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Jack & Rich Review Current Gaming Craze Rocket League

Rocket League is a game I first heard about from Indie Developers at PIGSquad talking about a game they were having a hell of a lot of fun playing. It's a simple premise you never expect to work which is to say, cars playing soccer with added rocket boosting. At 18k reviews that are "Very Positive" on Steam, Rocket League looks like something we'd all have a blast playing.

Drop your experiences with Rocket League in the comments or let me know why you haven't picked this up yet? Do you plan to? Or does the idea of rocket car soccer not impress?

Doom SnapMap Looks To Be One Of The Games Coolest Features

Bethesda is pushing the new Doom demon-train hard as they continue to talk about features of the upcoming triple A "demon murder simulator." SnapMap is my most anticipated part of the game as it highlights what I think is a current void in modern shooters. It was very simple back in the DOS based Wolfenstein and Doom days to create a map and share it with your friends. In the modern age of Call of Duty and Far Cry these features have been lost in favor of multiple map DLC packs and very focused multiplayer modes. Doom aims to break with this and take us back to provide players with a great tool to build maps and share them with each other across consoles and PC.

As... Read All

Now Billionaire Minecraft Creator Feels Isolated

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Minecraft was obviously a huge hit, it's still extremely popular and a work in progress. However, things have changed a bit for the creators of Minecraft, since Mojang was sold to Microsoft for a couple billion dollars. Markus "Notch" Persson recently tweeted about how he now feels more isolated and lonely than every before, proving that money doesn't necessarily buy happiness.

I do honestly feel sorry for him a bit. I watched the documentary, so I understand his story. He was a guy that just decided to make a game and it became a huge blockbuster which really shocked him. Instead of getting super excited about it, he retracted and decided to get away from the game and... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 09/03/2015 at 03:21am

I've heard it's lonely at the top. I don't know if that's true from personal experience, but all us bottom dwellers might want some personal time up there to find out for ourselves. /rimshot

I think if I had a ton of money I could turn into a total douche wad. I kind of skirt around being a proper asshole and a lovable one so I think a few bucks more would make me go "full douche-tard."

That said, i'd never turn it down and would welcome wealth. Because, you know, who wouldn't? But that's a dumb way to look at it as it this wasn't just hoisted on him unwittingly. He had a few choices in the matter.

That said, I don't really feel bad for him or take joy in this. It's more like a "huh, well I guess that could be a thing if I ever get there." Which will be never so you know, that.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 09/03/2015 at 04:20am

Well yeah, I'd love to take the money, too! Right now I could use it to pay off my near $50k student loan debt and move out West where I really want to be. Then, I could buy a mansion, invite friends to move in or come by some time. I'd not just have this sweet PC, but I'd have one with Titans, like Notch does!

I remember times in my life (college especially) when I felt extremely lonely (even though I wasn't alone). Now I feel like I've dominated that feeling and now actually more often than not wish to be alone. I, selfishly, want the freedom to do what I want when I want and as long as I want. That especially goes for sleeping and gaming. I also don't want to feel like a social or family slave. But all of that is just how I imagine it would be (really f'ing great), but I won't know how it will be until it happens and I doubt that it ever will.

At the same time, I feel like Notch in that I don't want fame. I don't want the spotlight or even 15 minutes of fame. I don't want everyone up my tail and with their nose constantly in my face. I think it must suck to be famous, having he public eye watching your every move, writing down your every word and expressing their contrasting opinions about, becoming the hot topic on Facebook. I think i'd like to be rich, but not famous. But I'll tell you honestly, if I just got a load of money, I'm sure the first thing I'd do is pay off that student loan debt (otherwise I don't see how it'll ever be paid).

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Guild Wars 2 Is Now Totally Free To Play

Arena.net just let loose Guild Wars 2 for free for everyone. This is totally awesome, but why? PCGamer recently asked and I thought the response was interesting.

""We believe that if people love Guild wars 2, they’re gonna buy the expansion pack," O'Brien says when I ask why ArenaNet is doing this. "The expansion pack is such a great value. There’s so much content, not only in the expansion pack but in all the free updates that will come past that." While Guild Wars 2 is now free, it won't receive future content updates—including the newly announced raids. Those are earmarked for Heart of Thorns, which will essentially become the live version of the game"

If you haven't... Read All

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/02/2015 at 04:32am

Well darn. I say that because I paid for it, but I got it at a really great deal, so I don't really have much room to complain. I wonder how much the expansion is going to cost.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/02/2015 at 04:53am

They have a range of pre-purchase options for Heart of Thorns starting at $50 and finally ending up at $100.

http://buy.guildwars2.com/store/gw2/en_US/html/pbPage.heartofthorns?cid=91:5::::Global:166:::

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/02/2015 at 05:28am

Wow! $50-100 for an expansion? No wonder they went "free-to-play." It's been a while since I've played and I didn't get as hooked as Travis. I might play again some day, I'm not sure when. Right now I don't really see the point in buying an expansion, because I haven't fully explored what I paid for. So, maybe a time will come when I decide I want to buy an expansion, but that probably won't be for a while.

Now if only we could get Square-Enix to go free-to-play with Final Fantasy XI.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:20pm

I think I just found something to do this Labor Day weekend when the wife and kid are out school shopping :)

Travis Admin wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:30pm

Free-to-play accounts are hampered in a few ways to prevent spammers/botters/sellers, so your already purchased version is better than what free accounts have.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:30pm

(and also to make them money by people upgrading, of course)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:44pm

Do you have a link to the freemium restrictions? I'd love to see if they get lifted at some point or are FOREVER locked.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/02/2015 at 10:48pm

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/play-for-free-today/

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 09/02/2015 at 11:02pm

Awesome, i'll update the post with that link thanks. That said, I don't think this is to prevent botting/spamming but I also don't find it unreasonable either:

"First, free accounts start with fewer character slots and bag slots than the paid version of the game. But they still get the full complement of slots as soon as they buy Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns."

The rest of the restrictions are totally reasonable and if someone wants them lifted, buy full. I think I bought in when the game was $10 and even though it's free now I still think I got a good deal.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/02/2015 at 11:04pm

Some of them are. The lack of map chat, the inability to send gold, and the inability to go outside of certain areas until you get to a certain level are definitely to prevent spam and abuse/trolling. The item restrictions are just to give people a bigger incentive to upgrade or buy the expansion.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/03/2015 at 01:40am

Well freemium limitations makes me feel good that I paid for the game and therefore have none of those restrictions. Being able to remove them by paying for the expansion seems like a good way to get people to buy. I can only imagine and assume that the price of the expansion means a lot of quality content. But, I'm afraid that since I've only just begun (as of a few months ago) and haven't really progressed very deep into the game, that I still wouldn't really see anything from the expansion for a while. I hope that makes sense. I guess I'm kind of envisioning the expansion like the FFXI ones, which I have, but never even really accessed, especially because I was only just beginning. I didn't play very long either.

Travis Admin wrote on 09/03/2015 at 03:40am

Yeah there's not much point in buying it til you're max level.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/03/2015 at 04:09am

I'm not sure what level my one character is, but I believe it's over 10. I still feel like a newb in the game. I still don't think I've decided whether or not I'm into it. So yeah, right now I'm not interested in the expansion, but maybe I will be in the future.

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PAX Prime 2015

PAX Prime is going on this weekend in the almost-rainy city of Seattle, WA. Bethesda is here in force, so I thought I'd share some photos of the event, which you can find (updated) here: https://imgur.com/a/GpQYc#0

My favorite thing so far, however, has to be the hands-on time I got with ABZU, the new project from Matt Nava's team at Giant Squid. Matt Nava was the art director on Flower and Journey, and his style flows just as smoothly in ABZU.

Hotel internet is quirky, so I'll be uploading and adding to the album above as I can. If there is anything you would like to see, or have questions about, drop a line in the comments or PM, and I'll try to accommodate.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/28/2015 at 11:04pm

Scrypt, you're alive! I assumed your absence meant that you were travelling again. Thanks for the pictures!

scrypt Supporter Post Author wrote on 08/29/2015 at 01:56am

Still alive, but tired :). I'll post more pics when I can, and update the post at day's end with more impressions. A lot to see, for sure.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/29/2015 at 03:30am

I'm glad you made it safely. Why is a Dalek there?

scrypt Supporter Post Author wrote on 08/29/2015 at 05:18am

Why not? :)

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/29/2015 at 06:07am

Those are great pictures, thanks for sharing. Are they letting people play the new Doom game?

scrypt Supporter Post Author wrote on 08/29/2015 at 03:41pm

I believe they are. I saw a line for Doom, so I assumed it was playable, but it could only be a closed door preview. I'll find out today. It looked like they were doing the same with Fallout 4.

scrypt Supporter Post Author wrote on 08/30/2015 at 08:19am

Apparently I suck at Imgur. I've updated the link, and added more pics.

Doom isn't playable :(. People were standing in line to take pictures with the Revenant statue.

Day 2 was more of the same, but I got to try out Sony's Project Morpheus. Yesterday they were showing tech demoes, but today was an upcoming Morpheus game, called Rigs. It was a 3v3 FPS arena shooter, where the targeting was linked to your head movement. Getting a bead on opponents was tricky, and it took me a minute to fight the urge to move the right thumbstick to aim. This was my first experience with VR, and I have to say, I was impressed. I couldn't keep from smiling almost the entire time, although I was feeling slightly uneasy by after I took off the headgear. Very familiar to the feeling I had playing Super Mario 64 when it released, or the 3DS. It will certainly take some getting used to.

Played more ABZU. I'm going to try to upload some video of that soon, probably in another post. So beautiful.

Played lots of cool student games. A number of indie games. It's so hard to get good pics of from the Indie Megabooth. That place is packed like sardines. Not to mention all the PAX Enforcers yelling at you to "keep the line moving!" I wish they would move that whole section to its own floor.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/30/2015 at 05:13pm

Awesome, thanks for the report! How did Morpheus feel? Was it too heavy? Also, what is ABZU?

jdodson Admin wrote on 08/30/2015 at 09:55pm

No idea what it is but ABZU is my favorite new word

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 09/01/2015 at 12:26am

I just found out that Bethesda is holding a sweepstakes for a Fallout 4 console. One of the ways to enter is to follow Fallout 4 on Twitter and retweet a certain tweet and include #VaultOneEleven. Check out details below.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/win-this-fallout-4-xbox-one-custom-console-from-be/1100-6430191/

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The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 2D Is An Amazingly Ambitious Fan Project

"OoT 2D is a 2D remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that is styled like ALttP. It has been attempted many times and by many different authors, the first attempt of which was over a decade ago!

This embodiment of OoT 2D will use no already-existing engine and no utilities such as Game Maker. While building it from scratch is slow and old-fashioned, this method of programming will grant full control over everything, resulting in a high-quality product! We hope you all like it!"

Ocarina of Time 2D is a really interesting fan project that seems to be well into development. I tried to download it to run it through some paces but it was taken down on MediaFire due... Read All

Unlock Diablo For Free In Heroes Of The Storm

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If you purchased Diablo 3 and play Heroes of the Storm you might want to head back to unlock something neat. Blizzard is handing out the playable hero Diablo for anyone with a valid Diablo 3 license and all you need to do is log in to Heroes of the Storm before September 8th to claim it.

"Immediately following the next Heroes patch, any player with a Diablo III license on their Battle.net account will receive the Diablo Hero in Heroes of the Storm for free. Simply log in to Heroes of the Storm to claim the Lord of Terror and start unleashing hell on your foes. Don’t wait though— this offer ends at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 8!"

http://us.battle.net//d3/en/blog/19867266... Read All

Shovel Knight Plague Of Shadows Update Gets A Trailer And Is Coming Soon!

When Shovel Knight came to Kickstarter it's amazing retro graphics and fun premise catapulted it to much success. So much so that they hit each stretch goal they set. Yacht Club Games decided to ship the main base game and after the initial launch bring a lot of the stretch goal features later. The in-game stretch goals were the ability to play as 3 bosses, gender swap mode, challenge mode, 4 player battle mode, ability to play all bosses in battle mode & the Linux & Mac ports (already released).

From what I imagine is the first of the playable boss modes, Plague of Shadows is coming as a free update and it looks to be a entirely separate story and play... Read All

Diablo 3 Patch 2.3.0 Out Now Featuring Ruins of Sescheron, Kanai's Cube, New Seasons & Difficulty Levels

Blizzard isn't stopping the Diablo 3 update train post Reaper of Souls for a very interesting patch 2.3.0. I'll clip out the more interesting bits we've been talking about in the run up to the patch drop.

"The Ruins of Sescheron
The frozen wasteland that is the Ruins of Sescheron are now open for exploration! Filled with new enemies, traps, and environmental hazards, you'll be able to explore the region and learn more about what befell the barbarians of Mount Arreat. Explore the Immortal Throne and obtain the ultimate treasure: Kanai's Cube.

New Feature: Kanai's Cube
Kanai's Cube is a new artisan that offers a slew of new recipes to fully customize your items and... Read All

Mega Man Legacy Collection Blue Bombs It's Way To PC

If you played a few NES platformers you've more than likely played a Mega Man game. Capcom just released Mega Man Legacy Collection for $15 containing the original Mega Man through Mega Man 6! Capcom is advertising these to be faithful reproductions of the originals and to that they are not joking. They seem to be using some kind of NES emulation and like modern emulators offer very nice upscaled 8-bit graphics and original sound.

Six classic games in one – Play a piece of video game history with the original six Mega Man games and experience the origins of the classic series.

8-bit style with HD flair – The games retain their retro 8-bit style with an added HD... Read All
If you played a few NES platformers you've more than likely played a Mega Man game. Capcom just released Mega Man Legacy Collection for $15 containing the original Mega Man through Mega Man 6! Capcom is advertising these to be faithful reproductions of the originals and to that they are not joking. They seem to be using some kind of NES emulation and like modern emulators offer very nice upscaled 8-bit graphics and original sound.

Six classic games in one – Play a piece of video game history with the original six Mega Man games and experience the origins of the classic series.

8-bit style with HD flair – The games retain their retro 8-bit style with an added HD finish, giving a crisp, clean look to the charming, classic sprites.

Challenge remix mode for new and veteran players – The robust new Challenge Mode remixes gameplay from all six games for a new type of challenge. It provides both increasingly difficult trials for experienced players and also teaches newcomers to become familiar with the style of the games and tackle some of the trickier areas.

Museum of the era – The Museum Mode features a massive repository of history and art collected from the era of the games in this collection. Take a look back at the history of Mega Man with loads of information, high-res art, concept pieces, sketches and more in the Museum.

Developed with an all-new engine – Using the newly developed Eclipse Engine, Capcom and Digital Eclipse are able to archive these six pieces of video game history with faithful reproductions of the originals for a new generation of gamers.

Leaderboards and video replays – Fans will be able to watch video replays of the top players on the leaderboards, showcasing a whole new generation of Mega Man talent!

$15 dollars for all 6 games ain't bad and if you are looking at capping off your collection this might be the way to do it. Let me know if you plan on picking this up or if you are sticking with your ol' NES carts. The Mega Man Legacy Collection is out on PC, XBox One and PS4.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/363440/

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/26/2015 at 07:09pm

I saw this on the Steam news (that window that pops up when you open Steam and it shows you what's on sale), but I overlooked it as I didn't think it contained the original games. Thanks to your post, I decided to go ahead and buy it. I've played some of the NES games, but particularly I remember having one of them for the Gameboy.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/27/2015 at 03:26am

I will probably pick it up in the future. I have too many recent purchases that need some TLC.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/27/2015 at 06:31pm

Yep, me too. I plan on coming back to Mega Man 2 and 3 at some point and when I do will pick this up.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/27/2015 at 08:37pm

I know these games are classics, and the music is iconic, but I wonder how Adult Adam will receive them. I'm sure I'll buy this at some point, but I wonder if Child Adam loved and beat these games because his options were limited. When I run into a difficult section, how many times will I actually replay it, or simply move on to another game?

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/27/2015 at 10:58pm

I played a little bit this morning and beat CutMan. I was glad to see that I could use my controller for it. I also noticed that this isn't a simple emulation, but definitely a graphically improved version of the game. What I mean is that in the original game, there were a lot of disappear sprites, but that's not so in this version. I also like that there's an auto-fire button.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 08/28/2015 at 01:37am

@GregoPeck... That is funny that you say sprites don't disappear. Most of the complaints that I have seen have been around performance issues that were most likely in the game to begin with.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 08/28/2015 at 03:56am

@Will_Ball, I hope you and others understand what I mean by disappearing sprites. If anyone's played an NES for any length of time, they'll definitely see what I'm talking about. This occurs even if you're using an emulator. However, now that technology has progressed, the game no longer has the same sprite limitations as the original hardware.

Steam says I played 11 minutes of the game. I didn't notice any issues at all. I was able to plug in my XBox 360 controller (which I have only for my PC) even while the game was running and it worked right away. This was a feature I was hoping would be included as I prefer to use a controller for these original NES games. That's because if you use they keyboard, the directional buttons (by default) are used by my right hand, not the left, which I didn't enjoy.

I didn't look at the extra stuff very much, but I think it's great that they provided it; original artwork for example.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/28/2015 at 04:42am

Good to hear it worked well for you Greg. I never actually played the original Mega Man but spent quite a bit of time playing 2 and 3.

All 6 in one pack? Mega Man for ages.

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