Update: World of Warcraft, GW2, and Borderlands 2

This is just meant to be a quick update on what you can expect within the next few days on this blog. The first big one being my Borderlands 2 full review, I just need to sit down and put a few more hours into it before I feel comfortable giving it a full review. Another huge thing is some kind of World of Warcraft expansion article, now I don't have the expansion just yet, but I was in the beta, so I do feel like I know enough about it to talk about it.


Now the big thing I wanted to mention is my Guild Wars 2 content, I might make another post to just sort of throw out there and see what happens with it, but as for now it's sitting in a weird spot. Pre GW2 release my GW2 content was my highest viewed content, post GW2 release it's actually my lowest viewed stuff, so I don't know if it falls on me not marketing it well enough, or what, but yeah as for now I've gotten the impression that people just aren't that interested. So we shall see what happens with that.

Let's Talk About: Breaking into the Video Game Industry

So, as you all should know my eventual goal is to have a job in the video game industry, be it running a youtube account, running this blog, working for a game design company, anything would be fine by me really. However I just wanted to take this weeks entry of "Let's Talk About:" and really get into what breaking into this industry means on a larger scale.

First, I would say that anyone looking to get in has to have passion. You have to love video games. In fact, I would go as far to say that if you can see yourself doing anything else for a living, go do that. You'll make more money in the long term. Breaking into this industry takes time. It takes effort. You have to have an understanding of how the industry works, and you have to be okay with the fact that you won't be making bank. You have to be willing to work for free for a long time, and especially at first you have to be willing to have your dreams crushed. For example, when I first started this blog I was posting almost every day, I had a schedule that I was following, and I had looked into the basics of marketing and traffic generation. I was offered a writing position at a video game website, but the guy never got back to me about it. I was so happy when he offered me the position (even if it was an unpaid one) because it meant that I was moving up. When he never responded to my email where I said that I would take it, I was crushed. I took a break from writing in gerenal because "what was the point." Looking back, that was a mistake on my part, I should have just carried on with this blog. Besides a few posts here and there, I'm just now getting back into it, months later. I lost 2 months worth of potential progress and audience building because I let one little thing get to me.

The next thing I would say is to start small. You do not want to overload yourself right away. Right now, I have two things that I'm trying to do weekly, this, and "What's New". Any other posts are just random stuff that I want to talk about on top of that. This leads into something else as well, if your trying to do the whole "be your own boss" thing, you can not pull income from one source. For example, in January I am getting a better computer, when that happens I am going to expand onto Youtube, and potentially Twitch sometime after that. My goal is to eventually just stream on Twitch whenever I'm gaming period, and to run a weekly show on youtube similar to this article series. If I tried to take all of that on at once I would probably give up one or two days in, that is why I am taking baby steps until eventually I am there.

Now, I am no expert on this subject, but these are the tips I've picked up from listening to people that are already in the industry talk about it. These are the steps I'm following, and if I helped even one person, I'm happy I helped you.

What's New: Pandaria,Soccer, Angrybirds

Whats new this week in gaming? Every Tuesday I'll be writing about it!

First up we have World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria which actually released today on the PC and Mac. I'll probably be talking about that a little later on. That was the big release of the day, but along with that we have 2 soccer games. FIFA:2013 on everything imaginable, and Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 on the PC, 360 and PS3. We also see Angry Birds Trilogy on the 360, PS3, and 3DS, as much hate as Angry Birds gets it's still an addictive game, although I think I'd prefer to just play it on my phone when I have a spare minute or so, I don't know how well it would do on the consoles.

Other games include:

Tokyo Jungle - PS3
One Piece Pirate Warriors- PS3
Garshasp: Temple of the Dragon - PC
Dead or Alive 5- PS3, 360
Heart of Iron 3: Their Finest Hour - PC
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes - PC, PS3, 360
Final Fantasy 3- PSP
Castle Crashers- PC
Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy

Lets Talk About: Borderlands 2

So, I managed to pick up Borderlands 2 yesterday, and I want to talk about it for a moment. I will say this from the get go however, I am not very far into the game I just started playing this morning, and like all games that I play, I play very slowly, coupled with the fact that I'm taking the bit of time out to write this article about it. I've spent about 4 hours on it so far, so I do feel like I know whats up with the game.


I feel that it's lived up to the first games reputation, in the bit of time that I have played it, it's been fantastic. Every review site is giving it great reviews, and generally I've noticed that people are happy with it. I want to talk about why that is for a moment, and share a bit of my experience from the moment I popped the game in at 6 am this morning, until now. The first thing I noticed was that in general I didn't like the intro as much as the Borderlands 1 intro. My heart sank a bit, to be completely honest. I thought it was a sign of things to come. I thought, for a moment, that Borderlands 2 was just going to be another disappointing sequel.


I was glad to be proven wrong. So far, (and remember that I'm not very far) I have been blown away by this game. Whats even more impressive is that it's not much different then the first, and I'm still enjoying it. By that I mean, the UI, the art style, and the general gameplay are all pretty much the same as the first. What has me blown away thus far is that I actually can sense a story forming rather then just "Your looking for the Vault and a bunch of unknown people want you dead" They have a general antagonist, and a general plot this time around. It's still not the best, but I can feel it this time.


Anyway, be sure to check in, in the next few days as I beat the game and write my full review on it. I just wanted to write a bit about my initial experience and thoughts.

[Review] Guild Wars 2

Yes, I know that MMO reviews are crap, because what really matters is how long it can stand the test of time, but, I also know that a lot of people are looking into GW2 at the moment wondering if it's a game they would be interested in picking up. So here it goes!

I think that Guild Wars 2 is an amazing game, and is hands down the best MMO gameplay wise I've played. As many of you probably know, I started on MMO's with Runescape, and then moved on to WoW. In that time I also played a bit of GW1, and since then I've played almost every MMO to come out. The only two to hold my interest for years have been Runescape and World of Warcraft though. When I moved on from RS, and onto WoW, it was like, I knew that I was moving on to a better game (even though I had no idea about raiding, or endgame, or hell anything at that point in time.) I just knew that I liked that way WoW handled things better and that I was going to play it. This is how I feel about GW2.


Onto why I like it so much, (and soon, what I don't like). I like that the questing in GW2 doesn't focus around hubs, and is more "here's a world, go explore it". I like the way that generally all of the classes play (stay tuned because I will be writing class reviews, as I play them all extensively). I also like the dungeons, to a degree. I will be the first to admit that the few that I have done have been a pain, but then again, this is a new game, were all learning it, and we try to tackle the group content with 5 random strangers who are all new to the game at this point. Probably going to have some problems there. Once we figured it out, we were golden. Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention the thing that I like the most about GW2, no subscription fee. Play whenever, don't feel any obligation.


Some things that I dont like: you only have 5 character slots, but there's 8 classes. That means that without forking out money for new character slots you can't play every class. That annoys me, and I'm sure many others as well. Other then that, I will say that as much as Arena.net says that they worked on underwater combat, it's still not good (like any other MMO). I'm also a tiny bit worried about the endgame, and how Arena.net is going to handle adding new content to the game. So far, as far as I know, we havn't been given much info on that topic, so its a "wait and see" kind of thing.


A few things of note: vistas/waypoints/point of intertests/and map completion all add rewards to exploring the map. You get real rewards for exploring an area 100%. You get experience, and items. Another thing to note is that renown hearts are not there to be a main source of content. They are there to get people moving around the map, and to help people find dynamic events (which give so much more experience.) You can still level doing nothing but renown hearts, but it requires going to other maps to do it. As far as I can tell you are supposed to do a little of everything to level, which includes crafting, wvw, dynamic events, renown hearts, exploration, and generally just playing the game.

This has been my review of Guild Wars 2, remember, MMO reviews are not that great, because many different people play MMOs for different reasons. I just know that a lot of people have been asking about it, so I decided to write this. If I gave it a number I would say 8.5/10. It's a really fun, great game, but it does fall a bit short on a few points, so if your interested, I would give it a shot.

[Review] Blacklight: Retribution

Alright, time to get to the review I have been meaning to do for days now. Blacklight: Retribution, a free to play FPS.

I would like to start out by saying that I have not played to much of this game, but I feel I have played enough to give it an honest review. (about 10 hours). I do love this game, and I can find very little wrong with it. The only thing that jump out is that I am still watching there cash shop carefully for dreaded "pay to win" items, but generally it seems okay. The cash shop is on a rental system, and the prices are cheap (in both real money and in game money.) You can unlock anything for either, for a variety of time periods, including permanent. I like the system they have in place a lot, actually.

The game itself is really solid, it's basically a Halo meets Call of Duty, frantic, twitch based fps. Everything you could want from a free game. The game does have it's own features, one of which is, instead of a radar you get a vision mode that lets you see through walls for a short time. Another is mecs that you can pilot after  accumulating enough in game points from getting kills and assists. These points are different from the currency that you unlock things with. The game also feature a large variety of upgrades, and customization options for your guns, which is good for a game set up in this way. It adds a sense of progress to the game.

Also the game plays really really well. The controls are top notch, the art style is great, and there is really not much to hate on if your a fan of First person shooters. Personally I like the game better then Team Fortress 2 and Tribes: Ascend. Thats personal opinion though. Hell the only reason I have not played more of it is because I have been playing to much League of Legends lately.

Overall I would give the game a 9.5/10. This is only because there are a few shady things in the cash shop, and there are still FPS's that I personally prefer to it. It is an amazing game though, and if you like fps's you really should give it a try.

[General] Why I Think That Competitive Gaming Can Be Good For You

So, I had a thought on my personal blog just a little bit ago that I wanted to take a moment and expand on. The thought was:

I think that competitive gaming is good for ones being. It can teach you to be more confident, and assertive in your life. It can ease your doubts, and more importantly allows a means of relaxation.

I say this because of a few things, but lets looks at some in depth examples. Lets take a game of Starcraft for example first. In Starcraft you have to be able to react quickly. That's just a fact, you have to make on the fly decisions, and you have to be able to multitask. These are things that you naturally learn while trying to get better at the game. When the time comes, you have to make the decision to attack your opponent, and from experience when you are first starting out that can be a tough decision. You will lose matches because you didn't make decisions fast enough. You will lose matches because you didn't execute those decisions fast enough. It will suck, and you will lose. But eventually you will learn. And you will win. It can also help your concentration. One thing that you will notice is that the more focused you are, the more quickly you will execute your decisions and the more you will win. Because of the type of game Starcraft is, even 30 seconds of distraction can cost you the match.

Now lets look at League of Legends. The one big thing that I think most people will learn in League is how to work as a team, with minimal communication (because most people Solo que). It will teach you how to deal with jerks, and again how to focus. It will teach you how to separate good and bad decisions (should I chase my opponent down the lane and get the kill, or will I not get the kill making it not worth it.)

FPS's will teach you generally the same skills, with a little more focus on the quick thinking part. The more I look at it, I would say that all competitive games probably have life lessons you can take from them. This makes competitive games the best kind of games in my mind, because I like games that even after putting them down, your left a better, more reliable, human being. I like knowing that the more league I play I'm learning skills. I like knowing that Starcraft is making me a better decision maker. However the thing I like most of all, is that I love playing these games, just for fun. It's not like going to some decision making class, or something. It's learning these things in an environment that I like being in. I think that it's moments and thoughts such as these that will bring gaming into the public eye, and seen as a true hobby and not just something that "nerds" do.