The Flappy Bird giveth, and the Flappy Bird Taketh Away

As you all probably know by now - the creator of Flappy Bird had the game removed from the App stores a couple of days ago. As I understand it, he was not comfortable with the hype and attention that suddenly sprung up around the game. Each to their own I guess.

One crazy thing I over heard at work yesterday though, which I just had to post about, was how many people are selling their Apple and android phones/devices on the likes of Ebay for a rediculous markup because it has Flappy Bird installed. (Linked example selling for £800 rather than the more normal £350...) It seems a little crazy. It is just a game... an addictive one maybe, but one that will undoubtedly be recreated a bajillion times - then probably improved upon.

Just my 2c

-Velk

CSR Racing Review and thoughts.

My Tier 1 Ford Focus. 

CSR Racing is an iOS game that was released at the end of June. Since its inception, it has been a relatively big hit, and has also proven to be a huge cash cow for NaturalMotion Games.

I aim for this lengthly post to count as both a review and as a bit of a guide for new players of the game. I am by far an expert for the game, but by this point I have cleared the First Tier content, and am approximately half way through the second tier. All the waffle below is my opinon, but I will link in other sources where possible… Grab a cup of tea, sit back and relax… this is not going to be short…

So far, the game has proved to be very immersing, with excellent quality graphics and audio. It reminds me strongly of Need for Speed and Burnout, and is essentially a game where you customise and upgrade your car and take to the streets to compete in drag races which return coin which you reinvest in further upgrades or new vehicles to do better at the drag races. I find that you can take a great sense of pride and ownership of your vehicle… The game makes you want to pick a vehicle you like (in this case I picked a ford focus which is in the title image, as I drive the same car.) which you then customise the looks of (which also provides bonus $’s at the end of each race) and upgrade to make it the best drag racer it can be. Every vehicle also behaves differently, with different levels of traction, speed bands and gear ratios which mean you have to adapt to the car.

In each race you have the ‘start’ where you need to balance the rev limiter to get the perfect start without too much wheel spin or power loss, and then you control the timings of the Gear changes or NOs injections. It is a battle of timing and efficiency, and whilst it can be a bit samey, does not detract from the game play in the slightest.

At Tier 1 you can participate in the Regulation Races (Easy races which provide easy income, but only in small chunks), the Ladder system (progressively more difficult races with good rewards), Challenges (periodic challenges which can be tough, but give good rewards), Daily Races (drags where you are ‘loaned’ a vehicle and are given good rewards, that get progressively higher if you play daily. These are fairly easy races and a good way out of a cash bottleneck.) and the all important Crew Battles, where you take your car and compete against the local race circuit/gangs. Said gangs provide a lot of smack talk and generally succeed in making you want to crush their racers into the road, and it feels oh-so-good when you upgrade your vehicle enough and ace the race. When you defeat the gang leader, you can progress to the next tier. 

Each tier requires an equivalently Tiered car in order to race. This is where things can get tricky for the free player. You can try to win the Gang leaders car at the risk of the Gold Coins you win by defeating them, or you can go on the hunt for a new vehicle. I was sad at this point as I really liked the Ford Focus and had grown to love it, and was not going to be able to use it in Tier 2! Unfortunately I never re raced the gang leader for his car as I don’t like the new Mini, and did not want to risk the coin... so I continued to do the Ladder and Regulation races in Tier 1 until the assistant gal in the game turned up with a special deal for a half-price car, in this case a Chevrolet Camaro. 

My Tier 2 Camaro. (I know, not a great paint job but still!)

I thought that it looked decent, and had good stats but I was $2000 shy for it (I always seem to be a little short to take up one of these offers) so I forked out 15 of the 16 Gold Coins I had earned through races and leveling, and spent the $30,000 on upgrades, then took to tier 2. 

Tier 2 is somewhat similar but the cars you race against are better equipped, and Restriction Races are introduced. I have not really toyed about with these as my car is too light, and too fast to meet the restricted criteria…

Generally the player will play through races, earn cash, spend it on upgrade (and eventually vehicles) and win their way through each tier. I am not sure what happens when you reach the end of Tier 5 – but I get the feeling this is going to be a fairly long game, but so far after a week of play I am enjoying it! As there is a reasonable conversion rate of real money to gold coins players that are willing to spend real money on in-game purchases should not feel as ripped off as many other games. With a player base of around 2.5 Million at present, announcements of the huge revenue pulled from it can attest to how many players enjoy the game enough to valiate spending money. Plus, every spend is optional. For myself, the items I would be most willing to spend money on would be for a really nice car and some custom decals to make it look good. I am happy to wait for the delivery of more advanced parts and cars, but these can be sped up with gold coins too.

An aside on the Freemium system:

The Freemium system is a method of game delivery that allows players to get and play the game for free, and which usually includes purchasable in game content or advertising. Many people look upon the freemium system with distain, as many developers approach the freemium market with the mindset of milking players for as much money as possible. Whilst in many cases *cough Zynga cough* this is true, the costs of many in game items is prohibitive to all but the most avid and fat-pursed gamer. Many of these games have ‘choke points’ where the player is forced to spend their in-game credit to bypass, which in turn means spending money. Players can usually horde just enough of the in-game credit to get through these places, or are able to ‘beg it’ from their friends if they are determined not to pay anything, but it can be very slow. Some games are highly profitable without giving players the feeling that they are being ‘Nickel and dimed’ – a good example of a game that gets the balance right, or at least in favor of the customer being Tiny Tower (Android & iOS). 

In this game the user is given a range of sources of the in game currency ‘Bux’ and if they play regularly, are constantly being bombarded with it via tips from the occasional elevator passenger, or for helping locate ‘Bitizens’ within the tower. This may have dented the revenue stream for the company, but for a two man development team, a couple of million $ a year cannot be frowned upon, and best of all the game is perfectly playable for those that don’t want to spend the coin. In my opinion – freemium gaming is actually very good. If you would not have bought the game normally, you get to play it at no cost. In my case, if I would be willing to buy the game in a shop, then I would attribute a cash value to the game and use it as my limit for in game spends. The other upside is that with the software market the way it is today with piracy and the likes, it can prove a stable source of income for the developer meaning that they can continue to make good games. Without the freemium system I would not have played: DC Universe Online, Blacklight Retribution, CSR Racing, Lord Of The Rings online and more… all games I really enjoy(ed) playing.

In Conclusion:

The game is free. Try it! you wont be disappointed if you are in any way a fan of racing games, or car customisation games. It provides a quality experience, and is indeed a game that could have gone to market with a reasonable price tag. Try it, dont be afraid to spend a few bob for your own special ride, and enjoy! 

GFX: 9/10

Audio: 8/10

Addiction: 8.5/10

Value: 8/10

Fun: 9/10

Overall: 8.5/10

EA considering calling it a day and selling up?

I read that EA, a game company that has a large array of games under its collar, and companies it has accumulated (Bioware, Mythinc, etc.) including Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age, spore, Mas Effect, Crysis etc, and has a vast number of games in development, are considering selling off the company.

some articles on the matter:

• edge-online
• MCV
• Develop-online
• Wiki entry: Check the list of games created... it is expansive

It looks like they are only considering offers that are significantly higher than the companies value at present, but that does not mean someone will not jump...

I think with the decline of players in SW:TOR and the lack of success here and with Warhammer Online, a midst social games and mobile game releases, they are just not bringing in the bucks, and this is reflected by the share price drop... Not a good year for video games developers is it... :s

Zynga. What is going on?? Some thoughts and info.

Yoinked from Penny Arcade (credit: Dabe Alan)

So, more controversy has arisen regarding the activities of Zynga and their share price crashes as of late.

computerandvideogames.com have posted an article relating to an Investigation that is under way due to suspicious activity with share sales before the crash.

Kotaku seems to be the source post about this and has some interesting info.

Zynga have had a long string of successes in quick-fix-gaming using the Facebook social website as a delivery platform for these games. The games include the likes of Words with Friends, FarmVille, The Sims Social, Bubble Safari, the recent 'The Ville' and more. Their games have always been pretty big hits with the facebook community and I have played many of them over the last 3 years. I would gripe however, that their freemium pay model is highly flawed. I wonder if this is in fact something to do with their problems. Sure numbers are declining, but they still see in excess of 50 Million users every day across their games... There are companies with much smaller numbers that are flourishing.

And now I shall go into a rant about the Freemium system that Zynga implements...

One observation to make - look at the recently released Dragon City. It is a game that you can play with no pressure of spending money - it is addictive, fun, and for my wife and I, keeps us coming back for more. We have been tempted to get some in game currency, and for the cost of it, and its uses - it would not feel like a waste of money. Zynga's games however... You can spend a buttload of money for in game cash, which in turn gives very little return and is also inconsistent.

One example that shows this inconsistency is the game: Bubble Safari. One cash costs 10-15p depending on how much you buy, and you can spend as much as £70.00 in a single transaction. (seriously, thats twice the price of a newly released game!) This cash is then spent on boosts and power ups. The player can also buy gold (at about 10p for 100G) Gold is easy to earn in game, and cash comes in in dribs and drabs, or can be pried through friend-share, but takes time. So what now. We start a game! You are offered a selection of powerups for gold coin (cash equivalent for 6 extra bubbles? £2!! - and those bubbles are unlikely to push you to clearing the board or having enough bubbles left to get your score into the 1* region if you are struggling...) Next, as you are playng you can buy 5 bubbles for 2 cash. k... so lets do that... oh wait, I dont have enough cash, I need to pay real money. £1.48. What?! Thats the same price as nearly 15 cash... So... you fail the level and get to buy 10 bubbles to continue. this costs 4 cash, or again, £1.48. Completely inconsistent. I understand that it is a good point to try to milk the user of money - especially if they can see the end is in sight - but at the point you can buy 5 bubbles, you can also click 'buy cash' and bypass the charge window and use 20p worth of cash. I cant help but wonder if there is even a designer or tester on board for this :/

Its these levels of extortion that personally have stopped me playing their games. I wish I had access to the analytics info for the company. There are people out there with the disposable income to pay for these boosts at these levels, and if they have fun and dont mind paying, then why not? The value of money is only what we apply to it.

Perhaps I get a bit hot under the collar as I work for a company that looks up to Zynga as a role model and I want to develop a better freemium system, that does not suck the fun for a game, or forces the designers to create the game around eventually forcing the player to pay to continue - it should be that the players with the expendible income can use that disposable cash to improve the quality of their game. The normal user can struggle a bit, and invest time to advance instead.

Just my 2c. I think this is a huge factor in their collapse. They will get back on their feet, Im sure of it. The games are still being played, the money is still coming in - they just need to sell off assets or cut their outgoings (Which unfortunately means MORE job losses)

Feel free to add your own in the comments :-)

-V

GTA V: Due in march, anticipation rising!

I hope I dont need a new GFX card... :( \o/

GTA V: Excitement rising! :-)

I went looking for games due to be released later on this year as I was curious as to what was coming up... and I happened across this little gem - GTA V. I think IV was released in 2008 (In fact, I know it was because I got a PS3 for its release, which was about the time my son was born, so Ha!) So, if it is released March 2013 as announced - that means 5 years development time!

Look at that screenie above. This is one of the two officially released in-game screen shots from RockStar. I dont think I have seen an in-game screen shot look so realistic... I am really keen to see this game hit the shelves! 

Enough waffling from me about how much I want this game. You know I want it. You know you want it! Gief! Below are some info pieces I managed to find that might keep yall happy for a bit :D. 8 months feels a long time...

Big features mentioned in news releases from RockStar are that the game world is going to be the biggest to date (San Andreas felt huge, but kinda empty outside the cities, it will be interesting to see what they come up with!). In addition to this, there will be a much greater aircraft aspect of the game. This is likely due to the game area being so big players will want to have quick ways to get around, and this is better than fast travel I think! :D

The other screenie :p

examiner.com - article I nabbed the screenies from

whatculture.com - speculating on some of the potential characters that players might meet in the game. I'm not so confident many if any of these will creep up, but it is an interesting article none the less :)

VR-zone - discussing the large game world, and including the game trailer. Watch.It.Now!

Enough for now though :-) hopefully more news articles will be released soon! And remember - there is no beta test. If you get an invite, its a phishing scam.

-V

P.S... FIRST PERSON VIEW OPTION!! :)

Oh my! Angry Birds Trilogy revealed for PS3, 360 and 3DS

I'm sure die hard Angry Birds fans will like this fact... I think?

Angry Birds was one of those games that hit a couple of years ago that was an awesome time-killer game on the mobile / tab. I know I was dying to get my hands on it, and missed the free download when it first came out. When I eventually got it, it amused me for a little while, but I got bored of it pretty fast (In no small part because I had a crappy HTC Hero). I think that it was basically not my kind of game aswell. I tend to find other things to do when I want to kill a few minutes, I need to sit down with at least a half hour set aside to play a game to get into it. I did play it though. I still sometimes fire it up now if I have the wifes tab in my hands and nothing else to do.

Now, I have no doubt that this release is going to be a success... but I cant help but think who they are going to attract to spend another wad of cash on the release... That is unless they have some good new features implemented...

The new features mentioned seem to all be graphical in nature. New backgrounds, lighting and reactive backgrounds (Im going to guess that you might have some thing like an underwater level and as you launch said Chaffinch at the hunkered down piggywinks, they will leave a trail / current in the water as they fly. Funky, but no game changer.)

I think the demographic that will most likely adopt the new game are the younger generation. Those that don't have a smart phone or tab to play on, and might not be allowed on their parents PC's. Here they get a version accessible from console. Aside from that you are looking at die-hard fans, or those that had not previously been interested.

Time will tell, but it sure is not going to hit 100M+ buyers like the App version, in fact I'm betting 10M will be about its Cap. I hope I am proven wrong though, I like seeing gaming companies be successful :)

Also... I am keen to check it out, I admit :p it is still a sexy game so the new changes pique my Geektrest.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/357353/angry-birds-trilogy-revealed-for-ps3-360-and-3ds/#

Oh, and since you are here, I guess you have an  interest in Angry Birds... Did you know they are making a cartoon?

Aye, thats right. Check this out:

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/18726-angry-birds-cartoon-in-the-works-spans-52-short-episodes/

I cant help but think it is going to be awesome... or DIRE. (With very irritating high pitched voices to boot!)

-V

A new you tube let's play by... me!

Hey folks, welcome all.

In addition to my minecraft let's play - I now have one for UFO Enemy unknown / XCOM: UFO Defense. I decided it might be interesting, and fun to try to play this game in a superhuman challenge. I have completed the game on all difficulty settings in the past, but I invariably finish the game with a vast squadron of super soldiers - half of whom were there at the start due to the ability to reload and reload and reload after every mistake. Well, not this time! Come see how long I can last against the vastly more advanced, numerous and more powerful alien forces as they seek to Harvest our organs, turn the governments of cities against us and generally try to destroy life as we know it.

As with the Minecraft let's play - I shall attempt to upload videos daily although I only really do the recordings at the weekends, so if I have short sessions - I apologise if the end of the week is a little stagnant ^.^

>Linky<

Skyrim: Velk's journal - Part 2. *Contains spoliers*

Before I went to rest that night, I spoke to Sven who was playing music in the inn, and he gave me a letter to give to Camilla, to frame Faendal...

I rested well, very well considering the day I just had. This inn would be torn through in a moment, or burnt to ashes should the dragon come back... Anyway, I was awoken by the smell of breakfast on the spit in the center room, and the melodic notes of Sven... STILL playing to the same people getting drunk... these people are either very rich, or have issues...anyway, I decided to just snack on some of the food I had with me since finances are short, and headed back out into town. When I was walking back to the Forge to do some smithing, I bumped into Camilla. I gave her Sven's letter and told her that he was trying to frame Faendal... she was much appreciative and promised not to have anything to do with Sven. She asked me to seek out Faendal and tell him myself as he would appreciate it.

Whilst exploring the town, a man called Lucan told me that Bleakfalls Barrow up the hill across the river contains an artefact called 'Gold Dragon Claw'. I agreed to retrieve it, and headed along the path and over the bridge...

Whilst there I spotted a deer grazing down by the river... I notched an arrow and took aim, and fired - a direct hit. The deer jumped into the river and started swimming to the other side as my second shot hit it right in the side of the head, finishing it off. I skinned it, took what meat I could... and also a ring it was carrying...

I then head up the hill to Bleakfalls Barrow...  on the way I was ambushed by a wolf pack, that I scorched to the ground. Shortly after a blizzard rolled in, making it hard to see as I continued to climb, ahead I spotted a spire in the white-out, but as I got closer I got attacked by some bandits that had set up camp here... A brief melee later I had taken them all out, and taken shelter in the tower until the blizzard died down.

I then ventured the rest of the way to the ruin, where I took out more bandits and a giant spider with Greatsword and bow.

I delved into the dungeon, that seemed to be inhabited solely by spiders and the walking dead. Deep inside, I came to a door - watching a bandit pulling a lever, he was cut down with arrow-fire from a trap... The door it likely opens was barred shut.

After playing about with some statues in the room, and triggering the lever from a safe location, I managed to get a working combination for the door: Fish Snake Snake. The door ground open, and stale air and dust greeted me, aswell as a lot of spider webs.

As I passed through the corridors, looting what I could fit in my pack, I heard a man calling out for help... I noticed a room, blocked off with vines...

I cut through them to find a room covered in heavy layers of spider webbing, with numerous dessicated corpses and giant spider eggs... I could faintly see someone struggling in the webbing at the far end of the room, as a GINORMOUS spider dropped down right in front of me, a bear would have been a snack for this thing... I fell backwards out of the room, and started to attack with bow and arrow since it couldnt squeeze out through the door, and eventually done enough damage that it was visibly staggering, then run up and cleaved it in two with my greatsword.

The man introduced himself as Arvel. He told me he had the claw and knows what it is for - to unlock a treasure horde deeper into the dungeon, so I offered to cut him down if he would assist and give me the claw. I free'd him. He ran. He died. I chased after him and with my greatsword, cut him down, and took the items he was carrying.

The dungeon ahead was filled with the walking dead, and traps... it only made sense - I used the traps against them... having them step on their own pressure plates triggering traps, and hitting pots of flaming oil hanging from the roof so they burst over them as they passed underneath... it felt good!

Eventually I came to another door that had these unusual symbols associated with it, and a slot for the claw... After toying about with it I got it unlocked.

As I entered the chamber a flock of bats nearly knocked me on my ass. I moved further in and found some strange glowing writing near a tomb...

As I moved closer it seemed to flash, then fade and I felt... strange... moments later a powerful dreugh rose from the tomb, only to be cut down. I looted an Ancient Nord Greatsword of Cold from him... much better quality than what I was using, and enchanted to boot!

A secret exit was built into the room, and it lead me to the surface... it was night time once I got out, and I made a bee-line for town, stopping only to slay wolves and slaughterfish that took a liking to me, and paused momentarily to talk to a poaching huntsman.

When I got back to Riverwood, I returned the claw, sold my loot and headed back to the inn for rest. All in a days work!

Gaming update

Still a little short on gaming time at the minute, but heres an update of my latest activity:

Star Wars: The Old Republic:

Currently have a level 16 Sith Assassin, slowly getting the hang of the game now. Spent a while running about with a colour crystal in my sabre that I was too 'evil' to use... Muhahah - meant my companion was doing most of the damage though. /facepalm. Geek fail right there :p

Skyrim:

Still keeping track of my adventures, should have the next installment up when I get round to typing up from my notes. Currently level 10.

UFO: Enemy Unknown:

When I have time to squeeze in a quick shoot about, I have had this game in the background. My latest adventure has been a pistol challenge on Superhuman difficulty. Currently a few research items from Cydonia... Have everything I need to get there, and have had 2 missions using plasma pistols and the last one with laser pistols. Before this it was allll normal pistols... They work well with a scout/sniper combo :)

More to come,
-V

Star Wars: The Old Republic, continued thoughts.

Sith Assassin, From Deadmanwalking182 at Deviant Art.

I have accumulated enough time in game now to hit level 10 and get out of the start area, and have moved to 'The Fleet' area. I must say, my experiences so far have proven to me that this game is pretty damn good. I played WOW from UK release day, until about 6 months ago. This game blows it out the water in pretty much every way so far. Only downside being the hardware requirements, my laptop will NOT run this game, and the increased level of complexity (steeper learning curve, but in no terms difficult for someone experienced with MMO's)

When I arrived at the flee, I was led to my next task... choosing which Sith path to take... This proved to be much tougher than I expected...

Sith Assassin: Dual-Bladed sabre, and the talent trees span down to Tanking, DPS (Rogue style) and another form of melee DPS

Sith Sorceror: Healing, or two forms of ranged dps...

I kinda wanted to be a healer, but I dont want to do that yet.. I ended up picking the Roguesque class... Apparently you can respec - but I think it is just a talent point reset.

A whole new array of abilities was unlocked upon seleting this, so I have two hotkey bars to use my powers - I am not sure if the initial ones are needed, but I still have them on the hotkey bar to move... Complicated - but Ill work it out next time I play. As a bonus, I got a goodie bag which contained my Dual bladed light sabre (no item level, I think these are like 'heirloom items' in that you keep the one as you level and can modify it as you go with the use of components and crystals to modify the buff effects.)

After this I also picked up my trade skills (3 gathering skills... it looks like gathering is done by companions on missions though... confusing much!)

Thats about as much as I have done so far... I heartily recommend anyone that likes MMORPG's to take a look at this. It is more demanding (computer and brain!) than World of Warcraft, but it is also more mature, and humorous in its own way. Server queues seem less of a problem now, although queues still exist.

Happy hunting!

-Velk

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Initial Thoughts

So, The Old Republic officially launched this morning. I jumped on a RP server where most of my old gaming community from Star Wars Galaxies, and World of Warcraft: The Second Sun, are residing.

I joined the queue to get into the server at about 7:30 am, and had access by about 8:30am (queues galore just now, Im sure its an issue that will be resolved in due course, and hopefully not via a loss of customers) then rolled myself up a Sith Inquisitor. It seemed the closest thing to a Mage which is what I played in Wow as my main.

So far, I like it. It is definitely based on wow, but hugely improved. I really like the combat system, no targetting system, it plays more like an fps - there is no auto-attack, you point at a target and hit your attacks. You can click on a target to face them and attack - its all a pretty fluid and easy system.

Another thing I like about the game is the map. If you move when its activated, it becomes a transparent overlay, and you can actually run around with the map up. Nifty ^.^

I have not found any bugs or glitches so far (Perhaps with the exception of when I have my training-light-sabre out (Pressing Z - the controls are all identical to WOW) - it clips through walls, but never mind :D )

The graphics are ok, nothing spectacular. They are nice and clean, this PC has no issues running on max everything (560gtx graphics, AMD X55 processor and 8GB ram - 22" monitor at 1920*1080).

Aaaand... thats about it. Maybe Ill write another more in depth review once I spend a bit more time in game and level my char past 6 ^.^

-V

Skyrim: Velk's journal - Part 1. *Contains spoliers*

As previously mentioned, I wanted to keep an in-character game journal, much like Arwen. It will contain spoilers, I have no intention of editing thme out, if you dont want to see them, please don't read. I am a veteran of Morrowind and Oblivion, so I am going to try my best not to use any exploits I find in the game, Im likely also going to stick fairly close to the main quest line with this character, and explore all the fun to be had with guilds when Im not trying to keep notes as I go! And with that over with: INTO IT!

*****

I awoke, with no memory of where I am, or why I am here... I was in a cart, being transported in convoy with what appears to be prisoners. Ulfrik Stormcloak introduced himself to me. A few others rode beside us... We arrived at a keep soon after... One by one the prisoners were lead forth to be given their last rights before... before being beheaded. I was not on their list, but nevertheless, the captain ordered that my head should be removed along with the others...

The first man hurled taunts and insults at the guards, and was promptly dispatched. The lucky one. A freshly sharpened blade took his head in a single stroke.

By now, eerie sounds could be heard echoing from the mountains... but it made no difference... I was next. Perhaps the sounds were my own imagination as I stared death in the face... As I lay my head on the block, some strange beast flew in from behind the keep, and landed on a rooftop, and started raining fiery death to the village. A Dragon! 

AArrgh! Death!

 I made my escape with Ulfrik, into the keep with a few other injured survivors...

We made a break across town, and I met with Hadvar, the guard that tried to bargain for my release with the leader at the executions, and we headed into the Keep, and made way through catacombs.

We fought our way through a number of Greycloaks that decided they fancied some hostile negotiations, but we managed to fight our way through and out the otherside. When we got out, the dragon flew right over our heads and over the mountains in the distance...

Spot the dragon!

we watched the Dragon fly off into the distance. Hadvar informed me the local town of Riverwood would be a good place to shelter, so we headed off along the path. He pointed out an old ruin, and we paused at some blessing stones.

Thieving time!

We then continued heading on towards the town, being halted briefly by a pack of Wolves, though they were easy to dispatch with my bow, and Hadvar's sword.

We entered the town of Riverwood where Hadvar and I met his father, Alvor. We went inside his house to talk...

Alvor and his wife

I talked to Alvor in length about assistance he needs. Soldiers from Whiterun seem to be his prime concern, he told me a little about Whiterun and the Jarl - this may be tricky, he is quite opposed to the war, although he doesn't side with anyone, it may make it tricky to coerce him to assist...

I spent a little while milling about, cooking some Cabbage Apple Stew, and sharpening my weaponry at the blacksmiths and had a brief run around town. It was dark now, and a full moon was out.

The mountains at night. Pretty. Dangerous. Hide.

I decided I want rest, and somewhere to sell all my loot, but Alvor and his family had been hospitable enough, so I headed to the Sleeping giant inn. Hopefully I can get some rest, a clean and some coin for my troubles. After coughing up 10 gold pieces, I rested for the night. Whiterun can wait until tomorrow... I need rest, lest I will fall to another wolf pack and never even get the alert out!

*****

Thats it for now folks - I did not get much time to get into the game as I am still in the midst of studies, but the more notes I get, the more I shall post :) My thoughts so far: plotline seems good, the game is very immersive. Full HD on a 22" screen, with headphones on makes it very immersive, and I love the water and the atmosphere, especially walking through the valleys and looking up at the misty peaks above! :-)

-V

DC Universe Online. Mini Review

In amongst my studies, I have been downloading DC Universe Online. I heard on The Instance that it had gone free to play. Naturally... I decided to check it out. I dont promise a well written or article with any real aim other than to waffle on about what I have done and my thoughts on the game ;)

After installing, I hit the character creation process... I felt brave and selected PVP server, then Villain. Why? I dont know, I always play the good guys and I thought it would be an interesting twist. Plus, I got to choose The Joker as my mentor, and the entertainment value of such a thing just could not be ignored! Superman? Bores me. Batman? Bores me. Huntress? Who the hell are you?

Catwoman? Yes plx. The Joker? Yes plx. Lex Luthor ... o.O ... ok, sure whatever.

Next up I chose my starter abilities, I took the ability to fly which seemed a no-brainer, and "magic damage" because if I remember correctly it had properties of being a healer and I thought it would be nice to be able to heal or be a group healer if such content is in this game, which it seems it is.

I then chose my costume... yeah... Its all very customisable, but I chose something simple... a two tone stripey green and red spandex suit. Go team camp! On a  big plus - all the armour bits you collect in the game customise to match your colour scheme - so no fugly armour parts or clown suits (unless you wish to make it so) like in WOW.

I have never really been big into the DC comics, so it comes as a nice touch that despite my lack of knowledge, the game fills you in on the characters back stories. This is evident in your first "warehouse" where at the end of it you learn a little bit about who The Huntress is.

Storywise, it is amusing me and keeps me coming back for more.

Gameplay is rather unusual compared to other online games I know. For a start, the game is also available to console players which results in some interesting mechanics. I have noticed that you dont need to be a great aim to hit your targets, and that you can "lock" onto a specific target so that you are attacking it regardless of what you are doing on screen. This is quite handy if you think you will be confused by the environment. A downside to this is the way the "combo-moves" work. When you gain skillpoints you spend them in various talent trees for your abilities (or to learn new abilities) and as you gain new abilities they are activated with different combo-buttons. In the case of the PC where I am playing it, a left mouse button tap is a melee strike, a right mouse button tap is a ranged hand-blast. Holding the right mouse button unleashes a charged bolt. Holding it down twice supposedly fires a meteor, but I dont know if that works. Holding the right mouse button and tapping the left twice is supposed to boot a fireball at the enemy... so far I have not seen any of these combo moves do anything different, but I will persevere.

I am level 7, and have maybe accumulated 3-4 hours in game, flying about, doing missions, giggling at the dialogue and taking part (albheit mainly as cannon fodder) in some of the pitched PVP battles that break out.

It appears there is only 30 levels in the game, but I dont think this is a bad thing, it means a band of lowbies like myself can wither down a level 30 and kill them despite their toughness or ability to one-shot half of us.

At this point in time I would rate the game as follows:

Story: 7/10 (The plot is odd, or maybe completely irrelevant - Im not sure, but thats not a good thing is it! - but mission plot and the story info you gain from them is well implemented.)

Graphics: 7/10 (I play at max everything. Graphics look good, not awesome, and there are some niggles, but its pleasant to look at.)

Gameplay: 7/10 (good but not perfect. Again, some niggles in how things work, but it seems a solid concept.)

Entertainment Value: 8/10 - Im in the early game, and despite getting ganked, Im enjoying exploring something new again.

Overall 7/10 - I might enjoy the game if/once I have time to get into it more, and perhaps partake in group activities. I know a bunch of friends that play this game so it seems to be fairly popular. Overall - if you have not tried it, it is free to play so give it a blast! You might be pleasantly surprised. If not - at least you just enjoyed a few hours of your very own action hero movie :p

-V

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Pre-amble to a write up...

"That's a bit of an odd topic title!" I hear you cry, and alas. I concur. As a self confessed geek, I feel I need to be deducted some geek-cred for not having a copy of Skyrim yet.

The reasons are many, among them there is university studies - Im busy as all hell until about the middle of December, and the abundance of Death that has happened around me and Kat in the last month has thrown us off course a little (AKA, a metric Fuckton.) As a result, I am heavily commited to getting coursework done and out of the way before I risk gaming addiction on the level that this promises to enforce...

In an attempt to compensate for this, when I finally get to indulge in the game I am going to do a couple of things: 

Firstly I am trying to get my mits on a second monitor to help simplify my working experience. The new one shall be bigger and better for gaming which will enhance the experience I hope.

Secondly: I am going to try to keep a written log/journal of my characters adventures and randomness. I shall refrain from giving away main-quest info or spoilers (Or I might focus on the main quest and just give a write-up as if it was a journal from my character... that could be cool.) - I know I have been trying hard to find a few blogs/sites that provide this fix for myself without giving too much of the game away with little success.

As for now... well... Importance fact at the moment :: life > game 

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

With this game looming over our heads and the hype surrounding it, I thought I would look into it a bit more. I have loved TES games since Morrowind first came out - back then I didn't even have a computer or graphics card powerful enough to run the game beyond the most basic effects.

On the site - http://www.elderscrolls.com/ - there has been a new video put up since I was last on there - a making of clip, that will be included in a making of DVD in the collectors edition.

Ultimate dragon fighting game
Ultimate warrior game
Ultimate mage game
Ultimate thief game
Ultimate assassin game.

Yep - they have a lot of ground to cover! I thought they done quite well in Oblivion. I am hoping that the engine etc has been knocked up a notch since then, since looking at Oblivion now it looks sadly dated. The good news is that from the clips - it does look like it has changed! Maybe not as much as I was hoping for, but maybe having a new computer Ill be able to run everything to its full potential anyway ^.^

Im looking forward to being able to just explore a huge open game world again. How thorough should I be? Who knows! I would like to finish this one - since I didn't actually finish Morrowind. I think I got half-way up the mountain at the end then formated my PC or something... fun times!

I shall certainly detail in here what I get up to in it anyway, once I get round to buying it...

Crysis 2: Post Human Difficulty

So...

I just completed the game on the hardest difficulty setting. I must say, I found it significantly more fulfilling than my last run through, at least achievement wise. Place a foot wrong, and your dead. Following the Stealth Tactics of my previous post, I found much of the game (whilst not fast paced like doing a run and gun session) to be fairly easy. There are a number of areas where I had to reload numerous times because of silly mistakes - and one or two areas where Im SURE there are more enemies than easier difficulty modes, to the point that I opt to sneaked through the area and not trigger a fight. On the other hand, there were other areas where I found it more fun to eliminate every enemy by baiting them, relocating, charging them in melee, and just generally having a giggle.

Edit: The final battle... *Spoiler. Text in black - highlight to read.*
***I inadvertently cheated the last fight. I tried to stealth kill the final bosses, but I screwed up and clubbed the guy I was trying to take out instead, and promptly legged it - fell off a cliff, and got stuck behind a car... It just so happened the car blocked most of their lines of fire, and stopped them getting within melee range, so I unloaded My K-Volt at the 3 attakcing me there, killed them all, and hunted down the last and took him out. First try. It feels like cheating when an exploit surprises ya like that ^.^ ***

I dont know if I will play through it again... at least any time soon. The gameplay is addictive, Ill give it that... but I need to study more! Its to effective a distraction :p

-V

Crysis 2: In review

After a fairly stressful few weeks, being ill, loaded up with uni work and not being able to focus on anything, I picked up Crysis 2 and gave it a whirl. This is going to be a mini-review, but I shall start by saying that this game: is EPIC!

My first play through must have taken in excess of 30 hours, and it was fairly non stop action/storyline. I played it through on the second hardest difficulty mode (Hey, I wanted a challenge!) - This did not prove to be a bad choice, the AI is very good, the game is NOT a walkover, but there are enough areas in the game where you can just go Banzaii and lay waste to everything, as well as a good balance of areas where you HAVE to be strategic (I refer to Pinger boss fights, and the Seph guardians that kick about.)

The plot is good - it seems to a generic "Ahh were doomed" plot line based in New York - but the whole damn thing just feels so atmospheric, and gets the adrenaline pumping. Something I have not experienced since FEAR and Doom3 (Loved FEAR, Doom 3 bored me cos Im not into horror/suspense gaming.)

Graphics: Beautiful, I never played the original Crysis - the last thing I played that had flashy graphics was Probably Far-Cry... (WOW doesn't count right? :p)

Re playability? Well - I finished the game, and I immediately restarted on the hardest difficulty setting... I started off with access to the same weapon and suit mods that I had upgraded through the first walk through - though I don't seem to be able to upgrade the suit any further - perhaps a bug, but it matters not because I have the only suit mods I use already active. I am roughly 1/4 of the way through, maybe closer to 1/2 but I have probably played a good 10 hours on this setting... I have been doing a stealth run, and the change in game play brings some awesome challenges. The first run through I was learning the ropes - now I find myself boldly stepping up to most things, grabbing them by the throat into cover and inserting a knife into their face. Ill probably do a stealth guide as my next post, because it is just so much FUN!!!

-V

I creep in my blues into the seedy underbelly of the city of Lost Angels...

I purchased a 2nd hand copy of LA Noire off a mate as I was curious to give it a go. I finally got round to firing it up last night and popping my Noire-Cherry.

First impressions:

Excellent graphics - up until shadows and sprites appear anyway, then it looks a bit iffy, but that could be cos Im playing on a 37" screen which is a bit sub optimal for 1080P - I may give it a go on the 42" in the living room as thats supposed to be the ideal screen size for 1080P - Or so I read, once upon an ethos.

The facial system is good - very good. I kinda expected something a tiny bit better, but also kinda expected something a lot worse. It makes the game look much more movie-like - its one of the appeals for the game - Im a big fan of the TV series "Lie To Me" and read that some of the crime solving you have to do is to pick out the microexpressions etc on peoples faces for telltale signs of guilt, etc.

The layout of the city reminds me a lot of GTA4 - so I think that is a big plus - it seems there is a very detailed city scape that you can explore. Perhaps there are random crime scenes, etc - Im not sure yet. I have just solved my first case, and just started on the mission that starts with you on the beat.

My biggest concerns so far for the game lie in two areas:

Complexity. There is a lot of notes kept in your notebook. I imagine further in this will become quite a jumbled maze... time will tell

Boring. Strong terminology - but the game has not gripped me or done anything super interesting yet. CSI and the likes have never really been my cup-of tea, although I do enjoy a good mystery from time to time. There has not been much action save a couple of punch-ups and some driving about the city. Hopefully as I get some more gametime in I will get more into it and the plot will grip me. Heres hoping! Im sure Ill post again on this game soon.

-V

LA Noire: 7/10 (At the moment)

Computer game sales numbers...

I haz a crown. Scroink!

Im listening to episode #199 of The Instance - and their discussion of record game sales had me go googling... and I stumbled across a wikipedia page that got me thinking!!

>linky<

I as impressed by some of the numbers from the more recent consoles, then I seen the Wii... 76M sales of Wii Fit - when other consoles are topping out at like 20M...

Then I got to the mention of Angry Birds... 250M... I guess mobile phones are truly a good platform for gaming now! That is insane!

-V

Recent Accomplishments. Stuff I have been doing!

Its been a bit quiet on the geekery front the last week or two. I have been listening excessively to episodes of The Instance as I go about doing my job, but I thought I would put a summary of some of our activities here :)

1) Web design: My business site is now up: Frozen-Monkey Web-Design. (albheit still under construction.) The site of my first customer is also up - RCS Wind Services. I am enjoying doing the web design work, it can be fiddly - but I have done enough websites between hobbies and uni now that I have some experience and am building up a portfolio.

2) Jam Making: Me and the Mrs took the kids to local(ish) fruit farm and got a metric f-ton of strawberries, and decided to make the into Jam using our Kenwood Bread Maker. I must say, yummier jam I haz a tasted not!

3) Wine Making: Were turnin into a proper Good Life family here... Jam... Bread... now making our own wine. We picked up a starter kit from Tesco to brew 6 bottles in a week, aswell as slapping a batch of strawberrys together to ferment to make some strawberry wine for christmas time. Its quite entertaining. We have a lot of brewing stuff that has been passed to us from family - we are quite keen on putting it to use - there are a load of brewing websites about - although finding an actual brewer shop to get supplies from in person is a different matter...

Oh yeah, I have also been playing lots (too much?) of Transport Tycoon... Ive not been allowed to play WOW because its too time consuming, but we both tend to collapse on the couch in the evenings regardless and do nothing, so I have just been playing this... Pretty easy once you get the hang of things... (assuming you let building whilst paused be allowed...)

-V