Games Played 05/18/2015 - 05/24/2015

- 05/18/2015 -

Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC

Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 05/19/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Heroes of the Storm Beta - PC
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - PC

- 05/20/2015 -
Exostorm - PC
Heroes of the Storm Beta - PC
Lords of Xulima - PC
Pillars of Eternity - PC
Roche Fusion - PC

- 05/21/2015 -
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend - PC
Heroes of the Storm Beta - PC
Lords of Xulima - PC

- 05/22/2015 -
Heroes of the Storm Beta - PC
Harold - PC

- 05/23/2015 -
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend - PC
Heroes of the Storm Beta - PC
Harold - PC
One Piece: Unlimited World Red - PlayStation 3
Roche Fusion - PC

- 05/24/2015 -
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Beta - PC
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

Never a dull moment at the rose garden.
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend (Personal Computer)

April 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: 28

This Month's Inductees:

Total Inductions: 25

Trap Master Enigma: Twilight of an Era

I finally received Enigma today, who is the last figurine I needed to complete the entire Trap Master roster of Skylanders: Trap Team for the PlayStation 4. Enigma is definitely one of the more striking figurines out there. I used to think that the lower half of his body being translucent was a bit gimmicky and lazy but one has to see this figurine in person to appreciate the desired effect. I also want to say that I am probably done with the Skylanders series because it did take a lot, both financially and emotionally, to fully explore and enjoy Swap Force and Trap Team. I don't know how people could keep on going if they started their Skylanders journey from the moment of its inception. The one thing that may convince me to get back into the series is if Vicarious Visions took over the helm again because Swap Force is leagues better than developer Toys for Bob's Trap Team in terms of gameplay design and graphical presentation. In the meantime however, I should get all my Skylanders to max level to justify all the sacrifices I have made to get them in the first place.

The magical, mystical Enigma.

Games Played 05/11/2015 - 05/17/2015

- 05/11/2015 -

Awesomenauts - PC
Double Dragon Neon - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

Hyrule Warriors - Wii U

League of Legends - PC
Revolution Ace - PC

- 05/12/2015 -
F-Zero GX - Nintendo GameCube
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Jigoku Kisetsukan: Sense of the Seasons - PC
Naruto: Gekito Ninja Taisen! - Nintendo GameCube
Pillars of Eternity - PC

- 05/13/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Clicker Heroes - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Hyrule Warriors - PC
League of Legends - PC

- 05/14/2015 -
Clicker Heroes - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Pillars of Eternity - PC
Plasma Sky - iPad

- 05/15/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Pillars of Eternity - PC
SingStar - PlayStation 3
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition - PC

- 05/16/2015 -
Clicker Heroes - PC
Dead or Alive 5: Last Round - PC
Grand Theft Auto V - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Hyrule Warriors - Wii U
Tomodachi Life - 3DS
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition - PC

- 05/17/2015 -
Grand Theft Auto V - PC
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F 2nd - PlayStation 3
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

Crew Uber Bi-Sensuals ready to do some real work.
Grand Theft Auto V (Personal Computer)

HotS: Getting Hotter

Recently, I named Heroes of the Storm as the best Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game thus far and placed it in my Top 10 Greatest Games of All Time, easily replacing League of Legends that came before it. Well, today Blizzard decided to bless the game with the number one thing that makes any and every MOBA even more enjoyable: The ability to disable allied chat! The awesome new hero Kael'thas may be hot but he got nothing compared to this feature!

All other MOBAs must follow or perish forever from the annals of gaming history!

When I played my first game today, a pop-up asked me if I wanted to disable allied chat and I was like "Oh my galaxy, what is this awesomeness?" This feature can also be adjusted from the social options menu. Those who are familiar with MOBA games would also be familiar with the kind of strangers they normally get matched with. There are just plenty of nasty people out there who exist with only one mission: to be rude and make other people miserable. Blizzy already did the game justice by not including all chat to begin with - nothing is worse than to read trash talk from the opposing team - but now, they have gone full circle by not allowing trash talk from within the team! Sure, HotS is a team game but unless you are playing with your friends which would result in voice chatting with them anyway instead of typing, pinging the map is the effective way to communicate with other players. Just like my approach while playing games like LoL or even Dota 2, I am very pro-active in muting people as soon as they show signs that they can be a dick - pardon my French but this is the most polite way to describe these people. It's not that hard to recognize those people after playing MOBAs for a long time. I can determine someone's dick potential even when they started off nice and if the signs are there, even when they are very slight, that person is muted. Now, things are made easier because my eyes can be spared from seeing the potential filth from the start! Bravo Blizzy, bravo! Riot Games, can you please follow suit because I would hate to leave your game behind forever since you are still the 2nd best MOBA around.

May 12th Induction Anniversary

Naruto: Gekito Ninja Taisen! (2002)

12 Years in the Game Library

Induction Date: 05/12/2003

Platform: Nintendo GameCube

Hell hath no fury...

Ah, my very first Naruto game. Bear in mind that I didn't even know who this Naruto dude was when I first got this game. I knew the game was anime-based and looking at the cover art, I thought it was about some American or European kid who got left behind and then kidnapped when he was a baby by a Japanese ninja clan. What attracted me to this game was the cell-shaded graphics style and the cool looking ninja moves. And I always love the cute Japanese GameCube slipcases so I would justify getting Japanese releases just because of that: It didn't become a habit for me thankfully because I ended up getting just 12 Japanese imports for the system. The fighting mechanics ended up being too basic and repetitive while the cast of characters is just way too small. This game ended up being featured in my Doppelganger Games article because it was savagely milked until blood squirted out with 4 sequels in total.

Today's Featured Induction: The Mission

Games Played 05/04/2015 - 05/10/2015

- 05/04/2015 -

Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC

Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 05/05/2015 -

Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC

Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 05/06/2015 -
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Tera - PC

- 05/07/2015 -
Dragon Age: Inquisiton - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 05/08/2015 -
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 05/09/2015 -
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 05/10/2015 -
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Hyrule Warriors - Wii U
Sins of a Dark Age - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

The Inquisition doing what it does best.
Dragon Age: Inquisition (Personal Computer)

Games Played 04/27/2015 - 05/04/2015

- 04/27/2015 -

Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Mortal Kombat X - PC

WazHack - PC

- 04/28/2015 -
Grand Theft Auto V - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 04/29/2015 -
A Wizard's Lizard - PC
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC

- 04/30/2015 -
Grand Theft Auto V - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria - PC

- 05/01/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Tomodachi Life - 3DS

- 05/02/2015 -
Audiosurf 2 Early Access - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC
Rift: Storm Legion - PC

- 05/03/2015 -
Dragon Age: Inquisition - PC
Heroes of the Storm Closed Beta - PC


Screenshot of the Week:

This game may be dumb-down beyond recognition but there's a lot of content for sure.
Dragon Age: Inquisition (Personal Computer)

Top 10 Greatest Games Update

League of Legends by Riot Games was included into my Top 10 Greatest Games of All Time just 3 years ago. Well, since Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm is nearing its official release date of 06/02/2015, with open beta dated 05/19/2015, it is really time to crown the new Multiplayer Online Battle Arena king. With LoL seemingly getting weirder with each update (dragon buff, really?) when it comes to its main game mode, the Summoner's Rift, I have found myself enjoying the well-thought of, well-balanced design that is presented in the core of HotS gameplay. It's completely team-based and the fact that everyone on the team share levels in itself is the testament of the game's brilliance. I find it hard to go back to LoL even to play the All Random All Mid Howling Abyss map because LoL gameplay mechanics just feels old after I started playing HotS. The fact that the whole MOBA genre came from a mod for their own game, it's great to see that Blizzard is finally able to capitalize in its glory. And the greatest thing about this accomplishment? Not only is it that HotS is better than LoL, it is also leaps and bounds better than Dota 2! I cannot wait to see more heroes and maps for HotS because it can only gets better from here.

Random Gaming Moment

This is what happens when you are too curious about Steam games.