Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds Overdrive (PS4)

Back in early April of 2013 Mages, and their publisher 5pb released onto the Xbox 360 XBLA library a substitute game for a planned Phantom Breaker 2D fighter. This unsuspected yet brilliantly delivered anime beat 'em up that was "Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds" ended up surprising even me. It turned out to be a game that incorporated deeply involved fighting game elements into a "Streets of Rage" style brawler. It could be played solo, or in the company of friends as a co-op, or competitive game making it all the more intriguing. There was both local, and network play included in the affordable retail cost. The art style that accompanied said gaming experience was of a cutesy chibi-anime design, and was done up in a way that utilized pixels for character builds. One might think that such an odd combination of features would screw with the game's intended quality, but in the end it was the perfect genre blend. When 5pb announced the release of an upgraded version of the same game for the PS4 earlier this year I was once again excited to take that trip down memory lane, and see what changes, if any had taken hold of the original experience. To my dismay I did not notice any real changes other than the inclusion of a former DLC character, and some possible tweaks to the character management system, and modes. Regardless of these possible basic improvements, and the lack of truly new content I still had a blast playing through the game. It definitely lived up to the asking price, and it's former glory.

Youtube Culture, Gaming, and the Entertainment Industry

Diving right in ... I've noticed, since my own Youtube channel's debut in 2008 that things slowly but surely began to effect various things in the world of social media, and entertainment. Youtube started on a harmless note with comedic videos, and videos of the homemade sort meant to entertain those newcomers who would dare invest time out of their day to view what the content provider had to offer. Eventually when money making aspects reared their ugly head alongside other harmful trends Youtube, and the accompanying social media outlets took the internet invention on a downhill spiral that it will likely never recover from. Everyone, and their mother was out to get their time in the spotlight. Everyone was looking to make the big bucks even if it meant forsaking their morals as entertainment enthusiasts. Things like "Trolling", and "Griefing" became popular. As sexist as it may sound sexy gamers also became a popular thing. To this day there are tons of copycat channels providing like-minded content of the worst sort to their subscriber fan base in hopes of reaping that PewDiePie fame, and fortune. Let's jump aboard that trend train kiddies! Choo! Choo! ...

Weekend Blog Log (July 26, 2015)

For those of you who have followed me this past week on Twitter you'll know that I had a sort of emotional meltdown. For the first time in a long time I had hit rock bottom in my life, and openly so. I think it was a combination of things building up to that point, and not particularly one simple thing. My life is chaos. I endure family drama on a daily basis, and life in general has begun to collapse around me. When a certain friend started making judgmental tweets indirectly about something I had tweeted earlier it sent me even further over the deep end. I felt bad for having lost her friendship, but at the same time knew the ties must be broken. What you have to understand is that I go to Twitter for an escape. Each time I log in I look forward to the positive things my friends have to say whether it's game related, or whatever. For a long time gaming had been that escape for me, but with the quality of online gaming, and gaming in general going downhill I can no longer depend on that hobby to brighten my day. Twitter has once again become my last hope at happiness. Even that is suffering from drama though.

Destiny - "A Reflection, A Farewell"

This morning, out of sheer curiosity I logged into to Destiny on the PS4 just to see what Xur was selling. It's like a bad habit now. Regardless of the nature of this routine addiction I played through two weekly heroics with my Hunter, and Titan to get the strange coins I needed to buy whatever it was that Xur had in stock. The weekly heroic playthroughs went by fairly quickly, and smoothly on the level 32 difficulty setting, mostly thanks to void burn damage. As usual I was rewarded with 9 strange coins in each playthrough, and went to spend said tokens on Xur's stash. I should also note that someone at Bungie gifted my Titan 9 extra strange coins, possibly because I complained about the state of Destiny this morning. It didn't say it was from Bungie, but the tagline "gift from an unknown benefactor" pretty much stated the obvious. When I finally found Xur near the 'New Monarchy" vendor in the Tower (At the large sealed door) I discovered that he was peddling the same damn crap he always does. It's SSDD at it's worst. Regardless I nabbed some exotic chest armor for my Titan, and a pair of exotic gauntlets for my Hunter. Both of which will not likely be of any use for my preferred play style. As I went about my morning Destiny biz doing all of this some thoughts came to mind. Particularly about the current state of the game, and what it used to mean to me ...

God of War III Remastered (PS4)

The 'God of War' series, for me has been a truly exciting journey through makeshift mythology. While it doesn't exactly stay true to it's Greek origin stories it does give us history buffs plenty to enjoy as we help the protagonist, 'Kratos' exact his revenge, and tear the foundations of Olympus asunder. The combo based gameplay, and brutally unforgiving boss battles help to set the proper mood for this story of vengeance, and and the Spartan soldier who was done wrong. In the beginning (aka, "God of War") we learn of Kratos being tricked into killing his beloved wife, and daughter by the Gods themselves. This act of betrayal sets into motion the ultimate fall of Ares, the original "God of War". After Ares is slain in the first game Kratos assumes his place, and identity amongst the Gods of Olympus. Not satisfied with Are's fall though Kratos takes his war mongering through the Olympian hierarchy, and sets his sight on Zeus who was the mastermind behind his betrayal. He ends up nearly defeating Zeus only to kill Athena instead. Of course Zeus retreats, and Kratos pursues him up Mount Olympus with the aid of Gaia, and the Titans who have been trying to get at Zeus themselves. Thus enters the third portion of the ongoing 'God of War' saga ...

Weekend Blog Log (July 19, 2015)

Here we are at the final day of the weekend. It is Sunday, and so far my weekend off has been a mixture of grief, and fun. I have been gaming with my friend @Bitch_Duck_ in Destiny lately, and have been enjoying our online time together. We each hail from similar life circumstances, and find comfort in chatting with each other as we game. It's a nice distraction being able to talk to her as we play. I can't say I'm enjoying Destiny too much, but being alongside her in it makes things more tolerable. In the way of family strife my Grandmother continues to worry about every little thing. She worries to a point it's consuming every moment of her daily life. Often times she says she'd be better off dead, and living life the way she does I could see myself feeling a similar way. The only advice I can offer people like her who constantly dwell on the negative things is that you're life will only be miserable so long as you continue to dwell on things that make it so. Find hope, and positivity even if it is in the simplest of pleasures. Life is only worth living if you can set goals, find hope in a better tomorrow, and strive to make the most of the time that you are given. Don't become set in your ways. Don't become satisfied with merely passing time, and hoping for an end to your misery. The only way you are going to dig yourself out of that abysmal hole that you're in is to make an effort to do so.