Calming Down

Morning folks,
Well the mad March rush of new releases is finally coming to a end and the bank balance can now stop crying. It's amazing how the start of the year is turning into a new Christmas for the last couple of years. There is still a few games coming out for me over the next two months but a lot less compared to what just come out and more weeks in between releases so there should be time to clock games and trade them in.

Hopefully you all had a great week and have been playing quite a few games, for me I was working on South Park Stick of Truth all weekend. In fact Monday morning I finally clocked the Platinum trophy for it which now brings me up to six for the year so far (twenty is my goal for the year. So not doing to bad so far with my challenge with my friend. Anyway back to the game and I got to say it was amazing, if you love the show you really need to give it a try. It's a really long episode is the way to sum it up and I recommend to do all the side quests because is so many gags you will laugh at. Got to say it's on the list for Game of the Year so far.

With that out of the way I'm now working on a few games, well I am and I'm not. Not really got stuck into anything just yet, still trying to do the Xbox One Achievement Challenge for Titan Fall and get level 50 by the end of the month. Last night I hit level 34 so I'm close but I'm really running out of time and in fact I need to do roughly five levels a day just to hit it.

Really doesn't help that I keep getting terrible lag and rubber banding in the game though. In fact I lost connection several times yesterday and it ruined one amazing game for me. Would say it's my connection but I've checked it and nothing is wrong plus it seems I'm not the only one. Just hope they can sort it soon because its making the game unplayable sometimes.

Fingers crossed with that anyway so other then that I am starting inFamous Second Son, picked it up the other day along side Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls. Only done say an hour max but so far it's pretty sweet, graphics are amazing and the game play is not too bad. Will hold judgement off until I've got into it a little more then I will tell you guys what I think.

So that's it for me this week folks, Titan Fall and inFamous will be taking over my game time. Not sure yet what I will do after those two but expect a post soon with what I've done. I do have a few more posts in the pipe line just need to write them up, hopefully I can get one or two up later but until then have a good one folks.
~Iznic

Gamers Year Day 6-20

Might be a little out of date with the keeping you guys up to date with what I've been playing but oh well. So good news in the past two weeks I finally clocked Lego Marvel on the PS4 which the flying stuff was a nightmare for me.  Had quite few bugs and problems as well but overall I really did enjoy the game in the end, if I had to score it I would say a solid 8 out of 10. The graphics was amazing for the series and the open city was brilliant, got to be the biggest lego game so far. As I said though the flying controls and bugs held the game back for me.

Anyway so that was platinum number one for the year and my first next gen game fully clocked (will be referring to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as current gen from now on). That was last week and now I'm on holiday this week I decided to give Minecraft a big session yesterday, roughly ten hours in fact and got the platinum trophy for that as well. Got to say the PlayStation 3 version re sparked my interest in Minecraft again, not played it on the Xbox/PC in months but after learning enchants, potions etc. I really want to do more maps again and the Enderdragon was awesome, really good boss and a nice addition to the game.

Took a lot of prep work though to get that stage and I would say 80% of the time I spent playing was working towards that goal. So yeah really good game still and I will be making sure to give Minecraft an hour or two each week, need to make a map that I will use constantly. Don't worry I will post up screen shots of my work and when the versions come out for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 I will be able to do videos finally.

So two platinum trophies so far for my year challenge so not bad at all, I want to get at least one this week while I was on holiday but I was not expecting it on the second day. My next goal is to finish the story for Assassin's Creed Black Flags since I've still not done it. Kicking myself for that but I really want to give the game time it deserved instead of small thirty minute windows. So today that is what I will be playing, of course I will be playing some other stuff as well but not sure yet. On that note folks I need to dash since I want to get on and I have a lot of things to do first before I can play some games.

Have a good one folks,
~ Iznic

Gamers Year Day 3/4/5

Evening,
So four days to cover in this post for my year progress and like I mentioned in the last post not a lot was done this weekend. But I did have a good gaming session yesterday which made up for the whole weekend, anyway onto the day posts.


DAY THREE - 3rd January 2014
Not much to report for this day other then I did start the multiplayer for Assassin's Creed Liberation. This game is on my list to get the platinum for but I won't be doing the singleplayer stuff just yet because I have planned for this year to do a full marathon for Assassin's Creed. The entire series starting with one since it's been a few years since I played the older ones, plus the fact I picked up the anthology set last year on PS3 so got plenty of trophies to earn while doing it. Anyway I decided to start the multiplayer since I heard it was similar to a facebook style game and takes a bit of time to get all the trophies.

It's shockingly bad and I'm really surprised with Ubisoft allowing it to be like this. You send agents out on missions or do combat missions which involve stats, actually that's a lie your stats don't matter you always win. Only thing that does matter is energy since you need that for your agent to bring in points. Every seven days is a cycle where the world fights for control of cities and the side with the most wins, of course everyone picks Assassin's so it's one sided. Honestly if I wasn't going for the platinum I wouldn't be touching the multiplayer at all.

So yeah I've started the grind with that on the night and also I picked up a new game for my collection while I was out. Spotted Lego Chima for the Vita in HMV for half price which was the cheapest I've ever seen it anywhere. Tried out the first level and it's pretty much similar to Lego Lord of the Rings so I've put aside next to the games to be clocked over the next few months ready. I know I'm putting a pile together and shouldn't but it unless I'm going to play but it was cheapest I've seen it all year, was not going to turn it down for that price. That was day three pretty much wrapped up so onwards to Saturday!


DAY FOUR - 4th January 2014
Very little to report other then continue with the grind of the multiplayer for AC Liberation, about half way for the first trophy though.


DAY FIVE - 5th January 2014
Sunday was the best day for gaming for me and especially since it was my day off, had a proper chilled out day to myself. Started off with the PS4 and did a few collectibles on Lego Marvel, even got past the annoying flying challenge I was stuck on (how I hate the flying controls). Actually was really getting back into the game and will be focusing more time on it to try and get it fully clocked.

Jumped over to the PS3 and went back on Minecraft and clocked about another six trophies, I'm pretty much all covered now on the crafting stuff. I spent hours building the mine cart track for the 500m trophy then spent over an hour bow duelling with skeletons to get the 50m sniper trophy. Got to say that was one of the most annoying trophies I've ever earned. So all that is left now is four trophies for the platinum, all combat ones as well so I'm currently working on finding some diamonds to make a full set of armour and weapons so I have the full advantage.

Finally I rounded the day off with a multiplayer session of Tomb Raider with a friend, trying to get all the multiplayer trophies for the PS3 version out of the way ready for the next generation at the end of the month. Did pretty sweet last night and got up to level 16/17 I think with about four to five trophies for my troubles.


Very good end to the weekend really and I'm charging full steam ahead for my year challenge, really getting back into the spirit of earning trophies and achievements. Just wished I had bit more time over the weekend since I really wanted to get something clocked. Not much time left today either as well thanks to work so don't expect Day Six to be any good but I am about to head off and get a small session in before bed so on that note have a good one folks.
~Iznic

Start of things to come

Morning folks,
I know the last month as been a little quiet on my side but I've been busy with work and of course gaming. Anyway to change all that starting this month I'm working on updating/changing the blog to have a well sort of fresh start. Already you should notice that several page links at the top are missing which have been deleted since I felt they was not needed, over the next two weeks I will be changing a few more things and probably get rid of some more stuff as well.

Not sure if they overall layout will change yet since I did take a look at some new design templates which looked awesome but I felt they was hard to navigate. We will see anyway as I play about over the next few weeks. So I thought it would be a good time to give you guys an update anyway since there is a lot to talk about. First up I finish the Grand Theft Auto V storyline the other day, a very good game in the end although there was a few disappoints that I really wanted to see. Still it was amazing and I would give it a solid 8/9 if I was to review it, don't think it deserved the 10's I keep seeing though. Looking forward to playing the multiplayer now but going to hang off a few days to allow the teething problems to be sorted first. Hearing huge connection problems, disconnects and loading, plus missing cars which is always good.

Also I'm gutted because the main thing I bought this game for was multiplayer to play some heists with friends, first they delay the multiplayer and now the heists are not in the game and will be patched in "later" with no date. So much for the huge bank robbery with your mates, had it all planned out to the T.

GTA aside I have done some more in Pokemon Black 2 and all I have left is to beat the elite four which should then complete the story campaign, need to get that done this week so I'm ready for Pokemon X/Y. Re-started Diablo 3 again and I mean I've picked up where I left off the other week, in fact I defeated another boss last night which completed Act 2 so I would say I'm at least half-way through. Trying to get this done over the next week since I'm going to trade it in for Beyond Two Souls. Yes originally I was not going to pick up Beyond but I played the demo and walked away stunned with how amazing the game is. In fact check out this link to IGN which shows two videos for the same part of the demo (part of what I played), things can happen differently depending on how you played it. So yeah one more game to pick up this month now thanks to that demo, really cannot wait actually to sit down with it.

Right I'm going to have to shoot since I need to go get myself sorted ready for work but expect some more posts over the next few days while I get back into the swing of things Also keep your eyes open on the blog for some new updated changes as well.
~Iznic

Overload

Good morning readers,
What a week it as been for me and I bet you guys have been busy as well, in fact I bet a lot of you will be playing Grand Theft Auto right now. Yes I picked it up on the day and so far only put in around an hour but I am enjoying it, bit shocked in some ways since the last one really did not appeal to me when I tried it. Looking forward to the multiplayer more though since I want to work with some friends to do all the heists, was a bit annoyed with that being locked for two weeks but oh well least I can try out the controls in the singleplayer campaign.

Nothing really to report this week with games being clocked or anything since I'm still working on them. I did promise myself I would work on Diablo 3 but not had chance so far to be honest, mostly since I could not stop playing Payday 2 over the weekend. Such an amazing game and yes it can get repetitive but it's a lot of fun, in fact I was having a co-op day on the first Payday just last Sunday. Completed all but one mission out of the full list (minus the DLC since not got that yet) since it was extremely hard, never had so much trouble with a level before, but oh well it was a laugh anyway.

So yeah nothing to report but I will report that a lot of my collection was gutted last week, PS4 fund is growing and I really do need to sit down to work out what I want on the launch day. Do I just get one game or two, if so which ones and what accessories will I be wanting.

Speaking of saving and spending, I forgot I had pre-ordered Kingdom Hearts with shopto.net. Such a rookie mistake I know and especially since I was going to just wait for it but yeah it arrived mid-week to my surprise. Had a little go but the start was so boring with the tutorial but I think it's just picking up now finally, won't get to play it too much now though since I will be focusing on Diablo 3 and GTA. Once I've clocked those two I will go back to it ASAP along with Splinter Cell since I really do not want to let my pile of shame regrow again.

Not sure what else to write about now since I think I have covered everything, so before I go I will leave you with this very cool multiplayer trailer for Battlefield 4. How amazing does this look? the flooded level and snow landscape are my favourite two so far.




~Iznic

The Great Clean Up

Morning folks,
Up early since I'm currently having a clean up with my pile of shame. Yesterday I decided enough was enough, I've still got quite a few games in my collection after all the trade-in's over the last year but I still got plenty that are not being played. I love my RPG's and I have tons sitting on shelf, some still sealed from over two years ago. My excuse being I will play them soon and that they would be hard to get again if I trade them in.

Well enough! there is plenty coming out that I really want and I can honestly most of the games I would not play this side of Christmas. Some even I cannot see myself playing after Christmas into 2014, so I'm going through the pile and pulling them out for trade in. Wondering how I'm deciding what to keep? well my most favourite games will be staying, my all time favourite stuff like Halo, Gears and Assassin's etc. Some stuff won't be worth trading in like the £1 and £2 so they will be kept on the side, once I've played them then I might trade them in.

But yeah anyway I'm working on it and all the funds raised will go to the next-generation console, right now my sights is set on the PlayStation 4. If I can raise enough funds then it be games next and maybe if I really do good (doubt it, highly doubt it) I would love to get the Xbox One as well. So yes folks over the next few days I will be busy tiding up and working on to reset my collection. It's not all cleaning though I am playing some great games as well.

First up I'm still working on Diablo 3 although I've not touched in the last few days due to other interests. I will be correcting that today since I really want to put some time into it and get it clocked, might even trade it in after I finish the story. Don't see myself being in the mood to work on the Platinum for a while, especially with so much coming out. That's my first game I'm playing and the second believe it or not is Payday 2. The other night I was watching some "Let's play" youtube videos and got to watch the game in action, it looked awesome.

I tried out Payday the Heist due to getting it free with PlayStation Plus and after two missions I was hooked. Picked up Payday 2 yesterday due to the massive improvements I saw in the video and yesterday I did three quick missions with the A.I. It was brilliant although I did make a rookie mistake during a deposit box robbery, shot the camera outside the bank setting the alarms off before even getting inside the place. Place was swarming with the Police before I had even setup the drill, lesson learnt be more careful!.

So that is my games I'm currently playing right now but I have got several I want to pick up, in fact next GTA 5 is out and it's on my radar now. I like the idea of setting heists and stuff so watching some more videos I want it, plus the idea of the huge multiplayer crew to help just made the deal a lot better. So next week I will be picking up that and I expect my time will be taken up by it, in fact I probably really give Diablo 3 a huge blast this weekend in attempt to try and get it completed it in time.

Busy busy anyway, plenty to play and plenty to tidy up so on this note I'm going to head off and continue with gathering my trade-ins together. Have a good one folks and thanks for reading my nonense!
~Iznic

Summer Heat

Well it's finally cooled down in the UK today and less of a heatwave compared to the last few days. Since I'm no longer suffering I thought it would be a good time to do a update for the blog and to remind you I'm still alive.

So onwards to my gaming progress which is not a lot to report about this week, did a few levels of Company of Heroes 2. So far I'm really enjoying it but I don't feel the spark like I did with the first game, although the current mission I'm playing right now has opened more gameplay features so my mind might be changed soon.

Other then that I have put a few more hours into XCOM for the PS3, working my way through so far but man I'm struggling trying to keep one of my team all way through every mission I play. Started with four candidates and now I'm down to two, plus I'm not even close to half way through the game yet.

Final game I've been playing is Defense Grid the tower defence game on the Xbox Live Arcade, yes it was a free game for several weeks but I had purchased it years ago (just never got around to playing it). I have to say it's one of the best tower defence games I've played in a long time, really stuck into it and I'm about three to four levels to go from completing the story. I probably will go back and work on getting gold medals for every level but right now I'm just making my progress through the game.

That is it for my gaming progress, not a lot really but I have been busy and my spare time that I do have has been taken up trying to stay cold during the heat. My action plan for this week is, well ... I don't know really. I guess work on these games some more and see if I can clock something, I need to continue with Phantasy Star as well. I was really doing well with that but I stopped some time last week half way through a level, really should get back onto that before I forget the controls and need to start over.

Could do with some Warcraft time as well since I've got a brand new time card sitting on my desk waiting to be used, no doubt I've lost some items that I had in my mail. Really need to be a bit more organised with that. Actually speaking of Warcraft I wanted to talk about the new figurine sets and micro transactions that was announced this week.

This awesome figurine has turned up at Comic con this year and I really want it, I know from the size this thing will cost a small fortune but it would be so worth it. For those who don't play Warcraft this is Deathwing one of my the main bad guys in the lore, anyway I'm looking forward to seeing the painted outcome. Also announced was the first line of new micro transactions for the game, cosmetic armour helmets.

I like all of them but the Eternal Winter looks the best in my books, although they do look awesome the cost is not. £10 each is a ridiculous price for what you getting, it is cool that every character you own and any future ones you make will get this item. It's just hard to imagine paying £30 for all three which is the cost of the expansion at full price on day of launch. I really do wonder how many people have forked out the money for these items.

Anyway on that note let's change the topic to one more announcement before I end this post and that's a new game has been announced, well sort of anyway. Angry Birds Star Wars is finally coming to the consoles, took long enough to port it over. I'm really excited because it was announced that the PlayStation Vita will be getting it as well, this will be perfect for the Vita touch screen. Plus it's finally another game to get on the Vita but of course there is a bad side to this announcement. Europe release date is the 1st November 2013, yeah they launching it on the same day as Assassin's Creed 4 and Battlefield 4. Plus a few days after is Call of Duty Ghosts and any time around there the next-generation consoles. What a bad time to release a casual game like that, you would think they would aim for September/October or even wait until January/February next year. I would had got it on day one but since of the time it's going onto the wait list for now.


That's it folks for today so thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts, have a good one and I will catch up with you soon.
~Iznic

E3 2013 Sony Conference

Finally getting around to getting up the posts for the main two big conferences, starting off with the Sony one of course. Right now the PlayStation 4 is looking to be my first next-generation console so I was looking forward to seeing what else they had up their sleeve for the console.



Like all my posts for E3 I will only be speaking about the stuff that interests me, sorry folks. Anyway let's start with Beyond Two Souls a game that I'm not too sure what to make of to be honest. It looks amazing but yet I keep hearing different things about the story and every time we see a new trailer it's a completely different place. One minute shes on the run from the Police then the next shes an homeless girl on the street and now a agent working for the FBI/CIA. Really worried they trying to do too much with this game and that it will become one giant mess, fingers crossed it won't happen though.

Small glimpse of the new Batman Arkham Origins which is looking to be just has good as the other games, love the new grappling hooks that attaches to two things. Also glad to see the Joker will be in it although I'm hearing this will be their first meeting which could be awesome if it's done right.

Next up The Order 1886 and what a nice surprise that was, although it reminds me in some ways of a HD Dishonored with the setting. Looking forward to seeing some gameplay and more information for this game when the time comes, hopefully at Gamescon next month.

Killzone Shadowfall is still looking beautiful so far and the new A.I companion bot could be useful, I'm still on the side lines with this game. Mostly because in the past Killzone has a reputation of showing off awesome trailers but delivering something different to what we see. Don't think it will be the case here but I just don't want to get my hopes up just yet.

Final Fantasy XV not a surprise there to be honest, soon as the delays started for Versus XIII it was clear they wanted to hold off for the next-generation consoles. Glad they did because the small fight scene gameplay they showed off looks breath taking and it reminds me I really need to finish a Final Fantasy game. I was a bit surprised when they announced Kingdom Hearts 3 straight after this trailer though, well it's in development finally but still. Need to get the HD collection so I can start playing the series, in fact I think I have one and two still sealed for the PS2 under my bed somewhere.

Next up one of my games that I am looking forward too, Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag and they showed off a demo. Now at first I got really worried, the graphics looked amazing but it looked like every other Assassin game. Follow the target and stay hidden while you listen in for information, but then it just got amazing. Watching the town get blasted apart then having the Edward jump onto his ship and jump seamless into the ship battle with no loading screen. Thank you Ubisoft! I really cannot wait to get my hands on this game now. Shame the demo crashed during the ship fight but still it looks like this game will be everything I want.

Another nice surprise was the demo for Watch_Dogs, think Sony and Ubisoft wanted to get me hyper. Really cannot describe how excited I am for these two games. I loved how they used the cameras to guide his mate past the patrols but at the same time take action to take out a guard or two yourself. Fingers crossed both of these games will be launch titles for the PlayStaton 4.

I'm having to re watch the conference, well fast forwarding anyway to remember what games was shown because there was a lot. I was really surprised how much stuff I wanted from this years E3, don't think there was a conference without any games I wanted. Anyway back to the games and they did show of Elderscrolls Online coming to the consoles. Really not sure what to make of this game because it looks just like any other MMO and nothing special, glad to see they gone for the first person approach since everyone wanted that interface. But still just not sure about it because I feel there will be nothing amazing to make it stand out.

Nice way to end the conference with was the Destiny gameplay demo, ignoring of course the script talking the game looked amazing. Seriously though the guy needed to be more quiet and learn to aim because I lost count how many times he was shooting the floor. Still though the game is going to be awesome if it's done right.

So that is it folks for the Sony conference and from me this morning, I need to go get myself sorted for the day. Have a good one and I will catch you all later!
~Iznic

Success!

Afternoon folks,
Well yesterday was the first time in ages I was able to accomplish all my tasks that I had set out to do for the day, ignoring the non gaming stuff I did get the two platinum trophies yesterday evening like I had hoped. I was shocked because I really did not think the Ratchet and Clank QForce would appear for a while, but after two hours of grinding it popped on my second run. Had to take a break since it was getting to me watching Ratchet run around in circles and keep jumping off cliffs to hover safely down.

So I will be updating my blog stats again in a bit to add these two new completed games and now it leaves me with the difficult task of choosing some new games to play. I will be trying to motivate myself to play The Last of Us over the next few days but I need a game or two to play on the side when I'm not in the mood to play it. I've got plenty to choose from and I'm thinking I really need to work on games that I won't keep once I've finished them, the more trade-ins I've got the better. Plenty of new games and consoles coming out at the end of the year that I want so what not save some money using old games that I don't want anymore.

With that in mind I do have a few games that stand out to me, first is Phantasy Star Universe from Sega. Once I've played the singleplayer story I really cannot see myself sticking with it after, there are few achievements online but I tried that in the past and hated it. It's also an MMO so you have to pay for the subscription to play online, after getting two of the boss achievements trying to get the others was just too much of a pain for me (scratch that just saw the servers was shut down last September lol). Anyway so that's one game right there, next is the Tomb Raider HD Trilogy on the PS3. I picked it up cheap to play it again for trophies a long time ago and never got around to it, now I own the Underworld on digital thanks to the PlayStation Plus. Don't really need to keep it once I've finished it since I do have Anniversary and Legends on the Xbox 360 (special editions as well).

 
Final game that jumps out to me is Skylanders Spyro's Adventure, think I only did the first level or two and never been back since. Friend from work as told me it's a good 1,000 gamer score and not a bad game, the only problem is if I do complete it and like it I would want to keep my figures so I could work on Skylander Giants with them. Having a powered up character really should give you a advancing start.

There you go then, those are some of the possible games I have to work on right now. Of course I got a ton from PlayStation Plus that I want to play which would help with me cleaning up my hard drive on my PS3 since it's currently full right now. Also lets not forget I have a ton of games that I want to play and keep afterwards, way too much to choose from. I will do another update in a day or two once I've picked what games I will be playing. 

One last thing I want to talk about before I do go though folks and that is the Next-Generation HUB for my blog, plus the Upcoming Games Hub as well. I'm looking into doing something different with them so if you wondering why they not being updated as I put my blog posts that is why, I will be doing a blog post about the changes in the next few days once I've finalised what I want from them. Now on that note I'm going to go and play some games, earn a few trophies/achievements and enjoy the sunny weather.
~Iznic

E3 2013 Ubisoft Conference

Finally doing another E3 post just took me nearly a month to sort it out, this time it's the Ubisoft conference which was great for games but terrible for the script (sorry but the horrible jokes really need to stop). The whole "look I play games too, I'm cool" is just not needed, talk about the new games and stop trying to "connect". Anyway enough with that and lets talk about the games, first here is the conference from Ubisofts Youtube channel just in cased you missed it or if you want to refresh your mind.



Don't forget I'm only going to talk about the games I'm interested in, sorry folks but this blog is about my gaming adventures. Ok first up is the new Splinter Cell Blacklist which is still looking awesome, shame they only showed a few minutes but I think that's because it's out next month so not too long to wait. Hoping the story is going to be pretty sweet and some of the game mechanics better then Conviction (really hoping anyway).

Next game was a surprise for me and that's the Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, looks like it could be a pretty sweet arcade game. So far though I've only heard about it coming to the PC (browser game?), seriously this would be an awesome arcade/PSN title or even a Vita/3DS game. Build up a castle with lots of traps to stop others from stealing your loot while you raiding their castle, who would not want to play it. Plus I love the CGI trailer for it, I do like my comedy films and it was spot on.

Rolling on another small clip for the South Park game which please god release this game, really hope nothing else happens because I really want to play the Stick of Truth. An RPG game based on the South Park TV series, how can this go wrong! the script looks hilarious. I'm just worried with all the delays and Publisher change over that it might not be as good as I hope, really got this game on a pedestal right now. Come on Ubisoft make sure to get it ready for Christmas and make sure it's brilliant.

I have noticed one thing with this conference that a lot of the major stuff I was interested in was only covered for a few minutes. Think it's because most of their games was covered in the main Microsoft/Sony conferences but you would think they would keep something for themselves.

Watch_Dogs and Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag both look impressive, I will cover them more in the other conferences but both games are on my top ten want list right now. Anyway last game of the conference I was interested in was the new announce of Tom Clancy Division. An RPG (well so they say) online shooter, drop in and drop out with your friends as you explore a world falling apart. The gameplay level they showed off looked good but I won't get my hope up too yet, I will wait to see more because all I keep thinking is "End War", good game but not as good as it should had been.

So that's it for me with the Ubisoft conference, was not the best one but it did show off some impressive stuff. They have quite a few games on my want list this year so hopefully they will be great, really looking forward to playing the new Assassin's Creed although I really wish I knew about the story with how its related to the present time.

Also got massive hopes on Watch_Dogs, man that game could be my game of the year for 2013 if it's done right. Anyway I need to go since I need to continue my gaming marathon so have a good night folks.
~Iznic

Where to begin

Morning folks,
Once again it's been a while since I've last updated but I don't need to tell you that I've been busy since you should be use to it by now. Anyway this is just a quick update post with what I've been playing and my plans for the rest of the week.

So to start with lets talk about the amazing The Last of Us which I'm still pretty much at the beginning with. Reason why I'm not playing it right now? well I'm not a fan of horror, it's one of those genres I hate along with sports. Of course the start of the game is heavily based on the mutants in a dark ruin city so you could not get any closer to horror then that. So yeah I've found it very hard to motivate myself to play it but one of my work mates as told me it will get better very soon after where I'm up to. A lot more humans to fight etc. and more like the trailers that was shown off, think over the weekend I will give it another bash. Need to try the multiplayer as well since it's meant to take ages to get the trophies for that part, hoping it will be fun to play.

Since I've not been playing that I have been working my PlayStation 3 harddrive since it's full right now thanks to PlayStation Plus. Deleting games that I would not play and completing ones that I do want to play. Last week I clocked all five episodes of the Back to the Future game, really good story and a short game to be honest. It's a point and click adventures where you solve a few puzzles to have the story progress on. Friend as told me if I play the retail disc version there is a separate trophy list with a platinum for your troubles, so added that to my rental list. Speaking of Platinum trophies I am hoping to get two more tonight, although it's more likely to be one.

My latest rental game is Rise of the Guardians and I've only got two more worlds to clean up then the trophy should be mine, hour or two max I'm thinking. The other trophy is for Ratchet and Clack QForce which I'm still stuck on the last trophy. Basically I've got to boost/walk and hoover so many miles to clock it but there is no way to track the progress so far. Think I need to do 40 more laps boosting then god knows how many jumps hoovering. Soon as I finish Rise of the Guardians I'm just going to go for it and hope it does not take all evening.

That's it for my gaming anyway folks, I have been playing Company of Heroes 2 on the side but not enough to talk about it. My PlayStation as pretty much took over right now as I finish up these games, soon as I complete a few I want to sit down and get some of the game done then. Anyway folks that's it for my plans for now, clock those two games and make some progress on the Last of Us. I will do another update once I made some progress and update you with my next gaming plans. Also I'm hoping this afternoon to get another E3 post sorted before I start my gaming marathon because at this rate they will be up when E3 2014 is starting.

~Iznic

E3 2013 EA Conference

Morning gamers,
I've been struggling since E3 on how to write this post out, at first I had posts for each conference but I kept getting a writers block right at the start. In the end I decided to go with this and just write my thoughts plus dropping the twitter messages During the live streams I was posting my thoughts on Twitter, it was interesting to do but somethings I wished I could had change. Also it's a nightmare to copy and paste them over to the blog since everything has to be changed to work (font, text size etc.), plus after changing everything the blog post just went weird. Too much time waisted and it was just not worth it, you can see my thoughts anyway on my twitter account which is linked on the side.

Anyway let's jump straight in with the first conference which was the best one in my books and that's EA. Why did I like this one the most? well I found I enjoyed all the games shown, it had some nice surprises and overall I did not have to keep cringing at the presenters script speeches.



So where to begin, well the Garden Warfare at the start was a nice shock. At first I really thought I would hate it when they started talking about it but once they started playing it, well it went on my list to buy when it comes out. I can see it being quite a laugh with a few friends and I really do enjoy Plants vs Zombies. Of course right now it is exclusive to Xbox One and PC which was interesting move on EA's part. Especially with the next game Titan Fall that was shown off again, another Xbox One exclusive. Seems EA are really backing up the Microsoft team this generation. Anyway Titan Fall looks amazing, multiplayer battlefield/future sci-fi with mechs.

I love the fact the mechs are not slow heavy machines, it will definitely make the game more interesting. Few things in the demo they showed off that got my interest the most was when the pilot jumped into the mech and it took seconds to boot up. Nice fast paced jump in and jump out which will work well for the multiplayer, also loved when they rip out a pilot from another mech. Brutal finisher move plus when they jump out their mech and climb on top of another one to blow the circuits in the head to blind them. Shame it's next year though but hopefully not to long into the year, but I would like to see more how the story campaign works since it seems to be integrated into the multiplayer.

Ok onto the next game which wasn't really shown but my god did it cause a riot on the Internet. A small teaser to the next Battlefront game! which will be using the Frost Engine 3 and being developed by the DICE team. Mind was blown when they showed this off and my twitter feed could not keep up with my friends. Really cannot wait to see what they will do with this game but I won't get my hopes up yet, no doubt it be the end of next year at the earliest if we lucky.

Let's see what was next announced, I'm currently watching the stream again while I'm posting so I can remember everything I wanted to talk about. Ohh yeah Dragon Age 3 which I would like to see more and in fact I really could do with playing and completing the first two before buying this. It looked good, it has everything I want from a fantasy game. Dragons, monsters, end of the world but I could not help but chuckle at the green meteors since they remind me of Warcraft 3. But anyway yeah it could be a great game but a lot more needs to be shown off first and as I said I need to play the first two before I start to get excited.

Final game for EA which stole the show for me was Battlefield 4, how amazing was that? 64 player multiplayer now for the next generation consoles. Having that demo level being shown off with the full 64 players playing was such a smart move. I know everyone was shocked on what they saw and it amazing, I loved watching them drop the road with the tank on into the tunnel. The skyscraper at the end was another amazing touch, in fact I watched a new video yesterday that explains when the skyscraper falls it creates rubble every where so it changes the landscape of the level. You now have more cover but at the same time it creates this giant dust cloud so vision becomes impossible in the area it was.

Also the commander option with the tablet was pretty sweet, I loved the missile launch system but I do question how many people will use it. I know it seems to be the big thing this generation to have phone and tablet support but still not so sure on it, but I've not had ago so it could be amazing for all I know.

Anyway folks that is my thoughts on the EA conference, as I said I was really impressed with it and the games. My want list has grown a little thanks to them and I really cannot wait to get my hands on these games, only a few months for some. Don't forget to drop a line with what you thought of this conference, I would love to hear your opinion on what you saw.
 ~Iznic 

God of War Ascension Collectors Edition Unboxing

Thought it would be a good idea to get another unboxing post up, this one has been on the cards for the last few weeks now. This is the God of War Ascension Collector's Edition, it contained the steel book special edition plus the extra season pass and Kratos figurine.

The box was just simple cardboard design with the golden dark shadow effect that's been used for the theme through out the advertisement campaign of the game. On the one side you could see the front cover of the steel book and the other side shows the figurine it self.

As you can see in the top picture there was some assemble required when it came to the Kratos figurine, both arms needed to be attached. I was bit disappointed with the figurine it self due to the fact the plastic was quite cheap, the figure was painted nice and the detail was good. What was really annoying though was the arms had to be slotted onto pegs to be attached and who ever did the design cut the peg shape wrong on the one arm. It took me nearly thirty minutes to finally get the arm on and I had to use a knife to cut the shape inside better. This was a huge mistake on their part and when you forking £80 out for a edition like this, this should not be happening.

Another thing you will notice is that on the head is a red dot where a bit of paint was splashed, I've ignored it and counted it as blood but overall I really expected better quality control. Least it still looks good on my shelf with the rest of my collection. So other then the figurine in the box was the special edition which was a steelbook case with several DLC included (plus the season pass for the collectors edition). In the way of the DLC it was all multiplayer bonuses and the soundtrack, so lets skip over that and talk about the steel book.

Steel book Cover and Slipcase

The outside is just black with the God of War symbol and a slip case cover for protection, the inside though had some amazing artwork. It features two warriors from the multiplayer mode and I loved the work gone into the drawing, I would preferred this on the cover to be honest.

Steelbook artwork

Overall it was an ok Collectors edition but I really did not feel like I got my money out of it, a lot of the bonus DLC was multiplayer in the ways of XP boosting. The season pass content has not gone live yet, well I don't think it as but there is no options on the menu to find out in the game. Guessing I have to complete the multiplayer tutorial to find out. Anyway I'm getting off topic, nice steel book and the figurine was just ok but could had been a lot better. Not the best collectors edition out there and if I was given a choice then I probably would had just picked up the special edition instead. So that is it for my short unboxing today folks, I will find a much nicer collectors edition to talk about next time but until then have a good one.
~Iznic

Summer Begins

Afternoon folks,
Well the summer has begun and it's been nearly two weeks since I've done anything really on my blog. Sorry about that folks but I thought I had only missed last week but checking back I let the side down on the week before as well.

It's been quite busy here and I've had a lot of my plate, any free time I had spare I decided to use for gaming of course. Anyway I'm off for the week now so time to chill, have a few days out and maybe get some gaming in as well. In fact I just got back from the Last of Us lock in in my local GAME store and I got to say I am shocked and amazed on how great this game is.

The demo I played is an extended version of the God of War demo that had just gone live on Friday. So starting off I was given a run down of the information I need to play through with, first up I had only four bullets and told not to expect to find many either. Nice start and I feel really weak now, next up yes I have shiv type knife for stealth kills but be careful it can break after use. Dang I was not expecting to be this defenceless, good news there is a crafting system so through the game you can search for items to use to make useful stuff. So for example scissors, tape, cloth etc can all help to make med kits, knifes, hell there is batteries to power your torch. At one point I combined a plank of wood with scissors using some tape to make a pick club.

I will say this now do not expect to run through blasting away and full on attack, the horrible mutants are blind but can hear noise. Soon as you start shooting they know where you are plus it takes some good head shots to kill them, if they get close it's over. The game is about strategy, using stealth and cunning to get through the level. For example they blind but can hear noise, later on in the demo I got a Molotov cocktail so I had no regrets throwing it on the floor to watch the mutant charge over to the noise only to set it self on fire while I move past quickly. I even got into a one versus three brawl mid way through the game after killing a mutant with an headshot because they heard the gun go off.

The game is brilliant and hard if you not thinking about what you doing but my god folks I would recommend this game to anyone after playing this short demo. I really cannot wait for 14th June now so I can start getting into it.

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So other then going to play the lock in I have finally finished Lego Lord of the Rings on the PlayStation 3 last week, clocked the platinum trophy on Sunday I think it was. Very happy to finally finish it and get it sent back to Lovefilm and since then I have been working on Ratchet and Clank Qforce which is a tower defence game. It's quite short with only five levels so I finished the story this afternoon and now just moping up the missing trophies.

I've currently not really got any plans for this weeks gaming other then just play what I feel like, found it quite hard to be honest to get into anything. Got plenty to finish up and plenty to start as well, just need to find something that will take my interest. Well anyway that's it for now folks because I want to go play some games, have a good one and I will try to get a few more posts up later.
~Iznic

Going to be a busy one

Morning folks,
Currently waiting on my PlayStation 3 to finish installing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, seriously forgot how terrible the load/install times can be. Reason I'm doing this is so I can redeem all the codes in my Anthology edition, spent the morning so far doing it for all different games since I keep putting it off and knowing my luck the codes will expire. Anyway while that is sorting out I thought it be a good idea to get a blog post up, especially with the fact my weekend was crazy and nothing was posted up. Plus this week will be a busy one since we have the Batman trailer going up today and of course the huge Xbox Reveal tomorrow.

Not sure how I'm watching the reveal tomorrow but I will be Twittering either way about my thoughts, then my plan is to copy all the Tweets onto a blog post to put up here. This is going to be test practise since this is what I was planning for E3, should be interesting to see how this will turn out.

So other then being excited to see what is revealed tomorrow I think it's time to update about my gaming adventures so far. Well in the multiplayer area I've got up to level 39 on Tomb Raider so getting close, of course it's taking more XP each level so it is dragging a little. Really cannot wait to hit level 60 so I can just focus on the kill achievements. On Gears of War Judgment I clocked the 10 wins on Team Deathmatchs in the week and now working on the 10 wins for OverRun, after that it just levelling up and working on the 100 kills for each Locust which will probably be a huge pain in the ass.

I did do some Call of Duty Black Ops 2 multiplayer this week, mostly because I redeemed my COD Ghosts weapon skins and wanted to see what they look like. Not bad to be honest just black with the white skull but the nice touch is the code gives the skin for every weapon in the game, thought it was just for the one gun so really happy about that. Had a few matches and laughs, in fact came top in my team on the one match which was shocking. I did plan to do some Battlefield 3 as well but Skyrim took over and well it was nearly midnight when I finished.

I bought a house in the game (cheer) and then took on another random Dragon who nearly had me, ok that's a lie the entire fight was not my best. So need to restock on health potions and find a better way to fight a Dragon because I struggle. Oh yeah I was in Windhelm and ran into a Orphan girl, as I walking past her I overheard her say that no one bought her flowers again.

Now folks when I heard you could have a family in Skyrim with the new patch I wasn't fussed about it, in fact I planned not too because my thoughts was "what is the point". I had a family in Fable and it just annoyed me, plus I love having the great warrior with no ties background. Anyway back to the Orphan story, so I over heard her saying she had not sold anything. Yeah who ever said that gamers are heartless and that video games cause violence have no clue because I had to turn around and talk to her. I thought buy a few flowers from her and help her to be nice (dang my good nature!), well I got the fully background history from instead. Both her folks are dead and she now selling flowers to buy food so she can survive.

Good lord my heart broke! damn myself for being nice and getting into stories too much. So I tried to adopt her but at the time I had not bought my house yet since I was still 600 gold short. Hearing her voice sound happy at the chance to be adopted then go sad when I don't have a house yet so I couldn't adopt her. Well as you can imagine I charged out to get more gold, of course I was so determined that ran right into a Dragon (the one I mentioned earlier) and was nearly a BBQ. Next time I load the game I will be adopting her, well I think I need to sort the house out first so she can stay there but that is the plan.

So that my friends is why I love games! because the story can really suck you in.

~Iznic

P.S. My plans for the week? other then watching a ton of new stuff being announced I will be working on my multiplayer games again, cleaning up lego Lord of the Rings and of course Skyrim.

Wolfenstein: The New Order

I was a big fan of the very original Wolfenstein game and was even a fan of the Return to Castle Wolfenstein (had a copy on both PC and PS2). Never really gave the latest one a try or though I did hear it wasn't too bad but of course too much came out at the same time so it never had a chance. Anyway seems Bethesda announced a new game in the series and looks to be changing quite a few things.



It's been confirmed for Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 with next-generation consoles listed as well for Q4 this year. From all sounds of it this will be a reboot of the series in some ways and I am interested in the altered history story. The good news since the announcement that it will be singleplayer only which made me very happy, not every game needs multi player and I'm glad all focus will be on making a great singleplayer.

Before I end this post check out Xbox360achievement.org since they have two posts showing off some awesome images from the game, first one is here and the second one here. I will be waiting to see gameplay footage before I start to take a massive interest.
~Iznic

Start of the Week

Morning folks,
I've had a blast over the weekend and got plenty of gaming in, in fact I finally caught up with where I was on my first playthrough on Skyrim (not hard really) and now surpassed it. In fact I encountered my first random Dragon as well which was bit difficulty since I was designing my character to be full on melee plus I had not used a bow yet so that was interesting.

Anyway I'm loving it and I cannot believe how big the game is, I've been walking around for hours searching and exploring. In fact I just stopped following the main story to go off and find different ores so I can upgrade my weapons and armour. I can see myself losing hundreds of hours to this game over the next few months but god it's worth it.

So other then that I have been playing Minecraft but I will cover that part in my Minecraft Journal posts, I've also finished the story levels on Lego Lord of the Rings. Now got to start doing the collectibles part which is probably the longest section of any Lego game. I picked up the X2 multiplier and now got to save up for the x4, so this is the boring part and that's working on saving up money until I've got the first few multipliers to help me. I will be working on that this week and fingers crossed that I will be able to get all the stuff I need so I can adventure out and 100% this game.

Hmmm what else, oh yeah I tried out the FUSE demo and believe it or not I was not impressed at all. Shocking to say how much I enjoyed watching the trailers and it looked right up my street but no I found the demo to be basic and annoying. You can play all four characters and switch between them mid game but there is no information what type of classes they are (if they have any) so it's trial and error. The effect weapons are well boring, you can see the black holes or spikes happen but honestly it's like watching a grenade go off. Once you since it once in game you really don't care, in fact the game felt very arcade style with the points from each kill flashing up.

A.I sucks since your team mates will barely pick you up and they didn't bother on the mini boss level, thank god you can switch characters so you can revive them yourselves. Also the bad guys have the run to you rule so expect them to charge at you a lot of the time, bosses too! as I said it was basic and boring. Try it out for yourselves you might like since every ones taste is different but I'm taking it off my want list which is good thing with how much I need to save up this year.

Other then the demo I have been putting a few more minutes into my multiplayer games again, in fact I clocked level 31 in Tomb Raider. It's going slowly but I'm getting to that 60 marker plus I'm spending all my salvage to buy the extra upgrades and characters. Same goes for Gears of War Judgement and I'm now level 20 and clocked quite a few of the starting multiplayer achievements, working on the 10 wins for each mode right now which is a lot of fun.

So my goals this week I will be still working on Tomb Raider and Gears of War multiplayer, I could do with getting some Battlefield 3 time in this week since I've only played a few matches. Continue Lego Lord of the Rings and of course Skyrim. There you go folks my plans for the week and I hope you having fun yourselves, on this note though I'm going to shoot since I need to get ready for work.
~Iznic

Kingdom Hearts HD Pre-Order Bonus

It's been a while now since they announced there would be a HD collection for Kingdom Hearts. I've been looking forward to it since I never really gave the games a chance, I do have the first two and I think they still sealed on my shelf somewhere.

So yeah I'm finally determined to give them a chance with the HD collection, of course there is no 2 in this collection. It's the updated first one that never arrived in the West then the other two are in fact from the handheld so that will be interesting to see.

Anyway the other day it was finally announced that the west will be getting a pre-order bonus in the way of a artwork book, check out above to see two pages from the book. Looks pretty awesome and in fact I love the concept artwork in the announcement picture as well.

With the announcement of the bonus Square Enix also finally gave a release date of 13th September for Europe and 10th September for North America. So far Shopto.net is the only one taking orders in the UK but GAME did post on their twitter feed that orders will be up soon, no signs from any other retailer just yet.
~Iznic

Beyond: Two Souls Special Edition

Steelbook

Say hello to the limited edition for Beyond: Two Souls and I got to say it looks, well boring really. This was announced several months back but I've been waiting for more details about it since back then it was just the steelbook case, now it comes with some goodies that make up for the lack of artwork. So here is what you get in the box:

• Extra in-game scene 
• Avatar pack
• Soundtrack
• Dynamic Theme
• Making of feature

I'm betting the soundtrack will be awesome for this game and not sure what to think about the extra in-game scene. This is not the type of game I had expect to have extra stuff added to it so I'm wondering how good this extra gameplay will be. Plus the steelbook is really putting me off getting it, seriously how can you make it so boring. Anyway a few retailers have started taking orders so if you are interested in getting it then make sure to pre-order since the rumour is this will be really limited.

I've put my order down just in case but still unsure, the steelbook is really putting me off 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