A New Beginning

I had forgotten that this post did not up Thursday morning, for some reason I was under the impression that I had already put it up and not sure how I got confused but anyway here was my MMO Night last Wednesday night.

Like all MMO Nights as soon as I said it was planned everything decided to go wrong, first up I did not realise it took me an hour and half to write the "MMO Night 2.0". So that pretty much cancelled my quick Lego Batman 2 session so I thought I would just get straight into Star Wars first. Yeah that went well since I had missed placed my new time card that I had bought, so another 20 minutes lost while I hunted around my room to find it under my Futurama box set that I was watching the night before.

So time card activated time for some gam...no got to wait for the patches to download and install, should not take too long right? Yeah famous last words and no idea why I jinxed myself. It took a while and in that time I watched one episode of South Park, one episode of Family Guy and cooked tea. Well by that point most of my night had gone so my plans turned into two quick small sessions, there was a lot of cursing from me when it finally finished.

Star Wars I only did about three quests on the main Imperial Planet, had my companion Meko gather me some resources for crafting. Did have fun with bomb defusing in the square because I had forgot to read the section on how to defuse the bomb, so there I was running around the square with a bomb in my hand that was ticking down with no clue what to do.

Ohhh I did level up to 16 as well since I been very close for a while now so the three quests tipped me over.

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So it was time for Warcraft and this time there was no patches since I had been on every day for the past week doing the Midsummer Festival events. Of course tonight I was really hoping to start my new character and get some good progress on it, but with all the time pretty much gone I'm only going to get a few levels if I'm lucky.

Well I lost another half an hour trying to come up with a name for my character and what I wanted to play, I was stuck between Shaman and Paladin but I had Horde in mind so I can see the other side of the war. In the end I came up with Izjin the Goblin Shaman and then I remembered I had not done the Lord Ahune fight today on my main, so quick login and I queued up for the event only to find out was a 15 minute wait (estimated).

I was very annoyed at the start but it did turn out ok since I started doing todays daily quests for cooking and fishing. Why was that good? Well I maxed out Fishing and got a lovely new achievement for the trouble, quite chuffed that I got it maxed now.

Anyway 15 minutes later Lord Ahune is dead, no pet still but I did get some justice points for my trouble so it was finally time to start playing my new character.

The thing I like the most about Goblins and Worgen is there new starting zones are really good, all themed around a great story that leads into the war between Horde and Alliance. Anyway my new character can be seen on the right, did not bother sorting out the hair since there is achievement for going to the in game hair dressers. Anyway it starts off on this small island which is meant to be a paradise for Goblins who love to build things plus destroy things as well, to me it's a industrial nightmare but that's Goblins for you.

So yeah the quests just involve you going around town showing off yourself, basically you run one of the main coporations in the area and pushing to become a Trade Prince. Quests involve going to the mines to make sure your work force are actually working, riding around in your awesome new hot rod car and of course since it's your birthday have a giant party that gets crashed by pirates. Oh and let's not forget a Dragon called Deathwing appearing who decides to make the dormant volcano active so now you need to get a Billion money so you can pay your way off the island.

Now this is a mount

That was my night in a summary really and I did not get as far as I wanted, I'm level four and about to hit five but least I've nearly finished the first zone and will be soon on the shipwrecked island. Hopefully next week will be a lot longer with more in-game time, cannot believe how much trouble it was just to get an hour or two on a game.

I need to start making sure I get time in both games on my MMO Nights because right now wasting my time cards. For 60 days I'm only getting around 5-6 hours' worth of gaming and I cannot keep justifying this so either I make time or I won't be renewing the games when it runs out. World of Warcraft will last a lot longer since I've got 60 days plus I will be getting 3-4 months off the Diablo CE code when I enter it but again when that runs out if I didn't make the most it's gone.

Goblin Paradise

So with that depressing note over with it's time to end this post, sorry it wasn't that much fun but hopefully next week will have a huge updated post for you with plenty of adventures. So until then folks have a good one,
~Iznic

MMO Night 2.0

MMO Night will be making a return tonight after several weeks of being absent thanks to my schedule being all over the place. I have a new Star Wars Old Republic timecard sitting on the desk ready to be inputted and there will be something new tonight, I'm making a new character on World of Warcraft. While I've being the daily quests to kill Lord Ahune I realised the new expansion could not be that far off, especially with how the beta is coming along so I started to question why should I spend tons of time getting all new gear that will be wiped out by the first quest reward in the new expansion. Of course I can still work on reputation and try out the zones I've missed to catch up with the story but I have been wanting to play some other classes for a while now.

What made me go for it was a post the other day on MMO-Champion where it was confirmed that quite a few mounts will now be account wide shared. I want the Jewelcrafter new Panther mounts and the Sand Dragon mount from Alchemy but my Druid is a leatherworker which I don't want to give up. So I will be doing a new character tonight with one of those professions and it will be a Horde character as well so I can see the other side's story.

Sandstone Drake - Alchemy Mount

Although tonight I will be starting of with Star Wars because you know what I'm like I will get into Warcraft and run out of time. So yeah make sure to check back later for a MMO Night post and I will be entering the Diablo Collector's Edition code so I will run around with the Witch Doctor Pet. For now though I might pop onto Lego Batman 2 for a tiny bit just to work on clearing up the game since I've finished the story now.

Oh and I forgot to mention Lovefilm have sent me another game since I had a free credit thanks to a competition entry, so now got Resistance Fall of Man 3 sitting on my desk with X-men Destiny. Starting to get a little overwhelmed with the amount of games I need to work on, does anyone else have this problem?


Anyway I better shoot since I will run out of time at this rate, have a good evening folks and I will catch you all later!
~Iznic


P.S. Also I have noticed the layout for my Diablo 3 Unboxing post as messed up slightly, I did have trouble posting it so I think something happened. I will look into it when I update it with the new pictures.

P.S.S Pokemon Conquest next month for the UK!! Finally have a date for it but gutted about it being next month since I got two holidays to pay for, was hoping after like September/October time. Bah too many good games and not enough money.

Unboxing: Diablo 3 Collectors Edition

Morning folks,
Welcome to the first ever unboxing post for my blog and hopefully it will be something I do quite regularly when I pick up any collector/limited editions. So anyway thought it is wise to start with the latest collectors edition in my collection and that's the new Diablo 3 game. If you read my blog you will already know but for those who don't I actually cancelled this originally because I could not justify the price and to be honest I should be cutting back.

Well I regretted it big time especially with the fact I'm a huge Blizzard fan, I did get the game free with the World of Warcraft Annual Pass and I was loving the game (another reason I did not pick up the collector's edition was because I was not sure I would like Diablo since I've never played the older ones). I did do some CO-OP with a friend who had picked up the Collector's edition and watching his avatar run around with the angel wings pretty much put me down in the dumps. Of course everywhere had sold out and Ebay goes for around £180 so it was a flat out no for getting it but one lucky morning, still not sure why it happened but I checked the GAME website and would you believe it back in stock. My order was placed before I had a chance to shout "oh my god" and luck would have it two hours later they sold out again.

Main Box

So that's my little back story to it and here it is, one thing I love about Blizzard is they do not cheap out on their games. It's just slightly taller than A4 and a lot wider, weigh's quite a bit too thanks to the art book inside. I love the artwork around the edges and the game logo in the middle, the box is made of high quality card and you can tell it's made to last.

Inside

The whole top section comes off and you get this lovely view on the left. From what I can gather so far that picture is a Diablo skull, one of the main demons which I'm looking forward to fighting. Anyway everything is packed neatly in the box and there is a plastic holder at the bottom of the box which keeps everything in place.

USB and Holder

How amazing is the USB with it's holder above, the box is decorated like a small chest and the card is high quality again. Basically the crystal on the left is the USB and it also contains the full game for Diablo 2 and the expansion as well for the game, both of those cost around £15 together. I love the detail gone into the Diablo skull holder though and soon as my desk is tidy (estimated date 12/12/3012) it can sit next to my Halo 3 helmet.

Art Book

Next up is the very impressive hardback art book which sorry to say folks I have not opened yet! trying to keep it safe in its wrapper for the time being. I will open it soon I promise and will update this post with some pictures; also I will do a general post to say when it's happened so you won't miss out. Reason why I haven't opened? Well room is a tip right now and when I open it I want to store it on my book shelf which currently as no space.

Judging just by the cover it's going to be awesome, I love the fact it's not a flimsy paperback book like most games give with 10 pages of small art prints.

There is also two dvd cases which I did not bother taking a picture of, did not think you would be interested in seeing the normal game case and making of dvd case. If you are I can update the post later with a picture but yeah there is a documentary dvd showing how they made the game, which I might actually watch this time around. Normally I do not bother on that type of stuff but the game is amazing so it would be interesting to see how it was done. Also I have got some codes for World of Warcraft guest passes and the code for the collector edition bonus items. This will give me the angel wings in the game, a witch doctor pet for World of Warcraft and some Diablo theme decal for Starcraft 2. I've not entered anything yet but again when I do I will add some screenshots below for your viewing pleasure.

Soundtrack

So final picture is the soundtrack which I am a little disappointed about, basically the sleeve is one of those fold out cardboard ones which I always find gets damaged quite easy. Not sure why they did not put it in a CD case, like how they did with the World of Warcraft ones. Again sorry to say it's not opened, I really should had thought this ahead but it's my first unboxing and I do have work in a bit so forgive me this time.





So overall I'm a fan! very impressed with what Blizzard as done and it makes me wonder when all this costs only £69.99 yet you got companies like say Square Enix who bring out their limited edition which is basically a flimsy outer cardboard box that olds four postcards and a sticker for the same price (FFXIII and FFXIII-2). So great value for money in my books and no regrets here! What do you guys think about it? Cool looking? Not your thing?

Next week I will be doing another unboxing involving the Uncharted 3 Explorer's Edition, hopefully this will be a weekly thing as I go through my collection. Give a shout with your thoughts about this post too, anything I could had done better like maybe open everything in advance sorry!.
~Iznic

Limited Edition 3DS "Toad"

Jumping back to last Christmas there was a competition in the UK (maybe else where as well but not sure) with the Club Nintendo where if you enter two codes from selected new 3DS games you would be entered for a chance to win a limited edition 3DS. Three choices where available and they was Mario, Toad and Peach. Mario and Peach did not look good in my opinion since the Peach was just a pink colour with a small gem design in the middle and Mario was red with a blue trouser like design with two buttons (sounds good but it wasn't to me). So I picked the Toad edition which was red with white spots and that was that, several months later after deciding to check my e-mails finally I was shocked to find I was one of the lucky winners.

Now after months of waiting it arrived last week!! it was funny because the week before I had sent a e-mail to Nintendo to see what was happening since the quote was May. The reply had come the morning of delivery saying there had been delays from Japan since how rare the designs was. Was very shocked when I came home to find a parcel waiting for me, at first I thought I had messed up and forgot a pre-order.

The 3DS as turned out better then I thought and I'm happy Nintendo did not slack on it, I was expecting some kind of sticker to be honest. Anyway the 3DS is white with the top red with white spots, its also got the shiny finish on the top with the slight glitter look like the other 3DS's. I've also found the buttons more responsive compared to my old red design, were if I wanted to switch off I would have to hold the power button down for several seconds. With this one just a simple click and the turn off screen appears.

So yes I'm very happy and it's one of the few good things to happen this year which is about time. I've transferred everything over from my old red one which was a lot of fun, did not realise the progress bar for the transfer consisted of Pikmin carrying the data over.

I traded my red one in for a decent price and picked up some new games, yeah who did not see that coming. Picked up Gravity Rush, Resistance Burning Skies, Lego Batman 2 and a time card for Star Wars Old Republic. So I'm sorted for the time being now and ohh I played the demo for Gravity Rush, it was brilliant and I'm very pleased that I have now got a unique game for the year.

Was quite upset when nothing was announced at E3 this year, in the past I've always been able to find a unique weird handheld game that was a diamond in the rough. Timehollow, Ghost Trick, Phoenix Wright and Another Code just to name a few that blew me away with their great stories and gameplay. Was really hoping for something for the 3DS this year but nothing so far but least now I have a game for the Vita, I will go into more detail about it when I get a chance.

Anyway back to the topic and finish this post off, how cool is that 3DS! so on that note I will catch you all later folks and have a good one.
~Iznic

Gaming Weekend

Morning,
Had a blast yesterday by spending the entire day with plenty of games, started off with World of Warcraft since the Midsummer Festival as started. Main part of the festival is Lord Ahune a giant ice lord trying to destroy Azeroth, every day you given one loot bag if you kill him which can give a rare item or two. I'm trying to get the last rare pet that I'm missing but so far no luck, but I have been racking up the justice points which I can use to buy new gear.

Followed by that I jumped onto the weekend event for Gears of War 3, another match of "team work" which really annoys me since they all bugger off to try and attempt the cool shoots which they always fail on. Yet if they just stuck together we could push the enemy back but no, they rather lose the game.

Anyway after that I finally sat down and played the multi player of Kid Icarus with my friend Lesley, the game is brilliant just a shame the camera is terrible for it. Think we did about five matches and my god it was a laugh, first few matches I spent pressing every button in attempt to learn the game. Got myself this nice new giant Black Club which can shoot a giant metal ball now and again, once I got it I was in the zone. Even had a turn playing as Pit which was comical since I took on the Dark Pit which did turn out well, I was down to 30% and he was on 5% then somehow he got some health back and I was down to 5%. Spent the next minute running around the map being chased with me shouting "don't kill me, oh god don't kill me", lucky Lesley and the CPU finished him off and we won. The whole game was brilliant and I cannot wait to get another session on the go.

After that well I played a bit of everything to be honest, I do have Lego Batman 2 now which is amazing! probably the best Lego so far and I cannot wait to see what they do with the Lord of the Rings one. My worries about voices was thrown out the window, it works really well and you have to laugh at some of the jokes.

Ended the night with some CO-OP with my friend Mike playing Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 on hard, it was really hard and frustrating with most of the levels. Wish you could have a save point in the middle of the game because it was getting annoying when we lost having to go back and do everything all over again. Especially this one level which was broken up into three long parts, think we died four times at least so was getting a little bit sick of doing everything over and over.

Anyway enough ramblings for me, I had a blast yesterday as you can tell and now it's time to see where I stand with my challenge for the year. Probably not good since I don't think I really did any achievement hunting at the start of the week.

Week 23 - This week
Starting Total: 137,974
To Earn: 2,296
Achieved: 0
Difference: -2,296

Week 22
Starting Total: 137,694
To Earn: 2,240
Achieved: 280
Difference: -1,960

Week 21
Starting Total: 137,364
To Earn: 2,163
Achieved: 330
Difference: -1,833

Total So Far -
To Earn: 38,326

Achieved: 13,823

Difference: -22,543

Dang that was a bad week for me with only 280 earned, OK this week will be good since I have Lego Batman 2 on the go and I should be working on X-men Destiny this week as well (my rental). So fingers crossed to see over a 1,000 hit this week, would love to think that I would clock both games but I'm going to be realistic about it. Also need to get back on Dynasty Warriors 7 Conquest Mode so I can clean up the game.

Before I end this post what do you guys think of the new look so far? thought I would go with the Dungeon like look since of the name and I love Minecraft. Still got plenty to do since I want to clean up the layout concerning the right hand side panel and I want to work on the different pages I've got as well. Also I will be looking at the facebook page and getting a proper logo picture sorted for it, might even get a Google+ page set up for the blog as well.

Anyway any thoughts, feedback, comments just post them below or on the Facebook page. Hope you all had a great weekend like I did, talk to you soon
~Iznic

Under Construction

Morning again folks,
Did you see? yes it was a post! I know I actually put something up finally and now trying to get out of this lazy period I've found myself in. Unfortunately folks this post will be short one since I have to leave for work in twenty minutes so that does not help really. Anyway back to the point of this post and that's to give you guys an heads up, I will be starting the make over for the blog finally since I've promised it for about a year now. It will not be something done over night so don't be shocked if you find things moved about or the blog slightly broken at certain points in the day. There will be a warning message up to remind everyone.

Also I will get the E3 posts up soon as well and I am sorry they are so late, as I said if I'm not busy working or playing games I'm being lazy. Will also be posting up later images of my limited edition 3DS that I won in the Christmas competition since it arrived yesterday plus I will be talking about few new games I picked up as well. So got a lot to post about over the next few weeks, just need to keep motivated about it.

Anyway that is it for this post since I really need to get ready for work, but before I go I would love to hear from you readers about the blog. Is there something you would like changed or added? something that should not be changed? post your thoughts in the comments or on the facebook page and I will take everything in when I'm working on the new design.

~Iznic

Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm

Morning folks,
Time to get on with some of those posts I've been promising for the last several weeks. First up is Blizzards new standalone expansion for Starcraft 2, Heart of the Swarm which will be based pretty much on the Zerg. Couple weeks back the Blizzard youtube channel was updated with two battle reports showing off the new units in multi player.

Personally I'm not much for the multi player side of Starcraft 2, I'm too slow when it comes to the building so I keep away from the ass kicking. I do sometimes play the Versus A.I. in a skirmish battle but nothing major anyway but I do love watching the tournament streams. It as to be only E-Sport I love watching the most, the battles are awesome and watching the professionals is mind blowing how skilled they are.

So I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the tournaments with these new units since both battle reports where great, one moment you think its all over then out of the blue they make this awesome come back. Check out the Protoss fight that was amazing for the come back and also check out Terran at the start with the Widow mines.









With no Blizzcon this year since they want to focus on finishing their games off I do wonder if we will see this game before Christmas. They keep saying that the stuff they showing can be changed but it looks quite finished but on the other hand we also have the World of Warcraft expansion almost done Mists of Panderia. Three games this year? doubt it but it would be awesome, my thoughts are one will come out November/December then the next will hit February/March next year. Have to wait and see anyway, anyone else a Blizzard fan?

~Iznic

A Great Week

Morning,
Last week was 100% without a doubt awesome, why do you ask? well not only did I finish the Shu Campaign in Dynasty Warriors 7 like I wanted to. But I also started and finished the Jin Campaign as well, so I've now finished all the story campaigns in the game. That makes it game number 31 for the year and I'm really happy with that result since my goal for the was just to get Shu done and start with the hopes of finishing. I will now be working on the Conquest Mode so I can try and wrap up the rest of the achievements that I'm missing which is worth about 80% of the gamer score.

Beside that I also clocked Ghost Recon as well which I really did not think would happen, when I posted last week I thought I was near the end only to find out I was barely half way through the game. I had a huge blast on Saturday and Sunday which was when I finished Dynasty Warrior as well. So that was another hopefully goal completed for the week so I hit everything I wanted too plus I can also now trade in Ghost Recon ready for Lego Batman 2. Don't get me wrong Ghost Recon is a good game but the online/co-op is really buggy for me and my mate so it's going to be a while before we do a co-op campaign together. Can pick it up again at a later date when I need it.

So time to update my challenge stats plus the year progress so far, I'm now up to 32 games on my list and one more to the 2012 new releases so on 35% done in that area as well.

Week 22 - This week
Starting Total: 137,694
To Earn: 2,240
Achieved: 0
Difference: -2,240

Week 21
Starting Total: 137,364
To Earn: 2,163
Achieved: 330
Difference: -1,833

Total So Far -
To Earn: 36,086

Achieved: 13,543

Difference: -22,543


Just had to laugh at Trueachievements since it says I'm only 15% done with my challenge and 43% of the time as gone, behind is a understatement at this point. But I think this week will turn out better since I will be working on my current rental X-men Destiny which I'm hearing is a good 1,000 gamer score plus so far I'm enjoying the game. Then end of the week See's the release of Lego Batman 2 which I cannot wait for, woot!! only down side is I just heard the Vita version is another port again so very disappointed to hear that. Going to rent it instead of buying because if it's like Harry Potter then  I really do not want to waste my money on it.

Anyway that's it for my plans for the week well add in some Minecraft and Diablo 3 (really need to get a session this week), plus I want to kick start the MMO night back up again so keep your eyes open for that. I think that is it for me for this post, hope you all had a blast this week and don't forget to leave a comment on this post or facebook. Always up for hearing what you been upto! until next time folks have a good one.

~Iznic

The Journey Begins

Morning,
It's time for the Journey to begin for my character Lily, with the Victini download back up I need to pick it up on my Pokemon White Version but I'm sure I have a legendary Pokemon waiting at the Pokemart already so I need to pick that up first. So in the last Journal entry I had picked my character and first Pokemon, if you forgot well I picked a female character named Lily (influenced from Harry Potter) and Tepig for my starter since you got to love the fire type.

Just loaded up and my room at the home town is trashed, completely forgot I had only done the introduction fight. Not even left yet and my Pokemon is level six so far, damn talk about just starting off. Ah good old Mom with the healing and I have now got my Xtransceiver, hmm lol think my game could not make it's mind up first it came up with that's it Spring then switched to Summer. Unless that's how it tells you the season as changed but I really thought it would show that when you booted the game up.

Anyway I just realised I was going to only work on one Pokemon with this version, had to re-read my first Journal entry and I had forgot I was going with the all powerful one Pokemon. Thought it was odd that I spent so much time trying to decide on the starter, so I'm about to learn to catch a Pokemon from Professor Juniper. Got my town map and Pokedex so far so I'm doing ok just wished you could turn off the tutorial.

Finally over well I hope so anyway but I do now have some Pokeballs and can head to Accumula Town, if there is a Pokemart there I will end this entry there once I've sorted out my Legendary downloads. Doh! first Wild Pokemon Battle with a Lillipup, was going to catch it but critical hit owned it with a one shot. Ohhh Ember! finally some fire moves in the arsenal and now Level Seven as well. Hmmm my rival friends are having a competition who as the most Pokemon, bah need to catch some then.

Just caught a Patrat and Lillipup but had to laugh since I kept going to press down and B when the Pokeball was thrown, ah the good old days of Pokemon Red. Wow Accumula Town was very close and dang it another tutorial about important buildings. I had forgot they had merged the Pokecentre and Pokemart together in these games, I can see the delivery guy in the corner but stupid tutorial won't me have control yet. Ah ha! Darkrai was waiting for me and I've now freed up space so I can download Victini as well now.

 
Ok that's weird why does Darkrai not appear in my Pokedex now that I have in my party?? how odd. Well that's it folks anyway for this entry and I promise I will do more entries soon and much longer. But for the time being thanks for reading!
~Iznic 

Quick Weekend Update

Good Morning,
Thought I would give a few posts done this morning while I wait for my TV to stop recording, although I am thinking about doing some PC gaming and playing Pokemon on the DS. Sorry about the lack of posts lately but I've tried to put as much as my spare time into gaming so I can get some games completed finally. Still got all the E3 posts to go up along with the redesign of the blog that I have in mind, plus several other smaller posts that I want to do, plenty to do with little time to do it.

Don't forget folks to jump on Batman Arkham City for Calendar Man today, don't want to wait another year to do it legit. So my plans for today are Minecraft followed by trying to finish off the Jin campaign in Dynasty Warriors 7 and maybe another mission in Ghost Recon Future Soldier. I do really want to play Starcraft 2 on the PC since I've been watching several tournament videos but will have to see on the time.

So that is really it folks for me today, I might attempt to get some of those posts up today but will have to see. Hopefully you all have a great Sunday planned out with plenty of gaming involved, until next time have a good one!

~Iznic

Reminder Two Events

Morning Folks,
Nearly forgot again myself but this Sunday is Father's Day and also another date with Calendar Man on Batman Arkham City.

So if you working towards the achievement or trophy make sure to set a reminder, if you never done this before you can find Calendar Man in the basement of the courthouse. Access to the basement can be found through the back door outside. You need to visit him once a month on specific dates for one year, there is a calendar on the wall next to his cell with the dates circled. Just make sure to talk him on those dates to hear a hear story from him which will be related to that date (the date usually falls on a event like Valentines day or Christmas) then once hes done make sure to hit a save point (going through the back door to the outside will do a auto save). When you come back on different days as well, the wall calendar should have the month scribbled out to show you have done it and once you done all twelve the achievement/trophy will be given and that's it.

The second event is for Pokemon Black and White, the original Victini download is back up again, its for the English version of the game only. Also if you downloaded Victini back in December then you cannot do it again, comes with the special moves V-Create and Fusion Flare/Fusion Bolt too. You have until June the 26th to download it so don't delay, I will be doing it later for Pokemon White although I just realised I've barely started the game so expect another entry in the Pokemon Journal soon.




So that's it folks for now so have a good one!
~Iznic

Good Start

Good Morning,
No idea why I'm up so early but going to take advantage of the few hours I've got before work, thinking either some posts or some gaming (maybe both). Wow I just remembered I did not update the 2012 Gaming Progress page yesterday, better get that done now before I forget again.

All sorted now so where was I, oh yeah I was about to talk about yesterday and my awesome day of gaming. Started the day off on Diablo 3 which seemed to run fine with no problems (probably jinxed myself now) so wondering if that small patch that I downloaded had fixed the problem or was the graphic issues to do with CO-OP play. Either way I did the introduction part to the game and now ready to get on with the first act which I might play in a bit.

After that I had a huge black on Dynasty Warriors 7 and finished the Shu campaign, was a lot closer to the ending then I originally thought. Two nice achievements for my trouble and I did the opening first mission for the Jing Campaign, so that's one goal for the week completed. I also tried out Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 which was one of my games I wanted to test out and I was shocked how much better it was compared to the first, still confusing in parts but least now you can repair your armour and even redeploy.

Finally I ended the day with two more levels done for Ghost Recon which I'm really enjoying right now, I find it hard to understand why it's getting negative reviews. It's a decent shooter and I love the sync targeting with the group, anyway I'm thinking that I must be close to the end since the missions are getting longer and the story is starting to wrap up so I might get this game done by the end of the week.

So that was my day so quite proud of myself for getting a lot done, ohh forgot I got one more trophy in Plants vs Zombies on the Vita, just three more to get the Platinum but one is time consuming and the last two are luck based so might be a while.

Anyway that's it for this post, going to go explore some Diablo 3 and see if I can make some progress on the first act. Playing a Barbarian again since I love the melee class, might try a Demon Hunter next time in the future although who I'm kidding I probably will try out all the classes in the end. When I get back from work I am considering doing a MMO night again since it's been nearly a month since the last one and waste of two game time cards. Talk to you later about it anyway and hopefully you all had a great day yesterday.

have a good one folks!
~Iznic

End of my Holiday

Morning,
Well its the last day of my week off and actually it ended Saturday but my two days off for this week was well placed. Going to try and fit as much gaming in today as I can although deep down I know that won't happen since I've got a lot to do.

Just updated the challenge page since another four weeks as gone by and no shock I hit zero gamer score this week, too much Minecraft in the spare time I had but I'm not going to moan since I love the game. Of course this weeks challenge will probably jump higher then usually, hang on lets take a look.


Week 21 - This week
Starting Total: 137,364
To Earn: 2,163
Achieved: 0
Difference: -2,163

Total So Far -
To Earn: 33,923

Achieved: 13,213

Difference: -20,710


Not a bad target this week considering I hit nothing last week, doubt I will hit it this week too but I will be playing quite a few different games this week. My plan for this week is to finish the Shu campaign on Dynasty Warriors 7 since I'm over half way through it now and start the new Jing campaign (looking forward to seeing this story line for the first time), would be brilliant if I could also finish that campaign as well since then it will be playing the Conquest mode left (most time consuming part of the game).

With the CO-OP online for Ghost Recon being really bugged for me and my mate I would like to work on the solo for the time, get a few missions done this week as well. Again it would be awesome if I finished this game so I can then work on some other titles, still got X-Men Destiny to work on from Lovefilm. Also have several games calling to me as well, plus there are several games sitting on my shelves that I want to try out to see if I will like them or not.

Plus throw some Minecraft in there and that's my list for the week, going to end this post here and get to it with the rest of my day! plenty to do, have a good week folks and keep your eyes open for more posts soon.

~Iznic

Results: Week 17 - 20

Total So Far -
To Earn: 33,923

Achieved: 13,213

Difference: -20,710

Week 20
Starting Total: 137,364
To Earn: 2,128
Achieved: 0
Difference: -2,128

Week 19
Starting Total: 137,039
To Earn: 2,030
Achieved: 325
Difference: -1,705

Week 18
Starting Total 136,874
To Earn: 1,974
Achieved: 165
Difference: -1,809

Week 17
Starting Total: 136,504
To Earn: 1,953
Achieved: 370
Difference: -1,583

Minecraft Episode Three

Morning folks,
Really shocked that this is Episode Three of my Minecraft post series, I thought I was on four or five by now and only just found out when I went to double check the number before I started writing. Really need to keep up to date since I've done a lot more since the last post. I've been kicking myself lately since I keep creating different worlds to play in and got nothing really to show off for my time, where my friends have stuck to one world and built crazy houses.

My problem is I want to build huge things but without the threat of monsters because its just a pain having to keep worrying about attacks at night, then at the same time I do want to play survival. So I'm going to have two worlds on the go, one which will have my projects on set at peaceful so no attacks and a survival world.

Going to use my well I think its my sixth world for the peaceful one since I started building a giant floating fortress. Need to go back to it and finish it off, the only reason I've not bee on it for a while is the amount of time it takes to get the materials just build the one floor.

Framework

The world is full of mountains so I had built a giant house beside one then started to have a network of mines going into the mountain from the house. Then I started to build long bridges connecting the mountains so I could get around, so as you can see above when I started with the castle I just extended off one of the bridges. 

I had to plant a ton of saplings below to create a small forest to help supply me with the wood for this project. The plan is to have a castle with about three-five floors, the roof will have a small garden that as small gazebo type building that stores water that creates a small waterfall that will drop down the centre of the castle into the basement.

Originally I wanted the basement to be a glass bowel that would fill up then have a few holes in it to cause waterfalls coming out to go into the lake below. But now I'm going to create a small island underneath using dirt and stone to give it that authentic look, still have a waterfall or two coming out of course.

Measuring out the waterfall

Had to use wood a lot to work out where I wanted things before putting the stone down, since I had to put cobblestone into a furnace to get it to be brick stone again I did not want to waste any of it. Wooden planks can be picked up and put down again easily so as you can see above I was using blocks to find the middle and started cutting the shape out where I wanted the water to come through.

When it came to the gazebo I was in two minds about the design so once again I built it out of wood, I decided to have a lip on the top for the water so then I can have waterfalls on the top that go into the garden to make small streams and ponds. Glad I did build a rough wooden design because I forgot that there would be a second floor layer of dirt so had to move everything up one.

Gazebo Rough Design

Even made a trip to the Netherworld to mine some glow blocks to use in my design, in the picture below you can see the roof taking shape and the final design of the gazebo. The golden looking blocks in the walls are the glow blocks so they light up at night, as I said the problem is time consuming getting all the blocks. Especially with having to put all the stone back into the furnace just to get the smooth looking block again.

Roof Taking shape

For the time being I'm not building the walls just a rough out line, I want all the floors done so I can get the windows in the right place. Also thinking maybe adding a balcony or two later and I've merged the first two floors together to create a big hall way, the second floor is a balcony walkway that goes around the room so the centre is fully open.

Taking Shape

In the picture on the left you can see my crazy wooden scaffolding that I had to use so I could make the lower floors, also the dirt stairs next it is so the grass can slowly grow up and spread into the garden on the top. Just takes a while for that to happen but once its done I can cut down everything.

So that's it so far for my castle world, I will be trying to finishing it off and have a laugh on this world. Thinking of building a underwater house nearby but we will see, anyway that's it for now. Hopefully in the next episode I will have some more final pictures for you to see along with the survival world up and running. Thinking of doing a ton of tunnels again like I did in my co-op world with my mates, that way I can work in the night without being attacked. Would be similar to a space base, in closed domes and walkways connecting everything, ohhh plans are starting to form in my head now.

Until next time folks have a good one!
~Iznic


P.S. Built anything fun on Minecraft? give a shout will love to see/hear what you built

E3: Afterthoughts + E3 2013

All three conference posts are now up and I just got the ton of posts for the games to do now, before I jump into that though I though it be nice to do a post about what I thought in the end of E3 this year. I have to admit this year lost a lot of the spark for me, every year I'm usually jumping off the wall for the entire week then the second week just none stop talking about what we saw. This year I've not been that bothered to see the on floor stuff, in fact during the conferences I built a small Minecraft village because I was that bored (will be showing it off in a Minecraft Episode, when I get the time to do those posts).

I think it did not help with Microsoft and EA starting the week off badly, the rest pulled it back but I did feel it was not as good as the past. I was also shocked this year to have several friends ask why I did not tweet throughout the conferences, did not think people was that interested but over the last few days I've seen higher number of readers on the blog (even when there was no posts). So next year I will be doing a Twitter live feed as I watch the streams then after I might just copy and paste everything onto a blog post.

Personally I think the reason this E3 was not that big is because next year we will be seeing the next generation of consoles so I think everyone is holding back and waiting. What did you my readers think of this year? good? bad? post your thoughts in the comments or on the Facebook page, I do read everything.


You know what I think I'm going to post my thoughts for next year, I honestly think next year could be one of the biggest E3's we will ever see. Both Microsoft and Sony should be showing off the start of their new consoles, Nintendo should have Wii U and it will be showing off the line up for the first year. In fact it would not shock me if Nintendo release some big name stuff like Mario HD or Zelda HD since they will have some competition with the new consoles.

I believe that most companies will be moving over to the new consoles, so expecting to next generation from everyone. Maybe one or two games still coming out the current stuff but most will be next generation like COD, Assassin's Creed, Fifa, no doubt we will see another Battlefield but thinking Bad Company 3 this time.

It could be brilliant if done right and just maybe there will be a blue moon and Value will release Half-Life 2 Episode 3! although there would be a good chance the Four Horsemen will appear shortly after.

~Iznic

E3: Nintendo Conference

Nintendo was tied in second place for me with Ubisoft this year, main reason Nintendo did take first place was the fact it seemed ... well last minute. Like they was not sure what to talk about, the whole conference they kept saying there was too much to talk about in the short time they got. Well stop saying that and use those minutes for more trailers! plus the 3DS was put into another conference the next day which was then missing most of the big games (Animal Crossing and Professor Layton to name a few).

Personally I was surprised they did not just turn the Wii U on, there was some great games shown but it would had been so much better if they picked up the game pad and shown us what happens when we switch it on then played those games.

As I mentioned just a minute ago there was some good games shown, Pikmin 3 looked amazing and in full HD as well. The water looked amazing which makes me chuckle since that line is always used to describe the HD in games. Anyway I was big fan of the first one but did not get much time in the second one, really looking forward to giving it a try and the pad features sound good. Was also surprised how awesome Super Mario Bro's U looks, not exactly a Marion fan myself but I might pick this one up. Love the features where you can get tips from other players appearing on the menu, reminds me sort of Demons Souls with the messages left on the floor.

I could not stop grinning also when they put up the details for Batman Arkham City Armoured edition, using the pad for detective mode!! omg! also they did everything I wanted with the fact all the menu, gadgets etc are on the pad and the TV being pure visual.


So overall they did good but it could had a been a lot better, right now I think I will be getting a Wii U but I really really want to see more footage. Show the menu off, put a game in, show us a fully working one instead of having it sit on a table. Need to see a lot more games too, they have a good start (Mass Effect 3!!) but I want to see the full line up for launch and the months after. Also 3DS!! don't forget this console again, where are the games!


That's it for me with this post and I don't forget to comment with what you though of this conference, good or bad I'm all ears!
~Iznic



Source: video stream thanks to gamespot.com

E3: Microsoft Conference

I have to say right now I was disappointed with Microsoft this year, it started off great with showing Halo 4 in action which looked great. Then doing the unveiling of Splinter Cell Black list, I was a happy gamer then after that it seemed to go down hill for the rest of the conference. I was really shocked that they only showed the small teaser trailer for Gears of Judgement and yet later that night there was announcements about the new multi player class system and story information. Then there huge announcement that Bling can now search by genre ... that was worthy to be shown off at E3?

Let's not forget the disaster of Dance Central 3 which we all knew was coming but having some music star say he will show it off then do a huge dance number without the game on, oh I'm sorry I though this was a game conference. If he was dancing to the game I would had accepted that even though its not my thing but it was clear he was just trying to promote himself, very disappointed in you Microsoft.

Don't get me wrong Microsoft could had been great, they showed off Tomb Raider and Black Ops 2. South Park looks amazing and Trey & Matt was a nice touch who clearly stole the show with their opening lines. The new Smartglass technology could be a great thing but I just don't see it being used properly, the Game of Thrones map I would probably use once then that's it. Halo 4 showing off the details of what you see now I would use that, that was sweet but as Peter Molyneux said on Spike TV how easy is it for developers to use? if its a nightmare to code for then it won't be used.

Overall they did ok but with too much time dedicated to the fail parts it left everyone upset and I would love to know what happened to the core updates that everyone was waiting for. Friends list extension? clan support, gamer score and achievements having more purpose with dedicated leaderboards and rewards. Actually I know where all this stuff is, they holding it off to put in the new Xbox along with the upgraded Kinect which makes sense I guess. So that's it for me on this conference, what was your thoughts on it? good or bad?

~Iznic



P.S. Video stream thanks to Gamespot.com

E3: Sony Conference

The clear winner in my eyes thanks to all the games they showed off, in my opinion E3 is about games and new consoles plus throw in a accessory or two in as well. Microsoft seemed to have forgot that and Nintendo could had a been a lot clearer, so Sony took the crown but they did deserve with what they showed off.





Starting off with that new IP Beyond Two Souls from the makers of Heavy Rain was the best decision they could had done, it looks amazing and I cannot wait to see more about it plus I would love to see some proper game footage (although I'm expecting the graphics in the trailer was game footage). Then you got near the end showing off a level being played of "Last of Us", brutal and amazing was all I could think of while watching. God of War still looks the same old hack and slash with brutal combos but it stills sucks me in, I think this year I will be putting more time into my PlayStation 3.

A nice touch was showing off the Ship battling for Assassin's Creed 3, been waiting for a game to get that right and seems Ubisoft did it. Plus Liberation for the Vita looks bang on, it looks like a proper game instead of the past handheld ones which had to sacrifice a lot.

Also the upgrade to PlayStation Plus was a nice touch with a ton of free games on their way, ten games are already up right now and my poor PS3 is trying to download 40/50gb+ worth.

Overall it was good conference but of course I would had liked to seen a lot more about the PlayStation Vita games, it was nice seeing the Assassin's Creed and confirming Black Ops 2 but what about the rest? two games is not enough. Oh well hopefully over the next few months we will see some announcements, so what did you think of Sony's Conference? good? bad?

~Iznic








Source: thanks to gamespot.com for the conference video

The Daily Grind E3 Edition

Good Morning Folks,
Last night just as I was just about to close my eyes I suddenly realised that I did not do my weekly update about the challenge. Of course it could not be helped since it was in fact E3 week plus I'm on holiday as well so I'm pretty busy having fun, anyway so I thought I would do this Daily Grind post to catch up with everything as well as start my E3 posting with. There is so much to talk about and such little time, where does one start?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Let's start with last week and my 200,000 gamer score challenge, I did actually earn some achievements last week but not enough of course to hit the target. My new rental game arrived which was X-men Destiny which I'm actually enjoying, quite a easy and fun game and the story is pretty good so far. Have to wait and see what the rest of the game is like later on before I pass judgement on it but so far the achievements are really easy.

Week 20 - this week
Starting Total: 137,364
To Earn: 2,128
Achieved: 0
Difference: -2,128

Week 19
Starting Total: 137,039
To Earn: 2,030
Achieved: 325
Difference: -1,705

Week 18
Starting Total 136,874
To Earn: 1,974
Achieved: 165
Difference: -1,809

Week 17
Starting Total: 136,504
To Earn: 1,953
Achieved: 370
Difference: -1,583

Total So Far -
To Earn: 31,795

Achieved: 11,085

Difference: -20,710

Dang! that was a low score for last week and I really did think I was past the 500 mark, must had been earning achievements in my sleep. Think this week will be a lot worse since I can say as of right now I'm on zero, will be doing some gaming today so hopefully I can get at least one achievement .... hopefully!!

So my plans for this week? well I have no idea what I will be playing sorry, what ever takes my fancy today but I am working on Plants vs Zombies still on my Vita. Think I've only got five trophies left to get the Platinum and I'm about to get two more in a few more levels. This will be second Vita Platinum so I am quite excited about it, so I have no doubts I will be on that this week especially with the fact the last trophies are time consuming luck based ones.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Think that's enough ramblings about my challenge for a week and before I wrap this post up I think it would be a good time to announce my winner of E3. Could do with a drum roll but oh well, winner as to be Sony in my opinion. The conference was everything I wanted, games and guess what more games! they took my breath away with how amazing Last of Us looks then adding a new IP Beyond Two souls. I really need to play Heavy Rain because I know I'm missing out but I will be playing Beyond on day one that's for sure, then lets not forget showing off Assassin's Creed 3 ship battling which really shocked me (big fan of Pirates and I have been waiting a while for a good game with ships).

Assassins Creed Liberation looks amazing on the Vita and let's not forget God of War, the whole conference was great and ohhh don't forget the ton of free games for PlayStation Plus members which is about time!. Of course there was things missing in my opinion but no conference is perfect but anyway Sony won followed by Ubisoft and Nintendo joint second then Microsoft and EA last. I will be doing a series of posts talking about the conferences and of course the games will be up separately as well so stick around for all that, in the mean time what was your favourite conference? I would love to hear!

~Iznic

E3: Baird's Goggles for your Avatar Free!

Afternoon folks,
I will be posting quite a bit in the next few with all the E3 goodies and talking about what I thought and what I want but for now you have to wait. This had to be posted up A.S.A.P in my opinion, with the announcement of Gears of War Judgement you can watch the teaser trailer on their new facebook page but if you also share it on your wall you unlock a code for Baird's Goggles for your avatar.

So what you waiting for?! check out this link and get sharing, its free!

~Iznic


Source: Big thanks to my good friend Carpo_1987 for making me aware of this offer

Pre-E3: Lego Lord of the Rings

It's finally been confirmed and they are now making the Lego Lord of the Rings video game, whats even better there is a teaser trailer for it as well.



I'm excited for it but still not sure about having voices now, especially with the voices sounding so serious when the Lego games are meant to be fun. It would had been really funny if the Balrog was charging a long then stops since Gandalf was tapping a no Balrog entry sign, the Balrog pouting and throws a tantrum breaking the bridge. See works with out the voices! anyway still going to get it since its Lego and you can never go wrong with it.

~Iznic



Source: WB Games Twitter for the Story, Community Games for the Trailer

Pre-E3 Rumour: Final Fantasy XV

Another rumour concerning Square Enix as popped up over on the website MCV, a well known site for UK Gaming Business news. This time it shows a behind closed doors video of a conference announcing Final Fantasy XV and that in fact Versus XIII was the code name for it, this would explain why there as been no news in ages about the illusive Versus game.

Check out the source link below to watch the trailer on their website and see what you think, if this is a fake they did a good job of it that's for sure. Anyway guess the answers will be clear on Monday along with the Hitman HD collection.

I would buy the next Final Fantasy game but then I remember I still got to finish XIII and start XIII-2.
~Iznic

Source: MCV

Pre-E3 Rumour: Hitman HD Collection

Over on CVG they have posted up that a retailer is listing a HD Collection for the past Hitman games for the PlayStation 3, games include Hitman Blood Money which I really enjoyed. Hitman Contracts which as to be my most favourite game of the series and the one that got me into the Hitman games and the second Hitman game Silent Assassin.

Of course this is just a rumour with out Square Enix's confirmation but I really do hope its true, guess have to wait for the conference on Monday. I will gladly pick this up if they do make it though, having Contacts in HD on the consoles would be excellent.

~Iznic

Source: CVG

Pre-E3: Castlevania Lords of Shadows 2

Never really been into the Castlevania games and they never really got my attention until I saw a trailer a few years back for the Lords of Shadows on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I did pick it up in the end one Christmas since it gone into the bargain sales and I could not resist, it's currently gathering dust on my shelf still in the wrapper. I keep saying to myself that I will get around to it but now I really need too..



Was a bit of a surprise at the end to see the sequel announced and it looked amazing, although I had no clue on the plot elements that was going on. Guess I really do need to play the first one so I can understand it better and I've got to now since I want the sequel. Anyone else looking to get this? or you not impressed?

~Iznic

Pre-E3: Skyrim Dawnguard

It's amazing when you talk about a game then come home to find the new information waiting for you. Me and a friend at work was talking about Dawnguard and wondering what it could be about and my words where they would announce the details at E3. Instead I came home to find this nice trailer link on my Twitter waiting for me...



Don't see any Snow Elves though from the leaked data mined information users found but still looks awesome, the whole flying Vampire lord from the developers video being added was a nice touch. Crossbows finally as well! not sure which side I will choose yet but then again I really need to start Skyrim properly! last point I got up to was killing the first Dragon with the city guard, so at the start really.

~Iznic

Pre-E3: Tomb Raider

The great team over at Gametrailers have posted up an exclusive video of the new Tomb Raider, my god does it look amazing. I love the fact we are now getting more matured themed games, I hate when games get dumbed down so they can aim it at kids. Anyway check it out below...



Well what do you think? you got to feel for her, talk about a bad day and that scene with the bone stuck in her side. Shame its been pushed back until next year but I can understand with the fact that there is way too much coming out this year. This will be a must buy on launch for me and I'm hoping for a cool collectors edition, I am wondering what they will show off next week though.

~Iznic

Pre-E3: Konami Conference

Well it's fully official now with Konami doing their second pre conference last night, just like last year it covers several of their top games with plenty of beautiful trailers and lots of information to take in. There will be several more announcements as well next week according to the video so they still got plenty up their slevees left. Video is below for you my lovely readers thanks to G4TV and I will be doing posts later on each of the games I'm interested in, might even update this post with a series of links too.

Anyway enjoy the conference!
~Iznic

Game Trailers - E3 2012

Other Posts Related:
- Castlevania Lords of Shadows 2

Pre-E3: Random Information

Evening folks,
Just taking a break from gaming since my hands still hurt from the epic Minecraft session I had on the weekend, really need to learn to not grip the controllers so hard. Anyway I thought I better clear up something about my posts on E3 this year, I will only be posting about games I'm interested in so don't expect to see every game appearing here. For example today there is information about Dead Space 3 and Aliens Marines Collector Edition but I'm not a horror fan so I won't be getting these so not going to be posting about them.

For the full coverage of every announcement I would recommend trying out of any these sites, these are the ones I use on a regular basis.

Video Game Interactive
Xbox360achievements
PS3trophies
Gamespot
IGN
MCV

Just one more thing also to clear up, don't think I will be doing a full post for each conference like last year. I will probably do a overall post to cover all three conferences saying who I thought was the best and worst, plus any small announcements will be included. Then I will have separate posts with trailers for each big game I'm interested in.

So that's it folks, think I've covered everything...ohhh before I forget again, Shopto as posted up the full schedule for all the events (times and even links to some of the sites providing videos). They did seem to forget to mention that IGN and Gamespot usually cover live streams as well, G4TV is usually a big one too.

Anyway that's it for now so take care all,
~Iznic

Pre-E3 Van Helsing

I remember hearing about a new Van Helsing game in the works and that the style would be a lot different compared to the usual take. That was several months ago and since then not heard about it again until this morning, as I will checking through the mass piles of Twitter messages I came across a link to a teaser trailer. So here it is, the teaser for "The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing"...



Hopefully next week we will see some information about this game but I do like the art style so far, especially the classic old school vampire look. Not sure what to think of the Final Fantasy style Van Helsing though, anyway its listed to be coming out Christmas time this year so I will be keeping my eyes open and I will post anything I find.


What are your views on it? good? bad? wait and see?
~Iznic

Pre-E3: Hitman Absolution Trailer

Couple of days ago the E3 trailer was posted up for the new Hitman Absolution game, not sure how it can be a E3 trailer when its a week early but anyway have a look below.



When I saw the Agency tatoo on her arm I was jumping for joy with the idea that we will be taking on other Assassin's. Really want the game to end at the Agency H.Q. which would be a great last level to end it on, although they could keep that for another game and end it somewhere else, or it's revealed in a teaser that there are multiple branches of the Agency. Either way I'm looking forward to next week and hoping to see a lot of game play footage so I can see the new system in action.


~Iznic

Pre-E3: Gears of War

I'm like a kid at Christmas last night and especially this morning since there is a ton of more announcements. Anyway last night this appeared and I will let it speak for me!

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

Yes that's right a new chapter for Gears of War and according to VGI it will be announced on Monday at the E3 conference for Microsoft. So excited about it and from the looks its a prequel since in the back ground you can clearly see burning buildings with Reavers flying past. Also the figure with the handcuffs is probably Marcus, but we will find out on Monday for sure anyway.

Ohhhh can imagine if this would be ready for Christmas or early next year, omg! I'm so excited that I'm practically jumping off the walls. Going to attempt to write the next couple of posts now, well if I can calm down long enough! surprising how much energy I've got to say I had a rough night of barely any sleep. Anyway I'm off and if you want to see a larger image of the cover check out the source below on VGI.

~Iznic

Source: thanks to Video Games Interactive for the information