September 2011 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: 44

Another month dominated by League of Legends on the Personal Computer - will this ever change? Probably not, especially with Dominion mode being released last month. I did expect myself to play more of Dead Island but that didn't happen. The problem with me is that I like to play co-operative online games with the people I know and once their activities on a particular game started to cease, the time I spend on that game became impacted as well. I really need to snap out of that and just play with anybody available, even if that ended up with hardly any social interaction - which is better than losing gameplay time.

This Month's Inductees:

Total Inductions: 22

Games Played 09/26/2011 - 10/02/2011

- 09/26/2011 -

League of Legends - PC

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World - Wii

- 09/27/2011 -

League of Legends - PC

Streets of Rage 2 - PC

- 09/28/2011 -

DJ Hero - PlayStation 3

League of Legends - PC

- 09/29/2011 -

The Binding of Isaac - PC

Glitch - PC

- 09/30/2011 -

Glitch - PC

League of Legends - PC

- 10/01/2011 -

BloodRayne: Betrayal - PlayStation 3

DJ Hero - PlayStation 3

League of Legends - PC

- 10/02/2011 -

Avadon: The Black Fortress - PC

Bleach: Soul Resurrección - PlayStation 3
League of Legends - PC
White Knight Chronicles II - PlayStation 3

PS2 Games on PSN

I just realized that perhaps the Mayans were right. The world will end in 2012. Why am I saying this? Well, because Sony had just announced that they will be selling 4 "rare" PlayStation 2 games on the PlayStation Network Store on the PlayStation 3 - God Hand, GRiMgRiMoiRe, Ring of Red, and Odin Sphere - and a majority of the responses I have seen around the web revolved around the curiosity of whether or not these releases will have trophy support. Are you kidding me? People are a lot crazier than we thought...

Don't get me wrong: If you never had these games before, getting them on the PSN
is mighty fine. It's just that without the return of backwards compatibility, Sony is doing us wrong.

What I really want to know is whether or not these releases signify the coming of a new patch that will enable the "newer" PS3 consoles to recognize PlayStation 2 discs and play those games properly since it is apparent now that the PS3 is of course more than capable of running PS2 games. There had been a rumor in the past that Sony was going to release a PS2 disc-drive add-on for the PS3 but that never became true but even if such a device would be needed, it would still be an appreciated gesture despite forcing those with PS2 games to shell out more money to play the PS2 games on the PS3. But that would be a lot better than what Sony is doing now, which is to resell digital versions of PS2 games on the PSN while blocking their users access to the console's capability of playing PS2 games unless you still have the early PS3 models - mine already passed away. I am still a little hopeful though. Maybe with tomorrow's release of these games come the announcement about PS3 being fully backwards compatible again. Still, Microsoft was able to get away with selling classics on the X-Box 360 instead of adding more games into the console's backwards compatibility list. And with the way that the general public is reacting to this news, Sony will be able to get away with it too, with a lot of cash in their pockets. I have been suspecting that Sony was going to capitalize on PS2 games on the PSN ever since they made the jerk move of ending the backwards compatibility support and I am bit surprised that it took them this long to start doing exactly that.

Update Note: 10/04/2011 - It has been confirmed that the PS2 games being released are just basic ports and will not feature improved graphics nor trophy support. No words yet on a firmware update to allow full backwards compatibility with PS2 discs - I suppose we shouldn't be holding our breaths on that one because selling PS2 games on the PSN will make Sony a hefty profit. Also, I failed to mention that Maximo: Ghosts to Glory will also be a part of today's launch.

Takes a Lot of Work to DJ!

I inducted DJ Hero for the PlayStation 3 into my Game Library earlier this week and it came bundled with the turntable controller. I never thought that a game that makes you pretend to be a DJ, mixing up music tracks at the clubs could be so much fun. The turntable controller itself is definitely one of the best music game peripherals ever made because messing around with this thing can be quite enjoyable. I especially love the rotatable platter and the whole thing is even designed to accommodate those who are left handed or right handed. The selection of mixes found in the game itself are addictive to listen as well as play along to but there is an unfortunate side-effect to playing this game too often and too long. My hand and wrist were hurting a bit and I eventually found it almost impossible to scratch the platter while placing my ring finger on the blue button. Perhaps I just don't have the right hand posture on this device - there was no tutorial in the game in regards to the proper hand placement. Perhaps a real DJ would have done this whole thing a lot differently. Maybe I just need to play the game even more to get used to it but I think it is probably better for me to just play DJ Hero in moderation despite it being extremely fun.

S-scratch--s-s-s-s-cratch! Ouch!

League of Legends: Social Tips for New Players

League of Legends on the Personal computer has seen more gameplay time than anything I have played in recent years. I love the game but that doesn't mean that I love the community as a whole. After playing this game for about over a year and a half, the community is still riddled with a lot of nasty, nasty individuals. Though Riot Games is taking some efforts into cleaning up the community with the early introduction of the Summoner's Code and then the recently implemented Tribunal system to discourage the bad player behaviors (not to be confused with someone playing the game badly but more of players who have no manners), it is impossible to control this problem completely especially the fact that it is a free game and everyone can always make new accounts to play the game. If you are a person of decent morality, interacting with a lot of the players in this game will shock you, that is if you never played a Defense of the Ancient clones before. When I said that these people are nasty, I meant they are really, really rude: they will do whatever they can to ridicule you and make you feel like you should no longer be alive on this earth. How bad can they get? Well, it can go from the usual "let's make fun of your mom" to racist/nationalist remarks, and all the way to death threats to you or your loved ones. I have experienced these personally and/or seen them in the reported Tribunal cases. So here is a guide to help you survive these initial encounters with the very colorful - no wait, let's not even mask that up - the very spiteful, evil people who you will definitely encounter while playing this game. Hopefully, this well help you get through the rough early impression so that you can discover the exciting gameplay deep within this masterpiece of a game.

Things may get less inviting than the login screen once you started playing the game

but there are ways for you to prepare for the darker side of the LoL community and prevail in the end.

1) Familiarize yourself with the Summoner's Code. It is your friend because it becomes a good standard on how you should interpret the behaviors of other players in the game and of course, how you yourself should behave.

2) If you are able to, it would be best to find real life friends you can play the game with. This will save you the pain of having to play with the rotten individuals just waiting for you in matchmaking.

3) Never, and I mean NEVER reply to any rude comments made towards you whether in retaliation or to defend your position. These individuals will never, ever see the errors of their ways. To them, they are always right and there is absolutely nothing you can say nor do that could change that. By participating in a debate with them, you are nourishing them with the very sustenance that they crave for: attention. Also, the conversation will bleed over to the rest of the players in the match, creating a persistent negative atmosphere in the game.

4) When you encounter rude individuals, just use the ignore feature in game so that you won't see anymore of their messages in the chat screen. Hit the tab key and the team roster will pop up. At the very right, you will see chat bubbles in conjunction to the players' names. Click on it and just enjoy the match.

5) Use the report feature at the end of the match every single time you are treated with disrespect by clicking on the exclamation icon next to the name of the player in question on the post-game screen. The impact of this is not immediate but the report will go through the Tribunal system to be judged by other players who choose to participate in that process.

6) Participate in the Tribunal itself once you have reached level 30 by logging into the Tribunal page daily and pass judgments over the reported cases. The more people are involved in this process, the better the community will become. Not only that, you will also be rewarded with Influence Points when your judgments are in sync with the majority of the community.

7) Befriend the polite players whenever you meet one. Focus on improving your skills as you keep playing the game while ignoring the ragers, griefers, and trolls. Keep doing this and you will find yourself in pure LoL heaven!

If you have been avoiding LoL before because of the things you have heard about the community, believe me, you can still find a lot to enjoy from this magnificent game. I am able to have fun playing the game daily and so can you! Ready to join the better fraction of the community? Click here to open up your free summoner account!