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Showing posts with label Steam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steam. Show all posts
Saturday, 27 August 2016
How Do You Fuck Up Tetris? (The Jimquisition)
Okay, so after a while of taking a hiatus from keeping up with the games industry, I decided to watch all of the previously unreleased episodes of a Youtube show I watch called The Jimquision, and he made this episode about Tetris, which for the most part is fascinating, as are all of his shows, […] ...To receive more of these posts, you should follow my new blog, over at wordpress, the link is: http://ift.tt/2bNsM4U
...To receive more of these posts, you should follow my new blog, over at wordpress, the link is: http://ift.tt/2bNsM4U
Tuesday, 26 January 2016
Why I think games have gone down the gutter!
Source: Bungie to sell Destiny ammo packs for real money “Grinding for purple ammo packs will soon become a thing of the past, if VG247 sources are to be believed. Update: Bungie has denied it’s to allow players to buy ammo packs, telling Game Informer, “We’re not doing that.” Original st…” Source: Source: Bungie to […]
...To receive more of these posts, you should follow my new blog, over at wordpress, the link is: http://ift.tt/1OW5DGs
...To receive more of these posts, you should follow my new blog, over at wordpress, the link is: http://ift.tt/1OW5DGs
Sunday, 24 January 2016
Sonic: Lost World, Other ‘Past Sega Titles’ Head to Steam | Digital Trends
“Sonic: Lost World will be among many “past Sega titles” launching for PC platforms via Steam in the coming months, publisher Sega announced this week.” Source: Sonic: Lost World, Other ‘Past Sega Titles’ Head to Steam | Digital Trends I know that I keep sharing old articles like this, but I just found out about […]
...To receive more of these posts, you should follow my new blog, over at wordpress, the link is: http://ift.tt/1ZWabqL
...To receive more of these posts, you should follow my new blog, over at wordpress, the link is: http://ift.tt/1ZWabqL
Saturday, 17 August 2013
Oh no...
Remember that article I put up last month about my theory of the new Mortal Kombat on PC being DRM Free?
Well, I have a bit of bad news, I found a photo of the EU version of the game, look at the top right corner of the box...
"Requires Internet Connection to Activate"? This only means one thing... it uses Steam...
Why the f*ck did they makes us wait a f*cking month just to re-release the Steam version!? Why did they need an extra month to bring it out!? They already had the box art, and I assume they had the system requirements, a summary from the Steam page, and some screenshots, so what made them delay it!?
I am sick and tired of the PC platform DRMing every game these days! I promised myself that if Mortal Kombat Komplete game is DRM-free, I would stick with the PC for at least little longer, otherwise, I'm getting a PS4.
Sure, console game run slower, run on a lower-resolution, and aren't moddable, but they have one important factor to them that, for the most part, PC games no longer have: Game ownership!
You actually own your games, you're allowed to trade them in, buy a game used, and best of all, you will not be dictated by publishers! To me, the basics have higher priority than luxuries, sure, modding is fun, and I love my games to go 60+fps, but if you don't own any of your games, what does it matter?
I'll still get the occasional DRM-free (or dick-check) sports games and Telltalle games titles, like I always did, assuming they remain DRM free, and maybe the occasional indie off of GOG.com, and of course a bunch of oldies from the late 90s and early 2000s, but for the most part, I am done with the PC, it was once a fantastic platform, until Valve entered the scene with it's Steam, and corporatized it, turning into a measly rental service, turned it into the equivalent of a dictatorship!
Valve have made some gems, don't get me wrong, but the sad thing is, when Valve go, I won't be able to revisit any of their games (except for half-life 1), treasured memories of their games will remain just that, memories, never to be revisited...
If I ever find a game that doesn't use any of that DRM, I'll be sure to post them here, for those who feel the same way as me...
-Cobra!
Well, I have a bit of bad news, I found a photo of the EU version of the game, look at the top right corner of the box...
Blw~~60_57.JPG)
"Requires Internet Connection to Activate"? This only means one thing... it uses Steam...
Why the f*ck did they makes us wait a f*cking month just to re-release the Steam version!? Why did they need an extra month to bring it out!? They already had the box art, and I assume they had the system requirements, a summary from the Steam page, and some screenshots, so what made them delay it!?
I am sick and tired of the PC platform DRMing every game these days! I promised myself that if Mortal Kombat Komplete game is DRM-free, I would stick with the PC for at least little longer, otherwise, I'm getting a PS4.
Sure, console game run slower, run on a lower-resolution, and aren't moddable, but they have one important factor to them that, for the most part, PC games no longer have: Game ownership!
You actually own your games, you're allowed to trade them in, buy a game used, and best of all, you will not be dictated by publishers! To me, the basics have higher priority than luxuries, sure, modding is fun, and I love my games to go 60+fps, but if you don't own any of your games, what does it matter?
I'll still get the occasional DRM-free (or dick-check) sports games and Telltalle games titles, like I always did, assuming they remain DRM free, and maybe the occasional indie off of GOG.com, and of course a bunch of oldies from the late 90s and early 2000s, but for the most part, I am done with the PC, it was once a fantastic platform, until Valve entered the scene with it's Steam, and corporatized it, turning into a measly rental service, turned it into the equivalent of a dictatorship!
Valve have made some gems, don't get me wrong, but the sad thing is, when Valve go, I won't be able to revisit any of their games (except for half-life 1), treasured memories of their games will remain just that, memories, never to be revisited...
If I ever find a game that doesn't use any of that DRM, I'll be sure to post them here, for those who feel the same way as me...
-Cobra!
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
(Yet another) Rant: Steam, and similar DRM/Corporate schemes
If this post gets at least one reader (which it probably won't, let's be honest), controversy might follow, Steam fanboys will keep nagging and trolling me, throwing at me insults and complaints without taking 1 look in the mirror. (a.k.a. Steam) They all seem to do. I'm not trying to create a spark or trying to get an angry mob after me, I just want this off my chest, I am only laying out the facts for you, you can choose what you think of it after. As the Oracle from the Matrix once said: "You have already made the choice, now, you're beginning to understand that choice.".
I ranted here previously, about digital download games. Well, since then, my opinions have changed ever so slightly, I'm okay with services like GOG, not as a replacement to physical, but as a companion, for indie games and such! On the other hand, I don't think I'll want to buy any physical game that uses Steam, Origin or UPlay DRM ever again!
I'm not going to complain about Origin and Uplay, it's pointless, as, let's be honest, Steam inspired them, they're just copies, Steam is the real culprit! It's not just Steam either, it's it's fanboys, I'm sure there exist Steam users who are smart, and know what they're talking about, I have a few freinds who are hardcore Steam users, and they're okay.
Most Steam users I've seen online, are a bunch of stupid, hypocritical, inconsistent ar*eholes! I'll get to them later...
Steam and similar DRM don't accept used sales. Now, I've seen a lot of PC gamers complain about the Origin, Uplay and the Xbox One (the latter not anymore) for doing this, when Steam has the exact same restrictions!
Steam requires an online verification to install games, Steam requires an online check-in every week or so (not as bad as Xbox One, but it still means you're screwed if you lacked internet), it blocks used games, and companies have full and total control over what you can and can't do with your games. They can even just take the game away from you, without reason, and you can't have a say in the matter, and you can't sue them either, because Steam have made it so you can't do that!
I am willing to bet that this the main, if not the only reason more publishers have become interested in the PC, it's a publishers wet dream to have full control over the consumer! Steam, and similar "services", makes that dream come true!
When buying a physical game that uses Steam DRM, as my friend once said to me, and he makes a good point, the code inside is more valuable than the disc, the disc is useless, you don't even need it to install the game, you can enter the code without the disc inserted, Steam will register it, and download the game. Once the code is used, you're just as well burning the game, it's that useful!
Worst of all, people want their physical games DRMed, which makes no sense whatsoever! Do these people want their physical games to become useless after the code is used!?
Steam also does nothing to stop piracy, it's very easy to obtain a cracked .exe of a game, and a cracked client, even Gabe Newell apparently said that pirates are a "non-issue" (but used sales are!?), so all the Steam DRM does is forbid buyers from sharing their games, and it eliminates used sales. In other words, it punishes the good paying consumer!
You see, my point about the physical/digital debate is game ownership, where you own your games on physical, but not digital, it turns out, you don't even own the game when buying physical, at least not if it has Steam, Origin or Uplay DRM. They're licensed to you, and you know a fascinating fact about Licenses? They Expire! They are not permanent things, they can expire over-time, or it can be revoked from you for any reason. So esentially, when you buy a game from Steam or Origin, you're only renting it, because you can't keep it forever, can you?
Don't believe me? You can read the Steam Subscriber Agreement.
Like probably the majority of youse, I breezed through it thinking it wouldn't concern me, and accepted, but give it an actual read, you'll be shocked at it's contents! More specifically, read sections 2.A and 2.F.
Actually, Don't bother! I've done it for you! I've even highlighted the important parts, because I'm nice!
...and here's section 2.F:
You can say what you want about Microsoft, and I'm not a fan of them either, but at least their Games for Windows games doesn't require an online activation, you only need it to play the game online (You can create an offline profile), and even then, the key is tied to the physical copy, not on any account. By the way, I've tried this with Street Fighter X Tekken, I turned off the internet, and installed it, and right enough, I had no problems installing and playing the game! (Where as Steam, which is clearly superior, reuqires online verification just to install it and you can't do anything with your Steam games)
If you don't believe me read this!
They even reversed the Xbox One's DRM policies after complaints. What has Valve done when people complained to them? Absoluletly nothing!
It's ironic as well, Microsoft are bad guys and Valve are gods!? Sure, Microsoft have their slip ups, but at least they make up for it later on, Valve just bury their problems and pretend they don't exist, fooling the unsuspecting consumer, and it seems to have worked!
I've seen Steam users complain that the Xbox One stops the ability to share your software, the fact you are screwed without internet, and that it restricts it's audiences to the very rich! When Steam has the same restrictions, when I see someone complain about Steam for the exact same problems, they seem to always put the blame on the user, and defends their precious Steam!
For example, when someone complains that they can't share their games with another user, or use the game on another machine/account, here's a comparison of what the average steam user says:
Xbox One: "Microsoft are a bunch of cheap, greedy b*stards! They just want more money, by treating us like criminals, taking away out freedom, and kills game ownership!"
Response to someone saying the exact same thing about Steam: "Fuck you! Do you want to give the game to another person and cheat the developers out of their money!?"
How many times have we heard both of those kind of comments from "PC gamers"? I see them a lot! They can't have it both ways! Are used games good or bad? Make up your mind!
Also, in response to the latter quote, which I get a lot myself, I only give a DRM-free game away if the other person isn't interested or ever plans on buying the game, either that, or I accidentally buy a second copy of a game new. (which is rare, but has happened a couple of times.) Either way, it wouldn't make a difference to sales whether or not a gave it away or traded it in...
Steam users also seem to talk about installing games anywhere as an advantage, which is a very poor arguement! You can do the exact same thing with a DRM-free physical games, and every download client on this planet, in fact, I'd be scared if you weren't able to do that with Steam!
What's that? Steam has an Offline mode? Well, you need be online to go offline, having online as a requirement in order to use a feature you're only going to use when you can't get online... It really defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Also, I'd like to see youse try to install a disc game offline, you can't!
Steam does achievements and leaderboards? So does Games for Windows, and even Raptr, which is an overlay for games, does something similar. I'm not fussed about achievements anyway, they're nice, but they're not something I need.
Really, the only great thing about Steam is it's workshop, it makes installing mods much easier, and you can easily uninstall them, that, I have to admit, is awesome!
That however, doesn't make up for everything bad about Steam, if I have to give up my digital right to make installing mods a bit easier... I'll stick with the traditional method if you don't mind...
I think everyone needs to wake up, and realize the PC is not the awesome platform it used to be, Valve are not the gods of gaming, they are killing the physical market, they are allowing publishers total control over us behind our backs! They are turning the PC platform into a corporatised rental service, if Valve were any better than EA or Ubisoft, and want to prove it, they would put an end to it all... because right now, getting a PS4 or even an Xbox One sounds quite appealing...
I used to love Valve, I have many memories playing the Half-Life games, and as much as I'd hate to admit it, I had fun with the Portal games and Team Fortress 2, but they're destroying the very market that made them...
I just hope that Mortal Kombat complete edition won't have any DRM, in fact, I reckon there's a chance, I might do another blog entry about why right after this, yeah, some good news to drown out the bad, I'll see youse then!
-Cobra!
I ranted here previously, about digital download games. Well, since then, my opinions have changed ever so slightly, I'm okay with services like GOG, not as a replacement to physical, but as a companion, for indie games and such! On the other hand, I don't think I'll want to buy any physical game that uses Steam, Origin or UPlay DRM ever again!
I'm not going to complain about Origin and Uplay, it's pointless, as, let's be honest, Steam inspired them, they're just copies, Steam is the real culprit! It's not just Steam either, it's it's fanboys, I'm sure there exist Steam users who are smart, and know what they're talking about, I have a few freinds who are hardcore Steam users, and they're okay.
Most Steam users I've seen online, are a bunch of stupid, hypocritical, inconsistent ar*eholes! I'll get to them later...
Steam and similar DRM don't accept used sales. Now, I've seen a lot of PC gamers complain about the Origin, Uplay and the Xbox One (the latter not anymore) for doing this, when Steam has the exact same restrictions!
Steam requires an online verification to install games, Steam requires an online check-in every week or so (not as bad as Xbox One, but it still means you're screwed if you lacked internet), it blocks used games, and companies have full and total control over what you can and can't do with your games. They can even just take the game away from you, without reason, and you can't have a say in the matter, and you can't sue them either, because Steam have made it so you can't do that!
I am willing to bet that this the main, if not the only reason more publishers have become interested in the PC, it's a publishers wet dream to have full control over the consumer! Steam, and similar "services", makes that dream come true!
When buying a physical game that uses Steam DRM, as my friend once said to me, and he makes a good point, the code inside is more valuable than the disc, the disc is useless, you don't even need it to install the game, you can enter the code without the disc inserted, Steam will register it, and download the game. Once the code is used, you're just as well burning the game, it's that useful!
Worst of all, people want their physical games DRMed, which makes no sense whatsoever! Do these people want their physical games to become useless after the code is used!?
Steam also does nothing to stop piracy, it's very easy to obtain a cracked .exe of a game, and a cracked client, even Gabe Newell apparently said that pirates are a "non-issue" (but used sales are!?), so all the Steam DRM does is forbid buyers from sharing their games, and it eliminates used sales. In other words, it punishes the good paying consumer!
You see, my point about the physical/digital debate is game ownership, where you own your games on physical, but not digital, it turns out, you don't even own the game when buying physical, at least not if it has Steam, Origin or Uplay DRM. They're licensed to you, and you know a fascinating fact about Licenses? They Expire! They are not permanent things, they can expire over-time, or it can be revoked from you for any reason. So esentially, when you buy a game from Steam or Origin, you're only renting it, because you can't keep it forever, can you?
Don't believe me? You can read the Steam Subscriber Agreement.
Like probably the majority of youse, I breezed through it thinking it wouldn't concern me, and accepted, but give it an actual read, you'll be shocked at it's contents! More specifically, read sections 2.A and 2.F.
Actually, Don't bother! I've done it for you! I've even highlighted the important parts, because I'm nice!
2. LICENSES
A. General Software License
Steam and your Subscription(s) require the automatic download and installation of Software onto your computer. Valve hereby grants, and you accept, a limited, terminable, non-exclusive license and right to use the Software for your personal, non-commercial use (except where commercial use is expressly allowed herein or in the applicable Subscription Terms) in accordance with this Agreement, including the Subscription Terms. The Software is licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Software. To make use of the Software, you must have a Steam Account and you may be required to be running the Steam client and maintaining a connection to the Internet.
...and here's section 2.F:
F. Ownership of Software
All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Software and any and all copies thereof, are owned by Valve US and/or its or its affiliates’ licensors. All rights are reserved, except as expressly stated herein. The Software is protected by copyright laws, international copyright treaties and conventions and other laws. The Software contains certain licensed materials and Valve’s and its affiliates’ licensors may protect their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement.
You can say what you want about Microsoft, and I'm not a fan of them either, but at least their Games for Windows games doesn't require an online activation, you only need it to play the game online (You can create an offline profile), and even then, the key is tied to the physical copy, not on any account. By the way, I've tried this with Street Fighter X Tekken, I turned off the internet, and installed it, and right enough, I had no problems installing and playing the game! (Where as Steam, which is clearly superior, reuqires online verification just to install it and you can't do anything with your Steam games)
If you don't believe me read this!
They even reversed the Xbox One's DRM policies after complaints. What has Valve done when people complained to them? Absoluletly nothing!
It's ironic as well, Microsoft are bad guys and Valve are gods!? Sure, Microsoft have their slip ups, but at least they make up for it later on, Valve just bury their problems and pretend they don't exist, fooling the unsuspecting consumer, and it seems to have worked!
I've seen Steam users complain that the Xbox One stops the ability to share your software, the fact you are screwed without internet, and that it restricts it's audiences to the very rich! When Steam has the same restrictions, when I see someone complain about Steam for the exact same problems, they seem to always put the blame on the user, and defends their precious Steam!
For example, when someone complains that they can't share their games with another user, or use the game on another machine/account, here's a comparison of what the average steam user says:
Xbox One: "Microsoft are a bunch of cheap, greedy b*stards! They just want more money, by treating us like criminals, taking away out freedom, and kills game ownership!"
Response to someone saying the exact same thing about Steam: "Fuck you! Do you want to give the game to another person and cheat the developers out of their money!?"
How many times have we heard both of those kind of comments from "PC gamers"? I see them a lot! They can't have it both ways! Are used games good or bad? Make up your mind!
Also, in response to the latter quote, which I get a lot myself, I only give a DRM-free game away if the other person isn't interested or ever plans on buying the game, either that, or I accidentally buy a second copy of a game new. (which is rare, but has happened a couple of times.) Either way, it wouldn't make a difference to sales whether or not a gave it away or traded it in...
Steam users also seem to talk about installing games anywhere as an advantage, which is a very poor arguement! You can do the exact same thing with a DRM-free physical games, and every download client on this planet, in fact, I'd be scared if you weren't able to do that with Steam!
What's that? Steam has an Offline mode? Well, you need be online to go offline, having online as a requirement in order to use a feature you're only going to use when you can't get online... It really defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Also, I'd like to see youse try to install a disc game offline, you can't!
Steam does achievements and leaderboards? So does Games for Windows, and even Raptr, which is an overlay for games, does something similar. I'm not fussed about achievements anyway, they're nice, but they're not something I need.
Really, the only great thing about Steam is it's workshop, it makes installing mods much easier, and you can easily uninstall them, that, I have to admit, is awesome!
That however, doesn't make up for everything bad about Steam, if I have to give up my digital right to make installing mods a bit easier... I'll stick with the traditional method if you don't mind...
I think everyone needs to wake up, and realize the PC is not the awesome platform it used to be, Valve are not the gods of gaming, they are killing the physical market, they are allowing publishers total control over us behind our backs! They are turning the PC platform into a corporatised rental service, if Valve were any better than EA or Ubisoft, and want to prove it, they would put an end to it all... because right now, getting a PS4 or even an Xbox One sounds quite appealing...
I used to love Valve, I have many memories playing the Half-Life games, and as much as I'd hate to admit it, I had fun with the Portal games and Team Fortress 2, but they're destroying the very market that made them...
I just hope that Mortal Kombat complete edition won't have any DRM, in fact, I reckon there's a chance, I might do another blog entry about why right after this, yeah, some good news to drown out the bad, I'll see youse then!
-Cobra!
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Rant: Download games, and why I don't like them.
Please read the full article before responding! I'm always getting people making arguments I've addressed in the article itself, so please try and take everything in, I know it may be hard if you disagree with it, but please bear with me!
This topic has been really bothering me, I personally don't like downloading games, because I've had almost nothing but bad experiences with downloads, I much rather get my games on disc, despite the DRM PC games have these days, it's good to have a game on your shelf.
Me and my friends have been having a debate on which is better, I prefer physical, like I said, so does my friend, but he seems more than willing to switch to digital when the "digital age" comes, I will personally be dreading it.
Before I start, I want too point out that people complain about the PC and Xbox One when it was planned to have DRM for blocked used games, saying you can't share or trade games in, yet people embrace downloads, which have the EXACT same restrictions? To me, that's like, for lack of a better analogy, going against hanging because it kills people, but supporting hung, drawn and quartered! It makes no sense!
Most of the time, digital games cost more than their physical counterparts, especially on consoles and handhelds, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is £5 cheaper physical, physical games sound like a no brainer, doesn't it? Well people are downloading the games anyway, Animal Crossing: New Leaf broke records on the e-shop...
It baffles me how stupid people can be, you spent £5 more for essentially more for your money, not just the fact you get no case or cartridge, you can't share that game with others, or even give to a friend when you're finished with it, or trade it in! Also, when the 3DS gets discontinued, and the e-shop servers go down, you better hope you still have it installed, otherwise, good luck trying to play it again!
Even if you prefer downloads, you can't justify the higher price, and the fact you can't share or trade in that game!
Everyone I've talked to always mention virtual console, "What about virtual console?" they ask, well, they couldn't of brought up a worse example. Virtual Console is the best example of why digital downloads are bad, half of the 3rd part companies, most notably Sega, have all taken their games down from VC, they always tell me "Well, Sega are ar*eholes!", which isn't the point, the point is, they've done it, and nobody's stopped them, they have full control over what you can and can't get. Heck, I'd be surprised is anyone who bought their VC games got a refund or anything from it. Sure, they're only old games you can buy the originals of anyway, but it shows the power publishers have over the consumer.
If a company decided to stop manufacturing a physical game and stops selling it, it's still very much possible to track down a copy of that game, if a company decides to stop selling a digital game, it's gone forever...
That's exactly why companies are trying to switch to digital as soon as possible, companies, especially publishers, want full control over the consumer, they want to call all of the shots, and they want us to just take all the crap they will throw at us, digital downloads gives them the power to do that!
Not just with virtual console, but with downloadable Nintendo games in general, the game is tied to the console, and not any account, so if you accidentally lose or break your 3DS or Wii U, all your games go, too! Unless you bother with spending days of contacting Nintendo, and they shop you bought the console from, in order to either get a refund, or move the games over. This isn't come rumour I've heard, I can vouch for it, I have a story to tell youse: My brother once had a Wii U, he (or should I say out mum) bought Lego City Undercover from the e-shop, £50 it costed us! It turned out he didn't have the space for the game, the Wii U only has 25GB of space, the game took up 26GB. If Nintendo are going to be shoving digital games down our throats, the least they could do is provide enough memory for games, but I digress.
He cancelled the download for the game, and bought the physical copy for Amazon, which I may point out was £10 cheaper, it even included a little figure! He got it, played through it, etc., no troubles there.
He later on took his Wii U back (I still have mine) to get himself a laptop, he was later on charged for the digital copy of Lego City Undercover, despite not fully downloading it, my mum is trying to contact Nintendo for a refund for the game, but was told they needed the serial number of the console, but we no longer had the Wii U with us, so we couldn't give them the serial number, it would've made more sense to ask for the Nintendo Network account, but whatever.
We have to contact the store where we bought Wii U from to get the serial number, that was a couple of days ago... still no refund.
Already, getting a refund for out digital game has been a LOT more hassle than if we wanted a refund for a physical game. All you need for them is a receipt, and even if that's lost, you can trade it in used and get something for it.
In summary, we payed £10 extra for a version of a game that you can't play, or get a refund for... I'm so looking forward to the digital age!
That's another thing, space, not so much with PC games, but consoles never have the space to store enough games, AAA at least. Sure, digital games can save shelf space, but not much, the Wii U for example can barely hold 1, and anything by Sony or Microsoft could hold maybe 3 or 4, not much at all, is it?
Even with Sony and Microsoft's consoles, once the console is discontinued, and servers go down you better hope you have your digital games installed, otherwise, good luck trying to play them again.
PCs can probably hold quite a few, I'll admit, the PC is probably the best platform for downloads, the download clients still have their problems though:
Steam (as a DRM, not as an indie game store) I think is overrated, don't get me wrong, Valve make terrific games, I love the half life and portal games, and Team Fortress 2 is good fun, but people don't need to suck up to them! Steam isn't as great as people make it out to be, in fact, when you think about it, it's no better than Origin, a client made by EA, the greediest company alive! Steam doesn't allow used sales or trade-ins, and you need online and a code to validate games, meaning those who lack internet are screwed! Steam has an offline mode for already-validated games? So does Origin! Steam has discounts all the time? So does Origin!
Like Origin, Steam games are more expensive than their physical counterparts, not as expensive, but it's still bad. The sad thing is, the US PC market appears to have abandoned physical games for good, which is kind of depressing. For the curious US gamers, yes, Europe still has a physical market, with companies even releasing their DLC in the form of download codes in cases!
Another PC download client I'll mention is GOG.com, to be honest, I kind of like GOG, it's almost like how Virtual Console should be, while I would still rather get the games on discs, I can live with GOG, their games have no DRM, and they go for very good prices, usually under $5, let alone pounds! If there's a game I can't find physically, I wouldn't mind getting it from GOG.
I guess that would conclude my rant, it's off my chest, and I feel much better after letting it out! Before, I go I will mention a benefit of downloads, the only one I can see: Download markets are good for indie gamers to get popular, I suppose I wouldn't mind getting an indie game digitally if it means supporting the developer. Who knows, maybe it'll lead to a physical version in the future, like some indies have.
However, I think it's possible for indie developers to release physically as well, there exists services like Kunaki and Cafepress, who offer to make and distribute physical games for free. They do, however take away from any sales made, but from what I've heard, so do services like Steam and Desura. With that said, you can start physically selling your game with zero money on you, if you do that alongside your digital releases, then the way I see it, in the worst case scenario, you'll make a bit of extra money. Some people have said that would "punish" those buy it digitally, but I don't get how it would, could someone please explain it to me...
If you're games successful enough, you won't even need to do that, there are publishers in Europe and Oceania, such as Merge Games and Lace Mamba, who specialise in releasing popular indie games physically, DRM-free, with any extras, such as the soundtrack and a Steam gift-key, to give to a friend. Popular Indie games, such as Limbo, Binding of Isaac, Super Meat Boy and Awesomenauts, all have physical versions for sale on Amazon (I have a feeling Don't Starve is around the corner as well, seeing how popular that is, so I'll wait to get that). They're cheaper than if you were to buy the digital equivalent of the stuff on Steam, and also, you can have the games on your shelf! So if you haven't got the games, I'd say their worth a look.
When I make my indie games, I of course hope to have the latter happen to me, but most likely, the former will happen, I'm fine with that.
So I guess this actually end on a high note, maybe if there's an indie out there I'm genuinely interested in getting (apart from Super Meat Boy, Pro Wrestling X and A Hat In Time, but a physical version of the former exists, and latter 2 will have physical version coming out), I might consider getting the game digitally, if it means supporting the developers, and if they release a physical version later on, and I like the game, I'll be the first to get that!
This topic has been really bothering me, I personally don't like downloading games, because I've had almost nothing but bad experiences with downloads, I much rather get my games on disc, despite the DRM PC games have these days, it's good to have a game on your shelf.
Me and my friends have been having a debate on which is better, I prefer physical, like I said, so does my friend, but he seems more than willing to switch to digital when the "digital age" comes, I will personally be dreading it.
Before I start, I want too point out that people complain about the PC and Xbox One when it was planned to have DRM for blocked used games, saying you can't share or trade games in, yet people embrace downloads, which have the EXACT same restrictions? To me, that's like, for lack of a better analogy, going against hanging because it kills people, but supporting hung, drawn and quartered! It makes no sense!
Most of the time, digital games cost more than their physical counterparts, especially on consoles and handhelds, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is £5 cheaper physical, physical games sound like a no brainer, doesn't it? Well people are downloading the games anyway, Animal Crossing: New Leaf broke records on the e-shop...
It baffles me how stupid people can be, you spent £5 more for essentially more for your money, not just the fact you get no case or cartridge, you can't share that game with others, or even give to a friend when you're finished with it, or trade it in! Also, when the 3DS gets discontinued, and the e-shop servers go down, you better hope you still have it installed, otherwise, good luck trying to play it again!
Even if you prefer downloads, you can't justify the higher price, and the fact you can't share or trade in that game!
Everyone I've talked to always mention virtual console, "What about virtual console?" they ask, well, they couldn't of brought up a worse example. Virtual Console is the best example of why digital downloads are bad, half of the 3rd part companies, most notably Sega, have all taken their games down from VC, they always tell me "Well, Sega are ar*eholes!", which isn't the point, the point is, they've done it, and nobody's stopped them, they have full control over what you can and can't get. Heck, I'd be surprised is anyone who bought their VC games got a refund or anything from it. Sure, they're only old games you can buy the originals of anyway, but it shows the power publishers have over the consumer.
If a company decided to stop manufacturing a physical game and stops selling it, it's still very much possible to track down a copy of that game, if a company decides to stop selling a digital game, it's gone forever...
That's exactly why companies are trying to switch to digital as soon as possible, companies, especially publishers, want full control over the consumer, they want to call all of the shots, and they want us to just take all the crap they will throw at us, digital downloads gives them the power to do that!
Not just with virtual console, but with downloadable Nintendo games in general, the game is tied to the console, and not any account, so if you accidentally lose or break your 3DS or Wii U, all your games go, too! Unless you bother with spending days of contacting Nintendo, and they shop you bought the console from, in order to either get a refund, or move the games over. This isn't come rumour I've heard, I can vouch for it, I have a story to tell youse: My brother once had a Wii U, he (or should I say out mum) bought Lego City Undercover from the e-shop, £50 it costed us! It turned out he didn't have the space for the game, the Wii U only has 25GB of space, the game took up 26GB. If Nintendo are going to be shoving digital games down our throats, the least they could do is provide enough memory for games, but I digress.
He cancelled the download for the game, and bought the physical copy for Amazon, which I may point out was £10 cheaper, it even included a little figure! He got it, played through it, etc., no troubles there.
He later on took his Wii U back (I still have mine) to get himself a laptop, he was later on charged for the digital copy of Lego City Undercover, despite not fully downloading it, my mum is trying to contact Nintendo for a refund for the game, but was told they needed the serial number of the console, but we no longer had the Wii U with us, so we couldn't give them the serial number, it would've made more sense to ask for the Nintendo Network account, but whatever.
We have to contact the store where we bought Wii U from to get the serial number, that was a couple of days ago... still no refund.
Already, getting a refund for out digital game has been a LOT more hassle than if we wanted a refund for a physical game. All you need for them is a receipt, and even if that's lost, you can trade it in used and get something for it.
In summary, we payed £10 extra for a version of a game that you can't play, or get a refund for... I'm so looking forward to the digital age!
That's another thing, space, not so much with PC games, but consoles never have the space to store enough games, AAA at least. Sure, digital games can save shelf space, but not much, the Wii U for example can barely hold 1, and anything by Sony or Microsoft could hold maybe 3 or 4, not much at all, is it?
Even with Sony and Microsoft's consoles, once the console is discontinued, and servers go down you better hope you have your digital games installed, otherwise, good luck trying to play them again.
PCs can probably hold quite a few, I'll admit, the PC is probably the best platform for downloads, the download clients still have their problems though:
Steam (as a DRM, not as an indie game store) I think is overrated, don't get me wrong, Valve make terrific games, I love the half life and portal games, and Team Fortress 2 is good fun, but people don't need to suck up to them! Steam isn't as great as people make it out to be, in fact, when you think about it, it's no better than Origin, a client made by EA, the greediest company alive! Steam doesn't allow used sales or trade-ins, and you need online and a code to validate games, meaning those who lack internet are screwed! Steam has an offline mode for already-validated games? So does Origin! Steam has discounts all the time? So does Origin!
Like Origin, Steam games are more expensive than their physical counterparts, not as expensive, but it's still bad. The sad thing is, the US PC market appears to have abandoned physical games for good, which is kind of depressing. For the curious US gamers, yes, Europe still has a physical market, with companies even releasing their DLC in the form of download codes in cases!
Another PC download client I'll mention is GOG.com, to be honest, I kind of like GOG, it's almost like how Virtual Console should be, while I would still rather get the games on discs, I can live with GOG, their games have no DRM, and they go for very good prices, usually under $5, let alone pounds! If there's a game I can't find physically, I wouldn't mind getting it from GOG.
I guess that would conclude my rant, it's off my chest, and I feel much better after letting it out! Before, I go I will mention a benefit of downloads, the only one I can see: Download markets are good for indie gamers to get popular, I suppose I wouldn't mind getting an indie game digitally if it means supporting the developer. Who knows, maybe it'll lead to a physical version in the future, like some indies have.
However, I think it's possible for indie developers to release physically as well, there exists services like Kunaki and Cafepress, who offer to make and distribute physical games for free. They do, however take away from any sales made, but from what I've heard, so do services like Steam and Desura. With that said, you can start physically selling your game with zero money on you, if you do that alongside your digital releases, then the way I see it, in the worst case scenario, you'll make a bit of extra money. Some people have said that would "punish" those buy it digitally, but I don't get how it would, could someone please explain it to me...
If you're games successful enough, you won't even need to do that, there are publishers in Europe and Oceania, such as Merge Games and Lace Mamba, who specialise in releasing popular indie games physically, DRM-free, with any extras, such as the soundtrack and a Steam gift-key, to give to a friend. Popular Indie games, such as Limbo, Binding of Isaac, Super Meat Boy and Awesomenauts, all have physical versions for sale on Amazon (I have a feeling Don't Starve is around the corner as well, seeing how popular that is, so I'll wait to get that). They're cheaper than if you were to buy the digital equivalent of the stuff on Steam, and also, you can have the games on your shelf! So if you haven't got the games, I'd say their worth a look.
When I make my indie games, I of course hope to have the latter happen to me, but most likely, the former will happen, I'm fine with that.
So I guess this actually end on a high note, maybe if there's an indie out there I'm genuinely interested in getting (apart from Super Meat Boy, Pro Wrestling X and A Hat In Time, but a physical version of the former exists, and latter 2 will have physical version coming out), I might consider getting the game digitally, if it means supporting the developers, and if they release a physical version later on, and I like the game, I'll be the first to get that!
Friday, 22 February 2013
Sonic and All Star Racing Transformed [PC] - Download Only?
Just a quick updatem remember when Sonic and All Star racing transformed was first announced, they named all of the platforms it would be on, and they mentioned "PC Digital Download" instead of just "PC", suggesting that they would be no retail version?
For those who don't know me, I much prefer retail copies, I just don't like digital downloads at all, so this really p*ssed me off!
Despite this, Amazon had the PC retail version available for pre-order, so I thought I'd pre-order it, in hopes that Sega do make a retail copy.
Months after the game was released, I got an email saying my pre-order was dispatched! Either it was a mistake made by Amazon, or Sega have finally made a physical PC version.
The next day, it arrived! YES! I can finally try out Racing Transformed! I loved the original, great fun, I hope this one will be just as fun!
I'll try out out later on today, because I have my Driving lession today, and I'd guilty if I didn;t do something to my Rossies 3D project, but I'll definitely try it today!
*Insert proper outro here*
-Cobra!
For those who don't know me, I much prefer retail copies, I just don't like digital downloads at all, so this really p*ssed me off!
Despite this, Amazon had the PC retail version available for pre-order, so I thought I'd pre-order it, in hopes that Sega do make a retail copy.
Months after the game was released, I got an email saying my pre-order was dispatched! Either it was a mistake made by Amazon, or Sega have finally made a physical PC version.
The next day, it arrived! YES! I can finally try out Racing Transformed! I loved the original, great fun, I hope this one will be just as fun!
I'll try out out later on today, because I have my Driving lession today, and I'd guilty if I didn;t do something to my Rossies 3D project, but I'll definitely try it today!
*Insert proper outro here*
-Cobra!
Monday, 31 December 2012
Retro Diary - 31/12/12 - Last Retro Diary of the Year
I've been thinking of redoing the blog for a while, I kind of missed it, to be honest.
I will do them again, however, I won't be as active as before, 2013 is going to be a busy year for me, for starters, College is starting to take up a lot of my free time, having to do all sorts of assessments and test at home, (At least I can't say I have too much free time, I won't be looked down on as much, but not sure if that's a good or bad things, though.), and I'm working on my new game: Rossies 3D, which will be made using the Unity engine, so it will be easier (but it's just as genuine) to make games, so I hope I won't give up on this one...
Anyway, next year, you might be lucky to get more than 1 post in a month, but hey, being not very active is better than being inactive, right?
So without further delay, let's begin:
To sum up what happened between my last post and now, PC games, lots and lots of PC games! Most notably the Tony hawk games, which all have insane modding communities, making the PC a great platform for the Tony Hawk games.
I'll tell youse what I got for Christmas:
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland [PC]
The Orange Box [PC]
Train Simulator 2013 [PC]
Skateboard Tycoon 2003 [PC]
Snowboards Tycoon [PC]
Sonic 4: Episode 1 & 2 [PCDL]
Sonic Adventure 2 + Battle [PCDL]
StarFox Adventures [GC]
The Legend of Zelda: Ocerina of Time [N64]
Incredible Crisis [PS1]
A new PS2
and a bunch of Blu-Rays
May seem like a lot, but most of them didn't cost that much, so that kind of balances it out.
Train Simulator 2013 was easily the best game I got, it's brilliant, although it didn't come with any Scottish trains or routes, I had to pay about £50 worth of DLC to get them, and this them on a sale with 50% off, so usually, it would cost me about £100! The game is still fun though, speeding trains, derailing them, making them crash into things, it's good fun!
Sonic 4 is pretty good, but I can't help but think it's just a shoddy attempt to recreate the original games using 3D graphics, Generations is far better! in my opinion at least.
Sonic Adventure 2... It doesn't work, if Sega are going to be putting out 10+ year old games, they could at least make them work, they are lucky I didn't buy myself and that a Steam sale was on...
I only got Orange Box for the unlikely event that Valve goes bankrupt and you can't download their games anymore...
I've yet to try out the console games, but I look forward to once I get around to it.
As for the PS2, the one I had broke, it stopped reading discs, so I had to get a new one.
Did you know that the PS2 went through another redesign? Yeah, it did! They even made a new box for it, take a look:
I love how it's the same blue theme as the PS Vita and new PS3 and PSP boxes! It's clear Sony haven't forgotten about their good old PS2!
The PS2 itself went through a redesign as well, now the left of it is entirely piano black, and caught dust and fingerprints after 5 minutes! The only problems I had were that the power and eject buttons are now very small and hard to reach, and that it only came with an EU plug, it didn't even come with a converter! Luckily, I had one myself:
Looks alright, doesn't it? It works great, so all is good!
That same day, we were going to our grans for a Christmas dinner, so I brought the new PS2 along, seems only fitting, right?
We played a bit of Timesplitters, and that was about it... We spend most of the time chatting and watching Doctor Who, hopefully, we can have a proper week next year...
Well, that's all I have to say, see youse.... in my 2012 year review!
I will do them again, however, I won't be as active as before, 2013 is going to be a busy year for me, for starters, College is starting to take up a lot of my free time, having to do all sorts of assessments and test at home, (At least I can't say I have too much free time, I won't be looked down on as much, but not sure if that's a good or bad things, though.), and I'm working on my new game: Rossies 3D, which will be made using the Unity engine, so it will be easier (but it's just as genuine) to make games, so I hope I won't give up on this one...
Anyway, next year, you might be lucky to get more than 1 post in a month, but hey, being not very active is better than being inactive, right?
So without further delay, let's begin:
To sum up what happened between my last post and now, PC games, lots and lots of PC games! Most notably the Tony hawk games, which all have insane modding communities, making the PC a great platform for the Tony Hawk games.
I'll tell youse what I got for Christmas:
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland [PC]
The Orange Box [PC]
Train Simulator 2013 [PC]
Skateboard Tycoon 2003 [PC]
Snowboards Tycoon [PC]
Sonic 4: Episode 1 & 2 [PCDL]
Sonic Adventure 2 + Battle [PCDL]
StarFox Adventures [GC]
The Legend of Zelda: Ocerina of Time [N64]
Incredible Crisis [PS1]
A new PS2
and a bunch of Blu-Rays
May seem like a lot, but most of them didn't cost that much, so that kind of balances it out.
Train Simulator 2013 was easily the best game I got, it's brilliant, although it didn't come with any Scottish trains or routes, I had to pay about £50 worth of DLC to get them, and this them on a sale with 50% off, so usually, it would cost me about £100! The game is still fun though, speeding trains, derailing them, making them crash into things, it's good fun!
Sonic 4 is pretty good, but I can't help but think it's just a shoddy attempt to recreate the original games using 3D graphics, Generations is far better! in my opinion at least.
Sonic Adventure 2... It doesn't work, if Sega are going to be putting out 10+ year old games, they could at least make them work, they are lucky I didn't buy myself and that a Steam sale was on...
I only got Orange Box for the unlikely event that Valve goes bankrupt and you can't download their games anymore...
I've yet to try out the console games, but I look forward to once I get around to it.
As for the PS2, the one I had broke, it stopped reading discs, so I had to get a new one.
Did you know that the PS2 went through another redesign? Yeah, it did! They even made a new box for it, take a look:
I love how it's the same blue theme as the PS Vita and new PS3 and PSP boxes! It's clear Sony haven't forgotten about their good old PS2!
The PS2 itself went through a redesign as well, now the left of it is entirely piano black, and caught dust and fingerprints after 5 minutes! The only problems I had were that the power and eject buttons are now very small and hard to reach, and that it only came with an EU plug, it didn't even come with a converter! Luckily, I had one myself:
Looks alright, doesn't it? It works great, so all is good!
That same day, we were going to our grans for a Christmas dinner, so I brought the new PS2 along, seems only fitting, right?
We played a bit of Timesplitters, and that was about it... We spend most of the time chatting and watching Doctor Who, hopefully, we can have a proper week next year...
Well, that's all I have to say, see youse.... in my 2012 year review!
Sunday, 30 September 2012
Retro Diary - 30/09/12
Tuesday 25th September 2012
I got Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD and Jet Set Radio on Steam today.Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD is great in my opinion, very underrated. Jet Set Radio is okay too, but it's the exact same as the original game, but with a higher resolution, which makes it look sharper and clearer, sure, but it's nothing major, I suppose though it's for the better, the original still had some value.
Friday 28th September 2012
I ordered FIFA 13 on PC months ago on PC from Amazon, and it said it would arrive on the day it came out, but guess what, it didn't, I'm fuming...Saturday 29th September 2012
FIFA 13 on both PC and PS2 as well as F1 2012 on PC have arrive today, it's about time, but at least I have it now, and a weekend to play it!I was met with a pleasant surprise with the PS2 boxing, Apart from RC Revenge, do you know of any PS2 games with a picture/logo on the spline instead of plain text? Well, at the end of the PS2's life, it finally got one with FIFA 13's case, look!
My brother copy of FIFA 13 on PS3 has arrived as well, we've agreed to make this week PS3 week to play FIFA 13, then it's PS2 week, where we'll play the PS2 version. which sounds fair enough.
Well, I don't have time to write much more, I have some FIFA 13 (and F1 2012) to play!
Sunday 30th September 2012
It was PS3 week this week, or so it was supposed to be, we didn't actually play it, we just talked for a short while then left, that's it...Let's hope next week will be better, which is PS2 week, so we can play FIFA 13 on PS2 as I said before.
Saturday, 29 September 2012
"Retro" Arrivals: FIFA 13 [PC & PS2] & F1 2012 [PC]
I know I said I'd stop doing articles dedicated to stuff that arrived in the mail, but I had to make an exception!
FIFA 13 didn't arrive on Friday, but both of the PC and PS2 version arrived today! and I was met with a pleasant surprise with the PS2 boxing, Apart from RC Revenge, do you know of any PS2 games with a picture/logo on the spline instead of plain text? Well, at the end of the PS2's life, it finally got one with FIFA 13's case, look!
This was just a quick update to say they've arrived, and look great! F1 2012 arrived as well, which is awesome!
Well, I don't have time to write much more, I have some FIFA 13 to play!
-Cobra!
FIFA 13 didn't arrive on Friday, but both of the PC and PS2 version arrived today! and I was met with a pleasant surprise with the PS2 boxing, Apart from RC Revenge, do you know of any PS2 games with a picture/logo on the spline instead of plain text? Well, at the end of the PS2's life, it finally got one with FIFA 13's case, look!
This was just a quick update to say they've arrived, and look great! F1 2012 arrived as well, which is awesome!
Well, I don't have time to write much more, I have some FIFA 13 to play!
-Cobra!
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Retro Diary - 23/9/12 - "HA! Beat THAT!"
Monday 17th September 2012
I've completed Sleeping Dogs today! It was an epic game! I really hope they make a sequel!I got a 6-pack of AA Batteries because my TV remote needed new batteries as it wasn't working, or so I thought, they don't work, so that means the remote is broken, so I can't play any console games until either the TV gets fixed, or I get a new one. The batteries I got came with a free download of the London 2012 game for the PC, well, a demo of the game, but you can only get it through getting the batteries, so I did that, gave it a shot, and I have to say, I wasn't entirely impressed, the game seemed average.
Wednesday 19th September 2012
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD is now on PC!!!Sure, it's only a download game, sure, it's a remix of an old game, and sure, the reviews aren't brilliant, but it's the first time in years a
newTony Hawk game has come on a platform that I have!
It's been years since I've had that feeling of getting that new Tony Hawk game near Christmas time! Just to get that feeling again, I might just get it!
Friday 21st September 2012
Before I write anything, Happy 5th Birthday Gamerstorm!I've been trying out this thing called "Game Gain", which is supposed to improve performance for your games, I've tried this before, on Stranglehold, but didn't see any difference, but that was a bad game to test it on, as it ran on 60+fps normally. Since I have a lot more games that can't run 60fps on high settings, I thought I'd try it out again, and I actually noticed a slight increase in performance, nothing major, but it's impressive how they improved performance at all with the same specs as before.
My Copy of Space Station Silicon Valley for N64 has arrived, too bad I don't have a working TV to use to play it, I ordered the game before I found that my TV is broken...
I've tried out the F1 2012 demo, because I found that along with FIFA and PES 2013, people were buying F1 2012, so I thought if there's a demo, I'd try it out, I really enjoy Codemasters' racing games, not just because you can select Scotland as your country, they're genuinely fun games, and also I like F1, not the sport itself, as it more for the money, at least these days, but I have a lot of F1 games so I thought combing the two, it should be good.
Initially, at the country selection for your profile, it was at "United Kingdom", I thought, "That sucks!", but then I found you can still select the countries in the UK, so that's good, but why anyone from the British Isles would choose the UK, which isn't a country, over their actual country, is beyond me.
I've only tried the tutorial stages of the game so far, and first impressions are good, like all Codemasters games I've played on PC, it's very well optimised, it can run 1080p on high settings on my PC easily, and the game itself is quite fun from what I've played.
As if by a miracle, my TV started working again! So I had a shot of Space Station Silicon Valley, and it's great fun, but after seeing the first cutscenes, I had to make this!:
Saturday 22nd September 2012
Pro Evolution Soccer for PC has arrived today!I've just opened up the box, and the manual and disc look really cool!:
The manual is also in full colour! Which I haven't seen in years! It feels so good to not be reading in black and white:
I've played the game itself, and it's the same fun game as last year only... the same, it controls and plays the exact same! Oh well, Hopefully next year's game will be different/better with their new
Fox Engine...
Sunday 23rd September 2012
It's PS2 week this week.I played a couple of levels of Transformers until Giancarlo and/or Steven came in.
Then I played a couple of games with Giancarlo.
Then we played Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam.
Then we played a few fights of Mortal Kombat Armageddon.
Then we and Steven played a few games on Timesplitters 2, then me and Steven played two levels (Wild West & Atom Smasher) in Co-Op Mode.
Then we played 4, (yes, 4!) games of Horse in Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder, The first two Steven had won, then we decided to change the handicaps around (usually I'm set to lowest and he's set to highest) and I won that time, so in the final match, we set both of our handicaps to +5, and it was good fun, we were both equally matched, I say that, I mean he still annihilated me... Although the horse name then was "YASSS", making me a YASSS, YASSS!
It's 17-8 to me, he's catching up, I see this as good, I love a balanced battle.
After that, we had to go.
Next week is Xbox week.
Article By: Cobra!
Help Provided by: Steven (CobrbDB)
Sunday, 9 September 2012
Retro Diary - 9/9/2012 - Happy Birthday (NA) Dreamcast!
Monday 3rd September 2012
I've ordered a Wonderswan game off eBay late last night, after realising I had some money, it's called Digimon Tamers Battle Spirit v1.5, and it's for the Wonderswan Color. Just thought I'd tell you.My first day back in college, and I bumped into one of my old high school friends on the train, he says he goes to the college I go to now, which is awesome. We were talking about a few things, mostly games, and My Little Pony, because he recently became a brownie, not that I have a problem with that, he can like whatever he wants.
He mentioned to me how it's weird that sometimes our opinion changes drastically about a certain thing, one time you might hate something, but later on, you might love it, and he was right, that's the case with me and games like Mirrors Edge and Grand Theft Auto IV, I hated them when they came out, but once I actually played them, I fell in love!
I came across another friend of mine, it's been years since we saw each-other, first thing he said to me was that he got a Dreamcast, good on him! I see he's still as into games as I am, that's good to know. We were talking about Dreamcast games for a good while, then we talked about the Max Payne games, funnily enough, the original game was planned for the Dreamcast, but that was cancelled.
I finally have a Wonderswan!
It has arrived today, and wow! it's tiny, it's smaller than I expected even after seeing one of it's games! Here's a size comparison between it, and a Game Boy Color:
Also, a size comparison between the console, and a box for one of it's games:
Of course, being that it came from Japan, the text/writing on the parcel was in Japanese, however, it was just a sheet of paper stuck on the cardboard, so I took it off, and there was another one, took that off, and there was another one, took that off, and they were all off, but then the last sheet of paper turned out to be two stuck together! Did they really need 4 sheets!? Since I have a thing for , I guess you could say, Exotic parcels/packages, I decided to hang them on my wall!
I've had a go on Klonoa: Moonlight Museum on it, everyone seems to think this game is mediocre and only for collectors, I partially agree with the latter, as it rarely pops up on eBay, and when it does, it goes for over £30, which is ridiculous for any Handheld game. However, once you get past the first world, which is dull and boring-ish, I'll admit, it really gets interesting in my opinion, you get new monsters and block that you'll recognise from the other Klonoa games, and makes the game a little more interesting and fun!
Tuesday 4th September 2012
Anyway, last week at that shop, I saw a copy of RC Revenge, boxed with manual for only £2 because the case was cracked, but I didn't get it because I ordered it from Amazon. That copy didn't arrive, and I got a refund for it, so I decided to visit the shop again if I get the chance, and get it if it's still there, it was!I also found 007 The World is Not Enough for the PS1 there, it looks completely different from the N64 version, so I wanted to get it, because I love the 007 games, and wanted to get something new, well, new to me. It was £5, so I thought why not, at that price, it must be in pristine condition, the disc, I mean, they take out the discs when displaying them to avoid theft.
I also saw Viruta Tennis 2, I got the first game from there last week, loved it, so I thought why not get this one, it was also £5, the same as it is on Amazon, not too bad.
After that, I went to CEX, I found Resident Evil 4 for both Gamecube and PC, the PC version being £3 and the Gamecube version was £12, I also saw Theme Hospital for about £2.50, I was going to get them, but the line that particular day was massive, and I was killing enough time as it was, so I thought forget it, I would probably get them all cheaper on Amazon anyway, if not, I'll get them the next time I'm there, which I guess will be Thursday, when I go back to college, I'm off tomorrow!!!
When I got back home, I got 2 parcel today! I got Max Payne for PC and 007 Agent Under Fire for the Xbox!
I played a few matches of Goldeneye Source with my cousin, Steven, it was almost as fun as the original! There was funny moment we had, in a match where the weapons were set to explosives, I threw a bunch of remote mines in a certain spot, and Steven fell right into the trap, I detonated them just as he was running over them, I found that hilarious, truest me, it's funnier than I'm making it sound...
Friday 7th September 2012
Max Payne 2 Arrived Today, I haven't installed or even opened it yet, I'm waiting until I complete the first game.Saturday 8th September 2012
Sleeping Dogs, Inversion and 007 Everything or Nothing Arrived today!Sleeping Dogs is fantastic, I'm very addicted to it!
Inversion, however, isn't quite up to that level, it seems it's another shoddy PC port, you have no option to turn off Motion Blur or Depth of Field, why don't games give you the option any more!? No one likes these effects, sure, some don't mind, but there's a difference between that and actually liking them. All they do, is blur out the game and slow it down, they're not good for anything! I know no one's going to listen to me but, developers, get some common sense, and don't use these effects! This is one of only 3 PC games Namco have ever released, and they all have this problem! I love Namco, but they're not cut out for PC games!
I expected Everything or Nothing to be just like Nightfire on consoles, only improved further, but nope, they've ditched that engine, and gone third person, why? It never works, only Blood Stone years later got it right. It plays just like 007 From Russia With Love, which was okay in multiplayer, but was kind of rubbish in single-player, trust EA to screw franchises up, eh? Luckily Activision got their hands on the 007 licence and got things right again!
As you probably imagined, I was playing Sleeping Dogs all day.
Sunday 9th September 2012
It's the 9th of the 9th, the Dreamcast's birthday! Well, the North American Dreamcast anyhow... but it was the perfect excuse to bring along and play the Dreamcast!Well, that was the plan, but my brother brought his PS3 as well, and we, or rather they, were mostly playing that.
When Steven came, he gave me back my copy of 007 Blood Stone for the PC... just thought I'd mention that.
Me and Giancarlo were playing Virtua Tennis and Virtua Tennis 2, and a game of Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, that's it.
Then for the rest of the time there, they were just playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band on the PS3.
That sums up today in a nut shell, next week, I'm not sure what we'll do.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be playing some Sleeping Dogs...
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Retro Diary - 29/7/12
Sunday 22nd July 2012
After I posted my Retro Diary last week, me and Steven had a game of Left 4 Dead for the PC, we completed the 2nd chapter.After that we were going to have a game of Goldeneye Source, but neither of us could get a server running or join any public ones, so we couldn't...
Monday 23rd July 2012
Trials 2 arrived today! The case seemed tatty, and the autorun was in a foreign language, but the game itself was in English, and it was lots of fun!Tuesday 24th July 2012
I've just been playing Sims 3 and Blood Stone 007 today. However, I've discovered This thing calledRaptr, which is one of those databases for games for a signature/widget, but this one automatically updates your status, and the games you've been playing by connecting to your Steam, Games for Windows Live and/or X-fire accounts, I connected all 3, so whenever I play a game, this widget (Located on the right of the page), will automatically update, it even saves my signatures. It also supports Xbox 360 and PS3 games, and you can also add old games, but you'd have to manually track how long you play them, which makes sense, there's no other way of telling it.
Wednesday 25th July 2012
I got Hard Boiled on DVD today, and what a film! I can definitely see why so many people love it! Although considering it was made in 1992, a year after Terminator 2, it seems behind it's time in terms of video and audio quality, that doesn't affect the awesome gun scenes and exiting plot of the film!I saw Ice Age 4 in the cinema, it sucked, but while we were waiting for the picture to start, which was just under an hour, we went to an bowling alley/arcade, which happened to be near the cinema, I played Razer Storm, a shooter and Dead Heat, a racing game, they were both pretty fun.
I completed Blood Stone today, the game was kind of short, and I thought the ending was disappointing, I won't be spoiling anything.
Thursday 26th July 2012
I started playing Stranglehold, it seems for a while, my goal currently is to beat Mirrors Edge, Blood Stone and Stranglehold, and I've completed the former 2, so I'm at the last stage of this "Goal" of mine.Friday 27th July 2012
I was playing a bit of Street Fighter X Tekken just there, I was playing in normal mode, much harder than the easiest difficulty I usually do, and flipping heck was it intense! Especially at the last battle! I was frustrated at a game for the first time in ages, but when I finally finished I, it felt so satisfying! I also unlocked a good few achievements on he way, so something came out of it...Sunday 29th July 2012
It was N64 week this week, I was bringing the N64, and Steven brought along extra games and controllers.I've forgotten the order we played the games, so bear with me.
We (Me, Giancarlo and Steven) first had a game of Goldeneye, usually we do Licensed to Kill Slappers Only, but this time, we did a normal gun match, makes a nice change, and it was fun as always, even if Steven dominated the match.
Then me and Steven played 1080 Snowboarding.
Then the three of us played 007 The World is Not Enough, like Goldeneye, we just did a normal gun much, or rather a few.
Then we played Super Smash Bros, I was, as always, last place, except surprisingly the last match.
Finally, me and Steven had a quick game of Perfect Dark, and we didn't even finish it, because we had to leave.
When I got back home, my download for the Borderlands free weekend was done, and surprisingly, my PC struggled to run it, well, it struggled doing 60 fps, it can run on all high settings at 30+ no problem, but why do 30, when you can do 60? I played around a bit to get the game as awesome looking as possible, whilst running fast, I took out all post rendering effects and dynamic shadows and Bam! 60+ fps!
I have to say, I love the cel-shaded graphics, I'm an absolute sucker for those kind of graphics! I also loved the game's RPG elements, and interesting characters. I'm definitely getting this game!
Then I played more Sims 3 and that was it.
Next week is Dreamcast week! One of my favourites!
Sunday, 22 July 2012
Retro Diary - 22/7/12 - "Slow."
Monday 16th July 2012
I faced my brother in another few games of FIFA 12 on the PS3, he was Classic XI, which is a team for 11 of the best football players who ever lived, and I was Celtic, I beat him in both matches we played, with the scores 9-3 and 11-5 respectively.The latest issue of "Retro Gamer" arrived today, which means my subscription is back! In June, my subscription ran out, and I didn't have the money to renew it, so I made a new one, because I'd have money for it in July, and I was right!
Wednesday 18th July 2012
I just ordered another bunch of stuff off Amazon, a couple of which actually being stuff... packs! For The Sims 3! I'm getting High End Loft and Fast Lane stuff for my Sims 3, because I love cars and technology, mostly gaming related! I'm also getting both Pets and Ambitions expansion packs. I ordered a whole bunch of other stuff, which I most likely reveal once they arrive in the coming days... In the mean time, time for some more Sims 3!Thursday 19th July 2012
My Street Fighter X Tekken Strategy guide arrived today, great, now all I need is the game, take a wild guess what platform I'm getting that on...Blood Stone 007, Left 4 Dead 2 & Plants vs. Zombies have arrived today, I got Blood Stone 007 because it was the last game by Bizzare creations before they went bust, and I loved them, so I thought I'd pay tribute and get their last game, and through ordering it I realised an advantage to being a PC gamer rather than a console gamer, is that even in retail, PC games are considerably cheaper, sometimes even with pre-orders! When I ordered the game, Blood Stone for the PS3 and Xbox 360 were about £15 each, the PC version was £5, booyah! So far, I love the game, I'm glad I got it!
I played the heck out of Left 4 Dead 1, so I decided to get the 2nd one, although I've been busy with Sims 3 and Blood Stone, I'll get around to it eventually...
Before I kind of mentioned it, did you know that you could get Plants vs. Zombies on a CD? Unbelievable, right? I got the Game of the Year Edition, again, I've been busy with other games to play it, but like L4D, I'll get around to it...
I got all of this, but no Sims 3 Ambitions? I ordered it with free one-day delivery, and it hasn't arrived on it's time limit!...
Oh wait, hold on, it's here! For some reason it arrived later than my other stuff, weird, but I'm not complaining... I'll go play more Sims 3!
Saturday 21st July 2012
Yesterday, all I played was Sims 3 and Blood Stone, so that sums up Friday, however, it seemed that I was so in trance into them yesterday, that I missed yesterday's post, although at the time, I thought I didn't receive anything, because I wasn't expecting anything, according to Amazon, nothing I ordered was estimated to arrive yesterday or today, but it turns out, just about everything arrived!I got my Sims 3 stuff, I got Street Fighter X Tekken, I got a switch box for all of my AV consoles, so swap jobs should be a thing of the past, and I got my Mirror's Edge strategy guide! Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be playing some games...
I just encountered a game on MDickie's Facebook Page called "Wrestling Revolution", I downloaded it for the PC, it's free by the way, but the game is absolutely awful! Every aspect about it is bad, I suggest you steer clear at all costs, there are much better free games out there, and even better Flash exe's, including Mdickie's own Flash Stuntz, and even his flash conversion of Sure Shot.
Saturday 21st July 2012
I just got my PS1 packed up, and my auntie is going to pick me up to grans, or so I've been told, so I decided while I waited, I'd play some games, I played a bit of Sims 3, then I went on to complete Mirrors Edge, it's a great game in my opinion, I wouldn't say it lived up the hype, but it's still great.It was PS1 week at grans today.
Steven had a game of Vib Ribbon, 2 actually, one on Normal, and one on Hard, he managed to pass both.
I then had a game on Normal, then Giancarlo had a game on Easy, the coward!
Then me and Steven had a few races of Firebugs.
Then we had a few games of "Cops and Robbers" on Driver 2.
Then we had a few races on Wipeout 3: Special Edition, most of which Steven either got destroyed, or ran out of time, what I love about Wipeout 3, is that it's straight out, it doesn't try to dumb it down or be nice, it just said Steven was slow, his part of the end stats didn't display any time or "DNF", it just said "Slow", brilliant!
Then for the first time in ages, we had a "Horse of the Week" game on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, the "horse" was "UFNFXPWDTC", my handicap was set to the lowest, and his to the highest, to assure a more fair match... I still beat him, I didn't get one letter!
After that, we left, next week is N64 week, it's been far too long since we had a game of Slappers!
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Retro Diary - 1/7/12 - "It's challenge, challenge, chalenge!"
Monday 25th June 2012
My Wolfenstein 3D PC collection (Wolfenstein 3D + Spear of Destiny) has arrived today... but they didn't work... However, I got the games working on DOSBox, which odd as they're supposed to be Windows ports, but at least I get to play them! As I mentioned last week, it came with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, which works just fine on my PC, so that's good!I also got my Brick Buster game, which is a lot of fun, considering it's a budget game.
I got my PC back!!!! ASUS have actually fixed it! It feels so good to be sitting back at my desk!
Yeah, despite my attempt to upgrade the PC, which would've voided the warranty, they fixed my PC, it seems to them the warranty doesn't matter, either that or they don't mind people upgrading PCs, ad they make graphics cards and all, and on their help website solutions to problems sometimes involve "removing recently installed hardware", they can't be referring to USB devices, otherwise they'd of said "devices"...
Anyway, I'm not complaining, my PC works fine (touchwood), so now I can play games in stunning HD (No really, 1080p resolution) one again!
Just in case, I'm only going to upgrade my PC once the warranty has run out, that way, even if it breaks, ASUS won't fix it, my mum apparently know someone who could fix it for me, sop it's not a problem, hopefully...
I tried out Trackmania Nations Forever on the PC, and WOW is it a massive improvement, on my laptop, it ran at 30fps on low settings at best, but being how beat my PC is, I can run it highest settings at 60+fps, and it looks beautiful and runs beautifully!
I also tried out The Wrestling Channel 4: Fight! on it, same things, only it doesn't look as good, it still runs fantastic!
However, I wanted to play FIFA 12, but as usual, Origin is being sub-par, it was saying I didn't own EURO 2012, when I clearly bought it.
It turns out, and I wasn't told until I closed it and opened it back up that I needed to update it, it wasn't until I did, when it finally installed EURO 2012.
The problems didn't end there, though, I wanted to get saved on EA servers (yeah, great start), to my PC, I had to restart Origin 5 times before it successfully synced, and even then, it took 2 hours to do so, this is what you get when the evil overlords of gaming go cheap with everything...
After all that, I finally played the game, and everything was in order, although it took longer to load my data, I blame an update, because every other game I tired played the same as before. So I played the Italy vs. England EURO 2012 challenge, and then quite because I wanted to play other games.
Then I played a Co-Op Session of Portal 2 with my cousin, Steven, at first it thought it was my first time playing, because it showed the beginning intro which you only see when you first play Co-Op, so I tried restarting it to see if that was a one time thing, thankfully, it was, it loaded my data the second time, unfortunately, at that time, there was something wrong with the Portal 2 servers, because both me and Steven were both lagging like crazy and kept disconnecting.
After that, I saved up money for the past week or two to get a much of PC games for my new PC, so I ordered a bunch of games, including the Sims 3, Trackmania United Forever, and Stranglehold.
Tuesday 26th June 2012
I played my brother in FIFA 12, and I kept scoring against him, and he was scoring against me as well, I wasn't counting the score, but when I looked at it after I scored a goal, I realised I was beating him 10-4! Ooft! I'm a lot better at FIFA than I thought!Wednesday 27th June 2012
3 game I've ordered have arrived today, Toy Story Mania, Toy Story 3 and Dreamcast Collection, all on PC. Also, my Stranglehold strategy guide arrived, although I've yet to receive the actual game...Toy Story Mania came as a surprise when I found out about it, I thought the game was a Wii exclusive casual mini games game, and I was right, but I found out a year or so later, only in Europe, they made a PC version, I usually wouldn't have bothered with it, but since I was getting Toy Story 3 for the PC and this was less than £5 brand new, I thought "What the hey!", and ordered that alongside Toy Story 3 and a bunch of other PC games. I got it, and it sucks even more than the Wii version, half of the features don't work in this version, and by that, I mean basic things you have to do, such as shake the Wiimote/mouse, that doesn't work on the PC version, and it's just overall boring to play, but I suppose for £5, I shouldn't be complaining...
Toy Story 3, on the other hand, is brilliant! I've played the PS2 and Wii versions beforehand, and really enjoyed them, so I thought I'd get the PC version, because usually, PC versions of games are the best if you have the right hardware and a decent controller, and I had both (I use the Xbox 360 controller with wireless receiver!), and I was right, the PC version, is the best version at least from the versions I've played, it had a great Toy box mode much like the Wii version but has more and the game runs much faster, 60++ fps!
As for Dreamcast Collection, I wasn't going to get this one either, since I hate collections of old games, I think they abuse the original systems and deplete any value they have... but since the PC version of Dreamcast collection was only £1 brand new, I thought I might as well.
However, just like Toy Story Mania, I was disappointed with this one, it took, literally over an hour to install for starters, then I tried out Crazy Taxi, the controls were confusing as heck, and you couldn't change them, and most importantly, they ruined it by replacing the music, I understand Sega may no longer have the licence to use Bad Religion songs, but if that were the case, they shouldn't have bothered at all, it's just not Crazy Taxi without Bad Religion, they aren't any improvements in the game anyway, it's not even in widescreen like they claimed, it's in letterbox mode, they aren't any widescreen resolutions, so just stick with your Dreamcast original.
Thursday 28th June 2012
Ultimate Quake on PC and Twisted on the 3DO have arrived today!Unfortunately, I've been having problems with both at first. With Twisted, my 3Do stopped outputting sound, although I soon realised it was playing sound, just very quietly, and found out when the system warms up, then it plays the sound at normal volume, strange, but at least I know what the problem is exactly, now to find out what causes it and how to fix it... oh yeah, and Twisted worked perfectly, so I can just throw my broken burnt CD away, I have a genuine properly, working copy now!
Quake Live was a slightly different story, Quake 1 installed and played perfectly fine, but Quake 2 and 3 didn't install at all...
With Quake 2, it turns out all "install" did was move content of a certain folder into a folder in Program Files, so I just did that manually, and it worked... sort of, I could only play it windowed, however, I found out about a source port called "R1Q2", which fixed this problem, so I installed it, and it worked perfectly!
Quake 3 Arena was a weird one, the install didn't work at first, but I could run the game off the CD, but if I were to do that, I'd have to insert the CD key every time I start it, so I decided to try it again in compatibility mode, and it worked!
Remember when I got Wolfenstein 3D and it only worked in DOSBox? Well, it turns out there exists a source port called "New Wolf", which not only makes the game work on Windows, but also supports higher resolutions, a bigger screen, and it runs much smoother! I've applied it to both Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny, which, by the way, I found out if you cope the folder from the CD to your hard drive, you can make the game work without the CD, so I did that.
I've also discovered GZ-Doom, which is an extension of Z-Doom, it improves it even further, supporting higher resolutions, and makes 3D models out of the doom levels, so you can look up and down without it looking awkward! There are also tonnes of little things that make GZ-Doom that much better! I've also found some Doom PWADS, one is called "Call of Dooty", which makes fun of modern shooters! Another is "Doom Center", which is a town, it has a bowling alley, and an arcade, in the arcade, there's a duck hunt game which you can play using doom itself, it's pretty awesome!
I've played a Co-Op session of Portal 2 with Steven again, this time, with the server up and running like normal!
Friday 29th June 2012
The Sims 3 arrived today! I'm just about to play it......I've had a go, and it's absolutely brilliant, it's very addicting!
I've had a game of FIFA 12 with my brother on the PS3, a few, actually, and I've beaten him in pretty much all of them, one of them was completely mad, full of shots that ended up hitting the post and bar, one, in particular, my brother explained in detail, I had to wait for 5-10 minutes for him to type it.
EA claimed that you can pre-order FIFA 13 Ultimate Edition for the PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC, so I thought "Great! A PC version, I'll be getting that!", but guess what? No store have the PC version for pre-order, not even EA's very own Origin! EA: Trolls of the century!
I've been playing more Sims 3, and I was so into it, I didn't realise the time, so when I finished, when I stopped playing it, it was 1:15am!
Saturday 30th June 2012
Trackmania United Forever had arrive today, and it's awesome!I've played another (partial) game with my brother at FIFA 12, we only play for about 10 in game minutes, until he left, neither of us scored...
We played a full game of FIFA 12 later on, we both did random teams, he ended up with Arsenal and I ended up with some Portuguese team... We played another game afterwards, I believe it was an El Classico
Also, I'm going to make a new feature of my blog. It'll be similar to "Horse of the week", but it'll be with my and my brother, and we'll be recording the scores of games we do, there's a twist, which, chances are, like Horse of the Week, we'll soon stop exclusively doing that, is that we'll be using sliders for our games...
My friend from college, Jamie, got the Sims 3 as well, just a day after I did, which is pretty cool, we've added each other of the community website.
Sunday 1st June 2012
It was 3DO week at grans this week...I played a bit of Starblade and Need for speed first of all to get the sound on (It's quiet until it's been on for 5 minutes.), then when my cousins came in, we had a game of Twisted! Giancarlo technically won it, I say technically, we didn't finish it, but he got the furthest.
We had to leave after that, we brought our cousins up for the Euro 2012 finals (Spain vs. Italy), before the game, I played a bit of Sims 3, then my and Giancarlo played a match of Mortal Kombat Armageddon on the PS2, and then we played a race in the Motor Kombat mini-game.
After the Euro 2012 game, I showed Steven GZ-Doom, and a cool custom wad, which makes fun of modern FPSes, called "Call of Dooty", then I showed him Trackmania United/Nations Forever, and he said me might download Nations, as it's free, then he had to go.
I showed Giancarlo the Sims 3, and he said it looked like a lot of fun to play, and said he might get it, awesome, 2 people I know will (hopefully) have it!
After that, he left.
I'm going on holiday to Italy tomorrow, so there won't be a Retro Diary next week, but the week after, I'll be adding a lot to this site, like the Sliders feature with me and my brother being added.
Next time at our grans, it will be Saturn week.
Alright, see you in a couple of weeks!
Saturday, 23 June 2012
Happy 21st Birthday Sonic!
I just thought since playing the excellent Sonic Generations on PC, I've been a Sonic fan again, I just realized that today marks 21 years since the release date of the original Mega Drive game, technically making it Sonic's 21st Birthday!
So... Happy Birthday!
I suppose Mega Drive week was good timing, so we'll be playing the Sonic games in celebration for the event!
That is all I have to say...
So... Happy Birthday!
I suppose Mega Drive week was good timing, so we'll be playing the Sonic games in celebration for the event!
That is all I have to say...
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Retro Diary - 17/6/12
Monday 11th June 2012
Day 5 with no proper PC, and I can tell you, it's boring as f*ck, I have no idea how I managed without it before, well, probably because I didn't have games that needed a PC that powerful, but the fact is that I do, and I want more games that need it, this sucks!I ordered the MDickie collection on DVD today, you'll get the link to do so on his website if you want to as well, it's only £10, and you get basically everything he's ever created, everything on his website on a DVD, including his old DOS games, offline versions of his flash games! It may be pointless as everything on his site is free now, I'm preparing for if the site ever goes down and loses everything, if that ever happens, I can still play his games using his DVD compilation.
So I decided to take my mind off it by playing a bit of Gran Turismo 3, FIFA 12 and Toy Story 3, all on the PS2, mostly GT3.
I realised there's an unlockable feature on FIFA 12 on PS2, which I didn't see on the PC version, and that is funny SFX, which replaces, all of the game's sound effects to funny ones, for example, when I shoot, instead of hearing a kick, I hear a rocket! Or if I hit the post or the bar, I hear a bell noise, the same for when someone headers the ball, only it's a different bell sound! It's fun to have on, even if it gets old fast.
Throughout the whole day, for some reason, I wanted to play a racing simulator game, like Gran Turismo, or Sega GT. So I decided to play the one I've had for months, but never played, Gran Turismo 3! So I've been playing that, and enjoying it, even if it's frustrating as hell to get the licences!
One of the games I wanted for for PC that only my broken PC could run, was Toy Story 3, after playing the Wii version and really enjoying it. In excitement in getting my PC fixed and playing, I've been playing Toy Story 3 for the PS2... so yeah...
Tuesday 12th June 2012
Day 6 without a proper PC, and I'm seriously on the brink of insanity! I want to Play games like Sims 3, left 4 Dead 2 and Toy Story 3 so bad, but I'm not able to!So, out of extreme boredom, I decided to play one of the few games the laptop I'm using can play, Peggle Extreme! I decided to give this a shot, as I never got the chance with my now-broken PC, and I really enjoyed it, I will be getting the full game if I get my PC fixed, because you can get both that and it's nights expansion in retail form from Amazon!
I also played Codename: Gordon, and completed it! Now I only have to finish Half Life 2 Episode 1 & 2, and Half Life: Blueshift, and Half Life: Decay... Well, I'm one step closer to completing all of the Half Life games out so far.
Wednesday 13th June 2012
Day 7, a full week without my PC, and I am officially losing it, seriously, I hope writing this will keep me sane, if not, then god help us...My Amazon basket a.k.a, the list of PC games I want, is filling up, and I realised that some items would be quickly going out of stock, one of them only having 1 left, no big deal, right? No, Except that, that item didn't have other sellers, if I place that order for that one copy, I can forget about getting that game at all, so I thought since my laptop could probably run it anyway, I ordered it thankfully, it dispatched, so I got the last copy.
The game I'm talking about is Peggle, the full game, I also ordered Peggle Nights, the sequel, and I also ordered Doom: Collectors Edition, which is all 3 of the original doom games made playable on modern Windows Operating Systems, plus, you also get a demo of Doom 3, chances are, my laptop could at least run the original Doom games, so I got that as well.
Throughout the day, out of total boredom, I decided to check out a few DOS shareware games, such as Doom and Duke Nukem 3D.
Thursday 14th June 2012
Day 8 without my PC, and I swear to god, I'm going to go insane, I mean insane asylum kind of insane, I know it shouldn't be a big deal, but I did everything with that PC, played games, make stuff, do browsing, my laptop does an awful job in comparison on all 3, especially games, I can hardly play anything on this toaster! I can't take my mind off it because pretty much everything reminds me of it!I have just about given hope on my PC, I am very confident that ASUS will not repair it, and all the PC repair shops will end up charging us more than we have, so I'm f*cked, £1150 gone right down the drain, it's nothing more than a paperweight now, and there's f*ck all I can do about it!
Friday 15th June 2012
Day 9 without my PC, and usually at this point, I'd be totally insane and wrecking the house, but I'm not, and I'll tell you why.2 things, first of all, my copies of Peggle and Peggle Nights, as well as Doom Collector's Edition have arrived, so I won't be as bored.
Secondly, but by no mean least, when I was bored, "knowing" I can't play games like FIFA 12, PES 2012, NBA 2k12, Left 4 Dead etc., I looked at my game boxes to make sure of this, and I found out that, theoretically, this laptop actually can play them all on low settings! It'll do until my PC gets fixed, if it ever gets fixed, so at least I can still play FIFA Euro 2012 in the mean time. The most surprising thing is, this laptop is 5 years old, and can still play some fairly new games, and when that was new, that couldn't play any games released at the same time at high settings.
If my PC gets fixed, and that can play todays games on high settings, I'm looking at, at least 4 or 5 years until that becomes obsolete! So yeah, I'm all cheered up knowing that.
I played a bit of Revenge of Shinobi for the Mega Drive, and I got farther than before because I accidentally did the unlimited shrunkens cheat, which also gave me more lives, I managed to reach Round 2 Level 1, in other words, level 4, before dying, it may not sound far, but this game is very hard, I'm lucky to reach the end of level 2!
Saturday 16th June 2012
I went to the cinema today to see Men in Black 3, I really enjoyed the film, although the 3D effects were mediocre at best, which wouldn't usually be a problem, but it costed us £50 to get in! What a rip-off! Despite that, like I said, I enjoyed the film.I tried out FIFA 12 on my laptop, and minimum requirements my ar*e! My laptop could barely run the game on arena, where there's only 1 player and 1 goalkeeper, and half a pitch, if even that! On an actual match, it was just unplayable! The game literally run at like 2 frames a second, if even that, and my laptop surpasses all the minimum requirements by quite a bit, I'd hate to try it on a laptop that just only meets the game's "requirements"!
My sister also came to my room to play a bit of Sonic 1 on the Mega Drive, but only for like 1 level, until she went out.
Sunday 17th June 2012
It was Wii week at grans today, unfortunetly, Giancarlo forgot to bring his Wii, fortunately, however, I brought mine, just in case this would happen.I played a bit of No More Heroes first, and it make me think why I stopped playing in the first place, I really enjoyed it, maybe I'll dig it up, because I still have No More Heroes 2 sealed, unopened, from a couple of years ago, and I want to open that up, and play it, but I want to beat the first game first.
Then me, Giancarlo, his sister, and Steven played a good few matches of Super Smash Bros. brawl.
Then we played Wario Ware Smooth moves, and we had a blast!
Then we played a few Gamecube games, first being Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects! Me and Steven played a match or two.
Then we played a couple of matches of Beyblade V-Force: Super Tournament Battle.
Then we played a few races of Mario kart Double Dash.
Then we went back to playing Wii games, by playing Super Mario Galaxy, it didn't take long for us to get bored, though.
Then we played Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010, the game ironically wasn't as good as the Wii sports golf game, and PGA tour was dedicated, we played a few for a few holes, though. One thing we did notice was that the graphics were so good, our gran thought it was a real match on TV!
Finally, we played Sonic Heroes on the Gamecube.
After we went home,my mum got my uncle to photocopy something, and she would go over to collect it half an hour later, I wanted to go as well, so I did, and I showed Steven the Peggle games, and showed him the 'Weird Al' Yankovic song: "It's all about the Pentiums" and he showed me the Plants vs. Zombies game, and he said there's an browser version to try out, so I'm trying that out right now.
So next week is Mega Drive week, we're going back to the start of the cycle, time for some blast processing!
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Retro Diary - 10/6/12 - "PC Week"
Monday 4th June 2012
Today, we went to grans again because we had leftovers from the party beforehand, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to bring a console over, I decided to not tell anyone until after my cousins have had their dinner....and that console turned out to be *drum roll*... The Nintendo Gamecube!
First, Me and Giancarlo and Riccardo played a few matches of Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, played a few two player match, taking turns, as the game's only 2 player.
Next, we played a few matches of Beyblade V-Force: Super Tournament Battle, Steven later came in, and had a few matches as well.
Then me and Steven played a game of Horse on Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX 2, the horse name as h0ba0a008, and I won! 12-5 to me!
Finally, we played a race or two of Mario Kart Double Dash, then we left.
Steven's family took me back as my family left earlier on, while I was at my house, I lent Steven my Sam & Max games and BTTF the game, as they are DRM free, so you can install them on any PC, and that he wanted to try the games out for a while.
Tuesday 5th June 2012
At about 12:00 up until 1:30 in the morning, me and Steven were playing Co-Op online on Portal 2 on PC for the first time! It was so much fun! We played through 2 chapters before getting bored, and that it was getting late... after that, I of course went to sleep.When I woke up after that, shortly after, my brother, Riccardo, challenged me to a game or two of FIFA 12, but this time, we'd be playing on the PC, we first had a game of Euro 2012, my brother went Scotland, and I went Bulgaria, the teams were chosen at random by the way.
For a while at the start of the match, I thought I was Scotland, as I always play them and are used to controlling them, this almost lead to scoring an own goal, but then I figured out I was actually Bulgaria, and the owning commenced, I don't remember the score, but I remember I won!
Then we played a few matches of the original FIFA 12, for all the matches we played, I went Bray Wanderers, and Riccardo went as Athletico Madrid.
Then first match, which we didn't finish, I was winning 3-1, until Riccardo forced a rematch, in the next match, Riccardo won, I think the score was 8-4. The last match, I think I won 5-1.
Then I played a bit of Need for Speed World.
Sunday 10th June 2012
On Wednesday, my PC broke down, it couldn't even boot up, so I'm using my laptop, and to save time, nothing happened between then and now.Originally, it was going to be Wii week, but Giancarlo went to a music festival, and Wii week is nothing without him, so we done a different week, and go back to Wii week when he returns.
So we decided to do a one-week-only "PC week", but it went to waste, because we didn't play anything we spent the whole day trying to connect me and Steven's laptops together, which is odd, they worked perfectly fine before, but it just won't work now, and I swear Microsoft are trying their best to make this task as hard and complicated as humanly possible!
So we left without playing anything.
I hope next week will be better than this, but I doubt it, seeing how my PC, which is worth £1000, is dead...
Saturday, 19 May 2012
"Retro" Arrivals: Left 4 Dead: game of the Year Edition [PC]
I realised something, most of my "pick up" articles, aren't actually about things I've pick up, but rather just arrived in the post.
I decided for those types of situations, I'll just call them "'Retro' Arrivals", a little more fitting, isn't it?
Anyway, my copy of Left 4 Dead: Game of the Year Edition arrived in the post today, I still haven't opened it up yet because I'm writing this stupi-I mean "Retro" blog.
Anyway, I'll just cut to the chase, I got this because I've been wanting it so badly, so I ordered the Game of the Year edition off of Amazon.
Here are the photos:
I decided for those types of situations, I'll just call them "'Retro' Arrivals", a little more fitting, isn't it?
Anyway, my copy of Left 4 Dead: Game of the Year Edition arrived in the post today, I still haven't opened it up yet because I'm writing this stupi-I mean "Retro" blog.
Anyway, I'll just cut to the chase, I got this because I've been wanting it so badly, so I ordered the Game of the Year edition off of Amazon.
Here are the photos:
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Retro Diary - 15/4/12 - "That's now how you USE a Fire Flower!"
Dear Diary,
Right after I wrote my last entry, I was playing Garry's Mod with my cousin, Steven, we made some new "robots" for our robot wars, I'll make an article with more details.
On Monday, We went to grans because my gran had leftovers from the night before since it was Easter weekend, Steven was going as well, so I thought I'd bring along a console I wouldn't normally bring, because we're going on a day we don't usually.
So I brought my Amiga CD32 with me, so we can play the game that redefined the fighting genre, Rise of the Robots! We played a bit of that, but we were a bit bored, and there were a whole pile of, albeit burnt, CD32 games that we haven't tried, I haven't even tried them, so we decided to browse through them all to see if there any fun multiplayer games, out of about 20 or even 30, we only found 2 that were multiplayer, or at least playable in multiplayer, and one of them was a football game.
The other game was Shadow Fighter, which was actually pretty good, it wasn't exactly Mortal Kombat, but it was fun to play, although it only used one button, like many CD32 games, and you had to choose between music and sound effects. (although, if you choose music, you still get a few sound effects.)
So we were playing that for the rest of the time we were there, and like I said, it's surprisingly a fun game.
On Saturday, there were keys given out online to download the new Garry's Mod 13 beta, only 19,000 got it, and me and Steven were luckily among them.
My first impressions were mixed, I understand that it's just a beta and it's mostly for programmers to try out their new entities, props etc. rather than messing about.
The Toybox was absent, and a few garrysmod.com stuff aren't fully compatible, however, the steam workshop is pretty awesome, the menu's improved in my opinion, and the new construct level is pretty awesome, it's far bigger! I still prefer the original, because I think it has a better layout, but I love the new one as well.
I hope they get around to fixing these problems soon.
So we were messing about in that for a while.
On Sunday, it was N64 week, my other cousin, Giancarlo couldn't be here, I don't know why this time.
This is entirely out of recollection, as I might get some info wrong.
We (me and Steven) started off by playing Goldeneye (There goes the main event... ah well), we played a few game of licence to kill slappers only, as usual, and it was fun, especially since we haven't played it in a while.
We then played wipE'out 64, we played a couple of races, first one I was first, and we was 13th, in the second race, my ship got wrecked, and he reached 11t I think.
Then we played Pokémon Stadium, we played the mini-games, I won the game we had, it was first to 5 wins.
Then we played Super Smash Bros. and we got my uncle, Steven's dad, to play it because he played it with us way back in the day, and I remember he actually at one game scored as low as -34! The lowest he got out of the matches we played was -11 I think, he's improved since the old days!
Then we played WWF Attitude, we had a triple threat match, I stupidly set the time limit to an hour, since I thought the match would end way before then, but as it turns out, it lasted half an hour, but was a fun half an hour, we had a great time!
Then my uncle had to leave, we decided to play a game of TEEEEEN EEEEIGHTY!(1080) Snowboarding, we played a load of games, first few of which I won due to him retiring from taking too much damage, then I say "Oh, Steven's dead... That means Cobra!'s the winner!", it's an in joke we have. The last race he won.
Then we had a couple of races in Star Wars Episode 1 Racer.
Then we played RIIIIIDDGE RAAAAAAACER! 64, and had a couple of races of that.
Finally, we had a quick 2 minute/5 kills game of Perfect Dark, the match ended before either of us got 5 kills, I won due to having more kills.
Then they had to leave.
Overall, it was a fun week, and was problem-free, next week is Dreamcast week, my tied-1st favourite games console ever. (Tied with Playstation.)
Article By: Cobra!
Right after I wrote my last entry, I was playing Garry's Mod with my cousin, Steven, we made some new "robots" for our robot wars, I'll make an article with more details.
On Monday, We went to grans because my gran had leftovers from the night before since it was Easter weekend, Steven was going as well, so I thought I'd bring along a console I wouldn't normally bring, because we're going on a day we don't usually.
So I brought my Amiga CD32 with me, so we can play the game that redefined the fighting genre, Rise of the Robots! We played a bit of that, but we were a bit bored, and there were a whole pile of, albeit burnt, CD32 games that we haven't tried, I haven't even tried them, so we decided to browse through them all to see if there any fun multiplayer games, out of about 20 or even 30, we only found 2 that were multiplayer, or at least playable in multiplayer, and one of them was a football game.
The other game was Shadow Fighter, which was actually pretty good, it wasn't exactly Mortal Kombat, but it was fun to play, although it only used one button, like many CD32 games, and you had to choose between music and sound effects. (although, if you choose music, you still get a few sound effects.)
So we were playing that for the rest of the time we were there, and like I said, it's surprisingly a fun game.
On Saturday, there were keys given out online to download the new Garry's Mod 13 beta, only 19,000 got it, and me and Steven were luckily among them.
My first impressions were mixed, I understand that it's just a beta and it's mostly for programmers to try out their new entities, props etc. rather than messing about.
The Toybox was absent, and a few garrysmod.com stuff aren't fully compatible, however, the steam workshop is pretty awesome, the menu's improved in my opinion, and the new construct level is pretty awesome, it's far bigger! I still prefer the original, because I think it has a better layout, but I love the new one as well.
I hope they get around to fixing these problems soon.
So we were messing about in that for a while.
On Sunday, it was N64 week, my other cousin, Giancarlo couldn't be here, I don't know why this time.
This is entirely out of recollection, as I might get some info wrong.
We (me and Steven) started off by playing Goldeneye (There goes the main event... ah well), we played a few game of licence to kill slappers only, as usual, and it was fun, especially since we haven't played it in a while.
We then played wipE'out 64, we played a couple of races, first one I was first, and we was 13th, in the second race, my ship got wrecked, and he reached 11t I think.
Then we played Pokémon Stadium, we played the mini-games, I won the game we had, it was first to 5 wins.
Then we played Super Smash Bros. and we got my uncle, Steven's dad, to play it because he played it with us way back in the day, and I remember he actually at one game scored as low as -34! The lowest he got out of the matches we played was -11 I think, he's improved since the old days!
Then we played WWF Attitude, we had a triple threat match, I stupidly set the time limit to an hour, since I thought the match would end way before then, but as it turns out, it lasted half an hour, but was a fun half an hour, we had a great time!
Then my uncle had to leave, we decided to play a game of TEEEEEN EEEEIGHTY!(1080) Snowboarding, we played a load of games, first few of which I won due to him retiring from taking too much damage, then I say "Oh, Steven's dead... That means Cobra!'s the winner!", it's an in joke we have. The last race he won.
Then we had a couple of races in Star Wars Episode 1 Racer.
Then we played RIIIIIDDGE RAAAAAAACER! 64, and had a couple of races of that.
Finally, we had a quick 2 minute/5 kills game of Perfect Dark, the match ended before either of us got 5 kills, I won due to having more kills.
Then they had to leave.
Overall, it was a fun week, and was problem-free, next week is Dreamcast week, my tied-1st favourite games console ever. (Tied with Playstation.)
Article By: Cobra!
Recall help provided by: Steven
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