I own both an XBox 360 and a PS3, and I'd say I got my money's worth out of each of them, although the Sony device got used about ten times as much as Microsoft's console. However, when the XBox One and PS4 were announced last year, it was pretty clear to me that I needn't waste any money on the new box coming out of the house Bill Gates built. Bad decision after bad decision were revealed by Microsoft in the months leading up to November (when both new consoles arrived), and to be honest I never once wavered in my decision to give the XB1 a pass... not even when I found out that Titanfall, the long-awaited first release from the ex-Infinity Ward crew at Respawn Entertainment, would be exclusive to the XBox family of devices. Hard to believe anything could sour me enough to pass up a highly-touted first person shooter, and yet there it was.
Today I saw an article on the topic that brought back all those memories and reinforced my decision. My six-month-old PS4, on the other hand, gets used every week and has been a delight to own so far.
Showing posts with label PS3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PS3. Show all posts
Friday, May 16, 2014
Friday, November 01, 2013
Money Well Spent
This is the final weekend before Call of Duty: Ghosts arrives, and so that means I'm just about done playing Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the previous CoD title that came out just under a year ago. I'm pretty confident that I spent more hours playing BOII than any prior CoD release, to the point where I prestiged in it 6 times! I inched my kill-to-death ratio up to previously-unseen heights, finishing tonight at 1.75. I doubt I would have believed, last November when the game arrived in my mail slot, that I'd get anywhere nearly that high a KTD or that I'd prestige more than once, let alone do a half dozen of them.
The main driver for all those hundreds of hours online, without a question, was the presence of Boneman right there beside me (virtually speaking) over the last twelve months. Having someone to partner up with makes a huge difference in terms of not getting bored with the same old maps, and he and I had some amazing adventures playing Team Deathmatch together on Nuketown 2025, Express, Slums, Standoff, Hijacked, Carrier, Aftermath, Meltdown, Turbine, Overflow and, yes, even Yemen.
Now, though, my attention is ready to turn to Ghosts, where I'll no doubt suffer for at least a week or two with a subpar KTD while I learn the weapons, perks and maps. I can't imagine I'll end up spending as much time in this game as the last one, but you never know. You're only a kid once, after all!
The main driver for all those hundreds of hours online, without a question, was the presence of Boneman right there beside me (virtually speaking) over the last twelve months. Having someone to partner up with makes a huge difference in terms of not getting bored with the same old maps, and he and I had some amazing adventures playing Team Deathmatch together on Nuketown 2025, Express, Slums, Standoff, Hijacked, Carrier, Aftermath, Meltdown, Turbine, Overflow and, yes, even Yemen.
Now, though, my attention is ready to turn to Ghosts, where I'll no doubt suffer for at least a week or two with a subpar KTD while I learn the weapons, perks and maps. I can't imagine I'll end up spending as much time in this game as the last one, but you never know. You're only a kid once, after all!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Quit Blaming Video Games For Violence In The Real World
Here's a good article that shows just how weak the argument that "video game playing leads to violence" really is.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Entering The Plasma Age
After 10 or 11 years of reliable service, our big, boxy Toshiba 50-inch finally started giving up the ghost over the past several days. We'd get an all-white screen when first powering it on, and then it would eventually reset back to normal. Since we'd been talking about getting a new TV for a couple years now, I finally decided it was time to start looking into what was out there over this past weekend.
This afternoon we bought a 50-inch Panasonic 'smart' plasma TV (model TCP50S60, for the record), along with a "some assembly required" stand, since we were no longer going to have a mammoth crate of a television to store our various components on top of. We spent a lot of time putting the stand together, although Vicki was her usual, organized self and it actually went fairly smoothly. Once that was done, it was all on me to disconnect our jungle of existing equipment and reassemble it on the new piece of furniture. I took my time and actually tied off all of the cables for once so that it wouldn't be quite such a mess back there. I'd picked up a couple of HDMI cables along with the TV and stand (and surge protector), and I have to say that things are looking pretty sweet right now! I have the Rogers Next Box and PS3 both going into the TV via HDMI, and that upgrade along with the plasma itself have made an eye-popping difference. I played a little bit of the Fuse demo and couldn't believe how much better everything looked. Money well spent, I think.
This afternoon we bought a 50-inch Panasonic 'smart' plasma TV (model TCP50S60, for the record), along with a "some assembly required" stand, since we were no longer going to have a mammoth crate of a television to store our various components on top of. We spent a lot of time putting the stand together, although Vicki was her usual, organized self and it actually went fairly smoothly. Once that was done, it was all on me to disconnect our jungle of existing equipment and reassemble it on the new piece of furniture. I took my time and actually tied off all of the cables for once so that it wouldn't be quite such a mess back there. I'd picked up a couple of HDMI cables along with the TV and stand (and surge protector), and I have to say that things are looking pretty sweet right now! I have the Rogers Next Box and PS3 both going into the TV via HDMI, and that upgrade along with the plasma itself have made an eye-popping difference. I played a little bit of the Fuse demo and couldn't believe how much better everything looked. Money well spent, I think.
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Fuse Demo Is Kind Of Crazy!
Later this month, Insomniac Games launches a new property called Fuse. This is the company responsible for the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance franchises, two absolute favourites within this particular household. Therefore anything new out of Insomniac gets a serious look from me, just on spec.
They released a demo of Fuse yesterday, on the 360 and PS3. It's huge, and took a long time to download, but once I had it, I immediately gave it a try. It starts off fairly conventionally, with you moving your character up a cliff wall and learning the controls as you go. Then you have to break into a facility guarded by tons of armed AI's, which again was nothing too unusual. Except that... Well, it's a coop-based game, so you're on a squad of four, where the other three can be AI-controlled, operated by other players (locally or remote), or you can take turns 'being' each of the four by 'jumping' between them. (I alternated between the first and third scenarios last night.) Each character has different weapons and skills, which means that the experience changes quite a bit as you switch between them. I thought that was pretty cool, actually.
Being squad-based, there's a lot of teammate-reviving involved, which reminds me of the Medic role from Resistance 2 and others. The controls, in general, were very easy to learn and basically followed the now-standard Call of Duty model.
A little later in the demo, you encounter a bunch of 'boss' types: enemies in big armour units who require a lot of work to kill. There are several of them coming at you and your squad all at once, and I think my experience during that portion of the demo was best summed up by Vicki, as soon as it was over: "I don't think you were breathing during that part!" Now, technically, I must've been breathing, as it lasted several minutes. But it was pretty damn crazy, I'll tell you. I quit after that part, even though the demo goes on even further. I figure I need to try the demo again, with at least one other live player (hopefully Boneman) in the game with me, just to see what that's like.
Fuse could very easily end up being my next video game purchase, sometime toward the end of May.
They released a demo of Fuse yesterday, on the 360 and PS3. It's huge, and took a long time to download, but once I had it, I immediately gave it a try. It starts off fairly conventionally, with you moving your character up a cliff wall and learning the controls as you go. Then you have to break into a facility guarded by tons of armed AI's, which again was nothing too unusual. Except that... Well, it's a coop-based game, so you're on a squad of four, where the other three can be AI-controlled, operated by other players (locally or remote), or you can take turns 'being' each of the four by 'jumping' between them. (I alternated between the first and third scenarios last night.) Each character has different weapons and skills, which means that the experience changes quite a bit as you switch between them. I thought that was pretty cool, actually.
Being squad-based, there's a lot of teammate-reviving involved, which reminds me of the Medic role from Resistance 2 and others. The controls, in general, were very easy to learn and basically followed the now-standard Call of Duty model.
A little later in the demo, you encounter a bunch of 'boss' types: enemies in big armour units who require a lot of work to kill. There are several of them coming at you and your squad all at once, and I think my experience during that portion of the demo was best summed up by Vicki, as soon as it was over: "I don't think you were breathing during that part!" Now, technically, I must've been breathing, as it lasted several minutes. But it was pretty damn crazy, I'll tell you. I quit after that part, even though the demo goes on even further. I figure I need to try the demo again, with at least one other live player (hopefully Boneman) in the game with me, just to see what that's like.
Fuse could very easily end up being my next video game purchase, sometime toward the end of May.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Our Christmas Without Gifts? Just Lovely!
Vicki and I had a great Christmas today, giftless as it was (by my choice). We watched a Bond movie (Tomorrow Never Dies) because Showcase was running a Pierce Brosnan-as-007 marathon, went for a walk after dark to see the neighbourhood lights, and are about to try out the new Ratchet & Clank game that we've been saving for today. I don't think we missed the gift exchange at all, and I know I didn't miss the stress related to buying all that stuff leading up to today. Julie did break the embargo slightly, however, as she dropped by this afternoon to deliver some sweet treats and a personalized tree ornament that sums up the highlights of 2012 such as "Fun in Vegas", "Roadtrip to Florida", "Walks with Cooper", "Emma", "Missing Tammy" and "No Brother of Mine" very nicely. She's pretty clever at thinking up novel and personalized presents, even if she's not all that good at playing by the rules!
Anyway, I think next year we'll go back to normal, especially if Tammy's back and comes for a Christmas visit. Skipping a year will just make us appreciate that event all the more, I suspect.
Anyway, I think next year we'll go back to normal, especially if Tammy's back and comes for a Christmas visit. Skipping a year will just make us appreciate that event all the more, I suspect.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Black Ops II Progress Report
For the fearless few who care, I'm now through Day 4 of Call of Duty: Black Ops II online play, and it's been the usual bout of obsessive playing, as Emma and Vicki can attest to. I've logged somewhere around 12 or 13 hours, I think, which really isn't all that much when you consider that 4 days have almost 100 hours in them!
Last weekend was a Double XP Weekend for those of us who bought the Nuketown 2025 map (it just came with my pre-order, but yay!). That meant I could level up twice as fast as normal, and I did: going from nothing to level 43 (Brigadier General, I believe) over that span. I started off well, then tanked as is more usual for me on new maps. My kill-to-death (KTD) dropped briefly below 1.0 on Friday, and then bounced back up after I unlocked and started using the Target Finder attachment for the default assault rifle (MTAR). That addition improved my skill considerably, and I started kicking some serious butt. The Target Finder helps you spot enemies more clearly - always a problem for me, as the allies and enemies never seem to look any different to me - and gives you better feedback as to whether or not you're aiming at your target or not.
My real goal for the weekend, though, was to get to level 40, as that's where the SCAR-H assault rifle is unlocked. For the past several Call of Duty games, the SCAR-H has been my go-to gun, and I eagerly awaited trying it out in this version. I got there last night, and was rewarded with a familiar feeling piece of weaponry. However, I had to then unlock its attachments, just as I'd done with the MTAR earlier, and so it was only this afternoon that I got the Target Finder for it. Since then, I've been on a big roll, pushing my KTD from around 1.20 to nearly 1.30, which is a higher standard than I've achieved with any consistency before. I'm also learning the maps now, which allows me to run around them more confidently and pick better locations to reload or call in UAVs, for example. I was planning to add the Extended Clip attachment, as I'm always running out of ammo, but just a few minutes ago I unlocked the Scavenger perk (which picks up ammo from dead bodies) and started using it. I promptly went through a match only dying 3 times, and only had to worry about ammo once (after I'd stayed in the same high point for too long, with no dead bodies nearby). It's a lot of fun figuring out the loadout in this game, as they've placed serious limitations on it, and it really is a zero sum game: after getting the essentials, you always have to give up something to get something new.
My next milestone will be level 53, at which point the Claymore finally becomes available to me. I can barely wait, although I've been getting good use out of the Bouncing Betty that's kind of similar.
Loving the game so far, and haven't even tried the campaign or zombies mode yet. That'll come later, when I burn out on the online play, as I'm sure I soon will.
Last weekend was a Double XP Weekend for those of us who bought the Nuketown 2025 map (it just came with my pre-order, but yay!). That meant I could level up twice as fast as normal, and I did: going from nothing to level 43 (Brigadier General, I believe) over that span. I started off well, then tanked as is more usual for me on new maps. My kill-to-death (KTD) dropped briefly below 1.0 on Friday, and then bounced back up after I unlocked and started using the Target Finder attachment for the default assault rifle (MTAR). That addition improved my skill considerably, and I started kicking some serious butt. The Target Finder helps you spot enemies more clearly - always a problem for me, as the allies and enemies never seem to look any different to me - and gives you better feedback as to whether or not you're aiming at your target or not.
My real goal for the weekend, though, was to get to level 40, as that's where the SCAR-H assault rifle is unlocked. For the past several Call of Duty games, the SCAR-H has been my go-to gun, and I eagerly awaited trying it out in this version. I got there last night, and was rewarded with a familiar feeling piece of weaponry. However, I had to then unlock its attachments, just as I'd done with the MTAR earlier, and so it was only this afternoon that I got the Target Finder for it. Since then, I've been on a big roll, pushing my KTD from around 1.20 to nearly 1.30, which is a higher standard than I've achieved with any consistency before. I'm also learning the maps now, which allows me to run around them more confidently and pick better locations to reload or call in UAVs, for example. I was planning to add the Extended Clip attachment, as I'm always running out of ammo, but just a few minutes ago I unlocked the Scavenger perk (which picks up ammo from dead bodies) and started using it. I promptly went through a match only dying 3 times, and only had to worry about ammo once (after I'd stayed in the same high point for too long, with no dead bodies nearby). It's a lot of fun figuring out the loadout in this game, as they've placed serious limitations on it, and it really is a zero sum game: after getting the essentials, you always have to give up something to get something new.
My next milestone will be level 53, at which point the Claymore finally becomes available to me. I can barely wait, although I've been getting good use out of the Bouncing Betty that's kind of similar.
Loving the game so far, and haven't even tried the campaign or zombies mode yet. That'll come later, when I burn out on the online play, as I'm sure I soon will.
Friday, November 16, 2012
On Vegas, Near-Death Experiences And Video Games
Vicki and I got home last night after a six-day trip to Las Vegas with my brother, Richard, and his wife, Meena. I had a lot of anxiety about the trip, for months beforehand, because I travel so poorly and wasn't relishing the idea of inflicting that reality upon my brother and sister-in-law. Little did I know that I'd not only be sick for the trip, but would actually get sicker as the vacation went on! And yet that's exactly what happened.
I'd gone to the doctor with a persistent sore throat about 3 weeks before our departure date, and was given a prescription for a nasal spray to address my diagnosed "post-nasal drip." About 10 days later, my throat was somewhat better but my chest was now congested and I was coughing extensively, so back to the doctor I went. That particular visit netted me nothing but assurances that it should pass on its own and a suggestion to use cough suppressants and Tylenol in the meantime. As it proceeded to not get better, my concerns about the trip to Vegas continued to grow.
I actually considered cancelling out and just sending Vicki without me, but she seemed to really want me along, coughing or otherwise. I tried to prepare the other two travelers for what they had awaiting them, but I don't think I did it justice. Within a scant few hours of getting together last Friday evening, though, I'm guessing they got the idea. I've never coughed so much, or with as much obvious distress, as I have for the past week.
Vicki had a great time, however. She partook in the three main activities of Vegas: gambling, shopping and eating. I tagged along, as best I could, but sometimes had to bow out just to give the rest of them a break from my hacking. We did take in a Cirque du Soleil show that was amazing - "Love", featuring Beatles music - and I kept it together for most of that, except whenever the dry ice would hit me. Other than that, the cigarette smoke in the casino made it particularly hard to breathe, and I was brutally ashamed of how little walking I could do before being exhausted, but somehow I survived. I expected to drop dead at any given moment.
On the flight home yesterday, my left ear wouldn't pop when the plane descended toward Detroit, and I was completely deaf in that ear for the next several hours. This morning, I booked my third trip in a month to the doctor, and Vicki accompanied me this time. Looking into my left ear, the doctor said, "That doesn't look good at all." Apparently I now have an ear infection - maybe always did, although she looked in that same ear two weeks ago and didn't see anything - and am on amoxicillin. I also had chest x-rays done, which I'm told came back clean. I'm still confused as to how the ear infection could be causing all the trouble I've had for the past month, but on the other hand maybe the amoxicillin will just wipe out all vestiges of the virus. I can only hope!
When we got home last night, Emma was excited and relieved to see us after the better part of a week by herself. I took that to mean that she'd missed us, just as we'd certainly missed her. She had a million things to tell us, and stayed up late to bring us up to date on everything. This morning when she left for school, I think she was on the verge of tears at the thought of leaving us for the weekend. But she'll be back Sunday night and then the three of us should have lots of quality time together between now and the Christmas break.
While Vicki did most of the shopping in Vegas, I did manage to come home with something I'm quite excited about. Rich and I spent Wednesday afternoon going to comic stores. Before you jump to any conclusions... that was his idea! Seriously. And he wouldn't even hear of skipping the final store we'd scouted out, as he told me, "No, I was promised three comic stores, and three comic stores is what I expect to see." At the second store, Alternate Reality Comics, I saw a great display of original artwork on the wall and got talking to the owner about it. He has an impressive collection of the stuff, including some pieces I'd love to own, but it was his jaw that dropped when I casually mentioned my Watchmen page. It was clear that getting one of the extremely rare Moore/Gibbons pages from that seminal series was something he'd always aspired to, but hadn't managed. Unfortunately, none of his artwork on the wall was for sale, but I did spot an item I've only ever heard of, but not seen: the 17" x 13" hardcover Original Art Edition of Alien: The Illustrated Story by Archie Goodwin & Walt Simonson. It's a massive art book featuring a comic book adaptation of Alien along with lots of other goodies related to the film. Since I was missing Jonesy, big-time, I figured getting something that's sure to include his namesake was a good idea. It should make an excellent addition to my Alien collection.
Emma had kindly brought in the special package that I'd pre-ordered months ago, which had arrived on Wednesday while we were away: Call of Duty Black Ops II. I was thrilled to see it, but also frustrated that I felt too sick to even try it out last night. Instead, it had to wait until this afternoon to be unwrapped. I've now played 3 or 4 online Team Deathmatches, and surprisingly have an early kill-to-death ratio of 1.82:1. Usually I start off terribly, amassing a KTD well below 1.00 at the beginning, and have to struggle to bring it up to respectability. Somehow this time I've gotten lucky and been put in games with total noobs, resulting in the impressive early stats. I'm not going to complain, as I definitely needed a pick-me-up. But I also don't expect it to continue.
My other near-death experience involves my laptop. It decided to encounter serious hardware problems of some sort literally an hour before we left for our vacation a week ago. Vicki and I had to scrap the plan to take my laptop, and took hers instead. She was nice enough to let me use it extensively during the time away, which provided a much-needed balm for my sick self. However, I spent considerable amounts of time worrying about having to deal with my computer when we got back home, and was quite depressed and stressed about it. When we arrived last night, I powered it up just so I could see what error message it was giving, and lo and behold! it came up fine. I don't know what the problem was last week, as I didn't have any time then to look into it, or if it's likely to reoccur anytime soon. But at the moment it's working fine once again. Strangely miraculous, that.
And that's the past week, in as much detail as I can manage in my weakened state.
I'd gone to the doctor with a persistent sore throat about 3 weeks before our departure date, and was given a prescription for a nasal spray to address my diagnosed "post-nasal drip." About 10 days later, my throat was somewhat better but my chest was now congested and I was coughing extensively, so back to the doctor I went. That particular visit netted me nothing but assurances that it should pass on its own and a suggestion to use cough suppressants and Tylenol in the meantime. As it proceeded to not get better, my concerns about the trip to Vegas continued to grow.
I actually considered cancelling out and just sending Vicki without me, but she seemed to really want me along, coughing or otherwise. I tried to prepare the other two travelers for what they had awaiting them, but I don't think I did it justice. Within a scant few hours of getting together last Friday evening, though, I'm guessing they got the idea. I've never coughed so much, or with as much obvious distress, as I have for the past week.
Vicki had a great time, however. She partook in the three main activities of Vegas: gambling, shopping and eating. I tagged along, as best I could, but sometimes had to bow out just to give the rest of them a break from my hacking. We did take in a Cirque du Soleil show that was amazing - "Love", featuring Beatles music - and I kept it together for most of that, except whenever the dry ice would hit me. Other than that, the cigarette smoke in the casino made it particularly hard to breathe, and I was brutally ashamed of how little walking I could do before being exhausted, but somehow I survived. I expected to drop dead at any given moment.
On the flight home yesterday, my left ear wouldn't pop when the plane descended toward Detroit, and I was completely deaf in that ear for the next several hours. This morning, I booked my third trip in a month to the doctor, and Vicki accompanied me this time. Looking into my left ear, the doctor said, "That doesn't look good at all." Apparently I now have an ear infection - maybe always did, although she looked in that same ear two weeks ago and didn't see anything - and am on amoxicillin. I also had chest x-rays done, which I'm told came back clean. I'm still confused as to how the ear infection could be causing all the trouble I've had for the past month, but on the other hand maybe the amoxicillin will just wipe out all vestiges of the virus. I can only hope!
When we got home last night, Emma was excited and relieved to see us after the better part of a week by herself. I took that to mean that she'd missed us, just as we'd certainly missed her. She had a million things to tell us, and stayed up late to bring us up to date on everything. This morning when she left for school, I think she was on the verge of tears at the thought of leaving us for the weekend. But she'll be back Sunday night and then the three of us should have lots of quality time together between now and the Christmas break.
While Vicki did most of the shopping in Vegas, I did manage to come home with something I'm quite excited about. Rich and I spent Wednesday afternoon going to comic stores. Before you jump to any conclusions... that was his idea! Seriously. And he wouldn't even hear of skipping the final store we'd scouted out, as he told me, "No, I was promised three comic stores, and three comic stores is what I expect to see." At the second store, Alternate Reality Comics, I saw a great display of original artwork on the wall and got talking to the owner about it. He has an impressive collection of the stuff, including some pieces I'd love to own, but it was his jaw that dropped when I casually mentioned my Watchmen page. It was clear that getting one of the extremely rare Moore/Gibbons pages from that seminal series was something he'd always aspired to, but hadn't managed. Unfortunately, none of his artwork on the wall was for sale, but I did spot an item I've only ever heard of, but not seen: the 17" x 13" hardcover Original Art Edition of Alien: The Illustrated Story by Archie Goodwin & Walt Simonson. It's a massive art book featuring a comic book adaptation of Alien along with lots of other goodies related to the film. Since I was missing Jonesy, big-time, I figured getting something that's sure to include his namesake was a good idea. It should make an excellent addition to my Alien collection.
Emma had kindly brought in the special package that I'd pre-ordered months ago, which had arrived on Wednesday while we were away: Call of Duty Black Ops II. I was thrilled to see it, but also frustrated that I felt too sick to even try it out last night. Instead, it had to wait until this afternoon to be unwrapped. I've now played 3 or 4 online Team Deathmatches, and surprisingly have an early kill-to-death ratio of 1.82:1. Usually I start off terribly, amassing a KTD well below 1.00 at the beginning, and have to struggle to bring it up to respectability. Somehow this time I've gotten lucky and been put in games with total noobs, resulting in the impressive early stats. I'm not going to complain, as I definitely needed a pick-me-up. But I also don't expect it to continue.
My other near-death experience involves my laptop. It decided to encounter serious hardware problems of some sort literally an hour before we left for our vacation a week ago. Vicki and I had to scrap the plan to take my laptop, and took hers instead. She was nice enough to let me use it extensively during the time away, which provided a much-needed balm for my sick self. However, I spent considerable amounts of time worrying about having to deal with my computer when we got back home, and was quite depressed and stressed about it. When we arrived last night, I powered it up just so I could see what error message it was giving, and lo and behold! it came up fine. I don't know what the problem was last week, as I didn't have any time then to look into it, or if it's likely to reoccur anytime soon. But at the moment it's working fine once again. Strangely miraculous, that.
And that's the past week, in as much detail as I can manage in my weakened state.
Friday, January 27, 2012
R.I.P. Resistance From Insomniac Games
Not shocking news, or even really news at all, but sad, nevertheless. Insomniac Games, creators of Resistance: Fall of Man, Resistance 2 and Resistance 3, will not be producing any new additions to that particular franchise.
Boneman and I, among many other fans, will be wearing virtual black armbands for the foreseeable future...
Boneman and I, among many other fans, will be wearing virtual black armbands for the foreseeable future...
Saturday, December 17, 2011
8 Months Later: I Finish Portal 2!
I started playing Portal 2 a mere 8 months ago (almost to the day) and really, truly loved it... but I didn't finish either the Single Player or Co-op campaigns before the Autumn onslaught of new games began (Resistance 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, predominantly). I certainly could've finished at least the Single Player portion of P2 before then, except that Vicki enjoyed watching me play it so much that I could never get any game time in when she wasn't available. (Also, he admitted sheepishly, I often needed her help getting through some of the tougher test chambers!) The Co-op campaign is a different problem, as I need a second player for that and Vicki's rarely in the mood to play it (preferring to backseat drive -- I mean, assist me from her place on the couch slightly behind me).
Anyway, tonight I/we finished Chell's adventure against GladOS and Wheatley, bringing another thrilling Portal experience to a close. I still have some Co-op left to do, including some free downloadable content that I've had installed for months. I suspect Portal 2 will end up winning some Game of the Year awards over the next few weeks, and if so: it's well deserved! This game rocks! We got many dozens of hours of entertainment from it.
Anyway, tonight I/we finished Chell's adventure against GladOS and Wheatley, bringing another thrilling Portal experience to a close. I still have some Co-op left to do, including some free downloadable content that I've had installed for months. I suspect Portal 2 will end up winning some Game of the Year awards over the next few weeks, and if so: it's well deserved! This game rocks! We got many dozens of hours of entertainment from it.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
The Modern Warfare 3 Update
I came home with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 five days ago, and it's been a rollercoaster ride since then. I loved the little bit of Special Operations that I played on the first couple days, before venturing into the multiplayer arena and becoming... very frustrated.
Because of the popularity of the Call of Duty franchise, online play for each new release in the series tends to be particularly challenging. A lot of the best first person shooter players - period! - are currently spending their time in CoD:MW3's multiplayer games. They can level up quite quickly because they're playing a lot and are really good at it, which unlocks the better weapons and loadouts for them more quickly, making them... even better players. It's a vicious circle that can make jumping into one of those matches when you're not one of the best players pretty humbling, to say the least.
So after about 10 or 11 hours of online play, I was up to level 42 (not bad) but had a kill-to-death ratio below 1 (not good). I usually start off that way only to slowly improve, but this time I didn't seem to be getting any better. As recently as midway through play last night, I was still having my ass handed to me, game after game after game. I'd racked up 100 fewer kills than deaths, and was stuck around 0.86 on my KTD. I was at the point of thinking that I might as well switch to the campaign if I was never going to carry my own weight in multiplayer anyway.
Then, in desperation, I decided I'd completely alter my game play style to more of a "camping" approach. This isn't something I'm proud of, as generally campers are the objects of scorn, but I didn't know what else to try. I was constantly getting shot in the back, or from a distance so great that I couldn't even see the other player, and it just wasn't any fun at all. So I started crouching in corners and waiting for enemies to pass by, allowing me to shoot them in the back for a change! I began looking for the best locations on each map to stay hidden in that fashion, and pretty quickly saw my results dramatically. I had a 9-1 (9 kills, 1 death) game, followed by a 9-2, and 11-4, and a 10-5... all much better than I'd been doing previously.
I've never had to go this extreme in order to turn things around, but the calibre of play really does seem higher with this Call of Duty game than I've seen before. I'm trying to stick with it until at least level 53, as that's when you can finally equip yourself with Claymores, my favourite Call of Duty grenade type. After those great matches last night, I went to bed sitting at level 46 and with a KTD of 0.924. So I just need 7 more promotions to get Claymores, and then I'll see if I can be at least a little less of a camper without driving myself crazy.
As with previous games in this series, Modern Warfare 3 is proving to be quite the mixture of addictive appeal and teeth-grinding frustration. Well worth the $60...
Because of the popularity of the Call of Duty franchise, online play for each new release in the series tends to be particularly challenging. A lot of the best first person shooter players - period! - are currently spending their time in CoD:MW3's multiplayer games. They can level up quite quickly because they're playing a lot and are really good at it, which unlocks the better weapons and loadouts for them more quickly, making them... even better players. It's a vicious circle that can make jumping into one of those matches when you're not one of the best players pretty humbling, to say the least.
So after about 10 or 11 hours of online play, I was up to level 42 (not bad) but had a kill-to-death ratio below 1 (not good). I usually start off that way only to slowly improve, but this time I didn't seem to be getting any better. As recently as midway through play last night, I was still having my ass handed to me, game after game after game. I'd racked up 100 fewer kills than deaths, and was stuck around 0.86 on my KTD. I was at the point of thinking that I might as well switch to the campaign if I was never going to carry my own weight in multiplayer anyway.
Then, in desperation, I decided I'd completely alter my game play style to more of a "camping" approach. This isn't something I'm proud of, as generally campers are the objects of scorn, but I didn't know what else to try. I was constantly getting shot in the back, or from a distance so great that I couldn't even see the other player, and it just wasn't any fun at all. So I started crouching in corners and waiting for enemies to pass by, allowing me to shoot them in the back for a change! I began looking for the best locations on each map to stay hidden in that fashion, and pretty quickly saw my results dramatically. I had a 9-1 (9 kills, 1 death) game, followed by a 9-2, and 11-4, and a 10-5... all much better than I'd been doing previously.
I've never had to go this extreme in order to turn things around, but the calibre of play really does seem higher with this Call of Duty game than I've seen before. I'm trying to stick with it until at least level 53, as that's when you can finally equip yourself with Claymores, my favourite Call of Duty grenade type. After those great matches last night, I went to bed sitting at level 46 and with a KTD of 0.924. So I just need 7 more promotions to get Claymores, and then I'll see if I can be at least a little less of a camper without driving myself crazy.
As with previous games in this series, Modern Warfare 3 is proving to be quite the mixture of addictive appeal and teeth-grinding frustration. Well worth the $60...
Monday, November 07, 2011
Resistance 3, You Don't Owe Me A Cent!
I posted on Facebook at the start of the weekend that I needed to complete the single player campaign of Resistance 3 by the end of today since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 comes out tomorrow and will no doubt preoccupy me for some time to come. Well, I did it one better - I finished it twice!
I completed the campaign on Normal difficulty early last night, and then noticed that I'd accumulated some credits doing so. Those credits can be used for various things, such as new skins (for multiplayer), artwork and such, within the game. But they also can be traded for cheats for use during the campaign itself. I saw two that interested me in particular (two of the three most expensive ones): one for regenerating health by not taking fire (which is how Resistance: Fall of Man and most current First Person Shooters work) rather than having to rely on finding health capsules in the game; and Infinite Ammo. So I purchased them both, and then restarted the campaign at the next highest difficulty setting (Difficult).
It was so much fun playing through it again with the improved health situation and not having to scrounge for ammo that I just kept going. And this afternoon I finished it a second time, having levelled up all of my weapons in the process.
Between those two passes through the single player campaign and the 60 or 70 hours of multiplayer that I greatly enjoyed, I'd say I got my $60 worth several times over on this game. Yet another great release from Insomniac Games!
I completed the campaign on Normal difficulty early last night, and then noticed that I'd accumulated some credits doing so. Those credits can be used for various things, such as new skins (for multiplayer), artwork and such, within the game. But they also can be traded for cheats for use during the campaign itself. I saw two that interested me in particular (two of the three most expensive ones): one for regenerating health by not taking fire (which is how Resistance: Fall of Man and most current First Person Shooters work) rather than having to rely on finding health capsules in the game; and Infinite Ammo. So I purchased them both, and then restarted the campaign at the next highest difficulty setting (Difficult).
It was so much fun playing through it again with the improved health situation and not having to scrounge for ammo that I just kept going. And this afternoon I finished it a second time, having levelled up all of my weapons in the process.
Between those two passes through the single player campaign and the 60 or 70 hours of multiplayer that I greatly enjoyed, I'd say I got my $60 worth several times over on this game. Yet another great release from Insomniac Games!
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Resistance 3 'Mastery' Achieved
Thanks to a Double XP Weekend handed out by Insomniac Games over the last two days, I was able to get the last several promotions I needed to max out at level 60 in Resistance 3 multiplayer today. That means it took me less than 4 weeks to do so, which exceeds even my own expectations by quite a bit. I think I've played a little shy of 30 hours over the 26 days since the game was released - a fairly crazy total, I must admit!
I'm now winning nearly half the Deathmatches I play, after a considerably slower start (prior to getting my beloved Turrets!). I think it's time to move back to the campaign, though, as I'm feeling somewhat burned out on TDMs and DMs.
That is all.
I'm now winning nearly half the Deathmatches I play, after a considerably slower start (prior to getting my beloved Turrets!). I think it's time to move back to the campaign, though, as I'm feeling somewhat burned out on TDMs and DMs.
That is all.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
To All Those Resistance 3 Players Suffering Right Now
Yes, it's another "unscheduled PlayStation Network outage", which we can only hope won't turn into a repeat of the April hacker attack that lasted for weeks. As such, there's no Resistance 3 multiplayer to be enjoyed right now. That means that all those players who delighted in killing me just when I thought I had them nailed are likely every bit as frustrated as me at the moment!
And I was just two promotions away from finally getting my Turrets perk, which I've been looking forward to for about a week now!
[Update the next day: Fortunately the outage only lasted several hours. After it ended, I was able to get my beloved Turrets perk, with which I then won 4 of 5 Deathmatches that I played... after having won only 1 or 2 in about a dozen tries before that! Yeah, I love me my Turrets.]
And I was just two promotions away from finally getting my Turrets perk, which I've been looking forward to for about a week now!
[Update the next day: Fortunately the outage only lasted several hours. After it ended, I was able to get my beloved Turrets perk, with which I then won 4 of 5 Deathmatches that I played... after having won only 1 or 2 in about a dozen tries before that! Yeah, I love me my Turrets.]
Friday, September 16, 2011
Brief Resistance 3 And Game Over Updates
For the one or two blog regulars who care about such things: I played a fair bit of Resistance 3 Team Deathmatch today (Vicki was in Toronto), and I'm now a level 27 and my kill-to-death is approximately +200. I finished first a couple times today, which is always a thrill considering how many good players there are in the game right now (just ask Boneman, who's still working on finding his groove in R3's online play).
Anyway, it was a good day, as I got about 6 or 7 promotions, which are getting harder with every level I move up. There are some very nice perks coming available in the next 5 levels or so, which I'm looking forward to trying out. I can tell other players are using them and I can hardly wait to get there myself.
In other news, I got 3 more copies of Game Over into new hands today, including one that I gave to the comic store owner in the hopes that he'll read it, love it, and maybe encourage his customers to give it a try. It's a long shot, but 'out there' initiatives like that are probably what it's going to take to really get some word of mouth started on this. At least I'm trying!
Anyway, it was a good day, as I got about 6 or 7 promotions, which are getting harder with every level I move up. There are some very nice perks coming available in the next 5 levels or so, which I'm looking forward to trying out. I can tell other players are using them and I can hardly wait to get there myself.
In other news, I got 3 more copies of Game Over into new hands today, including one that I gave to the comic store owner in the hopes that he'll read it, love it, and maybe encourage his customers to give it a try. It's a long shot, but 'out there' initiatives like that are probably what it's going to take to really get some word of mouth started on this. At least I'm trying!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Resistance 3 Update
As of about an hour ago, I reached level 20 in online play for R3. That's as high as I got in the beta, as it was capped at 20 when I was playing it back then. My kill-to-death differential is sitting just a little over +100, which isn't bad for less than a week in. I've finished 1st in three or four Team Deathmatches so far, including one where I went absolutely insane (with a 12-kill streak at one point), finishing with something like 28 kills and 13 deaths. I love all of the loadout options, and can hardly wait to level up enough to try out a bunch more beyond what I've sampled so far.
I've also now played a few chapters of the campaign, some in Single Player mode, and one in Cooperative mode (with Tammy). I'm really impressed with the campaign this time out, after being disappointed by what Resistance 2 offered in that area.
All in all, Resistance 3 is totally living up to my expectations, high though they were!
I've also now played a few chapters of the campaign, some in Single Player mode, and one in Cooperative mode (with Tammy). I'm really impressed with the campaign this time out, after being disappointed by what Resistance 2 offered in that area.
All in all, Resistance 3 is totally living up to my expectations, high though they were!
Thursday, September 08, 2011
One Bachelor Day, Coming Up!
Tomorrow Vicki heads to Toronto on business, and then will spend the evening and overnight with Tammy. The two of them will then come home on Saturday, meaning that I've got all of tomorrow to my own devices once I drop Vicki at the train station.
So far my plans for the day include the following activities:
Resistance 3
:-)
So far my plans for the day include the following activities:
Resistance 3
:-)
Tuesday, September 06, 2011
Loving Resistance 3 So Far!
OK, so maybe I've only had it for about 7 hours right now, but it's still been pretty awesome! I love the new maps that are in the Multiplayer portion, and haven't even tried the single player campaign yet. My Kill-to-Death is sitting at 100-90 or so, which is very good for a first day (obviously the beta practice helped a lot).
I love the fact that the beta only featured a small fraction of the online loadout choices, as it means there's still a heap of perks and weapons to discover as I level up. I predict this is going to keep me busy right up until Battlefield 3 comes out in late October! And if so, that would be a very good thing.
I love the fact that the beta only featured a small fraction of the online loadout choices, as it means there's still a heap of perks and weapons to discover as I level up. I predict this is going to keep me busy right up until Battlefield 3 comes out in late October! And if so, that would be a very good thing.
Monday, September 05, 2011
Resistance 3: Out Tomorrow!
It's been a long, long wait for this one, but we're now less than 24 hours away from the release of Insomniac Games' Resistance 3! Thanks to participating in the beta for the better part of a month, I have a pretty good idea what to expect from the multiplayer portion of the game. I'm looking forward to being able to level up further than the beta allowed, though, and to playing without the knowledge that the stats would be reset eventually anyway.
But more than that, I'm eagerly anticipating the single player campaign, as it's set in a grim, dystopian version of the Earth where it's been completely conquered by the alien Chimera. Unlike the first two installments, there's little to be optimistic about in this world, which suits me just fine for a video game! Just point me toward the enemy and load me up!
If my blogging output goes down shortly, you'll know why...
But more than that, I'm eagerly anticipating the single player campaign, as it's set in a grim, dystopian version of the Earth where it's been completely conquered by the alien Chimera. Unlike the first two installments, there's little to be optimistic about in this world, which suits me just fine for a video game! Just point me toward the enemy and load me up!
If my blogging output goes down shortly, you'll know why...
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