The 'Second Son'

I guess the big news lately is that we might be getting a new kitten.  We already have a cat, and a fish, but over the weekend we went to a cook-out at the house of my girlfriend's friend, and one of her family members is trying to get rid of some newborn kittens.  The kitten in question seems as though it will be a grey male.

I'm excited, but simultaneously concerned about the news.  I already worry about finances, and if we will have enough extra money to buy food and supplies for another pet.  I worry about the kitten getting along with our other cat, and vice versa.  I worry about leaving the cat alone for a few hours when I go to work.  I'm obviously not sure if this is a good thing for us to be dealing with right now.

On the other hand, it would be kind of nice to have another cat.  And the kitten would most certainly have a good home here.  And it sounds like my girlfriend has her heart set on getting this second cat now.  We've been debating about what to name him.  At first my girlfriend wanted to call him 'Tucker', which I am not sure if I'm fond of.  Then she said, "Maybe we can call him Shadow?"  I came up with some names of my own that I like, including "Smokey", "The Smoke Monster", "Arthur Fonzarelli" and "Fog".  Of course, we both decided that we'd like to get to know the kitten a little better first and name him after that.

Not sure when this is all happening yet, but my girlfriend seems to think we'll be able to hold off getting the kitten until sometime after the trip to my parents' house.

I have a 'Knack' for it

Lately I've been giving more thought to continuing my education and going on to college.  This thought comes after several years of working at dead-end jobs and feeling like I have no real talent at anything.

I frequently feel like I suck at my job, and am not as good as the other workers there.  And I have anxiety and frustration about almost everything.  Maybe I am just expecting a good job to fall into my lap, I don't know.

I've been getting less hours, too.  I used to ask for more and get them week after week, but it seems like it's become a big hassle for my bosses because they keep saying you can only ask for more hours for so many weeks in a row before managers get yelled at for it, but then they still turn around and do it sometimes?  Idk, I don't get it.  It seems like they make up rules sometimes.  I also started taking my hour lunch (you are usually expected to take one) instead of a half-hour one, since I found it made me happier to come home and have a real meal and go back to work a bit cheerful.  But I've stopped this now and have gone back to half-hour lunches, since hours are getting so slim.

For a while I was thinking about going to college for cartoon animation, which was my original childhood dream, but after giving things more thought my mind has naturally drifted back towards video game design.  I keep thinking maybe I avoided it before because I was concerned that I won't be learning a practical skill, but now more than ever I feel like I should just do what I'm really passionate about and interested in, since my current strategy isn't getting me anywhere.

Really, talking about work and college and all of this stuff brings me down a bit.  I still don't know what to do.  Online college or a real college?  Invest in an expensive laptop for online school that I don't have the money for, or move somewhere else to be closer to a school where I can actually study this subject?  I really don't know what to do.  Or maybe I should get a start in some other subject, and kind of get my foot in the door with college?  But then, I wouldn't want to waste precious time and money on something I won't use.

I was about to go to a job fair at my local Gamestop since I saw a sign posted for it.  I don't know if Gamestop would be any better of a job for me, but I figure maybe it could be a second job, or eventually replace my current one if I do well at it and I could go to college simultaneously.

At the last minute I got my things together, got dressed up, and went there.  I don't have a way of printing my resume, so I figured maybe I could chat with the interviewer and ask if I could email my resume afterwards or something.  Well, it turned out the event was going on at another Gamestop, but they just had signs up at this one.  I felt stupid for rushing around and making a fool of myself.  Since I have to go to work soon, there wouldn't have been enough time for me to do this today.  But I guess it's my own fault for not planning ahead for it.  I was having second-thoughts about the whole thing anyway.

It all just makes my head spin, but I am aware that I'm not happy with my current, super-unstable situation at all right now.  I'm still not sure what to do, but I know I'd like to do something to get into a real career I care about.

Just 'Don't Starve'...

Things around the household have been changing, and I'm not so sure I like it.  Sure, maybe I can adjust to and like the idea of having another cat.  But our regular norms that I've grown used to over the last 3 years have been eroding a bit, and I'm uncomfortable with it.

I guess the main one is, our dinner-time setup.  Since I moved in, it's been the same way.  Me and my girlfriend buy meat for supper each week, her mom buys other dinner fix-ins, and usually she cooks supper for us each night.  Maybe we are asking a lot of her to cook us young'ins supper every night, but it just seemed to work out because she is the only one around most evenings.  But, admittedly, we aren't always there at the same time for supper every night, and sometimes we are snooty when it comes to what we do and don't eat.  I am sure it does make her mom's head spin.

Well, a few months ago my girlfriend started going for walks frequently, and is watching what she eats more, to lose weight.  She's been doing great with it, only she gets out of work late to begin with, and now when she goes on walks after work she can take another 2 hours to get home.  I work second shift, and have kind of stopped coming home for my hour lunches.  Her mom is unhappy cooking every night and not having anyone show up.

So now there's this kind of deal where my girlfriend is going to start cooking the next day's supper the night before, stuff like that.  I keep asking what I should do, but there isn't any food around for me to cook with yet and my schedule hasn't worked out much to help with all of this.

We have to keep track of how much food we have on hand, when who can cook what, and making sure the next day's meat is in he fridge for the next day so it can thaw.  It should be so simple, but it just makes everything more complicated.  I'm really not liking the setup, and I'm worry it's going to continue to deterriorate my living situation if I can't adjust to it.

A 'Killzone' Ensues

The next few weeks will probably be pretty busy around here.  Maybe not so much this week, or the following one...  But starting with that other one, bingo.

On the 4th of July weekend my girlfriend's sister and her family are coming to stay.  During that time, they are going to help us get started on our kitchen rennovation.  I appreciate the help and all, but I'm not sure I like this setup either.  I don't understand why her sister and her husband are helping us with this, if it's just out of the goodness of their hearts or what.  Or if it's because they are eyeing up our house, which they moved out of years ago, and trying to give their input on what we should and shouldn't do with our kitchen.

I kicked things off by taking down all of the cupboard doors in the kitchen, but I still have to remove the handles and hinges from each door, which will take a little more time.  We began looking at paint, backsplashes, and other things for the kitchen.  We decided that a new floor and countertop won't be in the cards right now, though.

Also while all of this is going on, two of my girlfriend's best friends from out of state are coming to visit on that same weekend.  We will probably try to have a board game night with them and my girlfriend's sister's family, which could be the coolest thing to come out of it all.  But still, I'm not really looking forward to this setup.  I guess I've just got to tough it up and endure.

After that, I will be going home for a few days the following weekend or the weekend after that.  Need to get my sister a birthday present soon.

So that's what's on my mind right now.  Don't mean to sound so negative but...  I guess I'm a busy guy right now.  And there's a lot of stuff to consider right now that my future pivots on.

I hate being stressed out.

~ Ovirew

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Other reports claim that it bricks immediately after the update, but apparently it only happens to those that upgraded their hdd. And that this issue only effects those who have upgraded their hard drive.

Sony has released the following statement:

"We are aware of reports that the recent PlayStation 3 system software update (version 4.45) has caused the XMB to not display on a small number of PS3 systems. We have temporarily taken 4.45 offline and are investigating the cause of the problem. We will announce when the system update is available for download as soon as possible. We apologies for the inconvenience."

It's currently unclear or at least not immediately obvious how Sony will roll out a fix for those who can't access the XMB. One option according to this site suggests that the fix will include a downloadable file to put on a USB stick or hard drive, then asking users to boot into safe mode.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION ON SYSTEM WARS

Sources:

[Kotaku] 
[Geeks are Sexy]
[Joystiq]
[PlayStation Support] 
[GameSpot - System Wars] 

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[ Watch Video ]

E3 was great and exausting. Too tired to write up stuff, so here is a video thing about some info and stuff that maybe didn't make it onto the livestreams. Thanks for watching E3 folks - we had record numbers and amazing feedback all week. Really proud to be part of it. Also some questions:

Q: What was your your favourite game of E3?
Q: PS4 or XBOX ONE?

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Yes, I know, I hated AC3 too, a bit, but a 500GB PS3 for $230 is a good deal, right?  and shipping is free!  I need help...

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No doubt, this year it has been Microsoft who did the best publicity job: Sony just needed to wait for their E3 press conference in order to have the very American Jack Tretton announce what every gaming soul had been longing to hear: do whatever you like with your used games --lend, trade, keep them--, and while no permanent online connection or 24h-authentication will be required, PSN+ subscriptions will flawlessly be carried over to yet a new member of the big PlayStation family.

Thank you, Microsoft, for making future buyers' decisions so much easier in gaming matters, in about the same way as Windows 8 has been sharply raising the demand for Linux-based operative systems, so that one should guess that their selling the Xbox division might just be a matter of time. For now, however, still loyal Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be getting two (non recent) games for free download per month --a sign that MS did but learn something from Sony's so successful subscriber policy.

Not too surprising, either, in that context is that for me E3 2013's biggest game revelation is also a game for PS4 rather than X1: The Order: 1886, plotted in an phenomenologically alternative Victorian London, struck me about as sort of love at first sight that I can hardly wait for it being finally released.
Another game I'll be hoping to get my hands on right at PS4 launch is Killzone: Shadow Fall which now more open-leveled looks so much more appealing than the Halo-successor Destiny resembling rather a blend of ME + SWTOR in its present shape (not that I had something against those two BioWare games, though).
Nicely preparatory to the former while waiting may be Killzone: Mercenary for the PS Vita, with a somewhat different concept, also certainly one of the most anticipated games for this quality handheld in all 2013.

Yet InFamous: Second Son is the third PS4 one which I'd put in my list here, together with quite a list of interesting Indie games released via PSN, like Transistor, Secret Ponchos, or Doki-Doki Universe.

The press conference which had my greatest interest besides Sony's has certainly been that of EA starting with the surprising Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare looking so ridiculously fun in co-op survivor mode, followed by other yet eagerly awaited games like Battlefield 4's still more enthralling multiplayer, DICE's StarWars Battlefront and Mirror's Edge 2, BioWare's mmorpged Dragon Age III, or also Titanfall, unfortunately prioritizing XOne, whereas I would certainly have preferred learning something about Homefront 2 rather than Ryse from Crytek's part.

Last but not least to be distinguished out of E3's demonstrations:

- Call of Duty: Ghosts (featuring the CoD Dog)

- The Crew (sporting several of my favorite racing features)

- Castlevania: Lord of Shadows 2 (sequel of the 25 year-old hack'n'slash)

- Wolfenstein: The New Order (sequel of the legendary FP shooter)

- Shin Megami Tensei IV (the 4th of the demon-ish RPG series, still TBA for Europe)

So while I guess that Microsoft and not EA will probably be nominated the worst US company this year, I already project buying another, smaller, smarter X360 to be conserved for the future: May the PS4 be with you...

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I know this review is like 19 days ago and I sounded like I'm desperate to tell everybody to check out my review that is days ago, trying to revive it and already told. I am sorry if I did like this, but usually I would inform you on blog that I posted a review just like I did with Demon's Souls and Um Jammer Lammy 4 blogs ago . Sadly though I rarely post up blogs now that I bother much on Fuse than on blogs , heck . Think I sort of informed in Fuse, but not much. Anyways....you don't have to check it out though (you already seen it or not) but I would appreciate a feedback, just so I can try improving on what matters the most.

So yeah... 

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I agree with the notion that games should be something that gamers want to go back and experience again over time. I also think that Nintendo has had a difficult time with this idea post SNES. With Nintendo the problem is that post SNES era they've done very little to step away from their comfort zone most of the time with first party titles. You get some occasional stand outs on consoles after that: Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and others that tried to really do something different but they're still mired in the same old basic formula and rehash the same IPs over and over. Technologically Nintendo has changed but the games still lean too hard on retreading the same ground. Mario is saving Peach from Bowser yet again, Link is still saving Zelda and the tri-force, Samus still loses all her abilities in the first 15 minutes. And when they do try new things they often turn out to be superficial or mechanics that fundementally alter a series in ways that are more frustrating than fun.

For example: Do we really need another Mario Kart? Yes plenty of people will buy it but is it really different from the previous Mario Kart? The previous 7 Mario Karts? Cosmetically sure. A few new mechanics of course. But its still very much the same basic game as the original. Theres not really an evolution if you say Mario has a raccoon tail now so he can fly but the end result is still "Our princess is in another castle." You did some tweaks to the formula, added some often fun new mechanical differences but didn't fundamentally change anything. There is no real growth happening.

Where's the game where Mario gets captured and you have to play as Peach to rescue him? Or how about no one gets captured and we do something different for a change? Nintendo needs to turn things on their head now and again. Mix it up. Retain the focus of what made these IPs so liked to begin with and ultimately make them fun but don't just keep churning out the same old song and dance with a new coat of paint.

With no change fanboys will keep eating it up of course because they're fanboys. 8 year olds will eat it up because they're kids and they weren't around when the original Super Mario Bros. came out. But what about those of us that have been consumers of their products since before they even made consoles? We know these stories. We know these characters. We've seen what they can do from the time that Mario's girlfriend was named Pauline. Porting old games to the new systems or slapping an HD polish on SNES style games and bringing them to the Wii U and 3DS will work for nostalgia for a while for some but its not going to really do anything new or exciting for your company. There's not really any other incentive for old school gamers to pick these up.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2. Yeah looks pretty much like more of the same game that I played back in the day on my SNES. Fine for a little nostalgia without a complete retread but what's stopping me from just pulling out my SNES and playing the original? Nothing. So why wouldn't I just do that instead if I want to play A Link to the Past again? I'd save myself $40 and get more or less the same experience.

I like to reference this fan made video A Fistful of Rupees http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UunpCv7kKHw&list=PL9AB56A1E36D227C8 often when discussing this topic because it shows how you can take the same properties, retain the ideas that keep them recognizable and familiar, but honestly do something different with the idea. Why does Nintendo never seem to be creative in this way any more? They've certainly got talented people on staff, lots of them. But even 30 years into some of these IPs they're still holding on to that same core story and mechanics.

Maybe a little of what made Square Enix Final Fantasy franchise so great needs to find its way into Nintendo's development philosophy. You take the parts that makes the series great and recognizable and fun but you don't just keep making the same game over and over. Now again I'll note that occasionally Nintendo will surprise me here and pull this off with a Super Mario Galaxy (even though it still really only changed the mechanics) or something similar but for the most part post SNES era they seem a little stagnant on the new ideas front outside of fitting their games to their newer console tech.

I don't think I'm asking too much of Nintendo to want them to broaden their wheel house a bit. I want to care about them again as a company. I want to see them do something new and exciting that gets gamers old and new amped for their product. I want to have their console be more than a Netflix viewer. I want to see them design a console that focuses on playing games rather than designing games around their latest gimmick. They really need to make those first party titles not just well made and polished but also something that can recapture our excitement for the long haul so 20 years from now we want to play them again.

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Things have been doing pretty good with the new gig. It sometimes doesn't feel like work because it is that much fun. Our game will be at the NVIDIA booth so if you're attending be sure to drop by to check out the tech destruction demo, currently not in the open beta. Oh, I guess the secret is out if you follow my Twitter (HWKJody. The game is HAWKEN.

Lastly, I can't believe my last blog reached over 200 comments. Thanks again for everyone's kind words. I only saw one rage quit from  the site, and even he wished me well. Also, if you don't already have me on Steam (xpcaligirl) or Raptr (CaliGirl), feel free to add me! 

And.. have a Happy E3 week full of exciting news and hype! I'll have to make sure I take a peek in System Wars this week to see what you all think about the hardware and games. <3

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and so is the road to hell.

EXTRAVAGANZA!

With all the hype around this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), it's tough not to get excited and starry-eyed and filled with hopes and dreams and desires for the future of gaming. This year is especially important with the release of the "next-gen" PS4 and Xbox One at a time when gamers are voicing their disillusion towards gaming more than ever. A lot is resting on this particular E3, and developers are feeling the pressure to go bigger and bolder.

But what is the cost of these great expectations? As past E3s have shown, we often end up with bloated, overhyped extravaganzas that do little more than enrapture us in a world of gaming for the hour-long show, but then leave us with unmatched expectations when finished products are revealed. The developers mean well, but in the end, they seem to be shooting themselves in the feet.

Personally, I don't want huge conferences that bloat my expectations and leave me high and dry in the end. I don't want to see extraneous dances (unless they somehow get a Jensen's Safety Dance together), gratuitious booth babes at every station or teleprompter-driven pseudo excitement. What I'm looking for in this year's E3 is much more basic and equally more important: I'm desperately looking for something at E3 to restore my hope in console gaming.

THE HISTORY OF E3

The conference we currently call E3 started in 1995 with the unveiling of the PlayStation, showings of the Sega Saturn, Virtual Boy and the Nintendo 64. This expo had grown from what was previously the Consumer Electronics Expo (CES), of which the video game industry was treated like electronic's ugly and uncooth stepbrother. The expo quickly proved popular and took off, growing in size and importance. It became an industry-wide vehicle for showcasing new systems, concepts and games. And, just like any event in the entertainment industry, companies felt the pressure to keep increasing production value of their overall presence with bigger conferences, fancy booths and gimmicks. 2005 marked the first year E3 was broadcast on TV, increasing the event's accessibility and the public's interest; this particular E3 boasted the attendance of 70,000 people.

The conference took a downturn in 2006 with only 60,000 attendees, and the 2007 and 2008 expos were renamed to "E3 Media and Business Summit", where it became an invite-only event. This was an attempt to scale back the bloated nature of E3, but was a shock to many gamers, bloggers and some in the industry, likely since the change was so abrupt. The 2007 conference only reported 10,000 attendees, and dwindled to 5,000 for the 2008 conference.

In 2009, E3 was reverted back to its previous structure, and this revision was relatively well-received by much of the community. The extravaganza continued to grow to the near-hysteric proportions of where it sits today.

NOW PLAYING...

So, now we're here again, eagerly awaiting another E3. I remember watching my first E3 conferences in 2011 and fell into the hype only to be met with the lackluster systems and games that just didn't do it for me over this current generation. In full disclosure, since this gen was announced a few years ago, I've been extremely busy with work and have had a lot of personally difficult times which I'm certain have affected my ability to get excited about a lot of things, but I also think this last generation of gaming was a disappointment to me in many other ways.

I was the proud owner of a PS3 in 2009, but I had a hard time finding games I had enough desire to put forth the money and energy to enjoy and look forward to. It didn't help that 15 months into my ownership, my PS3 met with the YLOD and attempts at fixing it at home did not work (and I'm an engineer, so I gave it a good try with the reflow solutions). I didn't have the money to have it officially repaired, so I sold it for pennies on its original price. I also got a 360, but again, the limited number of games that excited me led to me having to dust the console off more than I turned it on.

These issues partly led to me falling more and more into PC gaming. There weren't enough great experiences for me to keep with consoles, and most games I truly wanted had a PC port anyway! The last game I was truly, wholeheartedly excited about was Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC), which had me counting down the minutes until I could get home to play, and gave me amazing dreams of crawling around in the shadows, dragging the many bodies I'd accumulated into ventilation systems...

I had tried again to get excited by watching the 2012 E3 streams, but was met with my own disillusionment when seeing the uncomfortable portrayal of an excited gamer executive by of Steve Balmer and an awkward Ubisoft conference led by Aisha Tyler (I know a lot of people thought she did great, but I felt her timing was off and it felt very awkward to me). And don't even get me started on Mr. Caffeine...

Even Last of Us garnered a less-than-expected review score here on GS, and this was a much-hyped game of the 2012 show. More recently, watching the Xbox One reveal and Don Mattrick's plastic performance did not bely my fears for the current E3. What I WANT to see are games that capture my attention and make me desperately want to get back into console games again. At this point, I almost don't even feel like the consoles themselves matter: the graphics are already good enough for me, the standard controllers haven't evolved and aren't different enough to matter, and I haven't been impressed by motion control enough yet to feel comfortable enjoying over my mouse and keyboard.

Even Nintendo has scaled back and decided not to present a massive conference, which has been met with praise from some in the industry. 2K also will not be appearing during this year's extravaganza.

What I'm most worried about with the current E3 is the best of intentions leading to overall disappointment and negative affects for the gaming industry in general. We don't need more studio collapses (or for EA to buy any more struggling studios, which sometimes leads to a wish the studio had collapsed instead of been sent to purgatory). We don't need massive increases in game prices. We don't need to be told how to use our consoles and what we want.

We need hope for the future, we need managed expectations and, more than ever, we need exciting, FUN games!

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After waiting for an eternity and a half, I got Class of Heroes 2 because I loved the original Class of Heroes, and therefore decided to tell everyone what I thought of it, not that anyone cares because I doubt anyone but the ones hardcore to the max will even care about this.

I lost sleep playing this, I tell you, so here's what I think of it so far:

It's very similar to the original Class of Heroes (think 'Etrian Odyssey goes to academy and becomes much better', since this is better than Etrian Odyssey in every way because I saw so and I have the final word here!), but there are some changes, namely:

- Gaijinworks were better localizationers than Atlus, so the 'pow!' and 'swoosh!' in battles is in English this time

- The 2D graphics are better

- It's much, much cuter

- There's more focus on the characters and story than in the original Class of Heroes

- Olive (the human girl you meet at the start, I'll add) is cute. Did I say that already?

- The dungeons are more complex, not as square-by-square as the original game

Hand-holding in this game is pretty much non-existent. Unlike the original game, which was unbeatably hard already, this game doesn't even have lessons where you learn about fighting and stuff. You're thrust straight into quests and requests with no tutorial of any sort. The digital manual is on the Gaijinworks website, so if you're getting this game read this first or this game will be most likely unplayable for you. 

http://www.gaijinworks.com/game-help/class-of-heroes-2/class-of-heroes-2-game-manual/

The gameplay is pretty much identical to the original game. The Valkyrie race has been removed ( ) and replaced with Celestians, which are basically the same thing, and of course I made myself a Celestian The races have different affinity for each other - gnomes get along with everyone except Diablos who don't get along with anyone except themselves - which is explained in the manual so you have to take this into account when arranging your party. Only then can you actually survive in the dungeons.

So all in all, it's cute, funny, and fun for hardcore, hardcore to the max gamers. And all in all it's another brick in the wall... of the PSP's awesomeness! I don't think a lot of people will buy this, but if you're interested and have the patience of a ninja then definitely do. With all the effort Gaijinworks and MonkeyPaw put into its localization it definitely deserves it.

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Yet I would tell you this: you may not necessarily have a favorable hindsight about the game if you are on the verge of being enticed to play this latest game from Klei Entertainment.

That said, I would mention my very brief two-cents on Don't Starve; this is not a review, of course - that's for me to write much, much later, and with far more text than this blog post would carry.

IT IS NOT EXACTLY MINECRAFT OR TERRARIA

There is some hulla-baloo in the indie community about the comparisons made between Don't Starve and Mojang's flagship product or Re-Logic's baby. However, I would tell you this: no one is absolutely right on whether or not Don't Starve is comparable to either game.

The hardcore purists of Don't Starve would tell you that Minecraft or Terraria is child's play compared to Don't Starve, but that's only because they play their sessions on either the default settings or if they are even more sadomasochistic than one would expect, the even harder settings.

If the player is to set the settings to very favorable conditions that do not apply overbearing pressure on the player to spend his/her efforts on merely surviving, e.g. no hound attacks and such other wussy choices, he/she can well play the game like Minecraft - and get bored quickly.

Don't Starve is strictly a 2-D game that uses sprites and it doesn't even have a grid-like system for building things as seen in either Terraria or Minecraft; in other words, it doesn't have the gameplay elements that is needed for artistic expressions such as those that could be achieved with either Terraria or Minecraft.

On the other hand, a player with a lot of time to burn can attempt to create art out of the map system, but I don't think that anything more could be done.

You can attempt to create some weird silhouette art from uncovering the fog-of-war, but don't expect praises for having so much time in your hands.

PLAYING DON'T STARVE DOESN'T MAKE YOU A MORE AWESOME PERSON

There are those persons that take pride in playing very difficult games and persevering in them. They may even consider that "success" in such games is a badge of honor or something equivalent that makes them stand out from other gamers.

Well, in the eyes of wiser people, their experience with these games make them stand out alright - as stupendously stubborn and perhaps even perversely determined people.

If you so much as touch that second button ("Customize World"), you may be called all kinds of things by the purist fans of this game.

The default settings of Don't Starve's world-generating feature generally makes the game tougher and tougher as the player character survives for more and more days, purportedly to match the increasing experience and familiarity of the player.

Also, it would appear that major content updates for the game introduce much tougher biomes or new mobs that are more troublesome than the last ones.

Sure, they come with new rewards - but they often require players to jump through a few hoops. For example, the new Cave biome comes with renewable sources of rocks and flint stones, which were non-renewable before, but they have to be obtained through obviously dangerous rockfalls.

[ Watch Video ]

Also, Klei Entertainment nerfs reliable winning strategies regularly, the most notable nerf being the drawback that was introduced to make Meat Effigies riskier to use.

Not as good an insurance policy anymore, eh, Willow?

Also, Klei Entertainment nerfs reliable winning strategies regularly, the most notable nerf being the drawback that was introduced to make Meat Effigies riskier to use.

It would take a special kind of person indeed to keep looking forward to and liking the kinds of things that Don't Starve would throw at oneself.

"LEARNING IS REWARDING!"

That would be something that the hardcore, unapologetic fans of this game would say to you when they try to encourage you to play this game.

I would tell you this though: if you don't take the wussy (but probably wise) way to learn about the content in this game by checking the Don't Starve wiki whenever you see something weird and bizarre on-screen, chances are, your dude/dudette DIES from your lack of knowledge and/or stubborn refusal to read spoilers.

When TV Tropes uses Don't Starve as illustration for one of its entries, you know that this game is HARD.

In addition to the excuses that Klei Entertainment has used to paraphrase its refusal to include built-in game-saving as rogue-like gameplay, Klei Entertainment also has an excuse for not including a tutorial or official manual with the game package that can be summarized as follows:

"Learning is rewarding" - of course.

TAKE-AWAY: If you want a very, very convincing survival game, Don't Starve is indeed one. However, if you want Don't Starve to be a rewarding game, you have to be a glutton for punishment.

P.S. I am aware that even though this blog post is not exactly favourable towards Don't Starve and Klei Entertainment, I may well have promoted Klei's game anyway. I am conscious of this, and I will say that I happen to support Klei's efforts to create a very convincing survival game - even if I don't personally like it.

P.P.S. I am still affected by the LiveFyre comment glitch.

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First off, I've never been big on used games.  I hate buying a game that someone else has already had their grimy hands all over.  I guess I've just had some bad experiences with scratched discs, missing manuals, or just plain greasy cases.  Seriously, what the hell do some of you  people do with your games?  Anyways, for whatever reason, I have the collector gene.  I like getting a fresh, unopened game that's in mint condition.  Never found the savings on used games to be all that great.  Gamestop seems to be the biggest reseller of games, but their deals are just plain awful at times.  I'd rather just spend the extra 2 to 4$ and get the game new.  Furthermore, almost every game goes on sale at some point.  The savings you can get from just being observant far outweigh the paltry savings of buying used.   I hardly ever pay full price for any games and can often get new games for 20$ or less.  Now, one aspect of used games is not just buying them for cheaper, but selling them back once you're done.  I can understand why people would fear losing that.  However, once again, this just isnt something I do.  I like to hold onto my games both as a collector and for replay.

Now, I'll be honest.  I have no idea what MS plans to do about used games.  Whether there will actually be a fee for using a used game and who would end up paying that fee.  Would it be the institution that sells you the used game or the player with an activation fee?  Some individual software developers have already been taking their own steps to cut down on the recycling of games, but it would be a significant deal if the console maker themself took measures.  Part of this boils down to the quagmire of intellectual property rights.  What do you really own when you buy a game?  In my opinion, I think if you buy a physical copy of the game, you should have every right to sell that to whomever you want.  However, I suppose an activation fee doesnt prevent that transaction from occurring.  It just makes it less palatable.  But I'll liken this to another practice that occurs in business -airline bag fees.  If just one airline was doing it, they'd lose business.  But if most of them do it, we get stuck with it.  Microsoft certainly can do whatever the hell they want with used games.  But if all their competitors don't charge fees, they're going to look pretty bad.

As for always online, I dont care.  I'm already always online.  Have had high speed interent for years and can't imagine life without it.  This issue is a non-issue for me.  However, from a business standpoint, it seems somewhat perplexing.  Why would you intentionally limit your customer base?  Of the over 70 million xbox 360's sold, I would have to assume that a decent percentage of those people dont have high speed internet.  So why would you create a situation that would instantly eliminate them from your customer base?  I'm not a business major, so maybe they think it would be more profitable to protect againt piracy and other issues.  Maybe they assume that most of their future customers will have high speed internet?  Maybe there's some other aspect I'm just missing.  But honestly, I have no idea why you would limit yourself.

As for Kinnect 2.0 or whatever it is, I'm absolutely clueless on that.  Never got a Kinnect 1.0.  I dont like gimmicky controllers like that or the god awful wii controller.  As long as the Kinnect is a superfluous feature, then I'm ok with it.  Dont mess too much with the regular controller.  That thing works like a charm and has evolved nicely over the last few generations.  It does what I want it to do. I certainly do need more information on whether this kinnect is acting like a spy camera in my living room.  If I'm sitting in my boxers playing games (because let's face it - we all get lazy some mornings), I dont want other players or the MS staff to be viewing my tiger printed underwear.  No offense, but that's just for me and my future wife.  Disclosure is important and they need to clarify this.

Despite all the facetious bellyaching going on, I think most of these things won't be that big of a deal.  In the end, it's going to come down to the games, the price point,  and the service.  Looking back at the last two generations, both the ps2 and the xbox 360 did fairly well despite atrocious hardware issues at launch.  The reason - their large and high quality game libraries.  As for this upcoming generation, I'll do what I always do.  Wait and see. 

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http://m.gamerevolution.com/features/5-ways-microsoft-could-screw-up-the-xbox-reveal

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This is not the only thing Nintendo used to do in the mid 80's that they are still doing now. Since Mario was such a hit Nintendo decided early on to put Mario into any game to help sell it. Even other companies could do this. 

This practice was done constantly. For every one authentic Mario game there was Famicom Grand Prix: F-1 Race or Mario Paint. Instead of just simply making a racing game, or a paint game Mario was slapped on the cover and in the game so it would sell more. The only  purpose mario has in these games is to help sales. Nintendo still does this today. Here is some food for thought. Would Super Mario Sunshine have been a lesser game if Mario was not in it? If, instead of Mario there was a new character that they created with the same gameplay and visual style. A platformer with a squirt gun thingy, why not make it a new character? Simple, Mario sells more. That is the only reason.

Or how about Super Mario Galaxy? A fantastic game, but why Mario? Could this great game not have been a perfect opportunity to introduce a new character and world? Does anyone honestly believe that the game improved because it was Mario, that it would have been a lesser game had the character not wore the red hat?

Finally it seems that Nintendo will even borrow levels in their future releases. I recently saw this image posted and feel it does a very good job of showing the recycled material. 

This practice of reusing levels has been done since VS. Super Mario Bros. reused levels in 1986 and here is Nintendo still doing the exact same thing. Reusing levels and characters is not done to save money but instead done to reduce risk. By rehashing a great game that everyone enjoyed there is little risk that it will not be liked a second time around. This is no different than the yearly sequels we see today from other companies. It's very risky to put millions of dollars into a game that might flop from a business standpoint but it must be done or the short term goals will prevent any long term viability

The fact is that Galaxy and Sunshine were great games and would have sold well without Mario. It is commonly understood that the quality of Nintendo products is top notch but they are simply too afraid of trying something new when they can just stick Mario on the cover. This fear is why there have been over 10 Mario Parties. This is why they are reusing levels from old games decades later. Nintendo is too old and stuck in its ways to change. Once faced with financial hardships they do the opposite of what is needed. They slink back even farther into the mindset of sticking with what sells instead of innovating. They begin to tell scary camp fire stories of creating new experiences with new characters. It's not too late for them, but they need a bigger wake up call than one bad year.

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As great as it all is in the grand scheme of things, we've just started out and work at the moment is extremely hectic. I spent the whole past week working tirelessly. I didn't even see daylight until today. There are no breaks, and we don't sleep for more than 2-4 hours. Worst of all, I haven't gamed in 7 DAYS! We're all driven on the promise of an early retirement, so that we'd have all the time in the world to do whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want.

Anyway, my short respite is coming to an end. I can't exactly tell you what I'm working on at the moment, but I can tell you that its a game, and it involves DRAGONS!

Oh, and one more thing, we've already published the first set of our games on Google Play. They aren't anything special, and definitely not representative of the kind of company we want to be, but we really need to cover up our operational expenses as quickly as we can so that we can focus entirely on producing the kind of games we want to make. I'd really appreciate it if you gave them a look

P.S. - They're all guess games

If any of you are interested, you can find those games over at Play Store:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=ICAW+%28I+Can+And+Will%29

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Obligatory Ray Davies pic - 

It's been quite a while since I have made a blog(since December exactly), so there's some things to update on but not much. 

Lately, I've just been working, playing video games here and there, and watching tv and movies. 

Back in February I went to Katsucon, which is an anime convention. Had a lot of fun there and saw tons of cosplays and got a lot of pics during my time there. I bought a few figurines while I was there and a FLCL tshirt. I can't wait for Otakon this year even though that's not till August. 

Anyways here's pics of my figurines and a couple things I bought at the convention - 

Now onto other things, I recently went to a movie theater(first time since I was 2) and saw Evil Dead. I really liked the movie and thought it was a great "not-remake" of the original especially since that part I added of "not-remake". If you haven't seen it, you should totally do that. 

Also, I did play Bioshock Infinite and I loved the game to death, I definitely recommend it to anyone that likes Bioshock already or even doesn't because it's different than the other two. Another game I really enjoyed was, Tomb Raider and I definitely recommend that to anyone that's on the fence about getting it. 

Not really much more to add other than it's getting warmer again so it's time for sniffles and dying of allergies again but I shall end this on a positive note and that I won't wait this long between blogs again or try not to lol. 

Happy image time - 

That's enough of that, Choas shall return in...next blog. 

Be good, the Forest Spirit always watches you. 

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Link to Steam group:http://steamcommunity.com/groups/GSFCG

Please leave comments below

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Shin Sangoku Musou 7(Dynasty Warriors 8)

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As some of you guys might have known, I'm a big fan of the series. I couldn't wait for the next installment so I skipped over DW7 Empires and decided to get this...I have no regrets . Anyways, I actually got the "Treasure Box" edition of the game so let's see what it comes with:

First off, it coms with a soundtrack CD and an LED light display:

It looks alot more impressive in person, but I have a pretty bad camera so oh well...anyways it alternates between 4 different colors representing each of the kingdoms.

Next there is the artbook, and I'll just show you my top 3 fave characters sections, it's pretty massive too:

I've enjoyed my time with the game when I had a chance to do so, but as much as I enjoy the new changes, I'm not exactly how I feel about many of the officers not being launchable without an EX skill or Musou attack, but I'll see later when I spend more time with it. So far I beat Shu's story mode(my fave kingdom), and gotten part of the way through another.

Lollipop Chainsaw

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I haven't started this yet, but decided to get the Valentine's edition as it was pretty cheap(around $40), and heard it was a decent game. Anyways, this is what it comes with:

The DVD apparently comes with some behind the scenes footage, desktop gadgets, wallpapers, cinematics, free dlc, and the instruction booklet for the game has its own exclusive comic book which is pretty cool.

Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus

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This is probably the game I spent the most time with so far and I even got so into it that I got the platinum trophy is less than 3 days since I opened up the game. This is probably partly due to the fact that during Spring break, I left my PS3 back at my dorm in college, but nonetheless it's amazing. The game is kind of like an ecchi Dynasty Warriors which is why it appealed to me so strongly at first, coupled with the fact that I already knew some of the characters from the currently airing anime. Anyways, this is what comes with my Nyunyu DX Pack edition that I got:

The first thing I got were pre-order bonuses that included an artbook with Yumi on the cover(she was apparently voted everyone's most favorite character on their website's poll), and a non-descript Vita pouch(there is also a zipper on the other side for Vita games). Also I will show off Ikaruga's page as she is tied for first as my fave character in the game:

Afterwards, inside the box I received a soundtrack CD compilation

And lastly, a set of figures with detachable parts so you have to assemble them yourself. They include the 5 girls of the Hanzo Academy

If you're curious this is what the game actually looks like in action(this is the first stage in the game):

There are also special techniques called "ninpo" which are accompanied by a small skippable cutscene, these are some pics from that:

And lastly here are some pics of the convo after a mission, my maxed out OP Asuka(for those curious about her costume, yes those are customizable), and what home base looks like(differs slightly per school)

Moe Moe Daisensou Gendaiban++

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I just started this game, but I'm getting utterly destroyed in it since I tried to rush without learning the controls which is pretty bad. Anyways, it seems kind of fun but it will probably always remain as a secondary side game for me. It's basically a turn-based strategy war game where you control girls who represent warplanes in the modern day.

I got a premium edition of it because it was also pretty cheap(for the Vita), and it came with drama CDs and mini posters:

Well, that's it for now. As always feel free to comment

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