My Recent Clash With Gamestop

If you follow my Twitter timeline closely you'll no doubt have seen me ranting & raving the other day about my recent pre-order issues with Gamestop. I had put down $20 ahead of release date thinking that it would secure me the "Black Armor Ed." upgrade that was so heavily advertised via Gamestop's official website, Twitter account, and emails up to this very month. Little did I know that my pre-order experience would turn into an all-out three ring circus though. I do realize that I may have blown things out of proportion in regards to the employees being at fault, but someone over at Gamestop was definitely not doing their job right. At this point in time I'm solely pointing my finger at Gamestop management for the blame as this is the second time I've pre-ordered from an employee who was ill-prepared to handle my pre-order properly. I feel as if someone in upper management is failing to properly educate, and inform employees about what to do in all situations.

Microsoft to Ban Campers

Recently during my browsing of my favorite Youtube channels I happened across a disturbing commentary by "ReviewTechUSA". In it the commentator stated that Microsoft's decision to ban gamers who camp in "Call of Duty" games was an "Awesome" move. His reasoning behind this was simply that he despised being killed off by campers. I think we can all agree that being killed off by campers in-game sucks, but at the same time I personally do not agree with his brand of thinking. There's ways around the "Camper" phenomenon, but there's no way to combat the immense amount of hacking that is the true threat to online CoD. Microsoft, and Sony both do not want to deal with the nagging complaints from gamers such as myself who constantly remind them that hacking is a prominent threat in online gaming. Not only do these corporate bigwigs want to pass the buck off to some other issue such as 'Camping", and ignore hacking altogether, but they are also ill-equipped to handle the ever-growing issue that is hacking.

Basement Crawl (PS4)

When this game first came into the spotlight Bloober Team teased at it's more mature nature with an excellently crafted CG trailer. As a horror movie enthusiast I got excited, and briefly fell in love with the innocent yet nightmarish look of the toys, and characters involved in the cinematic teaser. The voice acting was as eerie as the post-apocalyptic look of the environment in which the game's main female character resided in making me want to see even more. To me it hinted at a possible plot, and a possible singleplayer experience. Unfortunately when I got my hands on the game I realized two very disappointing things. The first being the fact that the multiplayer offerings which were what the game was all about were busted, and secondly that the game gave little in the way of plot material, or control explanations.

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (PS4)

If you grew up as a young lad during the PSOne era of gaming you'll no doubt have spent some quality time getting acquainted with Miss Lara Croft's naughty physique, and her noteworthy archaeological  adventures. Prior to the release of the original Tomb Raider series no one in game development had ever touched base on such an adventure as the ones Lara Croft embarked on. Not only was she the female version of the well known "Indiana Jones", but she was more badass than he ever was. This gun toting hottie put away many historic, and prehistoric threats during her treasure seeking days, and always walked away to tell the tale. From a guys standpoint Lara was the video game epitome of sexy. She was a virtual goddess that captured the attention of many like minded guy gamers. I for one fell for her unreal beauty, and even once attempted to make a bogus nude code work. By the way, thank you friend for bursting my bubble with that one. You know who you are ...

Muramasa Rebirth (PS VITA)

Out of all the gaming gems that Vanillaware, and George Kamitani have released "Muramasa: The Demon Blades" was, without a doubt my all-time favorite action-rpg from them. It was one of the first games that I pre-ordered, and was one of the first Wii games to draw in my undivided attention indefinitely. I played the game through completely creating all 108 Demon Blades, finishing both character stories, and both difficulty settings. It was a video game adventure I don't think I'll ever forget.

Recently, being the rather fortunate journalist that I am I was able to secure a code for the PS Vita re-launch of the original game. Appropriately titled "Muramasa Rebirth" the game not only presented an HD visual overhaul making it look worlds better than before, but it also offered additional DLC enabling the player to experience the game through four new character perspectives. While only two batches of DLC are out at this time you can rest assured Aksys Games will follow through with the final two intended DLC releases. Aside from the DLC additions you'll find that the enhanced gameplay was presented in a more fluid manner than before with more responsive controls, and spot on features that matched what the massive Wii version had in store. This handheld version of the classic tale will no doubt come off as being the definitive version of the two as a result.