Time for a update

Evening all,
Sorry for the lack of posts recently but I've been hooked on Gears of War 3 and could not stop playing. Yesterday I finally finished the main campaign which is outstanding, seriously if you into shooting games pick it up! Of course most the questions where answered but there was still a few left I felt that should had been dealt with but oh well. Been getting into the multi player as well which is amazing and for me to say that you know its good (if you not read my blog in the past I'm more of a single player and if I do multi player its usually with friends).

Anyway this week is another game launch again, seriously whats with all the games coming out! they need to calm down and let us have a break, my bank account needs it. This week its the HD collection of Shadow of the Colossus and ICO, cannot wait! Shadow of the Colossus is one of those games that as a special place in my heart. Only a few games stick with me that is this great, seriously its mind blowing good and I will be dropping everything to play it and clock it. Also this time I'm looking forward to giving ICO a chance since I did pick it up on PS2 but never really got past the first level. So that is what I will be doing at the end of this week.

After that I think it calms down for about two weeks although I've not checked the release schedule, might be because I'm scared to look. Anyway the end of the month sees the release of Batman Arkham City, what a way to end this month is all I can say. Again another great game that as stuck with me, the first one I've played so many times now and still every time I play it I find some new and great about it.

Until then I'm currently working on my rental still Lego Pirates for the PlayStation 3 and Space Marines on Xbox 360, both good games and worth a play. Hopefully you will be seeing more posts soon so keep your eyes open and don't forget to drop a line and say hi.

Have a good one for now,
~Iznic

P.S. The Gears of War board game arrived the other day so I might post up some pictures and maybe do a test game with the results posted up here, so do keep your eyes open.

GAMEfest 2011

Afternoon one and all,

I did promise I would post about my adventures at GAMEfest and I am sorry it took so long but it got busy all of a sudden and this is my first chance so without further delay I present to you a day at GAMEfest.

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So the journey began the night before with myself and my mate trying to work out what time we should be at the train station, after hearing it was going to be crazy busy we decided the train we picked earlier on in the week would not do (especially if it was late or if we missed it since it would be after 9 when we would arrive). Plan was set to get the train before which would leave at 7.40am, two changes and get us there for around 8.40ish.

Got to say that night I felt like a kid at Christmas, trying to sleep was impossible so I found myself packing my bag and making myself a pack lunch ready. Anyway the big day come and we left earlier to the train station then planned, in fact it was 7am when we was in the car and on are way to the station which is only a ten minute drive. With plenty of time on are hands we grabbed are tickets and checked out to see if any trains where going are way, lucky for us one pulled straight up as we looked at the board.

Now I’ve got to say this had to be are lucky day because soon as we got to are first stop we walked over to the next platform to find another train waiting for us to the next station. So we was at New Street in no time, in fact when we arrived it was just after 7.40 which was the original time we wanted to leave. So a quick cup of tea break and we was on are way again to Birmingham International. Walking through the corridors we had a great site waiting for us!

So we had made it with nearly two hours to wait and pretty much front of the queue as well.

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Anyway let’s skip ahead two hours and the time had come to be allowed in, well sort of they scanned the tickets and we had to wait in front of the entrance which allowed us to see in and see this lovely view.

Soon as they allowed us in and everyone just ran, it was like a scene from a zombie game and I kid you not. No guessing where everyone was going, me and some of my mates just walked in shaking are heads and went in the opposite direction.

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That would be the last time I see the entire group together since most of us split up and went to go check out are favourite places. First up for us was the Ubisoft stand to check out the Assassin’s Creed Revelation game, loved the setup for the multiplayer with the tent and floored logo.

We had a 30 minute presentation of trailers for Ghost Recon which looked outstanding, no joke I’m happy to wait now because that game looked amazing. We got to watch the Ghost team rescue a hostage then escort him through a rundown town, nice feature if you escort someone and get shot at you find yourself unable to move since you go straight into protective mode until then threat is neutralized. After the video we got to see a small demo of the Assassins Creed Revelation single player and I must say I cannot wait for the November to play this bad boy. The graphics were mind blowing and some of the new kill moves where brutal, I would describe some but I would be worried about the age of people reading this.

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Also got to see some of the new bomb making kit in action which I’m not so sure about, in a way it was awesome and would be helpful but at the same time it did feel a little out of place. For example the rep put together a bomb pot which acts like a mine, planted it next to a body and it took care of a patrol. Then there was several hand thrown ones, smoke distractions and proper grenade types that can take out 1-3 people when it hits them. My favourite one had to be when he was getting chased he threw a pot at the floor which exploded into hundreds of metal shrapnel which the guards could not walk across. Pretty sweet if you need to lose a tail but as I said it did feel a little out of place.

The last of the demo we got to see the seal in work with Ezio using it to relieve Altair life, shocking part you ask? It’s before Assassin’s Creed one!! Sorry folks I won’t say what happened (not much was revealed) but it will be awesome.

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After that I really cannot remember where we went next since it was giant amazing dream, honestly we walked around for hours checking out all the sights and there was plenty. So I will describe some of the stands and things that impressed me but I am sorry they are not in order.

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Around the corner was the Warner Brothers stand and to be honest I felt like they could had done more, especially with Batman Arkham City which could had easily stole the show. But it was still awesome from what we could see, unfortunately could not get a go on since it was only three consoles and the crowd around it was huge. We did come back twice later but both times the consoles had overheated since how they were being stored meaning they had to keep turning them off to let them rest. From what we heard and saw the combat is now a lot more smoother and blows Arkham Asylum out of the water, well done Rocksteady! cannot wait for 21^st October now.

Also at the stand was a huge Lego Hogwarts Express which housed three consoles with Lego Harry Potter Year 5-7, caught a glimpse and it just as good as the last one. It looked like the attack of the burrow level from what we saw anyway.

Finally at the stand was Lord of the Rings War in the North, again did not get a chance to play it since only three pods again but it looked just like the gameplay trailers. Jaw dropping and could be a good contender for game of the year. We only saw a glimpse of the combat before the crowd completely covered the view so was a bit disappointed not to see more.

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Did get my hands on Binary Domain at the SEGA booth, had to wait 30 minutes to get into the booth but it was worth it. The level was taking on a giant mech that would dwarf your house (unless you live in a mansion then I’m just jealous). Straight away I started blasting away while running off to find cover and I can say now the assault rifle is useless against the bosses, had to grab a rocket launcher and start blowing chunks of armour of its legs. By doing this this reveals power cores built inside the leg which you can then shoot out which shuts down the legs. Of course this increased my threat and next thing I knew I was going flying thanks to a barrage of missiles, my squad did not come to help me (if you been following the game you have to build up loyalty with them and in this case I was guessing there was none) anyway I did have an health pack and quickly got myself up. Just in time to watch the thing loom over me and try to stamp on me, quick dodge and I started emptying every rocket I had left into it. Victory was at hand as I took out three of its many legs and watch it start to tumble to only watch in horror as it stamped on a squad mate and end the level. Word of advice don’t gloat in this game until the thing is dead, so after that I was without doubt picking that game up next year for round two.

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Next up good old Bethesda stand, this had huge queues all day long, while you was waiting there was TV’s all around the walls showing off trailers for upcoming games. Anyway the stand was split into two, first one was Skyrim which was only a video conference which I heard was the same videos on the internet I’ve heard so bit shocked there (also a two hour qait to see).

We did queue up for the other side for an hour to play RAGE. I’m still in two minds about this game, the graphics where great and the gameplay was not too bad but I don’t know. I think it was because the level we got to play was in midgame so was like being dropped into the deep end and only 10-15 minutes of play which did not give us much time to get into it.

The level was some kind of broken down prison, but after shutting down a laser grid I found myself being surrounded but what only I could say where the prison guards. The assault rifle was box standard but it was the crossbow that shined here. Comes with multiple different types of ammo I found myself running around trying them out. My two favourites where the electric bolts which do exactly as they say, one hit and they down for good. The second mind control which allows you to take over them and move them close to their mates in which you then detonate taking everyone out.

Although it does sound awesome I do want to see more footage on it before I pick this one up.

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Did get to see the Star Wars Old Republic stand and they were kind enough to have several giant TV’s displaying people playing. I can say without a doubt that this game will be end of my life, it looked incredible watching some of the fighting. Also on display was the collector’s edition statue which was breath taking and will be worth every penny, what did surprise was me underneath it was a statue of the female bounty hunter from the trailer. Would love to know how to get hold of it

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Did drop by the Nintendo stand and got to check out the preview for Sky 3D on the 3DS, it was really really good. Got to see some clips of boxing and football, I found myself walking away with renewed awe at how good the 3DS can be. Looking forward to seeing the 3D videos when those come out now and the 3D video recorder update in November.

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That reminds me while we was looking around we stumbled across a lovely display at the Xbox stand, all the upcoming consoles!. The Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 looks exactly like the box art work with the colours, it looked amazing and I am now saving up to pick it up. Just as we leaving the stand we spotted the R2-D2 one as well which is just as good, seriously going to have a display shelf of xbox's with the way its going.

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One last game before I wrap this post up, Saints Row the Third. THQ did an amazing job on the stand with it set up like a nightclub from the trailer including a bouncer on the door. Without a doubt this game left an impression on me, because as soon as we walked in on the screen was a player walking around with a giant pink dildo the length of a sword and beating up nearby gang members with it. As you can imagined it left us quite shocked, espically with the character wearing a bright pink bunny suit as well. So we jumped into the game and all I can say it was 20 minutes of chaos as we caused carnage at a local game hideout. Think I might be picking this game up afterall and if you get offered the chance to try it out take it!

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Unfortunately no Battlefield 3, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 or Mass Effect 3 due to the fact the queues where huge, we was quoted 4 hours wait for COD and 2 hours for BF3. Mass Effect only had 2-3 consoles and took us most of the show to find and then the queue was once again a problem. I would say I was disappointed but at the end of the day the event was amazing and easily made up for it. GAME did a great job and to say it was the first one ever it was brilliant, of course in the future I would like to see some more pods and would love for the publishers to bring stores a long too. Would had gladly bought some Mass Effect and Skyrim t-shirts, posters etc. Also would love to see an official GAMEfest t-shirt for next year, which I’m hoping will be happening.

So on that note thank you GAME for the great event and thank you to all the publishers/staff who made it awesome!

Anyway thanks for reading
~Iznic

GAMEFEST 2011 - Prepost

Well tomorrow is GAMEFEST for me and got to say I'm like a kid at Christmas, practically jumping off the walls and this will be my first huge convention so it's even more exciting.

No idea where I will be off to first, up on top of my list is Batman Arkham City, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Battlefield 3 etc also want to visit the the GAME store and see if they got any cool items that the normal stores don't have. So plenty to do and it will all depend on what happens tomorrow, but I will be posting on twitter at the event and taking plenty of pictures to post on the blog over the weekend.

It's going to be a blast and hopefully I will see some of you there!

The Daily Grind - Day Forty-Eight

Wednesday 14th September 2011

Evening folks,
Last night I finally clocked Deus EX Human Revolution, it was amazing!! according to my raptr account it took 37 hours give or take. Also saved right at the end so I could see all four endings which to be honest was a bit of a let down since I was expecting to see some in game consequences but instead just a different speech for each ending. Oh well was still worth every minute since the story was amazing and I really enjoyed how the game played. Anyway I will get a review for it done later and get some more updates on the site as well, really need to get the next part of my upcoming games post.

So what you guys been up to this week? anything fun? clock any cool games?

With Deus EX finished now I'm currently excited for GAMEfest on Friday, going to be my first convention so it should be interesting. Looking forward to playing Batman, Mass Effect, Battlefield 3 etc in fact I think it will be hard to get rid of me at closing time. Then next Tuesday is the Gears of War launch!!! exciting stuff!

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Although I do have to talk about Gears, basically I've seen the epic edition and the console. First off the epic edition, I was a tad disappointed to find the statue was just made of plastic but the level of detail gone into it is beyond belief and the paint job is amazing. There is no doubt to buying this on the launch day and having that statue on my desk.

Now when there is a good thing there is a bad thing to go with it, yin and yang. This time the bad thing for me is the console, yep I said it! I was shocked when I saw the console. The core design is still there but its a vinyl transfer that is stuck on and you can tell (even feel the edge at the back). I'm really am surprised they didn't do a matt finish job like the Halo Reach console, I feel the design as lost the effect thanks to that stick on job (bit too shiny). Also if you look at the pictures you can clearly see several shades of red representing the blood effect but on the console its not as detailed.

Also was shown the sound effects when the console is turned on and the disc tray is open. When it was turned on I had to put my ear against the console to make out what the sound was, its in fact the locust weird sound on the menu but sounds like someone as kicked the speaker inside its that muffled. Then the disc tray....well I don't know what that sound is meant to be, could not make heads or tales of it and if I got to look it up to find out then you failed to get it right.

So ladies and gentleman that's my order cancelled, but I will say this I did like the controller. It does have a shiny finish instead of a matt but still looks good so I did order a separate controller. Maybe one day I will pick it up if there is a price drop but at £270 it's a flat out "no thank you".

That's it for my rant, sorry about that peeps but I had to get that off my chest and now back to the fun news of my gaming life.

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Where was I...oh yes what I'm up to now, well I'm thinking of trying to get my rental finished (Lego Pirates) and jumping back into Space Marines since I put that on the shelf while I was trying to finish Deus EX. That's my plans anyway but I do want to pick up the God of War HD Collection 2 this week and Gears of War 3 next week will dominate all my time when that gets home so will have to see.

Right I better log for now since I need to finish making my tea and then update my stats to add Deus EX to the list, stay tuned for more updates soon but until then "have a good one".

~Iznic

Free Lego Set With Lego HP 2

GAME is doing a pre-order bonus where you get a mini lego set of the Hogwarts express when you pre-order Lego Harry Potter Year 5-7. Also at the same the time this was the first time I've seen the cover art for the new game and I've got to say it looks awesome!

Anyway don't miss out on this cool pre-order bonus

The Daily Grind - Day Forty-Seven

Afternoon one and all,
Sorry for never finished the last grind post, got to buys playing Deus EX and forgot. I'm about to sit down and have a massive gaming marathon but first I thought I would do a little post. Just changed the site banner over to the Space Marine one, which by the way is a great game so far. Plenty of gore and fighting, the graphics are not too bad but I can see why people where complaining but at the same time I was not expecting Skyrim or Uncharted style. But what makes me love it is that the story is amazing and sticks to the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Anyway plans for today are Deus EX and Space Marines, earlier on I clocked the first movie for Lego Pirates so doubt I will do any more today but then again I might change my mind later.

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Need to sort my game collection out later to find some trade ins since Gears of War is out soon and I want to knock the cost of the console down, I've got the rest of Septembers releases covered so it's not bad. Think I might trade my Kinect in since I do not see myself playing it any time soon and I do want to get the Star Wars console next year which comes with a Kinect Sensor.

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By the way if you not saw earlier I did post up the first post for the new series of "Just a week away" which is now called "That time of year". First post is covering just the few games that have already come out which start the year off, will be writing the next posts in a bit so stay tuned for that. Of course I would love to hear from you guys with what you picked up or getting your selves.

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I'm back, sorry about how random this post is but I keep coming back to the post and adding stuff through out the day (that's why there are breakers). Anyway just had a huge marathon on Deus Ex and just got past the part where the new dlc will be taking place, I'm thinking that the end is soon from the looks of it.

Anyway going to shoot since got work early in the morning, catch you all tomorrow but until then have a good one

~Iznic

That time of year (Part One)

In the past when there as been a flood of new releases I have done a series posts called "Just a week away", well its back for a another series since we now heading into the end of year gaming releases.

Every year I find myself with a empty bank account thanks to this time, every publisher thinks its a good time to release their game since of Christmas. This year it started a few weeks back for me and wont stop now until the end of November. So anyway enough of the rant lets get on with the post, this first part will cover what as come out in the last few weeks then the next posts will deal with the future weeks/months.

August

Xenoblade (Wii)
Few weeks back in the middle of the August saw the release of Xenoblade, the first title to launch the end of year line up. RPG style game with an open world to explore, heard a lot of good things but right now this game is on the wait list. Will pick it up later once I got the games I really really want, besides I need a game for the Wii since its just gathering dust right now.



Deus EX Human Revolution (Xbox 360)
This was a no brainer, after watching several amazing trailers for it my order was down. I picked up the Augmented edition instead of the collectors since I could not justify paying nearly £40-50 more for the figurine!. Anyway so far I've clocked over 24 hours and two bosses down, great amazing rpg/shooter (a lot like Mass Effect).

Not picked it up? would recommend it to everyone, the story is brilliant, game play is amazing so join in and find the truth!





That's it for August, stay tuned for the next post covering September!
~Iznic

The Daily Grind - Day Forty-Six (Part One)

Good morning one and all,
As promised I'm trying my best to get back into my habits of posting quite often, this post will be in several parts since I've got plenty to talk about today. First off thought it would be a good start to get the stats updated on my challenges and the yearly progress, of course not all the stats will be updated since I'm currently in the middle of some games.

With my 2011 Progress I'm now standing on 39 games completed with 12 new releases for this year finished which brings me up to 30% so far. Got to say I've let myself down since I had a really good start to the year with completing stuff, I was easily finishing 6+ games on some months and was knocking my pile of shame down.

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The Summer Challenge is now over and I've finished with seven of the fourteen games completed, so in a way it was a fail since I only did half of the games on the list. But to me it was a win, why you ask? the whole point of that challenge was to complete the prequel games ready for the new releases this year and I did all of them. So in my books it was a pass but yes it would had been really cool to finish off some of those side games.

Currently I have no plans to do any more small challenges, pretty much from now until the new year my work load will increase thanks to all the new releases coming out and spare time will go into playing them lol. I have planned to do a list of the upcoming titles I want later and probably will do a tick off list of ones that I buy and when I've finished them. But for now the only challenge will be the Golden Key.

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So that's my stats and challenges updated finally, so going to end this post in a minute and start playing some Deus Ex with maybe Lego Pirates on the PS3 later (rental game). Actually one thing I did do last night was look through my xbox profile at the achievements I've got for my games, I was shocked on how many achievements I could do. There are tons of games that have collectibles or achievements for doing a certain thing that I've not done, just by glancing I could several thousand gamer score easily. In fact it would not shock me if I could get another 10k if I pushed it, might go through my profile again later and list everything on a post.

Anyway time to shoot off and get some gaming on the go, catch you later and have a good one
~Iznic

Catch up

So how's things? hopefully everyone is doing good

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few weeks but a lot as changed for me and time was not on my side, so what little I had I made sure it was spent wisely which meant the blog was cut out. Anyway I'm back and hoping to get some more updates on the go a bit more regular again. As you probably noticed when you loaded the site up I've put a new shiny Deus Ex banner, also got some more sitting a folder ready for each new game release.

Anyway on with why you here, to read my madness that I call my gaming life. So what have I been up to? well I did clock two more games since the last time, well I know I did two and if there was more I've forgotten them lol.

Finally sat down several weeks ago and clocked X-men the Official game for the full 1,000 gamer score, for those who don't know when the game came out I completed the entire thing except the last boss on hard mode which meant I was missing two achievements thanks to it. I gave up and kept the save file for a later date, well it's been several years and I finally thought it was time to go back. Problem was the save file was corrupted and I had to do the entire game again, but anyway I did it and god was it easy with the tips (Check out xbox360achievements.org).

After that I sat down and finished off the last of the campaigns for each race on Dawn of War 2 Retribution. Although I did get hit with a lovely bug on my Imperial Campaign so it did not award me the achievement to say it's been done, but after doing the last level twice and still nothing I cannot be bothered to do it again.

That was pretty much all my gaming in total until recently with Deus Ex coming out, which so far I am loving it just hate the boss fights. The entire game you given the freedom of choice on how you want to do but when it comes to the bosses you stuck in a small area and forced to fight. Luckily I am going through the game shooting pretty much with a little bit of stealth, but it was a shock on the first boss on how heavy the fighting was.

Will admit I've not given it as much time as I had hoped but it cannot be helped, hoping to put a lot more time in this weekend and next week. Especially with the fact it's now the start of the big line up of games that are coming out, will be doing a post later for what I'm looking forward too.

Anyway I'm going to sign off for now, things to do and places to be. Will be updating the stats tomorrow and doing the first part of the upcoming games post so until then "have a good one"

~Iznic