• 24Sep 10

  Gaming with my kids. (Video)

  I haven't posted in a while. Work is keeping me busy, not to mention my recent move has given me need to just take the weekends and get things done. I recently have been playing games with my kids, and my son and I have been enjoying Wizard101 a lot. I recently taught he and my daughter how to go through and search for game videos on Youtube, and they really enjoy watching other people play the games that we play. Namely we watch Wizard101 videos of bosses and some of the quests if they are stuck on them, but they do enjoy good videos of other games as well.

  Last night my son and I were playing and I made it to the end of the second world in Wizard101 Krokotopia. It's an Egyptian themed world of crocodiles and Manders(a lizard type race). So, it was pretty extensive and took me a while to make it through. Eventually I was fighting the last boss and my children wanted me to post a video of it. I purchased FRAPS years ago, maybe 7-8 now, so I figured why not. I threw it on the old machine and proceeded to record myself defeating the Krokopatra (cute, lol) of Krokotopia. I ended up getting some bad fizzles (where your spell doesn't go off at all), and neglecting to throw on some HoTs or use heals so I did die the first attempt. I came back and eventually finished her off. Enjoy.

  I know a lot of people will say that it is kiddish and lame, but honestly some of the fights in this game take as much skill to pull off as they would in WoW or any other MMORPG, and the PvP is 10x as competitive.

  You can watch the video here on Youtube in HD 720p.

  • Posted Sep 24, 2010 11:18 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 17Aug 10

  Pre-played, used, and price bin games.

  So this weekend I took my son to get some video games. I did a little research and discovered a game I really wanted to play and it was a couple years old. I went to Gamestop with the express intent of buying it preplayed. Now, I won't buy newer used games like this because the price difference isn't enough to warrant it, but if I can get a game for 15 bucks and it costs 20-25 new, I am saving 1/4 to 1/5 off of the price. That is quite a difference.
  
  We end up buying three used games. Dead Space for me, and my son picks out two games for himself, Lord of the Rings: Conquest and The Force Unleashed. I walk out spending 40 bucks and get three games, two of which I am looking forward to playing myself. That is a pretty good deal where I come from. All of the discs were in excellent condition, and I expressly asked for nice cases and got them. I really enjoy having a game collection, and I display them on my book cases along side titles like Moby Dick and other great novels. A lot of them deserve it and are just as much masterpieces as those masterpiece novels.
  
  I began to ask myself what the purpose of buying a brand new game (that I didn't want to play immediately/ was looking forward to) was. Why spend $50 on a new copy of God of War 3, when I can buy it from Gamefly, used, for $21 (and it plays the EXACT same)?? That is quite a bit in savings. All I do is take a little disinfectant and there you go, Bob's your uncle. I did a little a little research on the PS3 disc, and Blu-Ray in general to get a little info on them. Blu-Ray is engineered to be very scratch resistant. I honestly cannot say I have ever seen a scratched Blu-ray PS3 o movie disc. This is all that really matters when buying a game for me, scratch free disc and clean case. I have found this to be the situation when going to Gamestop as I have purchased now purchased 5 used games from them. I was reluctant at first, but after I played Demon's Souls used I was immediately hooked on the low-price quality games that a used disc can be. Now, in a lot of situations Gamestop is really just ripping you off, maybe taking 3-5 bucks off the price of it new. The key is to buy an older, lower priced game to make the difference a larger percentage.
  
  If that doesn't work for you, I found Gamefly. They don't always have everything for sale, and they don't have a lot of the newer, hotter titles because of the rental demand, but what they do have for sale is normally substantially different than the new, or even used prices at major video game retail stores. Take for instance the aforementioned God of War 3, it's $21 from Gamefly and $40 at Gamestop... that is a price difference of $19. I could buy another used game for that difference. Not to mention that Gamefly's cases/booklets are pristine, as they are put into a bin and never touched until they are sold or thrown away.
  
  I am now, and probably forever more, addicted to buying used video games. Not only does it save you money percentage wise, but it also saves you money because you can research and use GameSpot for what it is for, reviewing games to give you an idea if you will like it. Well, that is until video games aren't sold in stores and can only be downloaded. Maybe then we'll have to buy a key from someone? I wonder how that will work out...

  • Posted Aug 17, 2010 8:00 am GMT
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• 11Aug 10

  Video game achievement systems... breaking video games!?

  So last night I spent some time looking through my games and their associated achievements. I found most games to offer up a couple online trophies, but some platinum trophies required the gathering of all trophies, this includes online only achievements. I am not sure this type of paradigm works. Doesn't this limit the game's longevity!? What about the people that cannot go online due to circumstances outside of their control but are still into trophies?
  
  In the future, just a couple years from now even, when people are trying to get older games completed to plat, they won't be able to. They're hope for a fully completed game will be stopped by the simple fact that no-one plays that specific game anymore. Now, I understand that not all games are meant to be single-player; I'm talking about games like Fat Princess where the ideal scenario is playing online against and with others, but a lot of games that are single-player in design have multi-player elements with associated achievements that are needed to complete a platinum trophy. Right now I am considering platinuming Bioshock 2, but the online achievements are nearly impossible to get. I can't get some of them because frankly, there isn't anyone to join the co-op to compete against or with for the achievement. This game is only a few months old; what happens when games are a year+ in age!?
  
  My basic gripe is that while I understand games are sometimes online exclusive, others are not. Games like Red Dead Redemption and Zombie Apocalypse offer a few achievements that are online or single-player obtained. I get that not all games or achievements can do this, they should still strive to become game-play-type independent so future players of the game can at least plat that game completely if they desire. Or maybe we shouldn't care, and that there are so many games to play, we will have a veritable smorgasbord of plat trophies and those games are just out of luck.
  
  I was raised in a generation that says we don't want to waste things, so why make a game that isn't entirely re-playable in the future, but then again, how many people that play and buy games only play for the trophies they unlock.
  
  My real question is:
  
  Have trophies and achievements become the actual game now, and the video game the medium by which we complete it?!

  • Posted Aug 11, 2010 11:13 am GMT
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