A little over a year ago, I was stood inside my local purveyor of quality Video Games and I had, in my grubby little mitts, several as-of-yet-un-owned titles. In fact, as per my “system”, I’d already picked up every game in store that I didn’t already own, and only afterwards did I start to make any kind of decisions regarding what I’d actually purchase with my actual cash-money. Because I like to maintain the pretense that “No, I don’t have a compulsive Game buying problem, thankyouverymuch…”, I usually make a (token) effort to talk myself out of at least one or two titles, and on this occasion, one of these was Overwatch. At the time the game had just launched, so my reasoning included “waiting a bit to see how it all panned out”, so that, plus Overwatch’s total lack of any kind of Single Player Campaign, meant it got put back on the shelf….. at least for the time being. Since that fateful day, not only did everybody seem to go a bit daft over what Overwatch was offering, but, because I’m an eejit and I’d actually talked myself out of being a part of that from the very beginning, I still clung to the idea that I’d made the right decision. Continue reading “Overwatch – The Journey/Humiliation Begins”
OK, before we start, there is a chance that what follows might seem a little bit like sour grapes from a guy who hasn’t got any friends, and who is therefore projecting his ire onto what is – if he’s being honest – a fairly unimportant thing that means very little to anybody. And there’s a chance it might seem like that because – again, if I’m being honest – it probably is. But, like, whotevs….. My blog, innit!? Secondly, and related to the “unimportant” bit I guess, I’ve already gone on record as saying I’m sometimes a bit obsessed with Trophies and whatnot, and whilst rationally I know it’s all a load of meaningless bollocks anyway (in both ‘trophy inconsistency’, and “who even gives a fuck?” kind of ways), it is what it is. Also…. My blog, innit!? Continue reading “Guys, enough with the Co-op Trophies, yeah!?”
The following piece has been sitting in my drafts for well over six months, but I never quite got around to publishing it. Yesterday however – after reading Shelby’s excellent piece about a similar thing – I was reminded of its existence, and thought that, actually, if I published my piece, just maybe it’d add to the general chorus of disapproval at Activision’s abhorrent behaviour and perhaps, possibly, that that chorus may then encourage them to do a bit of soul searching, see the error of their ways, and ultimately become a kinder, less greedy set of dirty robbing bastards. Lolz – I jest, obviously. I published it for the rantz, innit!?
The last couple of paragraphs are new, and were added to reflect recent developments since the original draft was written, and I am indebted to Shelby for bringing them to my attention. Continue reading “My Adventures with Activision’s Dubious Business Practices”
I spent a good chunk of my first few hours in Dying Light….well, dying. I spent a good chunk of my second few hours in Dying Light…..also dying. In fact, if I had to pick one word to sum up my initial Dying Light experience, it’d be dying. A lot. So much so, in fact, that after spending nearly two years on my To-Play pile, there was a very real danger that Dying Light would move directly to my Unfinished/Abandoned pile after only a few short, frustrating hours of actually being played. Having spent the last few weeks in the combined worlds of Twilight Princess and Wind Waker, I had felt like I wanted to play something a bit grittier – a bit more challenging, even – but after I’d been mercilessly pummeled (or munched) into oblivion for the eleventy-twelfth time in the space of 32 minutes, I was beginning to think that might have been something of a bad idea. Like, “I wonder what’ll happen if I lick that plug socket” kinda bad….. Continue reading “Dying Light – dem curves though!”
I’ve always been quite cynical about re-releasing and remastering shenanigans. At best, it often seems like a desperate cash grab and, at worst, it kind of feels like us Gamers are being taken for hopelessly naive rubes who’re easily parted from their money. Nintendo appear to be something of a repeat offender in this respect, and back when they seemed intent on padding out their Wii U catalogue with remastered versions of fan favourites, I couldn’t help but greet the decision with a fair degree of disdain and eye-rolling. “Seriously, how stupid do you think we are?” I cried, “What fucking eejit’s going to keep buying the same game again, and who, pray tell, is going to be so irredeemably, monumentally stupid that they’re going to buy your failing console just to play a decade old game on!?” I yelled, gesticulating wildly for emphasis even though there was nobody else in the room. But then, on the other hand – and in answer to my own questions, I guess – I eventually did buy a Wii U pretty much so I could play The Wind Waker again, and I also bought me a copy of Twilight Princess HD too.
So, like, there’s that…. Continue reading “The Potential Dangers of Returning to a Favourite Game – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD”
I never owned a Wii, for a few reasons but mostly, if I’m being honest, because it all looked suspiciously like exercise to me. Whilst the wands and nunchucks of the Wii may’ve been considered fun and quirky – the kind of thing you’d have a laugh playing with your friends for an hour or so – the idea of spending large chunks of my downtime swinging my arms around like a lunatic just never really appealed to me. As such, there was a whole console generation of Nintendo Games that I either didn’t play at all, or just tried briefly at friends’ houses, and precisely because a lot of them seemed intent on making me get up off my arse and dance around like the bastard lovechild of Jane Fonda and Mr. Motivator. Continue reading “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD – Questing Done Right”
Lolz. How’s that for a title? I *totes* bet I’m the first person to make that joke, eh!? Because, like switch… to the Switch. See, switch is a verb meaning “to change”, but also, like, the thing I’m talking about changing to. Ta-dah!! Double entendre in da house, y’all!
No? OK!
Anyhoo, as you may’ve guessed from my title(/exceptionally original and clever wordplay), I’m currently wrestling with the decision whether to buy a Nintendo Switch or not, and it’s rapidly descending into the same kind of mindfuckery that characterised my decision whether to Pro or not! Continue reading “Thinking Aloud: Should I Switch!?”
A little while ago – a couple of hours before a trip and desperate for something to read – I found myself frantically searching through the limited English section of a local bookshop. After looking at all the options – and amidst plenty of cursing myself for leaving it until the last minute, given most of these options were utter shite – I eventually left with (what I hoped were) the two least shite (least Sophie Kinsella-ish) options. One of these was Thirteen Reasons Why, and only after checking Goodreads later did I discover that a) it was “Young Adult” (which, unfortunately, is a ship that’s long since sailed in my case) and that b) Thirteen Reasons Why is actually taught in some schools in the US. Continue reading “Empathy, Medium and Message: 13 Reasons Why vs Life is Strange “
Preamble
If you read my last piece you’ll already know that Splatoon – God love it – managed to drag me out of a rather acute, and worrying Gaming funk. When every other title I tried was pretty much meh, and just as I was thinking I’d accidentally cured myself of my chronic Gaming addiction – and might have to, like, integrate into the real world and shit – Nintendo’s neon ink-shooting, squid-ey jumping, platforming answer to a shoot ’em up went ahead and cured me (or, perhaps more accurately, uncured me), and before I’d been exposed to much sunlight or fresh air too. As such, and in the interests of full disclosure, it’s possible I might be a little biased in what follows, but hey, rescuing somebody from the (massively overrated) real world’s as good a reason for that as any, right!? Continue reading “The WUFT – Splatoon Review”
QTX 