H1Z1, Shit talking Simulator

So I have played the new H1Z1 game for about 30 hours and I wanted to share what I thought about the game.  Now some things to cover from the get go, is that I know that the game is in Alpha, and they still have a lot of features to add, this is just my impression of the game as it is now, and what I would expect from it in the future.

So first thing that I expect from this game is that eventually they will put fucking zombies in it, I swear to God, I have died to bears more than any other PvE element in the game.  Honestly its like the devs were making a survival game and were like meh, put some zombies in it.  The zombie aspect I feel is an attempt to cash in on the fad that is going on, and really will be dying soon as I see it.  I mean even for an alpha game there is a serious lack of zombie involvement, that's what the damn game is focused around.  I want to see zombies locked inside houses, cars, caravans, roaming bands of zombies, zombie infested cities.

The zombies you expect

Right now the only thing that needs to be taken out are sniper rifles, I could deal with everything else in the game but sniper rifles are the salt lick for COD squeakers.  I have never like sniper rifles in games except for like strictly PvE, just sucks all the fun out of a game for me.

The zombies you get

The shit talking in the game is Excellent by the way, lol.  That has been on of the best parts for my friends and I.  My favorite shit talkers are from people who English is obviously a second language, you can hear such things as muda bitch, fuck shit, and other colorful slurs.  This is all very entertaining.

I haven't participated in an Air drops yet, and from my understanding these can only be done on highly populated servers.  They cost $4.99, and are guaranteed to become a cluster fuck.  The air drop basically alerts everyone playing, and draws them in for a big fight over the goods inside.  Which is cool, just not my cup of tea, if I pay for something i better get it.

This game has a very, very long way to go.  Right now it feels like just an arena game with a small map. I have best hopes for it but right now I see it kind of fading into the background.

Nintendo, dick move

So Nintendo announced today the Let's Play and Youtube partnership program they deemed the "Nintendo Creators Program" .  Basically you have to have a Paypal account and a Google+ account, register with Nintendo agree to all the T&C's and you can start the actual game playing process.

You can register individual videos or entire channels, the revenue share is 60% for an individual video, and 70% for an entire channel, which i think is pretty fair.  I have no problem with those shares they doesn't irk me in the least, what comes next though, should get the response of "are you serious?".

First off it can take up to 72 hours for your video to be "reviewed" and approved, and I have a feeling that if video is used for a review, and shows the game in an unkind light, how much you wanna bet the video will be denied?

Also there is only about ten games for each system they will allow you to video, wich of course are Nintendo's flagships.  Games like Zelda, Mario. Kart, Donkey Kong, but seriously there Is only ten from the new WiiU system that can be used.  I'm sore that's just fine with Nintendo since a majority of their games look and play like shit.

They should have just left this shit alone, and not over complicated things, dick move. Nintendo.

Windows Hololens..Fap Fap Fap

If you have not heard of the new Windows Hololens device, then you must be under a rock somewhere. This device is so fucking cool. This contraption that you wear on your face basically is an Augmented Reality device, it displays images on the glass in front of your eyes, to make it appear that the images are holograms. This thing works with Windows 10, it has retina location software, voice recognition, all kinds of cool things. From what they have shown in the Youtube videos, there is a lot of application for what I would consider to be Professional use, 3d design, modeling etc.

 The items they show for personal use, like the Netflix, Skype, etc look really cool but I can see the limitations like the Skype you can see them but they cant see you presumably and that was the whole point of Skype. They have a Minecraft type game that overlays your furniture and seems like it interacts with your environment, make a waterfall run off the coffee table for example. I really think this device is cool, but people have already said that if you wear glasses it is really uncomfortable, and when watching people demonstrate the device the hand gestures and voice commands seem like they have to be so deliberate, that is kind of a turn off to me. I want to be able to play my PC games in a new way that really pulls me in, I want to watch Netflix on a crazy huge virtual screen before my eyes, I believe that I will have to strap one of these bad boys to my face to really fall in love with it. Hololens is a cool device, and is going in the right direction.

 On another note this guy(Alex) Microsoft got to narrate the demonstration has to be the strangest little man I have seen in some time it seems that he really has a hard time with public speaking, his voice constantly cracks like a teen boy, and his interaction with the demonstrator is really disingenuous, he just sounds fake, like when he says "OOO i like it" in response to something the demonstrator says, sounds really fake.

Demo Video Funny Voice Crack 2:03

People are saying Oct 2015 for release, and guesses are ranging from $500-$1000 for price point.  We shall see.

Nvidia I'm Sorry, you're awesome, I'm a twat

So a few months ago, I wrote a blog post that was quite possibly the best hatchet job with the least amount of information available about the Nvidia Shield Portable.  At the time of the posting I had a friend who had actually held one of these contraptions, and he repeatedly told me "John, if you had one you would love it." With denial seething through me, this pretty much sums up what I had said about it.

"The initial price on this contraption was $299, If you show me someone that paid this, I would slap them, price cut down to $249, you bought this, I would cuss you in the street, now it is down to $199 you bought this I would awkwardly avoid your phone calls.  This is just not worth it! (Original price before release was $349) ."

I am happy to say that after above mentioned friend gifted this item to me very generously at Christmas, either out of a deep caring and mutually felt internal bromance, or that once he had it in my hands he knew that I would have to first eat fucking massive amounts of crow, then slap myself, then cuss my self, and awkwardly avoid phone calls from myself.  He also kindly reminded me to update my blog about the Nvidia Shield, savoring the moments for when I hit publish.
HIDE/SHOW

I really don't know where to start, "Grid" gaming comes on the Shield this is like the Netflix of PC games, Borderlands 2, Batman, and about 30 other games are available to play from the Grid service, right now this is free, but in June 2015 Nvidia will start charging for the service, interested to see the price point on this.  While streaming from the Grid I have noticed almost no delay, or stuttering in game play, and what I did experience was most likely due to my WiFi signal strength.

Streaming from my PC while took some troubleshooting and downloading the BETA of the Grid app, is absolutely amazing, I am playing Shadows of Mordor on the couch.  I no longer have to lock myself in the back room strapped to my computer desk, it is just bad ass.  I keep looking through my game collection to see what to load up on my comp, so i can play them again.

When I get home this thing doesn't leave my side, maybe it was the price point I was hating on, or some hate that I have developed for Micro-Android consoles.  The Nvidia Shield Portable, is powerful, accessible, and an absolute pleasure to play. In closing this is a really cool device, and I feel is a must have for pc gamers.

Team Fortress 2 Mayhem

On a recommendation from a friend, I decided to download Team Fortress 2.  This is a Multi-player shooter, where a player can choose from a multitude of servers ranging from Minecraft style arenas to Shopping malls with wrestling rinks in the middle to battle out objectives or just death match till you cry for a power failure to stop the madness.  There is also a spread of characters for the choosing ranging from Pyro, who sprays enemies with a lethal plume of fiery goodness, to the Medic, who will keep his companions alive with Uber charged healing.

If you choose to watch the 20 minute video above it is pretty entertaining, personally favorites are the Pyro intro, and the Black Scottish Demolition man, who recognizes his own rarity, lol.  The video above goes through all the character classes that are available in the game. The game play is very fast, and un-rewarding for beginners, for me at least, in the first 15 minutes I was ready to uninstall.  But that is mostly because I hate to lose, and I was losing a lot, after switching to medic I started to find my groove, if I cant be a killer ill be a healer. 

You really have to give this game a bit of time to get acclimated to the explosions and death surrounding you. I liked the game, after I found my niche and started playing with a friend,  Cool game but will not have a permanent home on my hard drive.

Coin Wallet, I don't even know what I've Backed now

So just got a message that My Coin, the device that promised to replace all the plastic in my wallet with one simple device, is not going to be scheduled until Fall of 2015, buh.

 This is the first push back of the release date that I know of, and isn't that bad, but the thing I don't understand know is that when my wife sent $50 bucks to the Kickstarter campaign, I was looking for a finished device, but from my understanding that now only for the BETA version of the device, and I was going to have to buy the actual finished product at full price? Now since the ship dates have been blown, i get this apology email, which is all fine and dandy.

 Updated* Now if you opt into the BETA program you will get the finished product at no cost to you, when it finally ships which is God knows when, and this small article isn't just bitching about COIN, though it seems that after some backlash, they decided to actually do the right thing and pucker up for what will be the longest ass kissing any of them has ever had to endure; but more so of a cautionary tell of Backer, crowd funding, etc. 

Look at any type of backing of a company as a donation, if you are not comfortable giving your cash to these start ups,then please don't.  "This shit" as a friend told me "Is the Wild West, we are entering a new age of how companies get funded, and it is bringing some power back to the people."  Backing a project is fun and exciting, more and more people are going to Kickstarter, crowd funding, etc to get their ideas off the ground, but just be weary, there are more people that would be just interested in taking your money and running.

Ducky Diapers Would you Back this Project?

Beta Brigade: Zombie Monster Robots

New game is coming out, its called Zombie Monster Robots, I have been playing the Closed Beta for a couple of days now and here are some thoughts.

First of all this game is an FPS, the controls are very simple following the traditional WASD for movement, Mouse for Aim, 1234 to change weapons, space bar for duck/cover application as well as dash, jump from cover.  E is used to use an item, and F for Grenade.  This game can be played in two styles PvP or PvE.  You can group up with random people or bring your clan to the battle in either PvP or PvE.  Match lobbies are numerous and if you are soloing you can always find a place to go, or just simply create your own match and wait for folks to join in.

HIDE/SHOW

Matches
The matches are fun, seriously fun.  I really have been enjoying this game.  Don't get me wrong there are some downsides, and Ill get to those in a bit; but being able to log in grab a match and pound out your enemies in 20-30 minutes matches is something that fits into my lifestyle perfectly. The maps all look good, plenty of natural obstructions to hide behind use for cover etc.

Baddies
The enemies in PvE can be tough, and once you played a time or two you start to recognize which baddies require a sense of urgency (Warmonger) and which you can just mow down.  Now with this being said, I have played one Hard mode in PvE and while I am sure my skill have improved since then, but I got owned by the baddies rather quickly.  An in-experienced group in Normal mode will still get wiped from time to time, so this game will challenge you in your FPS skills.  Speaking of being wiped you can revive falling comrades by moving to their location and holding space bar, if you actually die, you or teammates can revive you by using 1up tokens earned through the reward system.

I have not delved into the world of PvP as of yet, but for the sake of experiencing what the game is like I postponed being called a newb, and having my face peeled Back by automatic gun fire.

Loadouts and Extras
There are all kinds of Guns, Side Arms, Bats, knives that you can outfit onto your char.  You can purchase additional space on your char so that additional can be carried, as well as opening more locker space (Bank) to hold more personal inventory.  This can be done in one or another, by using in game gold earned during matches or by purchasing EMP with actual money.  One of the things I dislike is the purchasing system you can buy guns, mods etc with in game gold for 1-day, 3-day, 7-day increments.  After the days are up you have to re purchase the item.  This is annoying.  There are some items that can be purchased permanently but you have to spend actually money on these items, this seems to fit into the Micro-Transactions the gaming industry has grown so fond of, I understand these folks have to make money but by god, in ZMR the shop menu is almost overwhelming, with all the different ways you can purchase items, VIP cards, blue cards, and a ton of other options.

All and all the game is pretty fun, I would see playing this game for an extended amount of time being hard if you don't group up with friends or join a clan, maps get a little repetitious, I am sure they will expand on this after the BETA. The game is worth a download.