Thursday, August 13, 2015

Fallout Shelter







Our first mobile review (I think), and it's about one of my favorite series.

Fallout Shelter (going forward simply known as FS) is a Simulator have where you build your own Vault. As the Overseer, you must make sure everyone is happy, and keep that's at bay. This sounds easy, but as you may know, that's never threw case.

FS is overall a very simple game to pick up, but it will require a sharp mind to master. Like many Sims, you have resources, FS is no different. You have Food, Electricity, Water, Stimpaks (restores health to dwellers), and RadWay (removes radiation from dwellers).

As your Vault grows, you'll need more of the first three, and depending on how well you maintain your Vault, and how often you send dwellers in to the Wastes, you may need the latter two.

Failure to properly maintain Food, Water, and Electricity results in dwellers getting radiation poisoning (hello Mole Rat meat and toilet water), or other posts of the Vault shutting down. So make sure you keep an eye on your reserves.

So, you may think, "Oh, I'll just build Food/Water/Electricity generators and be fine." You'd be wrong, mostly. Each dweller has their own stats in the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck) system, if you're unfamiliar, just think of that as your basic stat system. Certain "buildings" require certain stats, for example, the Water Filtration systems require someone who has good Perception, the Kitchen requires Agility, etc. The higher the correlating stat, the better they perform.

"So", you ask, "Is that all you do, build a Vault?" To that I say nay. You also can send you dwellers to the Wastes to find gear and money (protip: a high Luck helps), equip your dweller with some armor and a weapon (or don't) and send them out. They will search the Wastes until you tell them to come back (protip 2: it takes them half the amount of tune to return, so if you have them out for an hour, it'll take 30 minutes to return).

Be careful, the Wastes are filled with dangers, on top of gear and money, your dweller can also earn EXP from killing the various inhabitants (which is why weapons and armor are suggested). As your dwellers level, they become stronger (protip 3: S.P.E.C.I.A.L. does not increase via leveling, just health).

Just in case you thought the Vault was a safe Haven, you will frequently be attacked by raiders, they generally go after your food storage first (at least in my game), so make sure you keep some dwellers armed.

As you gain more dwellers, either from other joining, or procreation (sex), you will gain more buildings, so check those out to see how many dwellers you need.

You are also given goals to achieve, these are small tasks that offer monetary or lunchboxes as rewards. The latter offers a handful of random items such as money, weapons, armor, or special dwellers (you can also buy them with real cash).

All in all, Fallout Shelter is a very interesting and fun way to waste time, and recommended for any fan of the series.


Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Resident Evil 2 Remake

Hello, it's been a long time since we've posted anything (thank you busy work and personal life), but we thought we'd make a quick post sharing the news.

RESIDENT EVIL 2 IS GETTING A REMAKE.

"You’ve been telling us for years that you want Resident Evil 2 to be remade,” said Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabyashi, “and we haven’t been able to make it happen...until now.”

Not much is known yet, but check out the announcement video and cream yourself.

 Resident Evil 2 Announcement 


Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Fallout 4 OFFICIAL Announcement

So if you haven't heard, Fallout 4 is happening, the Announcement Trailer was released earlier today (view it here: https://youtu.be/GE2BkLqMef4). Pretty much throwing the gaming community into a sudden episode of orgasms.

Not much is known as of know, other than it being a current gen only game (Xbox One, PS4, and PC), and we're expected to learn more in the upcoming E3 event.

You can pre-order the game on its website (http://www.fallout4.com).


Monday, June 1, 2015

Dark Echo

I don't think I've ever done a review of a mobile game, the reason for this is because so many are so similar. However, Dark Echo is different, it's a very unique game, and as a result, this review will be somewhat unique as well.


Story

There is none, besides reach the exit.


Graphics

Again, there really aren't any "graphics" in the traditional sense. It's mostly pure black with soundwaves acting as your visuals (see images in this review). White lines are your noise, blue is water, yellow are switches, and red are things that result in death.


Gameplay

The game is simple in practice, but difficult when you actually try to play. The first several levels act as a tutorial, teaching you the basics. After then though, you're required to use your brain to trick death, all while blind.

You can use environmental sounds (water droplets, frogs, flies, and other noises) or "bang" on the ground to generate noise and get a glimpse of your surrounding. However, doing so may alert hostile entities to your presence.


Controls

The controls, as of right now, are incredibly basic, simply use your finger to touch the screen and you move in that direction, tapping allows you to "sneak", generating less noise. I recently acquired a simple rock, which you can throw by swiping from your character to desired throwing location, so there may be more techniques I've yet to unlock.

Other

The game lets you replay chapters (which I'm not sure the number of at this time, there's at least 25 though), so you can play them as many times you you like.


Overall

Dark Echo is one of the most unique games I've played on a mobile device, using sound as the only way to visualize your environment.

9.0/10.0

Pros

- Unique play style
- Addicting
- Visually appealing


Cons

- Lack of visuals may be off-putting to some
- Some levels are either too easy, or too hard for their placement


Sunday, May 31, 2015

Resident Evil 0 Remastered

Following in the successful steps of Resident Evil HD Remastered, RE0 is now getting a much deserved re-release.

Not much is known yet, but there's a announcement video and a lone screenshot for you to drool over.

The re-release is slated for "some time" in 2016.

https://youtu.be/RRtJBaQ9tow


Thursday, May 28, 2015

June Games with Gold

Check out @majornelson's Tweet: https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/603954395307442176?s=09


Thursday, May 7, 2015

Achievement Unlocked: Sniper Duel

So I thought I might try something new, achievement walkthroughs, short ones with helpful tips to unlock tricky achievements.

For the first one, I've picked 'Sniper Duel' from Minecraft (X360 & XOne).


Kill a Skeleton with an arrow from more than 50 meters

Firstly, one block it's equal to 1 meter, so you'll need 50 blocks between you and the skeleton, at least. On Easy, it take up to 3-4 hits to kill an unarmored archer, so bring as many arrows as you can (and save before you start). 

Make sure you measure the 50 squares before, so you don't need to do so when Creepers, Zombies, and other enemies are out.



When I earned the achievement, I setup a pen to keep the skeleton from chasing me, as they usually do.



A small pen is fine, 2x2, 2x3, 2x2, and the last side should be open. Use fence posts like I did to trap the skeleton in, leaving it open lets you trap him easier.

When nightfalls, lure a skeleton to the pen and smack him in, quickly finish the fence, and he'll be trapped with no escape. >:)



You'll need to aim a good distance above the skeleton, 3 or 4 crosshairs worth. Keep trying until you kill him, and if you were 50 squares away, you'll get the achievement.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Game with Gold (May)

Normally I'd personally write this, giving scores and personal opinion on the GwG games, but I'm not feeling too well today, so I will post Major Nelson's blog entry instead.

Xbox Live Games with Gold for May 2015

"For the month of May, Xbox Live Gold members will receive three new free games on Xbox One and Xbox 360 as part of the Games with Gold program.

On Xbox One, Gold members can download CastleStorm: Definitive Edition ($14.99 ERP) for free during the month of May. Pool Nation FX ($13.99 ERP) is also being offered for an additional month.
   

On Xbox 360, starting Friday, May 1st, Mafia II ($19.99 ERP) will be free for Xbox Live Gold members through May 15th. 

Then on May 16th, Xbox Live Gold Members can download F1 2013 ($39.99 ERP) for free through May 31st."  


Monday, April 27, 2015

Silent Hills Officially CANCELLED



UPDATE #2: Konami has told Kotaku the following information:


Konami is committed to new Silent Hill titles, however the embryonic ‘Silent Hills’ project developed with Guillermo del Toro and featuring the likeness of Norman Reedus will not be continued.

In terms of Kojima and Del Toro being involved, discussions on future Silent Hill projects are currently underway, and please stay tuned for further announcements.



UPDATE: Norman Reedus has confirmed that the game is indeed cancelled via Twitter. It’s officially over.

So if you've not heard of "Silent Hills", it was set to be the next Silent Hill entry from Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear) and Guillermo Del Toro (famed horror producer), featuring Norman Redus (The Walking Dead's Daryl) as the main character. A Playable Teaser (named P.T.) was releases last year and blew gamers away with it creep factor.


Sadly, due to Kojima's contract expiring, and other issues, the game has been officially canned by Konami.

Silent Hills was set to release later this year, on the PS4 and possibly the Xbox One.


Friday, April 24, 2015

The Elder Scrolls Online Xbox One Beta

So I was fortunate enough to be invited by Bethesda to try out The Elder Scrolls Online, which as you can probably guess, is The Elder Scrolls but Online (shocking, right?). Since there's no NDA in place, and they actually encourage talking, I thought I'd share my opinions on the game, and maybe a video.

So first off, the game looks great, not shocking since this is The Elder Scrolls (TES), and next gen, but what surprised me was how smooth it ran, IN BETA, with superb graphics (no freezing, no bugs, no hiccups), this is tough for most games, including TES games in general (or Fallout games, from Bethesda as well). On the rare occasion, textures on people take a moment to load, but they do so very quickly when it does happen.

Load times are pretty good too, some areas load almost instantly (this is generally areas that connect to the main world like houses or camps that bring you to another area). Going from one large area to another takes a few seconds to load, still very impressive.

All script is voiced, so if a character says something, it's actually spoken another amazing achievement for a large game with lots of speaking. The VO's are also well done, with a little more variety (this seems to be Bethesda's kryptonite, they always use too few actors and It's apparent here more than ever).

Character design is amazing from what I've seen. I only made a Khajiit, but there are many skins for them, you can be a tiger, lion, leopard, jaguar, panther, and many other design types. A friend made a Redguard and they said there are many options for skin tone (to some degree, since Redguards are only African American), hairstyles and other vanity options.

Oh, you can make a character with a butt now too!!!! No more flat backsides.

You need to come in to the game with an Elder Scroll train of thought, most MMORPGs throw weapons and armor at you, this plays like TES, as you level, you'll find steel, dwarven, glass, dremora, and Dragon gear, like the solo games do.

Also, it may be because this is the beta, but don't expect to run into hundreds of people in the field, think of it as a multiplayer TES game, not an MMO TES game.

While I've only scratched the surface, this is proving to be a very fun game so far. I'm sure I've missed some things (such as dungeons), so fellow beta testers, feel free to comment and add your thoughts.


Wednesday, April 22, 2015

A Newbies Guide to Tanking (Neverwinter)

Playing a Tank in Neverwinter isn't quite like other MMORPG's, sadly (or maybe luckily, depending on your stance). I have learned some tips from Neverwinter forum user "dkcandy" that might help those new to NW's Tanking.

Threat is generated on a 1:1 ratio for both Healing & Damage and there are 2 types of threat generation mechanics:

Indirect - Healing
Direct - Damage to a specific creature

The biggest issue I have with holding threat is a result of the above, that from damage, and that from healing, are equal. Healers will generate hate on EVERY creature from a single heal, but you will only generate that for the creators you hit. This causes Healers to pull a lot of hate, easily and quickly.

Currently the Guardian Fighter class is the "Primary Tank" for Neverwinter (although Paladin is releasing soon on Xbox, and they'll likely be a primary candidate too) and we have several feats that help boost our threat generation but remember DPS (Damage Per Second) is the base of all threat generation. So if your DPS is low, so will your TPS (Threat Per Second). This is why DPS geared & built GFs have an easier time holding threat than defensive GFs.

Stats: Primary Strength, this allows you to inflict more DPS, and therefore, more TPS.


Feats: 

Tier 1: Strength Focus 3/3 - Increased Damage

Tier 3: Power Attack 5/5 - 10% Damage Increase

Tier 3: Potent Challenge 3/3 - 15% Threat Increase

Tier 4: Weapon Mastery 3/3 - 3% Crt Chance Increase


Paragon Paths:

Conqueror - My personal preference as you do a lot more damage, and damage equals threat. You'll be using Cleave to maintain threat on large number of creatures and great for holding aggro on single target/boss. 

Tactician - A friend of mine uses tactician and he spams daily's with this feat to hold aggro on large number of creatures and generates lots of threat.

Protector - Damage mitigation vs Damage output, following the above rule, you won't deal much damage, so not much TPS.


Powers:

Enforced Threat - AoE taunt for up to (5) targets and forces them to attack you for a short time frame.

Fighters Recovery - Must have for survival, tons of self healing

Enhanced Mark - +99% Threat Generation on marked targets - If you have threat issues a no brainier.

Threatening Rush - Marks all targets in a small AOE on target you melee hit. Great skill to use on trash and when tanking adds/boss.

Trample the Fallen + Battle Trample Feat - +25% Weapon Damage as threat + 25% Weapon Damage as physical Damage for 3 seconds after using a CC. (Many of the GF Powers trigger this)

Knight's Valor - A good skill to reduce the amount of damage your entire party is taking which also reduces the amount of healing your Cleric is down and reduces the amount of indirect threat the cleric is generating.


Leo's Guide to Not Being an Asshole (Neverwinter)

So you've picked up (or downloaded) Neverwinter and are eager to play, yeah? Well hold on there, buckaroo, I've got a few tips to make your game much more enjoyable (or at least, not come off as an asshole to other players).

1. As Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson said, "Know your role". If you decide to roll a healer, understand that you are a.... well, healer! You are responsible for making sure people stay topped up on health and don't die, a vital role.

DO'S of a Healer:

- Heal people, that's your number one job
- Buff people, boosted attack, defense, etc
- Remove debuffs, poison, slow, etc
- Use Sun Burst to scatter enemies when you or a non-Tank character are taking damage

DON'TS of a Healer:

- Play as a DPS ((Damage Per Second, they deal the most damage) unless everyone is topped up and doing fine)
- Run ahead of your Tank,
- Use Sun Burst when the Tank has aggro/hate on a Mob (group of enemies)


DO'S of a DPS:

- Beat the shit out of things
- Preferably, attack the same target as the Tank

DON'TS of a DPS:

- Run ahead of your Tank
- Pull the entire room, unless the Tank and Healer are fine with it


DO'S of a Tank:

- Grab adds (additional enemies, usually at a boss fight) when they spawn
- Hold aggro/hate

DON'TS of a Tank:

- Ignore adds, they WILL wreck your Healer


These are a few jobs each role has, you should learn yours and perform them. Failing to do so has a good chance of getting you removed from the dungeon, and that's no fun.


2. Don't pick up loot during combat. To be more precise, green or rarer loot, it has to be roled on, and to do so, an annoying pop up.... well, POPS UP. This is very annoying when in the middle of a fight, god help you if it's a boss fight. It won't get you kicked, but it is VERY annoying.

3. Don't be Needy, be Greedy. When you are in a group, you must role for rare loot, but there are three options, "Need", "Greed", and "Pass". I won't explain the last, it should be obvious, but "Need" and Greed" are important, and knowing when t pick one is also important.

"Need" means, "I NEED this, it's better than what I have."

"Greed" means, "I'd like this, I can use it for another character." Or if it's an "Unidentified Item, "This might be better than what I have, so I might need it."

You should really only pick "Need" if your character you're playing as can use it, not an alt.


4. Don't be a douche. Send an invite and get denied? Move on. Don't keep inviting, they aren't interested. Continually pestering someone will get you reported. Don't be a douche.

Don't spam chat with stupid crap. Don't be a douche.

Don't name your character "Big Wang". Don't be a douche.


These are 4 easy ways to be liked in the game, very easy guidelines.

Just don't be shocked when you discover no one actually DOES any of this. :)

Saturday, April 4, 2015

D&D: Neverwinter

D&D: Neverwinter is a free-to-play MMORPG that hopes to stuck you in with the promise of loot and adventure, but how does it fair?

Story

The story of Neverwinter sees your character washing up in Neverwinter after the ship he/she was aboard was destroyed by Dracolich (Dragon Lich), commanded by a Lich wizard named Valindra, who leads an assault against the troops of Neverwinter.

The player, after a brief tutorial, is then cast into the role of lone person with the ability to turn the tides of war.

Graphics

The graphics of Neverwinter are very good for a console MMORPG, but due to this and the large amounts of players, some areas can be very laggy, even causing timeouts when loading areas.

Gameplay in non city areas is generally smooth while maintaining good visuals.

Controls

The controls can take a bit adjusting to, the RT is your standard attack, while LT is a special attack, you can hotlink skills to X, Y, and B. Pressing the LB orbs another set of commands such as opening your inventory, chat log, and your 'Daily Skill' (despite the name, it can be used several times, you just need to charge it by performing certain actions).

There are several menus for you navigate, sometimes being cumbersome, changing tabs is done using the bumpers, changing within the tabs is done with triggers.

Audio

So far, the audio has been acceptable do far. There's not a whole lot of voice acting outside of quest briefing. So be prepared to read a bit.

Music is very middle age like (the setting IS such era), so drums, trumpets, stereotypical renaissance style are frequent in towns

Other

The game has many game modes for you to try, these include:

Domination - 5v5 PvP where you must capture and hold 3 points, while defending then from enemy players.

Skirmish - PvE gameplay where 5 players survive waves of enemies.

Dungeons - PvE gameplay where 5 players delve into a dungeon and face strong foes and bosses for rare loot.

Each of these modes grant unique currency that can be redeemed for high tier gear. They also grant an item called 'rough astral diamonds' upon certain conditions.

During the day, the game has events that give bonuses to certain modes (the current event is displayed on the outside screen, in the bottom right).

Completing a dungeon or skirmish when they're respective events are happening grant you aforementioned rough astral diamonds, these are converted to 'astral diamonds' automatically when you load up an area, but only a certain number per day. These are used to buy from the auction house, and many other vendors (think of then as a tier 2 currency along with PvP currency and other obtainable in game currency, gold/silver/bronze pieces being tier 1).

Then there's the tier 3 currency known as 'Zen'. You can earn Zen by redeeming several hundred astral diamonds, or with real cash. Obviously, Zen is need for the most powerful stuff.

As said earlier, this is a f2p game, so guys in charge try to do whatever they can to get you to buy stuff. One such example you see plenty of is an item 'Tyrannical Lockbox', these have a chance of doing a variety of items, the most sought after being the Epic and Legendary mounts. However to open these, you need to by keys, only purchasable with Zen. The chances of one of these mounts being in there, it's insanely small (.01% based on some people's math), you're better off not bothering.

If you want more than 2 characters, you'll also need to buy slots with Zen, so make sure you like your character.

Speaking of characters, there are several races to play as, including humans, dwarves, elves, half-elves, half-orcs, a dark elf, wood elf, and some devil looking creature. Each race has bonus stats.

There's also many classes such as, rogues, time wizards, clerics, guardians, fighters, and a few more I don't remember off the top of my head.

The game has so much to offer, it's hard to make sure I got everything. If I missed something substantial, please let me know.

Overall

This is a very fun and addictive game for those who love RPGs, I've not played much else on my Xbox One since I downloaded it.

8.0/10.0

Pros
- Large variety of classes and races
- Very nice graphics for a large, free game
- Most gear is obtainable in game without any real money spending
- Lots of quest variety

Cons
- Due to the size, and relative newness, there are lots of lag spikes and timeout

- Waiting for a dungeon can take a long time depending on the time you are on

- Tanking, and sometimes healing, are optical for dungeons, you can finish one without them

(images to be added at a later date)

Friday, March 27, 2015

World at Arms (Win 8)

Story

World at Arms (WoA) is the typical "Earth has fallen into chaos, the last pockets of resistance fight to seize control and restore sanity" style war game. In WoA, you play as a General (or something similar) in Americas suedo army, fight back invading forces and reclaim North America (so far, not sure if it goes any further yet).

Graphics

The graphics are about what is expected for a W8 styled game, they aren't mind blowing, yet they don't suck completely either.

Gameplay

Have you played any recent "build something and wait for it to finish, while doing so, collect taxes, and invade other players" type game? If so, it's almost exactly the game.

You pick something to build, higher tier buildings take more time to complete, some take a few minutes, others take a few hours, even days, to complete.

Buildings can be bought with in game coins earned from competing missions, collecting taxes from your buildings, and from attacking other players. These are basic buildings that offer standard credit.

There are also buildings to be bought with medals, the games rare tier currency which can be obtained from completing certain tasks or bought with real money. Obviously, these buildings offer better income, troops, etc.

After you've trained troops, you can engage in PvP (player vs player) combat, though it's really more PvP with AI controlled enemies. You don't directly face the other player, rather the AI picks the best troops to use based on their defense rating.

The game also features Alliances, which are groups of other players who fight other Alliances and earn various rewards depending on the event that is currently happening in game.

Variety

The game offers the typical variety of items, plus a bit more. Items gradually get better as you level, so you can go from earning 50 gold/min to earning 200 gold/5 min, as well as better troops and even vehicles, planes, and aquatic combat vehicles.

The game does have a rather unique resource that I've not yet encountered in other games, and that's Electricity. Electricity is needed to build buildings, but doesn't regenerate over time like other resources in similar games.

To gain more electricity, and therefore build more buildings, you must build more electricity generating buildings (electricity buildings don't need electricity, but other buildings do).

You can also place boosters, which are things like fences, statues, trees, and other small items to boost the account of electricity or money generated by certain %'ages.

Achievements

Most achievements will require some dedication, such as "Attacking 1,000 enemies", "Collect from your HQ X Times" and a few others, but aren't necessarily hard. So if you're liking for a quick 200/200GS, you should look elsewhere.

Overall

WoA is your typical "build and wait" game that offers very little in the terms of uniqueness when compared to the many other similar games out there today, but if you like these types of games, it should hold your interest for some time.

7.5/10.0

Thursday, March 26, 2015

April Games with Gold (2x)

So if you haven't heard, April marks a year of Games with Gold, and to celebrate, Microsoft is giving away 2x the Games, which means 2 Xbox One games and 4 Xbox 360 games.

I've haven't played ANY of them, so I can't say if any are good, I've heard good things about most of them, so be sure to download these when you can.

For the whole month, One owners can download Child of Light (avg. 85/100) and Pool Nation FX (too new to determine score).

From April 1st to the 15th, 360 owners can get Gears of War: Judgement (avg. 80/100)and Terraria (avg. 85/100).

The last half of the month, 360 owners can download Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (avg. 90/100) and Army of Two: Devils Cartel (avg. 55/100).

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Square Enix and Microsoft: Love Story, or Gang War?

So, if you haven't heard, FFXI will be closing its servers on the Xbox 360 March of next year (2016), this lead me to express interest in having FFXIV: A Realm Reborn (read the review?) released on the Xbox One.

"That'll never happen." You say.

Not so fast, I respond eagerly.

Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida was quoted saying the following at last year's (2014) E3:

"We really want to do an Xbox One version, as a big Xbox player myself.

The thing is, A Realm Reborn (ARR) is all about cross-platform compatibility. Anybody from any platform can play together. We don't want to split our community into people who play on this platform or play on that one.

So we're currently in talks with Microsoft, trying to convince them that this is what needs to happen."

So he's very eager to have ARR released on the One, and Microsoft HAS been developing quite the relationship with Square rather quickly the last few years. Ten years ago, did you ever think we'd have Final Fantasy or a Kingdom Hearts game on an Xbox console? I didn't.

Microsoft would be very stupid to shun Square, they have a large library of games and a large fanbase, the potential profit in it for both companies is quite high.

So while this doesn't mean a whole lot, it does mean that if it were up to Square, Xbox WOULD be getting ARR in the future, but that's up to Microsoft.

Microsoft has had experience with cross platform in the past, namely Shadowrun (X360 and PC).

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Getting the Most Out of Iron Banner

For anyone who's been playing Destiny for a decent amount of time, you've likely heard of Iron Banner and know how it works. For everyone else, this is for you. Iron Banner is an event that puts you against other players (much like Clash or Control), but with a small twist.

Your level and great matter like in Rumble.

The event only lasts a week and you can earn some event only gear by reaching Rank 5. Normally, this would be a simple matter of grinding from event to event, but in Iron Banner, your tank resets after each event, so you only get the week to hit Rank 5.

Luckily, you can equip a few things to earn more rep.

There are emblems, shaders, and class items to be bought at various ranks, these all increase the about of rep earned for the Iron Banner faction by 10% each, and there's another buff called "Tempering" that you can purchase for a Mote of Light that increase rep gain exponentially, increasing each day the event is active, however it last only 12 hours.

On top of those items and buff, if you lose, you gain a Medallion of Iron that will still give you partial rep that is automatically used after a win. You can only hold 5 at a time.

There are also event bounties that function the same way as the others do.

REP BONUS BREAKDOWN:

Class Item, Shader, Emblem - 10% increase in rep for each equipped.

Tempering - 10%, 15%, 25%, 40%, 60%, 100%, 150%, depending on consecutive days used.

Medallion of Iron - 40 rep each, 5 max for a total of 200 rep.

All rep bonus items (shaders, class items, etc) apply to Medallions and Bounties as well.

IRON BANNER RANKS & REWARDS:

RANK 1 - 100 EXP

Rewards:

Iron Banner Emblem, grants 10% rep bonus within Iron Banner while equipped

RANK 2 - 1200 EXP

Rewards:

Iron Banner Shader, grants 10% rep bonus within Iron Banner while equipped

RANK 3 - 2400 EXP

Rewards:

2 sets of armour pieces (light lvl 30)

RANK 4 - 2400 EXP

Rewards:

Weapon, 2 sets of armour pieces (light lvl 30), Iron Banner Class Item, grants 10% rep bonus within Iron Banner while equipped

RANK 5 - 2400 EXP

Rewards:

Weapon, Iron Banner Shader, grants 10% rep bonus within Iron Banner while equipped

Weapon and armour are not the same (USUALLY), so we won't know until the event what the Iron Banner vendor has for sale. You can see what he will allegedly have here.

There's also random loot you can obtain after a match like normal gear, so watch out for that.

If I missed anything, let me know. Otherwise, have fun out there next week, Guardian.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Extending your Controller Battery

I've seen posts recently about battery packs dying and people wondering how to extend their life, or just get more 'umph' out of them.

1. Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way, when not in use, turn off your controller. Not going to explain why, you should know.

2. Disconnect all accessories. Obviously, if you have a headset or key pad attached, they will drain power. Remove them if they aren't in use.

3. Turn off rumble. It doesn't offer much, and consumes power, turn it off.

4. If you use batteries vs a charge pack, use Lithium. These last between 5x and 7x times longer than alkaline batteries, the downside being they cost about $5 a battery, but again, you'll save in the end.

4A. Why not rechargeables, you ask? They don't last as long, as we established, but they also lose their capacity after awhile (this goes for charge packs too). You'll notice a much shorter charge after a few uses. They also can take hours to charge.

5. If you use rechargeables, replace them after a few months. Got the above reasons, they don't Kat forever and will charge less each time. Sirens the $20 for a new pack.

6. If you have extra you aren't using, refrigerate them. In high temps, or prolonged periods of no use, batteries lose their charge, you can slow that by cooling them. Batteries need to be room tenp before use, so allow them to warm up.

If you're looking for a good brand, check Energizer Advanced Lithium.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Microsoft Drops Annual Cost of LIVE

As you may know, LIVE can be quite pricy at $60 a year. Well, MS has dropped the price of an annual membership to $40, a $20 savings. This IS a sale, so it won't remain this way forever, however a representative at MS has said that "there is no end date."

So if you're looking for a deal, jump on this whole you can, which again, we have no idea how long that is.

One Year Xbox LIVE

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

March Games With Gold

Update: At this point, these will be next month's GwG. Look forward to them. :D

Original: First, this isn't 100% at the moment, so don't freak out if it ends up being different.

Xbox One

IDARB will continue to be free for those who haven't downloaded it, but as this IS a rumor at the moment, you may want to get it if you haven't. IDARB is an odd party spots style game that utilizes social networking, mainly Twitter, and incorporates tweets in-game.

Rayman Legend will also be free, this is the fifth game in the main series and has received critical acclaim with near perfect scores, averaging a 9/10. The lowest score this title received was an 83% (out of 100%, obviously), and that was on the VITA.

Xbox 360

Bioshock Infinite will be free for the first half of the month. Thus is the third installment of the Bioshock series, yet taking place in another version our dimension. Infinite features Detective Booker DeWitt who's been instructed to find a mysterious girl and return get to New York.

Bioshock Infinite also received critical acclaim, receiving several perfect scores and winning many awards, including "Game of the Year" in 2013.

Tomb Raider will be free the latter half of the month. It is considered a reboot of the series (although the only one I played was the first, I think, on the Playstation), it has also received many positive reviews, averaging a respectable 8.5/10.

The game is notable for its graphic display of violence, particularly that part when she gets impaled on the tree branch in the QTE-esque river part, and offering players many ways to complete an objective.

Again, this is just "word of mouth" right now, and we'll update this when we hear verification or not.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

New Zelda 3DS Title

Please note that this is just speculation, rumor, and personal desire.

So Majora's Mask came out last week, I've not yet bought my copy (hopefully I'll pick it up tomorrow, or I might start Mike Tyson'ing people), but that hasn't stopped me from looking forward to the next potential Zelda entry on our neat little handhelds.

In case you can't guess from the above image, many personal dream is that Twilight Princess will make the jump. I believe without a doubt that the system could handle the game, it's a damn powerful machine, really. This would put my top 3 Zelda games on one system, what's not to love?

No indication or solid word leads me to believe this will happen, but hell, I don't see why Nintendo wouldn't port it, it sold very well (actually THE BEST SELLING* with at least 8.5 million sales), and got critical acclaim (9.5, 9.5, 5/5, the LOWEST score it got was 8.8/10)

Why would Nintendo not want more money? If they have any business sense, it's a no brainer, and Nintendo is pretty good about heading their fans.

*according to vgsales

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Destiny Weekly Heroics Get Matchmaking

Normally I'd write my own piece on this, but IGN, for what THAT'S worth, has written something on it that has quotes and other hoopla.

I'll summarize it though.

Weekly will be mandatory matchmaking, no premade groups or soloing will be allowed.

This is due to numerous complaints that not enough people have access to the content (no friends.... that play), and that it's too easy with friends.

So yeah, how do you feel about that? I'm fine, I hate waiting for people on my FL to sign in, so I'll be able to do then more often and at my own pace.

Note, weekly is the only the affected, not Nights or Raids.

Weekly Heroics to Get Mandatory Matchmaking in Destiny Update

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Resident Evil Remastered

The rebirth of an undead plague that was brought back once before.... Our something.
Anyone who knows me knows I have a love/hate relationship with the Resident Evil series, I love what it used to be, but hate the newer entries as they deviate from what made it great. Obviously, if you read that, you likely know that I'll like this game, but let me breakdown the updates for you.


Story

You play as either Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield as you go on a seemingly innocent search for the lost Alpha team, but things turn to shit quickly, and the team must find a way to escape a mansion stocked to the brim with traps and tricks, monsters and other unspeakable terrors, all while searching for a means of escape and your lost team.


Gameplay

The gameplay is nearly exactly the same as the GameCube version, the static camera, the gutting controls, everything. That being said, new controls have been added to make our life easier, but we'll cover that in a bit.

It's hard to talk about sine of the features, as they can change depending on difficulty, and game mode. The typical playthrough though is a standard affair of puzzles and backtracking for items and keys, the usually for a Resident Evil game. Certain areas remain locked until you can acquire a key of some sort, and will require, you guessed it, backtracking.


Graphics

If you've played the GameCube version, you know what to expect, character models have been updated a bit, otherwise it remains unchanged. 

There's also the option to use widescreen vs traditional, if you opt in for widescreen, the game simply stretches the image to enable it.This makes parts of the screen to be cut off, but the camera pans to allow you to see everything correctly.


Controls

Are you familiar with the sucky tank controls? Where you had to stop, turn, then hold forward regardless of where you were facing? They are here. However, a modern scheme is here as well, more related to Resident Evil 4, you no longer hold forward to go left, no more stopping to change direction, but you still need to fight the camera occasionally.

The controls are generally similar to other entries on the Xbox, Y opens item box, Start takes you to options, the Triggers are used in attacking, etc. These can be changed around too, but I felt no need to mess with them.


Audio

Oh joy, audio. If you're familiar with the game and its history, you know about "Jill Sandwich" and sad Wesker, all things that I love, in fact, take 10 minutes and go watch this YouTube video.

Done? See how bad, yet hilarious it was? It's not THAT bad, but still could use work. Jill and Barry are a great on screen pair, but Jesus they have poor dialogue, you'll notice it, you'll hate it, you'll accept it.

Everyone else seems spot on, maybe a rare over-enthusiastic line, but it won't ruin the game.

The sounds were cut right from the GameCubes limited disc space. There's few variety in the sound effects, meaning that there are 4 or so different sounds for footsteps on wood, carpet, metal, etc.

Why FPS' Are Dead

Hello all, long time, no post!! But let's cut all that crap and get to the point.

So a friend and I were talking about our favorite genres of games and we came to a point where he said he loved FPS games, to which I replied, "You mean Call of Duty?"

His reaction was, "No." But is the basis of this post. First Person Shooters, are a dead genre. But why?

Well, name the most popular FPS series, if you come up with anything other than CoD, you're in denial. No FPS game can compete with the CoD series, the closest would be Halo, Gears of War, and maybe Killzone. Further proof, if you even NEED it, is that Guinness has given then the record for best selling FPS Series, they tend to do their homework.

I played Halo 4 a few months or so ago to try to mop up the remaining achievements (no go thanks to Hello Nurse! and other glitches), and there was less than 10,000 people on during late evening, which would be peak hours.

A few weeks ago I finished Titanfall, and the population for that was no better, despite it being a very fun game, it has mechs, what more do you need?

Yet CoD will easily have several hundred thousand, if not more, at any given time. Hell, even older entries are still bustling. I'm not saying it's a bad series, but they are starting to release yearly entries, all of which sell like water in the desert (i.e. very well), and very little innovation occurs after each year (the iPhone of games).

The game that is, at the moment, the second best FPS is likely Destiny, but I have to pull the numbers on that, I'll share those when I do.

But when a game is only popular for a few months after its release thanks to CoD, why should other companies try with their standard titles? If Destiny were just another single player game with traditional matchmaking, I guarantee it would be dead at this point.