

Wasteland 2

Projected release date: October 2013


Torment: Tides of Numenera

Projected release date: too early to tell



Project Eternity

Projected release date: April 2014



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The War Z Beta ImpressionsNovember 6, 2012 by



What not to do in a zombie apocalypse

When I logged into the beta for this upcoming title, the first thing I noticed was the absolutely stunning visuals for this highly graphic-intensive game. Is Colorado this awesome IRL? If it wasn't for my immediate need to stock up on supplies and the possibility of bandits (player-killers) lurking around, I would have sat back and just taken in the scenery for a few more minutes. All I had to start with was a flashlight, a 375 oz bottle of water, a bandage, and a bag of chips. I looked at my map and saw a settlement circled in red to the south which I had heard was a safe-zone. It didn't look too far away so I began to sprint.

On the way, I stopped by a helicopter crash and found a shotgun and pistol Hell yeah, first weapon! I continued running....and running...and running...suddenly out of energy. Hmm, I must be pretty close by now, right? I pulled out my map. Holy crap I had hardly moved! This isn't your average multiplayer map I see. When you begin traveling, you'll be traveling for quite a while to get to where you need to go.

By the time I got there, my hunger and thirst bars were about 1/3 depleted. To my surprise, although it probably shouldn't have been, there was no supplies in the safe-zone. I went out again to a town called Smallville. Superman wasn't there, but I did find enough food and water for me to get by for a few hours. Afterwards I headed to a larger town named Clearview. The name lies, it wasn't clear at all. I died after cornering myself at the back of a department store, out of ammo with about 7 zombies eating my brain. The next thing I knew, I was staring at a 1 hour respawn timer and an empty backpack.

The past week, I've probably sunk 30 or so hours into this title. The constant sneaking around and watching for zombies and players makes this one of the most intense MMOs I've ever played. I still get freaked out when I hear zombies howling at night or the random drum sound effects. In fact, the sounds in this game are another strong point. Anything you think you'd hear while traveling through the woods or in a city, you hear it. Gunfire is probably the most frightening thing you'll hear because it's very loud even from far away. You never know when you're getting shot at until you hear a bullet wiz by you or if you're dead. The sound is not without its flaws though. Monkey-crawling in buildings can be louder than simply crouching down and walking. Most zombies, male or female, sound like female. Their moans get extremely annoying even if you might need to hear them to get an idea of how close they are.

As far as graphic quality goes, like I said, it's amazing. You will get some graphic tearing on high and ultra, docks near lakes are glitched and you can get your character stuck, and the water on low detail looks like transparent liquid rather than water. As far as items go, flares and chemlights currently have no effect against zombies, although you might as well be saying to everyone in your proximity "YO GUYS I'M OVER HERE, COME KILL ME" if you throw one. I think the largest problem with this title so far occurs right when you log in. If you don't have a fast processor, or even if you do, you may still be looking at a loading screen even if your character is in game. There is no 10 second immunity so you can end up dieing before you even get in game if you logged in at a bad area. This has actually happened to me twice now.

The game does have its own store you can purchase supplies from if you've acquired enough money from killing zombies (guns only, melee weapons do not work as far as I'm aware). You can even purchase notes you may write on and send a message to other players. These items are not account bound and will be lost if your character dies. You may also rent stronghold servers where you can build barricades to guard ideal buildings and locations.

Overall, I'm finding The War Z to be one of the most promising games I've played this year. As I said, it has its issues, and the Day Z mod for Armada is probably more solid as of now although I haven't played it myself. This game is exceptionally fun if you have friends to play with. Although solo is fun too, it might not be worth the $25 if you aren't going to be playing with friends. With friends, you can do a lot of strategy building and team-fights are very fun, even if you end up dying. To me, dying in The War Z feels more like a rebirth. Building up and finding weapons is half the fun. If there's ever a zombie apocalypse, I may finally have an excuse to go to Colorado.







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THE BOTOCALYPSE - How bots are destroying mmo gamingAugust 2, 2011 by

Because it's worth it! Oh wait...

I'm not going to begin by saying my largest beef with people who use bots have an unfair advantage against those who actually do the arduous grinding required to reach a specific goal in a massive multiplayer online environment. I'm not going to fume how they encourage others to try and use similar tactics to get ahead of the game. I won't even rant for ten paragraphs on how it's an insult to the developers. No, my message is much quicker to get through and straight to the point.

If you bot, you bring down mmo gaming as a whole. I don't give a shit that your work schedule sucks so you don't get much time to play your mmo game of choice. I don't give a shit that you think grinding is bullshit and it shouldn't be necessary to get to the fun stuff. And I really, really don't give a shit if you think the money you put into it "justifies" your use of bots. But what I do give a shit about is game developers interpreting your money as a sign that they're going in the right direction!

You'd think by now that grinding would be a thing of the past, yet we still see it in TONS of recent titles, expansions, and patches. Rift has it. Aion has it. The Firelands in WoW has it - dailies anyone? Grinding is unavoidable and not because people enjoy it. It's not even because the grind is very rewarding. It's because a lot of people successfully bot it, thus have a reason to continue giving money to these developers.

STOP IT! Seriously, if you have to bot just to have a fun time later, stop playing the game. Would you eat a bowl of orange peals for dinner if cake was promised for desert? Idk about you guys, but I rather be eating a bowl full of AWESOME followed by pie topped with EPIC. Games, mmo or regular, are supposed to be designed to entertain you, not have you fly around Ulduar for hours on end just so you can start playing the game.

Botting needs to die, and I think people need to stop investing heavily in titles where grinding is such an issue. There are thousands of other games out there with zero grinding and will provide you with well over one month of enjoyment for around $20 or less. League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Team Fortress 2, Warcraft 3, etc (those first three are free). That's not coming close to scratching the surface. Or just wait until Guild Wars 2 because I'm pretty sure that's going to kick everything's ass.

So please, if you bot for whatever reason, just stop playing that game and supporting bad developing strategies. Thanks, peace off.

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Age of Empires Online - good, bad, or terrible?June 3, 2011 by


How dare Robot Entertainment buy out an epic franchise and turn it into free-to-play (f2p) online garbage, am I right? At least that seems to be the opinion of some folks who feel their nostalgia of Age of Empires 2 has been stepped on. I'll even admit these were my thoughts as well when I first saw the trailers. Is this really the fate of the franchise I spent my entire sophomore summer playing against friends and creating custom scenarios?

I decided to dismiss my grievances for the time being and check the game out in more detail. And surprisingly, I was kind of impressed. At the end of this blog I'll include a first impressions video I found to be in-depth.

One thing I found surprising is Age of Empires online really is the same game as Age of Empires 2, it's just packaged differently. Graphics are cartoony versus the realism Ensemble Studios portrayed, and you grab quests in your capital city in the common mmorpg style. The game play though is the same as its always been- it's still an Age of Empires game. The lack of voice acting is a disappointment, but passable.

As I said, it's f2p - so what's the catch? How will they make their money? Well, it's f2p in the sense you can level along with everyone else at the same pace, however you won't get access to special quests and the rare and epic gear they reward. To gain access to such content, you have to buy virtual booster packs. From a marketing perspective, this is genius. But as a cynical player I am a little skeptical because I don't see the difference between their "booster packs" and micro-transactions. Are booster packs prettier? Are they surprising because I don't know what exactly I'm getting? You know, I think I want to know what I'm buying because I don't want to get content from a civilization I don't care to play nor do I want to get duplicates. That is my criticism.

Overall, it's looking like a fun game to at least give a try when it's released this August. I believe this is going to be the best online real-time strategy game (mmorts) to date, but that isn't saying much because every other mmorts I've played was as fun as giving a circus elephant a sponge bath. If you've played the beta I'd be interested in your opinion so far.

As an after-thought, I don't want this to be the end of Age of Empires because this wouldn't give the franchise justice. None whatsoever. As interesting as the game looks and may even play, it's no where near the quality of an rts such as StarCraft 2.

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Morrowind deserves a remakeJanuary 16, 2011 by

I know a lot of you out there are excited for the new sequel to the Elder Scrolls franchise, Skryim. Well as am I. However I can't help feeling Bethesda owes it to us and themselves to go back and remake the classic gem that is Morrowind sometime after the Skyrim project is finished - and here's why:

1) A newer graphics engine

I enjoyed exploring all the terrain of Morrowind from its swampy coast of Seyda Neen, through the harsh ash storms of Ald'ruhn, the islands surrounding Sadrith Mora, the grand city of Vivic, all the way into the heart of the ash storms past the Ghostgate into Red Mountain.

There was just so much to explore and I'd love to do it again with an engine comparable to that of Skyrim. The way Vvardenfell was built made it the most artistic game in Bethesda's collection. This isn't an opinion, it's a fact =)

2) Improved the combat system

If anything lacked value and deserved criticism in Morrowind, it was the way we fought and navigated. Even for its time, this could be hailed 'decent' at best.

However, Bethesda did a great job learning from their mistakes as we saw in Oblivion (not being fatigued from running, and always hitting the enemy). And I suspect even more so in Skyrim. By installing these ideas and principles into a Morrowind remake, the game will just be that much more engaging.

3) Less glitches

The problem with open world rpgs is the amount of time it takes to get it to become playable. I played the Morrowind Game of the Year addition on my xbox many years back and even with all the hot-fixes they added there were still many times when I got stuck or the area decided not to load. However when I played Oblivion these problems seemed all but eliminated. Sure, there were times when I exited a random building in Anvil and I was met with the endless black screen of doom. But that didn't nearly bring down the game play as compared to some of the crap I put up with in Morrowind.

4) "You are what you play" - Todd Howard, Game Director of Skyrim

The major problem referred to by many in not just Morrowind but any Elder Scrolls game is the easy exploitation of your skills. All of this is changing in Skyrim - you are what you play. There is no more choosing your skills and defining your class at the beginning of the game. The skills you choose to level the most are the ones that will level your character. Take this concept and apply it to Morrowind and you have yourself a very engaging game.

5) I miss being an "Outlander"

If you've played Morrowind, you know exactly how I feel right now. No game that I've ever played before made me feel more unwelcome (in a good way) than Morrowind. The moment you step off that boat into the colossal land of Vvardenfell, you know you're in trouble.

And there is no feeling that could be more engaging. Nothing would make me happier if Bethesda recreated this moment.

I'm sure Daggerfall and Arena also deserve remakes from Bethesda. As much as I'd love to blog about that too, I've never had the pleasure to play either one. But if they were remade, you can bet I'd pick them up too.

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