Back to Normal

Evening folks,
Just currently waiting for the Old Republic to finish patching then I'm starting MMO night early, got a few hours extra compared to normal so it should be a better night and make up for last week. Going to start with Star Wars this time around since normally I do Warcraft then get too wrapped up in it leaving a small amount time left.

Plans for tonight is to finish all the old quests I missed on Star Wars and after who knows, see where my Starship takes me. On Warcraft I will do the normal round of daily quests then I'm going to the Twilight Highlands for the first time to start questing there and opening up the Wildhammers Faction since I need to work on them too.

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Great seems my friends have moved out of the guild and into a bigger one with a note saying to the rest of us to give a shout for a invite, would help if you they actually came online and not sure they even play anymore. Apart from that just got my cool new Tauntaun Ram pet (came with the latest giant patch) so got that following me around now, as I said before I loaded I want to clean up all the old quests on my starting planet (Hutta). I did miss quite a few since I was hurrying to get off planet so I could finally get my ship.

One feature I do love about this game is being able to send my companion off to sell all the junk items I've looted, lost count how many times I've filled my inventory so far tonight. I'm currently gunning my way through factories and swamps, it's not bad but as started to get a bit boring.

Wow I did not realise because I've got the scavenger profession I can loot items from droid/turret corpses, what luck that this factory is full of security droids.

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Think I found something super rare, I was currently working my way through an underground tunnel that links some of the factories through the swamp and discovered a datacron. Was all flashy and shiny looking, clicked the bugger and was told I got some kind of shard that goes toward a matrix or something?

Also unlocked an achievement codex entry telling me a story of the first humans on Coruscant, it's amazing how much I don't know about this game. I could sit for hours just reading through the codex entries I've been getting, Bioware as gone to town on the lore. Anyway guessing I need to make a note to look up datacrons before my next MMO night but that's it for now I've done about 5-10 quests and cleared hutta so I can now continue back onto the normal quests and continue my story next week.

Time for a cuppa then heading on over to Warcraft.

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I once caught a fish this big

Last week I left myself at Ironforge the Dwarf capital which I'm glad I did now, soon as I logged in I could jump straight onto the fishing and cooking daily quest. Been some interesting things so far, cooking wise I just had to hand out packed lunches of bear and meat for the local guards. Last week had me doing a keg run from the small town outside before the time limit was up, they wanted it fresh lol.

In the ways of fishing I had to make a new prototype Gnome lore that consited of a bear trap, poor fish had no chance. This week saw me trying to catch the local legend Old Ironjaw offspring Young Ironjaw, which was then put on display in the local muesuem (it was a slow month for them).

So after that it was portal to the elemental plane of earth to do the daily quests for Therazane then off to the Twilight Highlands for the first time.

Loved the opening quest which involved taking a sea plane from the dock to the new zone, was told since we need to get there fast that the pilot had taken out seatbelts and parachutes to lighten the load. That was the first worry, then we took off and the engine died so we nearly crashed into the city wall lol. Then he decided to burn up all the fuel at once for a boost and was told not to black out, course that happened and I wake up with the plane crashed into the mast of a ship and the horde attacking us. It's one of those days from the looks of things, scratch that just got worse. Involves me, a cannon, lots of gun powder and trying to board a zipplin, this Dwarf pilot will be the death of me!

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It was a fun night and I got to admit the opening quests for this zone where not bad, repel the invading forces then help take over a beach head to help bring in forces to the zone. I stopped there mostly because I need to hit the sack early tonight and I want an hour to finish off two games I've nearly completed.

Have a good one folks,
~Iznic

The Daily Grind - Issue One

Good Morning Folks,
I am pleased to report that the new and improved "The Daily Grind" is back for business once again, for those who don't remember or are new to the site. The Daily Grind was a series of posts about my gaming time each day, I went into quite a bit of detail about everything I was doing. Of course I did find myself spending too much time writing then playing so it did start to be reduced and then eventually I just stopped altogether.

So why a new improved version and what will it cover? well this year as been one big kick to the teeth and it's been getting me real down. No doubt you have noticed my rants when I do my weekly general posts since it's been effecting my game time. Yesterday I was writing the post for last week and it was pretty much just one big post of ranting and whining, after two attempts at the post I gave up on it.

But it then came to me it was a brand new week and think it was time for a new start, my pile of shame as got to the worst I've ever seen it. Just looking at the pile by my desk I'm counting roughly 57 Xbox 360 games, 35 PC games, 2 Wii Games and around 15 PS3 games, that's just pile one of many. It's coming to the point that I've been thinking about just grabbing the games that I would not keep after finishing and just trade them in right now since I doubt I got enough time in the year to work on all of them. But I don't want to go down that path yet and that's how this fresh start comes into play, this new series of posts will cover all the general stuff that I normally post but will also keep everyone updated on my progress on the pile. Plus it will be a great for motivating me as well, so welcome back to "The Daily Grind" and this is issue one of hopefully many posts.

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Think the best place to start this issue off is with last week gaming which you all probably know sucked a lot since I spent most of my time off in the middle of the week in bed with a bad head. But I was able to get in a good blast of gaming this weekend, while I was out I did a few more levels of Plants vs Zombies on the Vita. Love that game to bits but I did forget how hard it can be sometimes if you not prepared, especially the night times with a pool.

Sunday I was planning to get some jobs done but in the end I spent the afternoon and evening doing a giant Gears of War 3 marathon, started off with Act 5 on Insane complete. Felt very proud watching the final boss die on insane although most of the palace guards did not show up and after all that hard work to get the Vampire Mutator to help us. Anyway after that we just had a big session of Beast and Horde mode, nothing special to report there other then picked up a few achievements and grinding a few stats towards the Seriously 3.0 achievement (very long way off still).

On that note time to update the stats of my challenge:

Week 14 - This week
Starting Total: 134,699
To Earn: 1,820
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1.820

Week 13
Starting Total: 134,359
To Earn: 1,778
Achieved: 340
Difference: -1,438

Total So Far -
To Earn: 20,266

Achieved: 8,420

Difference: -11,846

Dang! I'm way off target for the year and to say I'm only a few months in the challenge that's crazy. Going to be a lot hard to get that 1,800 a week right now, pretty much two games fully clocked a week plus need to crawl back that 11k.

Not sure on how I'm going to do but if I played the games that I do have I probably could smash this challenge, speaking of that I might as well write out what I want to do this week and how I'm going to get through my pile of shame. I do read a lot of gamer blogs and follow several friends who have the same problem when it comes to games, I love seeing their solutions to their problems. Everything from playing one game at time until it's fully clocked up to having ten games on the go with new ones replacing completed ones.

Personally I've not decided on what I want to do yet but I do have the start planned out and it's based on three games. First one is Mass Effect 3 which I've put 28 hours into so far and I'm ashamed of myself for not finishing it by now, well I can understand why I had a late start but the last few weeks I've had plenty of time to work on it. I call myself a fan boy of the series and yet I'm letting the Reapers win. Second game is my rental from Lovefilm, Marvel Superhero Squad Infinite Gauntlet, it's not a bad game and it works a lot like the Lego games. So far I'm three or four levels into the game so about halfway through of course once the story is finished need to do all the collectibles, challenges etc.

Finally the last game I had completely forgot about until I was watching a trailer yesterday and that's Batman Arkham City on the PC. I was half way through the game earlier this year and I got no clue on why it was shelved, I want to say something came out but I cannot for the love of money remember what. Anyway these three games I want to finish up before I even start to think about doing anything else, after that then I can come up with a plan.

Speaking of pile of shames, what about you readers? do you giant piles of games to complete and how do you cope with getting through it.

Just remembered I will be playing my handhelds on the weekend still since I cannot take my main consoles with me, but I will be doing the same with those in the ways of I need to finish Plants vs Zombies before I even think of doing anything else. Maybe after that work on Pokemon Rumble again or start Dr Lautrec, ohhh dang! I just remembered Uncharted on the Vita needs finishing and I started Pokemon White. See what I mean by needing to get my ass into gear, it's going to be a interesting few months.

Anyway I'm going to head off and start playing some games, I will be doing some more posts later so keep your eyes open for that.

Have a good one folks and hope you liked the first issue
~Iznic

Weekend at Last

Afternoon all,
I do apologise for the lack of messages the last few days and especially for the lack of MMO Night on Wednesday. I had a huge marathon planned since I was only working the morning shift but when I finished I suddenly had, well I can only describe it as a migraine and so I pretty much spent the rest of the day sleeping it off. Even Thursday morning my head was still sore and I could barely look at a screen without it hurting.

Of course this did ruin my core time off that I had planned for several gaming marathons, I'm off for two days now (still waiting to find out about Sunday) but I got a ton of jobs to take care of first before I can even do any gaming. Will have to make up for it next week with a couple of marathons if I got some time off, anyway on to the gaming news in my life.

I treated myself to Pandora's Tower and the Last Story collectors editions, originally I was not going to get them until I had the time to play. In fact I was originally against Pandora's Tower but after seeing the reviews and watching the game play trailers I was very tempted, then I saw the detail gone into the artwork and collector editions box/steel book I could not resist. Also looks like I will be getting the coin set from Nintendo, if you register all three new rpg games on Club Nintendo (Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower and The Last Story) you are in for a chance for this.

Well hopefully I will get them, my message appeared when I entered the last game on the web page while most had a e-mail arrive saying so, fingers crossed anyway.

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Of course with all this buying that does mean now my 2012 games bought list as risen a lot and dropped my completion percent down to 11%. I would say I need to work on that but after looking around my room at all the games waiting to be played, well it's depressing and I need a time machine or something to stop time.

Kinda panicing about May since the list of games coming out that month is turning into Christmas 2, will be doing a post with the list later on.

Anyway I'm going to shoot since I need to get on with my jobs, so have a good weekend folks and I will catch you all later.
~Iznic

New Dishonored Trailer

So there I was minding my own business and playing Gears of War 3 when out of the blue my Twitter account starts going crazy, messages popping up about checking out Bethesda new game. So I guess no new Skyrim DLC then, yesterday a screen shot of a rough looking man was put saying "Tomorrow" and everyone thought it was DLC. Anyway I paid no attention since I was busy retro charging some horde when once again my Twitter was going off, this time friends where talking about it with the words "How did I not know about this game". Guess it was time for me to see what all the fuss was about, check out the trailer below...




Like my friend said "How the hell did I not know anything about this game", it rocks! I know that's just the cinematic game but it looks crazy ass good. Assassin Creed with magic and steam punk theme, looks amazing and the concept is great. Soon as I can pre-order I will, what do you guys think of it?

The next years worth of new releases is insane, going to be hard to get enough time for everything.
~Iznic

General News

Once again morning everyone,
Going back to yesterday I did say I have a lot to talk about and the fact I'm trying to catch up with my posts, well some of the new is too small really for it's own post so this post is going to be one giant post of random. Big sorry in advance but I will split the post up into sections like I normally do just to make it a little easier to read.

First up was the news that sadden me last week and that's Bulletstorm 2 was cancelled...



Cannot believe they not going to make another one, I loved that game and yes I know the reviews where not great and people didn't even give it a try. But the game is brilliant, over the top brilliant, I love running through and trying out the different kill combos and the writing was great. Lost track on how many times I could not help but laugh at the jokes between the characters. I've got my fingers crossed they will go back to it and start again.

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Next up is Game update 1.2 for Star Wars the Old Republic and my god it adds a lot of new stuff to the game, looks like the top level players are going to be over joyed.



The legacy system looks awesome with the fact you can now make a family using your characters and their "offspring" can have different features from both classes. I really do want a Sith and a Jedi character so I think this could come in handy and make some kind of hybrid with my Bounty Hunter.

I could go on and keep listing what I like and don't like but there is too much coming with this update so just check out the trailer above.

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Now I really want to post the screenshot here but since it's owned by another site I really do not want to get into trouble. Basically MMOChampion as been keeping everyone up to date with the stuff they find in the Beta for World of Warcraft Mists of Panderia and these babies where posted up a few weeks back

Panther Mounts

These are from the Jewel crafting proffession, how amazing are those, I so want one and I really do want to make an alt now to level up jewel crafting with. Been thinking about doing a Dwarf Shaman for a while now so I might just use this as an excuse to go for it finally.




So that's it for now folks, there probably is something I missed from the post but right now all I want to do is go play Mass Effect 3 so catch you all later.
~Iznic

Crysis 3 Announcement

Good Morning Folks,
Could not sleep so I'm up really early today (6.30am) and no doubt later I will be tired, always my luck. Anyway I thought I would get some posts on the go before I get into my day off and then I can spend the rest of my day gaming. Yesterday they finally announced Crysis 3, reason why I say finally is due to the fact images where leaked last week and all I see across twitter is "is true or rumour".

The screenshots that have been posted up for the game look beautiful, seems there are now domes in most major cities which where meant to keep the population safe from the alien threat. Instead they being used for world domination instead (as you do), so looks like you taking control of Prophet from the second game to become the worlds best hunter as you go out for revenge.

I love the new high tech bow and arrow but I do hope they get it right, animation and way it's used. I get the feeling a bow and arrow should be for a more stealthy option and my main worry is like most games when you do the first kill every idiot on the map knows where you when that arrow hits. Games need to take a notice of Batman Arkham City where if you stealth take down someone they have no clue and blind fire panic.

Anyway there as been a list of pre-order bonuses listed as well, three different packs giving access to multiplayer perks, early access to items etc along with a Hunter Edition of the game. Of course it's very early days so no idea who's doing what yet.

Hunter Edition

• Bow weapon and attachments
• Hunter nanosuit module
• Level 5 xp boost for multiplayer
• Unique bow skin
• Three additional dog tags

Seems like a good edition to buy and reminds me of the limited for Crysis 2 which just a couple pounds extra for a ton of extra items like this. Anyway here is the list of packs for the pre-orders:

Stalker Pack 

• Base game plus all the content from the Hunter Edition
• Multiplayer early access Semi-Auto Jackal Shotgun
• Unique silencer attachment
• Custom Weapon Skin
• Two exclusive themed dog tags

Overkill Pack

• Base game plus all the content from the Hunter Edition
• Multiplayer early access Typhoon Assault Weapon and skin
• Two exclusive themed dog tags

Predator Pack

• Base game plus all the content from the Hunter Edition
• Multiplayer early access Feline Submachine Gun
• Exclusive Camo (for the gun)

Stalker pack seems to be the best for the most stuff given but the Typhoon weapon sounds awesome, according to the announcement it fires 500 bullets a second. Not sure how that works but least now you know why its called the Overkill pack. Hopefully at E3 they will show off some footage and announce who is doing what so orders can be taken, still need to finish the second myself.

Only problem I have with this game is the fact it's not coming out until Spring of 2013,
~Iznic


P.S. Check out the web for a lot more screenshots, there are some sweet ones been released

Bucket Load of Trailers

As you can guess from the many posts over the last few days I'm trying to catch up with everything I wanted to talk about on here, normally when something gets announced I keep the page open on a new tab or make a note on my list. Right now let's just say my browser is full and my list is a mile long so I'm doing my best to work my way through since at the rate I'm going most of the stuff I want to post about will be out.

This post is to do with the god knows how many new trailers that have appeared over the last few weeks/months, you can tell it's getting close to E3 when everyone seems to be announcing something new. So let's start this post off with a great game that as finally been given some light, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. What's this game you ask? well its a Japanese RPG being made by Level 5 and the animation done by the all time greatest Studio Ghibli. So excited about this game I really cannot wait but I am hearing next year release, really hope that is a false rumour.



After watching that trailer I am speechless, this could be the first Japanese RPG I will start on day one and not stop until its finished. It's breath taking beautiful and it looks so much like the Studio Ghibli films, I can see the story keeping me enthralled for a good couple of weeks/months and next year cannot come fast enough!.

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So back to talking about awesome new games, last night I finally sat down and watched the trailers for Sleeping Dogs. I kept hearing this game name pop but I had no interest and no clue who was doing it or what it was about. Anyway by sheer luck I stumbled across a trailer for it and saw that Square Enix was making it so I thought I would give it a shot. First trailer is a live action one followed by an in game story one.

Looks very interesting and it was live action trailer that got me interested, I like the whole undercover cop concept in movies so it would be very interesting to see what they can do with this game. I will be keeping my eyes on this and hopefully get to see a lot more at E3 this year with plenty of more details.

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 Next up is Disgaea 3 Absense of Detention for the PlayStation Vita, going back a bit I remember looking into the Disgaea games to see what they where about. Japanese rpg with a grid based system that as a stupid amount of levels with a ton of characters and just weird story, well me being a Anime fan this was right up my street. So I picked up the PlayStation 2 version and tried out, think I did ten minutes then like always I got distracted by something else. Since then I have picked up Disgaea 3 and just recently 4 for the PlayStation 3, both still sealed and it would not shock me if I got the PSP/DS versions somewhere. This Vita version is basically the third game on the PlayStation 3 with all the DLC included plus two new characters and a ton of extra new story levels and content.

Yes you saw right, it's over the top and yes the 10 million hours play time could be true since I hear there are worlds inside items and it can just go on and on. The trailer me chuckle anyway and I will be picking this up, in fact I think its releasing this week. Think I could do with starting this game on the launch day if it takes that long to complete lol.

Right I'm going to end it here because I'm a little bit worried on how long this post is becoming, so I will split it and do the rest later. So did any of these game trailers get you interested? or was you just bored?

~Iznic

Two New Collector Editions Announced

Two collectors editions I want to talk about in this post, first up was last weeks announcement of the Hitman: Absolution Professional Edition. I'm a huge fan of the Hitman 47 games and I loved Blood Money, clocked it for the full 1,000 gamer score and even did it again on my second profile as well (an old challenge that was cancelled a few years back).

Was hoping to see a lot more DLC in the Professional Edition and maybe a cool item but it still looks sweet and I will be ordering it once I can. It contains this wonderful goodies inside:

• Slipcase shell (think the artwork looks better black then the red cover version)
• Hardcover Artwork book
• Making of DVD
• Agency Gun Pack DLC
• Agency Jagd P22G Pistol
• Agency HX UMP SMG
• Agency SPS 12 Semi-Automatic Shotgun

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The second collectors edition is for Darksiders 2 but unfortunately it has not been announced for Europe/UK yet just America.

Looks amazing right? it contains everything that is in the Limited Edition of the game plus a life-sized replica Death Mask. That is so awesome and I have a great space for it against my Halo Helmet and Pandora Box from God of War. Just need to wait now and see who might stock it in the UK then I will gladly order a copy, anyway for the time being here is the full list of what is inside:

• Darksiders 2 Limited Edition
• Basically a pre-order bonus version, normal game plus the first DLC "Argul's Tomb" which will be the first single player DLC for the game.
• Life-Size Replica Death Mask plus stand
• Art Book
• Digital Download Soundtrack
• Unique In-game armour set and weapon (enchances stats)

Well that's it for this post, there probably a lot more collectors edition been announced in the last few weeks that I have forgot about. Always the way for me but anyway these two right now are on top of my list, just hope I can get them both.
~Iznic

Good Morning Post

Morning folks,
Just updating the stats on my progress for the year along with the challenge stats, just archived the last four weeks of the challenges (link is on the challenge page, weeks 9-12). Cannot believe this is week thirteen of my challenge, it really does not feel like three months since I started this. Anyway last week was the worst week so far since I only gained 85 points for the entire week, this was due to fact I was working on Lego Harry Potter for the Vita which I did clock yesterday and got the Platinum for. So it was cool that I got my first Vita Platinum but at the at same time it was disappointing to get so little gamer score.

Week 13 - This week
Starting Total: 134,359
To Earn: 1,778
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1,778

Total So Far -
To Earn: 18,488

Achieved: 8,080

Difference: -10,408

So far I'm down by 10k for the year and my god that is a lot of points, it's amazing to think if I was on track I would be on 144k. This week I really want to hit that 135k mark since the last few thousands as dragged on for a while, I want to try and get a good score this week. But in truth what I really want to do is get some of my old clocked, my game collection is like a giant snowball that's rolling down a mountain and getting bigger every second. Right now Warriors Orochi 3 as just been released and I want it, this week sees Witcher 2 and Disagea for the Vita launching as well. Way too much stuff coming out and a lot more to finish off, could do with the year off to be honest.

Anyway back to the stats update, just updating the 2012 progress page now and Lego Harry was my 21st game to be finished this year. Very proud of the list so far and it was even better since it was launched this year so I've finally starting to clear the new releases, currently on one out of six (17%). Yes the list as increased to six since work as finally start to get new stock so when I went in on my last shift, right in front of me was Shogun 2 Total War Fall of the Samurai. My will power just went out of the window and it was bought, did play a skirmish game yesterday and my god was it hard but I did win in the end for it to only crash. Need to look into what caused that since my PC should be powerful enough to run it without trouble.

So that's it for the stats for the week, I will be working on a few games this week but knowing me I will start a few more on top of that as well. Have a good one folks and I hope you all had a good week too,
~Iznic

Results: Week 9-12

Total So Far -
To Earn: 18,488

Achieved: 8,080

Difference: -10,408

Week 12
Starting Total: 134,274
To Earn: 1,729
Achieved: 85
Difference: -1,644

Week 11
Starting Total: 133,974
To Earn: 1,694
Achieved: 300
Difference: -1,394

Week 10
Starting Total: 132,719
To Earn: 1,694
Achieved: 1,255
Difference: -469

Week 9
Starting Total: 131,549
To Earn: 1,680
Achieved: 1,170
Difference: -510

Review: Captain America Super Soldier

Story
The game is set in the middle of the film where Captain America and his team are out destroying Hydra bases around the world.

It starts of with a Allied camp under attack from Hydra who are using new types of advance weaponry, but as luck would have it Captain America jump in to save the day. Thanks to Stark they trace the materials used to make these new weapons to a remote village/castle where Hydra forces have established a secret base. Once again you saving the world from the Red Skull and Dr Zola who have a terrible plan in the works set here.

I found the story quite good even if I knew the out come since it was set in the middle of the film, as I made my way through the game I was kept interested with what was going on and found myself trying to piece together this secret world ending plan so the story did its job for me and kept me hooked.

It does help to get all the collectibles since they also give a lot of background history of whats been going on as well as in inside look to Dr Zola's terrible mind.



Controls
Very very good, in fact the combat controls pretty much remind me of Batman Arkham City. In fact if I was to describe the game I would say it's Batman AA/AC for combat with Prince of Persia for the climbing and an open world type man similar to Batman AA/AC as well.

It's not hard at all and in fact found myself really enjoying doing the fight sides with the combos, nothing beats doing a critical attack on a Hydra super soldier to then reflect a bullet from sniper two seconds later. You gain points from fights and destroying objects which unlock skills to improve your self, and my god does it feel great. You have warnings when someone is about to shoot and gives you a few seconds chance to hit the shield reflect which bounces the bullet right back. Same goes for melee as well there are plenty of different combo moves you can do to take down those harder enemies.

You also have a heightened sense that's like Batman's investigation mode to give you clues on what ledges can be used, the jump and climbing is just a simple button press at the right moment.

Overall anyone can play the game, it's not hard and I think that's what makes this game so good. 


Length
You can find yourself at least 10 hours plus in the game and there are plenty of collectibles too pick up, once you finish certain missions the map opens so you can travel around (again just like Batman AA). Also added is challenge list where you race around levels taking out bosses in a certain time or get as many collectibles as possible, they not really needed but they are nice addition to the game.

Overall I personally think the game was the right length for it, any longer and I think it would had got bit repetitive.


Graphics
Not sure what to write here since the graphics are just fine, they not ground breaking OMG look at that view but they not terrible either. They are bang on for what I expect from a current generation game


Gameplay
I was expecting the worse when I tried out this game, so far most of the movie tie in games have been appalling.  But my god was I shocked with what I got into it, the game reminds me so much of Batman and it worked. The combat flow was brilliant but how they worked in the reflect bullets with your shield senses was brilliant, you can be in a middle of a giant brawl then suddenly see the sense meter going off in the corner as a sneaky sniper takes aim to only quickly reflect it right back with you shield. Nothing beats watching that sniper get taken out by his own shot, actually you know what beats it? the fact you still in the brawl and how it all flows together.

The story keeps entertaining and wanting to continue, the map is easy to navigate and gives you plenty to explore. Overall if you love super hero films/games, or just super heroes, or enjoyed Batman AA then try this game out because you will not be disappointed. It's not as good as Batman AA but it is still a brilliant game and I would gladly play it again.

Full 10 out of 10 from me 



Captain America Super Soldier (Xbox 360)
Score: 10 out of 10
Gameplay: Good
Graphics: Good
Story: Good
Length: Decent
Controls: Good

Review: Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (Vita)

Story
Pretty much everyone knows the story of Harry Potter and his adventures in Hogwarts, so I won't really go into detail on what the story is about. If you don't know anything about Harry Potter then I recommend reading the books or watching the movies since the Lego Games don't really go into too much detail (especially since the characters don't speak).

Anyway back to the point I would say the Vita version is broken when it comes to the story, it relies too heavily on the fact that people know the Harry Potter story and to be honest it felt like someone was being lazy. Whole sections are missing (main consoles have them) and cut scenes as well have seemed to vanished in the handheld version, some cut scenes are even ended early before they finish leaving me very confused on what was happening.

Example would be in year five where Hagrid takes the kids to meet his giant brother Grawp in the forest, cutscene starts with them walking into the forest and then shows Hagrid pointing ahead with the kids gasping. The scene changes to show what they looking at and ... its a flower by a tree ... then the level starts saying rescue Hermione from Grawp. I sat there for a few minutes trying to get my head around what happened and unfortunately this would not be the first time.

Next example would be year seven part one, the entire ministry of magic section is missing. The biggest part of that year is not in the game and in fact a lot of the camping parts is missing to. The ministry part shows a mini cut scene of Umbridge falling and Hermione catching the necklace then jumps to the tent then jumps to the underwater scene of getting the sword.

So to sum it up into one sentence, the story is a mess! a complete epic fail in my books and I'm very disappointed especially with how good the main console versions are.

Controls
They worked well which shocked me since the rest of the game seems to be one big rushed job. It's very simple to go between normal buttons controls and touch screen, even using best of both. The interface is exactly like the main console versions where the spell wheel is in the top right corner and with a click of button you can cycle through which spell to use. This time though with the Vita you can tap the wheel to change the spell, same for casting a simple button click or hold it down to cast a more powerful version. Vita control just means you tap on the screen or hold down as well, of course if you trying to manipulate a object you need to click it.

One of the things I did really like in the game was the duelling screen, it's completely designed for the Vita touchscreen. You cast spells left or right by touching the top of the screen on either the right or left, more powerful spells you need to hold your finger down. Be warned though if you hold it down too long the spell fizzles out and you just wasted several seconds which can be fatal.

To defend you press the lower right/left sections of the screen but this time it's all about timing. If the enemy spell is just about to hit you and you press to defend it can reflect the spell back which in most cases turns into a tennis match to see who slips up. If you press too early your shield pops up and bounces the spell off to the side which is all good but it's best to deflect.

Overall the controls worked really well and I got nothing bad to say about them.


Length
The game is very short and in fact the whole can be done in a few hours, a lot of levels are missing out the handheld version and there are lot less collectibles to pick up. The only thing that pads out the game is the new Duelling club which as you going up against pretty much all the characters in the game. This was just to pad the game out and attempt to make it look like it was worth buying, it would had been a nice addition to a more packed out game. Shame really because normally you can get 50+ hours on most Lego games and usually you get more money's worth from them.


Graphics
It's very hard to judge the graphics on this game because it's all over the place, one minute they are quite nice and next it's down right awful. The cut scenes a lot of the time are blurry and fuzzy like someone just done an VHS recording on TV, in one scene in year five when you recruit Dumbledore's Army it shows a fight of Harry fighting the Basilisk in year two to impress them. It was so badly done I could not make out the sword or Harry very well, same happens at the end of the year when Voldemort posses him. In the main game Harry looks up showing features of Voldemort on his face yet on the Vita it's so dark and blurry you can only just make out the eyes and mouth.
 
Check out my post that I did a few days back to see some screen shots on bad it can be, I know the Vita is an handheld but after playing Uncharted I expect a lot more then this, it's quite clear this was just an import. I really want to give it an average score for graphics but the fact how poor the cut scenes are, the fact that sometimes the level look like an old fashion handheld game I cannot give it any higher then Poor.


Gameplay
So my last thoughts on the game? well according to most forum posts it was just an import from the PSP, but after reading walk through guides for collectibles it's the same for the DS version as well. Cannot believe people have been accepting this for a game and I really cannot believe they ported it over to the Vita and slapped a £40 price tag on it. I was expecting something a lot more, in between the main console versions and the handhold's. It's the Vita which is basically a PlayStation 3 in your hands.

It's fully clear that this game was ported over and rushed to get a few quick pounds, hopefully Lego Batman 2 will be a proper game because if that turns out the same then I can safely say I will no longer be buying any more Lego games for the Vita, rent at best if I can put up with any more disappointment.

So what made me stick with it to the end? trophies was one reason, controls where enjoyable and I'm a big fan of the Lego games so I was enjoying the few levels. Duelling club was OK but it was very repetitive and needs work but least it was something unique.

I'm going to be generous and give it an average for the game play because at least they kept the way the game works same and they did not ruin that. Overall though I am very disappointed and I'm quite shocked I said that about a Lego game.
 
Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 (PlayStation Vita)
Score: 3 out of 10
Gameplay: Average
Graphics: Poor
Story: Poor
Length: Too Short
Controls: Good

The Return of MMO Night

The second MMO Night is upon me and I've been looking forward to getting some time online for the whole week, my attempt to get online Sunday was an epic fail followed by Monday's disaster as well thanks to work. So back to the matter on hand and that's to game my night away, well actually first I'm going to read my post from last week since I'm sure I wanted to do something important this week and I've completely forgot.

Ah ha! I was going to work on factions this week in World of Warcraft to get some cool enchants to boost my stats and clean up old quests on Star Wars with maybe some PVP for the first time as well. Will I do this stuff? who knows I rather just jump in and enjoy the game but it is nice to have something to work towards now and again. Actually I just remembered I cannot jump into the game straight away, need to activate my time cards first so small draw back. Could do with a drink too, ok so MMO night will start in ten-twenty minutes.

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Ok lets try this again, time cards are now inputted and I've got a nice glass of orange on hand so let the gaming begin!

I forgot to mention that yesterday morning the server was dead so I spent about an hour doing the Easter event getting all 500 chocolate eggs so I was able to get the new mount. Not exactly the best looking mount but at least it counts towards the mount achievement which unlocks a very cool Blue Dragonhawk mount. Anyway just looked into my standing with the factions I need for the enchants, I'm maxed out with Hyjal so thats the head enchant sorted but the rest still need work on. In fact the one I'm starting Neutral with them since I've done no quests with them yet, guessing they based in the Twilight Highlands since I've never been to that zone yet.

Going to start with the faction Therazane since my stance with them is Honored and very close to levelling up, they given an awesome shoulder enchant so I've been told. Wow just flicking through the achievements and found out there are daily cooking quests for all the major cities, I thought only Stormwind (major alliance capital) was the only one. For those who don't know me well I really love the profession side to MMO's, the daily quests are usually unique quests to help raise your level and usually pretty fun to do. Plus an achievement on top for added measure is always good in my books, guess I will need to take a detour to these major cities before I pop to see the Therazane.

Wonder what else I'm missing out, ohhh new fishing quests too as well in the cities, ok at this rate I'm not going to get anything done. So my plan is to do today's quests in each of the cities then go to the factions, won't be going into too much detail though so don't worry.

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Just did my first cooking quest at Darnassus (gathering jars, was ok nothing special) and the reward maxed out my cooking profession level so now I'm a Illustrious Grand Master Cook and got an achievement for the trouble. Then the fishing quest was pretty fun which involved me having to catch baby Octopus in the shallow water at the base of the city. Each city as five unique quests for cooking and fishing, of course they do repeat so it will take at least five days to get the achievements if I'm lucky. Not sure if I will keep coming back each day or just try my luck each MMO night and hope for the best.

Ok I thought I was losing it since just arrived at Ironforge the Dwarf capital yet no daily quests to be found so I've just looked into it and I can only do one cooking and one fishing quest a day. So I've done my allocation for the day at Darnassus so this is going to take a lot longer then I thought, on top of that while I was there I checked out the Druid trainer to find I got a ton of skills to learn. Now I really am behind in Warcraft to say I didn't learn all my skills.

Going to get on with my questing now and starting get that faction reputation built up, anyway going to stop writing less now and actually play

Therazane The Stone Mother

Just finished with Therazane for today and it was great, levelled my reputation up to Revered so one more level and I'm maxed out with them. I was also able to upgrade one of my rings so that's boosted my stats more and I have noticed I'm doing a lot more damage now in fights thanks to the new gear. Also during one of the daily quests I was able to dodge all the mushroom attacks from the boss which unlocked a Quest Achievement, so overall a good nights work but need to call it for now
or I won't have time for Star Wars.

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

Last week I ended the game after doing the flash point Black Talon but I never did set up my new gear that I picked up so I've just tried on the gear. Looks a bit like a Stormtrooper to be honest but very cool none the less, check out the screen shot to the right.

Just sent my companion out on a mission to gather some Underworld materials (one of my professions), while shes off I'm going to do a space mission then head over to Hutta to clear up my old quests that I missed.

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

Ending it for the night, I did clear up two quests after making my way to Hutta but I've got the man flu so my head is killing me. So going to hit the sack and try again next week. Hopefully next week I can give both games more time especially Star Wars.

~Iznic

My D5-Mantis Ship

E3 Pre-Thoughts

With E3 coming up soon and the few weeks before are usually full of rumours and leaks I thought it would be wise to get my post in sooner then later. So here it is, my thoughts and hopes of what I would like to see at this E3 conference.

Let's start with the next generation consoles the Xbox 720 and the PlayStation 4, both companies did say they would not announce anything this year and I hope they don't. If they do then it should be like last year with the Wii U where it's talked about need to wait until E3 2013 to see the full potential with a late 2013/2014 release. Personally I believe the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have only just got to showing off their full potential and with a huge line up of brilliant games coming out this year it would be crazy to over shadow all that with a new console release any time sooner. So as I said personally I'm hoping for no announcement or at least just a glimpse but they wait until next year for the main stuff.

Now that's out the way let's talk about the good stuff, this year I do believe Nintendo could be taking E3 Champion award thanks to the Wii U. The potential for this system is amazing for example you could play an RPG where the TV would just be the game with out any menus, just pure graphics and showing the beauty of the game then all your inventory and character bars on the pad. What they could do with it will be amazing, I just really really really really hope (yes that's a lot of really) and pray they do stick with what they promised it would do. There a lot of rumours going around saying it's not as good as they hoped, my fingers are crossed for it because I would be buying it on day one if they do it right.

So what do I want to see at this E3 for this new console, release date, price, that it is everything they promised it would be and finally a good line up of launch games to go with it. Oh and lets not forget with a nice line up of games for the first year, it's all good having a good start but you need follow up to keep it going.

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Sticking with the Nintendo for the time being I'm hoping to see a nice line up of more games for the 3DS and DS. I would be over the moon if they announced the release of the cross over of Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton for Europe and America. Also looking for dates on the following games since its pretty much a guarantee we will be getting them:

• Professor Layton 3DS
• Pokemon White & Black 2 DS

Ohhh the Monster Hunter 3DS being released in Europe would be another game to make my year, other then that I would like to see a few more unique games for the 3DS. It's the one thing I loved about the DS and that was the unique amazing games that really didn't get more attention but my god did they suck me in. Ghost Trick, Time Hollow, Phoenix Wright, Another code just to name a few of them and yes I saw the post saying there is another Phoenix Wright being made finally, some details would be nice at E3.

Speaking of the 3DS I would really like to see more stuff for the street pass, I was really chuffed when they did the extra puzzles and the second Street Quest. It would be very cool if they announced more patches or even packs that you could buy, I wouldn't mind paying for extra levels, puzzles or even new games as long as I get my moneys worth. The Street pass concept is brilliant idea and I carry my 3DS every where to get new Mii's.

Anyway on that note that's it for Nintendo, I'm routing for them this year so I hope they don't let me down.

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Next up let's go with the PlayStation Vita, what would I like from this console at E3? games, games and guess what? more games!. In the next few months of there are only three games I want, well technically two since the third is Lego Batman 2 and I'm slightly worried about it after playing Harry Potter. After that the line up seems to be dead, what happened to all these rumours of Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed? so this year I want to see some games to back up the console and less sales stats. I don't want to think I got a £200 + paper weight like the PSP Go, yes I went there.

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Next the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 together, there is not really anything I want from these two other then release dates for games and maybe some more new game announcements. Both consoles are doing what I want and I really not fussed about any more new technology, actually I take that back I would like to see more support for Kinect and the Move. Some more games to make both of them worth while picking up because for me personally I'm not that fussed about getting either. I would love for something to be done about the space requirements for the Kinect as well since I have the smallest room in the house.

Anyway I could do a huge list of games I would like to see or get dates for but honestly I cannot be bothered to write out everything, just make this year's E3 great! and I will be happy.

Well only roughly two months to go so not long now,
~Iznic

Lost Planet 3 Announced

Looks like Capcom have announced Lost Planet 3 today after rumours been going around about it for the last few days, shame they did not wait until E3 but oh well. Check out the amazing trailer below thanks to Xbox360achievements.org



And I thought I was having a bad day today, looks like this time around the game will be a lot more story based unlike the second which just screamed co-op multi player then story. But this trailer just reminds me that I still need to do the first two *sigh*, I did start the first one and was enjoying it but something always comes along that distracts me. I did not get the second one until the Christmas sales mostly because I wanted to the finish the first one but I never did get around to it, so I'm now sitting on both and now the third one is on the way. Too many games to play and not enough time.

Anyway I will be keeping an eye on this one but what do you guys think? good or bad?

For the full story with some nice screen shots check out xbox360achievements.org

~Iznic

Lego Harry Potter Vita

You follow me on Twitter and Facebook you would had noticed me ranting this morning, I've finally sat down to play Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 on the Vita. Been waiting several weeks to play it and I know it would not be on par with the main consoles but I was expecting something good since how awesome the Vita is.

But alas all I got was this...

No the image was not uploaded wrong and no when the screen shot was taken it did not blur the picture, this is the quality of the cut scenes through out the game. One big blurred mess that's clearly been ported over wrong, you can imagine my shock when I started the game but it just got worse after that.

There is no camera control instead it automatically adjusts when you moving, so no idea why we went through all that trouble of moaning to get a second analog stick if game makers are not going to use it.

Levels are a lot smaller compared to the main console, talking a minute or two max and then are levels missing too! Started off with saving Dudley from the Dementers then jumps straight into the cut scene of being transported to number 12, no the flying level is cut out but whats worse it shows the cut scene of Tonks knocking everyone off the brooms and you clearly see them fall into the fountain with all the studs then cuts to the next scene.......wtf! it shows the start of the level then jumps it??? in fact the next level is the ministry and they could not even do the fire effects on the fireplaces, you know the simple green looking fire. Take a look at the Ministry fountain, you know with the giant golden statue oh wait they forgot it.

Actually the above screen shot shows you what the game looks like, does that look like a Vita game to you? if this is the 3DS version I be appalled because even that console can do better then that. Anyway we then jump to Hogwarts for the first lesson of Defence against the Dark Arts with Umbridge, remember that level? Draco throws a paper air plane and you got to make one to send back. Well the cut scene is exactly the same, shows Draco and the goons, Ron, Hermione and half dozen students then the level starts.

Hmmm hang on minute where did all the students go??? in fact where did Hermione and Draco go, quick someone check a broom closet.


Overall so far I've not done a hour into the game and it's such a disappointment, I'm really hoping that it picks up later but I'm not getting my hopes up. I really do hope that Lego Batman 2 is properly made for the Vita because if it isn't then they be lucky if I even bother to rent the game. It's amazing how different the game is compared to the main consoles, the Lego series is one my all time favourite games. Anyway that's it for now but I will do a full review once I've finished the game which at this rate won't be long if it keeps missing out levels.

~Iznic

Start of April

Morning folks,
Not exactly a good week last week for my gamer score challenge especially after the last weeks of earning 1,000+ each time. Reason for this was I spent a good chunk of my time finishing of Kane's Challenge on Hard Mode so I could clock the game, I have no regrets on that decision but it did knock my earning up over 1,700 now each week. So far this year I've earned around 9,300 (at this point of writing I've not updated my stats page yet) so if that is for four months of work I'm looking at hitting 37,000 for the year meaning I be on around 170,000. Actually that's not bad at all since I did not think I would hit 200,000 and was secretly hoping for 175,000.

Anyway back to the matter at hand and here is the updated stats for the week...

Week 12 - This week
Starting Total: 134,274
To Earn: 1,729
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1,729

Week 11
Starting Total: 133,974
To Earn: 1,694
Achieved: 300
Difference: -1,394

Week 10
Starting Total: 132,719
To Earn: 1,694
Achieved: 1,255
Difference: -469

Week 9
Starting Total: 131,549
To Earn: 1,680
Achieved: 1,170
Difference: -510

Total So Far -
To Earn: 16,759

Achieved:7,995

Difference: -8,764


No real big plans this week other then doing the Easter event in World of Warcraft, I have been working on Mass Effect 3 recently so I might continue from there.

That's it for now, I want to make this short and sweet since I need to get ready for work so take care all.
~Iznic

Happy Easter

Morning folks,
Hope you all having a good Easter and getting plenty of chocolate in the process, just an heads up but there are several Easter gaming events today.

Gears of War 3 as put up x2 exp weekend with classic horde set up, harder beast mode and the good old Easter shotgun match with the creepy Easter bunny masks again.

Mass Effect 3 as got another Operation running this weekend, Operation Beachhead is providing +25% extra experience to all matches so it's another good time to get some levelling done.

Finally World of Warcraft as started up Noblegarden for the week again, hunt down chocolate eggs for cool prizes and this year there is a new mount to be bought as well, so don't miss out.


Right I did this post really quick since I'm pretty much booked all day long, starting off with World of Warcraft this morning then I'm joining the Twitter crew for Mass Effect on the afternoon and then ending the day on Gears of War with some mates.

What's really annoying is that my Star Wars time card arrived yesterday along with Lego Harry Potter for the Vita, now I don't have time to play them today. Got the evening off tomorrow well what's left of it anyway, but I'm thinking of doing a second MMO night tomorrow along side the Wednesday one. Might jump on the Lego game as well in the morning before work because I've been dieing to play it since its launch two weeks back.

Anyway I'm off for a gaming marathon so take it easy everyone and catch you all later,
~Iznic

Start of the Weekend

This was me this morning attempting the beta for World of Warcraft Mists of Pandaria, epic fail is my choice of words for it. Seems to be only one server and all the npc quest givers are like this right now, after five minutes I was crashed to the desk top. So right now my beta adventure is on hold for another couple of days until it calms down a little, if it still doesn't then my plan is to just go out and explore the new land.

Anyway back to the matter on hand, morning folks hope you having a good Easter. I know I am since I got the whole weekend off!! Gaming day today for me then tomorrow I'm going out with the girlfriend for a lovely day out (will be street passing on the 3DS lol) then Sunday is another day full of gaming.

Did a couple more levels on Kanes Wrath yesterday so I probably only got like three or four left so that's my goal for today, to clock the game for the full 1,000 gamer score. After that who knows what I will try, maybe my rental game, maybe Pokemon White or Lego harry arrives maybe that.

Well I'm going to go get started and I will catch you all later,
~Iznic

P.S. Two months until E3 2012!!!! Cannot wait

Thursday Thoughts

My week is out of whack thanks to my timetable being different, keep getting my days mixed up so I'm currently all over the place. On the positive side though I am currently around half way through Kanes Wrath on hard mode, getting very close to getting the full 1,000 gamer score. This morning also saw Tales of the Abyss (3DS) arriving in the post from shopto.net and Lovefilm have sent me Marvel Super Hero Squad Infinite Gauntlet so that should be interesting to play. HMV have also posted my time card for Star Wars and Lego Harry Potter for the Vita, really hoping the Lego game arrives tomorrow so I can take it with me on the weekend to play but I have my doubts it will arrive. Actually hope the time card arrives tomorrow or Saturday too since I will be back on Sunday morning and I really want to have a MMO day, spend a few hours on Warcraft doing the new Easter stuff then jump on over to Star Wars to do some questing.

Guess will have to wait for lady luck to decide on my deliveries, anyway back to the present and I'm expecting to have a busy weekend. Currently want to finish off Kanes Wrath since I'm so close to finishing then I probably will jump into my rental Marvel game, but with it being Easter I've got a funny feeling Gears of War 3 will have an event on. Could do with getting back into Mass Effect 3 and finishing it off finally, unlike me to leave such a good game sitting on the shelf but then again it as been a crazy month.

So much to do and so little time, still need to work on Pokemon White and let's not even go into the huge pile of games sitting on my shelves. Someone needs to invent a time stopping device for me! well I better get back on it and yes I've not forgot my reviews, just having a little bit of writers block with them. Hopefully by the end of next week they should be up so until then have a good one,
~Iznic

Gotta Catch 'Em All

Morning folks,
I was planning to jump onto Warcraft this morning to work on today's Dark Moon Faire daily quests, but alas it was not to be thanks to maintenance time so the servers are down. Consoles are temporary switched off since I'm recording and cannot do both since it's a simple free view box. So I thought this would be a good time to work on Pokemon White since I need to unlock the online features so I can download the event Pokemon.

As I spoke in a past post I want to just level up my starting Pokemon so I have a ridiculously high level Pokemon that can destroy everything. So that is my plan for Pokemon White, to stick with the starter and own everything that gets in my way. Of course I will have other Pokemon in my party for abilities like fly, cut etc but they will never go into a fight (well maybe once I own everything in the game then I might work on levelling other Pokemon).

So the first thing to do? pick which starter Pokemon I want to be my champion, now that's an hard choice. I'm thinking grass won't be suitable so it's between water and fire since I think both will be heavy hitters, leaning towards fire more since I've always liked the fire type Pokemon. Feck it let's go with Tepig the fire Pokemon!

Tepig

Always love the basic introduction to the Pokemon games at the start, "Everyone calls me the Pokemon Professor" think you find every professor goes by that title. Hmmm I need to pick my character's gender, thinking girl since I picked boy in Pokemon Black.

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Gone with a girl named "Lily" (yeah I been reading Harry Potter recently) and picked up Tepig, about to do the starting battle with Snivy. Well that went easier then I thought, my first tackle was a critical hit and took out half the health leaving me with nearly level six (level five is the starting level). Second fight with the other friend went the same with a critical hit on my second attack and completely wiping out his Pokemon so now on level 6 and half way to level 7. Don't worry I will not be talking about every battle I do just the important ones like the Gym battles or Boss fights.

Shame I need to end it here since I have work soon and should go get ready, expect another entry for the Pokemon journal soon since I really need to start getting all those event Pokemon downloaded. Plus the fact I really want to finish a Pokemon game for once (I did do the Elite Four on Pokemon Red but that was a looonnnnngggg time ago.

Catch you all later folks,
~Iznic

MMO Night

The first MMO night is over and it was a blast, really found myself getting back into these games finally. Started off the night with World of Warcraft and decided that my task for the night was start clearing space in my bags so I can loot then take a look at my gear since I knew full well it needs sorting.

Well that plan went straight out the window, I do have a bit of space in one of my bags but I did not even bother to start looking into make space since I realised it was the first full of April which means the Dark Moon Faire event is on. For those who don't play the game basically the Faire appears on the first full week of the month, outside the major player cities portals appear which take you to the Dark Moon island. The Faire as all sorts of carnival games, weird pet zoo's and a concert (yup you heard me right).

During the week there are daily quests for the carnival games that can only be done once a day to earn tokens, games including everything from whack-a-gnoll, shoot the target and one of my favourites shooting yourself out of a cannon in the hope to hit a bullseye target in the sea.). Reputation is also earned from the quests which unlocks rewards for you to spend your tokens on, some of the cooler rewards are Bear mounts and vanity pets.

Dark Moon Faire

The Faire also as monthly quests which can only be done once per month (so once per Faire) that boost up your professions stats which is great quick cheap way to help level up, plus reputation and tokens too. Anyway back to the point I did today's quests and will be jumping back on every day to do the quests, of course the major levelling and questing will still have to wait until MMO night next week. Also noticed that this Sunday sees the Easter event going live, now normally I would not bother with it since I've already done it before and got all the rewards but since the Cataclysm expansions all the events have been revamped with new stuff so I'm expecting to see some cool changes for Easter (well hopefully anyway).

With the quests done I pretty much spent researching on guides for my class and seeing whats new, planning out what I want to do. Did pick up some new pieces of equipment too to help me get started into getting back on track so very chuffed, next week I'm planning to level up with some factions to unlock some cool enchants which will buff my stats up as well.

God I bet this sounds boring to people who don't play World of Warcraft, sorry folks maybe it's best to stay away from my MMO night posts.

Anyway I stopped myself since at the rate I was going at I would have no time for Star Wars, luckily for me today is the last day of my old time card so using that up first instead of paying for a month subscription. Going to order another time card in a bit and hopefully that will arrive in time for next weeks MMO night.

So my plan for Star Wars was to do my first Flash Point which is basically a group dungeon, was a rough start waiting for a group but after ten minutes grouped up with a nice Intelligence officer. Have to say it was one of my fun group quests ever, all the loot was for my class and the guy let me have it all so now got a nice set of armour and blasters so my Bounty Hunter is pretty pimped out right now.

The Flash Point was Black Talon, basically a simple transporter ship taking us to our destination which then involved us taking it over to use it to intercept a Republic Battleship with a traitor general on board. Plenty of fun but won't spoil anything with what happened during the fights, as I said I walked away with plenty of loot. Calling it a night now and next week my plan is to start clearing up some of my old quests and maybe have ago at PVP for the first time.



That's it for this MMO night, was a blast and it as sparked my passion for MMO's again! really looking forward to next week. Might even do a session on Sunday since it's easter and work is closed, until then anyway have a good one.
~Iznic

P.S. Will try to word my MMO night posts better next time and make it more enjoyable to read, will try and explain things better for those who don't play to.

The Start of Something Beautiful

Evening folks,
Starting this a little later then I hoped but I am pretty tired from work but going to have a blast tonight, why you ask? well I've decided I'm starting a new regular gaming night for myself. MMO night will be happening on a weekly basis, preferably Wednesday night unless something comes up (like this week so it's today instead of tomorrow). Reason I've decided on this is because once again I wasted two time cards, yup Star Wars the Old Republic ran out today and I worked out I probably only got six hours out of the 60 days. Very disappointed with myself and World of Warcraft is nearly the same, I did do a few extra hours thanks to the last holiday event but it was still not enough to make the purchase of the time card seem worth it in the end.

So back to the matter on hand and less ranting, I've decided that every week I would do a MMO night where I would spend several hours on World of Warcraft and Star Wars the Old Republic. Do you watch "The Big Bang Theory"? well think of it like their Halo night. Anyway after work I was able to pick up a time card for WOW but found I could not get a Star Wars one, so I'm going to pay for a month then order a time card off the net to replace the subscription after.

Don't expect anything massive from tonight's session since on Warcraft I need to sort out my Druid, all his bags are full and he's level 85 with green/blue items. So need to sort him out and get him ready for some dungeons, in fact I think I only tried out one dungeon in Cataclysm. See what I mean by not giving the games enough time, anyway in the way of Star Wars I'm hoping to do my first Flash point so wish me luck.

So on that note I'm off to go game my night away and I will not doubt catch up with you either later or tomorrow, will do a post about how it went so until then have a good one folks.
~Iznic

The End of March

Morning folks,
Took me a while to drag myself out of bed this morning so I thought I would kick start my day off with the results for my little challenge this year. Was another good week since I clocked the full 1,000 in Marvel Superhero Comic Combat for the uDraw and finished the dlc for Costume Quest.

Week 11 - This week
Starting Total: 133,974
To Earn: 1,694
Achieved: 0
Difference: -1,694

Week 10
Starting Total: 132,719
To Earn: 1,694
Achieved: 1,255
Difference: -469

Week 9
Starting Total: 131,549
To Earn: 1,680
Achieved: 1,170
Difference: -510

Total So Far -
To Earn: 15,065

Achieved:7,695

Difference: -7,370

Again like the week before I was still short from completing this weeks milestone but was a lot closer and the amount needed this week did not go up. Still have my doubts about hitting 200,000 this year but I am hoping to get above 175,000 which would be amazing. Anyway the 2012 progress as been updated now and I'm up to 19 games finished (includes dlc) so not bad so far, although I got a feeling this time last year I had a lot more under my belt.

So this week I'm not sure what I will be doing since I've got beta invites for Diablo 3 and WOW Mists of Pandaria to play around with. Also waiting to see what my new Lovefilm rental will be as well, although I could do with jumping on Mass Effect 3 and finally give it some time. Guess will have to wait and see how it goes, until then have a good one folks and thanks for reading my ramblings.
~Iznic

April Fool's Events

Evening folks,
Just a quick post about several gaming events that are currently ongoing, first up don't forget to visit Calendar Man in Batman Arkham City for another date. If you not done this before then basically the achievement/trophy requires you to visit Calendar Man 12 times in the year (one per month) to listen to a story, he can be found in the court house prison located through the back door entrance. Just talk to him and listen to his Aprils Fool's day story then exit the building which will cause a checkpoint to save your progress, next event is May 13th Mothers Day.

Next event is Gears of War 3 "Glowie Weekend" which is basically double experience on horde and beast mode, horde mode as been overrun with lambent as well. There is a exclusive Gnasher weapon skin and ribbon to be had as well by playing 10 rounds of Raven Down 24/7, a new play list for the next two days (ends tomorrow morning 2nd April).

Finally Infinity Blade is on sale on iTunes for today only at a cracking price of 69p/99cents!!

That's all for now folks so I will catch you all tomorrow, I'm tired and need to finish listening to Calendar Man so have a good one.
~Iznic

Assassin Creed Collector Editions

Morning folks,
In the week Ubisoft finally announced the special editions for the new Assassin's Creed 3 that will arrive in October and my god do they look amazing. First up is the Join or Die edition which can found with most retailers. This beauty comes with the following:

• Copy of the game (of course)
• Collectors Box 
• Connor's Medallion (new assassin)
• George Washington's Notebook containing detailed information about the role of the Assassins in the war
• Singleplayer Mission "Ghosts of War"
• Multiplayer Package "Sharpshooter"

The second edition which is the bigger one is exclusive to Gamestop but can be pre-ordered/bought from the Ubisoft website store. This ultimate bad boy edition contains the following:

• Copy of the game
• Collectors box
• Steel book case
• Connor Figurine
• George Washington's Notebook
• 2 Singleplayer Missions "Ghosts of War" & "Lost Mayan Ruins"
• Multiplayer Package "Sharpshooter"
• Exclusive Lithograph

How amazing do these look? the figurine is so much better then the past ones and it's meant to be somewhere around 24cm high. Looks like a lot of thought as been put into them, both boxes look amazing and I'm happy to see I can get the steel book case as well. Hoping the notebook goes into some good detail like how they did the Encyclopedia for Revelations, that was an outstanding book.

At this current time I've ordered both editions, Freedom is a must but I did want the Medallion and I normally do pick up the game later on the PlayStation. So I've ordered the Join or Die edition on the PS3 using the excuse that I was going to get the game again anyway so might as well just order the other edition.

By the way just an heads up for UK customers, Gamestop require you to pay the full amount for their pre-orders in advance so if you don't want to fork out the money straight away go with Ubisoft. I did that with the Animus Edition for Revelations and they don't charge until it's shipped.

So what editions you picking up? Join or Die? Freedom? Normal? Both? or none at all?
~Iznic

Late Results

Afternoon folks,
Sorry for the late results for last week but it's been a crazy week for me so far. Good news though I did complete two games last week which is a feat in its self for me right now. Finally sat down and started Captain America which turned out to be amazing and could not stop for several days until it was finished (yes I did the full 1,000 gamerscore). Then I took advantage of the Xbox Live Arcade weekly sale and picked up Costume quest, again another amazing game that I've missed out on in the past.

Although I did finish two games I was still short of my weekly target but compared to the last few weeks it's a lot less.

Week 10 - This week
Starting Total: 132,719
To Earn: 1,694
Achieved: 95
Difference: -1,599

Week 9
Starting Total: 131,549
To Earn: 1,680
Achieved: 1,170
Difference: -510

Total So Far -
To Earn: 13,371

Achieved:6,440

Difference: -6,931


So my plans for this week? well whats left of it anyway, going to be working on Grubbins on Ice which is the expansion dlc for Costume Quest. Also Lovefilm have sent me Marvel Hero Squad Comic Combat for the Udraw, so I will be working on that since its quest short and easy.

Also expect to see more posts over the weekend where I will be catching up on the gaming news and review the games that I finally finished but for now I'm going to go update the stats page then do some gaming, so until then have a good one.
~Iznic

New Highest Score

Yesterday Stallion83 set the new record for highest legit gamer score with a whopping 700,000!

Check out the awesome video he's put together showing off most if not all the achievements earned from 600,000-700,000. Makes me want to sit down and start clocking some stuff, really want to get my 200,000! anyway check out his web post for plenty of details on his journey to One Million




website link


Big Congratulations to him anyway!
~Iznic

Some Ideas

Been toying around with some ideas for the last few weeks for posts for the blog, more in the way of "Adventures in Azeroth". For those who where not reading my blog at that time I basically get a journal of my adventures in World of Warcraft of my new character that I started levelling. It did not go into massive 100% detail but it did give a good run down on what I was doing.

Anyway I was thinking of booting it up again since I want to really put some time back into since I've got a time card that I'm wasting (Old Republic too), but I'm still in two minds if I want to do it. The main reason my mind was on this idea is because I bought Pokemon White a few weeks back in the sale and I was going to do the exact same thing with it.

Every time I play it keep a blog journal of the adventures, was even thinking of having ago on what I saw posted a few weeks back where a guy had only his starter Pokemon. Spent the entire game battling with just that one and got it to level 100 by the time of the Elite Four and owned everything pretty much thanks to the exp all going to that one.

I was curious to see if that was possible since different types have advantages over you but then when its level 100 I don't think that matters anymore, plus add some potions for back up would help just in case.

What do you readers think? would you read it? food for though I guess
~Iznic

My Top 10 Platinum Trophies/1k Games

Morning one and all,
Was thinking about the top platinum trophy list the other day and started to wonder what the Xbox version would be (betting that Avatar Burning Earth would be near the top if not number one). Anyway after those thoughts I started to think about what would be the top 10 that I wanted to get, well it was instantly filled since I wanted all the Mass Effect games which is 3 plus. So I came up with idea that the series would be classed as one, so Mass Effect 1-3 on Xbox and 2-3 on PlayStation is one (yes its that good I would play it again on the other console for the trophies). So here is my list of 10 games that I want to clock...

1. Mass Effect (1-3 Xbox 360 / 2-3 PlayStation 3)
2. Dark Souls
3. Star Ocean (Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3)
4. Uncharted (1-3 PlayStation 3 / Golden Abyss Vita)
5. Assassin's Creed (1/2/BH/R Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3)
6. Gears of War (1/2/3 Xbox 360 & 1 on PC)
7. God of War (1/2/3/CO/GS)
8. Batman (Both AA & AC on PS3/Xbox/PC)
9. Elder Scrolls (Oblivion & Skyrim PS3/Xbox 360)
10. Warriors Series (Dynasty/Samurai/Gundam/Warriors Orochi PS3/Xbox 360)

Quite a list right and I'm sure I've not put all the variants on it either, but those are the top 10 I would be super proud of to have. If I did enjoy Dark Souls as well I would do it again on the PlayStation and attempt Demons Souls. So my question to you readers is this, whats your top 10 that you want?

~Iznic

More Lego Games

The Lego game series is one of my all time favourite and in fact when a new one comes out I've always bought them day one. It's even come to the point I would shelve other games just so I can focus on them, brilliant fun loving games.

So coming soon Lego Batman 2 and this time it brings in several new superheroes including Superman! cannot wait and last week saw the release of the first trailer.



Love the concept of Lex Luthor and the Joker joining forces and I can see it being a fun game to play but ...voice overs? ... really?? ... I actually like the games with out the voices so not sure what to think about this. Will hold judgement off until I get to play it since for all I know it could turn out awesome for the characters to have voices finally.

Anyway that was not the only news for Lego Games, last week Shopto.net posted up pre-orders for Lego Lord of the Rings on 3DS. Then tonight the Wii version just went up for pre-ordering as well, so really praying right now for the Xbox/PlayStation versions and a trailer to be up soon. It's going to be so awesome! Lego Ring Wraiths, Lego Hobbits...can see it having some funny cut scenes.

If anyone else knows more information about it give me a shout please, I'm all ears!
~Iznic