Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
****I want to preface this post by taking some time to announce that I have officially joined the team over at IndieJuice! My first post was published last night which you can read here about my thoughts on Ubisoft's handling of the upcoming game Watch_Dogs, and I was also a guest last night on the Indiejuice Podcast which was recorded live on twitch and will be available to listen to on the website sometime this weekend (I think Saturday) but I will post that here once it is up. I am extremely excited to be part of the great team over there and I hope to contribute quality posts and generate some good discussions.****
Another week gone as we get closer and closer to E3! Some exciting things coming out of the industry in the build up to the biggest gaming convention in the world. I personally am looking forward to seeing the press conference from Sony as they were (In My Opinion) the top dogs at last years convention while Microsoft has some making up to do which they sort have started to in the lead up to the event.
And with that, let's take a look at the week that was:
Microsoft to sell XboxOne without Kinect
AKA Microsoft admitting Kinect sucks. Hey, they had to do something to boost sales right? PS4 has been dominating the market since launch and Microsoft only "won" one month since which was March and that was because of Titanfall. Well the hype around Titanfall has died down and PS4 got right back on top in April so it seems that Microsoft needed to do something drastic and this seems to be it. By removing Kinect, you are basically telling developers that you don't believe in your own hardware to a certain extent. Sure the price point of an XboxOne has now dropped to a competitive $399 but is that what was really holding back sales? I don't think so. If you look at the XboxOne and PS4 releases you will see that Sony clearly has the edge when it comes to games and quality. I think removing Kinect was a step in the right direction, but ultimately Microsoft needs competitive titles to move the system and right now it does not have very many. This years E3 is HUGE for Microsoft. You did the damage control, now tell me why you won't screw up again and what's in it for me.
FarCry 4 Announced
Actually excited for this release. Ubisoft had hinted at the title and I believe had confirmed its existence a few months ago but that's as far as that went. Just yesterday though, they officially announced the game in which "players find themselves in Kyrat, a breathtaking, perilous and wild region of the Himalayas struggling under the regime of a despotic self-appointed king." So I expect another super insane villain (and snazzy dresser according to the box art) with a great story and an interesting new environment. The game launches on November 18 of this year for PS4, PS3, XboxOne, Xbox360, and PC (though the PS3 and Xbox360 version have me worried about the graphics on their successor systems, but we will see). Hopefully (Likely) we get a cool video at E3 this year and I can't wait to see where they take the franchise next. (Also I eagerly await Blood Dragon 2!)
Watch_Dogs to run at 900p on PS4 and 792p on XboxOne both 30FPS
This was the topic of my post over at indiejuice so go check out the full article here. I will keep this brief but basically Watch_Dogs has been handled very poorly by Ubisoft. A game that they were boasting about being a true next gen experience is just not going to hit that mark at 900 and 792p and 30FPS. Frankly, the whole ordeal has been embarrassing and even though I am going to play it (on PC of course) the hype is lost with me. I hope I enjoy it but I wouldn't be surprised if its a let down. We will all see in a couple of weeks.
Halo 5 coming Fall 2015
Ah Ha! So this is what Microsoft needs to get back in the game! Right.... but just one thing, its being released a year and a half from now! Sorry Microsoft but you'll have to do better than that. I am sure the game will sell well and will push a few more consoles out the door but its SO FAR AWAY! The one good thing to take from the announcement its that 343 is promising 60FPS (no word on resolution though) so at least it should look stunning on XboxOne. Overall, I am just over the hype for Halo. Ever since Bungie left, Halo has been just another shooter. Come on Microsoft! I may not have an XboxOne but that doesn't mean I don't want healthy competition! And right now, you are like a high school soccer team compared to Sony being F.C. Barcelona!
That's all I have for this week. Be sure to check out indiejuice tomorrow when my podcast episode is posted and go check out my gameplay videos for Blizzards Heroes of the Storm and Carbines Wildstar! I will leave you all with the launch trailer for Transistor, a game launching on Tuesday from the creators of Bastion. Enjoy!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it:Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Dreamhost rebate
Showing posts with label pc gaming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pc gaming. Show all posts
Friday, May 16, 2014
Friday, May 9, 2014
Week In Review 5/9/2014
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Back on track with the Week In Review! This has been a good week for me, I got a couple of posts up and a gameplay video of the Heroes of the Storm Technical Alpha which you can check out here, plus I've been playing a few new games which I will have reviews written up soon (Child of Light, Infamous: Second Son) so be on the lookout for those next week. I really want to stick to the schedule this time and get at the absolute very least, the week in review done every Friday so be ready for some more content. Now, lets get right into the week that was:
Epic reveal FREE Unreal Tournament
One of, if not the GREATEST arena shooter franchises of all time is getting another, TOTALLY FREE, installment! The people over at Epic games have announced a new Unreal Tournament that is completely free, not free2play, just free meaning no microtransactions. Epic plans on generating revenue through community mods in which they will take a cut from those sales, but other than that they are giving us a free game and I am really looking forward to this. I am a big fan of arena shooters and it has been a very long time since we have had a good one. Hopefully the new Unreal will breathe new life into the arena shooters and bring them roaring back, but only time will tell. On top of just an Unreal Tournament, it is also a chance for epic to show off the new Unreal 4 Engine as they have used past Unreal Tournament games as basically tech demos of their new engines. The community aspect is very interesting and could lead to some great innovations in the genera. This is a 100% pick up for me and should be for everyone else as well just for the fact that it is free and the Unreal franchise has long been a celebrated brand.
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire announced
If you have read my previous posts lately, I have been playing through Pokémon X. Pokémon X is the first Pokémon game I have played since Red/Blue and I am having an absolute blast! With this announcement of remakes for the generation 3 Pokémon games, I am a bit excited to go back and experience all that I have missed in the franchise. Looking forward to see what comes out of these and really excited to bury myself with Pokémon again.
Elder Scrolls Online delayed 6 months for consoles
Can Zenimax get any worse? The PC version of ESO has BOMBED big time between the tons of microtransactions and the GAME BREAKING BUGS to the destroying of the WHOLE in-game economy on day 12! The console version of ESO seems like it will be Dead On Arrival. With the poor reviews for the PC version, how anyone still wants to pick up the game on a console is beyond me. The ONLY thing that MAY save the game, is the 6 months being a development push to fix the bugs and re-balance the game but I really don't see that happening. It's probably more just optimization for the consoles with a few bug fixes to make it stable at launch which I still wouldn't pay for. Save your money people.
Wildstar enters Open Beta
Another World of Warcraft challenger appears! Enter Wildstar, a game with a very similar art style and from what I hear, gameplay to WoW. I will pick it up later this weekend and give a quick look, and from the screenshots and the trailer, I do like what I see on the surface. We will see how the game plays out though and I'll see if I can do a review (I don't know if there is an NDA for this Beta, I assume no considering it is Open Beta).
That's all I have for this week, keep checking back for some more videos and content next week (I will try my hardest I promise!).
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
dreamhost rebate
Back on track with the Week In Review! This has been a good week for me, I got a couple of posts up and a gameplay video of the Heroes of the Storm Technical Alpha which you can check out here, plus I've been playing a few new games which I will have reviews written up soon (Child of Light, Infamous: Second Son) so be on the lookout for those next week. I really want to stick to the schedule this time and get at the absolute very least, the week in review done every Friday so be ready for some more content. Now, lets get right into the week that was:
Epic reveal FREE Unreal Tournament
One of, if not the GREATEST arena shooter franchises of all time is getting another, TOTALLY FREE, installment! The people over at Epic games have announced a new Unreal Tournament that is completely free, not free2play, just free meaning no microtransactions. Epic plans on generating revenue through community mods in which they will take a cut from those sales, but other than that they are giving us a free game and I am really looking forward to this. I am a big fan of arena shooters and it has been a very long time since we have had a good one. Hopefully the new Unreal will breathe new life into the arena shooters and bring them roaring back, but only time will tell. On top of just an Unreal Tournament, it is also a chance for epic to show off the new Unreal 4 Engine as they have used past Unreal Tournament games as basically tech demos of their new engines. The community aspect is very interesting and could lead to some great innovations in the genera. This is a 100% pick up for me and should be for everyone else as well just for the fact that it is free and the Unreal franchise has long been a celebrated brand.
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire announced
If you have read my previous posts lately, I have been playing through Pokémon X. Pokémon X is the first Pokémon game I have played since Red/Blue and I am having an absolute blast! With this announcement of remakes for the generation 3 Pokémon games, I am a bit excited to go back and experience all that I have missed in the franchise. Looking forward to see what comes out of these and really excited to bury myself with Pokémon again.
Elder Scrolls Online delayed 6 months for consoles
Can Zenimax get any worse? The PC version of ESO has BOMBED big time between the tons of microtransactions and the GAME BREAKING BUGS to the destroying of the WHOLE in-game economy on day 12! The console version of ESO seems like it will be Dead On Arrival. With the poor reviews for the PC version, how anyone still wants to pick up the game on a console is beyond me. The ONLY thing that MAY save the game, is the 6 months being a development push to fix the bugs and re-balance the game but I really don't see that happening. It's probably more just optimization for the consoles with a few bug fixes to make it stable at launch which I still wouldn't pay for. Save your money people.
Wildstar enters Open Beta
Another World of Warcraft challenger appears! Enter Wildstar, a game with a very similar art style and from what I hear, gameplay to WoW. I will pick it up later this weekend and give a quick look, and from the screenshots and the trailer, I do like what I see on the surface. We will see how the game plays out though and I'll see if I can do a review (I don't know if there is an NDA for this Beta, I assume no considering it is Open Beta).
That's all I have for this week, keep checking back for some more videos and content next week (I will try my hardest I promise!).
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
dreamhost rebate
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Heroes of the Storm Gameplay Video
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
This past weekend I had some time to make a video of the technical alpha for Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm. Check it out below and read my thoughts on the game here.
In other news, I am currently trudging through a ton of different games so be on the lookout for some reviews shortly (Infamous: Second Son, Child of Light, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, and Pokemon X to name a few). Hopefully I will also find the time to get some episodes of The Arena Run edited and posted as well as starting to do a weekly Starcraft II cast. So keep checking back for more content and also go check out indiejuice.tv for some great content from the folks over at Black Shell Games.
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Friday, May 2, 2014
Heroes of the Storm Technical Alpha
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
This past weekend I was privileged with Alpha access to Heroes of the Storm. I was able to sink some time into the game to get a general understanding of what the game is about and how the mechanics work. Before I go fully into this review I must state that I have very little experience with MOBAs. I never played League of Legends and I have MAYBE played 5 matches of DOTA2 so I went into HOTS with little experience in the genera. I will break down the review into sections of the game content so I can focus on different aspects.
Gameplay
First and foremost, the game is very streamlined compared to other MOBAs. I may not have experience playing LoL or DOTA2 but I have witnessed the game being played as an e-sport for some time (particularly DOTA2). Blizzard has optimized the game so that a standard match takes between 20-30 mins as far as I can tell (based on all the games I have played so far, the longest was almost 40 mins but the majority were about 25-30 mins). Each map has objective based themes that both side fight for to gain a slight advantage which adds depth and variety to the game that is not really found in other MOBAs. I hope there will be more maps upon full release (right now there are 3) because that would really set it apart from the pack. Blizzard has gotten rid of 'item shops' where you use gold earned by your team to buy upgrades and such and instead uses a 'skill tree' based model paired with shared team experience. This works out perfect I feel. You can never have one character that can stay behind and gain experience until they are 4/5 levels ahead of everyone else and you have to work with your team to level up together and make your pushes on towers/gates more powerful as you go. Sure, there are times where a team will totally snowball and demolish the opposing side but I believe that will be addressed through matchmaking once the game is released and there are more players.
Learning Curve
Compared to DOTA2 and LoL, HOTS feels a lot more casual. The elimination of item shops and the group leveling system means everyone is on the same level playing field and offers a more balanced approach to matches in that each game is based on the skill of players and not because of certain items that are boosting abilities. We wont know what the highest level of play will entail (read: e-sports) until the game is released and tournaments start to pop up so there is no way to really tell right now what the skill ceiling is of the game but I can see that there is a lot of emphasis on individual skill, so over time we should be seeing a gap in player competitiveness. The game is really easy to get into and the practice mode helps a lot in getting new players up to speed and familiar with the mechanics of the game. Even though Blizzard is late to the party with this MOBA, I feel their tactics at making the game more lax and easy to understand will propel the game to be competitive with DOTA2 and LoL. HOTS has already established heroes that have back stories and abilities that the fans are familiar with which I believe is a huge plus and a secret boost to the games popularity. But, as I said overall, the game is easy to learn and play while at the same time feels that the skill required to reach the professional level can be very high.
Heroes
Not a huge variety as of yet in the Alpha test but that is to be expected. Blizzard has said there will be more heroes as the game progresses so I am not worries about that. Heroes are divided into 4 types, Assassin, Warrior, Support, Specialist and each has at least one hero from either Starcraft, Warcraft or Diablo. You can use gold or real money to buy more heroes to use but there are always 6 heroes available to you that are on rotation. The balancing seems pretty good overall, but there are a few heroes that do feel very overpowered (Tassadar and Stitches) but keeping in mind this is an Alpha test and knowing Blizzard, these will more than likely be patched for balance later down the road. I have only played with a few of the heroes so I am still learning a ton about the mechanics of each hero but everything seems very easy to pick up on. I understand the abilities right away and and able to figure out the best use of them in certain scenarios.
Shop
Money Money Money. This part is something I feel Blizzard has very wrong right now. The real money prices for skins, mounts and heroes seems ridiculously high. Of course you can grind gold for free to unlock everything but the gold income you get for playing games and completing daily quests is very low right now. I hope Blizzard is just testing their options and upon the release of the game, the real money prices become more reasonable. I would gladly drop a few bucks here and there for certain heroes or skins but with it being at the time of this writing ~$9 per hero, I will pass for now and grind my gold to get them.
Community
Not really much to say yet about this since there aren't a ton of people in the Alpha. Right now I haven't really encountered much BM but that could all change. One of the main reasons I never got into LoL of DOTA2 is the toxic community so I will keep my eyes on this aspect as the game gains more and more players. Any game will always have its fair share of BM players and MOBAs are particularly notorious for that but as of right now, I feel because of the small player base and the more laid back and streamlined feel of the game, the community is fairly tame and friendly.
Overall
I have fallen in love with HOTS. The inviting nature of the game really got me into it. So far, I have never felt that I am not good enough for the game and I have never been berated by any players. The game was easy to understand and gives me a ton of resources to practice which will only improve by release. There are enough heroes right now to satisfy me and the rotation means I can try out new heroes regularly. I cannot wait for more players to join and to have more maps and gameplay variety.
I will try and make a video this weekend to show you all so be on the lookout for that!
*****EDIT****** GAMEPLAY VIDEO BELOW
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
DreamHost Rebate
This past weekend I was privileged with Alpha access to Heroes of the Storm. I was able to sink some time into the game to get a general understanding of what the game is about and how the mechanics work. Before I go fully into this review I must state that I have very little experience with MOBAs. I never played League of Legends and I have MAYBE played 5 matches of DOTA2 so I went into HOTS with little experience in the genera. I will break down the review into sections of the game content so I can focus on different aspects.
Gameplay
First and foremost, the game is very streamlined compared to other MOBAs. I may not have experience playing LoL or DOTA2 but I have witnessed the game being played as an e-sport for some time (particularly DOTA2). Blizzard has optimized the game so that a standard match takes between 20-30 mins as far as I can tell (based on all the games I have played so far, the longest was almost 40 mins but the majority were about 25-30 mins). Each map has objective based themes that both side fight for to gain a slight advantage which adds depth and variety to the game that is not really found in other MOBAs. I hope there will be more maps upon full release (right now there are 3) because that would really set it apart from the pack. Blizzard has gotten rid of 'item shops' where you use gold earned by your team to buy upgrades and such and instead uses a 'skill tree' based model paired with shared team experience. This works out perfect I feel. You can never have one character that can stay behind and gain experience until they are 4/5 levels ahead of everyone else and you have to work with your team to level up together and make your pushes on towers/gates more powerful as you go. Sure, there are times where a team will totally snowball and demolish the opposing side but I believe that will be addressed through matchmaking once the game is released and there are more players.
Learning Curve
Compared to DOTA2 and LoL, HOTS feels a lot more casual. The elimination of item shops and the group leveling system means everyone is on the same level playing field and offers a more balanced approach to matches in that each game is based on the skill of players and not because of certain items that are boosting abilities. We wont know what the highest level of play will entail (read: e-sports) until the game is released and tournaments start to pop up so there is no way to really tell right now what the skill ceiling is of the game but I can see that there is a lot of emphasis on individual skill, so over time we should be seeing a gap in player competitiveness. The game is really easy to get into and the practice mode helps a lot in getting new players up to speed and familiar with the mechanics of the game. Even though Blizzard is late to the party with this MOBA, I feel their tactics at making the game more lax and easy to understand will propel the game to be competitive with DOTA2 and LoL. HOTS has already established heroes that have back stories and abilities that the fans are familiar with which I believe is a huge plus and a secret boost to the games popularity. But, as I said overall, the game is easy to learn and play while at the same time feels that the skill required to reach the professional level can be very high.
Heroes
Not a huge variety as of yet in the Alpha test but that is to be expected. Blizzard has said there will be more heroes as the game progresses so I am not worries about that. Heroes are divided into 4 types, Assassin, Warrior, Support, Specialist and each has at least one hero from either Starcraft, Warcraft or Diablo. You can use gold or real money to buy more heroes to use but there are always 6 heroes available to you that are on rotation. The balancing seems pretty good overall, but there are a few heroes that do feel very overpowered (Tassadar and Stitches) but keeping in mind this is an Alpha test and knowing Blizzard, these will more than likely be patched for balance later down the road. I have only played with a few of the heroes so I am still learning a ton about the mechanics of each hero but everything seems very easy to pick up on. I understand the abilities right away and and able to figure out the best use of them in certain scenarios.
Shop
Money Money Money. This part is something I feel Blizzard has very wrong right now. The real money prices for skins, mounts and heroes seems ridiculously high. Of course you can grind gold for free to unlock everything but the gold income you get for playing games and completing daily quests is very low right now. I hope Blizzard is just testing their options and upon the release of the game, the real money prices become more reasonable. I would gladly drop a few bucks here and there for certain heroes or skins but with it being at the time of this writing ~$9 per hero, I will pass for now and grind my gold to get them.
Community
Not really much to say yet about this since there aren't a ton of people in the Alpha. Right now I haven't really encountered much BM but that could all change. One of the main reasons I never got into LoL of DOTA2 is the toxic community so I will keep my eyes on this aspect as the game gains more and more players. Any game will always have its fair share of BM players and MOBAs are particularly notorious for that but as of right now, I feel because of the small player base and the more laid back and streamlined feel of the game, the community is fairly tame and friendly.
Overall
I have fallen in love with HOTS. The inviting nature of the game really got me into it. So far, I have never felt that I am not good enough for the game and I have never been berated by any players. The game was easy to understand and gives me a ton of resources to practice which will only improve by release. There are enough heroes right now to satisfy me and the rotation means I can try out new heroes regularly. I cannot wait for more players to join and to have more maps and gameplay variety.
I will try and make a video this weekend to show you all so be on the lookout for that!
*****EDIT****** GAMEPLAY VIDEO BELOW
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
DreamHost Rebate
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Far Too Long
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
It has been way too long since I have gotten out an update. Real life hit pretty hard these past few weeks (nothing serious just a lot of work!) but now I have some time to get things going again. I hope to restart The Arena Run and get a few episodes of that loaded up, I want to make a video with my thoughts about the recent Facebook acquisition of Oculus Rift and what that means to me and other gamers, and I just want to PLAY! With a few great games coming out soon and some that are already out, I want to get some reviews done (Dark Souls 2 for PC, Daylight, Child of Light to name a few) and get some let's play videos out there (I'm thinking of Starbound, State of Decay and Path of Exile to get started). When I have had the time to play, most of it has been sunk into Titanfall which is absolutely amazing in my opinion. A real breath of fresh air in the stagnating FPS market. I just started Infamous: Second Son this past weekend and hope to finish that real soon and get out my thoughts. I got sucked into Pokemon X which is bringing back some strong memories for me (X is the first Pokemon game I have played since the original Red/Blue!). I picked up Octodad and it is a total blast! Such a fun/silly game that I am really enjoying. And finally (fingers crossed) I should be able to stream! I moved my computer a bit and am getting a decent upload speed so I will try that out soon and see if I can get a stable stream going.
One last thing to add is that I recently have been involved with the people over at Black Shell Games who just released their game Sanctuary. Go grab it here, its a free to play RPG and its really great. Also go check out their podcast, which I hope to be joining soon once I get some free time, here.
Just wanted to make a quick post letting you guys know I have not gone anywhere and I am working with some great people to put out more content. Hopefully tomorrow I will get a post about Blizzards new game Heroes of the Storm as I have been involved in the technical alpha, so come back and check that out!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Friday, February 28, 2014
Update Time and the Week in Review
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
I have been up to a lot this week! I got out 2 videos and I am working on a few more things. I started my episodic show called The Arena Run where I play Hearthstone AND I just posted my Beta impression video for the newly released Rengade X. On top of that, I have plenty more in the works and I hope to be posting a few more videos either this weekend or early next week so keep checking back. I will have a full write up on my thoughts and features run down of the Beta for Rengade X which I have had a lot of fun with so far as you can see in the video. Things are really starting to get going and the sooner I get more followers the sooner I can start doing contests to get rid of all these game keys I have hoarded over the past year or so. With all that said, lets get in to the week that was!
Dean "Rocket" Hall to leaeve Bohemia at the end of the year
OK... Don't Panic! I know it looks bad for DayZ and people are calling it another Early Access failure but Dean Hall has stated before that he was planning on leaving AFTER he hit certain goals with the team at Bohemia. If you follow DayZ's updates you will see that there is a very detailed roadmap in place that brings the development of the game right up to a tentative release to Beta near the end of this year. Assuming all goals are met, I see no problem with Dean leaving to start up another project. If the game is in Beta then that means there are no more core feautres that will be left to be added and the Beta will just be used to uncover and fix bugs before a proper release. I don't see this as Dean taking the money already made by DayZ and running, leaving the game unfinished just that he specifically won't be needed at the company any longer because his input was already taken into account and as I said, all that's left to do in the game is fix bugs. I may be in the minority right now, but I still have 100% faith that DayZ upon proper release will be better than any other zombie survival game on the market right now.
Burial at Sea Part 2 gets 1998 mode
The swansong for Irrational Games. The last part of Burial at Sea is coming and with that, a new game mode that ups the difficulty for the player. As we know, we will be playing Part 2 as Elizabeth and it has been stated that the game will take between 4-6 hours to complete. Hopefully this delivers and is another solid release in the Bioshock franchise. I have no reason to think this final entry into Bioshock by Irrational is a cash grab and I look forward to playing through Part 2. You can check out their blog post about the new mode here and I wish Ken Levine and the rest good luck on any future projects they work on.
Renegade X enters Open Beta
As I stated in the opening of this post, Renegade X has entered Open Beta. A sort of HD update to under-appreciated Command & Conquer Renegade that was put out by a small studio called Totem Arts. They acquired the IP from EA with the only stipulation that they make it free and not monetize it in any way. So far the game has been an absolute BLAST for me. It brings me back years to when I played the original Renegade religiously. It might not be the best shooter or the most polished but it hit me right in the nostalgia when I jumped into my first game. The Command & Conquer franchise is one of my top 3 franchises of all time. It was my first introduction into RTS games and I have loved everything they put out up until Generals (AKA all the games by Westwood). Check it out for yourself, ITS FREE! Get it here and check out my Let's Play below (Sorry for the quality dip halfway through, I will re-render the video and re-upload sometime soon so you get to see it in HD).
That's mainly it for this week. A few good games are coming our way in the month of March so be on the lookout for some more videos and impression posts. I will leave episode 1 of The Arena Run below for you all to watch and as stated above, I am working on tons more content and I can't wait to get it all out to you guys!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
I have been up to a lot this week! I got out 2 videos and I am working on a few more things. I started my episodic show called The Arena Run where I play Hearthstone AND I just posted my Beta impression video for the newly released Rengade X. On top of that, I have plenty more in the works and I hope to be posting a few more videos either this weekend or early next week so keep checking back. I will have a full write up on my thoughts and features run down of the Beta for Rengade X which I have had a lot of fun with so far as you can see in the video. Things are really starting to get going and the sooner I get more followers the sooner I can start doing contests to get rid of all these game keys I have hoarded over the past year or so. With all that said, lets get in to the week that was!
Dean "Rocket" Hall to leaeve Bohemia at the end of the year
OK... Don't Panic! I know it looks bad for DayZ and people are calling it another Early Access failure but Dean Hall has stated before that he was planning on leaving AFTER he hit certain goals with the team at Bohemia. If you follow DayZ's updates you will see that there is a very detailed roadmap in place that brings the development of the game right up to a tentative release to Beta near the end of this year. Assuming all goals are met, I see no problem with Dean leaving to start up another project. If the game is in Beta then that means there are no more core feautres that will be left to be added and the Beta will just be used to uncover and fix bugs before a proper release. I don't see this as Dean taking the money already made by DayZ and running, leaving the game unfinished just that he specifically won't be needed at the company any longer because his input was already taken into account and as I said, all that's left to do in the game is fix bugs. I may be in the minority right now, but I still have 100% faith that DayZ upon proper release will be better than any other zombie survival game on the market right now.
Burial at Sea Part 2 gets 1998 mode
The swansong for Irrational Games. The last part of Burial at Sea is coming and with that, a new game mode that ups the difficulty for the player. As we know, we will be playing Part 2 as Elizabeth and it has been stated that the game will take between 4-6 hours to complete. Hopefully this delivers and is another solid release in the Bioshock franchise. I have no reason to think this final entry into Bioshock by Irrational is a cash grab and I look forward to playing through Part 2. You can check out their blog post about the new mode here and I wish Ken Levine and the rest good luck on any future projects they work on.
Renegade X enters Open Beta
As I stated in the opening of this post, Renegade X has entered Open Beta. A sort of HD update to under-appreciated Command & Conquer Renegade that was put out by a small studio called Totem Arts. They acquired the IP from EA with the only stipulation that they make it free and not monetize it in any way. So far the game has been an absolute BLAST for me. It brings me back years to when I played the original Renegade religiously. It might not be the best shooter or the most polished but it hit me right in the nostalgia when I jumped into my first game. The Command & Conquer franchise is one of my top 3 franchises of all time. It was my first introduction into RTS games and I have loved everything they put out up until Generals (AKA all the games by Westwood). Check it out for yourself, ITS FREE! Get it here and check out my Let's Play below (Sorry for the quality dip halfway through, I will re-render the video and re-upload sometime soon so you get to see it in HD).
That's mainly it for this week. A few good games are coming our way in the month of March so be on the lookout for some more videos and impression posts. I will leave episode 1 of The Arena Run below for you all to watch and as stated above, I am working on tons more content and I can't wait to get it all out to you guys!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
The Arena Run - Episode 1
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
I finally did it! I started an episodic gaming adventure! Granted it is only me playing Hearthstone, I hope it will provide tips and give you guys something fun to watch for ~30-45 mins a day. I will be releasing at the very least one episode per week but I hope to make it more (right now I have 3 recorded, I just need the time to edit and upload them) so that will get the ball rolling with content. Take a look if you have not already and let me know what you guys think (constructive criticism works for me. Let me know if my sound levels are right and what I need to do to make it a better viewing experience.) As for other news on my side, I have been playing tons of games lately which include finally getting down to finishing Tomb Raider. I spent a lot of time playing the Beta for Titanfall which will be out in March. I had so much fun playing it and I cannot wait until the official release. Alongside the release of Titanfall, I will be making a review post and video so be on the lookout for that. And as I have said multiple times before... CONTESTS! I have a few formats in mind and I might just do a few different ways of delivering things. As of right now, my internet upload speed is lacking so streaming is not really a strong possibility, but I hope to rectify that problem soon.
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Hypersmash.com
I finally did it! I started an episodic gaming adventure! Granted it is only me playing Hearthstone, I hope it will provide tips and give you guys something fun to watch for ~30-45 mins a day. I will be releasing at the very least one episode per week but I hope to make it more (right now I have 3 recorded, I just need the time to edit and upload them) so that will get the ball rolling with content. Take a look if you have not already and let me know what you guys think (constructive criticism works for me. Let me know if my sound levels are right and what I need to do to make it a better viewing experience.) As for other news on my side, I have been playing tons of games lately which include finally getting down to finishing Tomb Raider. I spent a lot of time playing the Beta for Titanfall which will be out in March. I had so much fun playing it and I cannot wait until the official release. Alongside the release of Titanfall, I will be making a review post and video so be on the lookout for that. And as I have said multiple times before... CONTESTS! I have a few formats in mind and I might just do a few different ways of delivering things. As of right now, my internet upload speed is lacking so streaming is not really a strong possibility, but I hope to rectify that problem soon.
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Hypersmash.com
Friday, January 17, 2014
Back from Hiatus and Week in Review
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
So I know I talked a lot about posting more but I failed. Ultimately the holidays took up a lot of my time and then my job required a lot of my attention right after so I was unable to get some posts put together. Moving forward I there may be short spans of these "breaks" due to my schedule. I will try my best to get as much content as I can out there. I hope to set up a streaming schedule where I have dedicated times during the week that I will be able to at the very least stream some games for you all. I plan on getting that schedule going very soon and I want to kick off the stream with a huge 24-hour charity stream! I will officially announce the date and the charity shortly and I hope I can create a lot of buzz for a good cause and to get me off my feet.
Until that all gets sorted out, I still plan on trying to get out my Friday week in reviews and hopefully a few other opinion articles. I also plan on uploading some casts of Starcraft and Starbow and possibly a lets play or two in between (If you don't know what Starbow is look it up here).
Anyway lets get down to business and take a look at what went on this week
Sim City offline is coming
When Sim City was released last year it was no where near a smooth launch, in fact it was probably one of the worst launches in gaming history. Plagued with players unable to connect to servers and a whole mess of other bugs, it is about time that an offline mode is coming for Sim City. As far as I am concerned, it is too little too late for the game and I highly doubt this will skyrocket the title up the charts. I personally have not played a Sim City game since the good old days when Maxis was running things and from what I hear, its a good thing I stopped there. The latest title is a mess and will remain a mess and a black mark on this once beloved franchise. EA needs to get their shit together when it comes to their games. How about instead of milking the fans for every dime they have with micro transactions in crappy games, make a quality, stable game that fans will love and invest into on their own without being forced to. It works for other companies but EA seems to be too greedy and is only concerned about lining their already rich pockets.
Elder Scrolls Online price points announced
I've played the Beta, I've seen the reports, and this is the final nail in the coffin. The Elder Scrolls Online will be officially priced at $60 for purchase and $15 subscription fee per month. To be completely 100% honest, I fully believe this game will fail. I see no redeeming factors that will lift this game over competitors to keep it sustainable at these price points. I will gladly wait until Elder Scrolls VI to come out than play this abomination/cash grab. I'm sure some people will play it and really enjoy it, but this is not the game for me and the price points officially buried any chance that I was ever going to play this game once it's released.
AGDQ raises over $1 million for charity
I was always aware of the speed running community but I never actually watched kids run games as fast as they could until this past week when Awesome Games Done Quick held their annual winter event to raise money to fight cancer. I first tuned in and watched their MegaMan block and as you all know, MegaMan is my favorite gaming character of all time so I was interested in seeing it. After watching a speedrun of MegaMan 2 I was hooked! For the next few days all I did was watch speedrun after speedrun of some great classic games. Speedrunning is a niche scene and may not be for everyone but these guys did a great job making everything run super smooth and some SOME! runners had entertaining personalities. In the end they raised over $1 million and I got to see a lot of great runs. I highly suggest going through their archives and watching a few. Here were my highlights:
MegaMan Block
Castlevania SOTN
Super Meatboy
Borderlands 2
Mario Block
Thats all for this week. I wanted to keep it short and just let everyone know I am back and I will try my best to pump out content on a regular basis. I hope to have a streaming schedule nailed down in the next few weeks so I actually have something to stick to so look out for that. As I stated above, I will also be setting up a 24 hour charity stream in the not too distant future where I will play tons of games for a good cause (I will also be giving out game codes I have!) Keep checking back and I will see you guys out in the Wasteland!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
So I know I talked a lot about posting more but I failed. Ultimately the holidays took up a lot of my time and then my job required a lot of my attention right after so I was unable to get some posts put together. Moving forward I there may be short spans of these "breaks" due to my schedule. I will try my best to get as much content as I can out there. I hope to set up a streaming schedule where I have dedicated times during the week that I will be able to at the very least stream some games for you all. I plan on getting that schedule going very soon and I want to kick off the stream with a huge 24-hour charity stream! I will officially announce the date and the charity shortly and I hope I can create a lot of buzz for a good cause and to get me off my feet.
Until that all gets sorted out, I still plan on trying to get out my Friday week in reviews and hopefully a few other opinion articles. I also plan on uploading some casts of Starcraft and Starbow and possibly a lets play or two in between (If you don't know what Starbow is look it up here).
Anyway lets get down to business and take a look at what went on this week
Sim City offline is coming
When Sim City was released last year it was no where near a smooth launch, in fact it was probably one of the worst launches in gaming history. Plagued with players unable to connect to servers and a whole mess of other bugs, it is about time that an offline mode is coming for Sim City. As far as I am concerned, it is too little too late for the game and I highly doubt this will skyrocket the title up the charts. I personally have not played a Sim City game since the good old days when Maxis was running things and from what I hear, its a good thing I stopped there. The latest title is a mess and will remain a mess and a black mark on this once beloved franchise. EA needs to get their shit together when it comes to their games. How about instead of milking the fans for every dime they have with micro transactions in crappy games, make a quality, stable game that fans will love and invest into on their own without being forced to. It works for other companies but EA seems to be too greedy and is only concerned about lining their already rich pockets.
Elder Scrolls Online price points announced
I've played the Beta, I've seen the reports, and this is the final nail in the coffin. The Elder Scrolls Online will be officially priced at $60 for purchase and $15 subscription fee per month. To be completely 100% honest, I fully believe this game will fail. I see no redeeming factors that will lift this game over competitors to keep it sustainable at these price points. I will gladly wait until Elder Scrolls VI to come out than play this abomination/cash grab. I'm sure some people will play it and really enjoy it, but this is not the game for me and the price points officially buried any chance that I was ever going to play this game once it's released.
AGDQ raises over $1 million for charity
I was always aware of the speed running community but I never actually watched kids run games as fast as they could until this past week when Awesome Games Done Quick held their annual winter event to raise money to fight cancer. I first tuned in and watched their MegaMan block and as you all know, MegaMan is my favorite gaming character of all time so I was interested in seeing it. After watching a speedrun of MegaMan 2 I was hooked! For the next few days all I did was watch speedrun after speedrun of some great classic games. Speedrunning is a niche scene and may not be for everyone but these guys did a great job making everything run super smooth and some SOME! runners had entertaining personalities. In the end they raised over $1 million and I got to see a lot of great runs. I highly suggest going through their archives and watching a few. Here were my highlights:
MegaMan Block
Castlevania SOTN
Super Meatboy
Borderlands 2
Mario Block
Thats all for this week. I wanted to keep it short and just let everyone know I am back and I will try my best to pump out content on a regular basis. I hope to have a streaming schedule nailed down in the next few weeks so I actually have something to stick to so look out for that. As I stated above, I will also be setting up a 24 hour charity stream in the not too distant future where I will play tons of games for a good cause (I will also be giving out game codes I have!) Keep checking back and I will see you guys out in the Wasteland!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Game of the Year
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
2013 is nearing an end and what a year it has been. There have been some really amazing games released this year plus the launch of the Xbox One and PS4, the industry is booming. Now I did not play ANY console exclusive releases this year so that means my list may lack a few important titles but I do believe at the very least, I should give honorable mentions to the following:
The Last of Us (PS3)
Super Mario World 3D (WiiU)
Zelda: A link between worlds (3DS)
Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox 360, PS3)
Hopefully next year I will be able to play GTA V, The Last of Us and Zelda (I recently bought a PS4 which has plans to bring PS3 games over next year using their Gaikai system and I also got a 3DS) so I can comment further and experience some of the top games I missed. Anyway, back to business. The time has come to reveal my list for Game of the Year!
10. Hammerwatch
Insanely addicting game that brings me back to the days of the original Gauntlet for NES. I have gotten tons of enjoyment out of this simple hack/slash game released in August. The game is very straightforward and very easy to get into. I made my first Let's Play video to this game and finally got around to playing the game multiplayer last night which adds a whole new level of crazy fun to the game. Hammerwatch further proved to me that you don't need a AAA budget with state of the art graphical fidelity to create one of the best games of the year.
9. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
While not exactly a fully released game, Blood Dragon was an expandalone title following Far Cry 3 from last year. To me, Blood Dragon was what Duke Nukem Forever wanted to be. Incredibly fun and overall an enjoyable experience. The game itself is a bit on the short side but what do want from a $15 DLC that you don't even need the original game to run? Blood Dragon captured everything I love about 80's culture. The soundtrack, the futuristic setting, the voice acting, the story, all incredibly cheesy but in a fun, nostalgic way.
8. Monaco
Simply, one of the best Co-Op experiences ever. Monaco is a game in which up to 4 players work together to get through each level pulling off various heists. The more players, the more chaos, the more fun! The sound design is great and the visual elements in the game are beautiful. The gameplay is very very simple and really lets the player focus on the heist at hand instead of fumbling around the keys to perform specific actions to get to the next stage. The one flaw I have with the game is that the single player while good, is not great. It is a great way to learn the game but other than that it is rather boring alone so pick it up and bring friends!
7. ARMA III
Pushing graphics to the next level, ARMA III may melt your machine but its SO WORTH IT! A lot of people prefer Call of Duty or Battlefield because they are more accessible to the average gamer but ARMA III is hands down the best modern war experience of the year. The engine is truly the next step up and the immersion factor cannot be denied. And with the full release out now, next year I expect to see mods mods and more mods created by the community. ARMA III, while flying under the radar with major reviewers this year, is the best military experience in a game to date.
6. Don't Starve
This quirky rogue-like game brought me great enjoyment. I usually don't really like rogue-like games but this one stuck with me. The art direction and the oddly satisfying sounds were a nice touch to this game of survival. The crafting system is easy to use and the game has a very high replay factor. The Tim Burton-esque style of this game is what first caught my eye and after playing for a while I can firmly state that Don't Starve was one of the years best. If you are looking for a good challenge while still able to relax and enjoy a game on your own, go grab it.
5. Tomb Raider
I never played any Tomb Raider games prior to this installment and to say this was a delight was an understatement. This being my first introduction to the Tomb Raider franchise blew my mind. Great overall story, great graphics, great gameplay. Tomb Raider had it all for me. The survival aspects that were woven into the game really played well and the grim setting was perfect for the game. The overall level design really helped this game for me. There were no repetitive tombs and the combat was fluid and memorable for me. And how could I go on and on and not mention the VOICE ACTING! Everyone did such a great job on this and I am looking forward to the next installment and I am eager to get into the backlog of the franchise. Square Enix handled the game very well and they deserve all the praise in the world for reviving a stale franchise. (Oh and HAIR PHYSICS!!!)
4. Bioshock Infinite
I love the original Bioshock, it is one of my favorite games of all time and was one of the very few "life changing" games I have ever played. I must say that my expectations were not incredibly high for Infinite just because of how good the original was and then how underwhelming (Note* Not Bad!) Bioshock 2 was. Playing through Infinite brought back some of the nostalgia of the original for me in that the world was vibrant and full of interesting nuances so that was a plus. While the overall combat system was a bit flawed, the story 100% made up for that. In my opinion the story of Infinite is the second best of the year (first is coming up soon!) and the world of Colombia was everything I wanted it to be and more. Elizabeth, while a sort of handicap during combat, was an incredible character and really made the game a triumph. The voice acting in general was AMAZING (Troy Baker deserves all the praise in the world for the year he had) and really pushed the game over the edge in terms of making it a memorable game. Bioshock Infinite, while not as good as the original, was one of the most immersive and visually impressive games of the year.
3. Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
This is my biased choice. Sorry, I love Starcraft and Heart of the Swarm pushed the game further in terms of gameplay and competitiveness. While the campaign lacked a bit of charm, the game really shines in Multiplayer. I follow the Starcraft e-sports scene very closely and the innovations (haha get it?) that HOTS brought to the table really showed this year in tournaments. When Wings of Liberty was getting stale towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year, HOTS really stepped up and gave new life into the game. The balance patches continue to be churned out and Blizzard is really stepping up and listening to community feedback and it showed in HOTS. I cannot wait to see what Legacy of the Void brings to the table and how the scene will grow next year but right now, Starcraft is the most skillful e-sport out there. I said that correct. While I enjoy DOTA and respect the immensely popular League of Legends, when it comes to skill, Starcraft outshines any MOBA game. One on one, mind vs mind, Starcraft is our generations chess.
2. Path of Exile
What Diablo III should have been. That's the first line I always give when someone asks me about Path of Exile. At first glance, the Free to Play tag may scare some people away who might think that there are tons of micro-transactions within the game that make it more of a "Pay to Win" title. This is 100% not the case. The developer, Grinding Gear Games, implements what they call "ethical micro-transactions" meaning anything you can buy in game does not actually affect the gameplay (ex. all transactions are purely cosmetic). Grinding Gear Games developers put their all into creating this and it shows. The passion that the development team had made me as a player feel comfortable enough to trust them and they delivered on their product and then some. PoE was everything I wanted in Diablo III and more. The skill tree is MASSIVE and the gameplay brought me right back to the much loved Diablo II days. While I keep mentioning Diablo, don't confuse that with me trying to say this is a clone of the game, PoE is not a clone, it is its own entity that adds new elements to the Action RPG genre. Go pick it up on Steam if you don't have it yet and I guarantee you will fall in love with it if you are a fan of Action RPGs. Go get it now and I will see you out on Wraeclast.
GOTY. Metro: Last Light
One of the most immersive experiences I have ever had in a game to date. Metro: Last Light is a hauntingly beautiful game that is hands down the best of the year. In a year filled with tons of heavy hitting titles, Metro comes out on top for me because I felt like I was part of the world throughout the entire game. The gameplay feels perfect and the graphics are (in my opinion) the years best. I had such a great time playing through and I do expect I will be returning soon to play through again. The original Metro 2033 was a good game when I played it but that's it, just a good game. Last Light expanded on the world of Metro and the developers over at 4A Games really stepped up and put their all to deliver. With all that said I must give all the praise in the world to 4A Games. What they had to endure during the development cycle and then put out a game as amazing as this really shows their passion for the game. It was stated by former THQ president Jason Rubin that the development team faced extremely difficult working conditions, "From unreasonable budget demands, to literally freezing office working conditions due to frequent power failures, to having to smuggle computer equipment into the offices to avoid corrupt customs officials. Rubin goes on to say, “If you care about the art of making games then you have to care about more than the final product,” and “The struggle and the journey becomes part of the story. Like sport, you cheer when the underdog comes from behind, and triumphs in the face of incredible odds."" And boy, did 4A Games triumph with this masterpiece. I suggest you all go out and experience the beauty that is Metro: Last Light and you will see why it is my pick for Game of the Year and why it deserves that title.
Wow! So many amazing games this year and I only could choose 10 to include on the list! I cannot wait to see what next year holds in store for us with the next gen console releases, that means more quality games are coming our way. Right now I can say the big titles on my list for next year are: Titanfall, Destiny, Metal Gear Solid, Watch_Dogs, Dark Souls II, Infamous: Second Son, and The Division. Here's to next year and I hope to see everyone out in the wasteland!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.Hypersmash.com
2013 is nearing an end and what a year it has been. There have been some really amazing games released this year plus the launch of the Xbox One and PS4, the industry is booming. Now I did not play ANY console exclusive releases this year so that means my list may lack a few important titles but I do believe at the very least, I should give honorable mentions to the following:
The Last of Us (PS3)
Super Mario World 3D (WiiU)
Zelda: A link between worlds (3DS)
Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox 360, PS3)
Hopefully next year I will be able to play GTA V, The Last of Us and Zelda (I recently bought a PS4 which has plans to bring PS3 games over next year using their Gaikai system and I also got a 3DS) so I can comment further and experience some of the top games I missed. Anyway, back to business. The time has come to reveal my list for Game of the Year!
10. Hammerwatch
Insanely addicting game that brings me back to the days of the original Gauntlet for NES. I have gotten tons of enjoyment out of this simple hack/slash game released in August. The game is very straightforward and very easy to get into. I made my first Let's Play video to this game and finally got around to playing the game multiplayer last night which adds a whole new level of crazy fun to the game. Hammerwatch further proved to me that you don't need a AAA budget with state of the art graphical fidelity to create one of the best games of the year.
9. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
While not exactly a fully released game, Blood Dragon was an expandalone title following Far Cry 3 from last year. To me, Blood Dragon was what Duke Nukem Forever wanted to be. Incredibly fun and overall an enjoyable experience. The game itself is a bit on the short side but what do want from a $15 DLC that you don't even need the original game to run? Blood Dragon captured everything I love about 80's culture. The soundtrack, the futuristic setting, the voice acting, the story, all incredibly cheesy but in a fun, nostalgic way.
8. Monaco
Simply, one of the best Co-Op experiences ever. Monaco is a game in which up to 4 players work together to get through each level pulling off various heists. The more players, the more chaos, the more fun! The sound design is great and the visual elements in the game are beautiful. The gameplay is very very simple and really lets the player focus on the heist at hand instead of fumbling around the keys to perform specific actions to get to the next stage. The one flaw I have with the game is that the single player while good, is not great. It is a great way to learn the game but other than that it is rather boring alone so pick it up and bring friends!
7. ARMA III
Pushing graphics to the next level, ARMA III may melt your machine but its SO WORTH IT! A lot of people prefer Call of Duty or Battlefield because they are more accessible to the average gamer but ARMA III is hands down the best modern war experience of the year. The engine is truly the next step up and the immersion factor cannot be denied. And with the full release out now, next year I expect to see mods mods and more mods created by the community. ARMA III, while flying under the radar with major reviewers this year, is the best military experience in a game to date.
6. Don't Starve
This quirky rogue-like game brought me great enjoyment. I usually don't really like rogue-like games but this one stuck with me. The art direction and the oddly satisfying sounds were a nice touch to this game of survival. The crafting system is easy to use and the game has a very high replay factor. The Tim Burton-esque style of this game is what first caught my eye and after playing for a while I can firmly state that Don't Starve was one of the years best. If you are looking for a good challenge while still able to relax and enjoy a game on your own, go grab it.
5. Tomb Raider
I never played any Tomb Raider games prior to this installment and to say this was a delight was an understatement. This being my first introduction to the Tomb Raider franchise blew my mind. Great overall story, great graphics, great gameplay. Tomb Raider had it all for me. The survival aspects that were woven into the game really played well and the grim setting was perfect for the game. The overall level design really helped this game for me. There were no repetitive tombs and the combat was fluid and memorable for me. And how could I go on and on and not mention the VOICE ACTING! Everyone did such a great job on this and I am looking forward to the next installment and I am eager to get into the backlog of the franchise. Square Enix handled the game very well and they deserve all the praise in the world for reviving a stale franchise. (Oh and HAIR PHYSICS!!!)
4. Bioshock Infinite
I love the original Bioshock, it is one of my favorite games of all time and was one of the very few "life changing" games I have ever played. I must say that my expectations were not incredibly high for Infinite just because of how good the original was and then how underwhelming (Note* Not Bad!) Bioshock 2 was. Playing through Infinite brought back some of the nostalgia of the original for me in that the world was vibrant and full of interesting nuances so that was a plus. While the overall combat system was a bit flawed, the story 100% made up for that. In my opinion the story of Infinite is the second best of the year (first is coming up soon!) and the world of Colombia was everything I wanted it to be and more. Elizabeth, while a sort of handicap during combat, was an incredible character and really made the game a triumph. The voice acting in general was AMAZING (Troy Baker deserves all the praise in the world for the year he had) and really pushed the game over the edge in terms of making it a memorable game. Bioshock Infinite, while not as good as the original, was one of the most immersive and visually impressive games of the year.
3. Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
This is my biased choice. Sorry, I love Starcraft and Heart of the Swarm pushed the game further in terms of gameplay and competitiveness. While the campaign lacked a bit of charm, the game really shines in Multiplayer. I follow the Starcraft e-sports scene very closely and the innovations (haha get it?) that HOTS brought to the table really showed this year in tournaments. When Wings of Liberty was getting stale towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year, HOTS really stepped up and gave new life into the game. The balance patches continue to be churned out and Blizzard is really stepping up and listening to community feedback and it showed in HOTS. I cannot wait to see what Legacy of the Void brings to the table and how the scene will grow next year but right now, Starcraft is the most skillful e-sport out there. I said that correct. While I enjoy DOTA and respect the immensely popular League of Legends, when it comes to skill, Starcraft outshines any MOBA game. One on one, mind vs mind, Starcraft is our generations chess.
2. Path of Exile
What Diablo III should have been. That's the first line I always give when someone asks me about Path of Exile. At first glance, the Free to Play tag may scare some people away who might think that there are tons of micro-transactions within the game that make it more of a "Pay to Win" title. This is 100% not the case. The developer, Grinding Gear Games, implements what they call "ethical micro-transactions" meaning anything you can buy in game does not actually affect the gameplay (ex. all transactions are purely cosmetic). Grinding Gear Games developers put their all into creating this and it shows. The passion that the development team had made me as a player feel comfortable enough to trust them and they delivered on their product and then some. PoE was everything I wanted in Diablo III and more. The skill tree is MASSIVE and the gameplay brought me right back to the much loved Diablo II days. While I keep mentioning Diablo, don't confuse that with me trying to say this is a clone of the game, PoE is not a clone, it is its own entity that adds new elements to the Action RPG genre. Go pick it up on Steam if you don't have it yet and I guarantee you will fall in love with it if you are a fan of Action RPGs. Go get it now and I will see you out on Wraeclast.
GOTY. Metro: Last Light
One of the most immersive experiences I have ever had in a game to date. Metro: Last Light is a hauntingly beautiful game that is hands down the best of the year. In a year filled with tons of heavy hitting titles, Metro comes out on top for me because I felt like I was part of the world throughout the entire game. The gameplay feels perfect and the graphics are (in my opinion) the years best. I had such a great time playing through and I do expect I will be returning soon to play through again. The original Metro 2033 was a good game when I played it but that's it, just a good game. Last Light expanded on the world of Metro and the developers over at 4A Games really stepped up and put their all to deliver. With all that said I must give all the praise in the world to 4A Games. What they had to endure during the development cycle and then put out a game as amazing as this really shows their passion for the game. It was stated by former THQ president Jason Rubin that the development team faced extremely difficult working conditions, "From unreasonable budget demands, to literally freezing office working conditions due to frequent power failures, to having to smuggle computer equipment into the offices to avoid corrupt customs officials. Rubin goes on to say, “If you care about the art of making games then you have to care about more than the final product,” and “The struggle and the journey becomes part of the story. Like sport, you cheer when the underdog comes from behind, and triumphs in the face of incredible odds."" And boy, did 4A Games triumph with this masterpiece. I suggest you all go out and experience the beauty that is Metro: Last Light and you will see why it is my pick for Game of the Year and why it deserves that title.
Wow! So many amazing games this year and I only could choose 10 to include on the list! I cannot wait to see what next year holds in store for us with the next gen console releases, that means more quality games are coming our way. Right now I can say the big titles on my list for next year are: Titanfall, Destiny, Metal Gear Solid, Watch_Dogs, Dark Souls II, Infamous: Second Son, and The Division. Here's to next year and I hope to see everyone out in the wasteland!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.Hypersmash.com
Monday, December 16, 2013
Let's Play! Hammerwatch
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Over this past weekend while I was waiting out the snow storm that hit CT, I put together my first Let's Play video! I choose the game Hammerwatch from my long list of games frankly because it is relaxing and nostalgic for me and the day called for a very laid back, lazy playthrough that I could mindlessly drone through. That in no way means that I think Hammerwatch is a bad game, in fact, it is up there with one of the best games of the year for me! Sure its not story driven and it doesn't have "OMG NEXT GEN GRAPHICS!", like i said, it is a nostalgic trip back to when I was growing up and playing NES games. Hammerwatch is a throwback to the old hack n slash games such as Gauntlet which I spent hours playing as a child. The boss fights are very enjoyable and the game itself is extremely enjoyable with friends. Go grab it on Steam and check out my Let's Play below.
Overall the gameplay is straight forward and the classes are pretty self explainitory. Playing the game singleplayer is sort of dull but I enjoyed it and playing with friends is a blast. Grab Hammerwatch here.
7/10
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Hyper Smash
Over this past weekend while I was waiting out the snow storm that hit CT, I put together my first Let's Play video! I choose the game Hammerwatch from my long list of games frankly because it is relaxing and nostalgic for me and the day called for a very laid back, lazy playthrough that I could mindlessly drone through. That in no way means that I think Hammerwatch is a bad game, in fact, it is up there with one of the best games of the year for me! Sure its not story driven and it doesn't have "OMG NEXT GEN GRAPHICS!", like i said, it is a nostalgic trip back to when I was growing up and playing NES games. Hammerwatch is a throwback to the old hack n slash games such as Gauntlet which I spent hours playing as a child. The boss fights are very enjoyable and the game itself is extremely enjoyable with friends. Go grab it on Steam and check out my Let's Play below.
Overall the gameplay is straight forward and the classes are pretty self explainitory. Playing the game singleplayer is sort of dull but I enjoyed it and playing with friends is a blast. Grab Hammerwatch here.
7/10
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Hyper Smash
Friday, December 13, 2013
Back on Track with the Week in Review!
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
In case you missed it, here is my video from last week detailing my return and what has been going on in the past few weeks:
Basically, I finally moved and now have plenty of time to stream and record gameplay! Contests will be coming soon and I am thinking next week I will make a video for my top 10 games from this year. For now, its time to get back to business as usual with the week in review
Steam OS released along with the 300 beta Steam Machines
Today Valve is releasing their first version of the Steam OS to the general public. Gamers around the world rejoice! But, Valve has issues a statement that "unless you’re an intrepid Linux hacker already, we’re going to recommend that you wait until later in 2014 to try it out." So I am still on the fence on whether I should get this right away. I know a little bit of Linux but not enough to be a master so I think at the very least I will wait until the more experienced users write up some reviews and work out the initial kinks in the system before I boot up. A little while longer is not a big deal to me. I have plenty of other things that need to be done. With all that said though, I am starting to count down the days I have left using Windows and I will be happy to convert over once the time is right. Valve also has shipped out its 300 beta Steam Machines to those lucky enough to have been selected. I will be trying to stay as up to date as I can with all the information about the machines and if any of you readers were one of the 300, I would be thrilled if I could score an interview with you detailing your experiences with the device so contact me if you would like.
Multiple sources reporting Fallout 4 does exist and is on the way
So while I took some time off to move I missed a ton of stuff in that month. One of the big stories of the month was thesurvivor2299.com. It was a countdown page with the fallout vault logo and morse code in the backround that had people scrambling to decode every bit of information and lead people on the believe that a Fallout 4 announcement was days away. In the end Bethesda confirmed it was all a very elaborate (and fun) hoax which really felt like a punch in the gut to the whole Fallout community. Earlier this week however, Kotaku released an article stating they have received leak documents confirming the existence of much anticipated title. Whether you want to believe it or not is up to you. I know I was truly heartbroken when thesurvivor2299.com turned out to be a fake and I really really want to believe that Fallout 4 is coming but only time will tell and we can all hope there will be something, anything at all, coming from Bethesda shortly to confirm. Tunnel Snakes Rule!
VGX wrap-up
Last Sunday, Spike hosted the VGX awards. While the event itself was not great, some cool announcements did come out of it. Telltale seemed like the big hitter of the night announcing a new Game of Thrones game as well as a team up with Gearbox to deliver a new game set in the Borderlands world titled Tales from the Borderlands. A dark horse appeared in a game called No Man's Sky which is being developed by 4 guys and seems to be quite an ambitious task. The trailer looks amazing and I cannot wait to hear more about that one. Bungie announced a release date for the much anticipated Destiny for September 9, 2014 and CD Projekt Red released yet another trailer for The Witcher 3. Last but not least, Tomb Raider is getting an upgrade. The latest title in the franchise is getting a face lift for the PS4 and Xbox One and should be out early next year. Overall, as I said before, the show was very dull but the announcements kept my interest.
Elder Scrolls Online gets a release date
After many closed beta tests and much posturing in the community, a release date of April 4, 2014 was announced this week. I was involved with some of the beta testing for the game and while I can't say much due to the NDA, it does look impressive. Just follow along with all the gameplay and preview trailers that Bethesda has released and you can see how its shaping up. I'm sure an open beta is right around the corner and more information will become available shortly. The only big question left is will this really be the mythical WoW killer? Only time will tell.
That's all I have for this week. I will be making a video highlighting these points again and talking about other stories in the industry (Youtube copyright is HUGE right now) so be sure to check that out this weekend. I plan on recording some gameplay tonight of probably Hammerwatch or Don't Starve so that should be fun. And as I stated in the beginning, I am getting together my game of the year list and will be doing a huge post about that next week! Stay tuned and spread the word so I can get some contests running!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
In case you missed it, here is my video from last week detailing my return and what has been going on in the past few weeks:
Basically, I finally moved and now have plenty of time to stream and record gameplay! Contests will be coming soon and I am thinking next week I will make a video for my top 10 games from this year. For now, its time to get back to business as usual with the week in review
Steam OS released along with the 300 beta Steam Machines
Today Valve is releasing their first version of the Steam OS to the general public. Gamers around the world rejoice! But, Valve has issues a statement that "unless you’re an intrepid Linux hacker already, we’re going to recommend that you wait until later in 2014 to try it out." So I am still on the fence on whether I should get this right away. I know a little bit of Linux but not enough to be a master so I think at the very least I will wait until the more experienced users write up some reviews and work out the initial kinks in the system before I boot up. A little while longer is not a big deal to me. I have plenty of other things that need to be done. With all that said though, I am starting to count down the days I have left using Windows and I will be happy to convert over once the time is right. Valve also has shipped out its 300 beta Steam Machines to those lucky enough to have been selected. I will be trying to stay as up to date as I can with all the information about the machines and if any of you readers were one of the 300, I would be thrilled if I could score an interview with you detailing your experiences with the device so contact me if you would like.
Multiple sources reporting Fallout 4 does exist and is on the way
So while I took some time off to move I missed a ton of stuff in that month. One of the big stories of the month was thesurvivor2299.com. It was a countdown page with the fallout vault logo and morse code in the backround that had people scrambling to decode every bit of information and lead people on the believe that a Fallout 4 announcement was days away. In the end Bethesda confirmed it was all a very elaborate (and fun) hoax which really felt like a punch in the gut to the whole Fallout community. Earlier this week however, Kotaku released an article stating they have received leak documents confirming the existence of much anticipated title. Whether you want to believe it or not is up to you. I know I was truly heartbroken when thesurvivor2299.com turned out to be a fake and I really really want to believe that Fallout 4 is coming but only time will tell and we can all hope there will be something, anything at all, coming from Bethesda shortly to confirm. Tunnel Snakes Rule!
VGX wrap-up
Last Sunday, Spike hosted the VGX awards. While the event itself was not great, some cool announcements did come out of it. Telltale seemed like the big hitter of the night announcing a new Game of Thrones game as well as a team up with Gearbox to deliver a new game set in the Borderlands world titled Tales from the Borderlands. A dark horse appeared in a game called No Man's Sky which is being developed by 4 guys and seems to be quite an ambitious task. The trailer looks amazing and I cannot wait to hear more about that one. Bungie announced a release date for the much anticipated Destiny for September 9, 2014 and CD Projekt Red released yet another trailer for The Witcher 3. Last but not least, Tomb Raider is getting an upgrade. The latest title in the franchise is getting a face lift for the PS4 and Xbox One and should be out early next year. Overall, as I said before, the show was very dull but the announcements kept my interest.
Elder Scrolls Online gets a release date
After many closed beta tests and much posturing in the community, a release date of April 4, 2014 was announced this week. I was involved with some of the beta testing for the game and while I can't say much due to the NDA, it does look impressive. Just follow along with all the gameplay and preview trailers that Bethesda has released and you can see how its shaping up. I'm sure an open beta is right around the corner and more information will become available shortly. The only big question left is will this really be the mythical WoW killer? Only time will tell.
That's all I have for this week. I will be making a video highlighting these points again and talking about other stories in the industry (Youtube copyright is HUGE right now) so be sure to check that out this weekend. I plan on recording some gameplay tonight of probably Hammerwatch or Don't Starve so that should be fun. And as I stated in the beginning, I am getting together my game of the year list and will be doing a huge post about that next week! Stay tuned and spread the word so I can get some contests running!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
Friday, October 25, 2013
Week in Review - 10/25/2013
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Another week gone by. I am still behind on getting content out (My girlfriend and I are apartment hunting so I really have no time for gaming but once we are settled in I will be stepping it up BIG TIME) but I hope to stay on track with the weekly reviews. This week we see a few new releases, some drama with devs and I got lucky and was able to pre-order a PS4 launch bundle through Amazon. Lets get right to it:
TotalBiscuit's "WTF is Day One: Garry's Incident" drama with the devs
If you don't know who TotalBiscuit is, he is one of the largest game critics on Youtube and he has a first look series called WTF is... This week, his series took a look at a game called Day One: Garry's Incident. Now TotalBiscuit is brutally honest in all his reviews and is well respected (I weigh his opinion more than most other reviewers) in the community by most. He has given negative reviews before and he will in the future. Where the drama comes in with the WTF is Day One: Garry's Incident is that after the negative review and the popularity of his channel making it the highest viewed review of the game, the head of WildGamesStudio had the video marked for copyright infringement and removed. The TL/DR was posted by TotalBiscuit on his Twitter account. A few days after the incident and the video made by TotalBiscuit explaining the story and slamming Youtubes copyright policy, the devs over at WildGamesStudio had the video put back up and issued a hasty appology and short explanation. Even if it really was a sincere appology from WildGamesStudio, they come out of this looking extremely bad. People do criticize TotalBiscuit all the time but I think it is safe to say that everyone can agree on his points he made about this drama. I will be writing a full article soon detailing my thoughts on the matter and the subject of Youtubes copyright policy so be on the look out for that. Also if you don't now, go follow TotalBiscuit on Twitter and watch his videos, he is a great community figure and puts out quality stuff.
Path of Exile officially launches on Steam
Did Diablo III dissapoint you? Did you like Torchlight but still left wanting the gritty feeling of Diablo II? If you answered yes to these, go on Steam right now and add Path of Exile. The game came out of beta this week and released as a Free2Play game on Steam. Now I usually do not like the F2P model as most of the time is is Pay2Win rather than Free2Play but Path of Exile is truly a F2P game. All the in game purchases are meerly cosmetic and do not have any affect on the gameplay. Path of Exile is a really awesome dungeon crawler and in my opinion it is truly what Diablo III should have been. Go grab it and tell me what you think! I will probably make a quick gameplay video sometime soon to show it off so keep checking for that.
Titanfall release date is March 11, 2014
One of the most anticipated next-gen games got its release date! I am very excited to play this game on release on PC and the more content that comes out, the more excited I get. Respawn seems to be right on the ball when it comes to Titanfall. The gameplay looks fluid and interesting (I love fast shooters) and it seems like the game is gearing up to try and overtake the Call of Duty/Battlefield market of competitive shooters. Only time will tell on how it will play out but early playable demos at cons and the tons of content Respawn is releasing look extremely promising. The real question is do I want to dish out eh $250 for the collectors edition????
Bioshock Infinite DLC coming on November 12
Announced earlier this morning, players can get excited about returning to Rapture on November 12 when Burial at Sea: Part 1 is released. I love this series, I love Infinite, and this DLC comes out 4 days before the PS4 is released in the US which gives players a few days with it before the heavy hitters come out. Smart move by 2K and Irrational considering this DLC would probably get buried (no pun intended) if it was released after the consoles release. 4 days should be plenty to complete what is said to be between 4-6 hours of gameplay back in Rapture. I will see you all back where there are no gods or kings, only man.
Thats all for today guys. Like I said above, there was a small release of more PS4 launch bundles from Amazon and I was lucky enough to pick one up. This weekend is the WCS Season 3 finals for Starcraft II which I will be watching closely and Batman: Arkham Origins was released today but I will be waiting a little bit to pick that up and review.
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
Another week gone by. I am still behind on getting content out (My girlfriend and I are apartment hunting so I really have no time for gaming but once we are settled in I will be stepping it up BIG TIME) but I hope to stay on track with the weekly reviews. This week we see a few new releases, some drama with devs and I got lucky and was able to pre-order a PS4 launch bundle through Amazon. Lets get right to it:
TotalBiscuit's "WTF is Day One: Garry's Incident" drama with the devs
If you don't know who TotalBiscuit is, he is one of the largest game critics on Youtube and he has a first look series called WTF is... This week, his series took a look at a game called Day One: Garry's Incident. Now TotalBiscuit is brutally honest in all his reviews and is well respected (I weigh his opinion more than most other reviewers) in the community by most. He has given negative reviews before and he will in the future. Where the drama comes in with the WTF is Day One: Garry's Incident is that after the negative review and the popularity of his channel making it the highest viewed review of the game, the head of WildGamesStudio had the video marked for copyright infringement and removed. The TL/DR was posted by TotalBiscuit on his Twitter account. A few days after the incident and the video made by TotalBiscuit explaining the story and slamming Youtubes copyright policy, the devs over at WildGamesStudio had the video put back up and issued a hasty appology and short explanation. Even if it really was a sincere appology from WildGamesStudio, they come out of this looking extremely bad. People do criticize TotalBiscuit all the time but I think it is safe to say that everyone can agree on his points he made about this drama. I will be writing a full article soon detailing my thoughts on the matter and the subject of Youtubes copyright policy so be on the look out for that. Also if you don't now, go follow TotalBiscuit on Twitter and watch his videos, he is a great community figure and puts out quality stuff.
Path of Exile officially launches on Steam
Did Diablo III dissapoint you? Did you like Torchlight but still left wanting the gritty feeling of Diablo II? If you answered yes to these, go on Steam right now and add Path of Exile. The game came out of beta this week and released as a Free2Play game on Steam. Now I usually do not like the F2P model as most of the time is is Pay2Win rather than Free2Play but Path of Exile is truly a F2P game. All the in game purchases are meerly cosmetic and do not have any affect on the gameplay. Path of Exile is a really awesome dungeon crawler and in my opinion it is truly what Diablo III should have been. Go grab it and tell me what you think! I will probably make a quick gameplay video sometime soon to show it off so keep checking for that.
Titanfall release date is March 11, 2014
One of the most anticipated next-gen games got its release date! I am very excited to play this game on release on PC and the more content that comes out, the more excited I get. Respawn seems to be right on the ball when it comes to Titanfall. The gameplay looks fluid and interesting (I love fast shooters) and it seems like the game is gearing up to try and overtake the Call of Duty/Battlefield market of competitive shooters. Only time will tell on how it will play out but early playable demos at cons and the tons of content Respawn is releasing look extremely promising. The real question is do I want to dish out eh $250 for the collectors edition????
Bioshock Infinite DLC coming on November 12
Announced earlier this morning, players can get excited about returning to Rapture on November 12 when Burial at Sea: Part 1 is released. I love this series, I love Infinite, and this DLC comes out 4 days before the PS4 is released in the US which gives players a few days with it before the heavy hitters come out. Smart move by 2K and Irrational considering this DLC would probably get buried (no pun intended) if it was released after the consoles release. 4 days should be plenty to complete what is said to be between 4-6 hours of gameplay back in Rapture. I will see you all back where there are no gods or kings, only man.
Thats all for today guys. Like I said above, there was a small release of more PS4 launch bundles from Amazon and I was lucky enough to pick one up. This weekend is the WCS Season 3 finals for Starcraft II which I will be watching closely and Batman: Arkham Origins was released today but I will be waiting a little bit to pick that up and review.
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Week in Review - 10/19/2013
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Back on track this week after last weekends Comic Con in New York! Some big news came out during the week and it is inching closer and closer to the holiday season (we are just about a month away from the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One!) So without dragging this on lets get right to it:
Watch Dogs delayed until Spring 2014
In what came as a shock to most, Ubisoft announced that they will be delaying the release of Watch Dogs until Spring of 2014. Ubisoft stated they want to make sure they release the best possible game and at this time they still need to work more on the development. I actually applaud Ubisoft for this move, I mean sure, I hate that its delayed and I was really really looking forward to playing it in November but I can wait a little longer if it means a more polished and stable product.
Valve shows off Steam Controller
Valve released a 5 min video this week showing off their Steam Controller being used. They showed how the controller worked with games like Portal 2, Civilization V, Counterstrike GO and Papers Please. While the video was short, it did answer some questions and gave a brief look at the controller in action. While I felt like it worked well with Portal, I didn’t like the trackpad feel for Civilization V though everything is configurable so it might just be due to the configuration they choose to use for that game. Counterstrike didn’t look fluid at all compared to a keyboard and mouse combo but that could be due to having to get used to the controller over time. For FPS games you need to be fast and the precision showed off was there just not the speed but like I said, that could be due to the user not being 100% comfortable yet with the controller. The setup they used for Papers Please did look fluid for that game. All in all, I left the video feeling that the controller has great potential but its just not quite there yet. Maybe in time and with some small tweaks here and there it will become better.
GFWL removed from Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City
First Bioshock now Batman! The death of Games for Windows Live is getting closer and many are rejoicing. As I have said many times before, I HATE GFWL!!! I love both the Arkham games but the problem for me was once I beat the games I had no desire to go back and play all the side missions and a main reason for that was because of GFWL. Now with it removed you can be damn sure I will be diving back into both games and getting all the rest of the stuff that I missed done.
Blizzard presents: Heroes of the Storm
That’s right, another HotS! Formerly known as Blizzard All-Stars, Heroes of the Storm is Blizzards entry back into the MOBA scene. Do they have what it takes to take on the likes of League of Legends and DOTA 2? Only time will tell but I would keep my eye close on this considering who it is. I mean when Blizzard release the first Starcraft they re-defined the RTS genre and then later when World of Warcraft came out, they re-invented the MMO so it is very exciting to see them try a MOBA and possible re-shape the industry once again.
That’s all for this week guys. Like I said, sorry for the delays in getting this out, and for missing last week because of New York Comic Con but I am back on track now and I have plenty in the works especially with the holiday season almost here and the end of the year awards.
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it:Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.HyperSmash.com
Back on track this week after last weekends Comic Con in New York! Some big news came out during the week and it is inching closer and closer to the holiday season (we are just about a month away from the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One!) So without dragging this on lets get right to it:
Watch Dogs delayed until Spring 2014
In what came as a shock to most, Ubisoft announced that they will be delaying the release of Watch Dogs until Spring of 2014. Ubisoft stated they want to make sure they release the best possible game and at this time they still need to work more on the development. I actually applaud Ubisoft for this move, I mean sure, I hate that its delayed and I was really really looking forward to playing it in November but I can wait a little longer if it means a more polished and stable product.
Valve shows off Steam Controller
Valve released a 5 min video this week showing off their Steam Controller being used. They showed how the controller worked with games like Portal 2, Civilization V, Counterstrike GO and Papers Please. While the video was short, it did answer some questions and gave a brief look at the controller in action. While I felt like it worked well with Portal, I didn’t like the trackpad feel for Civilization V though everything is configurable so it might just be due to the configuration they choose to use for that game. Counterstrike didn’t look fluid at all compared to a keyboard and mouse combo but that could be due to having to get used to the controller over time. For FPS games you need to be fast and the precision showed off was there just not the speed but like I said, that could be due to the user not being 100% comfortable yet with the controller. The setup they used for Papers Please did look fluid for that game. All in all, I left the video feeling that the controller has great potential but its just not quite there yet. Maybe in time and with some small tweaks here and there it will become better.
GFWL removed from Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City
First Bioshock now Batman! The death of Games for Windows Live is getting closer and many are rejoicing. As I have said many times before, I HATE GFWL!!! I love both the Arkham games but the problem for me was once I beat the games I had no desire to go back and play all the side missions and a main reason for that was because of GFWL. Now with it removed you can be damn sure I will be diving back into both games and getting all the rest of the stuff that I missed done.
Blizzard presents: Heroes of the Storm
That’s right, another HotS! Formerly known as Blizzard All-Stars, Heroes of the Storm is Blizzards entry back into the MOBA scene. Do they have what it takes to take on the likes of League of Legends and DOTA 2? Only time will tell but I would keep my eye close on this considering who it is. I mean when Blizzard release the first Starcraft they re-defined the RTS genre and then later when World of Warcraft came out, they re-invented the MMO so it is very exciting to see them try a MOBA and possible re-shape the industry once again.
That’s all for this week guys. Like I said, sorry for the delays in getting this out, and for missing last week because of New York Comic Con but I am back on track now and I have plenty in the works especially with the holiday season almost here and the end of the year awards.
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it:Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.HyperSmash.com
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
First Impressions: Battlefield 4
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Battlefield 4 is set to launch on October 29 but, starting last Friday, the game has gone into open beta and I had the chance to try it out for myself last night. As far as my involvement with the Battlefield series goes, I have drifted away. I loved Battlefield: 1942, I even remember getting it on release day in 2002 and my friends and I spent hours upon hours playing Battlefield 2 later down the road. I'll be honest, I did not get into Battlefield 3 when it was released and only recently played it for a bit. I never saw the hype with that one and I guess I felt more like between the Battlefield series and the Call of Duty games, military FPS's were becoming stale and repetitive. No game was bringing anything new to the table besides updated graphics and a few minor tweaks here and there.
So last night I downloaded the beta for Battlefield 4 because why not? It's free and is essentially a demo to try out until the launch of the proper title. I joined a game and while it was loading I thought to myself that its just going to be more of the same and boring and after the beta expires I will just crawl my way back to ARMA III to get my military fix. So the game loaded and I was on the deploy screen and took a few minutes to go through my settings and max out everything to really try and get the most out of the experience. When I deployed and entered the game I was immediately BLOWN AWAY by how amazing everything looked. Just because of the sheer size of the map I thought the graphical increases would be minor at best over Battlefield 3 but with all the action and destruction going on around me on a 64 player map, I was totally not expecting the game to look THAT good (don't get me wrong, it is in no way THE BEST graphics ever, but they are really amazing, this is of course on a PC running everything at max).
I have read a few peoples first reactions to the beta and what surprised me was a lot of people complaining about performance issues such as FPS drops and stutters, to having to lower graphics because of how taxing it is on their system. This was not the case for me though. I had a smooth 60 FPS throughout the majority of my playtime and I believe the lowest it ever dropped to was 45 FPS and that was only when I jumped off the skyscraper and was parachuting down to the ground. I did hit a rather nasty bug towards the end of my play which was a VRAM leak which crashed the game but as of right now I have no problem with that, it is beta after all and I was not expecting a totally bug free experience, but hopefully DICE is aware of the issue and will patch that bug before the retail release.
All in all, it was a really enjoyable experience and just by having the risk free hands on experience with the game made me really consider grabbing it at release. The map was wonderful and interesting, the frostbite engine is really impressive and the gameplay was more refined than Battlefield 3. I truly believe that from what I experienced, 4 will be the installment in the series that really takes that next step to distance itself from other FPS franchises, namely Call of Duty. Now I can't say much for the Call of Duty release basically because I am tired of that franchise but if CoD doesn't step it up majorly with Ghosts then Battlefield will reign supreme and I believe it will only get stronger from here.
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
HyperSmash
Battlefield 4 is set to launch on October 29 but, starting last Friday, the game has gone into open beta and I had the chance to try it out for myself last night. As far as my involvement with the Battlefield series goes, I have drifted away. I loved Battlefield: 1942, I even remember getting it on release day in 2002 and my friends and I spent hours upon hours playing Battlefield 2 later down the road. I'll be honest, I did not get into Battlefield 3 when it was released and only recently played it for a bit. I never saw the hype with that one and I guess I felt more like between the Battlefield series and the Call of Duty games, military FPS's were becoming stale and repetitive. No game was bringing anything new to the table besides updated graphics and a few minor tweaks here and there.
So last night I downloaded the beta for Battlefield 4 because why not? It's free and is essentially a demo to try out until the launch of the proper title. I joined a game and while it was loading I thought to myself that its just going to be more of the same and boring and after the beta expires I will just crawl my way back to ARMA III to get my military fix. So the game loaded and I was on the deploy screen and took a few minutes to go through my settings and max out everything to really try and get the most out of the experience. When I deployed and entered the game I was immediately BLOWN AWAY by how amazing everything looked. Just because of the sheer size of the map I thought the graphical increases would be minor at best over Battlefield 3 but with all the action and destruction going on around me on a 64 player map, I was totally not expecting the game to look THAT good (don't get me wrong, it is in no way THE BEST graphics ever, but they are really amazing, this is of course on a PC running everything at max).
I have read a few peoples first reactions to the beta and what surprised me was a lot of people complaining about performance issues such as FPS drops and stutters, to having to lower graphics because of how taxing it is on their system. This was not the case for me though. I had a smooth 60 FPS throughout the majority of my playtime and I believe the lowest it ever dropped to was 45 FPS and that was only when I jumped off the skyscraper and was parachuting down to the ground. I did hit a rather nasty bug towards the end of my play which was a VRAM leak which crashed the game but as of right now I have no problem with that, it is beta after all and I was not expecting a totally bug free experience, but hopefully DICE is aware of the issue and will patch that bug before the retail release.
All in all, it was a really enjoyable experience and just by having the risk free hands on experience with the game made me really consider grabbing it at release. The map was wonderful and interesting, the frostbite engine is really impressive and the gameplay was more refined than Battlefield 3. I truly believe that from what I experienced, 4 will be the installment in the series that really takes that next step to distance itself from other FPS franchises, namely Call of Duty. Now I can't say much for the Call of Duty release basically because I am tired of that franchise but if CoD doesn't step it up majorly with Ghosts then Battlefield will reign supreme and I believe it will only get stronger from here.
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
HyperSmash
Friday, October 4, 2013
Week in Review 10/4/2013
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
Well October is here! This year has flown by and the holiday season is knocking at the door. So many great things in the next couple of months are coming out and I will be right there giving my thoughts on the projects. In other news from me, I am getting closer and closer to actually having the time to set up a weekly stream and I am working on a few reviews. Next weekend I will be attending New York Comic Con and I will be reporting on that as well. Lots of big names there in the world of gaming and entertainment and comics (Ubisoft, Microsoft, The Walking Dead, Marvel, and DC to name just a few!). Phil is currently attending the grand finals of the League of Legends World Championship in LA and should have a full report in the next week on the event. Also, I was thinking about doing a new write up retrospective series with the first being a look back at one of my favorite 90s FPS games, Hexen: Beyond Heretic. So be on the look out for that and let me know if that is something you are interested in reading. And now lets jump into this weeks best:
Valve files trademark for Half-Life 3
It's happening! No but seriously this is really the first big step towards confirmation of the legendary title. Along with a leaked list of developers working on the project, I can see Valve using HL3 to push their new OS and Steam Machines. It makes perfect sense for Valve to do so, I mean how else will they get people on board SteamOS or Steam Machines without an exclusive title that will MAKE people want to make the transition. I know I will 100% be making the switch to SteamOS but for others it may be a tough decision to let go of what they are used to and Valve needs something this big to sell people on the idea that making the switch is a good choice. We will see what happens in the coming year but my fingers are crossed and my hopes are higher than ever that we will finally see HL3 or at least news of Source Engine 2 soon.
Terraria 2 announced
So this is what Andrew Spinks was talking about when he left Terraria to work on a bigger and better mystery project. Fans of Terraria will be pleased with the news that another game is on the way. I played a bit of Terraria and pleasantly enjoyed my time spent on it. It was a solid indie game and with the implementation of new features and possibly better gameplay, I will have to take another visit. With the latest patch (1.2) being released earlier this week, that should hold players interest for enough time for development of Terraria 2 to take place. I expect to hear a lot more about the scope of the project in the coming months.
GTA V Online launched
After the playerbase has had a couple of weeks with the story mode, GTA V launched its online mode... and as usual with online implementations, it was a complete disaster! Players had a hard time accessing the online portion and Rockstar's servers were in meltdown mode. It always seems to happen with big titles going online, it happened with a ton of heavy hitters: WoW, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XIV, and the latest SimCity all had atrocious launch days. While it is known that launch days are always horrendous for huge titles, I feel Rockstar could have done a little bit better given the time they had in between the release of the game and online mode. I mean surely they had an at least estimated number on how many people would be jumping on the servers to prepare accordingly. Anyway, it is not all doom and gloom, Rockstar will clean it up and things will start flowing smoothly very soon and all will be forgiven. Just another title to be hit with the online launch curse and it most certainly won't be the last.
Path of Exile comes out of BETA and officially launches Oct. 23
If you LOVED Diablo II but HATED Diablo III, then Get On This Game! Path of Exile is EVERYTHING I wanted Diablo III to be. The loot and trade system is great, the hardcore mode is great, everything is great about Path of Exile. It is great news that it is finally seeing a proper release so be sure to grab this when it comes out proper. Not much else I can say except that this game is the true successor to Diablo II in my eyes.
Tom Clancy dies at age 66
It is with great sadness that the world said goodbye to one of, if not the greatest military writers of all time. Tom Clancy's books inspired a generation of great games including Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell. With Ubisoft's The Division coming soon, I hope it does Clancy's name justice as a sort of last hurrah for the acclaimed author. I remember way back in 1998 playing the first Rainbow Six game and being blown away, then later in 2001 playing through one of my favorite shooters of all time: Ghost Recon. Clancy's name has been tied to some of the most successful military franchises in the world and his legacy will live on. My condolences go out to all his friends and family, the world has lost a legend.
Those are the heavy hitters of the week. We are all still awaiting more news on the SteamOS (I believe it was promised to us soon?) and the rumor mill is churning with new information on the story DLC for Bioshock Infinite (already there was a small write up by Polygon and Kevin Levine has said that info is on the way very soon). Anyway that is all hopefully for next week. I hope to get some more content out next week as well, as I said earlier, Phil should have a write up on the LoL worlds and I am working on a retrospective of Hexen and a few other reviews (Tomb Raider, Don't Starve, and Deadlight). So with that, I will see you all soon!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
Well October is here! This year has flown by and the holiday season is knocking at the door. So many great things in the next couple of months are coming out and I will be right there giving my thoughts on the projects. In other news from me, I am getting closer and closer to actually having the time to set up a weekly stream and I am working on a few reviews. Next weekend I will be attending New York Comic Con and I will be reporting on that as well. Lots of big names there in the world of gaming and entertainment and comics (Ubisoft, Microsoft, The Walking Dead, Marvel, and DC to name just a few!). Phil is currently attending the grand finals of the League of Legends World Championship in LA and should have a full report in the next week on the event. Also, I was thinking about doing a new write up retrospective series with the first being a look back at one of my favorite 90s FPS games, Hexen: Beyond Heretic. So be on the look out for that and let me know if that is something you are interested in reading. And now lets jump into this weeks best:
Valve files trademark for Half-Life 3
It's happening! No but seriously this is really the first big step towards confirmation of the legendary title. Along with a leaked list of developers working on the project, I can see Valve using HL3 to push their new OS and Steam Machines. It makes perfect sense for Valve to do so, I mean how else will they get people on board SteamOS or Steam Machines without an exclusive title that will MAKE people want to make the transition. I know I will 100% be making the switch to SteamOS but for others it may be a tough decision to let go of what they are used to and Valve needs something this big to sell people on the idea that making the switch is a good choice. We will see what happens in the coming year but my fingers are crossed and my hopes are higher than ever that we will finally see HL3 or at least news of Source Engine 2 soon.
Terraria 2 announced
So this is what Andrew Spinks was talking about when he left Terraria to work on a bigger and better mystery project. Fans of Terraria will be pleased with the news that another game is on the way. I played a bit of Terraria and pleasantly enjoyed my time spent on it. It was a solid indie game and with the implementation of new features and possibly better gameplay, I will have to take another visit. With the latest patch (1.2) being released earlier this week, that should hold players interest for enough time for development of Terraria 2 to take place. I expect to hear a lot more about the scope of the project in the coming months.
GTA V Online launched
After the playerbase has had a couple of weeks with the story mode, GTA V launched its online mode... and as usual with online implementations, it was a complete disaster! Players had a hard time accessing the online portion and Rockstar's servers were in meltdown mode. It always seems to happen with big titles going online, it happened with a ton of heavy hitters: WoW, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XIV, and the latest SimCity all had atrocious launch days. While it is known that launch days are always horrendous for huge titles, I feel Rockstar could have done a little bit better given the time they had in between the release of the game and online mode. I mean surely they had an at least estimated number on how many people would be jumping on the servers to prepare accordingly. Anyway, it is not all doom and gloom, Rockstar will clean it up and things will start flowing smoothly very soon and all will be forgiven. Just another title to be hit with the online launch curse and it most certainly won't be the last.
Path of Exile comes out of BETA and officially launches Oct. 23
If you LOVED Diablo II but HATED Diablo III, then Get On This Game! Path of Exile is EVERYTHING I wanted Diablo III to be. The loot and trade system is great, the hardcore mode is great, everything is great about Path of Exile. It is great news that it is finally seeing a proper release so be sure to grab this when it comes out proper. Not much else I can say except that this game is the true successor to Diablo II in my eyes.
Tom Clancy dies at age 66
It is with great sadness that the world said goodbye to one of, if not the greatest military writers of all time. Tom Clancy's books inspired a generation of great games including Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell. With Ubisoft's The Division coming soon, I hope it does Clancy's name justice as a sort of last hurrah for the acclaimed author. I remember way back in 1998 playing the first Rainbow Six game and being blown away, then later in 2001 playing through one of my favorite shooters of all time: Ghost Recon. Clancy's name has been tied to some of the most successful military franchises in the world and his legacy will live on. My condolences go out to all his friends and family, the world has lost a legend.
Those are the heavy hitters of the week. We are all still awaiting more news on the SteamOS (I believe it was promised to us soon?) and the rumor mill is churning with new information on the story DLC for Bioshock Infinite (already there was a small write up by Polygon and Kevin Levine has said that info is on the way very soon). Anyway that is all hopefully for next week. I hope to get some more content out next week as well, as I said earlier, Phil should have a write up on the LoL worlds and I am working on a retrospective of Hexen and a few other reviews (Tomb Raider, Don't Starve, and Deadlight). So with that, I will see you all soon!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
Friday, September 27, 2013
Week in Review
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
I haven't updated anything this week and I did that on purpose. Valve had my attention this whole week and I was waiting for the all of their 3 part announcement before I put in my 2 cents. Now that all 3 announcements have been made I feel comfortable in talking about everything. So my first 3 points will talk about each individual announcement then I will throw in some other big stories and end with a wrap up paragraph or two.
SteamOS
The first of the 3. "Available soon as a free operating system designed for the TV and the living room." Looks like a standalone OS designed to be installed as an alternative to Windows.
The OS will have "significant performance increases in graphics processing", and Valve is working on "audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level". It sounds as if they plan to release this as open source software, allowing other users to change it - they state "Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want." This implies that SteamOS will be built on Linux, supported more by the recent push into Linux that Valve has been doing. Great great news for PC gamers and I know I will be jumping on board once this hits. I have been waiting for years for an alternative to Windows and now I can finally make the change.
Steam Machines
As opposed to the popular "Steambox" name given by users on the forums. Valve is working with multiple hardware partners to put out Steam Machines that will come in a variety of options, all of which will be running SteamOS. Valve is taking an interesting approach to this by using multiple manufacturers. Not a whole lot more info was given other than a few FAQs and a guide as how to enter in the random BETA testing giveaway (Valve said they will be shipping out 300 units to BETA testers later this year)
Steam Controller
And finally as announced today, the Steam controller was unveiled. Speculation has been circling the idea of input peripherals for a while and Valve was known to be working on a gamepad that would mimic keyboard and mouse inputs in games. Designed to work with all Steam games (past and present), the controller will be able to emulate keyboard/mouse input allowing any game on Steam to be played. The controller was built with high precision and low latency in mind. Anything that bridges the gap between PC and console gamers is good for the community and this controller will attempt just that. It is well known that no matter who you are, a keyboard and mouse game player will always out play a gamer using a gamepad, that's just the nature of things. It will be nice for me to be able to stream my PC gameplay to my television and be able to sit on the couch and play a game with the controller while still having (speculatively) the same amount of precision I would have if I were sitting at my desk with a mouse and keyboard.
Nvidia pledges help on open source drivers
Possibly a reaction to the Valve announcements and the SteamOS being open source, Nvidia has said they will support open source drivers. Great news for everyone as we need these companies all to be on the same page to advance the industry further.
AMD announces Mantle
Keeping with the open source theme, AMD at their new GPU line reveal, also reveal Mantle which is a new low-level, multiplatform API developed by AMD and DICE. It was then announced that it will be used in Battlefield 4 instead of the traditional DirectX. It was an interesting announcement to say the least and I will be on the lookout for how it performs once released.
GTA V online microtransactions revealed
Really Rockstar? You really need MORE money after surpassing a billion dollars in sales of GTA V in 3 days!? Microtransactions in online gaming is really getting out of hand. Sure I can see them being implemented for free to play games or even games that cost $5 to $10 to buy, but not a $60 blockbuster! As much praise as Rockstar has been getting lately, I feel like this is a black spot (albeit a small one) on them. I would like to know how the community feels about this and if people really are on board with all these microtransactions in games.
That's it for this week. Valve's announcements are really looking to push gaming to the next level in terms of accessibility and gameplay. I think we can all say we are a little bit disappointing that one of these announcements was not the legendary Half-Life 3 or even just the announcement of the Source 2 engine but I feel we will get them not too much farther down the line. I am looking at from a perspective of, Valve just announced all these great things but what really is my incentive to go turn to SteamOS or get myself a Steam machine (even though SteamOS for me is a no brainer it might not be for others)? Valve needs something to sell to get people over to the new OS and what better IP to sell than their Half-Life series showcasing the new Source 2 engine with Left 4 Dead 3 and Portal 3 on its heels. Such an exciting week and I cannot wait for more information about the OS and the steam machines (ok the controller does look awesome too).
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
I haven't updated anything this week and I did that on purpose. Valve had my attention this whole week and I was waiting for the all of their 3 part announcement before I put in my 2 cents. Now that all 3 announcements have been made I feel comfortable in talking about everything. So my first 3 points will talk about each individual announcement then I will throw in some other big stories and end with a wrap up paragraph or two.
SteamOS
The first of the 3. "Available soon as a free operating system designed for the TV and the living room." Looks like a standalone OS designed to be installed as an alternative to Windows.
The OS will have "significant performance increases in graphics processing", and Valve is working on "audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level". It sounds as if they plan to release this as open source software, allowing other users to change it - they state "Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want." This implies that SteamOS will be built on Linux, supported more by the recent push into Linux that Valve has been doing. Great great news for PC gamers and I know I will be jumping on board once this hits. I have been waiting for years for an alternative to Windows and now I can finally make the change.
Steam Machines
As opposed to the popular "Steambox" name given by users on the forums. Valve is working with multiple hardware partners to put out Steam Machines that will come in a variety of options, all of which will be running SteamOS. Valve is taking an interesting approach to this by using multiple manufacturers. Not a whole lot more info was given other than a few FAQs and a guide as how to enter in the random BETA testing giveaway (Valve said they will be shipping out 300 units to BETA testers later this year)
Steam Controller
And finally as announced today, the Steam controller was unveiled. Speculation has been circling the idea of input peripherals for a while and Valve was known to be working on a gamepad that would mimic keyboard and mouse inputs in games. Designed to work with all Steam games (past and present), the controller will be able to emulate keyboard/mouse input allowing any game on Steam to be played. The controller was built with high precision and low latency in mind. Anything that bridges the gap between PC and console gamers is good for the community and this controller will attempt just that. It is well known that no matter who you are, a keyboard and mouse game player will always out play a gamer using a gamepad, that's just the nature of things. It will be nice for me to be able to stream my PC gameplay to my television and be able to sit on the couch and play a game with the controller while still having (speculatively) the same amount of precision I would have if I were sitting at my desk with a mouse and keyboard.
Nvidia pledges help on open source drivers
Possibly a reaction to the Valve announcements and the SteamOS being open source, Nvidia has said they will support open source drivers. Great news for everyone as we need these companies all to be on the same page to advance the industry further.
AMD announces Mantle
Keeping with the open source theme, AMD at their new GPU line reveal, also reveal Mantle which is a new low-level, multiplatform API developed by AMD and DICE. It was then announced that it will be used in Battlefield 4 instead of the traditional DirectX. It was an interesting announcement to say the least and I will be on the lookout for how it performs once released.
GTA V online microtransactions revealed
Really Rockstar? You really need MORE money after surpassing a billion dollars in sales of GTA V in 3 days!? Microtransactions in online gaming is really getting out of hand. Sure I can see them being implemented for free to play games or even games that cost $5 to $10 to buy, but not a $60 blockbuster! As much praise as Rockstar has been getting lately, I feel like this is a black spot (albeit a small one) on them. I would like to know how the community feels about this and if people really are on board with all these microtransactions in games.
That's it for this week. Valve's announcements are really looking to push gaming to the next level in terms of accessibility and gameplay. I think we can all say we are a little bit disappointing that one of these announcements was not the legendary Half-Life 3 or even just the announcement of the Source 2 engine but I feel we will get them not too much farther down the line. I am looking at from a perspective of, Valve just announced all these great things but what really is my incentive to go turn to SteamOS or get myself a Steam machine (even though SteamOS for me is a no brainer it might not be for others)? Valve needs something to sell to get people over to the new OS and what better IP to sell than their Half-Life series showcasing the new Source 2 engine with Left 4 Dead 3 and Portal 3 on its heels. Such an exciting week and I cannot wait for more information about the OS and the steam machines (ok the controller does look awesome too).
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
Friday, September 20, 2013
Week in Review 9/20/2013
Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
This week has been fairly quiet since everyone has locked themselves in their places to burn through GTA V which came out on Tuesday. So far reviews have been very positive and it is looking to be a serious contender for Game of the Year. We will see where is really stands once the initial hype dies down (which may not be soon because of the delayed release of multiplayer coming out in a week and a half which everyone is looking forward to). Other than that here are this weeks big stories:
Former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi dies at the age of 85
I posted about this yesterday. Mr Yamauchi was an visionary and with him at the head of Nintendo, helped to revolutionize the gaming industry with his interest in taking a small time card company in Japan and steering it towards electronic gaming in the 1980's. He was a bright icon in the industry and the cultural impact he had on the world will never be forgotten.
Grand Theft Auto V makes $800 million in one day
The single biggest opening for a video game of all time. GTA V's first day sales SHATTERED the record that was held by Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 last year which was $500 million. You can read my review roundup for GTA V here. I can see the game reaching the $1 billion mark by next week and all praise goes to Rockstar who has shown that they have the ability to keep the franchise fresh and interesting. I had my doubts about this installment but it seems Rockstar delivered and has re-invigorated their series and raised the bar on open-world games.
Blizzard to shut down Diablo III auction house on 3/18/2013
A step in the right direction for the game that may have been a success when you look at the numbers sold but ultimately was a failure when it came to the gameplay and design of the game. The big dissapointment of Diablo III to me was the auction house which basically made you pay to get to the end game / high level play. It was next to impossible to advance through Hell difficulty without using the auction house and while Blizzards intentions were to make a little extra money off of the playerbase, it ultimately broke the game to where there was a huge drop off after players completed the game once (like me). With the new expansion and the removal of the auction house, Blizzard is looking to bring back the charm and lasting value that was seen in Diablo II. Will it work? Is it too late? Who knows, but it is 100% the right move by the company.
DOTA 2 adds LAN support
Bold move by Valve but the right one. Huge news for DOTA as an e-sport because now it is the only MOBA game to feature LAN support which means a better and infinitely more reliable tournament setup. Valve is proving once again they are the big dog in town and they will continue to further their brand and games to give gamers the best possible experience.
PS4 supports HDMI video capture
Excellent news to hear from Sony. Now capturing video from the PS4 will be 100% high quality without having to jump through hoops to do so like users had to do with the PS3 and still could not get any higher than 720P. More high quality streams will pop up and hopefully the PS4's streaming capabilities will help the community grow. I look forward to seeing tons of content from the playerbase.
That's all for this week. In other news from me, if you have not heard, my best friend Phil has joined me and has started to contribute his own articles. He wrote up a few updates on the League Of Legends World Championship, his trip to Baltimore Comic Con and his experiences with LoL. Later on he will be attending the LoL World Championship finals in LA so be on the look out for something from him on that. I had some free time yesterday and tried to work out some more kinks in my stream to no luck. I promise I will work hard to try and bring it to you guys in the next few weeks. I played a little more through Tomb Raider, I started Sleeping Dogs, and I am looking forward to Watch Dogs later in November. I have been following people streaming GTA V and it is diving me crazy that I cannot play it. Hopefully the PC version will be announced sooner rather than later. Other than that, I am probably going to have a quiet weekend and then get back to it on Monday. We will see what the days ahead bring!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
This week has been fairly quiet since everyone has locked themselves in their places to burn through GTA V which came out on Tuesday. So far reviews have been very positive and it is looking to be a serious contender for Game of the Year. We will see where is really stands once the initial hype dies down (which may not be soon because of the delayed release of multiplayer coming out in a week and a half which everyone is looking forward to). Other than that here are this weeks big stories:
Former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi dies at the age of 85
I posted about this yesterday. Mr Yamauchi was an visionary and with him at the head of Nintendo, helped to revolutionize the gaming industry with his interest in taking a small time card company in Japan and steering it towards electronic gaming in the 1980's. He was a bright icon in the industry and the cultural impact he had on the world will never be forgotten.
Grand Theft Auto V makes $800 million in one day
The single biggest opening for a video game of all time. GTA V's first day sales SHATTERED the record that was held by Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 last year which was $500 million. You can read my review roundup for GTA V here. I can see the game reaching the $1 billion mark by next week and all praise goes to Rockstar who has shown that they have the ability to keep the franchise fresh and interesting. I had my doubts about this installment but it seems Rockstar delivered and has re-invigorated their series and raised the bar on open-world games.
Blizzard to shut down Diablo III auction house on 3/18/2013
A step in the right direction for the game that may have been a success when you look at the numbers sold but ultimately was a failure when it came to the gameplay and design of the game. The big dissapointment of Diablo III to me was the auction house which basically made you pay to get to the end game / high level play. It was next to impossible to advance through Hell difficulty without using the auction house and while Blizzards intentions were to make a little extra money off of the playerbase, it ultimately broke the game to where there was a huge drop off after players completed the game once (like me). With the new expansion and the removal of the auction house, Blizzard is looking to bring back the charm and lasting value that was seen in Diablo II. Will it work? Is it too late? Who knows, but it is 100% the right move by the company.
DOTA 2 adds LAN support
Bold move by Valve but the right one. Huge news for DOTA as an e-sport because now it is the only MOBA game to feature LAN support which means a better and infinitely more reliable tournament setup. Valve is proving once again they are the big dog in town and they will continue to further their brand and games to give gamers the best possible experience.
PS4 supports HDMI video capture
Excellent news to hear from Sony. Now capturing video from the PS4 will be 100% high quality without having to jump through hoops to do so like users had to do with the PS3 and still could not get any higher than 720P. More high quality streams will pop up and hopefully the PS4's streaming capabilities will help the community grow. I look forward to seeing tons of content from the playerbase.
That's all for this week. In other news from me, if you have not heard, my best friend Phil has joined me and has started to contribute his own articles. He wrote up a few updates on the League Of Legends World Championship, his trip to Baltimore Comic Con and his experiences with LoL. Later on he will be attending the LoL World Championship finals in LA so be on the look out for something from him on that. I had some free time yesterday and tried to work out some more kinks in my stream to no luck. I promise I will work hard to try and bring it to you guys in the next few weeks. I played a little more through Tomb Raider, I started Sleeping Dogs, and I am looking forward to Watch Dogs later in November. I have been following people streaming GTA V and it is diving me crazy that I cannot play it. Hopefully the PC version will be announced sooner rather than later. Other than that, I am probably going to have a quiet weekend and then get back to it on Monday. We will see what the days ahead bring!
Thanks for reading and until next time:
Like it: https://www.facebook.com/TheOnlySurvivor
Watch it: http://www.youtube.com/user/theonlysurvivordan
Follow it: Follow @IMxGONNAxDIE
www.hypersmash.com
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)