Looking Forward

Evening folks,

After writing the earlier post about last week I thought it be a good idea to do a post about my thoughts for the upcoming week. It’s going to be a very busy week for non-gaming since I’m heading off on holiday at the end of the week and I got a trip to the Microsoft HQ mid-week there is plenty to do.

Gaming for this week though is huge! It’s the week to start off the end of year releases for me. Starting on Tuesday sees the release of Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition on the consoles. Picking this up on the PlayStation 4 so I can play with the Shadow of Colossus armour and the Last of Us dungeon. Really looking forward to playing Reaper of Souls content since I’ve not had chance to touch it on the PC yet. Going to transfer my save over from the PS3 so I can jump straight into the expansion on the PS4.

So yeah that’s the first game to start off my end of year releases although the next one will not be coming out until September (probably Destiny first). Although I did just find out Swords Art Online for the Vita is releasing this week. I completely forgot this was coming out since the last I heard it was meant to hit the marketplace back in July. Not sure about this game fully yet since I’ve not had time to the watch anime TV show but the concept sounds amazing. Will have to wait and see what the price is for the game, probably have to wait until after my holiday to pick it up.

So that’s it for releases this week but I do need to start working on some gaming though, not sure where I will fit it in though with the less free time this week. Oh wow I just remember there is one more thing releasing this week! The next expansion for Star Wars Old Republic hits on Tuesday as well. Wow I’m really shocked I forgot the early access starts this week because I was subscribed. This expansion introduces strongholds so player houses/bases basically which will be awesome to store all the cool loot. Player housing in Star Wars Galaxies was one of my favourite things for that game so I have high expectations for it in SWTOR.

So this game along with World of Warcraft is on my list to start replaying again since I’ve recently not been giving it the time of day it deserves, plus I’m wasting timecards which is never a good thing.

It’s going to be a busy week with everything I want to play and should be playing. Warcraft, SWTOR, Diablo and so on, need to get some games completed before the big October rush hits. 

How about you folks? Got plenty to play? Or have you been keeping on top of you gaming pile? On that note I’m going to head off and play some games.

Night folks,

Iznic

Last Week

Morning folks,

It’s been a while since I’ve really last posted on here but the last few months have been chaos for me. It was coming to the point getting spare time to write out a blog post was becoming impossible. It’s even made it a struggle to get game time in the last few weeks as well. 

Anyway good news I will try harder to at least get one post done each week to keep you folks up to date, plus I really do enjoy talking about games here.

So I’m not sure what to cover in this post or where to start since there has been a ton of new announcements since the last time we spoke. In the end I’ve decided to focus on what my thoughts have been this week concerning my gaming life and go from there.

Of course this week is all about GAMESCON which has pretty much all I’ve been talking about this week with the new announcements. Started off with the Tomb Raider 2 announcement about it being exclusive to the Xbox next holiday season. That really shocked me and I was floored by the news, of course with the wording “holiday exclusive” it was crystal clear that it was a timed exclusive but still shocking. Keep hearing Crystal Dynamics was scared of Uncharted being released so it does make sense to target the Xbox market while Uncharted comes out then do a second release later on for the PlayStation fans.

Also on that day another item was added to my buy list and that was the amazing limited edition Xbox One console in Call of Duty Advanced Warfare theme. I love the three colour scheme with the gold trim and to be honest it doesn’t really look like a Call of Duty theme which is probably why I like it so much. Plus the added bonus of a 1TB hard drive is a must since I found out the day that my Xbox One hard drive is at 41% full. I’ve barely got anything on it and with so many games coming out in the next few months I think I will need the upgrade.

I’ve put the order down anyway and I can decide closer to the date if I need to cancel but right now I want to upgrade. After Tomb Raider and the Xbox One the last thing on my mind this week was the World of Warcraft announcement. Think every fan has been awaiting for the announcement for the release date and finally on Thursday we had it. 13^th November we will see the release of Warlords of Draenor along with the awesome looking cinematic trailer for the expansion.

All through the video I was shouting “you cannot do that”, so many questions to be answers and could we be seeing a full alternate timeline to play around with. Blizzard could go full force with this and bring the Burning Legion into it in the next expansion, messing around with time opens up so much stuff to play with for the future expansions I just cannot wait to see what happens.

Shortly after announcing all this the physical collector’s edition was put up finally after months of waiting, everyone knew it was coming but of course we had to wait. Although we did have to wait nearly a day to confirm that collector’s box matches the rest in the series. Check it out below but I will be picking this up on day of launch.

That’s it for me today folks so have a good one folks,

Iznic

Looking Good

Evening folks,
Currently suffering from Hay fever and a cold so what a way to spend the weekend. Anyway did any of you catch the Star Wars Old Republic stream the other night which was showing off Stronghold footage?

I feel in love with it soon as they started and I cannot believe how big the Nar Shaddaa living space is and that's going to be offered free to people who already subscribed. In fact if you was subscribed before a certain day in May you get five rooms unlocked as well which is awesome.

If you missed the video but do want to know check out the full information page which is linked here. They meant to be archiving the video they did but so far I cannot seem to find anything yet but once I do will put it but for now all the information is on that page I've just linked. At the end of the video they showed off one of the biggest strongholds that is on Tatooine, check out the teaser trailer below.



Cannot wait for the early access in August so i can start playing this, I'm amazed how much this expansion has brought me back to this game. I think its because it reminds me slightly of Star Wars Galaxies but only a little.

Thing I like about MMO's is collecting and crafting so I love the idea of having a base where I can store/display my collections. Shame the customisation is not huge like being able to put things on desks and shelves but they have done an excellent job. I'm looking forward to seeing what else this expansion will bring and there should be another stream this Wednesday, each stream will cover a different topic on the expansion so this should be good.
~Iznic

Random Update

Morning folks,
I've been rather busy with Lego Hobbit for the last week and in fact it's took over pretty much. Finally got all the story levels completed to 100% so now it's just exploring the map to finish finding the open world collectibles. After that then it's just earning the last few trophies for doing certain requirements. Of course with this game taking up most of my time everything else has been pretty much pushed to the side. I have doubt's of clocking any part of my challenge now (see the last post for full details) since I have less than a month to get 4,000 gamer score and two platinum's. Not giving up though I will still try but I have my doubts.

Anyway onto good news and Child of Light is out tomorrow in the UK, really looking forward to this and I just hope it turns out great like I hope. If you not seen anything about this game check out the trailer below.



Normally I probably would not take notice of this game but I don't know, the artwork looks amazing and the platform style game play looks awesome. Plus I'm hearing there is a turn based RPG combat system now, the more I hear the more I want to play it. I'm also thinking this will be one of those gems you was not expecting (like the Unfinished Swan for me). Guess we will find out tomorrow when I start it.

So back to the topic of games I've been playing which of course is mostly Lego Hobbit but I was able to fit some time onto Hearthstone. I kid you not this game is awesome and I would recommend to anyone, in fact I'm not sure what happened but I'm on a seven win streak in the ranked matches. Lady luck was really on my side (probably not any more now that I've told people) and I'm now on the Rank 20 mark which was my goal since I will now earn the Season One card backing.

The game is addictive and so simple yet so complex its just brilliant for a free to play trading card game. Seriously give it a try on the PC or iPad! and don't just take my word for it, give it a go and see what you think. There is a expansion pack already in the works that I'm looking forward to since it's adding a solo campaign that like a MMO Raid. Cannot wait! and I'm already testing out some improved decks that I've built that will hopefully help me get further in the ranked leader boards. Anyway I better head off and get ready for work but before I go I will leave a trailer for the game play for you guys to check out.



~Iznic

Achievement Hunting

Morning folks,
After seeing the world record holder hit one million gamerscore it reminded me how much I loved working on collection achievements. Over the last year I really paid more attention to the PlayStation due to the fact there was more exclusives and of course friends on that console. I love trophy hunting as well but both systems have their good parts and flaws.

For example the Platinum trophy for finishing a game sounds so much better then saying I got the full one thousand gamerscore. But on the xbox every achievement counts towards the end score while on the PlayStation gold/silver/bronze trophies are not really talked about other then when you say I need x trophies to get the Platinum. Really need a system with both of those mashes together but anyway I really do want to start collecting achievements again since I've been stuck on 155k for a long while now. My dream would be to hit 200k by the end of the year but I doubt that in some way and maybe 175k is a good goal.

Reason I love achievements and trophies so much is that it's fun to go out and do the weird challenges, to try different modes or to find some cool easter eggs. Plus the fact you do get your moneys worth from the game when you spend all that time working on them. In the past I would just complete the story, I would never go out of my way to play on hard mode or do multiplayer/arenas. Go for all the collectibles and try to find every last secret in the game. There was some games that I would play over and over but not on the scale I would now. To me achievements and trophies are the best thing gaming could had come up with.

Anyway enough ranting and back on topic, I did go through my games to see what I have and I do have a lot of stuff to complete and finish off for the extra achievements/trophies. In fact I got a lot of PC games that xbox live enabled, with the possibility of the service closing I really could do with starting to work on these while I still have the chance. Think I might load up Fable 3 PC first and take it from there, I think I might juggle a few games over the next few weeks. I have Lego Movie Xbox One on rental and I'm expecting Lego Hobbit PS4 to arrive today, very excited to play that one since I hear its awesome and longer then Marvel.

I do have plans to to do two new post series on the blog as well that will be based around Pokemon and Warcraft (yes again, they seemed to be a hit last time). Plenty to do and not enough time, maybe I will try and focus on one or two games at a time. We will see and on this note I better go get ready for work. Don't forget to drop a comment or two, would love to hear why you love/hate achievements or trophies.

have a good one folks
~Iznic

Assassin's Creed Unity

Morning folks,
Few days ago a "leak" came out about the new Assassin's Creed game and showed off two screen shots from the ALPHA. It revealed the game was for the next generation consoles only and that another game was in the works for the past generation. Also it it revealed the setting for the game being France in the 18th Century. The leak was posted up on Kotaku which you can find here, there is a quite a few screen shots to check out plus the logo (See below)

Leaked Logo thanks to Kotaku

Anyway last night was the final reveal from Ubisoft and it was confirmed that the leak was real, the new game is called Assassin's Creed Unity which takes place in the French Revolution. Check out the teaser trailer below ...



Cannot lie I was hyper yesterday when I saw the news and I had to stop myself from jumping on the spot. I'm looking forward to see what's new and how the story is going to fold out with the Templar's, plus I'm very excited to see what the second game could be. Will it be in the same setting or a completely different one, so many questions right now and lets not forget what awesome collectors editions will they do this year. Although it's going to be expensive year if there is two games this year.

Anyway soon as more gets posted up I will do more updates but for now Arno the new Assassin will have to wait, graphics look amazing by the way.
~Iznic

March Madness

Let the gaming madness begin! and what better way with Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare. Seriously addictive again to say it's online only and does not have many maps to play on. Never thought I would see the day that I could not put down a multiplayer game. Look for a fun shooter that does not take the genre serious then check it out, it's a blast and you will want to spend unlocking all the customisation features for your characters. Not tried out the co-op mode "Garden Ops" yet but hopefully soon, hoping that will be just has good has "Gardens and Graveyards".

Anyway it's March finally and we kicking off the gamers Christmas where we will see a ton of new releases every week for the month. Started off with Thief and Plants vs Zombies for me last week, I did not pick up Thief since I'm just not sure on the game. Something is putting me off it and plus I really can see it going into deal of the week in a week or two so I'm waiting for now. Back to the topic of new releases, next week sees South Park Stick of Truth finally releasing, it's been a long...very long..so long...wait to get this game but it's going to be worth. You only got to see the trailers and the play through of the first chapter that's gone live to see how great it is.

Does not end though, oh no for me there is a game week for the next month and my next one will be of course Titan Fall. Really annoyed because I did get a beta invite and was sick for the entire event (yes to sick to play games, dang man flu!). But I know this will be a worth while purchase since everyone I know is raving on about it and saying how good it is.

Week after that sees inFamous Second Son coming out and this game is still a maybe for me. It does look amazing but I really would like to see a little more gameplay before I decide if it's a day one purchase. Finally ending the month off is Phoenix Wright x Professor Layton for the 3DS, a game I've been praying to release in the UK for a very long time. Big fan of both so having them combine into one great story has got me bouncing off the wall with excitement.

There is one more game to add to this list and that's the Diablo 3 expansion, I know it's near the end of March but I cannot remember the date. Still unsure if I want to pick it up yet since I do want to get the PS4 version when that hits and it's meant to have the expansion included with the main game. Tough choice since the PC version is doing a great collectors edition and I have pretty much all the Blizzard games in collectors format for the PC. Will get back to you once I've decided on what I will do.


So what about you readers? do you have a long list of games to pick up this month? Give me a shout and on that note I'm off to go kill some Zombies or maybe some Plants.
~Iznic

P.S. Lego Hobbit at the start of April as well, I really hope they don't add any more games since it's going to be very hard to decide what to get first.

Plans for the evening

Morning folks,
Will be rushing off in a second to head to work but I thought it was about time I got a general post up, I was planning to type this up after work but the more time I got later the better. Over the last week I've not really done much gaming, the only thing to report was I finished the last two-three levels of Defence Grid and that was it.

So yesterday I finally sat down and finish chapter four off for Phantasy Star Universe and then finished Episode 3 of Phoenix Wright Trials and Tribulations. Not a bad way to end the day to be honest but anyway I decided I wanted to do a gaming evening tonight. Planning to try and get the fifth chapter completed for Phantasy Star, well depends on how the boss battle turns out. Then I'm going to jump onto World of Warcraft, my timecard ran out a few weeks back and my new one has just been sitting on my desk since. No doubt I've lost a ton of items in my mail box again, really need to be more organised with that. So yeah anyway I want to reboot it up and do a few quests, see what the new patches have brought.

After that going to take it as it goes, thinking either to jump onto Star Wars Old Republic or watch a movie. Not sure at this point but depends on how the first two games go, might get wrapped up into them and lose all my time.

That's my plans for today and for the rest of the week will be pretty much the same with me trying to finish off Phantasy Star. I'm also tempted to try out a new game that I was looking into last night, Planetside 2. SOE new FPS MMO that is free-to-play, watched a few videos last night and I am really tempted. Reminds me a lot of Battlefield in most ways.



Might try and download the client this week, give it a few hours try but not sure yet since I've got plenty to play already. We will see and on that note I better go run since I will be late for work, have a good one folks and I will try to post soon again.

~Iznic

P.S. On a finally note I will leave you with a gameplay video

Rome 2: Total War Release Date & Collectors Edition

Well it seems September is now starting to fill up with new releases as well, with Kingdom Hearts being added to that time slot the other day we now have the new Total War joining it.



I love the Total War series mostly because I love to start up a Skirmish map with several thousands troop on the screen and duke it out. I really could do with trying out the singleplayer story more but that's for my to do list. Anyway the release date was announced as the 3rd September and will be a world release so that's pretty sweet. Also if you watched the trailer you will also see that for pre-ordering you get the first DLC pack for free.

The Greek States pack offer three factions to play with their own units, buildings, tech tree, missions and win conditions. I would love to play the Sparta but I think everyone would since how much attention they have had in the movies and tv shows.

Big that got me was the announcement of a collectors edition, normally the games come with a Limited edition that will offer extra DLC. Sometimes they do come in a nice looking box case and then with Shogun 2 we had a chess set which was ok, mine was broken when it arrived so I was never able to keep it.

This time they have gone to town with it and the collectors edition is also numbered with only 22,000 being made worldwide.

In the UK this is exclusive to GAME and can be picked up for £109.99, just put my order down for one last night as soon as they started. So what do you get in this great edition? well a nice giant box that looks stunning with the Roman eagle. Steelbook case for the game which looks so nice, my steelbook collection is getting some nice additions this year. Also since they putting a number on each edition it will be done in Roman Numerals, the little details always gets me.

You get a working catapult kit to put together, meant to be around the 26cm mark so it's not a small thing. Canvas campaign map from the game as well and finally two games to play as well. First a Punic wars card game in a total war style art work and a set of replica Roman dice and roundels which the collectors box can be opened to make the playing board for. No idea how to play these two games but I cannot wait to give them a try.

I'm very impressed with SEGA and this collectors edition, they have really out done themselves with it and although the price tag is quite high it makes sense with what you getting inside. Especially when you normally have to fork out £35 for a board game these days. So yeah I've got my order in and I cannot wait to play it.
~Iznic

Sunny Day

Afternoon folks,
It's a wonderful day right now and the Sun is out with no clouds, so of course I'm planning to spend the day inside gaming. Well I'm not sure what I will be playing to be honest and I better explain that, as you all know if you read my blog regularly that I've been working on the Hitman HD collection for the PS3. I started last week working on Hitman 2 Silent Assassin and had some real bad luck with glitches and bugs, after nearly two hours I was able to get the first mission done.

Well since then I did get the first missions down with a lot less restarting and I was able to nab the 5 Silent Assassin ratings trophies. So the other day I got up to level 13 and then, well it was like running into a wall. It hurt and smacked me down, no matter what I did I some how had to restart because of a glitch. Buttons not responding, freezing or the weird A.I going crazy and able to spot me through walls. Anyway after an hour I finally clocked it and went onto level 14 then just gave up, why you ask? after my tenth restart I just couldn't do it no more. The game is slowly putting me off gaming for good, I know games need to be hard and especially when I'm playing on Professional difficulty. But when you got glitches and bugs it really does not help, it's worse since on Professional you get no saves so if something happens you have to do the entire level over again.

Hell I had it several times say "Mission Failed" soon as the level loaded up, not even had chance to move my character. So the game is being shelved for the time being before I brake my pad in anger and give up on gaming.

Of course that means I have no clue what to play now, I did pick up the Unfinished Swan on the PlayStation this weekend since it was half price off. A beautiful game I must say and I would recommend it to everyone, it's short but amazing. First person shooter except instead of guns you have paint, you start in a white room and I mean white. It's blank there is nothing there but fire the paint and you can start to see the walls, you use the paint to find your way outside and my god it's just amazing. Here is a gameplay trailer for the first opening trailer and it explains it better then I can describe it, the only thing I have noticed is this is an earlier gameplay so it's missing the soundtrack in most places.



All the levels have different art styles and tools to work your way through them, it's all about exploring and finding out the story of the world. It took me around three hours to get all the trophies in the game so I would say an hour to two to finish the story. Short but brilliant and just go buy it while it's cheap.

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I think I might have a game to play, well that's a lie I have a pile of shame to play but I think I know what I want to play. You see yesterday someone on Twitter posted up a link for a new mod for the PC version of Skyrim. This mod basically changes the dragons in the game to be a lot tougher, we talking graphics, A.I and skills improvement. The article is over on PC Gamer and the writer describes in a lot of detail about his journey with the Mod and I got to say I had chuckle hearing about his mistakes. Check it out if you got a minute or two since it's a very good read, PC Gamer Mod of the Week.

It's one of the reasons I would love to play the PC more since there are a lot of fans out there that build and improve the game with their own mods. Of course my PC gaming time as decreased a lot since I've got into the consoles more, a lot more easier to play games by just putting the disc into the tray where with a PC you have to install and hope your PC can run it. Anyway I'm getting off topic again so yeah, I really want to play Skyrim since well I never really gave it the time of day that it deserves. In fact I own two copies of the game (Xbox and PS3) and I'm sure I have all the DLC on the Xbox as well since they went into the sale at one point.

So this week I might just jump into Skyrim finally, I do still have Lego Lord of the Rings from Lovefilm to work on as well so I can work on that when I want a break. That's it anyway folks for my update and I will no doubt catch you soon with more posts, until then have a good one and enjoy the sun.
~Iznic