Thanksgiving 2014

Today is Thanksgiving for all of us American folk. Contrary to popular belief it's a day about giving thanks. As far as I'm concerned I definitely have a lot to be thankful for. First, and foremost I want to thank all of you, my readers for your return visits, and continued support throughout these past years. You have been a true blessing to me. Without you my blog would not be a thing. I would not have been able to share my thoughts, and opinions on the many games I have been privileged to review. I'm also very thankful that I've been able to continue supporting my gaming hobby as times are tough money-wise for me, and many people around the world. It's one luxury I don't want to lose as it draws me closer to the lot of you. I've never really had friends in my grown-up life, and to be able to share friendly conversations with the people I like, even if it is about gaming is a gift in itself. For that I'm thankful.

Zen Pinball 2 - "Core Set" (PS3/PS4/PS VITA)

For those of you who are unaware of it this particular Zen Pinball 2 set was originally available for Zen Pinball, and the Xbox 360 counterpart Pinball FX. It cost the gamer $9.99 to purchase, and included a total of four tables. These tables were 'Secrets of the Deep', 'BioLab', 'Pasha', and 'Rome'. Unlike most recently released Zen Pinball 2 tables these tables included were all about the challenge, and were designed with mostly low point values in place as well as table structures that were geared towards the more professional players. Some of the tables like 'Secrets of the Deep', and 'Pasha' had multiple playing fields for a wide variety of different scoring opportunities. Tables such as 'Rome', however were geared solely around speed play, and would test the players mettle through their ability to keep the ball going at a steady, but fast pace. Out of all the tables of the set though I do have to admit that the quirky, and fun loving 'BioLab' was the easiest to score on, and had the greatest available point values of all four tables. Like the other tables though keeping the pinball going, and from reaching an out of bounds state was trying enough in it's own right.

Game Developers, Half-Assed Releases & What To Do About the Issue

Okay. So, this is going to be a slight rant. It's directed solely at game developers, and content creators ...

We all know as gamers that everything from video games to patches/updates have been being botched, and released regardless of their unsatisfactory condition. This has got to stop. What it all boils down to is pure laziness, a lack of commitment to the product, and a lack of willingness to supply the funds needed to make things right. If you are going to make a game set in an online environment, or even an offline game it is imperative that you get things right from the start, and that you work out all the kinks before it hits shelves. There's no if's, and's, or butt's (I typed it that way on purpose) about it. If you are not willing to fund a team who can get such a job done then you do not need to be releasing the game, or patch in the first place. While I could point fingers, and call names all day I'm going to go a different route, and offer up a viable suggestion that will help get the development process back on the right track, and no it does not require more money to do ...

Never Alone (PS4)

Video games in general are usually crafted wholly from the developer's imagination with sometimes subtle hints of various mythologies, or man-made fictions included. Most games, again in general, are derived from fictitious stories about unreal places, and persons or beings who have no standing in our reality whatsoever. The hero's, heroine's, and even anti-hero's feats are merely put into place for entertainment purposes. Nothing is really relative in that sense, and only serves to impress it's audience on an escapist's level. As I've said many times before gaming is often times an escape from reality for most of us gamers. It helps us escape the bad, or trying times in our lives, and in doing so gives us a much needed break in a fantasy world that is unlike our own. While this sort of entertainment based fiction is, in it's own right a story that mimics life such tales of heroism, and feats of prowess never really serve a point beyond their entertainment values. While this would seem like the norm to a lot of us gamers, and readers it still pales in comparison to the tales of old that are passed down through generation after generation in order to keep a culture's beliefs, and traditions alive.

Blog Update Nov. 15, 2014

It's been a few days since my last post as you can probably tell. The games for review are becoming scarcer as the year comes to a close. Most of the retail games are already spoken for, and only a handful of indie arcade style games remain for bloggers such as myself. Not that that's a problem though. I do love a good indie, and have found out through my four years of work that some indies are far greater than any "Triple A" title will ever be. As we've all likely learned this year retail developers really seem to be caught up in a pattern of dropping the ball when it comes to a proper release. The latest 'Call of Duty' was a mess as was the equally anticipated release of Ubisoft's 'Assassin's Creed Unity'. I think a lot of us, including myself figured that out a wee bit too late. The sad, and unfortunate thing about this is that it hurts the consumers' confidence in the industry's offerings, and in turn hurts the industry as a whole. It makes loyal gamers begin to second guess everything from journalistic opinions to the biased advertisements that are released by developers, and PR. You've all likely seen cases of each if you frequent Twitter as I often do.