John and Lauren Gaming!

           For me the two most important things I look for in games is Storytelling and aesthetics. Bioware always has both in spades. The first time I explored a Bioware game it was Knights of the Old Republic. Weaving my own story as a Jedi was one of my favorite gaming experiences. The first game that I played through multiple times back to back. I had to get the story as a Light honorable Jedi. Then I had to play through as a ruthless Dark Jedi. Then I played through with a mixture making sure I found every nook and cranny.  The Storytelling was amazing. The fact that your conversation choices really effected the story was mesmerizing.      Since then I have played all  the Bioware games through and through. Even their MMO SWTOR. I am captivated by each and every game. They continue to improve the conversation mechanic and add more choices and consequences. Grpahics also continue to steadily improve. They have hit...

              In my youth one of the more exciting things to do was to go to the local blockbuster and pick up some movies and a game. I love the experience. I think it was all the options combined with the expectation of fun. A trip to the Blockbuster was either consciously or subconsciously known as a precursor to fun! Well now we have Netflix and Hulu and Amazon Prime. Watching movies and shows is easy and instant. One thing that was lost when the video stores shut down was the end of game rentals. Then I found Redbox. Problem with Redbox is if it is a popular kiosk you aere almost guaranteed to get what you want. Then the price of renting a game for long enough to beat it is almost as much as it would be to buy the game. Add on the fact that anyone who has made the transition to Next Gen don even get options yet at Redbox. Which means if I want to play PS4 games I have to buy them or so I thought.      Then my cousin ...

Assasins Creed Unity interview on Rev3. I would say this is the game I am second most excited for out of all the games coming out. Coming out next month on the 11th.

                These days ever game franchise and developer and publisher have their faults. Some have many. EA has a lot and Bioware has really squandered some good opportunities like SWTOR. Their are a lot of things about Bioware game that a lot of people don't like. It looks like EA is going to do everything it can to continue its aggressive DLC policy.       With all that said it is important to look past all the BS. Look at what is put on the shelf and ask yourself is this game worth the price. Will I enjoy this and will it make me happy. Even with all the things I don't like about this game or this company will I still enjoy this? Don't listen to the hype or the haters. Just ask yourself what your opinion is on this game.      For me at this point Bioware games (including SWTOR) have hit every sweet spot in what I am looking for. I know without even looking at ...

               So a lot of people have a pretty strong opinions about game reviews.You are saying a company giving away their product for free and early to someone they know will make a review can't fairly and upfront stipulate what gets said? The company making the game doesn't have to give the review code out! It is a privilege that is paid for by good press. If I am making a new Chip Salsa. I want to sell it and be successful so I can make more varieties of Salsa. I won't release it early before it goes to shelves to a video blogger that I know is going to say really bad things about it completely killing my dreams and product before it even hits the shelves......................COME ON PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS COMMON SENSE!!!!!!!!!!! YouTube and website reviewers DO NOT HAVE A RIGHT to these gaming companies games early. They don't at all. It is the gaming companies product that they are giving early and fre...

        So it has been a struggle for me to find good PS4 games. I am a pretty picky gamer to start with and on top of that I have many obligations that take me away from gaming these days. So Madden had been my kind of safe game for the next gen. Whenever I beat or got bored with a game I just went  back to madden. Recently however I have been more aware of my moods. I realized that more often than not Madden mas making me angry. Being competitive meant I was taking losses and poor game design from madden a little to serious. I came to the realization that Madden is one of the few games to do this to me League of Legends being the other. It really had always done this. The highs and happiness I felt when I succeeded was outweighed by the frustration and stress from when I lost. I had already quit League of Legends since it was making me really angry all the time even in most wins.       So I did the unthinkable. For the f...

                          So the wife and I originally bought Diablo 3 when it first came out. It was a decent game. There was a lot to like about it. BUt it had a lot of obvious faults. A lot that it promised it failed on though. But enough about the bad first try. Now they have launched Reaper of Souls the expansion and have updated and patched a lot of things.                 Now it is simply one of the better Action RPG's I have played in a while. The wife and I are hooked. We are very close to beating the Expansion part. Once we do that a lot of other things become possible. One is Adventure mode. It is a way to keep playing and gaining Items and Paragon levels without having to play the same story over and over.                  ...

        One thing that really kills me about game reviews from the biggest gaming sites and magazines is the WOW writing. That is that every games concepts and mechanics seems to be completely new and refreshing. Tone of the writing always takes a concept that may well be new to the scene but usually has already been in a few good games and pretends this is a whole new concept. It is almost as if they don't know about any games outside a dozen or so AAA titles that come out each year. Stop telling me about a gameplay feature and how awesome it is because it is new and ground breaking. If you are telling how the gameplay is ok I understand we all want to know that. It is a fine line to walk for sure since maybe the readers don't know and have to be written to in this manner. But don't tell me when it was coming out Skyrim is ground breaking and talk about every gameplay feature as if they have never been seen before. magazines like Gameinformer are beco...

Finally a few really big games that I can look forward to for the PS4.  August will be a good month. I am not looking forward to end of July The Last of Us for PS4 since I beat it for Ps3. Anyway For August here is a run down of games I am looking forward to and why. Diablo 3 Ultimate edition 19th Here are the reasons I am looking forward to it. Forget Diablo 3  if you played it at launch. They fixed everything wrong with it to a point it is almost a new game. They added a class as well called Crusader. More importantly they made the Witch Doctor better and usable. Large amounts of bloody carnage at 1080 and 60 fps means it will be fast paced gorgeous mayhem.  Plus a big bonus is my wife actually enjoys Diablo giving us a game to play together. Madden 15 26th Madden 25 for last Gen was trash. The new Engine was broken in so many ways. Cut scenes on the sidelines were an abomination. The Passing game was both really easy and really frustrating. Anything under 15 yards ...

             The details are here in this article. What we know so far however has made me very excited. Here is why. This game is shaping up to be BioWare next step forward (forgetting SWTOR for obvious reasons). For a long time the Kights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect and Dragon Age games have been my favorite games. Why you might ask. Well the story telling is amazing. The effect you have on every conversation and the eventual outcome of the plots is unmatched in gaming. Even if it each game had only one ending the ability to say very negative selfish things each and every conversation means the world. The cutscenes and dialogue are not putting you into a passive observer postition. They make you a part of the story every step of the way. Regardless of your conversation choices make huge changes or small ones it still adds so much to immersion.     So why am I excited about this Dragon Age game? Though ...

       Finally a way for you to judge if the random guy you meet online during a game session is mature and will make a good gaming friend or if he is a immature troll. Although none of this is official yet. All that has been done is a poll to see where the Playstation crowd falls on the issue. Personally I really appreciate the     Couple big things in the survey that are welcome updates if they actually go through with them. Advanced matchmaking system. I am tired of being outmatched in games because I don't get enough game time to be a pro player.  More than 8 people in a party. This is really big I am tired of the who are we kicking from the party to make room for so and so talks. Those talks destroy camaraderie. Then really big is a reputation system. Hopefully it will be done in a way that you can filter out trolls and negative players. It is hard to tell if this is the way they are going since in the survey it says it will be based of ...

        So yesterday my beautiful wife surprised me with a PS4 for my birthday/Christmas/Anniversary. We grabbed the bundle option that Gamestop had going so I picked up two games a second controller and a years worth of Playstation Plus. The games I picked up are NBA 2k14 and Infamous Second Son. I will talk about them at a later date once I have played with them a bit.      The biggest improvement that you can notice first right away is that the dashboard is a lot smoother. Getting into and out of apps is much quicker.     On top of that connecting to my account then my Facebook was a breeze. Downloading the game files and updates were a thousand times quicker. Everything was quick and easy to use and get to.     I only played about thirty minutes of Infamous Second Son. In that time I figured out pretty quickly and pretty effortlessly uploaded a couple minutes of game time to my Facebook.  ...

    GTAV has been out for a while now. I waited until it was on sale before I picked up my digital copy. Honestly well worth the full price. So I have played all of the Grand theft auto games since they went third person. Vice City had been one of my favorites. The stony was so close to the movie Scarface which is close to my heart.     I am going to forgo the specefics of the game. It has been out for a while and there are a lot better writers out there who have written up the mechanics of the game. Instead I will write what the game means to me and why I love/hate it.     The story is really engaging. Most people who review or play the game say Trevor is one of the more interesting characters in any game. I disagree. For me Franklin s story is much more entertaining. Young kid coming up from a bad life on the hard streets trying to make life better.     The true Glory of GTA5 isn't the extra side stuff. Everyone has bee...

    If you like MMO's then you need to check this game out. You will have an upsetting time though if you think it is just going to be the next Skyrim or if you think it will be like other MMO's. This game is shaping up to being the biggest hit of 2014. Oh did I mention it will be on Consoles as well? PS4 and Xbox One MMO. It is going to have a really well done Realm vs Real type pvp. They call it AVA for Alliance vs Alliance. Think Guild Wars 2 without Zergs all on one map and better looking graphics and more interesting fighting. If you are interested I would head of to the official reddit for the game http://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline

   Warframe good game but not my cup of tea, KillZone, Knack. This new generation hasn't had one good game. I had Black flag on the PS3. I literally have had my PS3 plugged up the whole time I have had the PS4. Why? Companies failed to make sure the system launched with any of their games. I feel this was a missed opportunity. Especially for smaller production and or development companies. If you wanted to make sure you company rose to stardom and became gamer household name then at launch of the PS4 and Xbox One was your time. Their was no competition from any of the heavy hitters. You literally could have sold 5 million copies just on the fact buyers of the next gen didn't have any other options.  It is ok though since it won't be long until Watch Dogs, Infamous and Thief hit. Thief will be first and it will help carry me over to the other big titles. Until then I have plenty of PS3 games I never got around to playing that now have reduced prices.   Warframe i...