An Epic E3 2014

I love the day after a great E3.
Damn, it feels good to be a gamer.
Microsoft started the show with a bang this year ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT GAMES the ENTIRE CONFERENCE.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Xbox will have some exclusives like the highly anticipated Phantom Dust, Fable Legends (which is a MOBA now?!), and Halo: The Master Chief Collection (at only a $60 price point, too). Also, the Kinect-less version of the Xbox One will be available today, at a price point of $399.

EA’s press conference was slightly unproductive, with the highlight being the announcement of the Battlefield: Hardline Beta becoming available for download and play IMMEDIATELY on PS4 and PC.

I ran to my PS4 and downloaded it as soon as I possibly could, and scurried to sign up for the PC version, as well. I must say, I’m really enjoying the PS4 version of Battlefield:Hardline so far, even though it’s still in beta. The new game modes are exciting, the mechanics feel fluid, and the graphics look good. I’m eager to see how this game will transition from beta.

Next up to bat was Ubisoft.

I must say….Assassin’s Creed:Unity…looks…astounding. The graphics are amazing, the movements look natural, and they are adding a four player co-op mode where you can play with friends to complete missions.

FOUR PLAYER CO-OP. YES, YES, YES, PLEASE.

They also showed us the trailer for Far Cry 4, which interested me right away.
I’m not even a fan of the previous Far Cry games (I tried, I just couldn’t get into them), Far Cry 4 looks fresh– like a game that will certainly hold my attention. The first few minutes of the story, alone, were enough to pull me in.

Last up to bat– Sony. Sony announced that YouTube will be coming to PS4, and that it will allow users to upload directly from PS4 to YouTube, seamlessly.

YESSSSSSSS.

This is going to make the PS4 the console of choice with people who enjoy streaming and uploading videos directly to the interwebs. PS4/Twitch compatibility is already SUPER user-friendly and easy, this is only going to expand on that experience. PS4 has the upper hand on exclusives, which include Destiny, Little Big Planet 3, and Uncharted 4.
Destiny’s beta will launch on July 17th, you can actually sign up for the alpha if you JUST CAN’T WAIT–that access will be available later THIS week.
Little Big Planet 3 was announced, along with countless other titles I am SUPER FRIGGIN’ stoked about but already knew were coming to PS4 (thanks, insiders!) like PlanetSide 2.

Ugh, there is just TOO MUCH gaming awesomeness coming up this year. Even though we already knew all or most of the titles that were going to be announced, I still think this was a great E3. There was focus on GAMES. Last year’s pissing contest kinda missed the mark on the games and focused more on who had a bigger d*@% (Microsoft FAILED miserably last year).
All in all, I thought this was a pretty evenly-matched, well-executed, exciting E3 this year, and I have no complaints. Even the indie games coming out look astounding, interesting, and jaw-dropping, graphics-wise.

Mass Effect 4 announced. Mirror’s Edge 2 announced. Star Wars: Battlefront. Batman:Arkham Knight where you can drive the batmobile.

YOU CAN DRIVE THE FREAKIN’ BATMOBILE.

Need I say more?

It’s going to be a good year to be a gamer, people.

Personally, my most anticipated games for this year are: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and The Order:1886. I realize now that they all have colons in their names. Coincidence? Aaaaaanyway…

 

Our wallets will be empty, but our hearts will be full.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Vengeance Pack Available Today For PS3

Call of Duty: Black Ops II new DLC pack ‘Vengeance’ drops today, giving it’s players four new multi-player maps. It  includes the return of a re-imagined Black Ops I multi-player classic, an all-new epic Zombies chapter, and a brand new, bonus weapon for zombie mode – the Ray Gun Mark II – available for use in every Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Zombies map.

The new maps include:

Cove: All-out conflict ensues on this small, forgotten island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.  Players battle it out amongst the wreckage of a jet that crash-landed during a smuggling operation gone wrong.

Detour: Players fight amongst the scattered vehicles, exposed iron and collapsed pavement of a destroyed suspension bridge, high above this East Coast waterway where the action can play out on multiple levels.

Rush: Fast and close-quarter engagements are assured in this paintball course that’s been turned into a full- combat arena, giving players new opportunities and challenges to use cover to their advantage.

Uplink: In this re-imagined adaptation of the fan-favorite Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer map Summit, players clash deep in the rainy jungles of Myanmar, high atop a high-tech mountain facility.

And new zombies map Buried, in which players will be challenged to face their deepest fears, trapped inside a long-forgotten subterranean Old West mining town infested with swarms of the undead.

So start your downloads, and get ready, all you CoD fans!

Sony Steals E3 2013

Damn, it feels good to be a Sony fangirl this morning.

Sony announced to THUNDEROUS applause at last night’s E3 conference that they will NOT be placing restrictions on used games in any way. HUGE news after Microsoft got the gaming world’s panties in a bunch after announcing they were enacting DRM policies on Xbox One.

Also coming in at a price tag of $399, undercutting Microsoft’s Xbox One by a hundred bucks, I think it’s safe to say that Sony won this year’s E3 conference–hands down.

I watched both the Xbox One announcement and unveiling, and their conference at E3 yesterday, and was genuinely impressed at the exclusives they had available. Game play and graphics also looked excellent. Other than that, there was really nothing to cause an uproar. Until the Sony conference begun.

Seems like Sony is really getting in-touch with the consumer this-gen. They listened to what gamers wanted, and they delivered. They are making it easier for indie games to get published–actually encouraging it– and they are making it easier for the consumer to have access to these games. Awesome. Just awesome.

Let’s just list the facts about both consoles:

The Xbox One –Custom eight-core x86 CPU, a 500GB hard drive, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, USB 3.0, HDMI in and out ports, and WiFi.

The Sony PS4 — Single-chip, eight-core AMD Jaguar custom, low power x86-64 APU with a Radeon based graphics engine, 8GB of GDDR5 RAM and a Blu-ray optical disc drive.

“Both firms have gone for custom AMD chips, and Sony has the graphics edge with an 18 compute unit GCN graphics core configuration,” says Dave Neal from The Inquirer.

Sony has kept backwards compatibility (available early next year through the cloud), something that Microsoft has left behind.

Not yet confirmed are Sony’s hints at charging for an online experience.

During the conference, they hinted that only PlayStation Plus members would have access to online play, costing about $5 per month.

Not too shabby considering you can purchase a PS4 and two years of PsPlus for the same price as an Xbox One.

Not to mention people have issues with Kinect’s “spying eye,” and some feel like it’s almost an invasion of privacy to be REQUIRED to have your console connected to the internet at all times, looking–judging. Selling things to you.

PS4 will work without an internet connection. So you can play games.
Without being online.

Imagine that? A console…meant for playing games…that can actually PLAY OFFLINE GAMES…while remaining…OFFLINE. MIND. BLOWN.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love games. I love gaming consoles.
However, in my opinion, the choice this-gen is clear.

Sony wiped the floor with Microsoft.

It’s a great day to be a gamer.

If You Don’t Like The Olympics, You Might Be A Terrorist.

As I watch The Today Show this morning, I can’t help but get a little excited. Yes, it’s stupid, I know. But I LOVE the Olympics. Summer, winter–doesn’t matter. This hasn’t been a lifelong thing for me. This all happened four years ago at the last summer Olympics held in Beijing. I was 22, and I think you have to be a little older to really appreciate the value of the Olympics. Or it coulda been the fact that I was old enough to drink for those Olympics, thus, making them much more interesting and fun to watch. Either way, there’s something about watching these athletes that compels me like no other sporting event.

Don’t they make you proud to be an American?

I don’t like watching sports on TV. There’s a disconnect that happens there. For me, anyway. The idea that these people get paid gajillions of dollars to–well, what amounts to throw balls around–doesn’t sit well with me. Yes, they are good at what they do. They can run, and catch, and swing bats, and whack balls and all that jazz. There are doctors in the world. They save people’s lives. And nurses. And truck drivers.They get paid fractions of what professional athletes get paid, and they make the world go ’round. Just sayin’.

Aaanywho, Olympians pour their heart and souls into representing their countries in a fight to the death tournament to see who is the best in the world. How can other sporting events compare to that? These guys practice for years just to get the chance- to get the chance- to get to the Olympics. I don’t understand how anyone could NOT watch. Even the most boring of the boring sports–like synchronized swimming–is awesome when it’s to decide which country can do it better.

During the previous winter Olympics, we got hugely into curling. Like, bordering on obsessed. I remember going to see my Dad, and saying, “You’re not watching CURLING? Turn that shit on, Dad!” And then we proceeded to get HIM in on the curling action…once we explained how those granite stones worked, and the object of the game–once you see the actual strategy and talent that goes into it–simply awesome.

Canada’s got this one–For Now…

My point is this–the Olympics rock. Whether or not your country wins, you feel a swell of emotion for these athletes. You see them standing on that podium and you can feel the pride, you can see the emotion and the hard work they’ve put in, and you know they deserve their moment of awesomeness. Well, that’s what I feel, anyway.

It never stops amazing me how many tears I have to hold back while watching the Olympics. They should plan them around my menstrual schedule more accordingly, so this doesn’t happen as much.