Rumour: Assassin's Creed 4 Box Art

Just about to leave for work and this beautiful picture appears up on twitter thanks to CVG.

Image belongs to CVG

Rumour is this is the box art for the latest game and was leaked on the Ubisoft forums, looks very legit to be honest. I love the new Pirate Assassin's logo on the flag in the background, anyway not much else as been leaked since my post yesterday. Hopefully everything will be clearer next week since the embargo is meant to be this Monday coming up, well if we are to believe all these rumours anyway.

Check out my yesterday post here to see the other leaks/rumours about this game.
~Iznic

Sources:
CVG - Box Art leak

Warcraft and Starcraft

Good Morning,
Last night the official trailer for the new World of Warcraft patch went live, say hello to 5.2 The Thunder King.



Shame I'm not in a guild because I would love to have ago at that raid, the bosses shown look amazing and fun. Got to love the part where the army of trolls march along with the giant dinosaurs, anyway the patch is meant to be huge and adding entire new zone with plenty to do. Think it's hitting next week if I can remember right.

Speaking of Blizzard as well a new trailer went up for the upcoming Starcraft game, Heart of the Swarm. Nicknamed Vengeance it's once again showing hints at the continuing story but this video is a little different, included is a developer talk where they talk about the game and answer questions from fans. Then at the end is a showcase match showing off Heart of the Swarm multi-player between Grubby and Crazymoving two famous pro players. It's a pretty sweet match to watch and gives you an idea of things to come, check out the video below.


Watch live video from Starcraft on TwitchTV 
So plenty to keep you busy with you are a Blizzard fan, to me it's brilliant but I am worried with so much happening at once how am I going to play it all.
~Iznic

Rumour: New Assassin's Creed Game

Evening,
Interesting rumour going around last night about the new Assassin's Creed game, it was confirmed a few weeks back there would be a game this year. Shortly after the title of "Black Flags" was making the rounds and saying it would be a pirate theme setting for the game. I loved the ship battles in Assassin's Creed 3 and would love a pirate game using the features.

Well Kotaku last night put up a post with a picture of a so called leaked photo of the promotional poster for the game. Now normally I'm not that big into rumours but this looks pretty impressive and if it is a fake then fair play to them.

Image Belongs to Kotaku

So there it is and I really hope it is true, according to the article which can be found linked here, that it will be announced next Monday (4th March) since the posters are meant to be up on store walls then. I will be glued to my Twitter feed waiting to hear the announcement to see if it's true.

Whoa I just accidentally clicked my MCV uk link on my browser and there as been another leak with more details and a screen shot? looks like this is getting more real by the day.

The new character is Edward Kenway who is the father of Haytham and Grandfather to Connor from Assassin's Creed 3. Caribean looks to be in the game thanks to the screen shot map and the embargo meant to be lifted on Monday which ties in with the Kotaku rumour. Wow this is getting silly, each post I'm reading is linked to another with more information and it looks like Ubisoft is having a Assassin's Creed Press Conference today. Wonder what that could be about lol

Image Belongs to Kotaku

Think I would be more shocked if this game was not real to be honest at this point, anyway check out the source list below for the full stories. Hopefully next week all will be revealed and expect to see some excited posts from about it.
~Iznic



Sources:
Kotaku Poster Leak
MCV Leak Information
Kotaku Map Leak
Examiner.com Screenshot and game details

Gears Season Pass Revealed

Morning folks,
Last night EPIC posted up the details of the upcoming season pass for Gears of War Judgement which is out on the 22nd March (less than a month to go! cannot wait!). The following as been confirmed to be included:

• Two Add-on packs consisting of:
• Six multi-player maps
• Two new modes
• New weapons
• New armour skins
• Early access to the new multi-player maps
• Five exclusive weapon skins
• Four exclusive armour skins
• Permanent double XP

This will cost 1,600 Microsoft points so not a bad price but in a way I do feel like this was just rushed to be put together. Was a bit shocked to hear the price last night since I thought it was a lot cheaper then the Gears 3 one then I saw the list of content. Only two packs? how fast will they come out? will there be more after? and I really hope the maps are good ones and not just generic ones with a new skin.

I loved the maps in the end packs for Gears 3, especially with the Easter eggs in them like finding elemental cleavers. Anyway they say it will save 20% if you bought the packs separate and I do love the Gears multi-player so I will be picking this up, The double XP is a really nice bonus and makes me wonder how long it will take to level up if they offering that.

Roll on March!
~Iznic

Start of the Week

Monday morning, I should hate it being the fact it's the start of another week but I usually get today off so it kinda gets balanced out. Anyway hope you all had a fun filled weekend of gaming, I really did not get up to much myself, had a small session of Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires and one game of League of Legends. Was too busy tiding up and doing odd jobs, plus had a small movie marathon last night since I spend way too much time on my gaming and neglect my movies and books.

Had a bit of a shock loading up Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires though, it's subtitled this time around so I need to try and get use to reading the notification messages during battle. Before I would just listen out and still be able to pay attention to what was happening, now I keep having to glance to read which is costing me in a fight. Need to learn to balance that out but it's a fun game anyway, seems more in depth compared to the last ones so I think this platinum trophy will be a lot more challenging. Worth a check out if you into these type of strategy/action games.

So as I said not much this weekend for gaming, did do a lot of thinking and planning though. Oh actually before I go into that I did find something amusing during my tiding. My HD DVD player for the Xbox 360, picked up one last year really cheap, think it was something like £2.50 and when I got it home found a copy of Van Helsing left inside the disc tray. Bargain of the year that was and such a shame the format did not kick off, if they had put the drive into the Xbox like Sony did with the Blu-ray and PlayStation 3 it might be still here. Nothing really different between the two formats except HD DVD are all region free, that was the massive positive in my book. Anyway wonder if we will see a Blu-ray player in the new Xbox this year, hope so since they need to take advantage of the bigger disc space.

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

Anyway back to the original subject of me thinking, well I was thinking about of multiple things. First MMO's and more specifically the ones I'm currently playing, World of Warcraft and Old Republic. If you been a long time reader of my blog you know one of my bad points is wasting money on time cards that I do not get my worth out of, one three hour session for a 60 day time card is not a good thing. Well the end of the time is coming up for Warcraft and I'm sure Old Republic will be soon too, so I was wondering is it worth reinvesting into another card for each. Of course this will all depend on did I get plenty of time out the current ones. World of Warcraft I would say without a doubt since I hit level 90, was on every day for the last two weeks doing the Valentines dungeons and spent quite a few sessions levelling up and questing. In fact I will just check out Raptr to see what the time was and it says in the last month I've clocked twelve hours, well the time card is two months so not bad. Especially when you fork out £40 for a console game and get around six hours game play.

Old Republic is another story in it's self and in fact Raptr as no data for the last month of me playing, if I did it would be less then an hour. Found it! Raptr blog activity last post was 11th February for 44 minutes, I will admit I don't think I've got my moneys worth. I started off well but the last few weeks I've not been on, the game is good but I don't know it's like I don't have a reason to sit down and play it. It's not gripping me I guess and I really don't know, I have wondered if playing a different class might help since they all different stories and game styles.

I've just checked and I've got twelve days left of my time card so I'm going to try a different character, the thing is that the game is free-to-play now of course you lose a lot of bonus for not being a premium member (cannot remember what). So I could still technically play it after my time runs out just with lots of penalties, see what happens with the next twelve days anyway.

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

So that was my thoughts on the MMO's and I did think about console games as well with the same subject line of moneys worth. My pile of shame is huge and now with possibility of seeing the next generation of consoles this year the pressure is on really. I do feel like kicking myself for not playing some of these games, there are lot of amazing games this generation that I've not touched like Heavy Rain, Dark Souls, Demons Souls etc and plenty of games I've started and not finished. Over the last few weeks and in fact since the start of this year I have realise with so many games coming out and buying so many at the same time it does become hard to decide on what to play. A lot get shelved and a lot of time is wasted trying to decide on what to play, in fact I can say I've spent at least one night trying to decide on what to play then giving up for a film because there was too many choices.

In the old days when I was kid I barely bought any games, but when I did my god would I get my times worth out of them. I would love to see how many hours was spent on Ages of Empires 2 and Jedi Knight 2, I would easily say 200+ hours if not more. Now I be lucky to give them one hour so yeah I was thinking about that and of course the costs. In fact with the PlayStation 4 announcement I wrote down all the titles I wanted and rough guessed the price plus the console price. Guessing at £400 for the console and £50 per game, my want list came to nearly £1,000! so as you can imagine I nearly spat my drink out.

This is where this thought started, say all those games came out on the launch day how would I play them all? some would get pushed to the side or even shelved. So why buy them all if I'm not going to play them and that was it, I started with all this thinking and started to look at the Pile of Shame. You probably wondering where I'm going with all this rambling, well I don't know really. I think I need to cut back on my spending, maybe just buy one game at time and I don't buy the next until I've finished the last. Would make life simpler but then I only have to look at my challenge to see I cannot even do that right.

Food for thought anyway and on this note I'm going to go get ready because I suppose to be leaving soon for the Cinema to see Die Hard 5. I did not realise the time and spent way too much time writing this so take care all and I will see you soon.
~Iznic

PlayStation 4

So it's finally been announced! all that waiting and secrets they have finally confirmed it but no pictures of the console. That was the only thing that annoyed me at the conference last week was not seeing the actual console itself but I can understand they want to hold some things off for the E3 event, plus the main thing a gamer should really want to know is what it can do.

They answered that quite well, I was like a kid in a candy store or on Christmas morning bouncing off the walls as they told us about it and showed off game trailers. I don't know what I was expecting to be honest but it was not that, I'm very impressed with what they doing and I will get the console on launch day.

So before I start talking about what I like here is the conference video itself, if you not had chance to watch it then I recommend you do so now.



Right a lot of the specifications announced I have heard are not final but I bloody hope they stick with it, especially the 8GB of RAM. It will need it or even more to run all those lovely new features they talked about, and thank you Sony for finally putting a separate chip in for downloaded. Instant downloading and play while downloading should had been put in the PS3 a long time ago, this was one of the things I wanted changing and they did it.

I love the idea of the new social stuff like the video capturing, I've been wanting to do it for a long time now but the price of some of the capture cards put me off. Plus the fact only a selected few will work with HDMI really kept me away, so the idea that a click of the Share button and my game play session is ready to be shared is awesome. I will be using it a lot for my blog here folks, so many times I've done something awesome and wish I could had shown it. Also it would be great to add into reviews once I got back into writing them again.

Also I do like the idea of allowing friends to watch you playing games, bit like eSports streaming and the options of them able to post messages into the game to help. I know quite a few friends asking where certain items in a game so now I could just show them, or if they ask what a game is like I can send them a video or let them watch me play. So that's all brilliant to me and I really do hope they stick to their guns and actually do all these features.

Very gutted to hear that it's not backwards compatible with retail or digital PS3 games but in the end I do have to agree with people, I don't buy a new console to play the past console games. Just means I won't be saving any money by trading my PS3 in since I will be keeping it, might need a few new shelves under my TV.

I'm not going to go into the games in this post, going to do each one separate so expect a few more posts in a bit. But anyway Yes I'm going to get the console (as long as they stick to all of this that was announced) and it probably will be day one and I really, really, really hope the UK See's it for the Holidays as well and not delayed. Don't ruin Christmas for us Sony and be a scrooge, a world wide launch should be your aim or within the same week.

It's going to be interesting to see what Microsoft has up it's sleeve for their console, every one is saying April announcement. On that note I'm going to go work on the game posts, don't forget to comment with your thoughts on the new console. Plus I have a poll running on the facebook page to see who will be buying on launch day, so far it's four yes and three maybe's.
~Iznic

Plants Vs. Zombies Free

Afternoon folks,
Thought I would start the day off with a quick small post and what better then with a free game. Do you own a iPad or iPhone or even a iPod Touch? well any iOS device. Then you can get Plants vs. Zombies for free over the next few days.

One of my favourite games which I currently own on the Vita/PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, you can get the normal version for the smaller devices or the HD version for the iPad free right now for the next week (until the 28th February I'm hearing). If you never played the game then what cave have you been living in? well check out the trailer for it.



Lost count how many hours I've spent on this game, it's amazing how such simple games can keep you hooked and I've just learnt the reason this is free right now is because Plants vs. Zombies 2 is in the works for this year. No images or trailers just yet for this but I'm already excited to play it.

Anyway that's it folks, I did say this would be a quick short post and I'm now off to starting writing about the PlayStation 4 event.
~Iznic

4 Years and 10,000 Pageviews

Afternoon folks,
So I'm finally home and no work for a few days, Sunday and Monday is my weekend to me and I will be celebrating with gaming and Die Hard on Monday. Now I've got quite a few things to talk about today, first up going to start with the new PlayStation 4 announcement. Yes I know I did not post after it happened or in fact the last few days, that's because if you not already noticed I've been changing the blog slightly.

I'm cleaning up the pages (links above) and sorting out new ones, so for example so far you will notice 2011/2012/2013 Gaming Progress as gone and now just says Gaming Progress Stats. Here you will find this year stats with a set of links for the past few years, looks a lot more tidy this way. Next up I've got rid of the E3 2012 since I never did get around to finishing it, but I have put up the E3 2013 ready for this year. I'm determined to be on the ball this year so I will have the games I loved post up and linked there, plus this year I will do some kind of post with my thoughts as each announcement happens during the conferences.

The last thing which I've not added up yet is the Next Generation page, this will be exactly like the E3 page but instead contain links to all the posts to do with all the announcements of the next generation consoles and games. That is why the PlayStation 4 stuff is not up because I'm trying my hardest to get this sorted ready, I'm still in two minds if I will be including the Vita/3DS and Wii U on this page since they are technically next generation. Anyway I'm hoping to get it finished today or tomorrow then you will see my PlayStation 4 posts up shortly after.

Now onto some good news about the blog, I did not realise but I hit 10,000+ page views in the last few days. I have no idea I was that close since the last time looked was last year and I was just about to hit the 9,000 marker. Thank you ever so much my readers for taking the time out to read about my gaming life, I have no idea how you put up my random rambling nonsense. I still cannot believe it's been four year's since I started this blog up properly and in fact I missed the blog's birthday as well since it was on 29th January 2009 when I did the first post.

So yeah Happy 4th Birthday and Happy 10,000 Page Views!!!

 

While I was also looking at the total page views I was also checking out some of the other blog stats and was amazed at the changes. First the most popular post on blog and has been for a long while is the Gears of War 3 Beta Unlocks information with 245 page views. This as been number one for a long time now since I use to check quite often on what posts was popular. Now what was shocking is in the last few several new posts have taken the rest of the spots. Uncharted 3 Beta Unlocks was the second most popular but instead as fallen to number six, second most popular now is the World of Warcraft Mists of Pandaria Collectors Edition Information. Third with 107 page views is the Pokemon X and Y announcement which is awesome since that's a newish post.

Anyway thought you might be slightly interested in those few stats that or you very bored now and left. Good news though this post is coming to an end since I need to get on with sorting the blog then doing some gaming. Actually that's a point I really should at least talk about my gaming plans for the weekend since this is what my blog was meant to be about. So today I picked up Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires since it's finally out, I've got my eyes on the Platinum trophy since the Empires series is only part I've got 100% clocked.

Dynasty Warriors 5 Empires Xbox 360 - 1,000 Gamer score
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires Xbox 360 - 1,000 Gamer score
Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires PlayStation 3 - Platinum Trophy
Samurai Warriors 2 Empires Xbox 360 - 1,000 Gamer score

So yeah I'm hoping to add another platinum trophy to that list with this game but we will see how it goes. Other then that I've bought no more games just yet, this game does start the madness though with what I'm calling Christmas 2.0. I have a week off next week from releases then after that it starts with Tomb Raider on the Tuesday, week later Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm hitting on that Tuesday. Then few days later on the Friday is God of War Ascension followed the week later with Monster Hunter and Gears of War Judgement on the same day. Plus let's not forget there are still quite a few games listed to come out any time now but waiting for a solid date.

Speaking of new releases the Monster Hunter demo is out so I will be trying that this weekend to see what it's like, I have been told without the second analog stick it's not good. I'm sure I've got one for the normal 3DS somewhere that I got a few quid in the sale, will test the demo with and without since if I did like it I would want to play it on my XL. Thinking the bigger screen would look nicer for the game which would mean picking up the attachment for that to get the second analog.

Anyway where was I? oh yeah so that's my weekend plans, Dynasty Warriors and Monster Hunter demo, probably throw in my usual of Warcraft and Old Republic as well. Might sit down for a session of Battlefield 3 and Black Ops 2 multiplayer if I have time. Ohhh I know what I did forget to mention, Lovefilm have sent me Battlefield 3 for the PlayStation 3. Gutted about that since I had forgotten that was on my list and it needs an EA pass to go online, might do the singleplayer for a few trophies then send it back. My own fault for not checking the rental list to see what's on there, might have to make a note of that to do that later. So that's finally it for this post folks, hope you all have a great weekend and keep your eyes open for my PlayStation 4 posts soon. Until then have a good one!
~Iznic


P.S. While I was waiting for the PlayStation 4 conference I finally sat down and scanned my AR Kid Icarus cards into the game, I did start collecting them but stopped last year since I was getting the same ones over and over again. Did not realise if I scanned them into the game I get 100 hearts for each one, so it was pretty sweet having such a massive boost for putting my card collection in. Also bringing the cards to life was pretty good, the graphics was nicely done on each one.

2012 Gaming Progress

Start of the Year Stats

Xbox 360 Gamerscore: 124,964

PlayStation 3 Level: 12 (80%)

PlayStation 3 Trophies:

- Platnium 12

- Gold 68

- Silver 195

- Bronze 555

- Total 830

Gamerscore Earned This Year

21,845

Trophies Earned This Year

Level 14 (55%)
9 Platnium

46 Gold

107 Silver

333 Bronze

Games Working On

The Simpsons Tapped Out (iOS)
Lego Lord of the Rings (X360)

Games Completed In 2012

1. NCIS (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
2. Assassin's Creed Revelations (X360)
3. Saints Row the Third (X360) 
4. Generator Rex (X360) 
5. Toy Soldiers (X360A) - Story only
6. Dead Space Ignition (X360A) - Story only
7. Truth or Lies (X360) - 1,000 Gamer Score
8. Truth or Lies (PS3) - 100% Trophies (Non Platinum Game)
9. FIFA 06 (X360) - 1,000 Gamer Score
10. Gears of War 3 DLC: Shadow of RAAM (X360) - Story only
11. Dante's Inferno (X360) - 1,000 Gamer Score
12. Minesweeper (WP7) - 100% Achievements
13. Dante's Inferno (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
14. Welcome Park (Vita) - 100% Trophies
15. Sudoku (WP7) - 100% Achievements
16.  Captain America (X360) - 1,000 Gamer Score
17. Costume Quest (X360) - 100% Achievements
18. Marvel Superhero Squad Comic Combat (X360) - 1,000 Gamer Score
19. Costume Quest DLC Grubbins on Ice (X360) - 100% Achievements
20. Command & Conquer Kane's Wrath (X360) - 1,000 Gamer Score 
21. Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (Vita) - Platinum Trophy
22. Marvel Superheroes Squad: Infinity Gauntlet (X360) - Story only
23. Plants vs Zombie's (Vita) - Story only 
24. Kinectimals (WP7) - 100% Achievements
25. Mass Effect 3 (X360) - Story only
26. Batman Arkham City (PC) - Story only
27. Minecraft (X360) - 100% Achievements 
28. Sniper V2 (X360) - Story only 
29. Captain America (PS3) - Platinum Trophy 
30. Batman Arkham City DLC: Harley's Revenge (X360) - Story only
31. Dynasty Warriors 7 (X360) - Story only
32. Ghost Recon Future Soldier (X360) - Story only
33. Lego Batman 2 (X360) - 1,000 Gamer Score
34. Resistance Burning Skies (Vita) - Platinum Trophy
35. X-Men Destiny (X360) - 1,000 Gamer Score
36. Uncharted Golden Abyss (Vita) - Story only
37. Resistance 3 (PS3) - Story only 
38. Lego Batman 2 (Vita) - Platinum Trophy
39. Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 (X360) - Story Hardmode
40. Spec Ops The Line (X360) - Story Only Hardmode
41. Pokemon White (NDS) - Story only
42. Dishonored (X360) - Story Only
43. Portal 2 (PS3) - Platinum Trophy 
44. XCOM Enemy Unknown (X360) - Story Only
45. Call of Duty Black Ops 2 (X360) - Story Only
46. Lego Lord of the Rings (PSV) - Platinum Trophy
47. Assassin's Creed 3 (X360) - Story Only
48. The Testament of Sherlock Holmes (X360) - 1,000 Gamer Score
49. Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (X360) - Story Only
50. Bug Village (WP7) - 100% Achievements
51. Wonderbook: Book of Spells (PS3) - Platinum Trophy
52. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (3DS) - Story Only

2012 Releases Completed

- 21/53 - 39.6% -

1. Welcome Park (Vita)
2. Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (Vita)
3. Plants vs Zombies (Vita) 
4. Mass Effect 3 (X360)
5. Minecraft (X360)
6. Sniper V2 (X360) 
7. Ghost Recon Future Soldier (X360) 
8. Lego Batman 2 (X360) 
9. Resistance Burning Skies (Vita)
10. Uncharted Golden Abyss (Vita) 
11. Lego Batman 2 (Vita)
12. Spec Ops The Line (X360) 
13. Dishonored (X360) 
14. Wonderbook: Book of Spells (PS3)
15. Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (X360)
16. The Testament of Sherlock Holmes (X360)
17. Assassin's Creed 3 (X360)
18. Lego Lord of the Rings (PSV)
19. Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (3DS)
20. Call of Duty Black Ops 2 (X360)
21. XCOM Enemy Unknown (X360)

2012 Games List

2011 Gaming Progress

Gamerscore Earned This Year
17,960

Trophies Earned This Year
5 Platinum
32 Gold
104 Silver
341 Bronze

Games Working On

World of Warcraft (PC)
Star Wars The Old Republic (PC)
Assassin's Creed Revelations (Xbox 360)
Pokemon Rumble Blast (3DS)

Games Completed In 2011

1. Fable 3 (Xbox 360)
2. Command & Conquer 4 Tiberium Twilight (PC)
3. God of War: Ghost of Sparta (PSP)
4. Ghost Trick (DS)
5. Batman Arkham Asylum (PC)
6. Plants VS Zombies (Xbox 360 Arcade Live)
7. Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS)
8. NHL 2K6 (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
9. Mass Effect 2 (Playstation 3)
10. Transformers War for Cybertron (Xbox 360)
11. Resistance Fall of Man (Playstation 3)
12. Call of Duty World at War (Playstation 3)
13. Bulletstorm (Xbox 360)
14. Eat Lead: Return of Matt Hazard (Playstation 3)
15. Batman Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition (PC)
16. Homefront (Xbox 360)
17. Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 (Xbox 360)
18. Lego Star Wars 3 Clone Wars (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
19. Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Cosmic Destruction (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
20. Portal 2 (Xbox 360)
21. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (Playstation 3)
22. Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
23. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
24. Brink (Xbox 360)
25. Spiderman Shattered Dimensions (Xbox 360)
26. Lego Star Wars 3 Clone Wars (PlayStation 3) - Platinum Trophy 
27. Resistance Fall of Man 2 (Playstation 3)
28. Batman Arkham Asylum (Playstation 3) 
29. Megamind (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
30. Uncharted (PlayStation 3)
31. Green Lantern Rise of the Manhunters (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
32. Bulletstorm (PC)
33. Professor Layton and the Lost Future (DS)
34. Uncharted 2 (PlayStation 3)
35. Megamind (PlayStation 3) - Platinum Trophy
36. Starcraft 2 (PC)
37. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (Xbox 360)
38. X-Men The Official Game (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
39. Dawn of War 2 Retribution (PC) - All races campaigns completed
40. Deus EX Human Revolution (Xbox 360)
41. Gears of War 3 (Xbox 360)
42. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (PlayStation 3) - Platium Trophy
43. Shadow of the Colossus (PlayStation 3) - Normal/Normal Time
44. Batman Arkham City (Xbox 360)
45. NCIS (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
46. Battlefield 3 (Xbox 360) - Hard mode
47. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (Xbox 360) - Veteran Mode
48. Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
49. CSI Fatal Conspiracy (Xbox 360) - 1,000 Gamerscore
50. CSI Fatal Conspiracy (PlayStation 3) - Platinum Trophy
51. Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call (DS)
52. Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception (PlayStation 3)
53. Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (PlayStation 3) - Platinum Trophy

2011 Releases Completed
- 24/78 - 31% -

1. Ghost Trick (DS)
2. Mass Effect 2 (PS3)
3. Bulletstorm (X360)
4. Homefront (X360)
5. Lego Star Wars 3 Clone Wars (X360) 
6. Portal 2 (X360) 
7. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (X360)
8. Brink (X360)
9. Lego Star Wars 3 Clone Wars (PS3) 
10. Green Lantern Rise of the Manhunters (X360)
11. Bulletstorm (PC) 
12. Dawn of War 2 Retribution (PC) 
13. Deus EX Human Revolution (X360)
14. Gears of War 3 (X360)
15. Lego Pirates of the Caribbean (PS3)
16. Shadow of the Colossus (PS3)
17. Batman Arkham City (X360)
18. Battlefield 3 (X360)
19. NCIS (X360)
20. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (X360)
21. Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (X360)
22. Professor Layton and the Spectre's Call (DS)
23. Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception (PS3)
24. Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (PS3)

Fifteen Hours to Go

Morning Gamers,
Well only fifteen and half hours to go until Sony's big announcement happens, I'm very excited to see what they announce today. We all know it's pretty much their new console thanks to the teaser trailers talking about their past consoles plus with the advertising say it will change gaming you know it's got to be a new console. That or they announcing a brand new exclusive game but it would be a little too much hype just for that.

Anyway I thought I would put down a post before the event with what I'm hoping to see, plus I needed to do a general update. Well I'm hoping the rumours are trouble with the new controller design, I like the Dual shock but I hate the triggers, I find it annoying that I had to go and buy Gioteck clip on triggers to stop my finger slipping. Also the analog sticks need a better grip for your thumbs, maybe a slight indent could help there. So yeah I'm hoping for those two things to change and that's it for me, long as the pad is comfortable I'm happy.

The Console itself, well I'm not sure what I want it to do just as long as the download/install speeds improve because the PlayStation 3 is a joke when it comes to that. It's like being on dial up all over again and there is no excuse how it can be so bad. Oh yeah there is something I don't want, constant Internet connection and no Pre-owned. Now don't get me wrong all my consoles are pretty much constantly connected to the Internet but what happens if the net goes down, everyone has had that problem at least once. I don't want the net going down and then making my console useless to play while I have to wait for it to come back on. What happens if it happen suddenly in a middle of game, does it shut off and not let me save? if they going to do this they need to really look into properly since no Internet Provider is 100% up.

Pre-owned is a tough subject for everyone, I can understand completely that the Publisher and Developers get zero of the profit made from Pre-Owned. But on the other hand you got to expect a decrease in sales if you wipe out the Pre-Owned business, too many games are released in the same time frame and most people cannot afford all of them. Without trading in old games there be no way I could get all my new games, plus what if a game sucks? I'm stuck with it forever? then I won't be taking chances with games I'm not sure on. As I said it will decrease sales no matter what anyone says but I do understand something needs to be done so they see some of the money, hell they made the game.

Think I'm getting off track right now, basically I want an awesome console announced tonight with lots of new sparkly features to keep me entertained. I would also love to see a release date and that it will be this year, plus if we lucky some games to go with it. Uncharted 4 for launch will make it a day one purchase for me.

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Actually before I change the subject fully away, the event is at 11pm GMT tonight so what the hell! typical since I will be at the Gears of War Judgement Lock-in at that time. Will have to take my iPad with me so I can stream it in the background, multi-tasking for the win although it is a Microsoft event so wonder how that will go down. So yeah subject change, Gears of War! cannot wait to play it tonight and see it in action although in another way playing it a month early will only make me want it right now. I played the God of War the other weekend as well, wasn't it a lock-in event more of a demo pod but my god the level was fun. Also walked away with a free Kratos Sackboy keyring as well which is awesome. As I said the other day it's going to be a busy day, since I will have a few hours after work and before the event I'm not sure what I will be playing.

I clocked Call of Duty the other day so I'm now balanced again with my challenge, I ordered Hitman HD collection for the PS3 since it was in the Mega Monday sale on Zavvi for £15. £5 for each game was a steal to me so had to order it, actually I could work on that. Also still got Saints Row the Third and Ni No Kuni to work on as well, the PlayStation 3 is really getting some love lately. Probably because I do love the Trophy system and a lot of my friends have moved over from the Xbox, of course it does not mean I've given up on my Xbox.

Think my challenge is going to struggle over the next few weeks since the March line up will be starting, not sure how I had originally planned to complete that many games to get all that lot. But I will be trying my best to keep clocking as much as I can, cannot allow my Pile of Shame to get any bigger. Well on that note I'm going to head off, too much rambling on this post so I think it's time to end it. Have a good one folks and no doubt I will be posting later or tomorrow with the outcome from today.
~Iznic

Early Morning

No idea why I woke up at 6.50am this morning, I do have to go out early this morning but I have plenty of time to get ready. Anyway thought it would be a good time as any to update the blog with my weekend adventures. Well the big thing yesterday was finally hitting level 90 in World of Warcraft, I was aiming for it since I had only 30% to go and then forgot. Trying to get a dungeon group was a pain all day, people kept quiting mid fight or would be put in a group who was already half way done. So yeah I was surprised when the level 90 hit half way through a boss fight, nearly got myself killed because I was jumping for joy.

Other then that I did have a huge blast on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, completed another four levels maybe more. Might try and finish that today since I think I got be at the end game now plus once it's done I can post it back to Lovefilm for another game. That was it really other then a few multiplayer matches in Battlefield 3, oh man was that awesome. Got myself into an awesome squad and team, four of the five matches we won. Clocked a few achievements and got to level 3/4 so it was a great session, also I love the base jump map. I had no clue what was happening since we took the base and there was no one around and the markers for the next attack was below. Bit scary when you walk to the edge and look down, proper "oh shit" moment although it was funny because I looked down then next thing I know one of my team drives his tank right off the edge and jumps out mid fall. Got to be the best base jump I've seen so far and I cannot wait to play that level again.

So anyway that was my weekend in a nut shell, I did lose a few hours yesterday evening due to the Destiny reveal but I was expecting that. So plans for today is to try and clock Call of Duty and everything else is just a bonus. I want to say I will get some more blog posts up since I do owe you guys a few but no promises. I will update the blog stats a little later but for now I'm off to go get ready so have a good one folks.
~Iznic

Destiny

Wow!



The potential for this game is incredible and I cannot wait to play it, if it stays on track this could be one of the best games ever released. The only problem with this announcement? not a lot of game play or information given about how it plays. But what we do know is that it will be always connected to the interest since it will be a MMO'ish FPS. There will be a story campaign that you can do co-op but a world you can connect to like World of Warcraft, it's very sketchy on these details.

Story is man kind spanned the stars but something happened and now what's left of Humanity is based in one city that is under threat from, well every bloody thing in the universe from the looks. We must had annoyed few people in the past to get this level of attention.

Anyway how awesome is the documentary, it looks amazing and the potential it as blows my mind. I love the bits you see with the app as well, they really want this game to be big part of your life. Hopefully we will be seeing a lot more at E3 and maybe before, say the next generation consoles announcements?.

One interesting thing that was pulled from the trailer that is going crazy on the Internet right now was a picture of a new Xbox logo. Xbox Infinity in fact was the title, so could do this be the next generation Xbox, or a brilliant prank on the gaming community. Time will tell but either way this game will be going on my "want list" and expect more posts once they put more information up.
~Iznic

Destiny Reveal Soon

Afternoon folks,
We are now about thirty minutes away from finding out about the new Bungie game "Destiny" and I got to say I'm very excited. It looks IGN is doing most of the reveal stuff so pop over to their main Destiny Hub page which can be found here.

There is also mean't to be a youtube channel somewhere as well but not got a link for that, but I'm also hearing the dashboard on Xbox Live will be streaming a special IGN preview as well. Also there is the official twitter account and facebook account for Destiny as well so keep an eye on those as well.

Well I'm ending this post since I'm going to go make a cup of tea then comfortable ready for the live stream, will do a post after with my thoughts.
~Iznic

Valentine Events

Just a quick one folks but a few games have been setting special events for Valentines day, first up is Simpsons Tapped Out where you can get five free donuts today. That's in the game special currency that you normal swap your cash for so getting some for free is always awesome. Plus I'm hearing they done another update today and increased the town level from 25 to 26 which adds the Wiggum's house which will unlock Ralph and of course a new storyline quest. Will be checking that out in a minute myself.

Onto other games Borderlands 2 have posted up "Loverpalooza" and given out a shift code to redeem, if you not signed up for shift codes then you need to. Most weeks the twitter account for Gearbox Software post up shift codes to unlock Golden Keys, in fact I will try and post up here when a new code goes up. You can also follow Gearbox on twitter yourself and the link is here. Anyway back to the point, Loverpalooza code gives you a special skin for each character (think pink and see above) and Moxxi's "Heartbreaker" shotgun which will adjust to the level of the first character you login with. Bit gutted about that since my character is quite low level since I've not been working on the game, but my own fault really. Anyway the full details can be found on the Gearbox software community page right here but I've been nice and put the codes below as well, you have until February 17th to redeem.

PC / Mac Loverpalooza SHiFT Code: W3KJ3-69JR5-9CXT3-JTJJT-WSCK5
Xbox 360 Loverpalooza SHiFT Code: W3W3B-BHX9K-3TSTX-WXJ3J-XCHKH
PlayStation 3 Loverpalooza SHiFT Code: WJCJJ-HCBFB-CCKC3-H3CJT-6FBHW

So that's it for now but if I see anything else interesting I will do another post, have a good one folks and Happy Valetimes/Loverpalooza!
~Iznic

Happy Valentines

Hello all,
Happy Valentines everyone! hope you all having a great romantic day with your love ones or spending a great night with your favourite game. Thought it was about time I posted up an update with what's been happening which is not a lot to be honest. It's been one of those weeks where I was too busy to do anything really, in fact the only gaming I have been doing is keeping my Simpson's Tapped Out up to date and doing the quick Love is in the Air dungeon for Warcraft.

Made up for it today though with two more levels completed on Veteran for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 PS3 (current rental) and did one of the quest story missions on Saints Row the Third PS3. This weekend I will be playing some more multiplayer again with COD Black Ops 2 and Battlefield 3, been really getting into those two games and I probably will be picking up the season pass for Black Ops at this rate. Anyway my goal for this weekend since there is really not much left of the week, is to finish my rental which would be my tenth game for my challenge. Now I would jump for joy since that would give me a credit so I could buy Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires next week, but well...yeah I caved again on Monday. Hitman HD Collection for the PlayStation 3 was only £15 which is amazing price so I put a order down, plus three platinum trophies! how could I say no.

Also that reminds me I'm counting the game as one credit to purchase but it will be worth three games for completing since they all full games, well except the Xbox one since Blood Money I've already done on it so two for that version. Back to topic anyway so I'm currently minus again for my challenge so I need to finish one more game to cover the purchase then clock two more for next week, who's bright idea was it for this challenge? Just thinking after that is the March line up with at least four to six games at least.

Anyway that's a depressing thought and let's talk about something more fun, well let's start with next week with lots of announcements about to happen. Got Bungie on Sunday with their new game Destiny which could be awesome if the rumours are true, then on Wednesday with got Sony announcing something which everyone is banking on the next console. So it's going to be an interesting week, in fact Wednesday is jam packed since Assassin's Creed 3 is launching the first DLC episode and I've got the Gears of War Judgement lock-in if I can sort out getting their and back. It's going to be awesome next week and I've just realise there was a Nintendo Direct today with 3DS/Wii U games so I really should go sit and watch that. In fact I will do that now before I end this post and then I can add my thought's.

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Got to love the Luigi hat at the start, I want one of those when I'm playing on my 3DS. Got to say the Luigi mansion 2 does look but it's not up my street, OK readers check out the video above for the full thing I'm only going to talk about games I'm interested in, sorry but the blog is about my gaming adventures lol. 

Damn March 22nd for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, I'm still not picking up a Wii U yet but I am tempted for the 3DS version. Nearly had an heart attack when the video showed off the consoles bundles, my first thought was "OMG! Limited Edition consoles". Thank god they are just normal consoles bundled with a copy of the game, bit disappointed they not doing some kind of special console with Monster Hunter artwork but then at the same relieved since I would not able to afford them.

So they will be releasing the circle pad extension for the XL finally, might be tempted if I do get the game since I would play it on my Pikachu XL. Although I did get the circle pad cheap for the 3DS and I've still got my Toad console, would save me some more money but the bigger screen would be better. Very tough decisions that one and oh damn that looks awesome, the part for connecting the 3DS and Wii U just came up. It looks awesome on the big screen with the Wii U version, stop tempting me Nintendo! although the footage on the 3DS xl looks awesome as well. Ah sweet a demo is coming next week, just another thing to add to the list of things to do next week.

Well personally I was hoping to hold off getting it straight away but I can tell it probably will be a day one purchase with how good it looks. Ohhh April 19th for Fire Emblem, I've heard so many good things about this game and all my American friends have pretty much sold it to me. Against this was another game I was hoping to hold off on when I first heard of it but over the past few weeks it's been crazy how many good things I've heard about it.

Oh bugger! Fire Emblem special edition XL is coming to Europe, should had known when he said he was sorry for the huge delay. Hmmm do I want it is the question and it's the month after all the huge line up, plus I'm sure there is quite a few games hitting in April as well. I swear the Gaming Gods don't like me right now since they trying to bankrupt me. Whoa hang on the original special edition was a normal 3DS, we getting an XL?? took me a minute to realise that. Not sure what to think now since I've just looked it up on google and it seems to be missing the edge corner artwork but in it's favour is the matt finish which I prefer over the shiny finish which all the normal 3DS come as. Although sometimes it does look good and can be pulled off, think I really need to see a version and not a picture. OK I just pressed play again and he's showing one off in his hands, it looks a lot darker then the picture and hard to tell the image. Wow the cut scene animations look beautiful for the game and the game play is nicely done. Free DLC as well so I'm pretty much sold on this, although I was already pretty much sold before even watching the video. Not sure on the console though now after seeing more of it, see what happens over the next few weeks and which stores will be supplying it.

Blimey I forgot there was a Etrian Odyssey coming out for the 3DS, now I did play the DS one since it was quite cheap in the Pre-Owned section once. It was an unique game where you basically explored a giant labyrinth, I did not get too much into it since well I have a lot of stuff to play but it was a good game from what I saw. This could be interesting but it depends when they release it since it's listed for Spring. Same goes for Project X Zone from Namco, tactical RPG is usually up my street but I'm normally not a fan of crossover games because well, the story usually sucks. Will be adding both of these games anyway to the watch list and in fact I could do with a blog page for this list because no doubt I will forget them.

Wait wait wait! the Zelda concerts was held in 2011? it's been nearly two years? are you serious I thought that was last year, dang I'm losing track of time. Sorry I know that was a bit random but it was kinda shocking when he said how good it was in 2011, I really did not think it was that long ago. Anyway back to talking about the games and I see they finally releasing the next Mystery Dungeon in the Pokemon series. Never finished one of these yet and I don't think I picked up the last one as well, hmm I like the new AR system but not sure if I will be picking up. If I'm not going to play it like the rest then I'm just wasting my money, but I have until May at least to think about it.

Ohh a new Mario vs Donkey Kong, I love these games since they remind me a lot of Lemmings back in the day. Ah it will be a download title so that's put me off slightly since I've not been a fan of Nintendo with their digital section, mostly with the lack of being able to recover stuff if the console goes faulty or getting a new one. I've heard they have improved but still weary about it, will have to see when it comes out anyway. Anyway that it's for me and Nintendo Direct for the day, plus the end of this post as well. Sorry it's been a huge long post of really random stuff but oh well.

So have a good one folks and I will catch up with you all soon,

~Iznic

Splinter Cell Blacklist Special Editions

If you not seen the big collectors edition announced for Splinter Cell then I got ask what rock you been living under. Before I start talking about it though there is another special edition that as popped up and not many know about it.

First up I know only of the UK information so sorry for those in Europe and America, check out this awesome site (collectorsedition.org) that's dedicated to gaming collector editions and see if they have any information. Anyway it's a special pre-order bonus for the normal edition from Amazon.co.uk so if you not into your big collectors editions that cost an arm and a leg then might be up your street.

Looks cool does it not? exclusive steelbook which looks awesome, golden goggles for the game, in-game armour suit "Upper Echelon" and a bonus mission to play. Plus a A2 poster is also thrown in which looks to be a map of the world. Not bad to say all that's free when you buy the normal edition, I've placed an order down myself since I doubt I will be getting the collectors edition.

Say hello to the Paladin Aircraft Edition which comes with a Paladin RC aircraft to play with, in the game the Paladin Aircraft is the base of operations. It looks cool and as to be said that's how to make a collectors edition but the price is ridiculous, right now it's only announced for America and its $169.99. You got to hope the RC aircraft is good quality and not like the Black Ops 2 drone, which by the way was made of polystyrene (comes with stickers to repair it as well). If it came out in the UK and was at a decent price then I might be tempted but right now it's not on my radar.

So personal opinion aside lets talk about what you get inside, well of course the remote controlled aircraft is the main item. Graphics novel (88 pages) to tie into the story plus a co-op map then the Upper Echelon pack which is the gold goggles, mission and suit which is what you get in the pre-order edition above.

Well that's it folks for this post, anyone tempted by the Paladin Edition? anyone actually getting the game? I loved Double Agent and did enjoy Conviction.
~Iznic

Start of the Weekend

Morning folks,
Got an hour or so before I need to leave for work so I've decided to get on with some my jobs for the weekend, of course I made to sure put on my to do list blogging posts so here I am. Just updated my 2013 stats page so it's now 100% up to date finally, big thing to announce is that I finished the story yesterday for Medal of Honor Warfighter.

It's an ok shooter but I wouldn't say it's anything great, quite a few bugs and I really could not get into the story at the start. In fact most of the game I had no idea what I was doing or why I was doing it until the last few missions. That being said if you do look your first person shooters do give it a try when it's cheaper, it does have a few nice elements to it. Anyway that was my 8th game to be completed this year so I'm off to a really good start and my 9th for my challenge so I just need one more clocked and I can buy Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires at the end of the month. Lovefilm have sent me Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 for the PS3 so I'm currently playing through that on Veteran difficulty, hopefully I will have that done soon.

You probably wondering why I've not been playing Ni No Kuni though, am I right? well I have to be in the mood to play huge games like RPG's etc. Right now it's been a stressful week so I really did not want to get into anything that I had to remember a lot of stuff to play, shooting games are pretty much easy to pick up and play without having to remember much. But anyway I do have plans to give it a good old bash this weekend plus with several other games, in fact my want to play list is huge and I would say don't be shocked if you see a ton of games appearing on my play lists.

Also throw in the fact I just hit over 148,000 gamerscore so I'm very close to the 150k mark I really want to push for it now, then in a few weeks we have March and the wave of new releases will come crashing down. So yeah I've got a lot to do and no idea where to start, my plans are to play all weekend with tomorrow being more multiplayer again. MMO's in the morning and midday then console gaming on the late afternoon evening, cannot promise I will stick to that but fingers crossed anyway.

Well that's it for this post anyway since I really could do with getting ready and setting off, maybe attempt to do one more job before I go. Oh that does remind me though, remember I said I was shocked that I had not done an unboxing post in ages? well I found the folder with my photos for two of my collectors editions. I knew I had planned some posts and was working on them, just not sure what happened after that but anyway I'm hoping to get a post up later so keep your eyes open for later.

Anyway now I'm off, so take care all and happy weekend!
~Iznic

Friends are Trouble

As the title says friends can be trouble and a pain in the ass, especially my friend Wes. Now don't get me wrong he's like a brother to me but I swear his soul purpose in life is to keep me addicted to games. It was his fault that I got into games so bad all those years ago, one simple party at his house won't hurt yet some how the next day I was several hundred pounds poorer and the owner of the new Xbox 360 with a stack of games. I'm also sure it was his fault that I got addicted to achievements but not been able to prove it yet.

Anyway so you probably wondering why I'm ranting about him, especially when this blog is about gaming. Well there is a game coming out in April called Defiance, if you not heard about it then let me explain. It's a shooter MMO that will tie in with a TV show of the same name and both will tie in with each other, so if something happens in game thats big it will effect the tv series and vice versa. Now soon as I heard that I was put off it, don't get me wrong it sounds awesome on paper but to me it screamed "gimmick" and we have had a ton of games with gimmicks.

I was doing ok until I saw Wes post up that it's the game he's keeping an eye on, now I know Wes quite well so when he says that I knew I needed to take a look. Two trailers plus some information reading and I am pretty much sold, might even go pre-order the collectors edition. Of course I cannot help but curse him for making me want to buy another game. So first check out the live action trailer to give you a rough idea..



Then there is the main gameplay trailer below from GAME which looks awesome, but at the same time I cannot help but think of Crackdown with the high tech suits near the end.



Hopefully some more information will come out soon since I want to see if it will be a monthly subscription or free to play with addon on content to buy. If you want to see some more information on the game check out Wes on VGI for his post about the game with the link just here. On that note I'm off to go play some games and I must remember to stop reading his posts, he costs me too much money.
~Iznic

Strategy Games

Morning folks,
This is a post I've been meaning to do for the last I don't know, four months maybe? five? could be six actually. Either way a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ... oh wait sorry, so yeah two strategy games was announced last year that I cannot wait for. Total War Rome 2 and Company of Heroes 2 are the culprits that got me hyper, at the time there was only a few screen shots for Rome 2 but from what I heard, I knew I might need a new graphics card.

Sea warfare mixed in with land battles, ships landing on the beach and unloading a invasion army. I'm excited for it I really am, although I really could do with playing the Total War games properly. I always buy them and just play skirmish matches and not a lot of them, I've never started any of the campaigns so I really could do with changing that this year. Could do with making a list of things I want to do this year and one of them is to play the Total War games properly.

The image above is the one that screams to me new grapics card to cope with it, looking forward to seeing some gameplay trailers soon. Anyway onto the second game Company of Heroes 2 and now that's a game I enjoy, I loved the Dawn of War series so when they did Company of Heroes 1 I was all over it. It was amazing and again though I don't remember finishing it, I know I got really far into it because I remember spending hours on it. In fact isn't there like two expansions for it? I remember buying one but not the latest. Something else to add to the list of things to do this year, anyway this time we will be seeing the Russian side of the war. This could be awesome and I am excited for it but there is one major problem, it's made by THQ who if you don't know by now have closed thanks to bankruptcy.

Think SEGA picked up the rights for Dawn of War and Company of Heroes which would be amazing since they make Total War, they would own pretty much most of the strategy market. But it does leave me wondering if we will still see Company of Heroes 2, fingers crossed since I do have order down for it. Was such a shame to see THQ to go like that, they made so many great games and I know most of the rights have been sold so it might not be the end of the games but it's sad to see a good Publisher go and you got to feel for the staff.

Anyway on that sad note I better go since I need to leave for work in ten minutes, too much blogging is going to get me into trouble.
~Iznic

P.S. I just looked up the teaser trailer from last year to show you guys and found a gameplay trailer, omg! why did I watch! I want it! praying that it will be released now. Soon as that tank crashed through the ice into the lake my mind was blown.

Free Ni No Kuni & Far Cry 3 DLC

Sorry folks but this is for PlayStation 3 fans only and I'm only sure of Europe right now but check out your PlayStation store anyway. So for the Ni No Kuni fans there are two companions free to download right now, Draggle and Golden Hurley. Make sure to download them ASAP before they gone, especially Hurley since originally the only way to get him was through the code included with the Hardback of the games strategy guide.

Cannot find any dates of this ending so take it as soon just in case, but did find that North America will be getting Draggle on the 12th February. So good news there but no idea on Golden Hurley so just check anyway.


Last piece of free DLC is for Far Cry 3 and exclusive to the PlayStation 3, called High Tide and it's a couple more co-op levels to the game. Nice added bonus right there and especially with it being free, again make sure to download it while you can. If you not got Farcry 3 yet like myself, it still does not hurt to download it for future use. 

Ok I just tried to see if I could find any more information about the new co-op levels and went on the Facebook page for the game, seems the DLC just went up for the PC version and is also free. So it's not just exclusive to PS3 any more.

Anyway that's it for this post folks, go download and enjoy the free goodies!
~Iznic

Killzone Mercenary

Last week I missed out the trailer for Killzone Mercenary, one I was really busy and stressed to high end. Two well to be honest I did not have my hopes up for it since so far the shooting games are struggling on the Vita. Anyway since I'm waiting for the downloads to finish on the Xbox I thought I would take a look, check it out below if you have not seen i yet.



I'm shocked, I'm really really shocked, we might actually get a decent shooter finally on the Vita finally. After hearing how bad Call of Duty was (not played it yet so I will hold off on judging it) I did not take the plunge and fork out the £45 for it, in fact it's on my rental list right now. Resistance was just ok but nothing to scream about so I can honestly say I'm now looking forward to seeing Killzone.

I like the idea that you can choose the side to work for, the store system looks awesome does give it that mercenary feel to the game. I will add it to the watch list anyway and the rumour date is September so that's a positive, was dreading it would be in March.

What's your thoughts my readers?
 ~Iznic

Battlefield 3: End Game

Evening,
Well I caved in and bought the Premium pass for Battlefield 3 multiplayer, why you ask? well I loved the session I had on that Sunday over a week ago. I did say I would make the multiplayer day a more regular thing but this weekend just gone was crazy and Ni No Kuni had just been released as well, can you really blame me if I wasn't playing anything else.

Anyway it was on offer and as I said I loved the matches I played, although I really could do with some levelling up to get the better weapons and gadgets. Battlefield Bad Company 2 was one of most favourite games for multiplayer and I sunk in hundreds of hours with my mates, hopefully the same can be said about Battlefield 3. So right now I just set up my Xbox to download the 3GB+ worth of data for the expansion packs so while that is happening I thought I would put this post up since they just released some information about the finally expansion End Game.



How awesome was the vehicle chase? I'm not a big fan of capture of the flag but that looked awesome and I will be giving it a try at least once. Not sure about the new aerial combat mode since I normally suck at controlling flying vehicles, but I will give it a try none the less.

So it's meant to be hitting in March which is just typical because it's not like anything is coming out that month. Four new maps will be added that will be based on the season of the year, that should be interesting to see and I do love my snow maps. New vehicles which you already seen in the trailer and I love the sound of the dropship which allows to reinforcements to drop behind enemy lines.

Of course the two new modes, Aerial and Capture the flag and a stack of new dogtags, achievements/trophies etc. Overall sounds like you getting a lot for your money and I'm excited for it, although I've still got the other four expansions to play first but it's good to know I've got plenty to play. On that note I'm off to go play some games, probably on my PC and allow my xbox to download in peace. Before I do though you can find the full details for this new DLC on the DICE blow where it was announced, link is here.
~Iznic

Ni No Kuni Wizard Edition Unboxing

Evening folks,
It's been a while since I did my last unboxing post and in fact I cannot remember where I got up to (quickly checks). Wait what?!? seriously I've only done two unboxing posts, Diablo 3 and Uncharted 3 collectors editions. Wow I am sorry folks I thought I had done a lot more then that, in fact I thought I had only missed the latest new stuff and few old ones.

Wow I really am shocked and I have no idea how I slacked off so badly, well to make it up to you guys here is the Ni No Kuni Wrath of the White Witch Wizards Edition unboxing.

The outer box

If you follow my blog then you know that over the last week I've had a nightmare to get hold of this rare, wait scratch that, super rare collectors edition. Although the funny part is I ended up with two being sent and a third allocated to me, amazing since a few days before I was on pretty much getting nothing sent. Anyway two friends are very happy now and I'm happy to finally have one and all this put behind me. Not had chance to play the game yet but I will be making up for that in a few minutes once I've finished this post, ended my multiplayer day short to give it time.

Companion artwork

So as you can see in the post above is the outer box,  plus to the right is the edges of the box. I love how much detail has gone into the artwork around it. The only thing I don't like what the fact the cardboard is very thin compared to normal, every time I open the box I worry I might damage it. Although to be fair in their defense it's not like the box is really important unless you are a collector.

Anyway onto what was in the box, the contents of the Wizard edition was of course a copy of the game. Plus a DLC code for two gold companion characters, Golden Mite and Golden Drongo. I have no idea what's so important about them being golden other then they look cool. In fact before I continue writing this post I'm going to go look that up, think it might be good to know. Ok I've just spent five minutes looking and no information yet, so if anyone does know just drop a comment below. So back to the unboxing and check out the below picture which shows the box finally opened.

Contents

I will mention that was already opened before I took the pictures and is why there is no wrappings etc. Anyway as you can see is Mr Drippy plushie and the Wizard book, the two main items that make this collectors edition. The plushie is quite soft and well made, I was bit worried when I first opened the box since that was thin and flimsy that the rest of the stuff would be cheaply made but I was wrong.

The thing that made this edition special for me was the Wizard book, the detail gone into it was amazing, breath taking even. As you will see in the pictures above and below they have gone into major detail with it, the whole book is done like a walk through guide. Dedicated sections for casting spells, what monsters you might encounter with detailed information plus a huge section just dedicated to stories. Every page is beautiful illustrated and the cover is a premium hardback, this book as made the Wizard edition worth every penny in my eyes. I wish publishers take notice and make more stuff like this.

I will be spending a few hours reading it through in the week but right now the game is calling and I think it's time to give it a bash. So on this note I will love and leave you folks, hope you enjoyed this unboxing and I will make it my mission to get another one by the end of the week.
~Iznic


P.S. I would love to hear from you on any feedback about my unboxing posts and what you like or what I could improve on.

2013 Games List

Here you will find the complete list of this years releases that I have bought so far, fingers crossed that I can get a 50% completion rating this year.

1. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman Contracts Xbox 360
2. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Xbox 360
3. Ni No Kuni PlayStation 3
4. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman Contracts PlayStation 3
5. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman 2 Silent Assassin PlayStation 3
6. Hitman HD Collection - Hitman Blood Money PlayStation 3
7. Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires PlayStation 3
8. Tomb Raider Xbox 360
9. Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm PC
10. God of War Ascension PlayStation 3
11. Gears of War Judgement Xbox 360
12. Defiance PlayStation 3
13. Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen Xbox 360
14. Bioshock Infinite Xbox 360
15. The Last of Us PlayStation 3
16. Company of Heroes 2 PC
17. Plants vs. Zombies 2 iOS
18. Disney Infinity Xbox 360
19. Splinter Cell Blacklist Xbox 360
20. Saints Row IV Xbox 360
21. Diablo 3 PlayStation 3
22. Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix PlayStation 3
23. Payday 2 PlayStation 3
24. Grand Theft Auto V PlayStation 3
25. The Bureau Xcom PlayStation 3
26. Pokemon X Nintendo 3DS
27. Skylanders Swapforce PlayStation 3
28. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flags Xbox 360
29. Battlefield 4 PlayStation 3
30. Batman Arkham Origins PlayStation 3
31. Beyond Two Souls PlayStation 3
32. Ryse: Son of Rome Xbox One
33. Battlefield 4 Xbox One
34. Puppeteer PlayStation 3
35. Battlefield 4 PlayStation 4
36. Killzone: Shadow Fall PlayStation 4
37. Lego Marvel PlayStation 3
38. Lego Marvel PlayStation 4
39. Lego Marvel Xbox One
40. Minecraft PlayStation 3
41. Wonderbook Book of Potions PlayStation 3
42. Total War Rome 2 PC
43. Splinter Cell Blacklist PC
44. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flags Xbox 360
45. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flags PlayStation 4
46. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flags Xbox One
47. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flags PC
48. X-Rebirth PC
49. Call of Duty Ghosts PlayStation 3
50. Call of Duty Ghosts PlayStation 4
51. Knack PlayStation 4