the XboxOne? Why bother.

Treyarch is certainly my preferred developer when it comes to CoD (Call of Duty) games but in reality I can't find much enjoyment out of the same game over and over. The Treyarch CoD games are always a bit more silly. They understand the wacky nonsense that the CoD fanbase is into and they play to that well with things such as the zombie mode which is loved by so many.

Infinity Ward is supposed to be working on a odd little alien version of the same idea with a hoard mode that makes you constantly shoot zombies, err, I mean aliens. Don't worry though it totally different. And that might be serious since this isn't Treyarch anymore, Infinity Ward is having a crack at this type of addition to their games. The Infinity Ward CoD games have always been about realism and forced emotional reactions instead of the sort of wack gameplay that CoD players talk about for years to come.

Treyarch is responsible for the WiiU version so I maybe most likely to play that of all of them. Though it is most likely the same redundant game that I've experienced a few dozen times at local multiplayer get-togethers for the last however many years.

Pardon my ramblings about CoD. This was a post about Xbox One. But my previous paragraph makes an important point. If I were to get any of the modern consoles it would probably be the WiiU. It has the biggest library and because I have a decent PC the only reason to get a console would be to play some local multiplayer and that's best offered for the WiiU. Games like Mario Party, Mario Kart, and Luigi's Ghost Mansion. All pretty one sided in terms of franchise, but the multiplayer aspects are great for all these games. Sure there are exclusives for each system but I can't think of any titles announced yet that would warrant getting a 500 dollar machine to play them on.

Ratchet & Clank has been one of my favourite franchises for a long time. I will be a little upset with not getting the next one but it certainly isn't coming out on the launch of the PS4. If I do end up getting a PS4, it might as well be used and later on. That's the beauty of used games, they have a purpose in a consumer friendly market.

If we so blindly pay for games and consoles before we have any knowledge about them (like what games are really supported or the quality of the game purchased) we don't really do a service to the developers who actually took the time to make quality games. Until that happens, until people take the time to be patient and discuss the games that exist, the value they each hold being appreciated fairly is as likely as playing Russian Roulette ending up with a pleasant ending.

Wait to see if there is a point in buying the system later. Of course all the games won't be available on the PC so the notion that PC is always a better choice may not apply to people who really want continuations of those certain series. I do ask that you ask yourself (if you're [like me] not loaded with money) if the games exclusive to Xbox are worth the money or if the thousands of games exclusive to PC are more worth it? I understand some games are just too tempting not to pay up for but I just think for a frugal mind that a PC offers quite a bit more. Especially when we are talking about the launch line up for a console. Buying consoles is fine, but some patience is usually best, especially if you want a bunch of good games to play through.

Thursday 31 October 2013

Buckets Full of Worms

Have you ever wanted a crap ton of Worms games?



                




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
        You're in luck.                                                                              You must be playing Worms already.
Team 17 (the developers of the franchise if you didn't know)
are up on the Humble Bundle Weekly Sale. This is a big sale
that happens, weekly. As you might imagine. Usually themed
similar to this sale; with a developer or type of game.

There are more games to this bundle than just worms games but that would probably be anybodies reason for getting the bundle. The game known as Worms Revolution is the gold edition (you get all the DLC) which is on Steam for 25 dollars. There are several other Worms games which are great for mulitplayer because a lot of them support hot-seat local multiplayer so you don't have to crowed around one keyboard.

This is a humble bundle sale so it is all pay what you want for 5 Worms games and a platformer titled SuperFrog HD. The gold edition game I just mentioned is in the bonus content along side their Alien Breed series (games 1-3). The bonus content comes form paying more than or equal to 6 bucks. Though no need to be cheap here. As much of the money as you like will go to the developers or to charity. As well you can allocate a portion of your payment to The Humble Bundle themselves. Why not?

5 soundtracks are also included. 2 extra of which (making a total of 7) are attained through the bonus content.

Unfortunately all of these games are only available through Steam. Which for the most part is okay but it needs annoying DRM that is obligated to follow every Steam game. Keep in mind this is pretty much just a neat deal if your a Windows user. Only Worms Crazy Golf and Superfrog HD are available for Mac and ONLY Superfrog HD comes for Linux.

Have fun if you do end up picking this up. I've been thinking of hooking up on PS1 and popping in Worms World Party and now I finally have the motivation to do so. Worms are in the air! Now blow the heck out of your friends!