So we're a few weeks into our second pack of expansion content for Destiny, and it seems like it's being received pretty positively for the most part. Especially sitting next to the Dark Below, something a lot of players would consider a modest kick in the teeth, House of Wolves manages to shape up and improve a lot of different systems and content problems that the game launched with. It isn't all sunshine and roses however, with Bungie still not addressing problems that still exist in the game, or falling into new unforeseen pitfalls. Here are the five best and worst aspects of this DLC pack from where I stand:
Bit of a slow Sunday today, but that hasn't stopped me from being productive. This is the first (in what I'm sure will be revised many times in the future) demo reel that I've had the pleasure of assembling. It represents a small portion of the video and audio work I've personally worked on since this blog began back in 2012. I'll probably add some more later and turn it into the intro video for the Youtube channel. Feel free to leave some critique and recommendations, always a work in progress.
It's been an interesting sort of saga when it comes to Playstation Now, Sony's online streaming solution for customers looking to play older games. Instead of offering traditional backwards compatibility options like the emotion engine chip found in launch PS3's, they've instead decided to invest in a streaming service not unlike what was offered by the late OnLive, electing to stream an intractable image from a remote server farm. This has resulted in a fair bit of critique from various sources: high prices for rentals and subscription services, gameplay with noticeable lag and input delay, a truncated available library, and for some, a total non-option for service due to high bandwidth requirements.
It's been uncharacteristically busy in the gaming world for a summer Friday. Decided I'd take this opportunity, as well as some inspiration from Patrick K. over at Kotaku, to round up some of my favorite stories and videos from the past week that managed to catch my eye. Granted, a lot of these are playing towards my own personal interests and fandoms, but you might find a thing or two in here that catches your eye or sends you down a rabbit hole for the day, so have a look.
Bloodborne's story explained
For me, there are two names when it comes to taking a magnifying glass to the Souls series. Marcus, a.k.a. Epic Name Bro, managed to garner quite an audience with the U.S. release of Dark Souls, and has managed to turn his youtube career into helping contribute to the official guides for the series. His Let's Play series has just recently wrapped up, so he's now doing some challenge runs that are worth a look.
Vaatividya is a bit of a newcomer to the scene by comparison, but he's manage to put out some phenomenal series looking at individual characters and overall plot analysis. His most recent video is one of the best culminations of conjecture and fact-finding I've seen when it comes to Bloodborne's twisted tale. If you ever wanted some light shed on the dark activities of Yharnam, or just want to see how crazy a typical FROM SOFTWARE story can get, this is the video to start with.
Price I paid: $15? I think? Available on: Windows (reviewed), OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbone, Ouya, PlayStation Vita, iOS, and Android.
By now, you probably already know or have at least heard that
The Walking Dead: A Telltale Game: Season
One was an incredible, tear-jerking, feels-feeling, undeniable smash hit. I
played it, and I loved it. So how could they manage to live up to the
expectations people had for the sequel? They did it by giving the player new
challenges, different but equally difficult decisions, and pouring just as much
soul into this game as they did the first.
Scanning through my Origin library, I found that over time I managed to obtain all three Dead Space games, through various promotions and humble bundles. As far as horror series go, this was one of the standouts of last generation, which is reason enough to give it a revisit. On the achievement list for the first game however is the challenge to beat the game using nothing but the starting weapon: the plasma cutter. I've always wanted to give this one a shot, so stay tuned for more episodes.
Blizzard recently announced a release date for HotS for June 2nd, but many have been actively engaged in this new all-star game since the release of the alpha last year. Out of all the MOBA's I've dabbled with, Heroes might be the most game-changing, both in ease and accessibility, as well as just sheer difference in overall gameplay and mechanics. There's a lot here for both veteran and new players alike, and with a free-to-play model on launch, there will no doubt be a large influx of new challengers.
While we're still technically in a beta phase for the game, history with Blizzard betas show that we're pretty close to a final product, and show expect very few sweeping changes before release. So for those of you who will be entering the nexus fresh, I've got a few tips and breakdown of systems to help you get started.
Last episode of VGR for our 5th season. This'll make our 70th episode, and it also marks my last time on the show as a student. It'll be all up to Trey Fuquay to take over the driver's seat from here on out. We continue the saga that was paid mods for Skyrim, Konami's business choices continue to befuddle us, and we might even get a bit nostalgic up to the end.
Heroes of the Storm is currently in beta. Some things may change between now and release.
While League of
Legends (League) is not the first MOBA, it is possibly the most popular
one. So when trying to explain a new MOBA, it’s easier to explain how it is
like and not like League. Heroes of the Storm (HotS), understands this well. They took
the formula that made League the
dominant MOBA, skinned it in their own IP, glued some extra parts on, shaved
the corners off, and made it faster paced. If you have a team that can work
together, you can enjoy that faster-paced gameplay. If not, then you can get
steamrolled and listen to your teammates complain about it.
