Purchasing games for the "correct" platform.

  Is there really a correct platform for each and every person to use?  No.  Definitively now and forever onward, no.  However, there is a correct platform for each game.  A platform that is better supported for each game.  A platform for which the game was usually coded.  A platform which just runs the game better.  Why?  Because they each have different hardware, different chip architecture and different operating systems.  While I can't exactly say how each of these things comes into play to create the problems that we see in games, as I am not a computer engineer, nor a software engineer, I can however point to a few things that will help you decide as a consumer, to help you make a more informed decision when purchasing your games.  The very things I look for before purchasing a game.  This will not be a complete checklist, but a few weapons to add to your arsenal, in the war to spend your cash without regret.

1.  Screen Tearing: The first thing on this list is screen tearing.  Screen tearing can be seen when the system is trying to display the next image before it has fully displayed the last one.  On PC systems this can be fixed simply by turning on an option called V-sync.  An option normally found in the graphics options, however if this is not the case, one can turn it on in the driver software.  However this is not an option for console players.  This makes it all the more important to choose the correct platform for your console only titles such as Final Fantasy XIII (pictured to the right).

2. Frame rate:  Frame rate, is closely linked to the previous item on this list, screen tearing.  Frame rate is the frequency at which frames are displayed.  Games like Call of Duty often try to maintain a solid 60 frames per second (fps) to ensure great performance, while other games, such as Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, Asura's Wrath, and many others, prefer to stick around 30 fps to eek out better looking visuals.  The human eye, commonly thought to see around 30 FPS, can actually see "frame rates" upwards of 200fps.  So the higher the better.

3. There is no wiki link for this one, and the problem is platform exclusive bugs.  This one is the worst and trickiest issues to watch for.  Certain game breaking bugs may not pop up until you are hours into a game which is why I would always suggest waiting for a few days before pulling the trigger on any purchase of new games to allow these problems to rise to the surface.  Two prime examples would be the PS3 Skyrim issues such as the infamous "water crash" or the save file induced lag problems.

There are however a wealth more things one can take into consideration in making your choice as to which platform you make a purchase on. Such as modability, exclusive content, and platform support, but this little tidbit should help you with any upcoming purchases.  Good luck out there.

It's been to long.

I have been busy with many much things (written that way on purpose).  Real life can be a drag but sometimes it's also pretty awesome.

Anywho,  I'm not going to bore you with my issues because this blog is about video games, not a platform for me to air my grievances with people in this world.

Enough of your time wasted.

Diablo 3 is good, but for having been in development for 12 years, it's lacking.  Best way to put that.
Steam purchases since the last update are: Alice: Madness Returns,  F.3.A.R., Civilization 5

The only games that I've been playing though are Reprisal, League of Legends, Tribes: Ascend, and Diablo 3.

Of those the only game I would review is Reprisal, but in lieu of my lack of motivation to write at just this moment it will suffice to say that Reprisal is an amazing game and should be given your time.  If you're as bad at RTS as me though, you may not pass Island 19 as that's where the game starts getting difficult.

Anywho, this is just a short update to say I am alive and still working towards my goal of providing people video content.  Right now I'm researching something I plan on making a video for, so wish me luck.

More updates soon.

It's not much but it's a start.

Ok, so it's not much, but I can't record my console games just yet and all I've been doing it playing Minecraft,  League of Legends,and Tribes.  Granted I could get some awesome Tribes footage...   Which I think will be something I need to do now.  

The holidays are killing me.

I haven't posted since pre-pax so I'd just like to say sorry first of all.  And also, I've been setting aside small amounts of money while still spending the majority of it on video games
(IE. I have 12$ set aside lol)
I need to buy a good camera - 120$
An HD PVR - 220$
And a new HDD to hold video content. 
And new cables to in fact DO this whole thing.
That of course is the bare minimum without considering the PC parts that I'm going to need, which will run me another 600+.  I've been trying to record stuff as is now, but I run out of hardrive space before the recording is done and end up having to scrap what I was trying to work on, so perhaps the HDD and camera should be made priority.  Anywho.  An update about what games I've gotten,
Killzone  2 (old  know but I wanted to play one and it was 10$)
Batman: Arkham City
Uncharted 3
Preordered Modern Warfare 3
Metal Gear Solid 4 - I never played snake eater, but Sons of Liberty was awesome. 
Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection - I LOVED SotC, never played Ico.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Bought it so I could play through it and buy AC:Revelations when it was released.
GOING to Preorder Skyrim assuming I can scrape together the money.  If you haven't noticed by now, me and money aren't exactly the best of friends. 
I've currently got Shadows of the Damned via Gamefly, thinking of keeping it since it would cost 12$.  That certainly feels like a good deal for that game.
Also I'm going to buy the Diablo III CE.
Then there is Mass Effect 3 in march...
I also want Rayman Origins. x.x
Fuck... This holiday season is killing me.

I got my PAX pass. XD

Ok, I know I have been saying this a lot but as always "soon" is all I have to say.
I've been saving up my monies, I don't get much but I save (nearly) every penny of it (I love beer though...and games...).  I suppose I can say what it is I'm going to be doing at least since it's most definitely happening.   I'm saving up for new PC parts, a camera, and an HD PVR so i can record my gaming, comment on it and post it for the world to see.  Maybe even livestream it.   Sadly that all will cost me around 1-2k but I'm working on it.  I also have to buy a new phone but that can wait until January.  

Also I need to find myself some video editing software that isn't prohibitively expensive but that's something that can also wait because I happen to have the internet.  =D

Anywho.  Yes, more to come

Me on Steam
360: DeadxReckon

I have FOUND a game I want to talk about!!!

The game is called Breath of Death VII: The Beginning.
Despite the title of this game it's not actually a sequel so far as I can see.  This game is a beautiful indie RPG in the vein of Dragon Warrior 1 from the NES.  I'm only 30 minutes in though so I have to play more before I write much more about it.  I just had to say this somewhere.

Wii U

So now that the name has burned itself across the world, I thought I'd come here and post saying that I'll post about it later after the initial flood of lookups happen.  To ensure nothing can come of my post.

Interesting Interview with Richard Garriott

Something you may or may not know about me is that I played Ultima Online for over 10 years, and while Richard Garriott is by no means a superstar with a golden touch on video games for me, he is one of the industries more interesting folks.  Just thought I'd share.

Fallout: New Vegas

Just a short post about this game.  The tech isn't better than FO3, that much is pretty well known.  Other than that it's got a few small improvements as far as the story experience goes.  I'd say it was worth the 30$ I spent on it. 

Portal 2.

What can I say about this game that hasn't been said 1000 other places?  Nothing.  There is no point in me gushing over this game, telling you how much I love it and how incredible it is simply because everyone else is already saying that.  It's on Facebook,  Twitter, and all the big name gaming sites. Sooo go give Valve your money.

Also.  Already got my Pax 3 day pass.  ^^  See ya there.

Dodged a bullet.

Ok.  I'm sorry.  I know I cut it pretty close there.  I'm not playing WoW anymore.  I've all but closed my account.  I've got Dead Rising 2 on it's way (via Gamefly) and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions (also via Gamefly) on my platter at the moment and I can't find my charge cables for my Xbox controllers.  Not to mention one of my rechargeable batteries is fried and my black controller has never worked right.   Anyways,  I've got to get some sleep. 

OH! One more thing.  Earlier (a few months ago) I mentioned something elsewhere about a secret project and I've decided that while it may not effect my gaming a lot early, it most definitely will in the long term.  I just need monies.  Maybe I'll write a catchy song and throw it up on iTunes (yea right).

General Update.

So, my PS3 isn't really working.  The Blu-Ray drive wont read discs.  Including the copy of Red Dead Redemption I just bought.  Also I ordered Enslaved for PS3 and that should be arriving any day now.  Moving on though, on the front of games I can play, I received Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions for the Xbox 360 in the mail and have been playing it.  It's pretty good so far (no this wont be me official "review" of it).  Revenge of the Titans has finally been brought to Steam (I bought it during the holiday season as part of the Humble Indie Bundle), and I also purchased Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, Far Cry 2, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, Just Cause 2, King Arthur - The Role Playing Wargame, and Bionic Commando Rearmed over steam.  I also bought Brain Age and From The Abyss for my DS.  I haven't played WoW in nearly a month.  It might be time to drop it.  Anyways.  Just wanted to post and say that.  I'm still undecided as to whether or not I will be buying my 3DS first gen or wait for the updated version that will undoubtedly come out a year or so later.  Never played Pilot Wings and that seems to be the only launch title worth caring about currently, so we'll see.

Anywho, I'll post again soon.

I got into the RIFT beta!

Wont say anything aside from that though.

=x

A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda

A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda is in so many words, fantastic.  At first I thought it was going to be a Mega Man clone, which I wouldn't mind in the least.  Mega Man is very near and dear to my heart but as I played this I realized it's nothing like my beloved Mega Man and that is perfectly fine.  However, this game is very much a Gunstar Heroes clones, and a very good one at that.  There are however some evolutions as far as the game goes.  The game is another one of those 2.5d games, where it all the game is happening in 2d, but it is rendered in 3d.  The game looks really good.  It plays well, and to keep this short I fucking love it.  If you want to pick up a game for under 10$ that will give you a few good hours of gameplay go ahead and look it up on steam.  It's 8.99 as of the time of posting and most certainly worth it.  I haven't found a co-op mode though so I think you're going to be stuck playing this solo.  However with any luck this game does the indie developer well and they can return with a sequel offering up such things as multi-player co-op.  Anywho, great game.  Worth the money.  Especially if you liked Gunstar Heroes.

I've been busy. Not playing many games.

Don't get me wrong.  I've been playing.  World of Warcraft like a god damned addict.  It saddens me that MMO's can hook me like this.

I got half way through Phoenix Wright, want to finish it but I find it hard to play my DS sitting around at my own house. 

I made out like a bandit during the steam Christmas sale, and it saddens me that I don't think I've put more than 2-3 hours into the nearly 30 games I bought during it.

I'll be sitting aside some time this week to finish Final Fantasy XIII (yes, I bought it on release and I still haven't managed to push myself to it's finale) and then a battle or two more on Valkyria Chronicles (I bought the sequel, but I never finished the first).  A battle or two on Disgaea for PSP, and then move on to some of my newer (to me) games. 

 Mini Review: I have however made time for one game in the past month.  Super Meat Boy.  This game is so damned awesome that if you don't have it you may want to consider rethinking your priorities in life.  It's a very finely tuned platformer so don't bother with your Xbox Dpad (unless of course you have one of the new ones that pop out).  I've been playing this on steam with my Xbox controller, using the analog.  It works well enough, I'd still prefer a good old SNES pad, or PS controller (pre-crappy triggers of course).

Finally.

After having Amazon dick around with shipping for my copy of the Limited Edition Halo: Reach, I finally canceled my order the moment I saw it for the same price at Best Buy.  Picked it up and now I've Halo: Reach and Alpha Protocol to play through.

Amazon.  We're still friends, but we're having a spat.  I'll call you next week when I'm less mad at you.

Yep.

What I've been doing.

Playing Professor Layton and the Curious Village on my pink (yes, it's pink) DS Lite.

Playing Killing Floor after the new update.  The mac10 makes me play firebug.  It's awesome.

WoW.  You don't want to hear about that.

Played the demo for Sol Survivor.  Unimpressed.  Just another tower defense game.  It looks OK but it was largely boring.

Played the demo for another game called Blade Kitten.  Dumb name aside, it's a total throw back to the 2d style action games.  Reminds me a lot of Strider.  I like it and I think I'm going to buy it.  I highly suggest you try the demo.

The Sacrifice review. *"The Passing" spoilers contained within*

  The Sacrifice.  The new Left 4 Dead campaign for both games.  I have to say that I was a little disappointed after playing this.  First of all, I didn't hear about this until the other night, and second of all, I did no research prior to playing it, not out laziness, but instead I had an opportunity to approach this with little to no knowledge of what the update actually entailed.  I think it put me in a unique position to have my expectations dashed by what I wanted this to be, and what it actually was.  When I heard that it was a campaign for both games, I had hoped that there would be two sides of this campaign that we could play.  One part in the first game where I could play as the original "Tango Mikes" as they were referred to in the online comic which I read between playing the campaign on L4D & L4D2 (which I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean because "Tango Mike" usually means Thanks Much but I must digress), and the second part a role for the new survivor's in the second game, however this was very much not the case.  It was the same campaign, for both games.  This appears to be Valve's try at supporting both games, and give those that bought the original but haven't picked up the second some of that extra content that Valve promised oh so long ago, but it has left a sour taste in my mouth, even though I have both.  I feel that it's not so much Valve supporting L4D1, but more that L4D1 is getting hand-me-downs from the real star of the show, L4D2.  It was the same exact campaign, but when I ran it on L4D2 it looked nicer, had more weapons, and of course had melee weapons.  Sadly overall this campaign, I feel, doesn't live up to the past campaigns that Valve has added to the L4D series, like Crash, or The Passing.  Granted Crash Course I don't recall adding anything to the series, The Passing gave us a chance to run into the original survivor's, revealed to us the death of Bill, gave us the Survivor zombie, and all new survivor dialogue.  A hard act to follow surely, and this could have been something great, but it's a one trick pony and anti climactic as we already know because of The Passing what has happened.  No new zombies, no new weapons, no new dialogue which I have to point out was the real annoyance while playing as Francis and trying to tell my teammates that there was a DeFib kit and all Francis would say was "Stop".  

I must say however, when that moment comes at the end of the campaign, the game play is very tense but ultimately left me unfulfilled. I can't suggest 360 owners buy this, unless you're absolutely starving for another map.  Spend your 560 MS points elsewhere.

Valve, I love you but I'm not impressed and that makes me sad.

The Dante redesign.

    Dante appeared on the scene in 2001 sporting the trench coat, white hair, and enough leather where it would be safe to assume he has a safe word.  However, the trench coat is is tried and true classic look has lent it's stylish look to such legendary character's as Neo of The Matrix, Rorschach of Watchmen, Humphrey Bogart's Rick Blaine of Casablanca, and Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther films just to name a few. It's flowing brilliant crimson beauty certainly helped gamers everywhere fall in love with the fearless private detective and part time mercenary as he flashed across the screen destroying demonic puppets, monsters and shadow creatures alike.  His smartass remarks, flowing combat styles, and fashion sense have certainly secured him a soft spot in my heart for years to come.

    Now Ninja Theory's redesign of the Japanese character that westerners have come to love has received a lot of flack for it's move to a more hipster/emo vibe.  I just want to say that the criticism, in my opinion, is well deserved.  They are throwing out a timeless look and replacing it with the current trends of the youth of today.  Imagine if you will, if Dante was wearing a tie dye t-shirt and bell bottoms, or a basketball jersey and pants sagging below his ass or any other number of ridiculous fashions the youth have come to wear over the years.  Maybe they can sell custom skins for Dante to better market the game to people of differing fashion styles.  Naruto head-band Dante for the Otaku.  Bullet proof vest, jeans and a baseball cap Dante, for the 50 cent fans.  Leopard costume Dante for the furries out there.   Last but not least, Aquaman Dante, for the DC comic fans out there with bad taste in comic book heroes.

    I can't say if this new look, will influence anyone to actually purchase DMC, but what I can tell you is that I wont be buying it.  Why?  Because this isn't Devil May Cry.  That character isn't Dante, and Ninja Theory isn't exactly the best studio for reviving a damaged series like Devil May Cry.  I am not saying it will be bad.  What I am saying is that the cards are stacked against them.  If I hear that the game is worth playing, I'll rent it.  However, I'll be voting against this new Dante redesign the only way game companies can hear me.  With my money.

   

Played Dead Rising.

I sat down and played the first Dead Rising for about an hour yesterday while out of town and staying with a friend.  I think I'm going to pick it up for cheap now.  Will post more later.