Patch 5.4: Siege of Orgrimmar will see an item store added to WOW. The above video gives a nice preview of the vanity items that currently exist on the public test realm. Prices and items are subject to change when Patch 5.4 goes live. Areyou looking forward to the release of Patch 5.4?
We all know them, and love them or hate them, you must admit the foul mouthed fourth graders at South Park Elementary are hysterical. Believe me, I was once in the camp that didn’t like those foul mouthed fourth graders at all but now, now I find them hysterical and spot on social commentary.
I’ll admit it. I’m more than a little looking forward to popping South Park: The Stick of Truth into the Xbox. Oh I’m quite sure the game will be quite full of crude humor, no I take that back I know it will be packed with it, but I also know I will laugh every time. Playing alongside Cartman and gang will definitely make real world problems and challenges recede into the background.
So get ready world, November 2013 Cartman, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and the rest of South Park, CO hit you console and PC.
Ubisoft’s 2013 entry into the MMO market is in the form of The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot to be released exclusively on the PC. There is currently an “open house” for the game from July 30th – August 6th and so I stopped by this morning.
Here are my impressions of the beta:
Seriously, this game would run flawlessly on my Surface RT or an ipad. I am baffled as to why Ubisoft is only releasing this for PC’s. There is nothing complicated. Basically, it is a cartoony version of Diablo III without the story and the simplicity of running through a castle collecting shinnies. Heck, you can die during a castle run and the only consequence is you don’t get the loot at the end of the castle. No biggie there.
This game is definitely more suited to the younger crowd. No blood, no guts, no worries. Admittedly, some younger players might have trouble reading the endless lines of text but players over the age of 8 won’t find the game difficult.
Verdict: Don’t waste your time unless you truly need a mindless romp while stuck on a meeting or are nursing an incredible hangover.
Dallas, TX will be the site of QuakeCon 2013 beginning tomorrow, August 1st. Events will be streamed via twtich.tv and the schedule from streamed events can be found here. Of particular interest will be the live stream of actual game play of the highly anticipated release of The Elder Scrolls Online next Spring and of Wolfenstein: The New Order which is scheduled to release later this year.
SOE Live begins tomorrow night! The schedule of events can be found here. The keynote address begins at 7PM PDT and will be available via streaming on twitch.tv. The list of streamed events and reveals can be found here. Of particular interest to Everquest fans will be the revel, FINALLY, of Everquest Next to the world. That will be streamed at 12PM Friday. Personally, I’m very much looking forward to the reveal and am silently praying that it lives up to my expectations. I will have full update notes for the keynote address tomorrow night and the reveal of Everquest Next on Friday; other panels are possible depending on if there is anything of interest to report.
The free titles for XBox Gold Members for August are Crackdown, Dead Rising 2 and Dead Rising 2: Case Zero.
Crackdown will be available on August 1st. And both Dead Rising Games will be available starting August 16th. Just a reminder, games are free for download and will remain a permanent part of your Xbox account, even if your Gold account lapses in the future.
Today, July 31st is the last day to download Assassin’s Creed II and to get the remainder of the Assassin’s Creed series and DLC on sale.
Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey releases on PC November 2014. Wii U fans now also have a reason to rejoice, announced today, the game is also coming to a Wii U near you. The game is available for pre-purchase at various investment levels ranging from $25 to $1,000.
So fans of the story, the long anticipated wait is almost over.
So I downloaded Assassin’s Creed II yesterday and fired it up immediately. I played until it was time to turn over the control to hubby. I loved the game play, the story line, and the intricate details placed in the little things (like fabric). It was a pleasure to play and while I might not blow through the whole game in a day or two, I will enjoy my time spent with young Ezio Auditore.
I usually don’t like games where I’m scaling heights for no reason but in AC II I’m enjoying the vistas from the incredibly high viewpoints scattered throughout the game. The controls seem sharper than the first game, which I appreciate even though I never completed the first game. I really enjoy the brief but detailed database of characters, places and things. I take the time to read the database which undoubtedly slows down my overall game play.
My only complaint … too many games I want to play at the moment and not enough hours in the month!
It finally dawned on me this morning why I’ve been so burned out on MMOs the last several weeks … they are like a mana bomb that exploded on my desktop and sucked the everyday joy from my life slowly over time the last several years.
Admittedly, the mana bomb Garrosh Hellscream dropped on Theramore was far more destructive and killed innocent Alliance citizens. However, MMOs may be the ultimate time suck ever created in the last twenty years. The grind for gear, the constantly expanding world, and if you are lucky, the compelling story are all designed to keep players coming back day after day, year after year. There is a definitely appeal to MMOs, personally I like the story lines in the MMOs I play and have become attached to characters over the years. But, honestly after a break the last couple of weeks I don’t miss the grind or the feeling of “oh crap I’m falling behind” that comes with in-game events and expansions.
When I power up my console and load up a game I know that it will have a story I’m interested in (or I wouldn’t be playing it) and I can easily pause the game to change the washer or bake cookies. I’m not constantly having to look for a safe spot to log out and carry on with real life. Admittedly, with DLC for games being so prevalent on consoles there is an argument to be made that there is still a gear grind or always waiting new content but that argument falls flat. DLC is completely optional and most of the time doesn’t interest me and since I rarely, if ever, play multiplayer games on this generation’s console, I am competing against no one else, save my husband for gear. Achievements are nice, and I admit I have on occasion been known to achievement whore, but for me achievements are not important to me overall in a titled.
Another added benefit of console gaming, is that I can enjoy the game’s story while my husband plays and I do something else. More games than I can count have been experienced that way for me and I’m fine with that. He gets to relax and immerse himself in a game and I can read or stitch and still know the story I was interested in without having to play through the game myself. I suppose this benefit is helped because we both gravitate toward the same types of games in general. And heck when he plays games I’m not interested in, I can always fire up my audible.com selection and listen to a good book while stitching.
I’m currently playing LA Noire and enjoying it. I’m going to fire up Tomb Raider this morning for the first time since we purchased it while it was on sale last week. When Assassin’s Creed II released as the free title for Gold Members on 16 July 2013, I will be powering through AC II, AC Brotherhood, AC Revelations, and AC III. I wasn’t a huge fan of the first game from a player’s perspective, but I did enjoy the story. After I tried AC III several weeks ago, I realized that the game play mechanics had improved significantly and I was enjoying the actual game play aspect.
I’m not giving up MMOs, I’m simply checking in with ones I enjoy when the mood strikes me. I’m not going to pay a subscription fee to MMOs any longer. I’ve always been a solo player in MMOs for the most part and thus I’m going to treat them as single player games going forward. Oh I’m sure the mood will strike me once in a while to run group content in an MMO and when it does, I will. However, the other things I enjoy in life are far more important to me than the 1’s and 0’s that are the game and gear of a MMO.
The last several days I haven't really been interested in any game installed on our computers. I think I'm burned out or flat out bored with the endless grind that mmo's have determined is the best, aka only, way to keep the attention of their players. I've fired up the Xbox the last couple of days and have been enjoying the heck out of myself, but of course the completion addict in me is also compelled to clean-up some achievements I have uncompleted on several games. I've also tried and fell in love, a couple of games we've had for ages but I never tried.
Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games is one of those titles. Hubby bought it when the tiled hit the On Demand menu on our 360. I always thought the game was beautiful but shooters and I generally, in the past, have had a disgruntled history. I have loved the story in games like Bioshock and Halo but the shooter aspect was always meh. However, apparently, in the last couple of years I think I've gotten over my meh block to shooter games or I'm just suddenly in the mood to play the stories and the shooter aspect doesn't bother me right now.
The story in Red Dead is the weakest of all the games I'm flitting thought right now but the environment is stunning. Sunrises and sunsets are nearly as brilliant as they are through our family room window. The weather in the game is really caught stunning. The thunderstorm mechanic in game is enough to make me find a safe spot in game and listen to the weather. The puddles, the dark atmosphere, and light effects are just fabulous.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag definitely caught my attention at this Year's E3 last week and thus I decided to put Assassin's Creed III at the top of the Gamefly queue. Game arrived and as soon as it fired up, it had my full and complete attention. The story grabbed me and held my attention. I played through the first mission in London and have made it through the first tavern mission in Boston. However, I have decided to go back and catch up on the games I missed in the past.
Hubby played through Assassin's Creed when it was released and I watched while stitching next to him (not uncommon here). I tried the original game but it didn't capture my imagination. When Assassin's Creed II was released hubby tried that game too. I thought it was beautiful and the characters much more engaging, however the dialogue drove hubby batty and neither of us finished the game. So when Brotherhood and Revelations were released we basically ignored the games and played other things.
Well, no longer will the Assassin's Creed franchise be ignored. I will go back and play through the titles I missed, ok maybe not the first one, before I pick up and finish III or start IV. Assassin's Creed II will be available for Xbox Live Gold Members for free next month and then I will be playing through it eagerly. Revelations is download and waiting, although I admit I played through some of it yesterday. The game is beautiful and has my attention.
Dead Rising 3 also caught my attention at E3 this year. Gamefly delivered Dead Rising 2 Saturday as well. Five minutes of the overly color saturated game completely failed to grasp my interest or attention. To be honest, first impression of the game reminded me of World of Warcraft style console game because of the color saturation and graphic style. Needless to say, this style of Dead Rising game doesn't have my attention and so I will wait for more information by Dead Rising 3 before committing to the new game.
Halo 5 caught my attention as well, mainly because I haven't a clue as to why Masterchief has a cracked mask on his helmet. I need to know what happened in Halo 4! . I put in Halo 3 and then hubby reminded me that I watched him play it to completion. I vaguely remember the story so I decided to give it a go and thus I fired it up. The controls and my shooter skills are never great match and so I set the game to casual. Then I realized that the fine folks over at Bungee won't give achievement points to those of us who play games for the story and not our "skills" at a shooter. I will watch hubby play through Halo 4 rather than frustrate the achievement whore (I admit it) in me by not getting credit for playing the game.
I am enjoying giving the 360 a spin while it is in triple digits outside. I am eagerly looking forward to the delivery of the Xbox One this November and I can't wait to fire up Project Spark for the first time and Zoo Tycoon.
I’ve thought about this a lot recently and we will completely discount story for this posting because if any game doesn’t have a great story then there is no chance of keeping me interested for any length of time.
Games must have housing and wardrobe appearance slots. These two items alone make all the difference in my long term interest in any game.
I played Oblivion eons and ages ago on the XBox 360, heck it was my introduction to the Elder Scrolls IP. It may not have had the detailed customization options that Morrowind had, which my husband still laments to this day, but I knew I could log-in and my character had a house where she could catch a nap, brew some potions, or just spend the rest of eternity safely.
Everquest II has done housing and housing customization the flat out best I’ve ever seen in any game. The options for housing are seemingly endless and the developers, and now the community, continually add to the housing diversity. All of my EQ2 characters share one house, which I must admit I love. They’ve all got their alters to their particular gods and their trophies from questing. I love the pillows strewn about the floor and the critters that roam the home.
Lord of the Rings Online has a good wardrobe system as does Everquest II (appearance clothing). However, neither game does it perfectly. Both have stunningly beautiful armor and clothing models that my characters drool over but they both suffer from the same flaw. No game offers enough wardrobe space to make it expansive enough to switch outfits as often as I’d like. The Secret World has a pretty good wardrobe system which is perfect for a game set in the modern world with modern clothing, but a lot of their clothing is geared to a much younger player and none of my characters particularly want to walk around in what I consider slutty clothing. Rift now offers a decent amount of wardrobe slots for in-game currency or real life cash. Problem is none of my characters are that rich in-game and I’m not spending real life money on wardrobe slots.
I love the look of this NPC in Everquest II.
My Guardian Hobbit in LOTRO never wears shoes but she does love a jaunty hat and on this fine day in Rivendell she was sporting her favorite hauberk.
The one thing Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 do better than any of their competitors, and the only thing in my opinion, is the dye system. Collecting dyes and not having them be consumed on use is brilliant and perfect system. Other games need to adopt this model. Yes they might lose out on some revenue but they would undoubtedly make up that revenue from players like me that won’t purchase a single use dye.
No game, to date, gets housing or wardrobe perfect. Rift has a goodly number of wardrobe slots but dyes are consumed on use and they don’t have pink dyes. Rift does have housing but it has yet to make an emotional connection with me. The Secret World has a decent wardrobe closet but the clothes are too revealing and cannot be dyed. Guild Wars 2 only has the dye system in it’s favor. Everquest II has phenomenal and extensive housing but no dyes and limited wardrobe to one outfit. My characters NEED many, many more wardrobe slots in Everquest Next! The clothing and armor in the Everquest franchise is so well done and so varied texturally that limiting appearance clothing to one slot is simply criminal. Lord of the Rings Online has beautiful clothing but dyes are consumed on use and wardrobe storage and slots are too limited. LOTRO housing is also lacking in comparison with Everquest franchise.
Firstly, congratulations to EA for being the only presentation out of the four to start on time. Seriously, being punctual isn’t that difficult and there is zero excuse for Sony’s presentation starting twenty minutes late!
Microsoft presentation was by far the smoothest and most comprehensive one of the day. There were no glitches, no background audio disturbances, and no incredibly annoying “hostess” (Aisha Tyler for Ubisoft) trying and failing to make bad jokes and sexual innuendoes every where she thought they might succeed. Several games exclusive to the XBox One have my full and complete undivided attention: Ryse, Son of Rome, Project Spark, Dead Rising 3, and Quantum Break. I am very much looking forward to using Smart Glass integration with console gaming. It is also a huge hit here that it is an all-in-one comprehensive entertainment box that will allow us for the first time to ditch the cable box for good.
EA presentation was informative, fast paced, fun, and showed off great game play while talking about technical advances. Dragon Age III has my attention from EA, which was expected. But quite a few things at the EA event looked interesting as well. That brief teaser for a new Star Wars: Battlefront game had me drooling with anticipation. Plants v. Zombies: Garden Warfare and Titanfall are both intriguing for very different reasons and I will undoubtedly play both.
UbiSoft conference was just awful. It was more about Aisha than the games unfortunately, because Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag looks amazing and Tom Clancy’s The Division looks like it is definitely worth delving into. South Park: The Stick of Truth will satisfy the nine-year old in all of us and I admit, I too will be playing it come this holiday season. Watchdogs looks beautiful but the story premise may actually be a little too close to recent events to be enjoyable.
Sony’s press conference was embarrassing. Sony’s persistent need to troll Microsoft only showed their fear of being outclassed by the XBox One and their presentation was amateurish. Oh I understand they wanted to solidify their fan base from being tempted away to the XBox One but unnamed insults and mentions were in extremely poor taste. I am also stunned that anyone is naive enough to believe Sony’s claims that they are not going to have digital rights management on their games. Please remember, Sony is the gaming corporation that was vulnerable to hackers and left millions of peoples personal information fall into the wrong hands. Only The Dark Sorcerer looked at all interesting or compelling for games on the new console. The other games presented were completely unappealing and uninspiring. Sony and their game developers broke no new ground with any game presented last night as an exclusive.
Preview day presented some nice new titles to look forward to, existing titles expanding their franchises, and hardware that will make it all possible.
