E3 2011 Goodness

So far so good. E3 is showing us it's going to be a great next few years to be a gamer. What have we seen so far? Well, let's see here, we've seen the next Assassins Creed:Revelations, Far Cry 3, Gears of War 3,Star Wars The Old Republic,Torchlight 2, Dead Island,A new MMO called Neverwinter,A new Tombraider, Battlefield 3,Modern Warfare 3 and of course Uncharted 3. All in all, it's enought to keep this gamer salivating for the next several months. Personally, I'm still waiting on Blizzcon for more Diablo 3 news.

Out of that whole bunch, I'm most excited about Dead Island,Torchlight 2 and Uncharted 3. Everyone is all hyped for Skyrim but i stay reserved after Oblivion, wasn't much of a fan, it was good but something felt lacking.That being said, I think the winner will be Dead Island, it looks very promising. It's like a cross between Fallout,Farcry and Dead Rising. You can't go wrong with that combination, if you don't believe me, check out this awesome clippage.



Dead Island Gameplay Footage [HD] by Xbox-Mag

Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Rating: 9/10


Miminum System Requirements:

· OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista SP2 / Windows 7 (32/64-bit)
· Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
· Memory: 1 GB Windows XP / 2 GB Windows Vista and Windows 7
· Video Card: 512 MB RAM, supporting Pixel Shader 3.0 (Nvidia GeForce 8800 or ATI Radeon HD3850)

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is a first person role-playing video game developed by Polish studio CD Projekt RED.It is the sequel to the 2007 video game The Witcher, and was released internationally on May 17, 2011.

Wow! Just...Wow! This game has literally dropped my jaw on so many occasions it's not funny. To be honest, I had heard about the original Witcher but never got around to playing it until I viewed the footage on the Witcher 2 awhile back. So I loaded up the first one, played through and was blown away by that as well. It's your typical RPG but with so much more and an open world to explore much like Elder scrolls.

Just like the first game, the player takes control of Geralt of Rivia, one of the few remaining Witchers. Witchers are humans that have been genetically enhanced and trained to fight monsters from a young age. Basically, you can do the main story line or engage the many sidequests in each town. Here's some gameplay to show you.

Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers for PS3

Hiya folks. Sorry for the long hiatus between posts but I've been caught up in a multitude of different games lately. Between Black Ops, Modnation Racers(which just released a HUGE DLC!),World of Warcraft(yes I caved and started playing and paying and yes there'll  eventually be a review) and now Magic, I've been a busy guy. And also  raising my daughters, my ability to game,blog and sleep, eat,father is wiping me out!

So, I didn't even know this game was around until a co worker told me about it and I secretly paid the 10.00 dl fee on the PSN store to get it, unbeknownst to my wife,LOL. She later found out by way of the credit card bill, Busted!! But it is worth it man, let me tell you. I played this game in physical form when it first came out in the early 90's and it was all the rage back then. We spent many a stoned late night playing lol. And a few years back, MTGO came out for the PC and I was playing that for awhile. It was really good and still is but it`s mainly for the hardcore now who spend lots of dough on cards and create the ultimate decks to ruin each other.

Now, I`m not going to go into great depth here, so I`ll keep it brief on how it works, here goes

Magic has you pretending to be a magician (Planeswalker) that is dueling with other Planeswalkers. You draw cards from your deck and use them to attack the other person. You know what cards are in your deck, only, they're shuffled. Casting spells requires mana. Each turn you can put down a "Land" card which can be turned into Mana to cast spells. "Spells" are any cards that require Mana.  Spells can be attacks ("Lava Ax" damages player for 5 points), artifacts (Every time you cast a Red Spell, you gain 1 life) or monsters (which can do a certain amount of damage and have a certain amount of "hit points"). Some spells work off each other, and that is where the strategy comes into play. The end goal is to reduce your opponents points "Hit Points"/"Life" to 0 from 20. If this is confusing, don't worry, the tutorial is pretty good.

I`m going to do something new here and leave it at that. Play the game. You will like. Addicting. Fun.Here`s some more screenshots. Download and enjoy.  :)

ModNation Racers

 

When Little Big Planet brought us the “Play, Create, Share" idea to the PS3, I was literally blown away by this concept. Being able to use the same tools as the creators to create your own levels from scratch was very awesome but then the concept of being able to share your creation with others and seeing how they tweak it was literally mind blowing!

But now this little known company called United Front Games comes along and offers us the same plate but with Kart racing, where you can create your own karts, tracks, and racers and then easily share your creations online with the community.

As you can see by the video the gameplay is wicked. The customization with this game is unlimited. Most of the parts,props etc are unlocked during career gameplay. Building a racer and car can literally take hours if you want as,size,shape,color,face,body type for racer and cars are huge. All of which the developers have made pretty user friendly  and the track builder is much the same as well.They made it easy to pick up but still deep enough for those of us that require some brain engagement. So far, MNR has surpassed the 1 million mark on mods created by users, all different, all unique. That's impressive. This game is by far in a class of it's own and I beg you to pick it up and give it a whirl as you won't be disappointed, I promise.

Civilization V: Addictiveness at its finest

It's been said that the signs of a truly great game are addictiveness and loss of time. This game has this and more. It's the marriage breaker, the time taker and the fist maker.

I picked this game up a few few weeks ago and immediately after install and game start, this sucker had literally stolen 3 hours from me in seconds flat, or so it seemed to me anyways. Now, I've played pretty much all the Civilizations and it has always impressed me with its balance of game play and intrigue. Hard to imagine that Mr Sid could just on keeping rolling this game along and not fumble somewhere along the line. Nope. Even at number 5 it still continues to impress and awe me. For those of you familiar with Civilization IV or Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, this game is like an old cherished friend with new stories to tell.

For those of you unfamiliar, Civilization V places you as the leader of one of several playable nations,America,Arabia,Aztecs,Babylon,China,Egypt,England,France,Germany,Greece,India,Iroquois,Japan,Mongolia,Ottoman,Persia,Rome,Russia,Siam and Songhai, and starts you out in 4000 BC with nothing more than a settler to build your first city with and a single warrior unit. From there, you must work to build a civilization, winning by means of conquest, science, culture, or diplomacy.

This time around, they've improved the grid to Hexagon based and it works surprisingly well. Whatever nation you decide to assume, you start out with 1 little Hex and work out from there with your 1 settler and 1 warrior. I know, sounds intimidating but just because this is a turn-based game, it doesn't mean it won't move fast. You quickly build  city buildings, roads, trade routes, armies and the occasional diplomacy with neighbouring factions. And like I said at the beginning, it quickly turns ridiculously addicting once you've established you territories as the hunger for lands is in you now and all must be consumed, Mwuhahaha!

But remember, this game advances through the ages, 4000 BC through to Golden Ages and the modern age. So don't bring a Pikeman to a B52 bomber fight.

Overall graphics are amazing and runs pretty good on just a duo core with mid range ATI cards. Controls are pretty similar to the rest of the Civs and the learning curve on this one is pretty lean. So don't be afraid to pick this one up and give it a try folks. But if you have little time, family or friends, well...they might not see you for awhile. Enjoy my friends Enjoy.

Call of Duty Black Ops

The Hype surrounding this game was unbelievable before it's release. Does it live up to it? Yes, very much so!

Gameplay  is solid, very solid. Black Ops is a sequel to Treyarch's previous Call of Duty, World at War. At the beginning of the game, you will be wondering what is going on, but you will understand later. Basically, there is this creepy, faceless interrogator guy who asks you a bunch of questions and you play through Mason's( main character) memories. You will visit various places throughout the globe.My fav was Vietnam.Graphics are amazing, they have set the bar again. Basic controls are R1 to shoot, L1 to aim just like the previous CODs.Although the Single player campaign is only about 10 hours long, it is the best I've ever played. Depth, story and graphics that made my jaw drop.Worth 30 dollars right there, the other 30 is in the next paragraph.

Multiplayer is definetely where it's at in this game though as it has me thoroughly addicted for the last week!
There is a new element in this COD that adds a lot more depth. They are called COD points. You use them to buy weapons, perks etc. You get them by participating in matches ie: Team Death Match, Mercenary,Domination etc . This makes the game more intense and fun as the customization is huge in this game. You can customize guns,face paint, put clan emblems on your gun, get different camos for your gun,create a unique clan emblem, this list goes on.  The last mode is zombie mode. This fun  mode returns from World at War. It is 2-4 player co-op and it requires a lot of teamwork,A mic doesn't hurt either.

All in all, this game is frickin awesome! I haven't been this addicted to multiplayer in a game since Killzone 2. If you haven't got it yet, go get it.  It's worth the 60 bucks and you won't be disappointed .

Torchlight: A true Diablo clone

Like most of the gaming population out there, I have been waiting patiently for Blizzard to hurry up and release Diablo 3. What does one do to fill the time gap? If you are a lover of the ole Hack and slash,gimme loot,dungeon crawler like myself than the pickings are pretty slim nowadays. Sure there is Titanquest and others but they still do not give you that Diablo-esque feel of play. So when I happened to stumble across a forum that rambled on about Torchlights awesomesness, I decided to check it out.

A quick download(400 ish Mbs) and install and this beauty was on my PC. Don't be put off by the WOW looking graphics, this game is far from WOW. If ever there was a true Diablo clone, this is it. It has all the standard dungeon crawler features us gamers love. Leveling,loot,lots of loot,lots of weapon customization,
magic items,unique item, I can go on and on. There are the Town Portals, scrolls, Identify scrolls etc.
Character options are kinda limited.

 There's the Alchemist(magic user), the Vanquisher(basic Amazon ish) and the Destroyer(Warrior). May seem kind of limited but really, how much selection do you need? The cool feature I really like is the Pets. You can choose from a Cat or a Dog. Now, what does one want with a pet you say? Well, in Torchlight the pet serves a big role in aiding you. Not only does your pet provide company on those long,lonely treks into the far reaches of dungeons but it also provides extra inventory space for your loot, which is much needed in this game as there is seemingly endless amounts of treasure to find. And remember when we filled up our inventory  in other games and had to take that annoying trek back to town to sell? No more. Torchlight has introduced an awesome feature I just love, you can send your pet to town  with all the loot you put in its inventory to sell it, all with one click !!Nice.

 Very handy feature that I'm sure we all appreciate. The only thing is, the farther you are down in the dungeons, the longer it takes for your pet to return so  judging where you are, you might want to decide when the best time to do  this is as your pet is not only a great mule but he aids in battles pretty well too. Pets level up with you and they also can be equipped with certain items and magics. Yes, you can have a fire-ball spewing cat or dog.Sorry, no dog with bees coming from its mouth though LOL.

Torchlight consists of the main town of the same name on the surface with all your standard options such as Blacksmith, General Store, Enchanter, Disenchanter and Crafters. Cool thing is, if you craft something and find that the gems you used just don't cut it, you can destroy it and start again, for a price of course.

There is about 37 levels of Dungeon below the main surface of the town and the deeper you go, the harder it gets.Lots of side quests from random people in town too. Needless to say, this game is very fun, quite addicting and very replayable. There is now talk of a release date for Torchlight 2 sometime next summer with the option of multiplayer  going in which is pretty much the only thing I thought this game was missing. Apart from that, Torchlight is a very solid game and I would definetely suggest to any gamer out there who likes this style of game. Check it out now, you won't be disappointed. Visit the website here  Torchlight . Until next time,Happy gaming to all and to all a good night .