Thursday, July 10, 2014

Finally got MGSV: Ground Zeroes...

I like it, won't review it or anything... Just wanted to spread my personal joy over finally getting it. Why this late, I hear you ask? Well I wanted to get it for Ps4, and I got a Ps4 just a week ago... So there, played this game quite a bit and in my humble opinion it was worth it. Though I am of course a completely biased MGS fan.

SNAAAAKE!

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Welcome to the Internet!

You often hear this when telling some asshole online to calm down, "welcome to the internet, everyone's an asshole!", this is not true, in fact it's utter bullshit. After seeing it once again, and after thinking about a line from True Detective, I'm going to somewhat go deeper into this statement and hopefully prove that simply because you're on the internet doesn't give you a free pass on being an asshole. 

It is true, the internet can be a vile, horrible place filled with bad people, just like the real world. The thing is, everyone feel hidden, like they're there but still not really. If you go through the internet you'll get a pretty honest version of humanity right now, uncensored and without a deceptive smile. The thing is if all that's keeping you from being an utter pain in the ass is some internet anonymity then that indicates who you truly are.

You may be the most kind and polite person in real life but if you go online and start trash talking then you're not really that nice. It's the same thing as a friend who's nice to you but talk down to a waiter, as an example. "Welcome to the internet" simply isn't a valid excuse to be an asshole, if we can't treat each other in a respectable manner simply because of "teh internetz" then it's truly a sad affair.

Not a nice person.

As luck would have it, it kinda is. People complain that kids today are rude brats, now we can dismiss that as just maturing people talking down on the new generation. However, kids today are raised on the internet, even when together face to face they sit with their phones, texting. Kids used to talk with each other face to face, that's how we learn how to behave, if you call someone ugly in real life they usually react and you learn to notice "oh shit, he was hurt, maybe I shouldn't do that?". Now that's not the case anymore, they can trash talk all they want without any human reaction, not before long everyone's going to be sociopaths.

So what can we do? Well, first off, have some fucking manners. It's time to grow up and realize that you won't gain any respect by spewing bullshit around you, people you talk to on the internet are still people, people like you with feelings, dreams and challenges. Secondly, we also need to realize that maybe we're not as anonymous as we think. Do you think it's hard to figure out who you are, AnonTroller99 (made up name)? Everything can be traced on the internet, but unlike real life everything you say is recorded. Maybe bare that in mind, everything you say can come to the surface at any time, shit, hope you don't become a celebrity, everything you've ever said will be dug up and plastered all over some one dollar magazine.

It's likely I won't convince anyone with this, perhaps you want to type a comment saying "Fuck you!", but remember that comment won't go anywhere. It will be there always, long after you're dust your imprint on the world will be just that, a random obscenity. Just, please, try to respect one another, perhaps we can't change the world, but don't make it any worse.

Friday, June 20, 2014

E3 2014 Reactions

E3 2014 just went by, they showed off plenty of good games but there was also few surprises. Sony showed some Uncharted, Microsoft showed Halo, and Nintendo showed Zelda. 

I'm going to go over E3 briefly and from my own point of view now so don't expect some in depth analysis or anything, without any further delay lets start out with Microsoft! Their idea to show only games was great, it was entertaining to see game after game but they showed mostly multiplats and then CGI trailers for newly announced games. Oh and if you're not tired of Halo, good news, they talked a lot of Halo.

Then I watched the EA conference, they kinda left me puzzled. I understand that they want to show off games and all but they proved that you can show them off too soon. Do I need to see games so early in development that they miss all textures? No, not really. Hard to be excited for something that we'll know won't come out anytime soon. And while Battlefield Hardline did look interesting, I don't think it's a smart move to annualize the franchise considering they like releasing pricy DLC for about a year. I can't speak for everyone but I won't be spending 120 bucks for a game that'll last a year. Though since I never bought BF4 I might get Hardline instead.

Moving on, Ubisoft, they were a bit more fun and once again having the energetic Aisha Tyler return as host. Apart from the less interesting segments with those dance and workout games their show was pretty solid as they showed off good games like Far Cry 4, AC Unity, The Division and the newly announced Rainbow Six: Siege. Overall a strong conference.

I watched the Sony conference last, the first half hour was really entertaining with Little Big Planet 3 suddenly being announced and demoed. It slowed down for about 20-30 minutes halfway through when they spent way too much time talking about more boring and technical things. Overall it was a decent conference with games like LBP3, Bloodborne and Uncharted 4.

Final words, I didn't bother watching Nintendo's thing because I was kinda asleep at the time and they've never interested me much. Later I've heard that it was pretty good with many games shown off. Anyway, based on my experience I liked Sony's most, mostly because they showed off the three games I'm most interested in, MGSV, Gta V next gen version and Uncharted 4.

Monday, May 26, 2014

E3 2014 Predictions and Wishes

E3 is soon upon us once again, and boy is there reason to hype. Sony, Microsoft and even Nintendo all have reason to bring the big guns. The new consoles have been out now for about half a year, so this E3 will be a deciding point for many gamers. What else can we now do to handle the wait then hype some more?

Nintendo haven't been much of a presence on E3 since the release of Wii U, but they still have a desire to make their fans happy so don't expect them to show up empty handed. Say what you want about Nintendo but they are good at keeping secrets, wouldn't be surprised if they announced a new, grand Zelda game that the Wii U really need. Also I don't think the fans would mind perhaps a Super Mario Galaxy 3, a fan favorite to surprise? Nintendo could use the spotlight.

Microsoft then again have been hyping their stuff big time. Some stuff has also been leaked early, like cover and some info about the announced Halo 5: Guardians. Lately, they've been announcing new and good changes to their console, Xbox One, stuff they could've said at E3 but they might be clearing room to talk about games. Which is a smart move, they could do with some more popularity considering their situation. What I would expect to see from MS is a demo of Quantum Break, a lengthy trailer of Halo 5, a teaser of Gears of War 4, Sunset Overdrive trailer and then some more surprising announcements and some less surprising announcements with the usual exclusive content for certain games.

Then we have Sony, now I must admit I'm personally most hyped over Sony since I've been playing Playstation since a wee lad. I feel like they will bring good stuff to the show this year, they want to stay number 1 right now, eye of the tiger and all that. I wouldn't expect much as far as announcements for the console itself though I suppose I could see a demo of their VR project Morpheus thing and see how it separates itself from the competition. Maybe along with an announcement of Media Molecules game we'll see a demo of their game with Morpheus.

What I expect from them on a gaming note is that they really show off Uncharted 4, it will likely be used to show off the graphical powers of the Ps4, and I for one expect to be impressed. Other than that I think we'll see The Order 1886, Driveclub and Deep Down, you know, the announced stuff. When talking about the surprises I would hope that they're ready to re-introduce The Last Guardian, but not only that, also Agent, and the optimist in me would also not mind seeing Eight Days as a Ps4 project. Finally there's this older franchise that's been rumored to make a return for a long time now that I hope to finally see, which is Syphon Filter.

Of course we also have Ubisoft and EA which I which I will bring up last. Ubisoft have spilled the beans on a lot of stuff they will show like Far Cry 4, AC Unity and The Division, but I would still expect a surprise from them at the end in some form or another. EA on the other hand is kind of a wild card, not really sure what they're up to, could be really good, though they also have the biggest potential to disappoint greatly. Having new Star Wars games, like Battlefront 4, to show they really need to show something good to meet the high expectations from eager fans. They're also rumored to have already have a new Battlefield game in the works, scheduled for no later than this year, while some would be happy I'd imagine many would be angry with them releasing a new BF game one year later while BF4 is according to many still not very functional. Also making it an annual franchise like CoD which is so often trash talked by BF fans and EA alike.
 

If anyone want to share their hype go ahead, I do encourage discussion, not just one-sided talking. 

Monday, April 28, 2014

Top 69 last gen [Ps360] games!

Well folks, it seems like the new console generation is taking root, what better way to celebrate this fact than to list my top 69 (...I'm incredibly immature) games on last gen? Do note this is just my opinion, though I'm mostly right so if your favorite game isn't on this list, though tomatoes.

First a few rules, it doesn't matter if they have or are getting Ps4/X1 ports, and HD versions of Ps2 era games don't count. PC games are also included, of course. I've judged the game on how interesting the content is, and how rewarding it was to play through said content. Finally, I've also allowed myself to select specific and several games from a franchise, since rarely is every game in a franchise of equal quality.

From 1-69:
1. The Last of Us
2. Red Dead Redemption
3. Bioshock
4. Uncharted 2
5. MGS4
6. Grand Theft Auto V
7. Journey
8. Spec Ops: The Line
9. Far Cry 3
10. Fallout: New Vegas
11. Assassin's Creed 2
12. Telltale's The Walking Dead
13. Dishonored
14. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
15. Sleeping Dogs
16. Grand Theft Auto 4
17. InFamous
18. LA Noire
19. Max Payne 3
20. Uncharted
21. Call of Duty 4
22. InFamous 2
23. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
24. Bioshock 2
25. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
26. Batman: Arkham Asylum
27. Alan Wake
28. Batman: Arkham City
29. Bioshock: Infinite
30. Little Big Planet
31. Battlefield 3
32. Sly Cooper 3: Thieves in Time
33. Tomb Raider
34. Uncharted 3
35. Metro 2033
36. Guild Wars 2
37. Hitman: Absolution
38. South Park: The Stick of Truth
39. Dead Space 2
40. Metro: Last Light
41. Mass Effect 2
42. Heavy Rain
43. God of War 3
44. Resistance 3
45. Dark Souls
46. Rage
47. Crysis
48. Silent Hill: Downpour
49. Splinter Cell: Blacklist
50. Mortal Kombat
51. Fallout 3
52. The Darkness
53. Red Faction: Guerrilla
54. Saint's Row 2
55. Dragon's Dogma
56. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
57. Hotline: Miami
58. Trine 2
59. Dawn of War 2
60. Machinarium
61. Shank
62. Team Fortress 2
63. Borderlands 2
64. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
65. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
66. Yakuza 4
67. Just Cause 2
68. Torchlight
69. Skyrim

Phew, what a list. Here's a potato:
Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: I'm aware of the fact that games are still being released for Ps360, like Watch Dogs... So this list stands for today, 28.4.2014, and may change if it's really necessary. 

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Et tu, MGS: Ground Zeroes?

Recently, Game Informer shed some light upon the prequel chapter to MGSV: Phantom Pain, info about the story, gameplay and length... What concerns me is that it was revealed that when they played through the main story bit it took them just under 2 hours. Not only that but afterwards they finished speedruns in about 5 minutes (when skipping cutscenes). 

Look, I'm a huge MGS fan, always have been, I even liked MGS4 which I understand is a controversial opinion, but something isn't quite right here. The pricing for Ground Zeroes is ranging from 20-40 dollars, depending on platform of choice and digital vs retail. 20 dollars I kinda can accept, there is bonus missions and collectibles in there, but that price is only available for those who buy the digital version for Ps3/360.

As soon as you want the retail version on Ps3/360 or the digital version for Ps4/XB1 the price goes up to 30 dollars, then 40 dollars for the retail version for Ps4/XB1. Now I get that it's completely optional to go for the most expensive version out there but already the digital version for the Ps4/XB1 has a pretty daring price. 30-40 dollars for a 2 hour game is rather week, with bonus content or not.

Lets put this in perspective, shall we? Last year I bought Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon for 15 dollars, a standalone expansion to Far Cry 3. The campaign lasted about 6-8 hours while all the extra stuff, collectibles, clearing outposts and side missions added another 6-8 hours. That's a very good amount of content for 15 bucks. Now compare that to the 2 hour prequel chapter for MGS that you can pay up to 40 dollars for, am I the only one that thinks this kinda stinks?

I will still buy it, of course, since I want the full story for MGSV. Though I doubt I'll be buying it at release, I am yet to get a Ps4 and I do want the best possible version. I'll be seeing if I can get it on a sale or if they will still bundle it with MGSV: Phantom Pain later on.

"Well if you were going to buy it anyway then why rant?", simple, I just wanted to put this into perspective. A staff member from KojiPro attempted to defend the length by drawing comparisons to Journey and Dear Esther. Sure, they were also 2 hour games, however they were both also 15 dollars or less. I assume it's to late for them to change much at this point but I hope it doesn't become a "thing" for the future.

Pissed you off, huh?


Five Finger Fillet (Knife Game, just for fun)

No time to talk, just enjoy the video. Or don't. Depends if your into people doing stupid stuff with sharp objects or not. 




The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqawZsDsTbs

Toying with the thought of doing it blindfolded at some point, sounds like a good idea.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Don't dismiss Alien: Isolation!

Looks like the real deal to me!
Alien: Isolation was just announced by Sega and it's waking mixed feelings. Some say it looks good, but remember the deception surrounding Aliens: Colonial Marines way too well. Others like it or just dismiss it as "crap" for unknown reason. Well I'm here to urge those who dismiss it to give it a second chance. Of course be skeptical, but there's potential here as well.

All right, so obviously there's not really a whole lot to say about it with only a tiny bit of information and with it just being announced and all. But in short Alien: Isolation is not a shooter, it follows Ripley's daughter as she ventures out to see what happened with her mother. What does she stumble upon? Thousands of aliens just next to a big pile of guns? Nope, one alien, and no military weapons to blast it away.

If that idea doesn't send chills down the spine of any Alien fan then I don't really know what to say. Sure we can all be a bit skeptical after Colonial Marines but we can at least be sure that Isolation will come closer to being the game they set out to be without becoming some mindless shooter. Look, this is what they're basically trying to do, a survival horror with one aliens and not a ton of guns, nothing more and hopefully nothing less.

I don't know what it will turn out to be but just a mere shooter it will simply not be. Colonial Marines were always advertised as a shooter, we just didn't know how bad it would be. Maybe they should've given the brand a rest but I think late 2014 (possibly early 2015, lets not be too optimistic) will work out fine in the end if they do this right. I for one don't rule out that they can save Alien as a good game franchise.

So I don't know, just trying to keep positive about this game. To me it looks great, and to be honest it can only go upwards for the franchise from here. Hopefully it will surprise a lot of people (in good ways) and not be dismissed because of past blunders. Keep your minds open about it, all I'm saying here.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Top 5 most anticipated games of 2014! [Thompson Edition]

Well I didn't even think about making this list but after the top 5 games of 2013 and seeing how these lists were popping up all over the place, I thought I might as well do it too. Might just remind some people about games out there, and with that lets get counting! List will be as the previous one, 5-1.

5. The Evil Within
I have to be honest, I'm not a big horror-fan. That said, The Evil Withing made by the creator of Resident Evil is looking very interesting!

4. InFamous: Second Son
After playing the first two InFamous games and after having a great time with both, all I can say is I can't wait to see the next chapter of the saga. On a new piece of hardware no less. 

3. The Order 1886
A completely new game from a developer that's only been making PSP titles in the past... It's looking very interesting, no real gameplay have been shown yet but reading previews and seeing screenshots so far have me believing this will be one Ps4 title you don't want to miss!

2. Uncharted 4(?)
Not having a number or even proper subtitle yet, a new Uncharted game was not too long ago announced for Ps4.  Being a franchise I also hold dear, I can't wait to see what Naughty Dog is doing with this one. There's no doubt in my mind that they won't disappoint.

1. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes/Phantom Pain
Well this was almost a given for me, been playing MGS since the first MGS on Ps1. Even played the original titles when the opportunity was given with the re-released MGS3 editions. They're spicing up the formula big time and I for one am very exited to see what Kojima is cooking

Bring on 2014!
.