John and Lauren Gaming!

ESO Gameplay!     So the release dates have been made public. April 4th for the PC and June for consoles. No exact day in June for the console release yet. I plan on getting ESO for the console. So I am glad in a way that it is two months later than PC release. Since I would hope that they would have a lot of the kinks and balance issues resolved by the time I log in. I would suggest heading over to ShoddyCast on Youtube if you are interested at all in Elder Scrolls online or are just looking for a new MMO.

     The Elder Scrolls Online. For many of you the Elder Scrolls world is as familiar as your mothers pie.  I know I have been playing Elder Scrolls game for over a decade now. Oblivion and Skyrim did so much. The worlds created with the deep lore is near and dear to my heart. Elder Scrolls sits up there in the categories as The Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones as my favorite fantasy worlds to daydream about. I won't go over specifics of the game as many others across the web are dissecting everything the production company says or shows. What I will say is this. If any MMO could get me to pay a sub fee again the one with the best shot is an elder scrolls game. What do you guys think?

  What a failure. To see game like Path of Exile do exactly what I wanted and so many others wanted makes me ask why couldn't Blizzard. Diablo 2 was a game I grew up on. I remember being 13 and logging on and my cousin logging on and us playing through entire acts in single sittings. It was fun and addictive with the right amount of balances in all aspects. Look, skills, sets, action is was all great. Going in everyone knew where 3 had to go what it had to do and what it needed to improve on. It failed in every way for most people. With all that said blizzard made a great great move. Going console and not just console but single screen multiplayer. My wife doesn't have the Diablo 2 bias of what a good action/rpg should be.  She loves Diablo 3. Bringing it to the console makes it so much more accessible to us. It takes a game that we haven't played since month one (mostly because of me) and actually makes us excited again. Now it isn't that deep dungeon crawler we were...

      End of the year always brings some big releases in time for Christmas. Already out: Battlefield 4 COD: Ghosts Assassins Creed Black Flag GTA5 Batman Origins And Coming Soon: PS4 and Xbox One Titles RySe Forza Killzone Dead Rising Titanfall Knack WatchDogs This means a lot of gaming to play. These are just the uber hyped AAA titles. Many other great games have launched or will soon on consoles and PC. Here is a more complete list even here however indie titles and PC titles are under represented. Point is though their will be something for everyone. What games are you most interested in playing? For me WatchDogs looks the most interesting.

                 Since I have beat Last of Us (best game of the year) I have been playing mostly three games. Skyrim, NCAA Football 2014 and Crusader Kings 2. Skyrim these last two weeks has had a front seat in my gaming life. The visuals and ability to envelope me into the world and make me really feel like I am my avatar. Nothing more satisfying than wrecking an entire dungeon with epic spells and weapons.  This game will continue to be great and amazing for a long time. Whenever it gets old and I tire of it I will simply shelve it for a few months then come back to it and feel all the emotions I originally did the first time I turned it on. I am excited to see the next Gen Elder Scrolls game. We all know it is coming. For now my current play through I am trying a Necromancer that uses some swords and poisons and Illusions. Makes for a very interesting play through. Oh you can wrec...

So far it has been everything I hoped it would be. Even more surprising is how fun Multiplayer is. With its limited respawns and teamwork requirements it is easily one of the better FPS multiplayer exp's out there. I have not completed the story yet. However what I have done has been simply amazing. Naughty Dog has won my loyalty.

    Flisup is a new Eve player. I ran across his shall we say shiplog? Na too nerdy? His account of his first month of playing Eve online. In my opinion although not portraying a tenth of the depth of the game it does describe the soul of it. Th e cantina story time account can be found in this link or to the left of the site in the various pages. Enjoy. If you feel like this game has something to offer you after reading the first 14 days are free. http://www.eveonline.com/

LAST OF US Can you say EPIC! Eight days as I write this until it comes out. Reviews have came in. Every single major publication gave it a perfect score. Only Polygon and Gamespot held out a perfect score (BOOO!). If not for those two critics your talking about a game with a 100 Metacritic score! That is unheard of. The guys over at Naughty Dog are my heros. Ok enough fanboyism. Enjoy the video. Above video is the older one from Pax Prime.

Crusader Kings 2 from Paradox games is simply one of the best games I have ever played in the sandbox strategy genre. I know that genre is small and niche but this game is addicting though. So much fun. You start as whoever you want from a count to an Emperor. Game plays basically the same as either. Make sure you pass onto your heir more titles than what your current noble started with. Lie, Cheat, Steal, kill your way into power wherever however you can. This is not a easy game to explain in words so here are two helpful links. If you love simulation, strategy, kingdom building, or time period games this one is for you. Though it doesn't fit any of the categories to a T. If you have paradox exp you know what I am saying. If not you’re in for a great surprise.

      Finally PvP only sandbox done RIGHT! Camelot Unchained (or CU)  is going to turn the gaming world on its head. Here is the AMA from the Head of the studio Mark Jacobs . The AMA is a good source of what the games goals and targets are.        I had recently read a article about CU and how the fact that they were targeting a small crowd of people who only want to do Realm vs Realm gameplay could possible pay off big. The reasoning is when you ship a big game that tries to fit in PvP, PvE, Crafting, Arena, Raids, on and on you get features that are watered down because studio resources have to be spread out.       CU has NO Pve, no raids, nothing but Realm vs Realm! Variety is obtained because everything in the game and I mean everything is player made with no Auction houses. The team doesn't have to worry about arenas or raids or boss drops. Their is no gear grind horizontal or vertical....

Rome II  ...........Ok in case I DO need to say more. If you love Strategy games this is for you. If you love simulation games this is for you. If you love Roman era combat this game is for you. If you love fun this game is for you. I would bomb a small country to get this game. I would touch a SPIDER for this game. The Total war series holds special places in my heart. Rome and Empire being my favorites. Greatest success I have ever had in a game came from Rome Total War. I sat a Phalanx right inside a gate that a enemy had just tore open. They sent wave after wave of soldiers including Elephants into that gate. Burning Oil over the gate and the courage of my one unit destroyed a entire army and allowed me to gain complete control over the Mediterranean. The Total war series is so great because never once have I had anything remotely like a similar play through. Different armies and nations with different soldiers and different lands to fight on with different enemies. Diff...

Neverwinter!  This game looks great. The action and art style are VERY impressive. fans of the Neverwinter series will need to give this a try. This game looks exciting. Though admittedly not revolutionary. WoW upgrade inside a Neverwinter skin. For many that is perfect. Did I mention it was free? Or that it has a custom mode called foundry where PLAYERS create fully customizable dungeons that any o0ther player can GAIN EXP AND LOOT FROM! Camelot Unchanined  is the predecessors of on of the first great fantasy MMO's. Dark Age of Camelot came out a long time ago and is still kicking around. DAOC had arguebly the greatest PVP of all MMO's Ever! The game was difficult but fun had things many have missed like player housing. DAOC had so many good things about it. Camelot Unchained will have everything DAOC had and will do it better. Camelot Unchained is my Darkhorse. This is going to revolutionize MMO's AGAIN.

              Last of Us is almost here. I have to thank my wife for buying me this game. This is going to be one of those games that leave a long lasting impression I just know it. Naughty Dog is really getting better att what they do. It is great to see a company that does something successful. Then instead of doing the same thing for a decade they continue to try and better their ingredients. Here is all you need to know if you are on the fence. IGN  does a good job of it.

TESO has a subREDDIT  up with a lot of good new posts and all the latest videos and content reveals. So the leader over there at TESO HQ is taking heavy influence from Dark Age of Camelot. Which is good because that game did a lot of thing right that the industry has forgotten that fans have clamored for for a while. Bad news....or good news depending on your views.  Watch Dogs  will not be coming to the PS3! It is going to be a PS4 title. So those of you that don't have the money for a PS4 lose out on this one. However if you are getting a PS4 well then you will have a great launch title. Destiny ! The next big bungie project is getting closer. It looks promising. Almost a Halo/Masseffect with a dash of MMO ish features.  If you like Halo, Mass Effect, Sci Fi or Fun than check this one out. (Also PS4)

          Do you enjoy stealth action games? Then this game is for you. It looks like its a updated Splinter Cell with a little more action and some cool tech. This video shows some really interesting gameplay. Hand to Hand, Stealth, Tech based tricks and takedowns, a lot of interacting with the environment. The takedowns and finishers are pretty spectacular. For me it all rides on the story. I need a really good story to compel me through games. No matter how flashy the gameplay is. This game makes me think if Splinter Cell had game babies with Hitman and Adopted Dues Ex. The result of that family would be this game. So here's Hoping Hype stands up and delivers.

Deadspace 3 3: Feb 2013 Lets see if it lives up to its Legacy. I know it will still probably creep my wife out to where she hides her face with the couch pillows. Also in Feb 2013 : Crysis 3 Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Rayman Legends Tomb Raider : March 2013 Some of my first and most memorable moments in the game world was with Lara. Can't wait to see the new direction they take this series. Also in March : Bioschock Infinite  (Yes I am more excited for Tomb Raider) Sim City Gears of War: Judgement God of War: Ascension Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm GTA5 : April 2013 Happy Birthday to me! Hope its as good if not better than 4. If so there goes my April. Also in April : Beyond: Two souls - Said to be "like Heavy rain but with more gameplay" Double Fine Adventure Last of Us : May 2013 This is my game of the year hopefully. It looks like it may have almost everything I want in a good console game. Lets see if it lives up to its hype. Also ...

Last of Us Trailer! Last of Us! I don't think I have been this excited for a game in a really long time. This game looks really amazing. It has this whole survivor creeping through the halls ala Dead Space. Along with the action of the best Naughty Dog games. The crafting of a Dead island and the story telling of well a naughty Dog game. Not much this game doesn't have. The simple fact that the fights in this trailer are not cinemas but actual player controlled is amazing. This game will be the biggest gaming event of the year from what I can see. Yes Bioshock may ship this year but it’s going to be very similar to the last one so even though it will be a good game it’s not something new and shiny. Give me a comment let me know what you think. Last of Us got you excited?

http://elderscrollsonline.com/en/ It appears there will be  a BIG emphasis on realm vs realm vs realm play. The three factions attempting control of Cryodil are Daggerfall Covenant, Ebonheart Pact and the Aldmeri Dominion. You can get a detailed description of the realms from the website following the link above. Anyone who is a veteran of the series knows about the separate realms. So I will talk about realm vs realm play. How RvRvR works; 1) Consequences for being killed. In DAOC  when you died you were hammered with huge Exp loss and Money and equip loss. Anything in your inventory not equipped was dropped along with some cash and a chunk of Exp. This alone solves the Guild Wars 2 ZERG play style. Strategy and teamwork rule the day because you can just die over and over bashing your brains into a wall for a hour until you wear them down. Death like real life were avoided if possible. 2) Meaningful rewards. If we take this keep and its holy relic we will be gods! In gui...

      Game after game in league of Legends it is the same thing. Trolls and Ragers. So why play? Most games do too teammates I am rendered ineffective as well. Only reason I can think of is the one in five games that I dominate so well that I get a immense feeling of euphoria. Last night I lost two really bad games. They were horrible. Everyone was angry and pissed. But I played a third one anyway. This time I played a lane that is strength to me. Middle, and by the end of the game I had more kills than the rest of my team combined. Our team still had more deaths. But every time the teams clashed and I was there three or four of them went down almost right away. I got a solo unofficial quad kill against full HP players. Being that overpowering and doing that well give you such a feeling that you rarely get but always seek in PVP. This is what Multiplayer games need to accomplish in the future. A relatively balanced pvp exp where skill not playtime or money inves...

New Trailer for Elder Scrolls Online. Not a whole lot of info yet on specifics of how everything will work. But it looks like a cross between Skyrim and Dark Age Of Camelot. I will post more as more  is released.

Elite = Bad Attitude Let me explain. If you become elite in a game the you have spent countless hours playing it. They have become masters. They are playing at a high level and have since long stopped playing with "noobs". so what is the result? well when they do play with someone who maybe is new or possibly just a bad player they tend to really react negatively. Not many games have very upbeat positive and helpful. Too many times I play a game for the first time. Being that it is my first time I am very bad at it. instead of tips and help i get nothing but flak in the worst kind of manner. I think this is the biggest turn off for many people when entering in Multi player games. Too many good games have been ruined for me by bad communities.

          Where is the innovation? Well if you spend ten million dollars on a video game on all the bells and whistles would you want that large project be a groundbreaking gamble on a new idea? I think I would rather it be the same old game in a 76 game series that sells out and makes profit every time. Why are indie games so innovative? Because if they fail the producers and investors don't lose out on very much. You can make ten flopped bad independent low budget games that stretch boundaries. Make one 10 million dollar game that flops and you will be flipping burgers. Assassins Creed 46? Hell yes we will make that AC 45 made 40 million. A brand new IP with a completely different combat system then ever seen with all new mechanics and will cost 10 million and if it doesn't succeed I lose my job and home and dog.       Solution is everyone buy less video games......that won't happen. So maybe better utilizati...

The biggest book release for me in my life. The conclusion to the Wheel of Time series. Robert Jordan passed form this earth too soon. He will be missed. I stumbled upon his series by chance and it changed my life. When I was hitting those rough early teen years I was at a crossroads in my life. I could go any direction in life. I wasn't yet sure who I wanted to be or what I wanted to do. Video games were a very minor hobby. I was into sports, i wanted to play music. But basically i didn't know what I wanted. Then I stumbled upon Eye of The World. The first book in the series. I have been lost in fantasy worlds ever since. It has taken close to eleven years of reading and waiting. A Memory of Light was a great book. The series came to a conclusion. Here is why I felt let down.One it was apparent that the new author that had taken over the series after Jordan's death had a huge amount of creative control over this book. Even though Sanderson is a g...