No Man's SKy, Madden 17 Deal

No Man's Sky (PC)

The much hyped and long awaited game finally released last week.  Is it worth your $60?

• This is a tough question for me to answer.
• Initially I thought the game was amazing but after 8 hours my interest is starting to fade, but there is still a part of me that wants to keep playing.  
• The game boasts a huge procedural generated world with a quadrillion or more unique planets to explore which is an impressive technological feat.
• Even though each planet is "unique" so far they have all felt the same. The atmosphere, plants, and animals are all different looking, but since they are generated they all pull from a repository and that repository isn't as varied as it needs to be.  
• As an example the creatures look like they came out of the game Spore.  In Spore you could create some cool characters but after awhile the novelty wore off as you would see the base parts just moved around in different positions.  

• So what do you actually do in the game?  That is the most asked questions and the answer is relatively simple.  
• You mine for resources to build parts so that you can go to the next planet and repeat.  It's basically a resource management sim. 
• For many hours I was fine with this loop, but after awhile it hit me that I'm not sure I enjoy it anymore.
• The tasks that I'm performing on each planet are not varied, I've done the same thing on the 20th planet that I did on the first one maybe just a bit faster since I have better items.  
• There are NPC's on each planet but they are basically vendors that will sell or give you items.  They do speak in a language that you don't understand at first, but you can learn their language one word at a time by finding pillars.  
• There are no quests to undertake other than upgrading your items, you won't be asked to go kill 10 animals or anything like that. 
• You have a limited amount of inventory slots in the beginning so I spent a major chunk of time mining gold so that I could buy a new spaceship with 5 more slots. 
• You can name any planet, animal, or plant which is uploaded to a database so anytime another player explores your planet they will see the name which is awesome.  The problem is there are so many to name that you will quit naming them after an hour.  

• I did mention that there was a part of me that want's to keep playing and since I've only played 8 hours there is always a nagging feeling that the next solar system will be amazing and could totally change my viewpoint. 
• So I'm not sure if I'm going to keep playing or not.  I may wait and see if they are planning to add any extra content to the game, but with Deus Ex and Madden releasing next week my playtime will be limited to the rest of this week if any.  
• So is the game worth $60?  I've read many user posts and they are all varied, some have the same views as mine and others can't get enough of the game.  If you like to create your own fun and want to explore and don't mind repetitive tasks then this game could keep you busy forever. 

Madden 17 Deal

• You can trade in your 2016 copy of Madden at Best Buy and get $15 for the game and a $10 coupon towards the purchase of Madden 17.
• If you are a Game Club member that means you can get the game for around $25.

Headphone Extravaganza, Witcher 3, Diablo 3

Witcher 3 (Steam)

• I finally beat the main campaign after 145 hours so now off to play the DLC which is another 30-40. 

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls(Xbone)

• Been playing this on the Xbox one with Angel and Mitch and having a great time.
• The game is still a blast to play and they are still adding more and more to this game with a new patch hitting very soon.
• Yes I bought a copy for each platform, it's just that good.  

Headphones

I've been trying to find the perfect headphone for work and I've tried quite a few of them and I think I've finally found the one for me.  At first I was looking at headphones that included a mic so that I could also take work calls along with listening to music.  The only issue was that most of those headsets weren't that great at playing music.  I tried headphones with the inline mic in the cord but could never get them to work with my laptop.  I finally tried the ModMic which is a separate mic that you can attach to any headset using magnets, and it's the perfect solution. A mic that is easily removable and has great sound.  Highly Recommended. 

Below is a list of headphones that I tried and a mini review of each.  All but the gaming headphones were tested using a usb DAC/AMP, the Mayflower 02 which is a great neutral amp that works without drivers on any windows PC.  

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H6 Second Generation

• After a couple of years looking I finally found the best headphone for work along with the ModMic.
• The design looks really nice and the ear pads are comfortable out of the box.
• The sound is amazing and the bass is tuned perfectly.  
• These are the best closed back headphones that I've ever tried.  
• Each little detail of the music is brought out making listening through my music collection a new experience.  
• I'm not a hardcore Audiophile but once you hear music with these on you will do a double take as you hear parts of songs that you've never heard before and it's an amazing experience.  
• The included cord which has an inline mic with phone controls is not that great of quaility so I did upgrade the cord for about $4. 

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AKG 712 Pro

• These are open-backed headphones so they leak out sound if you crank them up so not useful in an office setting.  
• They are extremely comfortable with huge memory foam ear pads.  
• They do require an amp to get the full sound experience, the bass is not as pronounced just using an iPhone.  
• These are my preferred headphones while at home when I can really crank them. 

Bose QuietComfort 25

• The best noise cancelling headphones, I can mow with these things on and not have to blast the music to extreme levels.
• Requires a AAA battery to power the noise cancellation and the battery life is around 30 hours.  It won't auto turn off if you stop playing music so if you forget to turn off the noise cancellation the battery will run out.  
• They are very very comfortable and fit well around my ears so that I can barely tell that they are on.
• The sound is great when you have the noise cancellation engaged but as soon as you turn it off the sound is very diminished and loses it's punch so you constantly need to have it on.  Which was an issue for me.  
• The noise cancellation causes pressure on my ears so after awhile it becomes bothersome.  
• If you travel a lot or work in a noisy office then you should invest in these but do be aware you will have people walk up on you without noticing and may give you a bit of a startle.  

Turtle Beach 240X

• Wireless Xbox and PC headphones with a mic.
• I use these at home when playing mutil-player games.
• The sound is pretty good and the mic works very well.
• The default ear pads are uncomfortable so I did buy some larger pads and it helped quite a bit so I can wear them for about 4-5 hours without discomfort.  

Audio Technica - M50X

• These are highly recommended as the starting Audiophile headphones and they don't disappoint.  
• The sound is amazing and packs quite a bit of bass punch  
• The only drawback for me was that they are not very comfortable.  The stock pads did not go fully over my ears even though they are supposed to.  I did buy some larger ear pads but they took away quite a bit of the bass and they didn't quite sound the same so I took them off.

Harman Kardon 

• Bluetooth headphones that can also  be used wired as well.   
• The ear pads are rectangle shaped and really don't fit my ears very well so it would get uncomfortable after 30 minutes.  
• The outer material of the cans are made out of metal so anytime my cord would brush against it I could hear it even while playing music.
• The sound was very good though and there wasn't much of a loss when wireless.  

VModa 100

• Really cool looking headphones and built extremely well. 
• These are "bass head" headphones and you really do feel your music while listening to them.  
• Most of the music I listen to is Rock Guitar Instrumentals and some classical pieces so the bass was a bit too much for my tastes.
• They were also not that comfortable,you can buy some larger pads made directly by the company for $20 but I thought at the price they should both be included or at least be able to pick which version you want. 

Sony Pulse Elite Headphones 

• Works with PS4 and PC wireless with a dongle. 
• The mic is inside the headphone, but it still works great.
• The default ear pads are again uncomfortable.  
• When using on PS4 some games have special settings that you download to the headphones which is a cool idea and they do make the sound much different.

Dirt Rally VR, Shon's Car Mechanic Simulator

Dirt Rally VR

• One of the main reasons that I bought a Rift was to play driving games and they finally released a patch to add VR to the game.
• I can easily say the best VR game that I've played.
• They took their time and fully added VR support, this isn't some half-baked addon, the update was over 10G so it touched nearly every file in the game and it shows.
• When you start up the game you are in what looks to be a tire with a huge screen in front of you showing you the intro video and the menus.  It's really slick, Codemasters has always done a good job with their menus.
• Since this is VR there is a possibility that you may get a little motion sick so they rate each track with a comfort meter.  I tried the lowest level and after 2 races I did feel a bit of motion sickness but after I played the game more I haven't experienced that feeling again.  Your body should adjust to VR it might take a bit of time.  
• Once the race begins and you are in the cockpit of the car it just feels awesome.  Looking around and seeing your co-driver with their cheat sheets as they start telling you about the race is just cool.
• While I was revving up the engine I looked down and they drivers leg was matching my motion of the gas pedal.
• The actual racing feels perfect, I'm able to really get a feel for the track and can hit corners much better and also the sense of speed and motion is greater so you can make subtle gas/brake adjustments quicker.
• My first race I hit a water puddle and it completely obstructed my view and as soon as my wipers swept across my screen I saw a fence post and plowed right into it.  It was an intense moment as I thought I was really there.
• The graphics look really nice, it still has the screen door effect but I really don't notice it at all since the tracks are full of curves and the environment envelopes the track.  I noticed it much more in Assetto Corsa since you can look far off into the distance.  There is a trick in the Oculus debugger that will allow you to increase the pixel density that will make the games look better with the cost of performance.  I haven't tried that yet but will in the future.  
• I am really impressed with this version of the game and it has made my track times much better.  
• Kudos to Codemasters. 

Serpentine Belt

• Speaking of cars my serpentine belt broke yesterday and I attempted to fix it myself.
• I had been hearing scraping noises recently and thought I was me running over something in the road.
• Nope it was my belt just shredding to pieces.
• I can say that I am grateful for a praying mother as the belt finally broke when I was backing out of my driveway returning to work from lunch. If this happened while I was driving.....
• I had to walk to the parts store and luckily one is really close but the Levy hill is a bear to climb. 
• I picked up my belt and got a 19mm socket for the tension rod but bought the larger socket version, First mistake.
• On some of the videos they mentioned that you can take off the front passenger wheel to make it easier.  As I was taking off the lug nuts one of the bolts broke off. Yay!  Second Mistake.  
• There are 6 different pulleys that I have to wrap the belt around so that takes some time to get the cable on 5 of them. Once that is done I tried using the larger socket and just knew it wouldn't fit.  I was right, I could get the socket on but not the ratchet.  
• So I walked back down to the store and exchanged the part, No price different though!!!
• Get the socket on and pull the tension bolt and there is not enough torque to get the belt on.  I find a curtain rod that fits over the ratchet and use that to help pull down the ratchet, but it's still not enough as the rod hits the car frame. 
• Now I'm wondering if I got the right belt.  I walked to another store which was farther away and the belt I had was the right one, but I was able to rent a serpentine belt toolset. Third Mistake. 
• I carry that back home and it doesn't even have a 19mm socket, so much for a complete kit.  It does have a larger bar that I can use, but it's too long and just like the curtain rod it hits my car.  
• I did try a small wrench that I could attach to the ratchet but it was difficult to grip but I did press it down quite far but just not enough.  
• I did this for about 2 hours and still wasn't convinced that I had the right belt.  It just didn't feel right that I had to press down that hard.  I knew it had to be tight but this was ridiculous.  None of the videos seemed this tough.  
• I look over at my battery and notice that one of the arms of the  positive post clamp has broken in two.  Third Mistake. 
• One video I found mentioned taking off part of the engine bracer so that I could get a better angle at the tension bolt.  
• As I was trying to remove the bolts the car came off the jack.  Fourth Mistake.  
• I get it hoisted back up and now probably I messed something else up.  
• It was around 6 at this time and I was tired so I got cleaned up and was going to get a pvc pipe to use as better leverage the next day.  
• I just couldn't stop though, my girlfriend came over and took me to another part store and yes I did have the right belt,  Arrggh.
• I went to Lowes and got a PVC pipe thinking this would be the finisher.  
• Got back and used the pipe and it's still not enough leverage.  I am really pressing down this tension bolt and fear I might break it, Fifth Mistake.  
• JK I didn't break it. 
• It was 10pm now and I'm just about to give up and I thought I'd try one more time with a different pulley I hadn't tried.  
• It was under the car but somehow I managed to get a lip of the belt over the pulley and from there able to get it fully on.
• I started the car and the belt moved the parts and I was ecstatic.
• I put the tire back on with 4 lug nuts hoping that would be enough.
• I fixed the battery clamp barely.  The fly nut in the package was too big for the bolt provided.  Luckily I still had the old one. 
• It was 11 now and I took anouther shower and just sat in my recliner listening to music and drinking water for about 45 minutes.  Half falling asleep I dragged myself to bed and was sore all over. This had been a long day.
• The total cost.  $60 and 10 hours of hard labor.  
• I love my job.

Edge of Nowhere (Oculus)

• Insomniac, who made the Ratchet and Clank games, have 3 VR titles in development and since it's from a major developer it feels like a real game and not just a tech demo. 
• The game is a 3rd person action game and you are positioned behind the character at all times.  
• It is a seated experience and you play with a controller.  I was playing in my racing chair but moved to my drum throne so that I could easily turn around and look behind me and it made the game and experience so much better. I do suggest sitting in a chair you can swivel around in easily for VR games.  
• The game is set in the Artic and you are traversing the environment by climbing and avoiding enemies who can only hear you so it felt a bit like the Last of Us. 
• I've only put in an hour and so far I've enjoyed it, the story is interesting and although the game play is nothing new they do have some supernatural elements which allows them to do some interesting things in VR.  
• I'm looking forward to their 3rd VR game which is basically a Harry Potter sorcerer battle.  

The Brookhaven Experiment (VIVE)

• I really like on the rail shooting games but the tech has never been good enough.  I thought the Wii would be perfect but it was never sensitive enough and I could never get the PS3 motion controllers calibrated correctly so that I could look down the sights and hit what I was looking at.  
• ​I think VR is the perfect tech for this type of game but I'm not sure that I'm ready for it.  
• ​It isn't quite an on rails shooter but it's close enough.  You start in one location and have to defeat waves of enemies then you move to a different location.  
• Since you are in the game the creatures are coming in from everywhere and of course they will sneak up on you and I have to admit I did shout out a couple of times.  
• All levels are at night so you have a flash light that you want to use minimally so more creatures wont appear so you are constantly trying to listen to find out where the creatures are and quickly turning the light on/off.  It's an experience that I did have to take breaks after a level or two.
• ​There are many different weapons and upgrades and I was happy to get the laser sight.  The shooting feels really good and you can aim down the sight and hit what you are aiming at.  
• This genre has some great potential and I wish they would port the House of the Dead and the Resident Evil shooter games ​as they were great.  

​Assetto Corsa​ (Oculus) 

• Finally got this working in VR.  When I first tried it I didn't know that the menu's don't show up in VR so I thought it wasn't working.   
• I tweaked a few graphics settings and the game really looks great in VR, so much better than Project Cars.
• The detail of the cars is amazing.  It's fun just sitting in the car looking around the cabin.  I tried an open wheel car and just watched the tires and the wheel components move as I turned the wheel.  
• ​In VR you also get a better feeling for how fast you are moving so it makes braking and hitting the apex of a turn much easier.
• I did notice a couple of times though that I felt a bit queasy.  When I setup the resolution it only went up to 60hz so that could be the issue.  I need to run FRAPS to see what my FPS is.  
• Dirt Rally is supposed to have it implemented sometime soon and I can't wait.  Racing in Vr is going to be awesome.  

E3, Rocket League, Warhammer: Vermintide

Steam Summer Sale is on.  Go get some games. 

E3

• God of War 4 looks amazing.  It's one of my favorite franchises so I was happy to see it return.  
• Dishonored 2, Mafia 3, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, excited to play these this year.
• Xbox one games coming out on Windows 10 is huge for me now I really don't need an Xbox one and I can play Forza Horizons in 1080P with 60 fps on my awesome racing rig.  
• Call of Duty actually looks awesome, the trailer they showed got me really interested. 
• Horizon Zero Dawn - Go watch a video of this game in action.  Too bad it was delayed to next year.
• Resident Evil 7 fully playable in VR!!!!!!
• The new South Park game looks incredible.  If you never played The Stick of Truth you really should.  
• Overall a decent show.  I really liked the Sony conference as the whole show had a live orchestra playing throughout the whole show.

Rocket League

• Almost 400 hours on PC.  
• Season 3 began this week and the competition has gotten a lot tougher.  I started out a pretty low rank and having a tough time moving up.  
• They added a new arena to the ranked matches that has a 2 levels that I really don't like but the presentation of it is amazing, the puddles of water on the floor and the neon lights look really good so it is growing on me.  
• They also added item trading so you can now get better items by trading in the extras you randomly receive.  It's okay, I've gotten a couple of cool things.  

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

• Like Left 4 Dead except you are fighting rats instead of zombies and there is a progression system along with weapon/armour upgrades so it's more fleshed out.
• The game is more focuses on melee combat but each character does have a ranged weapon so there is still some shooting involved.  
• The goal is to make it through the level and if successful you will get a chance to roll some dice to get some new gear.  
• Last night we played and got to the exit but one person was running behind who I will not mention and we went back to get him and all died, so we didn't get any new gear.  Thanks Porkchop. 
• Each run takes about 20 minutes so the game sessions are a decent length.
• It's a little buggy but it's entertaining if you play a couple a sessions at a time. 

Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch, Uncharted 4

Rainbow Six Siege Starter Edition

1. For $15 you get the whole game but only 4 out of 20 characters and a bit more grind to earn the other ones but if you just want to get your feet wet it is worth the purchase.
2. We picked this up yesterday to play in our group session last night and had a great time.
3. We only played the terrorist hunt mode which is against the AI without trying any of the tutorials so it took a bit for us to figure out but we managed to start winning the scenarios towards the end. 
4. The game is pretty dynamic with the destructible environments, the AI was blowing up doors, walls, and ceilings even rappelling in through the windows.   Sean in particularly didn't like the bomber dudes as he got killed about 3 times early in the match and there is not a respawn if you die but you can watch the rest of the match from any players perspective.  
5. We played for about 2 hours and really wanted to go back in but it was getting pretty late.  
6. I've read that the PVP play especially in ranked mode has a cheating problem but I think the game is worth the $15 for the single player scenarios and the terrorist hunt mode.  
7. They pick 2 random characters for you initially and give you 600 credits to purchase 2 more.  These characters have special abilities so you can choose the ones that fit your play style.
8. In order to unlock the other characters you can either pay more money or use the in game currency which dies require a grind.  The game says about 15 hours of play to unlock one character but you can decrease the time by completing challenges and such.  You are getting the game at a discount though. 
9. Once we started playing there was an itch to open up more of the characters so the game does have a good compelling way to make you want to spend money.

Overwatch

• This is Blizzards first first person shooter game and it feels like they have been making them a long time.
• It's a team based shooter where kill/death streak is not that important so if you are tired of COD then this may be a good alternative except that you probably want to have a group of friends to play with.  
• There are a ton of characters to choose so you can pick the play style you want but you must also be willing to change your playstyle vs what the other team is doing. You can change your character multiple times during the match and at anytime. 
• The game is very different than COD, going in lone wolf and just killing the enemy is not a good plan.  You must strategize with your team and be aware of the overall game and not just the enemy in front of you.
• I'm playing on the PC with a controller and its the first game where I can be competitive vs other players using kb/m as most of the characters you don't need precision aim as the guns have a large radius of attack.  
• You don't level your characters or change their weapons in any way so it's a bit of a let down there but they want to keep the game balanced.  You can open up different skins and other cosmetic additions for your characters by earning chests through playing or purchasing them.  

Uncharted 4

• Finished the game last week and it was a great game but Uncharted 2  is till my favorite.
• I enjoyed the story and thought it was the best one. The characters were very fleshed out and the banter between them enhanced the story immensely. 
• The combat is still the games weak point.  I think they simplified the melee combat too much as it never felt great to use. The encounters relied heavily on stealth and if I messed that up I would face about 5 guys to many.  They would just keep coming and it was irritating.  I think I may have killed a couple hundred enemies. 
• They have a ton of unlockables and about 10 different graphic filters that look really interesting, the whole came in pixels art? 
• I will wait awhile before I play again as I think the replay-ability is a bit less in this game since it was so story heavy.  There were some pretty long climbing sections as well.  
• Overall they ended the series perfectly and I'm excited to see what is coming next, after the Last of us 2.

Uncharted 4, Doom, Pocket Jockey

Uncharted 4

• Really excited for this game as it's one of my favorite series.  
• The graphics are probably the best in any game.  Naughty Dog can really push the Playstaion hardware to it's limits.
• The amount of detail in some areas is amazing and it's just fun to walk around an look at the environment, luckily there is a picture mode to capture your favorite places.
• The game does play like the previous games but as always there are some little touches that make the game feel fresh.
• The platforming feels a bit more complex in that there seems to be multiple ways up and the next jump point isn't always easily visible.  
• The combat is still a mixed bag.  The melee combat feels lacking this time with only two buttons, there are more contextual attacks but overall it seems a step back.  The gun play is also the same as the enemies seem to take too many bullets and at times there are just too many enemies.  I really wish they could make an Uncharted game without all the guns.
• The story and characters are all well done and they do have some nice throwbacks to the previous games.
• I've only played the first 9 chapters and I've read the later ones are even better which is great because what I've played so far has been incredible and I really want to see more.

Doom

• I should be farther in Uncharted 4 but Doom is really good and it's hard to stop playing the campaign. 
• The game does feel like the original Doom, the game is fast and fluid and if you stay in one spot for more than 3 seconds you will probably die.
• The game wants you to move and shoot at all times and the pace it creates is exciting and fresh and feels different than all the other current shooter, there isn't even gun reloading which is awesome, 
• The game looks fantastic but it's the sound that is really awesome.  The game is full of bass, from landing from a fall to the music that kicks in when a battle begins, my seat never stops moving from the buttkicker speaker. 
• The brutal kills which has the animations tied to them are really quick and you do need to perform those often since those kills cause the enemies to drop heath.  
• I started playing on the normal difficult and I didn't die very often so I kicked it up to the next level and the combat seems more frantic which is better but I am dying a lot more now and some of the checkpoints are far apart.  I need to do more testing to see if the combat is really different on the higher level or just that the enemies hits are harder.  
• There are a ton of secrets to find as well and there seems to be some alternate paths that you can only get once you gain some abilities.
• Overall I think this is the best FPS single player shooter I've played in a long time.  It feels fresh and new.  Doom is back.

Pocket Jockey (3DS)

• This is a horse racing game mixed with solitaire and it's awesome.  
• You play as a jockey trying to win the big Derby and you win races by playing solitaire.  It sounds crazy and it is but it is really fun.
• During the race you play solitaire and the cards you remove give you power that you use to power your horse though the race and give your horse the extra oomph down the home stretch.  
• The game is a bit hard to explain in writing but actual playing the game is a ton of fun.
• The writing in the game is hilarious as well and had me laughing out loud in the first 2 minutes.  
• It's only $7 but definitely worth it.