Rise of the Tomb Raider, The Witness

Rise of the Tomb Raider (PC)

 

• I originally bought the Xbox One version since it was exclusive to that console, but I never really got into it because of some controller lag. I thought the aiming and the actions after some button presses felt a bit off.
• The PC version fixes that issue plus gives the already good looking game some added umph to make it one of the best looking games of this generation.
• I really enjoyed the first game and they have added quite a lot to Lara's new adventure.
• The exploration areas are much larger now with secrets and hidden loot to discover. There are also a lot more tombs to raid.
• I am really liking the story and I am actually seeking out all of the voice memos that have interweaving story lines.
• I'm playing on Hard mode and when there is a required fight sequence with waves of enemies they go on for too long and get too tough quickly. They also aren't randomized so if you die you will see the same enemies as before.
• I want to try the endurance mode which makes the game play like a survival game where you have to survive the harsh elements and hungry animals.

 

The Witness

• A puzzle game from the developer of Braid.
• The game is basically about 700 maze puzzle games. That sounds boring but it's really entertaining.
• The puzzles are set on a beautiful island that you will be traversing while solving puzzles.
• The puzzles are grouped around different parts of the island and each type has a certain rule that you must solve in order complete the puzzles.
• I've been taking screenshots with my phone which I've found helps out a lot.
• It's only $40 so if you have a PS4 and PC and want to be challenged give the game a try.

New Releases - A pretty big release this week on the PC. American Truck simulator, just kidding X-Com 2 is out. I've only played an hour so no impressions yet. I'm also interested in Cobalt. Also if you have a PS4 or Vita pick up Crypt of the Necrodancer it's awesome.

 

 

PC

 

American Truck Simulator

Cobalt

Fortified

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4

Tales of Symphonia

XCOM 2

 

PS4

 

 AIPD

Albedo: Eyes From Outer Space

Amazing Discoveries in Outer Space

Crypt of the Necrodancer

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth

Gravity Rush Remastered

Megadimensional Neptunia VII

Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel

Not A Hero

Royal Defense

 

 XB1

  

Cobalt

Fortified

  

WiiU

 

Shütshim: Seriously Swole

 

360

  

Cobalt

 

PS3

 

Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel

 

 Vita

 

Crypt of the Necrodancer

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth

 

For Sale

 

Espon 5030UB Projector

 

 If anyone is interested I'm selling my Projector for $1400, I've had it about a year and a half and the bulb has around 500 hours on it so I've barely used it. It's in perfect working condition and still under a 3 year warranty.

  

100" Projector Screen

 

If you don't have a screen then I have one of those as well. $150.

  

Popcorn Machine

 

 I also have an movie popcorn machine that I'm selling for $50. It's a hot air popper that would be great for parties and it's easy to clean. 

 

 Polk Monitor 50 Speakers

  

This is for a pair of 2 floor standing Polk speakers for $50.

 

Oculus Rift, Amplitude, Batman Arkham Knight

Oculus Rift VR Headset

•  Pre-order to go live at 10am
• Reading Neogaf predicting what the price will be
• 5 minutes before 10 go to site
• See Countdown
• Wait on countdown 3...2...1
• Hit order button
• Goes to white page
•  F5
• Goes to white page
• Repeat previous 2 steps for about 5 minutes
• Finally loads the product.
• $599 price tage
• No hesitation hits order button
• Shipping in March
• Now just have to wait and hope no delays.

Amplitude (PS4)

•  My first experience with a rhythm game was on the PS2 with the game Frequency by Harmonix. 
• You flew a ship around lanes made up of different instruments of a music track and you had to hit buttons along with the beat for about 2 measures then that part of the track would keep playing and you moved to another lane for a different instrument so you were playing the song but also picking which parts to hear.
•  It was an amazing game.
• The sequel Amplitude came out and it was even better.
• These titles led to the first Guitar Hero game and the rest is history.
• They put this new game on kickstarted about 2 years ago and it has finally been released. 
• It feels the same which is a good thing. It's still tough as ever but it's beautiful and the audio is booming. 
• My big gripe though is with the soundtrack.  There is a campaign composed of 15 songs and I'm not a fan of quite of few of them.  You do have to play those in order to unlock more songs which is a pain.  Of course music is opinionated so you may love it.
• One of the first songs I unlocked was the song to the first level of Crypt of the Necrodancer and it was awesome.  Playing that song made the game worth it.
• The price is only $20 so not a huge investment.  
• I think there is a total of 45 songs so I have a ton to open up so I believe the music will get better.

Batman Arkham Knight

• Finished the main story this weekend and it was really enjoyable and I thought the writing was amazing and the main characters were voiced perfectly.
• My only gripe is that to see the true ending you need to finish all the 250 Riddler challenges so I've been debating just watching it on youtube.  I do find the challenges fun though so I may hold off.
• I put around 40 hours into the game and still have most of the DLC to finish up.  They are short which is a bit disappointing but I have gotten my money's worth. 

 

My Top 10 Games of 2015

Honorable Mention

• Metal Gear V Intro
• The best hour and a half of a video game that I've played all year.
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Only played a couple of hours and enjoyed it but waiting for the PC version which is out in January.
• Tales of the Borderlands
• Might have made my top 10 list if my save didn't get lost. 

Top 10 List

10.  Hand of Fate/Nuclear Throne

• Hard to choose between the two so I included both.
• Hand of Fate is an interactive story card based action brawler.  It is a mashup of multiple genres that actually works.
• Nuclear Throne is just a fast paced action game with a ton of style and great music.

9.  Halo Collection/Borderlands The Handsome Collection

• Even though both these games didn't come out this year I finally played them and had a blast.
• The Halo Collection had a rough launch but they did get the game fixed and playing through all the old Halo's is still fun.
• Borderlands is still one of my favorite games and the second one didn't disappoint.  The Pre-quel was really fun as well.
• Some of the best online co-op games that keep you engaged for a long time. 

8.  Bloodborne

• I still need to go back and finish this game, I think I'm around 75% done.
• The atmosphere of the game is amazing and having the main weapons transform into different types felt great.
• They really did change up the formula from past Dark Souls games with no shields which did make the combat feel livelier.
• The game is tough but rewarding and I can't wait for Dark Souls 3 early next year. 

7. Destiny: The Taken King

• Really surprised this made my list after being disappointed with the game last year. 
• They made some real improvements and fixed the loot system without the need to constantly grind.
• I think the shooting mechanics feel the best of any game I've ever played. 
• Now they only need to produce more DLC to get me back in the game.

6.  Dying Light

• My favorite open world zombie killer game.
• The combat is very satisfying but it's the world traversal that really made the game standout, running and jumping over the landscape felt perfect. 
• The DLC for next year looks amazing and is bigger than the base game. 

5.  Fallout 4

• How could this not be on the list?  Announced and released in the same year. It's Fallout.

4.  Witcher 3

• Still ashamed that I haven't finished this game yet as it was my most anticipated game.
• I've put in over 50 hours and there is still a ton to do.  I think the main story's pacing is a bit off as the finding of Dandelion story arc is way too long and I got a little disinterested. 
• The game is amazing though with one of the best looking worlds that I've traveled across. 
• The Bloody Baron quest is one of my favorites.
• There is still one piece of DLC to be released this year. 

3.  Batman Arkham Knight

• I love the Batman games and was so ready to finish the trilogy but was so disappointed by the horrible PC port that I almost didn't play it this year.  Luckily they did get the port working although technically not perfect, the game play doesn't disappoint.
• I'm still unsure of the inclusion of the Bat-mobile, it is an important piece of the Batman lore but part of me thinks it takes away from the feel of the city, so I'm torn.  If it controlled like the cars in Rocket League that would be a different story.
• The Joker's part in this game is amazing and is my favorite part of the game.  Mark Hamill is so much more than Luke Skywalker. 
• I hope that Rocksteady's next game is is a Justice League game because that would be amazing to see what they could do with different characters. 

2.  Dirt Rally

• I loved the Dirt games but they started to stray further away from Rally Racing so I was floored when this game came out of nowhere into Early Access.  I didn't think Codemasters would make a true rally game, I'm so glad they did.
• This is a pure rally game with no fluff.  There are no crazy announcers are exploding fireworks, just you, your co-pilot, and car careening around the track trying to stay in control. 
• There are also no flashbacks so if you totally wreck your car, race over.  It works for this game as the tension of keeping your car on the track fuels the adrenaline. 
• Outstanding sound design The sound of the cars is amazing and so detailed, just listen for the rattling parts of the interior of the car.
• I finally finished first in a race after 30 hours so the game is tough but I do feel myself getting better and my times are going down.
• My only gripe is that gaining money to buy new cars feels way to slow so you are racing the starter cars for far too long.  
• If you like racing games give this a try, it's coming to consoles Q1/Q2 of 2016.

1.  Rocket League

• This game just clicked with me.  I don't have one complaint about the game it's perfect. 
• Each game has a range of emotions and the competitive aspect is great. 
• Just driving around in the car feels awesome, I wish they would come out with a car combat game with these controls.  
• When it comes out on the Xbox One I will be a first day purchaser. 
• I've put in over 150 hours and still enjoy playing it about every night.

Steam Contoller, Xbox Elite Controller, Halo 5, Halo Master Cheif Collection, Nathan Drake Collection

Steam Controller

 

• I have been using the controller for about 2 weeks and I love it. It does take some time to get used to it but there is so much functionality built in and enough stuff to tweak that I think this could be the best controller for gaming on the couch.
• The biggest change they made was in place of the right analog stick there is a giant track pad. Most people hear track pad and think awful but it feels really good and with the haptic feedback you can really feel where you are on the pad so you don't get lost. It's hard to explain but once you feel it you will understand.
• I mainly wanted to use it in FPS games where I always felt the analog controls were not great for aiming and the steam controller plays great with FPS games.
• I'm able to use the track pad to aim very easily and precisely. Once again it does take time to get used to it but now when I go back to analog sticks I can really tell the difference.
• Another great thing is that the triggers have dual stages so if I soft pull the right trigger I map that to aiming then if I pull a bit more it will shoot the gun, so I only need one button to do two functions. This feels great and then I can map the left trigger to whatever else I want.
• I just started using the controllers gyro feature for more precision aiming so when I do a soft pull I can very gently move the controller to get a more precise shot. It works amazingly well.
• The controller also has 2 buttons where you grip the controller on the back and those feel comfortable and you can map them to any key or controller button. I hate having to click in the left thumb stick to run in games so now I can map that to one of the triggers and it feels so much better.
• For non-FPS games it works about the same as other controllers, you can map the trackpad to emulate the right joystick and it works ok but I'll have to do some further tweaking to make it feel better.
• The only gripe I have with the controller is that the 4 buttons, ABXY, are much smaller than on other controllers so sometimes I find myself clicking the wrong one. Once again that will take time to adjust.
• You can map and adjust so many settings that it can be a bit overwhelming but people are creating control sets for steam games that are then uploaded so when you go into a game you can see all of those presets and find one that you like. The system works well and will only get better over time.
•  I do have one other issue that's not really the controllers fault but it's a big one. Ever since I started using controllers I've been using inverted controls on the right stick for camera movement when I use a mouse and keyboard though I don't invert the controls. Since using a mouse involves the whole arm I haven't had any trouble switching between the two, but now since I'm using my thumb on the trackpad as a mouse with non-inverted controls, when I go back to using a regular controller my brain gets confused. So I decided to not use inverted controls on regular controllers and it has been tough to retrain my brain. I played Destiny last night and did very well but it did feel extremely different, even just moving around felt strange because my hands were doing opposite movements than what I've been accustomed to.

Xbox Elite Controller

 

• I wrote my impressions on the Steam Controller last week before I had a chance to get the Elite controller and I was really impressed by that controller, it has great functionality but the elite controller is the best controller that I've ever used.
• The price is a little steep at $150 but this is one well made controller. It's solid and has a nice weight to it and it just feels perfect in my hands. The build quality is amazing.
• There are 4 different analog sticks that you can use and installing them is simple as a pull and a push.
• I'm using the slightly higher stick for the right analog which feels great and gives me more precision in FPS games, it's still not as good as the Steam controllers right trackpad but feels the best among regular controllers.
• Of course the biggest selling point to me is the 4 buttons on the back and it didn't take me but 5 minutes to get used to them and I hope all controllers have this feature from now on. Not having to move your right thumb off the right stick is amazing.
• I hate having to press in the left thumbstick to run in FPS games and mapping that to one of the back buttons is a game changer for me.
• Every button can be remapped and you can hold up to 2 profiles on the stick at one time. There is an app that you use on the Xbone to program the controller and it works fine. You can also change the brightness of the Xbox button in the middle although you can't completely turn it off. What's up with that?
• The controllers are sold out through November and if they go back on sale I may have to pick one up to dedicate to my PC. I really like this controller.

 

Halo 5

 

• I've read a lot of great impressions of the game but so far it's not really reeling me in.
• The game is one of the best looking games this year and plays at a constant 60 fps which is nice for a shooter.
• The story isn't making much sense though as I'm not sure who these new aliens are. You are also playing 2 different characters so the story is moving between the two groups so you don't get a cohesive story.
• The biggest issue I have is that I really don't like some of the alien weapons in the early part of the game. The ammo counts are so low that you have to constantly switch between weapons. Halo games have always been that way but it seems the ammo is really sparse in this one especially for human guns which I do like but can only use them for about a minute before running out of bullets.
• They have added some new movement abilities which I like and now you can double jump onto ledges so there is a lot of verticallity to the levels which means quite a bit of platforming.
• I only played one matche of multiplayer and it's Halo multi so you either like it or not.
• I've only played for a couple of hours and I've heard the later levels are really interesting so I will continue playing the campaign. It's a good game but there is just something missing. 

Halo Master Cheif Collection

• Been playing through the original Halo with Angel and it has been really fun, but brutal.
• We are playing on Heroic and some levels have been insane.  It's been a long time since I've played the original Halo but I think I would remember a game being this unfair. 
• There was one section where enemies just kept spawning in for about 5 full minutes there were probably 100 enemies in total, it was crazy.
• We got to the last level where you have to drive the car off the base and it was near impossible and there were no checkpoints so we eventually gave up.  The car is still very hard to drive and the layout of that base is just stupid.  Horrible horrible level. 
• Other than the "hard" parts I've enjoyed the game and look foward to playing the complete collection but maybe just play on Normal next time.....

 

The Nathan Drake Collection (PS4)

 

• The Uncharted series is one of my favorite franchises and I really wanted to go back and play all of them again and now I can in 1080P 60fps and it's glorious.
• I finished the first game over the weekend and the game still looks great graphically. They really did a good job so you really can't tell that the game is 7 years old.
• They also made changes to the game play so the enemies aren't bullet sponges, if you get a head shot they go down immediately.
• I started out on the brutal difficulty but the game was way too cheap, there would be times I would get shot without having any time to react so I went down to hard and it was still tough but I was able to finish the game on that mode. The jet ski driving was horrible though and I almost threw my controller during that section.
• I started the second game which is probably the best action/adventure game made and it still holds up.

New Releases - Games, Games and more games. Call of Duty BO3 is the big release this week. Next week I'm taking off to play Fallout 4 and Tomb Raider hopefully those games will not be buggy on release.

 

 

PC

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops III (download - $60)

Anno 2205 (download - $60)

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut (download - $45)

Sonic Lost World (download - $30)

UmiharaKawase (download)

Brilliant Shadows - Part One (download)

Euro Fishing (download)

The Living Dungeon (download)

The Last NightMary - A Lenda do Cabeça de Cuia (download)

Poncho (download)

Dawn of the Plow (download)

Battle Battalions (download - free-to-play)

Getsuei Gakuen -kou-

Gladiators Online: Death Before Dishonor (download - free-to-play)

Car Washer: Summer of the Ninja (download)

Pink Heaven (download - free-to-play)

The Secret Order 2: Masked Intent (download)

Mushihimesama (download)

Spakoyno: Back to the USSR 2.0 (download)

Prominence (download)

Wicked Witches (download)

 

PlayStation 4

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Need for Speed

Lords of the Fallen: Complete Edition

Evolve - Ultimate Edition

Air Conflicts: Pacific Carriers

Awesomenauts Assemble!

Snoopy's Grand Adventure

Tiny Troopers Joint Ops

Shovel Knight (retail)

The Jackbox Party Pack (retail)

World Poker Championship

Dragon Fin Soup (download)

 

Xbox One

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Need for Speed

Lords of the Fallen: Complete Edition

Evolve - Ultimate Edition

Snoopy's Grand Adventure

The Jackbox Party Pack (retail)

 

Xbox 360

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Barbie and Her Sisters: Puppy Rescue

The Jackbox Party Pack (retail)

 

PlayStation 3

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Barbie and Her Sisters: Puppy Rescue

Dragon Fin Soup (download)

 

Wii U

 

Shovel Knight (retail)

Snoopy's Grand Adventure

Barbie and Her Sisters: Puppy Rescue

Electronic Super Joy (download)

 

Vita

 

Dragon Fin Soup (download)

 

Nintendo 3DS

 

Yo-Kai Watch

Shovel Knight (retail)

Snoopy's Grand Adventure

Barbie and Her Sisters: Puppy Rescue

 

 

 

Destiny: The Taken King, Sony VPL-HW40ES

Destiny: The Taken King (XBONE)

• I bought the digital version of PS4 and never installed any of the DLC's that came with that version.  I got to lvl 15 and stopped playing because I didn't want to grind for equipment and light levels and there just wasn't that much content.
• With the new expansion getting rave reviews I thought I try again, but this time on Xbox since I only played it solo on PS4 and have some friends that also play on the Xbox that I can team up with. 
• I've put around 20 hours and am almost to the level cap of 40 and the game has been very entertaining.  I've just now started to get into the Taken King quests and right away there are more cut scenes and the quests feel more involved.  There is well over 8-10 hours of content just in this expansion.
• The shooting still feels perfect and now that they re-balanced the game I'm getting better gear at a faster rate which is always satisfying. 
• I still haven't tried a Raid yet which I hope to get to sometime next month.  It requires 5 other players that are on your friends list so it will take a while to plan out especially since the raids can take 4-8 hours.
• My only gripes are with the load times, they are extremely long and having to go back to the base to turn in quests and buy from vendors is annoying.  Can't they use the power of the cloud to speed that up? 

Sony VPL-HW40ES

• Since I completed my room I've been moving my TV around in front when I wanted to play video games because of 2 things. One is the pop of the graphics that a backlit panel gives that a huge projection screen can't. The other is lag. On my Epson Projector the lag is extreme so trying to play a game is impossible. There is a fast mode option but that reduces the graphics quality way too much.  
• I finally decided that I wanted to try and game on my projector screen since it was so huge it felt like a waste seeing that behind my TV.  I would just have to accept the less pop of the graphics and hope that the larger screen would be a nice compromise.  The lag issue would mean that I'd need a new projector. 
• The Sony I chose has the best lag of any projector,  it's even less than my plasma TV. 
• After playing games on the projector screen it's hard to go back to anything smaller even with the better pop.  I actually feel that I'm in the levels now and not just looking in.
• The colors on the Sony Projector are perfect without any calibration so I'm happy about that so no more time spent on wondering if I need to change my settings. The picture is stunning.
• The Sony is also a bit brighter than my Epson, which I really haven't needed yet as I'm playing mostly in the ECO mode. When I tried the bright mode with my Epson the fan would get really loud so I never used that mode but with the Sony it's whisper quiet which is an added plus. 
• The only downside to the Sony is the 3D uses IR glasses so the glasses I bought for my Epson are RF, there is an adapter for $275 that I can buy to convert the 3D but that's pretty expensive.
• So far I'm really impressed with my Sony and playing games on that big screen is just awesome, so wish I had done this sooner. 

New Releases - Tons of great releases this week. Top of course being Rockband 4,  I'm upset that I can't use my drums yet on Xbone but PS4 users are free to pound away.  Nathan Drake collection is on the PS4 so I'll be replaying those 3 games again in 60 fps 1080P glory.  Transformers: Devastation looks like the 80's cartoons which is awesome. 

PC
 Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide

Transformers: Devastation (download - $50)

Skyhill (download - $15)

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut (download)

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (download)

Caffeine (download)

Read Only Memories (download)

Sayonara UmiharaKawase (download)

Devils & Demons (download)

March of Industry: Very Capitalist Factory Simulator Entertainments (download)

Hidden Objects Bundle 4 in 1 (download)

Ookibloks (download)

Sublevel Zero (download)

Kaiju Panic (download)

Normality (download)

WRC 5 FIA World Rally Championship (download)

This Book Is A Dungeon (download)

Slipstream 5000 (download)

Trap Them - Sniper Edition (download)

Nubs' Adventure (download)

PlayStation 4
 Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection

Rock Band 4

Transformers: Devastation

Dragon Age: Inquisition Game of the Year Edition

Ride

Super Meat Boy (download)

Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance (download)

Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Souls (download)

Xbox One
 Rock Band 4

Transformers: Devastation

Dragon Age: Inquisition Game of the Year Edition

Ride

Elite: Dangerous (download)

Teslapunk (download)

Afro Samurai (download)

Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition (download)

Xbox 360

Transformers: Devastation

PlayStation 3
 Transformers: Devastation

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax

Ride (download)

Saint Seiya: Soldiers' Souls (download)

Shooter Starfighter Sanvein (download - PSOne Classic)

Street Racquetball (download - PSOne Classic)

Vita
 Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax

Farming Simulator 16

Super Meat Boy (download)

Nintendo 3DS
 Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash

 

Until Dawn, Mad Max, Metal Gear Solid V, New PC

Until Dawn (PS4)

• Do you like horror movies?  Did you like the Butterfly Effect?  Do you like choices? Do you like QTE's? 
• The game is basically a horror game where your goal is to keep everyone alive. 
• It plays like Heavy Rain which I really liked, so it's a story driven game with some interactive elements.
• There are tons of player choices which will alter the story and the game has multiple endings.
• I think this game is the ultimate party game where it's best if you have a group of friends watching the game, making decisions, and scream because of those decisions.  There are times when it cuts to you being asked questions by a psychiatrist asking what you are scared of and other strange questions that I assume tailors the enemies and situations based on your answers. 
• There are a ton of jump scares and if you have the playstation camera it will take pictures while you are playing and capture the moments during the scares and impose that on the screen which is an awesome feature.  I am tempted to buy the camera just for this game.
• I've only played about 2 hours and have really enjoyed the game so far,  There have already been 4 or 5 jump scares that caught me off guard and I may have jump/screamed a little. 

Mad Max(Steam)

• The game isn't related to the movie which came out this year and the main character doesn't look like Mel or Tom but he does fit the Mad Max mold. 
• I was really impressed with the graphics so clean and crisp and the draw distances are amazing.  I have every setting maxed and I'm at 128 fps so it's a good port.  It was developed by Waner Brothers whose previous release, Batman,  was awful and still not fixed. 
• The combat is modeled after Batman and has some extra features like charge attacks and some of the take downs are pretty violent   You do have a gun but ammo is limited. 
• The main part of the game involves your car which you are building it up from scratch.  The first real mission has you getting a body for your car.  The car combat feels ok so far but I really haven't done much but ram people into rocks.
• From reviews that I've read it's says the secondary missions aren't very compelling but I'll have to judge myself.  The game seems large as well over 30 hours I think.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Steam)

• So many games so little time.
• I played through the prologue which as about an hour and a half and it was awesome.  The graphics are clean and sharp on PC it's one of the best looking titles of this generation. 
• The story starts out crazy and I never knew what to expect as it kept throwing more and more awesome things at me.
• Once that is complete the main game begins and it's been referred to as the Far Cry 4 stealth game as it's open world, huge open world, where you do what you want when you want.
• I just got to that part when I stopped but I did ride my horse for bout 5 minutes and it felt great.
• I looked at my completion stat after finishing the prologue and it said 1% so this is a huge game. one reviewer is only 10% through and he's played 18 hours so another long game.
• There aren't 30-40 minute cutscenes in this one like MG4 it's more like Peacewalker. 
• I am interested to see how the game plays out as it's the last true Metal Gear game. 

PC

• I did upgrade my PC last week and only had one issue.
• The night before I had taken apart my PC to get ready for the new components and I couldn't find the parts that held the CPU cooler to my motherboard.  I spent and hour or more searching and could never find it so I went and bought a new water cooler.  I did have some small issues with the placement of the fans and the cooler radiator, but overall it was very easy to install.
• I did some research on the best way to get good air flow through my case and that's a science that goes deep.  I ended up with 3 fans and I took out my top Hard drive cage.
• Once everything was installed I fired it up and it worked without issues.
• I reinstalled Windows 10 for the 3rd time and had to call to get my activation code which I said I had it on 2 computers which made me have to call again, luckily they don't save that info.
• I booted up some games and I did see about a 10-15 fps improvement in the Witcher 3, GTA V and Far Cry 4.  I'm not sure if it was the new components or if the airflow was my problem as the graphics card will throttle down if it gets too hot.  I was pleased.
• I really like my motherboard and the GUI setup is very easy to use and overclocking the board is done by turning a dial on the motherboard. I overclocked my CPU to 4.3Ghz and haven't had any issues.

New Releases - A couple of big releases this week.  Metal Gear Solid V will be the last one written and directed by Kojima.  The PC version was supposed to come out 2 weeks later but the developers didn't take a summer vacation so it's out at the same time.  Stasis looks interesting a horror game from an isometric view.  Dragonroppa and SteinsGate for vita are some other neat looking titles.

​PC

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (download - $60)

Mad Max (download - $60)

Company of Heroes 2 - The British Forces (download - $13)

Act of Aggression (download - $45)

Rememoried (download)

Stasis (download)

Deliverance (download)

Steamalot: Epoch's Journey (download)

Close Your Eyes (download - free-to-play)

Immortal Defense

Trigonarium (download)

Nobunga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence (download)

iZBOT (download)

Renowned Explorers: International Society (download)

Raiden IV: Overkill (download)

Gunman Clive 2 (download)

PlayStation 4

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Mad Max

Far Cry 4 Complete Edition

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Nobunga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence

Super Time Force Ultra (download - free for PlayStation Plus)

Grow Home (download - free for PlayStation Plus)

Xeodrifter (download - free for PlayStation Plus)

Armello (download)

Zombie Vikings (download)

Xbox One

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Mad Max

Far Cry 4 Complete Edition

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

The Deer God (download - free for Xbox Live Gold)

Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse (download)

Nightmares From The Deep: The Cursed Heart (download)

Quest of Dungeons (download)

Super Toy Cars (download)

Xbox 360

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

PlayStation 3

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Steins;Gate

Nobunga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence (download)

Wii U

Year Walk (download)

Gunman Clive HD Collection (download)

Vs. Excitebike (download - Wii U Virtual Console)

Vita

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls

Steins;Gate

Super Time Force Ultra (download)

Xeodrifter (download)​

Newegg, Rocket League, PC, WD Cloud EX2

Sorry my blog has been absent for the past several weeks not many games coming out and I've mostly been playing Rocket League but Madden releases this week which starts the fall release and it's going to get crazy around here.

Newegg

• Want to give them a thumbs up this week.
• When I bought my graphics card it came with a free copy of Batman Arkham Knight. The game is still broken.
• Luckily I was able to get a free copy of Metal Gear Solid Phantom Pain just by using their Chat system and my order numbers. Kudos to them.

Rocket League

• I've put in around 60-70 hours with this game and still not close to being tired of it.
• I'm always playing a match and thinking it will be my last one for the night but just have to go one more.
• The DLC is okay just more cosmetics and a couple of cars.  All stadiums will be free which is a good thing. 
• I like the soundtrack as well and will probably purchase that soon. 

PC

• For the past week my PC has been acting strange and having problems booting and yesterday it would not boot at all.  It would just start and spin the fans then stop again in a repeated loop so I decided to upgrade to the new Skylake suite of products.
• I bought this board MSI Z170A GAMING M7, i5-6600k, and 16GB of DDR 4 ram which should be here today.

WD Cloud EX2

• I've been thinking about buying a NAS for awhile now.  I bought a Seagate 5TB external drive recently and have had some problems with it so I decided to try out the WD Home Nas.
• It connects to your network and I can access it through my PC or my tablet.
• It was easy to setup and I did forgo the RAID 1 option and am using RAID 0 and splitting the files across 2 drives.  I am basically using it as a media server. 
• It does have the Plex server app, but if you need to transcode any videos the NAS is just too slow so I'm still using my small desktop to run the server.  Streaming form the Plex server is fast with no hiccups while playing videos.
• So far I'm pretty impressed with how easy it is to setup and start sharing files. 

 

New Releases -  I am picking up Madden and will only pay $18 after trading in last years version and all the benefits of that from Best Buy.  The Best Buy Gamers Club is a really good deal.  Also Until Dawn comes out this week which looks really intersting and if you've never played Dishonoured then the definitive version is out this week and you really should pick it up.  Great game. Oh and if you have kids Disney Infinity 3.0 is out as well.  One more game is the Gears of War 1 remake.  I'd pick it up if was all 3 but just the first one I'll wait.

PC

 

Mega Man Legacy Collection (download - $15)

Capsule Force (download)

One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 (download - $50)

Evoland 2 (download)

Crookz - The Big Heist (download - $30)

Nova-111 (download)

Planet of the Eyes (download)

Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire (download)

Nyctophobia (download)

Party Hard (download)

Coated (download)

Hegemony III: Clash of the Ancients (download)

Celestial Tear: Demon's Revenge (download)

Fish or Die (download)

Kult: Heretic Kingdoms (download)

Sound Shift (download)

Lamia Must Die (download - free-to-play)

Dead in Bermuda (download)

Fran Bow (download)

Country Tales (download)

Calvino Noir (download)

Iggy's Egg Adventure (download)

Caveman Craig (download)

Mountain Crime: Requital (download)

Xenocide (download)

Close Your Eyes (download - free-to-play)

Razenroth (download)

PlayStation 4
 Madden NFL 16

Disney Infinity 3.0

Until Dawn

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3

Dishonored: Definitive Edition

Mega Man Legacy Collection (download - $15)

Capsule Force (download)

I Am Bread (download)

Calvino Noir (download)

Nova-111 (download)

Ascendant (download)

Back to Bed (download)

VVVVVV (download)

Xbox One
 Gears of War: Ultimate Edition

Madden NFL 16

Disney Infinity 3.0

Dishonored: Definitive Edition

Mega Man Legacy Collection (download - $15)

Xbox 360
 Madden NFL 16

Disney Infinity 3.0

PlayStation 3
 Madden NFL 16

Disney Infinity 3.0

Steins;Gate (download)

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax (download)

Back to Bed (download)

Wii U
 Disney Infinity 3.0

Runbow (download)

Vita
 Steins;Gate (download)

Amnesia: Memories (download)

Back to Bed (download)

VVVVVV (download)