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Friday, March 29, 2013

Fortune for Missy

Oh no, is this starting to become a pattern? So I was playing a bunch of Proving Grounds blind matches on League of Legends for the Personal Computer using Miss Fortune. I have unlocked one of her alternate skins in the past but after using that skin so many times, I got a bit bored because she doesn't really look cool in it. So while in the character selection screen, I browsed her other alternate skins and unlocked the Road Warrior Miss Fortune skin on the spot!

That sexy turn. Miss Fortune belongs on land.

I suppose I was getting a bit sick of her nautical themed looks and as you may recall, I am getting pretty annoyed of everything pirates. The skin itself is one of the cheaper ones actually so I don't feel too bad about buying it at full price. Then again, I have played this truly free to play game more than any other games I have actually paid for in my life so spending a bit of cash on it is not bad at all.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Another Sick Game Room Dweller

Since Monday, I have been playing my Personal Computer games with a bit of a downgraded hardware. I have been encountering some problems with my EVGA GTX 670 FTW and after doing some testing  I concluded that the problem was an unstable factory overclock but I didn't even do much to address it because it was only affecting a small number of games, though some of them ended up being important titles like Guild Wars 2Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Saints Row: The Third. I was hoping that the new graphics drivers would address the freezing and crashing but after cycling through three of them to no avail, I started under-clocking the thing but I just couldn't stabilize it. It was then that I made the decision to return the card for a replacement. I have my GTX 460 back in my PC while I wait for my replacement GPU and of course, I am noticing the frame rate hits on the more demanding games and I am really missing my GTX 670. Since I decided against cross-shipping where EVGA would send me the replacement immediately while I ship mine to them, I will probably be getting it early next week. EVGA is located in California and it only takes one to two days to ship things between us so it's all a matter of how fast EVGA processes the return. I am still hopeful that they'll ship it out today so that I can get it tomorrow...

I never had problems with a GPU before.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Wii Fit Plus: Minus Health

You may have noticed in the previous Daily Game Log that I have stopped using the Wii Fit Plus for the Nintendo Wii suddenly in the middle of the week. No, this is not an indication that I have abandoned my goal of staying fit nor is it a revelation that the Wii Fit Plus is not working - in regards to the latter, the program was able to actually shed around 4 pounds off me already. I actually had to stop due to injury from using Wii Fit Plus. You see, I had pull my left shoulder muscle and when I noticed the pain the first time, I didn't stop and I still worked out the next day. After that session, whenever I move any of my arms, I would be in a lot of pain. That lasted several days. Then, the stomach flu that I had from a couple of weeks ago came back with a vengeance and I was left rather helpless. I am still recovering at the moment but hopefully I am close to a full recovery. When that happens, back to Wii Fit Plus I go!

It is more likely that I would give up on the yawn-fest Ni no Kuni than the Wii Fit Plus...

Games Played 03/18/2013 - 03/24/2013

- 03/18/2013 -
Lumines Demo - PC
Little Inferno - PC
SimCity - PC

- 03/19/2013 -
F-Zero - Wii U
League of Legends - PC
Need for Speed: Most Wanted - PC
SimCity - PC
Smite Open Beta - PC
Ultratron - PC
Wii Fit Plus - Wii

- 03/20/2013 -
League of Legends - PC
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - PlayStation 3
SimCity - PC
Smite Open Beta - PC
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - PC
Wii Fit Plus - Wii

- 03/21/2013 -
Eschatos - X-Box 360
League of Legends - PC
SimCity - PC

- 03/22/2013 -
Bientôt l’été - PC
Eschatos - X-Box 360
Guild Wars 2 - PC
Lumines Live! - X-Box 360
Magical Drop V - PC
Resident Evil 6 - PC
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm - PC

- 03/23/2013 -
Darkspore: Limited Edition - PC
Eschatos - X-Box 360
League of Legends - PC
Need for Speed: Most Wanted - PC
Saints Row: The Third - PC
SimCity - PC

- 03/24/2013 -
Need for Speed: Most Wanted - PC
Saints Row: The Third - PC
SimCity - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

Girly Heartland in the distance.
SimCity (Personal Computer)

Friday, March 22, 2013

New Milestone Celebration

On June 23rd, 2011, my Personal Computer game count reached a total of 300 titles. On June 15th, 2012, the PlayStation 2 was no longer the platform with the most games when my PC game library grew to 465 games. After that I didn't pay too much attention on the amount anymore but this new count, well, it gave me a bit of pause: 706 games! Oh yes, I love PC gaming. I don't think it's even possible to have this many game for any of the other platforms individually. PC game is eternal. It is the future and the present. It is the best place to game, always. Even when the new PlayStation 4 comes about with its questionable, underpowered gaming PC specifications. I surely hope Microsoft will make the right choice to work with their own Windows technology for their next big gaming endeavor versus releasing yet another dull console. Then again, they do like to get free money since people like to pay for that LIVE online multiplayer service...

Let's do a bit of forward-thinking, shall we?
Instead of releasing new consoles, why not release a gaming client on the PC?

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Yes Nintendo, I Do Have 30 Cents...

Now that I am using the Wii U every day to boot up Wii Fit Plus, it was only a matter of time before I start toying with the console's features and today, I found myself checking out the rather empty Wii Shop Channel. And what's this... 30 cents game? Am I seeing things?

30 cents? Isn't that what all the Wii U games are worth individually?

Oh, it's only F-Zero, the classic game that was originally released on the Super Nintendo. Well, I don't have the game and I remember wanting it during my early teen years so here's 30 cents, Nintendo. Now go work on some impressive Wii U titles instead of releasing games that do not even take advantage of the new hardware that you seemingly so desperate to replace the original Wii with...

Origin Prettier with Custom Box Art

No more ugly small icons to represent the non-Origin games in my Origin client thanks to my recent discovery that the box art can indeed be customized! And now, my Origin game screen is looking mighty festive and it's making me very happy. It's time to install more games to add to Origin. Oh yeah!

So colorful! Unlike those Metro tiles in Windows 8!

Custom Box Art for Non-Origin Games

Guess what I am going to be doing obsessively during my free time? I will be making custom "box" art for non-Origin games added to the Origin client. That's right. Apparently, someone has found out a way to do this and it's a shame that Electronic Arts didn't officially have this announced anywhere. It's also perplexing that there is little progress of actual in-client implementation since this guy's discovery in early February because everything seems to be ready. I found the instruction while I was checking around to see if the custom image feature has been added to Origin. As I have mentioned previously, I really do prefer to launch non-Steam/Origin games and even the Steam client itself via Origin because Origin actually tracks gameplay hours while Steam has yet to implement that simple to add feature - Valve is too focus on trying to concoct a cheap entry level Personal Computer hardware or the mythical "Steam Box" I think...

This is going to be a really fun day!

Update Note: 07/15/2013 - With Origin Ver. 9.3.1, you can now easily customize the box art from the Origin client by right clicking on the desired game. Not only that, Origin supports animated GIFs for this purpose as well! Awesome.

If you are too lazy to make your own, just like what I did with custom Steam grid images - which are now redundant to me because I will be using the Origin client for non service-proprietary games, I will be posting my custom box art here that you can use for your Origin client. Origin rules! [Last Update: 10/27/2013]

Dark Fall: Lost Souls

Dawngate

Guild Wars

Guild Wars 2

Infinite Crisis

Jazz: Trump's Journey

League of Legends

Minecraft

Neverwinter

Smite

StarDrone

Tinker

Monday, March 18, 2013

PC Gamers Win Again with... SimCity?

A friend of mine recently granted me access to the new SimCity by Maxis for the Personal Computer and I have been playing the game since this weekend. We didn't get to experience the fun of the game's launch troubles though when we first started, I couldn't even get on a North America server so I had to play on the South America server for a day and a half. A lot of disgusting things have been said about the game and its online only gameplay design and that frustration is understandable but the game is actually not that bad. It's pretty fun and addictive. I haven't played the game with utter strangers and I do still pretty much limit the game room to myself and my friend. We shall see if the game's focus on multiple cities inter-dependencies will overwhelm two players trying to manage several cities at once. Electronic Arts and Maxis know that they messed up with the game's initial server blunders and persistent issues so they are offering a free game to those who register their copy of SimCity by the 25th of this month! The game selection, though littered with big and new titles, are not expansive enough however but at least I was able to take advantage of it:

You got to give EA some credit.
Blizzard didn't offer us anything for that disastrous Diablo III launch.

Games Played 03/11/2013 - 03/17/2013

- 03/11/2013 -
Bejeweled 3 - PC
Dead Space 3 - PC

- 03/12/2013 -
League of Legends - PC
Smite Open Beta - PC
Torchlight II - PC
Wii Fit Plus - Wii

- 03/13/2013 -
League of Legends - PC
Sacred 2 Gold - PC
Smite Open Beta - PC
Wii Fit Plus - Wii

- 03/14/2013 -
League of Legends - PC
Sacred 2 Gold - PC
Saints Row: The Third - PC
Wii Fit Plus - Wii

- 03/15/2013 -
League of Legends - PC
Need for Speed: Most Wanted - PC
Sacred 2 Gold - PC
Saints Row: The Third - PC
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - PC
Wii Fit Plus - Wii

- 03/16/2013 -
League of Legends - PC
Need for Speed: Most Wanted - PC
Sacred 2 Gold - PC
SimCity - PC
Wii Fit Plus - Wii

- 03/17/2013 -
Castle of Shikigami III - Wii
League of Legends - PC
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - PlayStation 3
SimCity - PC
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars - Wii
Wii Fit Plus - Wii


Screenshot of the Week:

Burning buildings all around the fire station? Only in Girly Heartland.
SimCity (Personal Computer)

Sunday, March 17, 2013

PSN Store Mystery

So I decided to do a little shopping today from the digital PlayStation 3 store to see if I could be able to score myself a yummy deal or two. I went to check out the Sony Entertainment Network store via the Personal Computer however since I was working on a number of things on my dual monitors at the time and I didn't want to turn on that PS3. Well, I actually love browsing the store on my PC versus the whole clunky interface on the PS3... So why can't things be as convenient and more importantly, fast and responsive on the PS3? These kind of things always give me a little chuckle.

The best way to shop digital PS3 games is actually not via the PS3.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Not Really a Plus but It Kicked Butt

Yesterday, I started exercising again with my unconventional choice of using Nintendo's Wii Fit Plus software. I hated the original Wii Fit software because compared to something like Yourself!Fitness on the X-Box, it lacked both focus and the much needed personalized approach. With Plus, I was again reminded of that fact. There are more things to do now with Plus but the feature that I was really looking forward to, the custom routines, was quite lackluster. Perhaps I needed to spend some time on time to see if more options will be unlocked but at this time, selecting and combining different categories of exercises together only provided me with the most basic, introductory level activities included within without the ability to increase the intensity of those activities. I exited the whole custom routine option after realizing this and went back to selecting activities that I found to be challenging and interesting instead.

Oh come on, I don't look that round in real life!

With that being said however, I was also reminded of the magic of the idea behind the Wii Fit discs where they trick you into thinking that you are playing a game and having fun when you are really working out your body indeed. Yesterday, I focused on only cardio workouts with a couple of those silly balance games thrown into the mix. This is probably how I would operate from now on with perhaps one or two days during the week focused on balance games and yoga poses. I felt the burn on my body during the session and afterwards, I was aching all over. By the time I went to bed last night, I was hurting real bad and it was hard to even go to sleep. But you know what, I felt good. I haven't felt that good in quite a while. How I miss that feeling of thinking that you nearly died (didn't happen with Wii Fit Plus YET but certainly had happened with almost every single session of Yourself!Fitness) to feeling that you can take over the world soon after. That's what exercising does for me at least. I know if I keep this up, I will be seeing great results but will using Plus exclusively be enough?

The new "Island Cycling" is intense and fun but boy, I paid a heavy price for that one.


Update Note: 03/15/2013 - I decided to give the custom routine another chance and I combined 3 separate focus areas for a total workout time of 30 minutes. You know what, I was hurting by the end of the whole thing so it is actually quite effective. I am going to use this feature more from now on and hopefully, it will remain challenging for the foreseeable future.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Fit vs. Fat: Real Man Combat

I almost broke my arm as I was reaching out to extract the large and surprisingly heavy Wii Fit box from the high shelf of my walk-in closet turned Game Treasury. "Oh my galaxy, I am in desperate need of a good workout," I said myself as I placed the box down on the carpet. I had been delaying this reunion long enough and I was glad that it finally happened. The box was still in perfect condition, as if brand new and I opened it very carefully and pulled out the Balance Board stored within. The board still had my footprints all over it. I went to the bathroom quickly to grab some paper towels and with much futility, the stain stayed despite my meticulous scrubbing. Then, a thought crossed me mind: "Oh well, it's going to get dirty again anyway by the time I am done this thing." I picked the Balance Board up and placed it at the center of my Game Room. Things are about to get ugly in here as the battle will begin... this very evening!

Will it squeeze all the blood, sweat, and tears out of me? I'm scared to go back to Maya!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Games Played 03/04/2013 - 03/10/2013

- 03/04/2013 -
Guild Wars 2 - PC
Hydro Thunder Hurricane Demo - PC

- 03/05/2013 -
Cut the Rope Demo - PC
Dead Space 3 - PC
League of Legends - PC
Microsoft Mahjong - PC
Microsoft Solitaire Collection - PC
Monsters Love Candy - PC
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed - PC

- 03/06/2013 -
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Demo - PC
Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten - PC
Gravity Guy Demo - PC
League of Legends - PC
Microsoft Mahjong - PC
Microsoft Solitaire - PC
Monsters Love Candy - PC
Tales of Graces f - PlayStation 3

- 03/07/2013 -
Dead Space 3 - PC
League of Legends - PC
Tales of Graces f - PlayStation 3

- 03/08/2013 -
Dead Space 3 - PC
League of Legends - PC
Tales of Graces f - PlayStation 3

- 03/09/2013 -
Jetpack Joyride - PC
League of Legends - PC
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX Demo - PC
Tales of Graces f - PlayStation 3

- 03/10/2013 -
League of Legends - PC
Tales of Graces f - PlayStation 3


Screenshot of the Week:

Commander Isaac Shepard is out pursuing another romantic entanglement.
Dead Space 3 (Personal Computer)

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Wii Fit: The Revenge... PLUS!

Since I am planning to use the Wii Fit again, I am actually going to pick up Wii Fit Plus tomorrow. I suppose I may as well get additional activities and features while I am at it. Since it's really cheap anyway, I don't think it's going to be a big loss. The main complaint that I have about the original Wii Fit is that there was no sense of cohesion and it is my understanding that I can actually create and customize routines in Plus instead of just haphazardly picking what to do every time I use it. Wow, this is starting to get a bit disturbing. I told the spouse about my plan to get back into shape and the spouse wanted to reward me with games when I meet my goals... Woah! Don't disappoint me Wii Fit Plus!

I am so going to be rocking that move on the Balance Board...

Resident Evil 5 Steam Giveaway

I have a Steam copy of Resident Evil 5 for the Personal Computer, valued at $19.99, to give away to one lucky reader! Though this game lacks the scare factor of the earlier series, it still contains a cheesy story for you to enjoy and horrific monstrosities for you to destroy! Just get ready to be frustrated at your computer-controlled partner if you choose to go at it alone at the highest difficulty - though it is possible to get to the end this way because I have done that myself. The rule, as always, is simple. Just make sure that you "Join this site" via the Google Friend Connect located on the right hand side of the page and then add a comment expressing your interest to win on this very article. You have until 8 AM PST on Monday, 03/18/2013 to do this and the randomly selected winner will be announced shortly after. Good luck! Please be aware that you will need a Steam account to be able to claim the game if you win. Oh by the way, if you just happen to be looking for a DOTA 2 early access key, valued at a whopping $29.99, click here for I have one key left to give out.

Now you too can be a man with monstrous bulging muscles without abusing steroids.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Wii Fit: The Revenge?

I have been bad when it comes to exercising these days and I am afraid that I am gaining some weight again. You know what that means... It's time to start playing Yourself!Fitness on the X-Box again! Not! No, not this time. After a long period of being away from a healthy physical routine, it is usually very hard for me to get into the routine so I am going to take a bit of a different approach this time. Sure, Yourself!Fitness really works but it is also quite challenging. So I am going to ease myself into things by playing Wii Fit first. Yes... Wii Fit. That really horrible exercise program can be beneficial in this situation I think. We shall see when I start my Wii Fit routine soon...

Hidden in shame... Will it repent for its sins?

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Sorry, Even That's Valved

If there was a game that I would be interested in getting from the Windows 8 Store ever since my recent operating system upgrade, it would be one of the Angry Birds games. But before I was even given a chance to fulfill that desire, Valve came to the rescue by launching Angry Birds Space on Steam today! Wow... You see the difference there, Microsoft? Valve offers a lot of casual games mixed in with the hardcore gaming releases while your focus is just those tiny tablet apps. Keep learning Microsoft... Keep learning. Not too late though. Don't release the next X-Box. Just focus on the PC. You know it's good for you.

No game is safe from being released on Steam.

Is That You, Karma?

I love playing as a support in League of Legends for the Personal Computer. Soraka is always my number one favorite. The second? That would be Janna and the third? It's Karma baby! Karma before even Leona! What I love the most about Karma is her harass potential with her Spirit Bond ability. Just think about it... It's a 5 seconds slow to enemies and haste to allies. That's 5 seconds of unrelenting, pure abuse. I love maxing Spirit Bond first and foremost for a really fun time. Building her tanky allows her to be all over the opponent's face, causing major disturbances as you can see from one of my recorded plays. Karma has always been a fun champion for me but apparently, Riot Games hasn't been happy with her and they are going to make major adjustments to her gameplay, lore, and character model! You can check out the detailed announcement by clicking here. I am very excited about this. I personally never have a complaint about her play style because I am able to make her work just fine but the improved visual design is quite delightful! Oh, and those who have unlocked Karma before this rework is launched will also get a free skin? What a good karma eh?

The new Karma... Now looking rather god-like.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

January 2013 Gaming Analysis

The results shown below are of course based on the combined data from the Daily Game Log which should provide a clear indication of a game's usage frequency. Bear in mind that even if a game is played twice or more during a particular day, it would still register as 1 in the Day Count column below. In a sense, "merits" are given based on how often a particular game can make me play it again throughout the entire period of the  month on a daily basis. A game that makes a gamer play it over and over again or at least spend a lot of time with it... Isn't that what we mostly want from a great game? I don't think it's really fair to count all the way down to the number of hours played since some games only require a short amount of time to properly serve their purposes. 

OVERALL BREAKDOWN:


Total Games Played: 41

It's a new year yet some things remain the same. League of Legends on the Personal Computer was still the most played game for yet another month. The one thing that is new in regards to this game is that I have been playing almost the one lane Proving Grounds map almost exclusively because it is just ridiculously fun. I have posted plenty of videos of my matches on this map both on my YouTube and twitch.tv channel. I really hope that Riot Games would place this map in the normal queue because to play this map, you have to join or open a custom game room and there is a limit to how much Influence Points you can get from custom matches for the day.

Jetpack Joyride took the number two spot and was played across multiple platforms. Definitely a great choice of game to play while away from the Game Room. I was driving the spouse to a lot of appointments that month and that was why the game got a lot of play time. Tied at second place is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for the PC. The more I played the game, the more fun it got but one thing was annoying about the game to me: The game is meant to be played with the controller but doing so would limit access to the number of active abilities you can trigger. Using a keyboard and mouse remedies this with all the abilities being mapped to the number keys but they should have found a way to make the same accessible on the controller.


This Month's Inductees:


Total Inductions: 20

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Out of Nowhere... Celestine Soraka!!!

I logged on to the League of Legends client tonight and saw that... Gasp! A new skin has been released for my all time favorite LoL champion, Soraka the Starchild! It's called Celestine Soraka and that splash art...


Now, I have gotten alternate skins for this game many times in the past but I have never, ever spent full price for any of them and that I would only unlock them when they are on sale. But, this is Soraka and that outfit looks so wicked so I decided to go ahead and unlock it right away. Thank you Riot Games for making a game that I love to play every single day, so here's a bit of cash for you!

Such a fitting look for such a celestial being.

Doesn't Work in the PC Realm...

I received the following marketing material from Microsoft today that is trying to trick to me into thinking that the X-Box side of Windows 8 exclusively brings with it a plethora of fun and never-ending entertainment to me:

Really? Wow, I can get all these things on my Personal Computer now?

So unless you have not used a computer in your life, the people at Microsoft must know that this kind of lie will not fly with PC users? Access to music, film, and yes, even games are already running rampant from a lot of sources, some of those sources being a lot better than "Xbox on Windows 8" could provide. Sure, you can sell to console exclusive users aka the real modern zombies, that they can only get these things conveniently by using the X-Box 360 and paying money for things that they can access for free on the PC, but to make a bold claim that this service, which is of course free on the PC unbeknownst to those zombies I mentioned before, "makes entertainment more amazing?". Surely, the marketing people at Microsoft don't know what they are doing... If you really want me to be impressed with this Windows 8 Pro that I have finally installed on my PC, start allowing me to play real X-Box and X-Box 360 games on it. If you want me to support you even more, commit to PC gaming and become rich like Valve.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Games Played 02/25/2013 - 03/03/2013

- 02/25/2013 -
New Super Mario Bros. U - Wii U

- 02/26/2013 -
League of Legends - PC
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed - PC

- 02/27/2013 -
Journey - PlayStation 3
League of Legends - PC
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed - PC

- 02/28/2013 -
Guild Wars 2 - PC
League of Legends - PC
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed - PC

- 03/01/2013 -
Guild Wars 2 - PC
League of Legends -PC
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed - PC
Temple Run 2 - iPad

- 03/02/2013 -
League of Legends - PC
Temple Run 2 - iPad
One Piece: Pirate Warriors - PlayStation 3

- 03/03/2013 -
Hydro Thunder Hurricane Demo - PC
League of Legends - PC
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - PlayStation 3
Pinball FX2 Demo - PC
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed - PC
Zanac x Zanac - PlayStation 3


Screenshot of the Week:

Ulala got spunk!
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed (Personal Computer)

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Windows 8: I... Survived!

Well, my Personal Computer is now running on Windows 8 Pro and everything seems to be running fine right now. It will take a while to get to all my games but the important ones, like the recent Sonic & All-Star Racing: Transformed and my all time favorite League of Legends are running flawlessly. But you are probably more curious about the Metro interface thing and I will say that I love it. I think those who have game on the X-Box 360 before will appreciate Metro because it is in actuality, a more efficient variation of the interface used on the X360 dashboard and of course it runs a lot smoother than what inspires it.

Easy navigation, yes even with the mouse.

I don't know if they have changed things around since launch but the desktop is so easy to access... It's just sitting there at the bottom left hand corner, waiting for you to click on it. The Metro interface is basically a fancier version of the Start Menu and nothing else. That is the only conceptual thing you have to embrace to understand the entirety of 8's new design aesthetics. Everything that I need to access to is just a couple of clicks away and I am beginning to see that all the horror stories I have read in regards to the operating system are not true. You can pretty much do everything that you do on 7 before on 8, only that now you also get a really fancy interface to play with on top of having everything streamlined using your Microsoft account. For a gamer, this means connectivity to your LIVE account that's accessible with a click of a button. I really think Microsoft should abandon console gaming and commit to PC gaming because Windows 8 is making it very easy and painless for them to do so. Speaking of gaming, guess what I found on the Windows Store!

Achievement unlocked in a free game?!
Achievements galore on Windows 8 should get the 360 gamers transitioning to PC.

The one thing that is rather disappointing about 8 is that you cannot customize the tile images for non-Metro applications. If we can customize the grids on Steam, why can't we customize them on Metro? I think that Microsoft should provide this option to users since it will make Metro a lot more fun than it is now. Why limit the fun to only Microsoft approved apps? Open up a little to make people love 8 more. Bottom line though, for the super low price I paid for the upgrade, it seems to be worth it for the LIVE connectivity and cool Metro screen. For the current Windows 8 Pro upgrade price of $199 however, probably not. It's not a huge upgrade. It's more like an enhanced version of 7.

Connectivity to LIVE is great but when can I start playing my X360 games on Windows 8?


Update Note: 03/04/2013 - After thoroughly browsing the Windows 8 Store yesterday, I can say that it's pretty much a ghost town. The most horrific thing about this however is that the LIVE Arcade games are not even X-Box 360 quality in terms of graphics even at the highest settings - apparently they couldn't figure out a way to scale the game up when downloaded and played on a PC versus a tablet. I tested out the demos of Pinball FX2 and Hydro Thunder Hurricane and they both looked quite bland with missing textures and effects. I still strongly believe that Microsoft should abandon console gaming however and put all their efforts in contributing to the vastly unlimited growth of PC gaming. I find it rather ironic that instead of following Valve's footsteps, they were running after Apple's crazy head start and utterly failed at it. Give it up Microsoft, commit to the PC or what I would like to call it, the "X-Box Forever". I do still love those cute little Metro tiles though I do spend most of my time on the desktop.

03/04/2013, 3:10pm - Here's an unexpected improvement: I get excellent performance while streaming PC games now. When using the "Game Capture" hook from Open Broadcaster Software, I would usually get frame rate dips when playing games at 1080p 60fps while streaming it at 720p 60fps with the capture itself chugging heavily and now, everything is just super smooth. This is fantastic because I really do prefer just using OBS without running Dxtory on top of it.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

I Am Ready... To 8

I discovered today that a friend has been using a Windows 8 gaming laptop and the his impression of 8 is that it is just Windows 7 with a few extra features. He did mention that there's no reason to upgrade if one has 7 but since I have already purchased the license during the promotion period, if it's not going to have any negative impact, then I think that I should move ahead with it. Steam and Origin are both working fine on 8 and he has played a number of games without any performance issues. The next X-Box will probably revolve around Windows 8 anyway so that was another thing I considered. After the conversation, I have decided to go ahead and upgrade my PC to 8 and I plan to have this done tonight... So if I never came back, you know what happened. Wish me luck!

Heaven or Hell? I am about to find out.