Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Multiplayer Beta Impressions

I play a bit of the preorder bonus that is the Multiplayer beta for Call of Duty Black Ops 3. I give some pro tips for playing a first person shooter, go on a rant about why people suck, and talk about how the game feels and what all that good stuff is like. I think the Beta ends soon, if not tonight, for PS4 at least. But go ahead and watch and get an idea to see if it's something you'd want to play come November. Watch it HERE, or below. 



As always, thanks for watching. If you haven't please subscribe. More videos are definitely coming soon especially with the in rush of titles come September.

Thanks,

Rich

Watch Press Start - Bloodborne How long can I survive?

Be sure to check out my blog HERE

Twitch Streaming HERE

Twitter HERE

Bloodborne - How to beat Vicar Amelia

This video won't be that long, or super informative, as I'm sure if you're playing Bloodborne currently you're past this. Unless you got sidetracked. In that case, here's help on how to beat Vicar Amelia. She's a pretty easy encounter with some good weak points to look out for. Otherwise look out for some more videos either in this, or I'll probably be picking up Dark Souls 2 and doing a How Long Can I Survive? run! Which in reality will probably last until around the first Pursuer fight if I don't summon anyone in. But then again if I try to summon someone, I'll probably end up invaded and then die that way. But that doesn't count, right? Because people are jerks. But anyway, hopefully it helps. And as dirty as it makes me feel to ask, but if you don't mind maybe give the subscription button a press. 

thanks,

Rich

 Watch Press Start - Resident Evil HD Remaster HERE!

Be sure to check out my blog HERE

Twitch Streaming HERE

Twitter HERE

Bloodborne: Hypogean Gaol - How to get Adella the Nun

I put together a quick little video describing how to get to the side quest area of Yahar-Gul, or the Hypogean Gaol. You'll need to find a Snatcher. The easiest one is right outside of the Cathedral Ward, right after you kill the Bloodstarved beast. The, to get to Adella, you need to have killed the Blood Starved Beast, but not have gone past killing Rom, the Vacuous Spider, or else it will have been to late to save Adella. They only spawn in specific places. There is one right outside of the Cathedral Ward.  also need to be wearing a certain piece of clothing.
One's that work are: 

• Gascoignes set
• White/Black Church set
• Executioner Garb.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

Rich

Watch - How long can I survive? - Bloodborne

Be sure to check out my blog HERE

Twitch Streaming HERE

Twitter HERE

How long can I survive Bloodborne: Ep 5

We meet the Blood Starved Beast. I find some good stagger points on him and whittle him down pretty far. Do I end up taking him out? Probably not because he's a bit of a dick. We push all the way down, find some more secret passages, and I get overly excited about it, and probably a bit too cautious. There is also a treat after the ending of the video. Thanks for tuning in!If you like, hit the subscribe button, I'll be doing a lot of different game genres in the future.

As always thanks for your time,

Rich

Watch Press Start - Resident Evil HD Remaster HERE!

Be sure to check out my blog HERE

Twitch Streaming HERE

Twitter HERE

Devil's Lair Nightfall Simple Walkthrough

Still playing Destiny? Nigthfall still has to be completed, but you're short a friend or two? Well I got ya covered. Watch as myself and buddy Justin AKA Jada, tackle the first Nigthfall strike with just the two of us. Every boss encounter has a good strategic holding spot. It can be completed if you have to run solo too. Thanks for watching!

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor - Five Point Review

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor - Five Point Review

I'm a little late to this one, but I've been super busy and have had a decent back log to get through with GTA V, Destiny's expansion, Call of Duty and general human business. But in today's return to the Five Point Review we take a look at Shadow of Mordor and whether or not it's worth your time. I'm not a huge fan of the Tolkien books, but fan enough to see all the movies and be interested in it's games. When Monolith announced this one, I was a bit weary as the past few Lord of the Rings games have essentially been bad, and the MMO hasn't been all that great. But after the game started to get some good press, and good reviews, I figured I'd give it a look. 

Summary -  In Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, you play as Talion, a non canonical character in the Middle Earth universe created by Tolkien. I'm not going to get too much into story, as it's a bit of a spoiler, but the easiest way to put it is that the actions in the game's story give the reasoning behind Talion's abilities as plausible. For example, jumping off of ridiculously tall structures, what happens after you die, using your bow and arrow, and so on, and so forth. The game reminds me heavily of the Arkham series, and Assassin's Creed series and does a really great job at marrying them together. The game does get repetitive, but it's a kind of welcome thing to just mindlessly slay the Uruk's who never seem to stop coming. The Sauron's Army component is awesome. Essentially, having in game NPC's fight it out for power and control to move up the ranks. Dying moves the captains around and empowers others, making them stronger and more difficult to deal with. At times, like last night for instance, I found myself fighting 4 different captains at once because they just happen to be wondering by. I absolutely died as probably a hundred enemies eventually slid in and out our combat zone, but that was actually half the fun of it. Dealing with different strengths and weaknesses of each captain, while managing their minions and the possibility of giant monsters joining the fight is a blast. There's hunting challenges, weapon challenges, scavenging challenges, and a ton of content. It's definitely a good time, even through some of it's repetitiveness.

Pros

• Arkham and Assassin's Creed clone - but it works
• Sauron's Army mechanic
• Upgrading/Abilities are fun to mix and match, and find
• Killing Uruks, no matter how many, doesn't seem to get old.
• Ratbag and Gollum are great
• It's bloody and gory and violent, everything you'd expect from Middle Earth
• A ton of content
• Original Story
• Great Voice Acting
• Combat is fluid

Cons

• It does get repetitive
• Some of the platforming and free running is an annoyance. I get stuck on geometry too often
• There are some things they took right out of the other series that seem kind of lazy
• The enemies respawn way too quickly in your immediate area
• Story is a little convoluted
• The typical collectibles - find 45 of these, 25 of these, etc.

Should you play it? Yes.  If you like games like Arkham City, and Assassin's Creed, I would highly suggest it. There is enough going on in the game and it is fun enough even if you aren't really a huge fan of those games. Also, if you like the Tolkien universe, I would suggest it as well as it seems like a pretty great representation of the world and his vision. 

Should you buy it? Yes. Especially at this point. I got it for Christmas for about $30, so it's probably hovering around there still.

Score - 8.25 The game is solid fun and a great time waster. If you're not involved in any other game and want to waste some time brutally beheading some Tolkien-esque monsters, go get it.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Multiplayer 5 Point Review

It feels fun again.

Summary - So it's out, and I swore to myself I wasn't going to play anymore Call of Duty games. But, they sucked me back in. After the debacle that was Ghosts, and the less than stellar Black Ops 2, I had become skeptical to say the least. I think if it did turn out to be the Treyarch game after Ghosts, I wouldn't be playing it.But to be honest, it wasn't so much the game that turned me away from playing, mostly the community. I consider myself a pretty great Call of Duty player and I love the competitive play and aspect of the game. But, I have never, nor will I ever be a fan of drop shotting, quick scope, no scope, 360 shot, excessive camping, or anything that isn't really just a guy and his gun and his skill. And you could argue that all of that takes skill, but that's a different topic for a different day. But to get it out there, the multiplayer is fun again. A bevy of new guns, a new mantling and movement system, the double jumps and dashing, the Exo abilities, the pick 13 system, it all feels familiar while feeling fresh and different at the same time. It is a far from perfect multiplayer, as some of the maps are too tight and the spawn system will suffer because of how quickly everything is moving, but I almost don't mind dying like I would in other games, because I feel like everyone is actually moving around and having a ridiculous time flying through the air.

Pros

• New weapons, Exo suits, Perks, Kill streaks, character customization
• Pick 13 system returns
• Maps are surprisingly really well made with only 1 or 2 duds in the bunch
• Fast paced game play. I mean really fast. But also the ability to play "classic" style
• Future setting without feeling Sci-Fi or campy
• The community hasn't ruined the game yet
• That addicting feeling
• It is a pretty game

Cons

• Spawn system suffers
• Some weapons feel really underpowered
• That "you're putting a 100 bullets into someone and they don't die, then you get killed on 2 and perfect aim and no recoil on the kill cam" feeling is still there and it is still frustrating
• Verticality is a huge and fun part of the game
• New game modes are fun but they're nothing to go crazy over
• I'm still confused why I'm unlocking things, and then losing them a few matches later
• The community still sucks regardless

Should you play it? Yes - Especially if you took a game or two off, to me at least, it feels new and fresh and I swore off the series. If you like FPS games, it will keep you addicted for at least a few months

Should you buy it? Yes - Again, it's that same addicting feeling of Call of Duty and will last a few months. If need be wait till Christmas and ask for it then. Just be prepared to be harvested by veteran players come December 26th.

Score - 8.75

This is for the multiplayer section of the game only. There are single player campaign, as well as a survival mode. They may be coming later. Also, I will be releasing some videos on Youtube hopefully soon so you can see some gameplay and impressions. Thanks

GTA V Special edition unboxing

Grand Theft Auto V has been released, and it is all anyone is doing nowadays. I sprung for the middle tiered Special Edition copy of the game, coming in at a retail cost of $79.99. For the special edition, you get:

• Metal game case
• Blue Print Map
• Digital upgrades
• Special abilities for each character regenerates 25% faster
• Bonus outfits, tattoos, deals from in game vendors
• Free special weapons at Ammu-Nation
• Stunt Plane Trials

It's nothing too special, but I don't mind springing for extra in game stuff like that and a pretty cool blue print map. One pretty cool thing I have found out through reddit, is that holding a black light to the blue print map will show secrets about the game. Since I don't have a black light, here is the link to the reddit post about the message GTA V SECRET BLUE PRINT MESSAGE. There's also a map included with every game with two sides. One being the full map in the game, the other side being a zoomed in more detailed look at downtown Los Santos. Below are some poor quality phone pictures I took with my phone. They're also kinda shitty because I was way too excited to start playing the game and could care less about the proper positioning and good lighting. Shame on me, I know. 

Anyway the game so far is awesome. It truly feels like an open world, with so much to do. I've done a couple missions, and driving around as Franklin is a ton of fun, especially with his special ability to slow down as he drives. Overall all it's kind of overwhelming so far. There really is so much to do, that it would be difficult to spell everything out at this point, especially considering I'm only about 3 hours in. I'm going to attempt to get a review out in relative time. Probably some time around when GTA Online starts up, that way I can incorporate it into the review. IF you haven't picked up the game, go do it now and enjoy. 

Rich

The box

All the Contents

 The Blue Print Map

Downtown Los Santos Side

 Full Map

New GTA V TV trailer and It continues to impress

Another trailer has dropped, this time geared towards the television audience, as it's only clocked in at a minute long. But it is ripe with new shots, and heavy on the story. It appears like two of the main characters, Michael and Trevor, have been best friends for 10+ years, and that Trevor is one of the major reasons that Michael heads back into the heist game. Franklin also seems to have ties to the two, pretty heavily. I'm not sure if this story info was ever really divulged much, but it's clear they all have some sort of past, or at least know what each other is capable of. The balding blonde haired guy in the glasses also seems to be somewhat heavily involved in the story and heists, as he is pretty excited that Michael is back. The trailer is heavy on showing off the heists, Michael having a meeting with more than just the two usual cast, ripping what looks to be hard drives out of servers, removing glass panes for stealth entrances, and what is definitely a surprise is a Juggernaut style game play segment. Someone is running down the street in full bomb disposal gear with a mini gun, just plain wreaking havoc on everything in his way. Explosions, jets, high speed chases, gun fights, and Trevor smashing his head on a pallet are all in there too. If you're not excited for this game, check your pulse. Watch the trailer below. 

Grand Theft Auto V comes out on September 17th, 2013 on Playstation 3, and Xbox 360.

GTA V Multiplayer reveal - Grand Theft Auto Online

Rockstar announced back when they had the game play reveal trailer that more information on the their redefining of multiplayer would come at a later date. Today is that day. What we saw originally in the final few seconds of the 5 minute trailer was a boat load of people causing shenanigans all over the maps. A player walked around an apartment to a floor to ceiling window and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a traditional GTA race, helicopters floating around, other players just moseying about, and then finished with a fighter jet buzzing the apartment complex, finalized by the commentator saying "... And then there's Grand Theft Auto Online, which we will show you properly, soon..." Well about 21 million views on the Rockstar channel alone, and a month later, we finally have more information.

Everything you do is up to you. And the world seems more like it's own character rather than just another map to waste time on. Below is a list of details from the game, and the full video is below that. 

Mechanics - Movement, cover, moving into cover, shooting, and the weapon wheel and more will carry over from single player into multiplayer. 

Weapon Wheel - Apparently you still have the magical purse from Harry Potter that Hermoine carries around. In the weapon wheel you can carry a handgun, sub machine gun, assault rifle, sniper rifle, shotgun, a heavy weapon like a grenade/rocket launcher, and a thrown weapon. There are a bunch of different weapons that can be slotted in each spot. 

Crew - You can either choose to play alone, or form a crew of friends and allies.

Missions - In your crew, or alone, you can complete jobs, heists, robberies, as well as traditional GTA style game modes like Team Death Match, races, and more.

Races - The only solid detail they gave was that you can race in any of the vehicles; land, sea, air. Also I'm gonna assume that the GTA style races will be back where you can shoot each other and blow each other up.

Reputation/Money - Completing all of the above gets you and your crew money and reputation. What you do with this money is completely up to you. You can buy anything from weapons, character accessories which includes clothing, hair styles, tattoos, and accessories in general, cars, garages, and even real estate. Since it's a persistent world, I assume that once you purchase something like a car or weapon that it might be yours forever, so you can pick it back up at your base of operations or your garage. Everything you do in the game earns you some form of reputation or money.

Activities - These are scripted and unscripted things to partake in through the city that were shown or talked about. Some of which have already been discussed.

• Cliff/base jumping
• Tennis
• Golf
• Racing
• Arm Wrestling
• Missions
• Heists
• Apartment Hangouts

Support- Rockstar as proclaimed they will be supporting the game for a while to come by providing content updates, along with user created content. It's still GTA but not even technically part of GTA V. They are considering it its own entity. Online will not be available at launch, but rather two weeks later on October 1st and will be free and no extra charge on top of the game. 

Players - There are a maximum of 16 players, but whether or not you're locked into a server wasn't addressed. 

That's the one thing I'm curious about. If you buy property on one server, do you have it on all servers? Can you be on multiple servers with different characters? What if the server is full and you can't get a crew member in? There's definitely a few questions I have.

Overall, this game looks like it might blow away any competition it will have as a Game of the Year contender. They're packing so much content into this that it's hard to believe anyone will be able to say that it's too short, or that they can't find something in the world to do that isn't fun. I can't sing praises enough about how much I love Rockstar, and how they're one of the few companies that can take as much time as they need to put out a game because everyone knows what they turn out is quality. Only one month left until GTA V hits. I know I'll be counting down the days.

Grand Theft Auto V ships on September 17th, 2013, and Grand Theft Auto Online will be available two weeks later on October 1st, 2013.

Call of Duty: Ghosts Multiplayer Reveal

Today is the Call of Duty: Ghosts Multi player reveal, and a lot of information has come to fruition.There's a lot of info to digest, so I'm gonna try to keep it rather short.

They began with a trailer of a bunch of features, while a brand new Eminem song played in the background. It is apparently a world premier from his new album. So, some new multi player stuff. It's going to be a bit jumbled, because a lot of the information they provided was back and forth and integrated into all other new announcements

Complete soldier customization - appearance, clothing, faces, gender, camouflage. Approximately 20,000 combinations possible.

Classes are now your Squad - Instead of 10 classes, you get a squad. Essentially tailoring each soldier to what you want them to be. If you want a ghillied LMG expert, have fun, and so on and so forth.

Squads - Compete across all modes. Squad v squad puts you and your AI squad against another player and their squad, war game - which you hand pick 5 squad mates against 5 AI opponents, and safeguard - a wave based squad game mode

The AI will be refined and attempt to play like humans, ala like douchey kids who like to drop shot, jump shot, etc. I understand this is part of the game, but when you say that your game is realistic, this stuff tends to take away from the experience, as it's a cheap way to take advantage of the shooting system and mechanics. What makes it worse is that Infinity Ward is actually supporting this form of game play. 

Dynamic maps - Set pieces and scripted events you can trigger, like moving locations, falling debris/buildings, map specific kill streaks, and some destructible cover.

Kill streaks - 20 new kill streaks have been added, and they're also removing a lot of air based streaks to minimize the necessity to carry around specific equipment to neutralize them. Care packages, UAV, mini gun, sentry guns, juggernaut, choppers, are all returning, plus more. Also Riley, the campaign dog will be a kill streak. He will follow you around, help with CQC, and act as a personal UAV. Death streaks have also been removed.

The idea behind removing holding certain equipment for game play takes away even more of the strategy element of the game. I understand that some kill streaks were very overpowered in past iterations, but now making them ground based might even make it worse. 

Weapons - 30 new weapons have been added, they didn't go into specifics, other than a new gun class called marksmen rifles that looked to be like the FAL-DSW, M21, etc. Essentially single/burst/full auto high powered weapons that can have high powered scopes or normal red dot, etc.

Again this is something I don't like. Giving weapons full customization is an awesome thing. But the power of some of these weapons is great enough, and the whole quick/no scoping, and rapid firing semi auto rifles with no recoil give the game an annoying touch to it. This is another piece of annoying community fanfare they're embracing that I personally don't agree with.

Second screen - They're embracing second screen a lot. Seems like just enhanced stats, customization on the fly. There's also a lot more second screen options like touch screen emblem creators, clan operations, etc.

Weapon Overhaul - The system to building your squad (class) has been overhauled. For the first time since modern warfare 1 the new system is considered "most flexible." They've adopted the "pick 10" system from Treyarch, but is slightly redesigned with new/more perks. Every perk has a set point value from 1-5. The maximum quantity of picked perks is set to 8, without weapons it goes to 11. Now, XP gives squad points to unlock the usual - difference is pick what you want to unlock at any point, in any order. So, instead of classes, you singly level 10 different soldiers. Each soldier has 1 prestige, equaling the usual 10 prestige levels.

Strike Packages - Are back. They didn't go too much into it though. I'm assuming because it's the same as MW3, with assault, support, and specialist.

Game Modes - 
Cranked -It's TDM with faster pace. Every kill gives you faster movement, like reload speed, ADS, but with a timer. If you don't get a kill in the timer, you die. It's a similar idea to the movie Crank where he has to keep moving with adrenaline or he dies.
Search and Rescue - This is similar to Search and Destroy, but after your death, instead of being done, you can be revived. When you die, your tag drops. If you grab a teammates tag they respawn. If you grab an enemy tag they stay dead until the next round.
Squads - Is explained above. These are also considered in the new game modes.


Movement - Now the movement system has been more streamlined, so moving over cover, or mantling, is now easier and you don't lost momentum. They have also added in a leaning cover system where you don't need to press any more buttons, it will do it intuitively, and a knee slide to slide into cover, obviously.

Redefined Sound - The new system sounds good. Depending on where you are on the map, say a metal warehouse, or a carpeted room, the fire fights, and explosions will sound differently. They have also added in combat chatter which will help with locating enemies, and other things around the map without any prompt.

Field Orders - In the live demo, while they were playing a game of Cranked, the first player killed dropped a briefcase, the briefcase contains an order from anywhere to humiliate your opponent to a certain number of kills. If the player holding the orders dies, someone else can pick it up and try to complete it Upon completing this gets you a care package that could be anything. Now I don't know if this is across all game types or just cranked, but it's actually a cool idea.

Clans - Integrated clan support and in game challenging, as well as 2 week long Clan Wars involving maps, and challenges to determine a winner, all in game. Winning events will earn you exclusive gear, emblems, camo, etc.

Prestige edition - They had a really dumb video of the two guys from college humor showing off the prestige edition of the game, with a helmet cam that resembled a Go-Pro, and how it is shock and water proof. I don't know, I didn't get it. But there's obviously other goodies in it. Also, the season pass is back.

So, Eric Hirshberg stood on stage and said that there is a holiday every year in November called Call of Duty time, and referenced pop culture like how when the franchise was born Pierce Brosnan was 007, Ironman was only a comic, and the Avengers wer

e something, I forget, but... there was something about this guy talking that gave me cringe worthy chills down my neck. Touting stats of what Call of Duty has done, how the series brings that "holy shit" reaction to gamers, bringing Eminem in for a shameless plug for his new album, and cameo saying to stay tuned for more information, and just overall trying to be too overly funny and culturally hip.

In my honest opinion, as someone who's been in love with the brand, Call of Duty is heading in the wrong direction. I get it, they want to keep making the billion they make every year. I'm all for companies doing their thing. I just don't really like how they're trying to market the annoyances of the game, like drop shots, and quick scoping, and upping the speed of the game, but still have the audacity to talk about the realism it portrays. They have actual US soldiers playing the game, yet none of the soldiers would ever do anything in the game. Again, let me reiterate, I understand the franchise is essentially a hero's idea of war, and supposed to be arcade-like super speed action. I just don't think they should be advertising it as realistic for anything other than their attempt at graphics.

The series is a mainstream thing, which is no problem at all, but it seems like they're having problems staying humble as well.The issue there, is that they're talking about game features that have been present in their biggest nemesis, the Battlefield series, for a little while now.

In the end, there are a lot of things I like about the idea of the new Ghosts entry. Enhanced customization, interactive maps, new game modes, bigger emphasis on clans, and a complete class overhaul. These are the things that need to push the soon to become boring FPS genre forward. Embracing the social media space, new generations of gamers and consoles, different styles of game play are all great ideas, and I hope they succeed in attempt to make the franchise seem fresh again. I just hope they don't lose site of what made Call of Duty a multi-billion dollar franchise in the process.

Call of Duty Ghosts releases on all major platforms, including next gen on November 5th, 2013

Rich

Grand Theft Auto V: Official Gameplay Video

Today marks a big day, as the premier gameplay trailer for Grand Theft Auto 5 has been released. And to put it lightly, holy shit. There's a lot to dissect from the trailer. 

1. The massive map
2. Ditching the traditional shoulder buttons to switch weapons for a weapon wheel
3. Golfing, tennis, cycling
4. Car customization
5. Character Customization
6. Weapon Customization
7. Sky Diving
8. Progressive Characters to switch to on the fly - meaning they'll be involved in their own daily activities whether you're playing as them or not
9. Multiple air crafts
10. Bounty Hunting
11. Scuba diving
12. Choose your path heists, as well as who you proceed with
13. Tattoos
14. Purchase of stock and real estate
15. Grand Theft Auto Online - which appears to be a continuous progressive world, but no further information is provided

Stop reading this and watch the trailer. The Game releases September 17th.

Xbox One to reverse DRM?

-UPDATE-

And it has been confirmed, that Microsoft will be making changes to their DRM policies on th Xbox One. What exactly, you can read here News.Xbox.com. 


According to Giantbomb.com, (who's website is currently down at the time of this) Microsoft has stated that the Xbox One will reverse their stance for DRM on the next gen console, and have the same standards to that of the Xbox 360. This includes scrapping the 24 and 1 hour check ins, and used game fees that plagued the system's reputation since the whispers came around. However, the Kinect 2.0 will still need to be connected with the system.

This is a complete game changer for Microsoft, as many have stated their displeasure with the company and swore of Xbox for the other choices. There has not been any confirmation from Microsoft, and the GiantBomb.com website is down.

Rich

E3 Starts Today Part 2 - Ubisoft & Sony

I was going to continue the update from the previous post, but there was a lot of information to put into one post, and I ran out of character space in the labels, so I have started a new post for what I actually got to watch for Ubisoft and Sony's press conferences. You will notice that I will be writing more details for these stories, as I was able to actually watch Sony's conference in full, and about half of the Ubisoft conference.

Ubisoft

I caught their press conference as it was happening, as I just walked in from work, so I'll comment on what I have read and saw.

Rocksmith 2014 - I didn't catch this live, but it seems like an improved edition from the original, with more modes, and better feedback from the guitar to train you on how to actually play guitar. Seems cool if you're into this sort of thing.

Dance Central 2014 - The same game. I honestly really don't care about this one, nor do I know anyone that does. I just know there is a new one coming out. 

The Crew - A completely persistent, massive open world racing game that covers the entirety of the United States. I'm not a huge fan of racing games, but the attention to detail, the amount of vehicles and their possibilities, and the humongous open world map have me fully intrigued with this title. 

Trials Fusion/Frontier - There will be two new Trials games coming. Fusion will come to all platforms, excluding the PS3. There will be tricks added in for the first time in the series and seems to be set in a more future type setting. This may just be only what they showed in the trailer though. Frontier is an exclusive mobile game for Apple, and Android operating systems

Tom Clancy's: The Divison - In my opinion, this may have stolen the show as far as new games go. It is an RPG co-op shooter set in a post apocalyptic New York, or at least this was the only location they showed. There will be player versus player. You will encounter other survivors as you traverse the maps. Whether they're friendly or hostile is up to you. The attention to detail and the player style customization had me very interested in where this title is going. 


Sony

Playstation 3 - Sony started off by showing it's soon to be launched lineup with GTA: V, Last of US, and a couple other games, as well as mentioning their continued support for the system.

Playstation Vita - They had to talk about it, but they announced that the continued support for the Vita will, well, continue. Not a lot of huge info here but heres a quick list:      Counterspy, Destiny of Spirits, Doki Doki Universe, Killzone Mercenery, Tearaway, God of War HD 1 and 2, Final Fantasy X and X-2, Flower, Dead Nation, Transistor, and...

The Walking Dead Season 2 400 days - The second season of the episodic Walking Dead Telltale games are coming, and they will also be available on the Playstation Vita. This was the biggest news for the Vita.

PS4 - They showed the console. They named a price. No confirmed date however. It will retail at $399, and undoubtedly coming this holiday season. They also took some hay maker shots at Microsoft, and stated, the new console will not feature any video game restrictions in the form of trade ins, sharing, or other DRM. However, it has been confirmed now, that you will need Playstation Plus to play games online. As it stands, PS+ is $50. This is a similar model that Microsoft uses, but Sony offers free and discounted games with their service. Applications like Netflix will not be effected if you do not have PS+. You do not need to be connected online to play games either. 

Assassin's Creed 4 - More of the same from the AC series, but increased visuals, and less building climbing, and more stealth. There also seemed to be some seamless transition from on foot game play to high seas combat. The demo appeared to be glitching at times as well, which to be honest, seemed almost expected from the game as of late. 

The Order: 1886 - A new exclusive IP set on a different timeline where modern weaponry becomes available early on, a group of well dressed soldiers fight what looks like werewolves. I think it would be pretty awesome if it has a Van Helsing-multiple fantasy monster-coop thing going on. It's being made by ReadyAtDawn Studios, the guys behind the handheld PSP God Of War titles.

Indie Games - Sony wanted to make it clear that Indie studios can self publish their own games. I'm just gonna list them:
Don't Starve, Mercenary Kings, Octodad, Secret Ponchos, Ray's the Dead , Oddworld: New n Tasty, Galaxy (17-bit)

Final Fantasy Versus XIII/XV & XIV - In what was possibly the greatest news(only to be rivaled with my next bullet) Square Enix showed Final Fantasy Versus XII, the long awaited game in the "fabula nova crystallis" line set in the Final Fantasy XIII universe. Apparently, it has been in development for PS4 the entire time. It as since been renamed Final Fantasy XV, and it looks absolutely amazing. Also they announced the much maligned revamp of Final Fantasy XIV will be out soon for PS3, and PS4.

Kingdom Hearts 3 - The third game in the beloved Kingdom Hearts series is now in production. A quick trailer showed Sora, voiced by Haley Joel Osmont still, riding Heartless enemies and getting ready for battle. It is not clear whether or not these two Square Enix titles will be console exclusive, but it did appear that way.

Mad Max - I don't know what to make of this. It's a game set in the Mad Max universe, which seems like a cool idea, but why now? I guess it's going to be an open world, car combat, foot combat mash up. I don't know honestly. I'm sure we'll get more info soon.

The Elder Scrolls: Online - The MMO version of the Elder Scrolls will be coming to all next gen consoles, but a trailer was shown at the Sony conference. It will release sometime in 2014.

Destiny - The last bit of Sony's conference, we got hands on game play of Destiny. It looks absolutely stunning, and looks like a mashup of Halo, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, Borderlands, and a few other games. If you ask me, that's a winning combination of games.

My Top 10 games of this generation

It's been a somewhat slow months for gaming, and for this well. Work, personal life, sports, gym, and more have been consuming my life, but with my new position at work, it allows me a little more time to maintain. So, with not much going on, other than the announcement for the next Xbox coming up, I figured I would write my list for my favorite games from this generation, so far. I know there are still some big name titles around the corner, but I toyed with this idea since the Playstation 4 was announced.

It was a difficult task. Too many quality titles were released, and to be honest, I probably will have forgotten and left out a few. Let's give it a go, in descending order from 10 to 1.

10. Batman: Arkham City - A game that proved licensed property doesn't always have to suck. And not only that, but was a wonderful game overall. Improving on everything Arkham Asylum did, it gave us the feeling of being Batman in a large scale world. A ton of gadgets, and unlockable moves, progressing through the story multiple times was a blast. Playing this is the closest thing to be the Bat as you're going to get, other than wearing the costume and getting beaten up on the streets by people wanting to test your skills...

9. Dark Souls - I was prepared for death. I told myself I wouldn't stop till I beat this damn game. I stopped. I traded it to a friend, and said screw it. 2 weeks later, I was pondering what I could have done differently? Why I was dying so easily? Maybe I should have tried a different build? I ended up having the itch to try Dark Souls again, and never looked back. Racking up a couple hundred hours of game play and play throughs, I fell in love with everything about this one. And with Dark Souls II on the horizon, I'm looking forward to the frustration all over again.

8. Halo 3 - It was a long time ago, but Halo 3 was a huge part of this console generation. People seem to overlook it, especially with Reach taking a lot of the praise away from the game that gave it the hype it was semi worthy of. Halo 3 brought me into online gaming more than I ever was before, and I loved everything about the balanced game play and shooting mechanics, and awesome story that kept me coming back to play Legendary with friends. This one deserves a spot on the top ten.

7. Borderlands - Borderlands brought a lot to the table. I must have played through it 4 or 5 times, I actually lost count. A couple on Xbox, and a couple on my PC, I couldn't get enough. There was something strangely addictive about finding gun chests scattered throughout Pandora and mixing different gun combinations to fit your character class. Borderlands combined everything people loved about first person shooters, role playing games, and a comically smart story line to keep me not caring about any other game I had, even months after release.

6. Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots - Oh boy, this one. The fitting conclusion to Solid Snake's journey. A ridiculous story line that had more twists than any right minded person could count, fun stealth and camouflage game play, addicting gun customization, and a proper sending off for Old Snake, this game is as close to perfect as it will ever get. 

5. Uncharted 2 - As a game that felt more an experience rather than just another title, the overall grandiose cinematic adventure that was Uncharted 2 was something of legend. Fun characters and fun game play. Fun run and gun action, and a fun story. Guess what? The game was fun. Plain and simple fun. I was never frustrated, it flowed perfectly. Even on Crushing difficulty, it was a blast to play through. Add in some decent multiplayer death matches on top of the stellar everything else, this game was damn good that everyone better have played from front to back.

4. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Here is where things get interesting. Modern Warfare is the game that started the first person shooter craze. Yes, Halo 3 was made before it, and it was the game that got the FPS genre going, but Call of Duty 4 took it to the next level. This was the type of shooter that everyone was clamoring for after the World War 2 setting had become stagnant. Finally a game set in modern times, with M4A1's, M1014's, M240's, Clay-mores and C4. A compelling story with major tones of national unrest and the threat of world war by terrorism. Pepper in some beyond addicting multiplayer with a progression system that everyone and their mother's developers have copied since. This game was and will go down as the shooter to spawn the rest, and it did one hell of a job in the process.

3. GTA IV - Building on the success of GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas, GTA IV took a little turn to the more serious side of story telling. It was Rockstar's first GTA on the new hardware and they succeeded in every way, shape, and form. Ditching the cartoonish visuals of the Playstation 2, and Xbox era, they went with a real look, and real story, all while keeping their patented satirical humor, insane action, massive open world, and detailed character development. Grand Theft Auto has been a juggernaut since GTA 3 was released, and they haven't looked back. GTA IV is arguable one of the greatest games ever made, let alone this console generation. You could pretty much do anything you wanted in Liberty City, and it was a great way to kill your Sunday afternoon, or entire weekend for that matter. I could ramble on for a few paragraphs about every crazy thing you can do in game but I need to continue on. Just know this game needs to be played at some point in your life, or you just need to stop playing video games if you haven't at least tried it.

2. Fallout 3 - I must have spent close to 400 hours in the Wasteland, and I just started up a new play through on my Xbox 360. When I first learned about Fallout 3, I didn't know much about the series, nor did I even know much about Bethesda. For some odd reason, I was in college and I remember being at Gamestop, and something clicked in my head that I wanted to pre-order the game. It must have been a Gameinformer preview or something along those lines that made me excited about the title. So, I ended up at the midnight release with about two dozen other people. I brought it back to my apartment, and had an immediate attraction to everything the game had to offer. The way the story was presented, the feelings I had developed to characters and locations throughout it's massive map, my affinity for the secret weapons and the need to find and try them all, stellar DLC, and more side quests than I could remember. Fallout 3 has crept its way into one of my personal favorite games of all times, and it absolutely deserves it.

1. Red Dead Redemption - Rockstar has stolen the show. With two titles in the top 3, it's clear, to me, they have made the most out of this console generation only to have another powerhouse in GTA V coming down the pipe quickly for holiday 2013. Red Dead Redemption gave us something new and refreshing. A lot of people were a little unsure as to how the Wild West would lend itself to an open world environment, but coming away years later, it turned out to be, in my opinion, the greatest game of this console generation. The sheer amount of quality in the massive amount of quantity is above and beyond the competition. Do you want to hunt wild animals? Have fun stalking prey in the snowy mountains, and ranking up your hunter challenges. Want to cause a ruckus at the bank and fend off the local police from a rooftop? Good luck in the firefight with the U.S. Marshals. Want to ride the train through Mexico for a few hours picking off anything you see with your Winchester Repeater? It'll be a treat watching bandits, slide off their horses dead. Meeting strangers and other cowboys in the field, stumbling upon treasure, intense gun fights, awesome multiplayer, considerably the greatest DLC ever created, and a story to make a grown man shed a tear, Red Dead Redemption far and away takes the cake with a Winchester in one arm, and a lasso in the other. Bravo John Marston, bravo.

I really struggled with this, especially the last 5. Now, these aren't the greatest games ever made, nor am I saying that these are better than your picks. These are just the games that I think I personally enjoyed this console generation. The gap from 1-10 is minuscule. I didn't think it would be this difficult until i got to around number three. And I know there's major titles that are superb games that I left out; Bioshock, Bioshock: Infinite, Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, the Mario Games, the Zelda games, Dead Rising, Dead Space, Mass Effect, Rock Band, Gears of War, God of War 3, Minecraft, Killzone 2, Journey, Braid, Battlefield 3, Assassins Creed, etc. These are all games I spent time with and had fun with, a lot of time playing multiple play throughs and countless hours. 

Overall, I like my list. I tend to stick to the open world games, shooters, and RPG's. I ended up flipping a few choices back and forth a few times while writing it, but I'm comfortable with how it turned out. A few choices I was debating on putting in the list, and not the eighth through tenth, but pretty much throughout other than one to three. I guess to me, story, and character development have a lot to do with what I consider to be the greatest. Add in customization, some post release support, and fun multiplayer and it just helps out the cause. Hope you enjoyed the list, so what are your favorites from this generation?

Bioshock: Infinite - Flirting With Perfection

It's difficult for me to not just gush over the keyboard and start writing wonderful words about the critically acclaimed darling that is Bioshock: Infinite. So I will try to put this into a summation of sorts that keeps it somewhat tame. And I will start by saying, it was absolutely awesome.

It's been a while since I've played a game that has had me in as much awe as Infinite. From the moment you start, to the very end, my jaw was on the floor. I'll start with the games strong suits, of which there are a ton. The story is something different, which is a welcomed approach to the gaming industry that seems to be more focused on explosions and gun fights, which coincidentally the game has many of. It's typical in the sense of the guy, Booker Dewitt, getting girl, Elizabeth, from corrupt bad guy, Zachary Comstock, but that's where it stops, and where the overwhelmingly present aspect of the early 1900's floating city of Columbia. If anything were to steal the show away from the story, and it's wonderful cast its this city. The fine detail Irrational put into the making of this place puts it at a surreal level. Walk around one corner and you'll find a soda shop, walk around another and you find a street fair going on, all with the undertones of severe racism, religious and political undertones, and an uneasiness of tension in every conversation you partake in. They're all things we don't see much of in gaming in a serious sense, and it was refreshing watching it unravel in a well laid out story. But when you think you know what's going on in the story, be prepared to rethink it when the next cut scene starts up.

Booker is a great protagonist with a lot of great qualities in his character. The strong lead detective tasked with getting the girl back, with an affinity for big guns, and vigors. Vigors are your powers for the game, including a lightning, and fire attack, as well as some crowd control, they all come in handy and provide nice combos along with a shotgun blast. Elizabeth, the aforementioned damsel in distress, is a ton of fun to have following you around. Irrational did one hell of a job writing the AI for her as she's never in your way, and is always helping you out, tossing ammo, health, and salts, which reloads your vigors, whenever your stock is depleted. Her biggest addition is her ability to open tears whenever possible. It could range from med packs, armory deposits, sky hooks, or automated turrets. Not once did I ever say, having her around is a pain.


Every little inkling of the game screams with precise detail. Stumbling upon tears where you hear famous tunes in an old timey fashion, looking at posters of current events, the detail of the weapons, and supplies you pick up, they all have the feeling like they should be there. Like you really are in this world with these people. The voice actors for the characters did an amazing job, and I looked forward to their in game banter, as well as every scene they had together. Watching behind the scenes footage of the pair working together was a treat, and their chemistry paid off big time in their interactions in the game. They definitely helped bring the essence of the game to the next level. 

The only qualms with the game I had were small hindrances at game play. I ran into a few bugs that had me wanting to quit a few times, and a couple of the checkpoints became increasingly frustrating. One bug had me attempt to continue through a section I'd never been to. When I got there, I noticed two what I thought were NPC's just standing there talking. As I passed them nothing happened, and I continued on, but I couldn't continue on as the game wouldn't let me. I backtracked to see them again thinking maybe I had to interact with them somehow. They had disappeared. They were actually enemies I needed to dispatch to continue on to the next area. So I had to reset my system, start over from one of the checkpoints, and go through the process again, only this time they reacted properly and I took care of them properly. Another bug, which made me ridiculously annoyed, was that the red glow of the gun when it was overheating, would get stuck on my screen and not dissipate until I had reloaded my gun, fired at least one shot, and reloaded again. This lasted for a few days actually until I was almost at the end of the game. And the last bit I had an issue with was the checkpoints. Maybe because I played on the hard difficulty from the get go, but getting stuck in an endless loop of dying 3 seconds after I came back from the limbo type world was not my idea of fun. There are furious fire fights in the game with turrets and grenade launchers and having the first place I get brought back to being a spot where an incoming grenade is coming is frustrating to say the least.

However, overall this game is superb. There isn't much wrong with it at all, and anyone with a gaming pulse should at least give this game a go for its great story line, fun game play, and incredible voice acting. From beginning to end I found myself smiling at the details. If you haven't played this one yet, do so, I promise you will not be disappointed. 

I give this game a -  9.5/10