Let's Play Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

More Xsplit testing ensues: this time, we're infiltrating Camp Omega on a solo sneaking mission.  Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes makes for a perfect short test of the streaming software, as well as serving double duty to catch people up before Phantom Pain next week.  I've put my fair share of practice into learning guard routes and slipping in undetected, so give it a watch if you're looking for some solid Big Boss action.

The Friday Wrap-Up 6/19/2015

Sure, they official press shows had some excellent announcements this year, but there was a host of spectacular videos and news that got overshadowed by the hypetrain.  Don't miss out on the best of these.

The Friday Wrap-up 5/22/2015

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.

Looking forward to 2015

Much has been said at various outlets about how satisfying a year 2014 was for the gamers and the industry as a whole.  While I'll wholeheartedly admit there was a lot of ugliness to be found last year (social issues, broken games, etc.), I tend to lean on the positive side for a lot of good releases as far as the year is concerned.  I don't think we've hit that sort of "next-gen" point that justifies the sale of new consoles and the like.  With perhaps the exception of Nintendo, the console scene doesn't have that first-parties don't have that "killer-app" the way something like Gears of War was when it hit the 360.

Guns with chainsaws: Apparently the high-water mark of gaming fidelity

I'm hopeful this gets turned around this year.  We have the odd sort of benefit of having a lot of games pushed back from 2014 into this year, leaving me hopeful that there will be even more to pick out.  So here is what I'm looking forward to seeing this year, as well as some wild speculation about what else could be down the road.

Best Game Soundtracks of 2014

Say what you will about the past year for gaming, it was pretty fantastic if you were looking for some tunes to jam to.  Helping to run VGR has more or less made it my job to find the best music in video games, and there's a huge variety to choose from this go round.  If you're looking for some OST's to buy, here's a few I'd recommend.

Honorable Mentions:

Payday 2

While the base game came out last year, Payday 2 has been getting more DLC than most games do, at a pretty regular rate as well.  Great if you were looking to prolong the game, but purchase wasn't even necessary for some, and new heists only required ownership to host.  Simon Viklund continues to put out awesome, pulse-pounding tracks to help set the mood whenever your heist goes loud.  The same trick of making the music rise and fall with the action has yet to get old, and can still give you a tactical edge in game, letting your crew prep when things are about to get dicey.  Another nice addition was the music selector in game, so if Evil Eye just won't stop playing in your head, or you want to pick something from Payday 1, you've got the option.

VGR 401

Season 4 of VGR starts now!  Myself, Trey, Ryan and Colleen ease into the new semester by giving our thoughts on the now past Gamescom, along with a few other stories we've plucked from the news cycle. Take a listen and stay tuned!

-=Download VGR 4.01=-

Sony Press Conference E3 2014 Review

You've...uh...got some dead person...on your...ok then...

FANCY DUAL REVIEW TECH IS GO

DJ and I managed to catch Sony’s press conference at the same time and figured we’d do a back and forth on their press conference as it happens.

KEVIN: This is how you start a press conference, an M-16s on Mars

DJ: Peter Dinklage sounds different

KEVIN: He was such a troll on IGN, check that out

DJ: I did, probably contractual obligations.

KEVIN: I’m just glad we are looking at something than Old Russia finally.  Looks like a lot of new stuff to see, trailer hounds will have a field day with this one.

DJ: 1 year ago, he obliterated Microsoft, well all of Sony did.

KEVIN: Andy da Brick House, also finally where is that Beta?  July 17th on sony stuff.  Lots of Betas today.

DJ: Beta is such a loose term in todays market. It’s a demo.

KEVIN: Psch, screw that, have a damn alpha!  Eat it other betas!

DJ: New ps4, It’s friggin pasty white. As white as milk on a paper plate in a snowstorm.