Imagine if you took the greatness that is Firefly
Category Archives: PC Gaming
Killing Floor 2 – Thoughts and Video from the Stress Test Beta
So I manged to get into the Killing Floor 2 Stress Test Beta (I don’t think my Dear Tripwire, Why I Want In the Killing Floor 2 Beta post helped, but it might have), and I had a blast. Seriously some of the most fun I’ve had in awhile playing a game. Tripwire Interactive has a solid hit to be on their hands.
Let’s step back a moment for those who don’t follow the latest and greatest in gaming. What is Killing Floor 2? Continue reading Killing Floor 2 – Thoughts and Video from the Stress Test Beta
2014 PC Games of the Year
So I didn’t play a ton of new games this year, so this list is based off what I’ve actually played myself. This list is mostly PC, I don’t include any board games… that may be another list… or not… There is one XBox 360/PS4/XBox One game listed that isn’t on PC yet…
The Winners
Let’s get right out and say that the lead favorite, though I’m not very far into the game is Dragon Age: Inquisition
Continue reading 2014 PC Games of the Year
A Bunch of New YouTube Vids Are Up
I haven’t been good at updating the blog here of late, but there are a bunch of YouTube videos since I last posted here. Check out my YouTube channel. All these videos, as with most of my recent videos are made from highlights from my Twitch Channel so quality isn’t as good as it would be if I recorded locally, edited and uploaded directly myself rather than have Twitch send it over. Remember, comment, like and subscribe! It helps. Continue reading A Bunch of New YouTube Vids Are Up
I Give Zombies Monsters Robots a Try
En Masse Entertainment (of Terra fame) have a new game out in beta called Zombies Monsters and Robots.
ZMR is a fun, 3rd person shooter where you fight, well zombies, monsters, robots, armies of bad buys and a host of everything else. Over the top and immense fun.
Here’s my first try at it:
I might make more videos later… and share more about my thoughts about it at a later date.
Nosgoth Gameplay and Mini Review
Nosgoth is a free-to-play multiplayer action game that is presently in Closed Beta. I got in late February and I’m finally getting around to talking about it. At the end of this article I’ll have a gameplay video so you can see it in action. You can apply for beta at the Nosgoth link, or buy a Nosgoth Founders Pack which will get you into the game instantly (part of why I’m bringing it up now, as I think it’s worth looking at). Like most Founders Packs on games that will eventually be free-to-play, they include plenty of in game currency to buy skins, faster access to classes, and your typical free-to-play, but not buy to win, game… and that’s an important note. Based on my time in Nosgoth, I never felt the need to buy things, or that those buying stuff had an unfair advantage. That said, there are some really cool skins and stuff that would be sweet to have.
A small disclaimer, I’ve never played any of the Legacy of Kain games, the universe that Nosgoth takes place in, so I won’t be discussing any of that aspect. All I know about the world is there are vampires and humans, and from the dialog I’m guessing the humans are the rebels… Nosgoth refers to the world, the planet we are on in this story. Kain has died and the vampire race is in disarray and the humans seem to think it is a good time to rebel… or something along those lines. Like Titanfall (as I noted in my review of Titanfall), there is a story told here via dialog. Perhaps not as heavily well as Titanfall’s story, but in this case it has a rich history behind it already so it just needs to be there enough to connect it to the universe that it inhabits.
Anyhow, let’s talk about the gameplay itself, as that is what’s important. Nosgoth pits Humans vs Vampires. Each match features two rounds. One round you will play as a human, the other round as a vampire, keeping the same team. Whichever team has the best combined score, wins the match. Continue reading Nosgoth Gameplay and Mini Review
New YouTube Intro In Progress
In an effort to step up my videos to a more professional level, I started work on a new Intro. It’s semi-okay as it is, but I didn’t really spend the time to make the music loop properly when I extended the clip’s length. I have some plans on how to further enhance it from here once I get some actual content to add it to. Such as ArcheAge if Trion responds to my letter to them asking to get into the game (EDIT: They didn’t respond directly but I did luck in to the Alpa so…), and/or Blizzard lets me into Heroes of the Storm (yep, got a letter asking them for access to that game too).
It’s based on a template by Laurent Caccia. I made it longer, which is why the music has an odd loop at two points, and I have plans on modifying it from where it is now. For example I have it showing me playing Titanfall in the BT, but that’d probably change to the game being played in the actual video, and a few other small modifications that might be coming if I can make it work out well…
If any talented artists out there want to make a header for here (1200×240), backgrounds etc for my YouTube channel (which I don’t think even works anymore, I need to check that out more) and my Twitch channel, there I’m mostly looking for better header images above each block and of course overlays for the channel on the rare occasions I might stream, and can do them for free, let me know. I need to work on a better one for my Twitter as well, though save for how hard it is to read the smaller text, I think that one is somewhat okay.
Hearthstone Expansion Curse of Naxxramas Announced at PAX East 2014
So one of the cool pieces of news to come out of PAX East this year is that Blizzard’s digital collectible card game, Hearthstone, is having an exciting new expansion coming “soon”, and said expansion, Curse of the Naxxramas will include a single player campaign. One of the things that most appealed to me about the Hex TCG, is that there are plans for a PvE mode. I think there’s lots of room to grow in that field. Fantasy Flight has shown how it can be done with some of their LCGs, like Lord of the Rings.
I am a terrible Hearthstone player, so I can’t comment on the new cards much.
The new expansion will be across all platforms, including iPad. I changed my store to the Canadian store in order to get Hearthstone on my iPad early (last I heard the worldwide release is a week or two as of 11 April). As I understand it, again, I haven’t had time to get full details yet as I just recently got home and my smart phone isn’t that good to keep up with all the news, there are 5 dungeons or so, and the first is free, the other 4 will be accessible with in game gold or real world money.
I really should play the game on stream one of these days… just to see how bad somebody can be at the game. Lol.
EDIT: Just how bad am I? I got in the Closed Beta on 21 October 2013, and I still haven’t beat the practice modes… of course that may be exaggerating a bit since I haven’t really played as much as I should/could.
Sadly I don’t see Battle.Net Balance Cards in Amazon to link them here…
Is Goat Simulator a Baaaaaad Game?
Is Goat Simulator a bad game? That’s not a simple yes or no question.
There is no question the game provides a few moments of humor, both from the premise and the physics. However the humor wears thin, and the title I use for this article is the sort one can expect. Blow up a gas station, earn the Michael Bay achievement/score thingy. The text to voice software provides a few moments of fun when you make it when I made it say “Ari and Sidd are doofy poopy butts”, which sent my ten year old laughing so hard he had to leave the room. It’s the physics itself of course that provide most of the humor. Being able to climb a construction crane’s ladder with your neck, the odd physics glitches. Those are the things that provide most of the humor. After a while though, as noted, it wears thin. You can see the same joke only a few times before it gets repetitive and boring. The humor is certainly not great humor like South Park: Stick of Truth, which is one of the most genuinely funny games, if South Park crude humor, ever. It’s more like, “Ha, watch how he gets stuck in the air if I activate this power and see him rag doll around.” The second time you push that R to deactivate the power and fall back as the moment is gone. One will watch a funny movie several times, and find it funny each time, but this isn’t the same with Goat Simulator where you just start rolling your eyes at it after a short while, and without the humor moments the game loses most of its appeal.
There is a bit of a game inside the physics sandbox portion. There are some statues hidden around the lone map that the game ships with (though there is another map coming sometime in May) that you want to collect as many of as possible. Collecting them and finding certain hidden areas and doing the challenge there, give you upgrades. For example, in the goat fighting circle, defeat four goats and you get a muscle power goat. Don’t hurt anything for 5 minutes get the Angel Goat, drag five people to the pentagram and earn a devil goat and lots of others. These powers, once unlocked, can be used in a custom game mode, and combined for some semi-funny combos, some of which are needed, apparently, to unlock other modes. There are a few odd challenges to try and attempt like getting on the hang glider, jumping on each trampoline in the game only once without touching the ground in between them, and a few other odds and ends. These are what makes one actually come back to the game off and on. Continue reading Is Goat Simulator a Baaaaaad Game?
Ready for Titanfall
I’ve been looking forward to Titanfall ever since the announcement. Made by Respawn Entertainment, a company formed by the people who created the Call of Duty franchise after their rather public firing by Activation, it held promise to deliver a new FPS franchise to rival the others. The question would be could they deliver?
The TLDR answer? Pretty much. The game delivers a very entertaining multiplayer experience. The wall running, parkour elements add a great deal of fun. The Titans themselves make for a nice replacement for the usual driveable vehicles. The Source engine, while a bit outdated, holds up reasonably well and with the promised fixes coming to at least the PC version, I think it will deliver a solid experience visually. Is it perfect? No, but it is a very good multiplayer FPS, so long as that is all you are looking for. Want more details, then read on after the break. Continue reading Ready for Titanfall
Finally in Hearthstone Beta, and Loving Faëria
Well, I’m finally in the Hearthstone beta, finally got the opt-in key (and no, I don’t have extras). I’ll give impressions later. Right now my card game of choice though is Faëria, which may be one of the best card games out there, and a huge shame it isn’t getting far more attention. That one for sure I’ll be giving more coverage to.
Digital Card games in order, off initial impressions of my likelyhood of playing a lot:
Faëria (great, deep game, very strategic and tactical)
Hearthstone (fairly casual)
Card Hunter (ahead of IW mostly due to the humor and casual fun)
Infinity Wars (deep, and complex, perhaps too complex for casual play, and I got Faëria for the deep end right now)
I’m considering Scrolls…
SolForge, Magic and the rest… Hex probably would go here as well, but all below those for the moment.
TLDR: Get Faëria… now…
Me Playing Mechwarrior Online
Mechwarrior Online is a Free To Play game where you drive large Mechs around and engage in Mech combat…
Here I am playing a little… This is near my average game play in terms of piloting and shooting, though I normally bite it somewhere along the way. About the 5 minute mark I take too long to pull the throttle back to make my sharp turn, but otherwise I think my piloting was semi-okay in this. I need to master lasers better. This is using one of the trial Mechs. The game is free, and you get a choice of 4 Mechs, one from each class without buying any, and as you play, you earn in game money that allows you to buy stuff later on, or you can spend real world money to buy the stuff without the grind, which is how they make their money, though people like me tend to just use the grind…
Asura and Sylvari Will be Playable in the Next Beta Weekend Event!
So very excited about the next Beta Weekend Event for Guild Wars 2 on July 20th to the 22nd. Both the Asura and Syvari will be playable.
Long Asura video:
All the more reason to get it now if you haven’t already.
20,000 Beta Keys for Guild Wars 2 Being Given Away by Curse
Not sure if the world’s greatest game Guild Wars 2 is for you? What? The tons of posts here didn’t convince you? 🙂 Want to try before you buy? The final Beta Weekend Event is coming July 20th to the 22nd, if you can get some game time in that weekend then try to win one of 20,000 keys. http://www.curse.com/betas/guild-wars-2
Stress Missed
I missed the last Guild Wars 2 Stress Test on June 27th due to a massive headache. I got in some, but didn’t feel well enough to record more videos or take more screenshots. Lucky for me there is one more Beta Weekend Event coming near the end of July before the Guild Wars 2 releases… My original plan was to get a few more screenshots and videos that I could do commentaries on later, such as the release date announcement.
I also wanted to spend a lot of time in sPvP, and while I got there, I couldn’t figure out how to actually get into a sPvP match… lack of homework on my part. Perhaps due also in part because I skipped the tutorials… 🙂 Anyhow, I got to the loby area, but never figure out how to get into the matches from there. Apparently there is a crier or something that can get you into the matches. I’ll have to look next BWE.
I really don’t know if there will be much Guild Wars 2 news between now and release… save perhaps details of the upcoming Beta Weekend Event. No word yet if one or two of the remaining races will be playable or if they’ll just keep them until release. There hasn’t been details yet about when we’ll be able to link our Guild Wars 1 account with our Guild Wars 2 account if we created the GW1 account after we made the 2nd, or some people skipped it or couldn’t do it at the time due to technical hiccups. ArenaNet has promised they would open that stuff up before release, so we’ll trust them on that. The only reason to link them, at least for those of us at low levels, is name reservation since names are unique to the whole game, not just per server. The head start is August 25th, for those of us who pre-purchase the game, so there is still some time to go before they have to make sure the system is in place. I would guess since they announced a date, they could do it at any moment, but my guess is that they probably will hold off until August.
Be sure to join me in this great game…
Guild Wars 2 Is Coming August 28th
Not much else to say, but news over at the Official ArenaNet Blogis Announcing the Guild Wars 2 Launch Date. I got to get ready for work, so more later…
Here is the launch date trailer for it:
There is one more Beta Weekend Event that they also announced on July 20th to the 22nd. No word if they’ll do another stress test or slip in a public beta before release, but this frankly is all I would expect.
All the more reason to get it now if you haven’t already.
Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Events Overstaying Their Welcome?
There is an interesting post over at the Guild Wars 2 Reddit expanding on an idea brought up on the recent Guildcast (June 20th edition, which I had started to watch but didn’t finish before posting this originally). The question is if all the Beta Weekend Events sort of diminish the game in some ways and if that goes into ArenaNet‘s release date plans for Guild Wars 2.
It is an interesting thought, and I have to agree a bit with the whole concept that they were bringing up. Continue reading Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Events Overstaying Their Welcome?
Hey ArenaNet A Couple Suggestions
I’ve had a few thoughts about Guild Wars 2 and in the very, very unlikely event somebody from ArenaNet actually stopped by, I thought I would toss out a few suggestions for the game.
First I have to discuss the pending character wipe before the head start/launch. I am fine with the wipe, but I would really like to be able to bring select character(s) back and restart them, keeping their physical appearance. Say I want to keep Sthel in the screenshot here as she is without having to figure out what settings I used when I try to recreate her. She would be just reset to level 1 and have to start her adventure over, but the physical creation and perhaps the story line choice made during beta would stick… basically I dug how she came out and not sure if I could do it again. 🙂
Okay, now to the camera. Pressing Print Screen is fine, but I would like to have another option, let’s call it Shift+Print Screen and/or CTRL+Print Screen. What this does is decouple the camera somewhat from being centered on the character, and move them to the side so that one can follow the Rule of Thirds. This is what the Shift+Print Screen does. The CTRL+Print Screen simply overlays the lines on the screen (that don’t appear in the screenshot) to help align the shot while also decoupling the camera as the Shift+Print Screen does. There could be an option in options menu for different type of lines, be it Rule of Thirds (both 6 and 9 square versions), center cross hair, Golden Ratio and some other common ones. This is of course in addition to the first person view to allow shots without the character in it… sure one could have a friend go first person then line up the shot for you and send you the photo, but I think a slightly de-coupled camera would be nicer. This isn’t a fully remote camera, it still keeps you character in frame, just more freedom on where in the frame they are (more so to the left and right since vertically I think we already have a decent range).
You need to get yourself Guild Wars 2 and meet me in game… or just enjoy yourself on your own time.
Continuing Thoughts on the Guild Wars 2 BWE2
Some more random thoughts on the Guild Wars 2 BWE2:
If there is a way to set the dyes on town clothes I didn’t see it… though in all honesty I didn’t look to hard. I didn’t mind my character’s town outfit and color, she looked very sharp indeed, but her armor dyes were set to a set of colors for a reason… then again town outfits probably should have a variety anyhow. This could have been in the gem store, which I didn’t really look at, but I think two outfits would be nice, with hopefully two dye options… So she could have her pretty red outfit that she had in this BWE, but perhaps another green one that matches her eyes… You could then also have the option of having one or both match the armor dye set or have both match eachother or both separate as I noted already…
The big ending events during the Beta Weekend Events should be put in as monthly mega events if they can make a few more large events like those to keep things fresh… and then they should repeat more than just one time so that more people can participate. They shouldn’t occur as often as other dynamic events, but every 4 or 6 hours or so, a little past the 2 hours that people typically play on purpose.
One of my favorite things in World of Warcraft was archealogy. I really hope to see something like that in the game someday… they already said they are adding fishing down the line, but wouldn’t be in by release… so archaeology ArenaNet… make it happen.
You need to get yourself Guild Wars 2 and meet me in game… or just enjoy yourself on your own time.
My “Let’s Play” Of Guild Wars 2 from the Beta Weekend Event 2 this Weekend
As I mentioned earlier, I recorded a video this weekend. This is the result.
Skip to 30 seconds in to get past the long black screen. I forgot to set the time of the title video to 3 seconds and it stayed at 30 seconds…
She has to change her clothes midway as I didn’t notice she was flashing us every time I looked up to the city for a while there… as I said in that previous post though, from a role play perspective I’m not sure she would mind.
This is the new non-fuzzy version. The issued turned out to be the Sequence setting was too low and knocking back the 1600×900 video down to 720×480, and while I scaled to fit, that fix didn’t stop the fuzzy… and it turns out when I made the preview window really big in the old version, it didn’t look as good as I thought. So a few lessons learned about Premier… I understand that CS5.5 and CS6 fix some of those issues by making the sequence from the video clip itself. I am using CS5.
Continue reading My “Let’s Play” Of Guild Wars 2 from the Beta Weekend Event 2 this Weekend