Fanatec Shifter with GT6
Finally got a chance to configure and try out my new shifter and it's awesome. I spent about 5 hours playing on Saturday and I really like it. There is a small issue with GT6 and how it uses the clutch so I did have some problems when shifting but it wasn't the shifters fault. I've read on the forums and it seems a lot of people don't like how the clutch is implemented so hopefully they will fix it. I had multiple instances where I shifted correctly but it put the car in neutral which did cost me a couple of 1st place finishes. Playing with a clutch, 6 speed shifter, and a buttkicker speaker is an awesome driving experience.
I'm still liking GT6 and how fast it loads the races. I've moved up to the National A races where I was finishing in the top 3 when shifting with the paddles, I haven't been as good with the shifter and clutch, but I'm getting better. I may try Forza 5 sometime this week and see how that fares, from what I remember it's around 20-25 seconds to load a race and I really don't like waiting.
Logitech Z906 Speakers
Bought a set of these last week and set them up on my Obutto rig and they are great. It's a 5.1 surround sound system that is THX certified with a 8 inch sub. My older system didn't support any kind of digital input so when I played my GT6 on PS3 I only had stereo sound which isn't that great. This set does support digital with 2 optical and 1 coax, no hdmi unfortunately, but since both consoles can output sound through optical it's all I need. I tried hooking up my PC using optical but had issues with Dobly Digital Live so I just went back to analog.
The speakers sound great and are perfect for gaming. The bass is nice and deep and I heard some cool bass lines that I don't remember hearing before in some of my songs. Playing BF4 in 5.1 with War Tapes mode on is just an awesome experience, you hear planes and bullets whizzing overhead and at times it's almost too intense.
When I purchased these I had an issue with my Credit Card and I didn't think that my order went through so I used a different card and ended up getting 2 sets so if anyone is interested in this speaker system let me know. It would make a decent home theater setup as well, they really tried to make the set look nice so that it could be placed in the living room so they don't have to be used just on a PC.
New Releases - A couple of releases this week with The Walking Dead Season Two which I will get.
PC
Dementium II HD (download - $15) - Remake of a DS game that I played a bit of and enjoyed.
The Walking Dead: Season Two - Episode 1 (download) - First Season was great. Not sure if I want to wait until all episodes are released before playing.
PlayStation 4
flOw (download - $6)
The Pinball Arcade
Xbox 360
The Walking Dead: Season Two - Episode 1 (download)
PlayStation 3
Mutant Mudds Deluxe (download)
Toki Tori (download)
Wii U
Knytt Underground (download)
Vita
BIT.TRIP Presents Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien (download)
Eufloria HD (download)
flOw (download - $6)
Furmins (download)
Indoor Sports World (download - $5)
Mutant Mudds Deluxe (download)
Sparkle (download)
Terraria (download - $15)
Nintendo 3DS
3D Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master (download - $6)
3D Streets of Rage (download - $6)
Banana Bliss: Jungle Puzzles (download - $4)
Winter Sports: Feel the Spirit (download)
Monday, December 16, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Fanatec Shifter, Peggle 2, BF4
Fanatec Shifter US SQ http://us.fanatec.com/Shifters?product_id=679
I got in my shifter yesterday after ordering it around July 7, the initial shipment was early November but they had some production issues with the first batch so I had to wait for the second. The build quality is amazing, it's made of metal and not plastic so it's heavy duty. It's a full 7 speed H-Shifter and with a flick of a button it turns into a sequential shifter, so it should fulfill all my shifting needs.
The hard part of course was mounting the shifter to my Obutto, no laughing. They have a desk mount but I wanted it steady so I had to hard mount it to my shifter stand which also is all metal. I got the diagram on how to drill the holes and went to the store to get my M6 bolts and drill bits. The drill bit was labeled 6,5 on the diagram and when I went to Lowes, all I could find was a 5,6, still not exactly sure what those numbers mean even after asking many of my co-workers, Google wasn't much help either. I went ahead and bought 2 bits with one of them being a little bit larger as I still wasn't sure about the size. In the end it really didn't matter because after I drilled the 2nd whole I was was already off just a bit. I had taped the diagram to the metal plate but I guess it shifted or I just can't drill, probably the latter. Once all 4 holes where drilled only 2 of them matched the shifter holes and they were both on the same side so then I had to go back and try to widen the other holes a bit.
About an hour later I finally had my shifter mounted. Since that took longer than expected I was tired so I didn't even get a chance to try it out. I will this weekend and hope to have some pics and maybe a video of it in action.
Peggle 2
I do love me some Peggle and have been waiting for the sequel, it's exclusive to Xbox One for a limited time. I went ahead and bought it for $12 and so far it's been more Peggle and I'm happy with that. There are only 5 masters this time but there are 60 levels which is 10 more than the original. Each master also has 10 trials which are quick skill games so there is a ton of content. Each level has 3 different challenges, with one always being clearing all pegs, so if you are a 100% this game has great replay value. I will probably buy it again once it comes out for the iPad, it's a game that is relaxing to me and helps me to unwind.
BF4
I updated to the latest PC patch which should be out for all console versions as well and haven't had a crash yet. I had random crashes before so it's hard to tell if this really fixed anything. I also got the China Rising DLC and the one map I played I liked. There are assignments that you complete that will give you weapons and in one of them you have to get 8 sniper kills and for me that will likely be impossible. I've managed one sniper kill in about 5 matches and that was only because I ran up to a guy and shot him. Sniping is hard.
GOG
Winter sale. They have Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics free for the next 30 hours. Awesome games get them now.
I got in my shifter yesterday after ordering it around July 7, the initial shipment was early November but they had some production issues with the first batch so I had to wait for the second. The build quality is amazing, it's made of metal and not plastic so it's heavy duty. It's a full 7 speed H-Shifter and with a flick of a button it turns into a sequential shifter, so it should fulfill all my shifting needs.
The hard part of course was mounting the shifter to my Obutto, no laughing. They have a desk mount but I wanted it steady so I had to hard mount it to my shifter stand which also is all metal. I got the diagram on how to drill the holes and went to the store to get my M6 bolts and drill bits. The drill bit was labeled 6,5 on the diagram and when I went to Lowes, all I could find was a 5,6, still not exactly sure what those numbers mean even after asking many of my co-workers, Google wasn't much help either. I went ahead and bought 2 bits with one of them being a little bit larger as I still wasn't sure about the size. In the end it really didn't matter because after I drilled the 2nd whole I was was already off just a bit. I had taped the diagram to the metal plate but I guess it shifted or I just can't drill, probably the latter. Once all 4 holes where drilled only 2 of them matched the shifter holes and they were both on the same side so then I had to go back and try to widen the other holes a bit.
About an hour later I finally had my shifter mounted. Since that took longer than expected I was tired so I didn't even get a chance to try it out. I will this weekend and hope to have some pics and maybe a video of it in action.
Peggle 2
I do love me some Peggle and have been waiting for the sequel, it's exclusive to Xbox One for a limited time. I went ahead and bought it for $12 and so far it's been more Peggle and I'm happy with that. There are only 5 masters this time but there are 60 levels which is 10 more than the original. Each master also has 10 trials which are quick skill games so there is a ton of content. Each level has 3 different challenges, with one always being clearing all pegs, so if you are a 100% this game has great replay value. I will probably buy it again once it comes out for the iPad, it's a game that is relaxing to me and helps me to unwind.
BF4
I updated to the latest PC patch which should be out for all console versions as well and haven't had a crash yet. I had random crashes before so it's hard to tell if this really fixed anything. I also got the China Rising DLC and the one map I played I liked. There are assignments that you complete that will give you weapons and in one of them you have to get 8 sniper kills and for me that will likely be impossible. I've managed one sniper kill in about 5 matches and that was only because I ran up to a guy and shot him. Sniping is hard.
GOG
Winter sale. They have Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics free for the next 30 hours. Awesome games get them now.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Gran Turismo 6
Gran Turismo 6
I bought the download version on Thursday and there was not a pre-load for North America, it was a 15G download that took a couple of hours then to install the game took another 4 hours. Once that awful mess was done it was time to drive.
The CSR Elite Wheel works perfect, you can really feel the handling differences between the cars. I started playing in Cockpit view and the sense of speed wasn't there, of course you do start off with slow cars so it could just be that, but when I switched to the hood or road camera it did seem to be faster. I've read reports of frame drops while driving in cockpit mode so I just drive from the bumper cam.
I'm playing on a PC monitor at 1080P and it's not as sharp as a PC race game but it isn't that bad. I have noticed a couple of road textures that aren't sharp before the race and some of the cockpits aren't hi-def but overall it looks great. I haven't noticed any screen tearing which I read on other forums. There are some jagged and flickering edges from time to time, but it hasn't been distracting. The replays look good.
The single player campaign is fun they mix things up with different events like hitting cones and driving the moon rover on the moon, it's not just races so it make things interesting, . They do force you to pick your first car from a selection of 1, I didn't like that. The AI isn't fantastic, but they have given me a little challenge on some races but there isn't a way to increase the difficulty during the campaign just the arcade mode.
I was really worried about the loading times because of GT5 and I almost bought an SSD but with a normal hard drive they are minimal maybe 5-10 seconds, which is awesome. I hate the loading times on Forza 5, plus my wheel isn't compatible, that's another discussion.
I've completed about 50 races and I've liked all the tracks so far, each one feels different and has their own challenges. The races occur at different times of day and some of the effects look great, racing at dusk is awesome.
Overall I'm having a blast and the initial impression is so much better than GT5. I do like it more than Forza 5 mainly because of the wheel and much less micro-transactions.
New Releases - One pretty big release I'm excited for --- Peggle 2.
PC
PlayStation 4
Nintendo 3DS
I bought the download version on Thursday and there was not a pre-load for North America, it was a 15G download that took a couple of hours then to install the game took another 4 hours. Once that awful mess was done it was time to drive.
The CSR Elite Wheel works perfect, you can really feel the handling differences between the cars. I started playing in Cockpit view and the sense of speed wasn't there, of course you do start off with slow cars so it could just be that, but when I switched to the hood or road camera it did seem to be faster. I've read reports of frame drops while driving in cockpit mode so I just drive from the bumper cam.
I'm playing on a PC monitor at 1080P and it's not as sharp as a PC race game but it isn't that bad. I have noticed a couple of road textures that aren't sharp before the race and some of the cockpits aren't hi-def but overall it looks great. I haven't noticed any screen tearing which I read on other forums. There are some jagged and flickering edges from time to time, but it hasn't been distracting. The replays look good.
The single player campaign is fun they mix things up with different events like hitting cones and driving the moon rover on the moon, it's not just races so it make things interesting, . They do force you to pick your first car from a selection of 1, I didn't like that. The AI isn't fantastic, but they have given me a little challenge on some races but there isn't a way to increase the difficulty during the campaign just the arcade mode.
I was really worried about the loading times because of GT5 and I almost bought an SSD but with a normal hard drive they are minimal maybe 5-10 seconds, which is awesome. I hate the loading times on Forza 5, plus my wheel isn't compatible, that's another discussion.
I've completed about 50 races and I've liked all the tracks so far, each one feels different and has their own challenges. The races occur at different times of day and some of the effects look great, racing at dusk is awesome.
Overall I'm having a blast and the initial impression is so much better than GT5. I do like it more than Forza 5 mainly because of the wheel and much less micro-transactions.
New Releases - One pretty big release I'm excited for --- Peggle 2.
PC
- Basketball Pro Management 2014 (download)
- Let's Sing (download - $30)
- Teslagrad (download - $10)
- The Novelist (download - $20)
- Tiny Brains (download)
- Velocity Ultra (download - $10)
- Peggle 2 (download - $12)
PlayStation 4
- Doki-Doki Universe (download - $15)
- Doki-Doki Universe (download - $15)
- Rush (eShop)
- Doki-Doki Universe (download - $15)
- Mahjong Royal Towers (download)
- Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God
Nintendo 3DS
- 3D Ecco the Dolphin (download)
- AeternoBlade (download)
- 3D Galaxy Force II (download)
- Jump Trials Supreme (download)
- Life with Horses 3D (download) - Fun times.
- My Style Studio: Hair Salon (download) - Really?
- Orion's Odyssey (download)
Monday, November 25, 2013
Xbox One
Xbox One
As soon as you lift the box you can tell there's a big difference in the 2 consoles. The Xbox One design reminds me a bit of the original Xbox, it's big, square, and heavy. I do like the design though and it looks nice with my other equipment below the TV, there is a slight glow of the Xbox logo when it's on which is better then the blue glow of the PS4. The huge power brick is back but luckily I can hide it behind my speakers. It's all touch based like the PS4 for turning on and ejecting disks.
I really like the Xbox 360 controller and it's the best controller I've ever used. The PS4 controller is really nice and if they had moved the left analog stick up a bit I think it would top the 360 controller. The Xbox One controller supposedly had over 40 refinements but not all of them were a good idea. The controller is a bit smaller than the 360 and the analog sticks are smaller as well, I have small hands so it fits perfectly, but if you have large hands it might feel a bit cramped. The d-pad is crossed shaped and makes an audible click when pressed, it's a bit different than the d-pad before but seemed to work well. The triggers have rumble in them and some resistance when playing certain games which works well. The problem is the left and right bumpers, they made them smaller and to click them you have to be on the edges and I found sometimes that my clicks wouldn't register hopefully they just need to be worn in. The headset is really nice and where you plug it into the controller is where the mute and volume controls are which is much easier to hit in the dark. The Kinect is solid and about the same width as the previous one so it does take up some space. There is a light on it but it's not bright enough to be a bother in total darkness.
The UI resembles Windows 8's interface and it does OK. There are still too many boxes to get to what you want and it can be a bit confusing. The voice commands worked perfectly for me even when I had the sound cranked up and shaking the walls, the kinect was able to hear my voice and respond immediately. I watched some videos of others and they seemed to have to say the commands multiple times, I guess my room acoustics are good. I was able to say Xbox Record that and it would create a video clip of the last 30 seconds, I really like that feature. The PS4 records the last 15 minutes by default, which is really too much unless you want to capture a whole round of COD so it takes time to edit out the part you want, you can manually make the time shorter by using menu options but the Xbox version is easier. I will upload some of those to my Youtube channel later this week.
Overall I'm impressed with the hardware and it's seems solidly built and it was very quiet. The blu-ray drive is much quieter than the PS4's. It is large though and has to sit horizontally so you may need to make some changes to your setup.
Dead Rising 3
Zombies, zombies, and more zombies. The graphics may not be the best of all the launch titles, but the sheer number of zombies on the screen is crazy and each one is unique. In one scene there must have been about 400 zombies in a block radius and there was no slowdown, it's something that couldn't be done with the 360. Creating different types of weapons and seeing how they interact with the zombies is so much fun, there are around 300 different weapons you can create plus you can combine different vehicles. The game still has it's sense of humor as I was killing zombies dressed in daisy duke shorts and shirt plus my manly fireman moustache and aviator shades. They removed the time limit which really opens the game up and gives you time to explore and experiment. You can use your tablet as a companion device which adds some new missions and other additions as well as recieve phone calls from the game, it's a nice touch that works well.
Forza 5
Only played about 5 races it felt pretty good with a controller, but I miss my wheel. The rumble triggers work ok, they are supposed to give you a better indication of when your wheels are losing grip, but it didn't help me much but I probably need more time to feel the nuances. The loading times are about 25 seconds between races which is something I had hoped would be improved with this generation so that was a little disappointing. The Drivatar feature which uses your friends and others driving tendencies to create AI drivers seemed to work ok, I did have a lot of cars crash into me. You only race 4 times before it uploads them for others to use which seems a bit quick since you are just learning, they will evolve over time as you become better but initially be ready for some crashes.
Madden 25
Played about 3 games so far and I've been impressed, it still has a long way to go but it seemed much better than the 360 version. The bad blocking seems to have been fixed as I didn't notice anything strange while watching replays. The AI seems better and it was able to run against my defense even on the default setting, I was playing as the Cowboys though.
Call of Duty Ghosts
Squad mode. Awesome. Multiplayer has been fixed.
You know how in multiplayer you get people who camp or just don't play right, it's frustrating and makes you want to quit. Last night during normal multiplayer there were 2 people who were running around just knifing people, they were able to set their perks so that it made it difficult to notice and shoot them on a regular basis. After this I decided to give Squad mode a try and it's probably the best ideas COD has had in years.
In Squad mode you create a team of 8 AI soldiers who will accompany you in battle against other AI bots or against another persons squad. The AI is much better than previous games and really feels like you are playing against real people without feeling like the game is cheating. It's very challenging and rewarding as you can equip each member with different loadouts which will alter their AI so it adds strategy on how you build up your squad for each game mode. Taking your squad out against another was better than regular multiplayer as everyone played "correctly". Also since your experience carries over to the other multiplayer mode it's awesome and has no drawbacks.
My only gripe with the game is loading times, it's about 20 seconds to load a map. The maps are larger and have more detail but the loading should be much quicker on next gen.
New Releases - Not much till next year which is good since there are so many games to play.
PC
Professional Farmer 2014 (download - $20)
PlayStation 4
flOw (PSN)
Tiny Brains (PSN)
Xbox 360
Air Conflicts: Vietnam
PlayStation 3
Air Conflicts: Vietnam
Metal Gear Solid VR Missions (psone Classic)
Oddworld: Abe's Box (psone Classic)
Painkiller: Hell & Damnation (PSN)
Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers (PSN)
Saint Seiya and Ys: Memories of Celceta
Super Motherload (PSN - $15)
Vita
flOw (PSN)
Ys: Memories of Celceta
Nintendo 3DS
3D Space Harrier (eShop - $6)
3D Super Hang-On (eShop - $6)
Race to the Line (eShop)
Nintendo DS
HeathCliff Spot On (DSiWare)
As soon as you lift the box you can tell there's a big difference in the 2 consoles. The Xbox One design reminds me a bit of the original Xbox, it's big, square, and heavy. I do like the design though and it looks nice with my other equipment below the TV, there is a slight glow of the Xbox logo when it's on which is better then the blue glow of the PS4. The huge power brick is back but luckily I can hide it behind my speakers. It's all touch based like the PS4 for turning on and ejecting disks.
I really like the Xbox 360 controller and it's the best controller I've ever used. The PS4 controller is really nice and if they had moved the left analog stick up a bit I think it would top the 360 controller. The Xbox One controller supposedly had over 40 refinements but not all of them were a good idea. The controller is a bit smaller than the 360 and the analog sticks are smaller as well, I have small hands so it fits perfectly, but if you have large hands it might feel a bit cramped. The d-pad is crossed shaped and makes an audible click when pressed, it's a bit different than the d-pad before but seemed to work well. The triggers have rumble in them and some resistance when playing certain games which works well. The problem is the left and right bumpers, they made them smaller and to click them you have to be on the edges and I found sometimes that my clicks wouldn't register hopefully they just need to be worn in. The headset is really nice and where you plug it into the controller is where the mute and volume controls are which is much easier to hit in the dark. The Kinect is solid and about the same width as the previous one so it does take up some space. There is a light on it but it's not bright enough to be a bother in total darkness.
The UI resembles Windows 8's interface and it does OK. There are still too many boxes to get to what you want and it can be a bit confusing. The voice commands worked perfectly for me even when I had the sound cranked up and shaking the walls, the kinect was able to hear my voice and respond immediately. I watched some videos of others and they seemed to have to say the commands multiple times, I guess my room acoustics are good. I was able to say Xbox Record that and it would create a video clip of the last 30 seconds, I really like that feature. The PS4 records the last 15 minutes by default, which is really too much unless you want to capture a whole round of COD so it takes time to edit out the part you want, you can manually make the time shorter by using menu options but the Xbox version is easier. I will upload some of those to my Youtube channel later this week.
Overall I'm impressed with the hardware and it's seems solidly built and it was very quiet. The blu-ray drive is much quieter than the PS4's. It is large though and has to sit horizontally so you may need to make some changes to your setup.
Dead Rising 3
Zombies, zombies, and more zombies. The graphics may not be the best of all the launch titles, but the sheer number of zombies on the screen is crazy and each one is unique. In one scene there must have been about 400 zombies in a block radius and there was no slowdown, it's something that couldn't be done with the 360. Creating different types of weapons and seeing how they interact with the zombies is so much fun, there are around 300 different weapons you can create plus you can combine different vehicles. The game still has it's sense of humor as I was killing zombies dressed in daisy duke shorts and shirt plus my manly fireman moustache and aviator shades. They removed the time limit which really opens the game up and gives you time to explore and experiment. You can use your tablet as a companion device which adds some new missions and other additions as well as recieve phone calls from the game, it's a nice touch that works well.
Forza 5
Only played about 5 races it felt pretty good with a controller, but I miss my wheel. The rumble triggers work ok, they are supposed to give you a better indication of when your wheels are losing grip, but it didn't help me much but I probably need more time to feel the nuances. The loading times are about 25 seconds between races which is something I had hoped would be improved with this generation so that was a little disappointing. The Drivatar feature which uses your friends and others driving tendencies to create AI drivers seemed to work ok, I did have a lot of cars crash into me. You only race 4 times before it uploads them for others to use which seems a bit quick since you are just learning, they will evolve over time as you become better but initially be ready for some crashes.
Madden 25
Played about 3 games so far and I've been impressed, it still has a long way to go but it seemed much better than the 360 version. The bad blocking seems to have been fixed as I didn't notice anything strange while watching replays. The AI seems better and it was able to run against my defense even on the default setting, I was playing as the Cowboys though.
Call of Duty Ghosts
Squad mode. Awesome. Multiplayer has been fixed.
You know how in multiplayer you get people who camp or just don't play right, it's frustrating and makes you want to quit. Last night during normal multiplayer there were 2 people who were running around just knifing people, they were able to set their perks so that it made it difficult to notice and shoot them on a regular basis. After this I decided to give Squad mode a try and it's probably the best ideas COD has had in years.
In Squad mode you create a team of 8 AI soldiers who will accompany you in battle against other AI bots or against another persons squad. The AI is much better than previous games and really feels like you are playing against real people without feeling like the game is cheating. It's very challenging and rewarding as you can equip each member with different loadouts which will alter their AI so it adds strategy on how you build up your squad for each game mode. Taking your squad out against another was better than regular multiplayer as everyone played "correctly". Also since your experience carries over to the other multiplayer mode it's awesome and has no drawbacks.
My only gripe with the game is loading times, it's about 20 seconds to load a map. The maps are larger and have more detail but the loading should be much quicker on next gen.
New Releases - Not much till next year which is good since there are so many games to play.
PC
Professional Farmer 2014 (download - $20)
PlayStation 4
flOw (PSN)
Tiny Brains (PSN)
Xbox 360
Air Conflicts: Vietnam
PlayStation 3
Air Conflicts: Vietnam
Metal Gear Solid VR Missions (psone Classic)
Oddworld: Abe's Box (psone Classic)
Painkiller: Hell & Damnation (PSN)
Saint Seiya: Brave Soldiers (PSN)
Saint Seiya and Ys: Memories of Celceta
Super Motherload (PSN - $15)
Vita
flOw (PSN)
Ys: Memories of Celceta
Nintendo 3DS
3D Space Harrier (eShop - $6)
3D Super Hang-On (eShop - $6)
Race to the Line (eShop)
Nintendo DS
HeathCliff Spot On (DSiWare)
Friday, November 22, 2013
NBA2K13,NFS Rivals, AFL2K8, Steve Vai, Xbox One?
NBA 2K13
Tried the MyPlayer mode where you create a player and then go through his career making decisions and playing just his position. It has full cutscenes and mini-games that make that mode feel like a mini rpg. You start off by playing in a college allstar game and based on how you perform will decide how quickly you are drafted into the NBA. I was the 5th pick going to the New Orleans Pelicans, ugh.
This mode really changes how the game is played and I really like it. You have a purpose in every game and you do more than just handle the ball and shoot, you need to set picks and move around the court trying to get in good position in order to perform well and stay in the game. It's awesome.
NFS Rivals
Played a couple of more hours and improved my Cop rank to level 10 so I have a ton of cars to choose from and gadgets to equip. The seamless single/multiplayer is really cool and I'm hopeful more games will introduce this feature.
AFL2K8
I saw on operation sports that there was a mod to the game that allowed for current rosters and I got that setup and played a game.The presentation from this 5 year game is still so much better than Madden it's crazy. The graphics don't hold up well but the gameplay is top notch.There are rumors that NFL2K may be making a comeback next year. Some NFL players may have been scanned into the new engine.
Xbox One
Should arrive today. I'm a tech nerd so I couldn't hold out. I'm picking up Dead Rising 3, Forza 5, and Call of Duty Ghosts. I almost chose Ryse but the reviews weren't that great, graphics awesome gameplay boring. I have Madden 25 coming as well since I traded my current gen version. From initial reports it has some nice subtle changes that make it a better game.
There is a mandatory 1G patch that will have to be downloaded before you can use the box so hopefully Xbox live won't go down.There is no Dolby Digital support at launch. It will send uncompressed audio to a receiver so I'll have surround but it just goes to show that they did rush out the systems a little early. There have been some reports of the Blu-ray drive eating discs.
Steve Vai
Last Sunday went and saw Steve Vai play at Juanitas with Brooks and Josh. The show was sold out and the place was standing room only, I was shocked because I didn't think that many people would know who he was.The show lasted around 3 hours and it was great although by the end my feet were killing me. The sound was much better than the last time I was there. I wish Joe Satriani would come to town, I may have to make a trip somewhere to see him play live.
Tried the MyPlayer mode where you create a player and then go through his career making decisions and playing just his position. It has full cutscenes and mini-games that make that mode feel like a mini rpg. You start off by playing in a college allstar game and based on how you perform will decide how quickly you are drafted into the NBA. I was the 5th pick going to the New Orleans Pelicans, ugh.
This mode really changes how the game is played and I really like it. You have a purpose in every game and you do more than just handle the ball and shoot, you need to set picks and move around the court trying to get in good position in order to perform well and stay in the game. It's awesome.
NFS Rivals
Played a couple of more hours and improved my Cop rank to level 10 so I have a ton of cars to choose from and gadgets to equip. The seamless single/multiplayer is really cool and I'm hopeful more games will introduce this feature.
AFL2K8
I saw on operation sports that there was a mod to the game that allowed for current rosters and I got that setup and played a game.The presentation from this 5 year game is still so much better than Madden it's crazy. The graphics don't hold up well but the gameplay is top notch.There are rumors that NFL2K may be making a comeback next year. Some NFL players may have been scanned into the new engine.
Xbox One
Should arrive today. I'm a tech nerd so I couldn't hold out. I'm picking up Dead Rising 3, Forza 5, and Call of Duty Ghosts. I almost chose Ryse but the reviews weren't that great, graphics awesome gameplay boring. I have Madden 25 coming as well since I traded my current gen version. From initial reports it has some nice subtle changes that make it a better game.
There is a mandatory 1G patch that will have to be downloaded before you can use the box so hopefully Xbox live won't go down.There is no Dolby Digital support at launch. It will send uncompressed audio to a receiver so I'll have surround but it just goes to show that they did rush out the systems a little early. There have been some reports of the Blu-ray drive eating discs.
Steve Vai
Last Sunday went and saw Steve Vai play at Juanitas with Brooks and Josh. The show was sold out and the place was standing room only, I was shocked because I didn't think that many people would know who he was.The show lasted around 3 hours and it was great although by the end my feet were killing me. The sound was much better than the last time I was there. I wish Joe Satriani would come to town, I may have to make a trip somewhere to see him play live.
Monday, November 18, 2013
PS4 is in the house. The next generation is here?
PS4 Hardware
The console itself is smaller than the PS3 Slim and weighs less, as I was putting it under my TV I thought that I heard a loose piece moving around but I think it was just part of the case. The initial build quality doesn't seem as solid as any of the PS3 models, the power supply is inside the unit so there is no power brick so hopefully it won't overheat. The console does have a light on top and it's not that bright in a dark room, the controller light on the other hand is too bright and can't be turned off so I had some shadows and I could see a reflection in the TV although once I was playing I didn't notice that much. The controller is much better than the DS3 as it has more weight and the sticks have more resistance, the sensitivity was great and the shooting in Killzone felt really good. I did notice the systems fan running a bit loud when there wasn't any sound in the game, at first I thought it was my PC but it was the PS4.
There is a day one patch and it didn't take very long to download and install. The crossbar interface is back but with a nice face lift, moving through all the options was fast and responsive. I wasn't able to sign into my profile initially but had to wait a couple of hours since the PSN network was unavailable, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The PS4 still does it's install stuff but it's automatic instead of a manual process which was needed. Once the patch was loaded I was able to access the store and download my free PS+ games and the download speeds seemed to be much improved over the PS3. I do have mine hard wired, the wireless card is only 2.4ghz b/g/n which is not the latest or greatest which is a bit disappointing.
Since all games have to be installed on the hard drive the games do different things as it installs that make the wait bearable which I will describe individually. All of the games that I played looked nice and crisp, I was worried that since I had a nice PC I would be jaded by the inferior consoles but I was nicely surprised. I didn't see that many jagged edges and the frame rates all held up nicely. There are tons of particle effects that were not possible on the older consoles so the games did look much better than the older gen games, it's not a huge leap like last generation but it does compete with a decent PC graphics card.
Need for Speed Rivals
This is my favorite game out of all the launch titles, it looks and plays great and has some cool online functionality. The game runs at 1080P and 30fps which is a little disappointing since 60fps really helps racing games with a sense of speed but I really didn't notice. The game installs while you are playing the tutorial so there wasn't any wait to start playing. The game has you playing as a racer or cop and then you have challenges to increase your rank which opens up new cars and gadgets. If you play online, which you should, you are put in a world with 8 other users who you might come in contact with while you play your single player experience. It's a neat concept and it works great, you may be a cop that gets called to take out some racers and then notice that 2 of the racers are user controlled which adds a nice dynamic to the traditional single player game, I think we will see this idea in a lot of future games.
I played for about 3 hours straight and had a blast.
NBA 2k14
Probably the best looking game that I played, the character models are outstanding during replays although not every player has the same amount of facial detail. The presentation in the game is outstanding and it just makes EA's efforts look like child's play, you feel like you are watching a real NBA broadcast, it even has post-game interviews. The game starts with you playing an exhibition game with the Heat and Spurs while the game loads, it took the whole game with 6 minute quarters before it finished installing all of the game, there wasn't any announcers during this time as well. I won that game with a last second 3 pointer by Wade so that felt pretty good.
The game does play like the last gen titles so if you like that then this is a nice graphical upgrade. I feel that basketball games are a little tough to recreate with all of the collisions that occur so some of the animations are a little janky. I went through the tutorial and this game is very deep so if you want to get the most out of it, it will take some practice in combining all the moves before you are successful. You can customize the game to be more arcadey and it's still fun but if you want the games to look like the real counterpart it will take time.
Killzone Shadowfall
I was really impressed with the graphics as the world has a lot of detail to it, the lighting model is great and I've seen some really cool environments. The game play unfortunately is a bit generic so nothing ground breaking there, I've played about 3 hours of the campaign and I've had a decent time but nothing exceptional. The shooting is much better and tighter than previous killzone games as the others seemed to have too much weight, the shooting feels really good which is due to the new controller. I played one game of multiplayer and really didn't know what was going on, I got killed by our teams turrets twice so I'll have to spend a little time reading about the different modes.
Overall it's a decent game but not a system seller.
Resogun
Free with PS+. Do you like defender and wish it was updated with today's graphics? This game is from the developer of Super Stardust and it's really good that will remind you of playing defender. There are a ton of particle effects flying around which is impressive. The game is tough, I was able to beat the first level after an hour and 4 different attempts. It has the feeling of being the PS4's version of Geometry wars, a downloadable game that is probably the best exclusive game for the console.
New Releases - November along with 2 new consoles means tons of games.
PC
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! (download) - Maybe good had to see for reviews.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Got my copy with my new video card so hopefully it's good.
Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel
Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths (download)
Need for Speed Rivals -
Tank Operations: European Campaign (download - $15)
The Shivah: Kosher Edition (download - $5)
Young Justice: Legacy (download)
Xbox One
Angry Birds Star Wars
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Battlefield 4
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Crimson Dragon (XBLA - $20) - Panzer Dragoon sequel?
Dead Rising 3 - Decent reviews will probably pick this up.
FIFA 14
Fighter Within
Forza Motorsport 5 - Debating really upset that it won't support my nice wheel.
Just Dance 2014
Killer Instinct (XBLA - free-to-play)
LocoCycle (XBLA - $20)
Madden NFL 25 - Hopefully Amazon gets my trade-in of the old version so I can get this at launch.
NBA Live 14 - Who knows if it will be good.
Need for Speed Rivals
Powerstar Golf
Ryse: Son of Rome - Unsure probably will get bad reviews.
Zoo Tycoon
Zumba Fitness World Party
PlayStation 4
NBA Live 14
Xbox 360
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
BandFuse: Rock Legends - Has Slash and some other big name bands behind it hopefully it does well. More of a teacher than a game.
Farming Simulator
Need for Speed Rivals
Soulcalibur II HD Online (XBLA - $20)
Young Justice: Legacy
Zoo Tycoon
Zumba Kids
PlayStation 3
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
AquaPazza
BandFuse: Rock Legends
Blood Knights (PSN)
Contrast (PSN)
Farming Simulator
Need for Speed Rivals
Stick It to The Man! (PSN)
Soulcalibur II HD Online (PSN - $20)
Young Justice: Legacy
Wii U
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
Super Mario 3D World
Wii
Zumba Kids
Vita
Stick It to The Man! (PSN)
Tearaway
The Amazing Spider-Man
Nintendo 3DS
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
Christmas Wonderland 3 (eShop)
Girls' Fashion Shoot
Mario Party: Island Tour
Ohno Odyssey (eShop)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Young Justice: Legacy
The console itself is smaller than the PS3 Slim and weighs less, as I was putting it under my TV I thought that I heard a loose piece moving around but I think it was just part of the case. The initial build quality doesn't seem as solid as any of the PS3 models, the power supply is inside the unit so there is no power brick so hopefully it won't overheat. The console does have a light on top and it's not that bright in a dark room, the controller light on the other hand is too bright and can't be turned off so I had some shadows and I could see a reflection in the TV although once I was playing I didn't notice that much. The controller is much better than the DS3 as it has more weight and the sticks have more resistance, the sensitivity was great and the shooting in Killzone felt really good. I did notice the systems fan running a bit loud when there wasn't any sound in the game, at first I thought it was my PC but it was the PS4.
There is a day one patch and it didn't take very long to download and install. The crossbar interface is back but with a nice face lift, moving through all the options was fast and responsive. I wasn't able to sign into my profile initially but had to wait a couple of hours since the PSN network was unavailable, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The PS4 still does it's install stuff but it's automatic instead of a manual process which was needed. Once the patch was loaded I was able to access the store and download my free PS+ games and the download speeds seemed to be much improved over the PS3. I do have mine hard wired, the wireless card is only 2.4ghz b/g/n which is not the latest or greatest which is a bit disappointing.
Since all games have to be installed on the hard drive the games do different things as it installs that make the wait bearable which I will describe individually. All of the games that I played looked nice and crisp, I was worried that since I had a nice PC I would be jaded by the inferior consoles but I was nicely surprised. I didn't see that many jagged edges and the frame rates all held up nicely. There are tons of particle effects that were not possible on the older consoles so the games did look much better than the older gen games, it's not a huge leap like last generation but it does compete with a decent PC graphics card.
Need for Speed Rivals
This is my favorite game out of all the launch titles, it looks and plays great and has some cool online functionality. The game runs at 1080P and 30fps which is a little disappointing since 60fps really helps racing games with a sense of speed but I really didn't notice. The game installs while you are playing the tutorial so there wasn't any wait to start playing. The game has you playing as a racer or cop and then you have challenges to increase your rank which opens up new cars and gadgets. If you play online, which you should, you are put in a world with 8 other users who you might come in contact with while you play your single player experience. It's a neat concept and it works great, you may be a cop that gets called to take out some racers and then notice that 2 of the racers are user controlled which adds a nice dynamic to the traditional single player game, I think we will see this idea in a lot of future games.
I played for about 3 hours straight and had a blast.
NBA 2k14
Probably the best looking game that I played, the character models are outstanding during replays although not every player has the same amount of facial detail. The presentation in the game is outstanding and it just makes EA's efforts look like child's play, you feel like you are watching a real NBA broadcast, it even has post-game interviews. The game starts with you playing an exhibition game with the Heat and Spurs while the game loads, it took the whole game with 6 minute quarters before it finished installing all of the game, there wasn't any announcers during this time as well. I won that game with a last second 3 pointer by Wade so that felt pretty good.
The game does play like the last gen titles so if you like that then this is a nice graphical upgrade. I feel that basketball games are a little tough to recreate with all of the collisions that occur so some of the animations are a little janky. I went through the tutorial and this game is very deep so if you want to get the most out of it, it will take some practice in combining all the moves before you are successful. You can customize the game to be more arcadey and it's still fun but if you want the games to look like the real counterpart it will take time.
Killzone Shadowfall
I was really impressed with the graphics as the world has a lot of detail to it, the lighting model is great and I've seen some really cool environments. The game play unfortunately is a bit generic so nothing ground breaking there, I've played about 3 hours of the campaign and I've had a decent time but nothing exceptional. The shooting is much better and tighter than previous killzone games as the others seemed to have too much weight, the shooting feels really good which is due to the new controller. I played one game of multiplayer and really didn't know what was going on, I got killed by our teams turrets twice so I'll have to spend a little time reading about the different modes.
Overall it's a decent game but not a system seller.
Resogun
Free with PS+. Do you like defender and wish it was updated with today's graphics? This game is from the developer of Super Stardust and it's really good that will remind you of playing defender. There are a ton of particle effects flying around which is impressive. The game is tough, I was able to beat the first level after an hour and 4 different attempts. It has the feeling of being the PS4's version of Geometry wars, a downloadable game that is probably the best exclusive game for the console.
New Releases - November along with 2 new consoles means tons of games.
PC
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! (download) - Maybe good had to see for reviews.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Got my copy with my new video card so hopefully it's good.
Conflict of Heroes: Storms of Steel
Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths (download)
Need for Speed Rivals -
Tank Operations: European Campaign (download - $15)
The Shivah: Kosher Edition (download - $5)
Young Justice: Legacy (download)
Xbox One
Angry Birds Star Wars
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Battlefield 4
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Crimson Dragon (XBLA - $20) - Panzer Dragoon sequel?
Dead Rising 3 - Decent reviews will probably pick this up.
FIFA 14
Fighter Within
Forza Motorsport 5 - Debating really upset that it won't support my nice wheel.
Just Dance 2014
Killer Instinct (XBLA - free-to-play)
LocoCycle (XBLA - $20)
Madden NFL 25 - Hopefully Amazon gets my trade-in of the old version so I can get this at launch.
NBA Live 14 - Who knows if it will be good.
Need for Speed Rivals
Powerstar Golf
Ryse: Son of Rome - Unsure probably will get bad reviews.
Zoo Tycoon
Zumba Fitness World Party
PlayStation 4
NBA Live 14
Xbox 360
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
BandFuse: Rock Legends - Has Slash and some other big name bands behind it hopefully it does well. More of a teacher than a game.
Farming Simulator
Need for Speed Rivals
Soulcalibur II HD Online (XBLA - $20)
Young Justice: Legacy
Zoo Tycoon
Zumba Kids
PlayStation 3
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
AquaPazza
BandFuse: Rock Legends
Blood Knights (PSN)
Contrast (PSN)
Farming Simulator
Need for Speed Rivals
Stick It to The Man! (PSN)
Soulcalibur II HD Online (PSN - $20)
Young Justice: Legacy
Wii U
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
Super Mario 3D World
Wii
Zumba Kids
Vita
Stick It to The Man! (PSN)
Tearaway
The Amazing Spider-Man
Nintendo 3DS
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW!
Christmas Wonderland 3 (eShop)
Girls' Fashion Shoot
Mario Party: Island Tour
Ohno Odyssey (eShop)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Young Justice: Legacy
Friday, November 15, 2013
Trace Young
I lost my 25 year old nephew to a motorcycle accident this week. They had the viewing from 5-8 on Wednesday night and it was unbelievable, I have never seen so many people show up to a viewing, there must have been over a thousand people. The line was packed for the full 3 hours and people were lined out the doors in the cold for over an hour. The parking lot held about 50 cars and it was full, people were having to park blocks away and some never got a chance to come in, I was in awe.
He was an eagle scout and played almost all sports growing up so he had a ton of friends. He was a people person and always greeted you with a hug. His dad was telling stories that he'd heard while greeting the viewers and one told of how Trace had met him at a stop light and from there they became good friends. What do you do when someone starts talking to you at a red light?
At the burial site they had paint setup so that everyone could dip their hands and then place them on the coffin. It was a great way to send him off.
For a person who was only 25 years old he lived life to the fullest and was a great influence to everyone he met. He will be greatly missed.
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