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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Final Alistair Fantasy

There is no doubt about it. The character Alistair from the original Dragon Age: Origins is definitely one of the hottest male characters ever in a video game and that is not even because his looks but because of his infectious goofy personality. I fell in love with him while playing in Dragon Age: Inquisition and I even got weak in the knees at the sighting of him in Dragon Age: Inquisition. BioWare apparently knew that many people would do anything to be able to fulfill their Alistair dreams in the physical realm thus they will be selling a figurine of the character to be released sometime in the third quarter of this year:

Imagine him physically staring at you in the comfort of your own bedroom. Oh yes.

Complete with removable accessories and *oh my* exchangeable hands as well as *gulp* 25 points of articulations, ooh la la, this 12.5 inches tall figurine is a must have for all Alistair lovers. You can pre-order the darn thing from The BioWare Store. I personally would rather have his figurine modeled after how he looked like in Origins because it was in that game where my heart was stolen. Still, I really don't mind the way he looks in Inquisition even though the emotional connection is not as strong in comparison. That $150 price point however will ensure that I will not be touching this figurine in my lifetime.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Games Played 03/23/2015 - 03/29/2015

- 03/23/2015 -
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Sacred 2 Gold - PC
Two Worlds II - PC

- 03/24/2015 -
Cyberpunk 3776 - PC
Guilty Gear X2 #Reload - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
League of Legends - PC
Ostrich Island: Escape from Paradise - PC
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom - PlayStation 3

- 03/25/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Grand Theft Auto IV - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 03/26/2015 -
Divinity: Original Sin - PC
Grand Theft Auto IV - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Infinite Crisis - PC
Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition - PC

- 03/27/2015 -
Dark Souls II - PC
Divinity: Original Sin - PC
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing - PC

- 03/27/2015 -
Dark Souls II - PC
Divinity: Original Sin - PC
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 03/28/2015 -
Divinity: Original Sin - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing - PC
The King of Fighters XIII Steam Edition - PC
Might & Magic X: Legacy - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

Mature indeed. Very.
The King of Fighters XIII Steam Edition (Personal Computer)

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

My First HotS Hero Skin

I have been playing Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta for a little over a month now and it's been a total blast. Today, the game received a new Battleground as well as many other improvements but the most impressive for me is the overhaul to the in-game menus that are now looking really slick. Then I noticed that Azmodan's AzGul'dan skin was on sale. Though Azmodan is my favorite villain in Diablo III, he's not necessary my favorite hero to play. Still, this skin looks pretty darn cool and the price of under $4 was just right.

Give them a pair of giant horns and they will immediately look epic.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Games Played 03/16/2015 - 03/22/2015

- 03/16/2015 -
Cities: Skylines - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
League of Legends - PC
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse - PC

- 03/17/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
League of Legends - PC
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse - PC

- 03/18/2015 -
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
League of Legends - PC
Super Killer Hornet: Resurrection - PC
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse - PC

- 03/19/2015 -
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Super Killer Hornet: Resurrection - PC
League of Legends - PC

- 03/20/2015 -
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
League of Legends - PC

- 03/21/2015 -
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 03/22/2015 -
Guild Wars 2 - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
League of Legends - PC
NBA 2K15 - PC
Sacred 2 Gold - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

Would they really recruit someone that small into the roster?
NBA 2K15 (Personal Computer)

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

The Ultimate Achievement Wonderland

Every morning around 10, I always make the effort to check out the game being featured on Steam's Daily Special. Today's offering is another rogue-like game in a sea of what seems to be billions called Tales of Maj'Eyal. This 2012 game looks quite simplistic but apparently so well-loved by the community with its "Overwhelmingly Positive" player reviews. I was like, oh it's cheap enough and it looks fun so why not? Then, I kept scrolling down the page and saw this:

Unholy black hole of galaxy...

Yes, 1386 Steam Achievements. Developer DarkGod will make a lot of money from this game today if they haven't done so already. And I thought 260 was more than enough...

Monday, March 16, 2015

Games Played 03/09/2015 - 03/15/2015

- 03/09/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Wasteland 2 - PC

- 03/10/2015 -
Cities: Skylines - PC
League of Legends - PC

- 03/11/2015 -
Enemy Mind - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta  - PC
League of Legends - PC
Our Darker Purpose - PC

- 03/12/2015 -
Cities: Skylines - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta  - PC
League of Legends - PC

- 03/13/2015 -
Chicken Invaders 5 - PC
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F - PlayStation 3
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta  - PC

- 03/14/2015 -
Cities: Skylines - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta  - PC
League of Legends - PC

- 03/15/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Cities: Skylines - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta  - PC
League of Legends - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

Lonely Shores is not that lonely of a place anymore.
Cities: Skylines (Personal Computer)

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Random Game Room Moment

Working my Steam Discovery Queue can be more fun than playing games sometimes.

Monday, March 9, 2015

Games Played 03/02/2015 - 03/08/2015

- 03/02/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition - PC
Sky Mercenaries - PC

- 03/03/2015 -
Devil's Dare - PC
Endless Space - PC
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - PC
Sky Mercenaries - PC

- 03/04/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Endless Space - PC
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Torchlight II - PC

- 03/05/2015 -
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 03/06/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Banished - PC
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions - PC
Zombie Army Trilogy - PC

- 03/07/2015 -
Crouching Pony, Hidden Dragon - PC
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions - PC
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Zombie Army Trilogy - PC

- 03/08/2015 -
Guild Wars 2 - PC
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
League of Legends - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

Ah, Tyria... Where the NPCs wear exotic colored contacts.
Guild Wars 2 (Personal Computer)

Saturday, March 7, 2015

The Irresistible Zombie Discount

Nazi zombies... Who doesn't want to shoot at those right? This is why I just had induct the first two Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army games into my Game Library. The funny thing here of course is that ever since I got those two games while they were on sale via Steam, I had never actually installed and played them. So when I first heard that the series' developer Rebellion was going to release a trilogy of the game, I was a bit bummed out. This trilogy that was just released yesterday includes the "remastered" version of the first two games in addition to the latest entry. Imagine my joy however when I saw that those who own the first two games gets a massive discount for the trilogy.


It's so very generouos. I, of course, couldn't say no to that. Don't you wish that this kind of customer loyalty discount is a common practice of all game developers? Here are my early gameplay of the game from yesterday:

Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Living Room Delusion

I have already written up about this whole situation which you can read in length via this link but when Valve finally released a set date on their new promotion page when they are going to go bat crazy with the "living room" invasion, I just had to at least make a mention of it here. I must be in the minute minority of people apparently who think that the living room is not the greatest place to game. I rather play in the comfort of my Game Room, which is far away from the living room where my husband watches, in glee, The Real Housewives and Shahs of Sunset all freaking day. Perhaps it is because I married a guy who doesn't like video games and if things were different, I probably would have set everything up in the living room. But then I clicked on this page and everything became immediately clear. The reason why Valve is going bananas about the "living room" is because they also want to tap into the music/movie markets, just like how Nvidia is targeting those markets via Android with their upcoming release of the Shield console. I still think that Valve is just getting a little too greedy. I think it's cool that they inspired the creation of the Steam Machines, which are basically smaller, console-like Personal Computers. I am glad they are not producing the hardware on their own. Yet I still would love it if they can just man up and say clearly somewhere up front that people just need to have an HDMI cable to play their current PCs on their big screen displays today! That Steam Controller? The day Dota 2 tournaments are played with that controller is the only thing that can convince me that it is innovative and can replace actual keyboard and mouse controls for games designed around those peripherals. Now don't get me wrong, I love my Steam but I cannot help but feel disheartened when I know for sure now which direction Valve is heading and that destination is not 100% commitment to PC gaming but instead, the same dream that companies like Microsoft or Sony are after which is "Entertainment" as a whole.

Valve wants to have it all. Even those things outside of actual PC gaming.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Random Game Room Moment

I used to read a lot. This 2003 Stephen King anthology was the last book I purchased.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Game Room: The Futon Mystery

If there is one thing that I absolutely doesn't belong in my Game Room, it's the large futon that I have just sitting there on one side of the room. I never wanted it to be in my Game Room like ever but you see, there's some important history involved in having such an inappropriate furniture placement. As you may have known, it was not until recently that my husband revealed his relationship with me with his family. We have been together for about 17 years and for about 16 of those years, I was just his roommate to his family. We used to live in a two-story townhouse with 3 bedrooms and one of them became my Game Room. But since my husband is very close to his family, I had to pretend that the Game Room was also my bedroom. During our early years, I used to have a bed in the Game Room and I would be gaming while laying on top of the bed. Later on, we found this futon at a garage sale and I knew that I needed it for my Game Room so that I could regain some space and play my games more ergonomically.

That thing is such an eyesore and it serves no real function... for me at least.

Well, I am now ready to get this thing out of my Game Room. My girl Yoshi is not going to be too happy about it but it really needs to happen. Just imagine how much more gaming goodies I could fit into that space. Now that we don't have to worry about the family wondering where the heck I sleep at night, it's still hard to figure out where I can place this futon. It's still somewhat functional so I don't want to just drop it into the dumpster. I hope to get this resolved soon!


Related Article:

Monday, March 2, 2015

February 2015 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: 40


This Month's Inductees:


Total Inductions: 31

Games Played 02/23/2015 - 03/01/2015

- 02/23/2015 -
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Starpoint Gemini 2 - PC

- 02/24/2015 -
Galaxy on Fire 2 Full D - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Starpoint Gemini 2 - PC

- 02/25/2015 -
Galaxy on Fire 2 Full D - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Raiden Legacy - PC
Salvation Prophecy - PC
X3: Albion Prelude - PC

- 02/26/2015 -
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - PC
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Endless Space - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - PC

- 02/27/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Endless Space - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 02/28/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Endless Space - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 03/01/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse - Wii U
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

Still not a fan of the miniaturized maps but I am starting to appreciate the little details on them.
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta (Personal Computer)

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Kirby: Rainbow Curse or Platform Curse?

That white stylus on the cover art is so Nintendo DS.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse that was recently released seems like a completely odd match for its destination platform, the Wii U. That realization became immediately apparent when I played the game for the first time this morning. This is a game that is impossible to play while watching the action on my big screen as it requires me to manipulate Kirby with the stylus on the Wii U GamePad at all times. The stylus only controls is adopted from Kirby: Canvas Curse that was released on the Nintendo DS many years ago. I was hoping that this game would combine both conventional platforming elements that requires conventional controls in addition to manipulating the stylus, thus further enhancing the original game's design so that it would feel appropriate for the Wii U. Rainbow Curse features a unique and beautiful claymation aesthetics that really pops on the big screen but sadly, the game is doomed to be played via the GamePad's touch screen. Let me make it very clear that this game is still extremely fun but Nintendo's decision to not release this game on the Nintendo 3DS is very baffling to me. Sure, the game becomes playable on the big screen when more than one person is playing but since the primary gameplay experience is fully confined to the small screen, why bother releasing this on the Wii U? You can check out my test session with the game from the video below.