Edited to add a game I completely forgot despite loving. If you want to avoid self-indulgent self-reflections, skip down to the list. Despite a global pandemic and it's ramifications on 2020, it was a crazy year for me that had very little to do with a pandemic. In fact, my life hardly changed at all. I work with production at a poultry plant, there's no working from home for me. In fact, being...
This blog is going to be all sorts of a mess, because I have two very similar yet differen ideas about what the hell it is I am about to blog about. I'll start where the idea came to me, as these blogs that I write once every other year seems to. Recently got back into PS Now and saw that they had added, among other things, Greedfall. A game I was curious about but not really willing to buy at...
Before I begin writing about the game I figured I would give some personal back story as to why the game had such a profound impact on me at a very specific time in my life. Most of us have probably have a piece of media touch us in some way at a time in our lives. A sort of moment in time when things just align in a way that almost makes it seem like you're living your very own version of The...
Some thoughts on my year, completely optional! How does one go about summarizing 2017? It was a year we had hoped would be better than 2016 but it ended up perhaps being a second year of surprisingly bad news. For me, it was a year of change and new experiences. I went through a divorce, lost a lot of weight due to stress, anxiety and lack of sleep. They don't really do films or songs about how...
A few days ago, the year that killed David Bowie ended. It was a real rollercoaster of a year with a lot of things going downhill. Ironically, games were pretty good. And I went back to school to try and make myself hirable as something other than a punching bag, and to my surprise I am doing pretty damn well in school. So here's to hoping that keeps up as we start down on the highway 2017 and...
If you for a moment consider these questions; what makes a good open world map? Does the game have to justify the map in some way? If yes, does the game have to offer up incentives or can the exploration come organically? I ask those questions because having finished Mafia III and pondered how I tend to fall on the odd side of the discussion on the Mafia franchise. A lot of people argued that M...
Once in a blue moon I decide to pick up some older games that I haven't gotten around to trying out yet for various reasons. Either I didn't quite find them appealing at the time of release or I was curious but didn't want to spend too much money on them. Whatever the reasons are, I have a tendency to sooner or later give them a shot just to either see if I was right or wrong with my assumption...
I know this is a week or two off most lists but I've had a ton of stuff to do and some games I've wanted to finish off before settling on the list kept it back. But enough excuses, here are some games that made me want to put a number on and write something about them in an orderly fashion. 1. The Witcher 3 As I arrived in Skellige the skies were dark and rain was pouring down. Thunder and ligh...
Ever sit and think about what you did 18 years ago? No? Maybe it's an age thing as I am closing in on my 32:nd birthday, but I have. Especially in light of games these days often incorporating player choice and consequence, but also mature themes and ideas. Around 18 years ago I was 14 years old sitting in my friend's room in front of his old Mac seeing a type of game unfold that I had never se...
Ever since the start of the franchise, I've had a real unwavering love for Assassin's Creed. Even when the games took a turn for the less interesting I still enjoyed my time. Listening to people talk about the franchise has always been interesting to me because there always seem to be two distinct camps; people that think the franchise is walking in circles and people that want to see the franc...
I love the look of this, but I just can't find enjoyment in being here. Whenever I play a game I don't generally put too much thought into why I am in a specific setting, I just accept what the game is telling me and move on. It wasn't until very recently that I started noticing a trend in my habits regarding games that somehow, for reasons I couldn't quite explain, didn't appeal to me. Before...
"The Turtle Of Wall Street" As I was pouring myself a glass of soda the image of Jordan Belfort ([The Wolf Of Wall Street] as played by Leonardo DiCaprio) doing coke out of the ass of a woman covered the screen. I didn't react to it, I mean, isn't that what financially successful men do on their off-hours? My wife though, let out an audible sigh. It wasn't a sigh of shock or annoyance, but a si...
I mean, I like Art Deco and all... In the summer of 2007 there were a lot of praise for a game that had just appeared on store shelves. Praised for it's art direction, story and unique setting I was intrigued. Looking over video and screenshots though, my impression of the game was that it somehow didn't quite appeal to me. I put it off my list of games to purchase as a result. However, one bor...
Fighting evil with evil, not a paragon in sight. The concept of good vs evil is old and I would argue a dated way to view the world. Yet even so it's the most common source of subjective morality. Whatever we agree with is generally considered morally good. While things we disagree with are morally bad (evil). Most people don't accept the concept of a "subjective world", yet ironically that is...
I have been wanting to make games for years, in various stages in life and with different levels of commitment. My main issue though has always been that I know nothing about it. I have never really known coding, programs or engines and graphically speaking I am good at art that only indirectly works with games in some capacity. Also, I have a terrible flaw of giving up when things get too hard...
Maybe they just don't like your game. I think the concept of Steam's Greenlight service is an interesting proposition. You get independent developer a chance to showcase their work to a big audience who uses their force in numbers to either help their game reach the serivce it may otherwise not have, or not reach that service. With such a big audience as Steam has, one would figure that there i...
5. Medieval Week in Visby Visby is a really old town on one of Sweden's two big islands, Gotland. One week in august per year (since 1984) they have had a Medieval Week where there is everything from a big market, jesters, jousting, shows and activities all fitting into the theme. Walking around the streets of Visby during that week was magical as most people are dressed accordingly and I found...
I spent most of this weekend's video game hours on playing through the single player campaign for Battlefield 4. I didn't expect much from it but it delivered a roller coaster trip that was worth my time either way, story be damned. But one thing that kept annoying me throughout the handful of hours of playing the campaign was something I've noticed in a lot of different genres, but FPS in gene...
There is this discussion regarding the value of games over how many hours you can play it. The verdict says that the longer the game is, assuming it is a game of quality, the more value it has. On some level I can empathize with such a notion. Because the money you invest in a piece of entertainment, be it interactive or not, should feel well spent when the end comes. So for some, getting as ce...
This is all fucked. About two weeks ago I was sitting in a chapel saying my farewells to my grandmother that passed away early June. It was surreal as it had been a long time since anyone in my family had died. On top of that, I don't deal well with death and the emotion it brings out of people. Seeing my dad barely able to walk up to the casket due to being so upset was a horrifying sight. My...
During my years playing video games, the reason for my enthusiasm in games have all varied. And as much as I callt it simply a hobby, there's something more to it all. An underlying reason why games of all things seem to compell me to spend my time there as opposed to doing other things. That isn't necessarily to say I don't do other things, obviously I do, but they too seem to factor into this...
Oh yeah, well I read all the books in this game. No I didn't, I lied because it made me look cool. Right? Right? Hello? Remember that really good book, that one you sat with for hours and just couldn't put down? Remember how you savored every moment and truly emerged yourself in the narration of this adventure? Do you recall, once finished, how you bragged to all your friends how fast you blew...
As long as I've been playing games, I've enjoyed them on any system they were available on. And even if I didn't get a chance to own that system or even be able to play those games, it didn't stop me from appreciate what they did. And if a game was released that was crappy, even if I had high hopes for it (I'm looking at you, Fighting Force), it wasn't the end of the world. Much like a bad film...
My iPhone hates me. And when I mean it hates me, I don't mean I get somewhat bad reception or lower than average battery life. I mean he flat out loath my existence. First it was the headphone jack that committed ritual suicide in glorious fashion and it was an omen of things to come. After that happened, my battery started getting really strange. It would surprise me by jumping from 80% to 20%...
That's how spectacularly boring my life is and how tired I am from a week of workouts and lack of sleep. Who knew building muscle and losing weight would be such hard work? Actually, I sort of lied there, my life isn't actually all that boring, I'm just being melodramatic for the sake of it. Since we last spoke, I have given serious consideration to where my time is going and I have yet to make...
Meryl, stop getting shot! Many games over the years, though I would argue not enough, has been trying to pull the heart strings of their audiences for an emotional bond with it's characters. May have been through graphical fidelity or clever writing and musical cues. Not as many games have created characters that feel as though they have thoughts that rationalize their way to their conclusion,...
Are you the type of person that tends to obsess fanatically about something only to discard it later for something new and shiny to obsess about? Maybe you have one thing you obsess about for a long time and then other things you just obsess over once in a while, like an on again off again girlfriend you like but you don't want to commit to anything serious? Or maybe you're a sane individual wi...
Yesterday while on my way to work the shoe laces I haven't re-tied for an unreasonable amount of time broke. I looked down on my several years old Goodyear Adidas and realized that while I could just buy new laces, it really was time to retire these shoes. I've always like Adidas because of how well they fit my feet, but also because they're probably some of the best quality sneakers I've ever...
We speculate a lot regarding the games we're looking forward to before we get our hands on them. Some would say hype, but that's only part of it. In general though I think we could use a broader term that encompass both positive and negative which would be expectation. Every title that comes out have a certain amount of expectations on them due to their PR and history of that franchise (if ther...
Note: I make some rather passionately harsh comments and some arguments based on light ground in this post. I've since the inception of this blog post come to realize I was overstepping on some areas where I wasn't actually wanting this discussion to go, I was just getting out of bed in a foul mood that reflected poorly on my writing of this blog. In hindsight, I probably should have waited to...
Just finished Assassin's Creed Revelations just a mere 20 minutes ago and as always that franchise is king in the area of "let's leave it on a cliffhanger". And it reminded me yet again of why I love that franchise, because I tend to forget that when one of the main reasons for this blog happens. So the game ended up on the back burner for a little while, mostly due to Battlefield 3 multiplayer...
Another year down the drain and out into the abyss of lost dreams and shattered plans. But let's face facts here; 2011 was not all bad. It may go down in history as the year of the [insert concept] fatigue, but there was still a handful of really rewarding experiences, surprising outcomes and some major downers. But let's stop and get to the point, my personal top 6 of the year! 6. Portal 2 Thi...
I couldn’t tell you when it all began, where it began or why. One could analyze a life and suspect that certain points in time had a particular effect on you. But whatever the case was that made it this way, the truth of the matter is still the same. For me, tragedy is the highest form of love. Happiness is fleeding, content is gray, breaking up is irrelevant. But tragedy, it’s bittersweet. The...
Bandit Bill; Wanted for fashion faux pas. I could have called this blog "Why Red Dead Redemption is awesome: a retrospective." But consider that idea trashed. I could also talk endlessly about how much nostalgia I get from the first level theme from Gun.Smoke. But that's ridiculous. I do, however, want to ramble on about why I loath the west. Or, well, not specifically the cardinal direction bu...
It is as though the norse gods are trying to drown me in mead. Or perhaps my dysfunctional brain just doesn't cope well with reality. I suppose the latter is a lot more likely, though the first one would imply I was in Valhalla drinking and having a good time, which doesn't sound all too bad. It has dawned on me that I have a lot of issues in regards to how I leisurely, yet manically, buy video...
I'm getting increasingly tired of seeing the summary of an opinion on a game reduced to the same fucking sentence whenever a game is above being horrible. If the game is good it is always counter balanced by the simple, nondescript variation on "it has flaws". What is a flaw? Whenever I hear someone say they liked a game but it did have some flaws I am always curious about what exactly they def...
I finally dragged my ass away from Starcraft II enough to start my adventure in Yakuza 4. And as I am savoring the flavor of the game by doing a ton of side-missions and general walkabouts in the city, I started thinking about Yakuza 3 and how similar they, thus far, seem to be. Location wise they've added rooftop access as well as some underground locations all in Kamurocho. And playing someon...
This seems to be the new trend growing as far as arguments over the multiplayer aspects of games. When Battlefield 3 was announced and later bled some information about itself in the internet I saw a really odd reaction. Namely that of the single player vs. multiplayer situation of that game. To me, who probably sat hunched over the computer for as many hours (if not more) in Battlefield 2 (and...
I don't know why I can't grasp the mentality in competitive online shooters at times, but it just puzzles me how some people think about this. I suppose I am a person to play a game based on how I enjoy it to be played. I come up with my own tactics, that fit my playstyle. Why should I adhere to a set of norms? So, here's my take on it. Stop camping! If you're playing a fast paced game and some...
For a long time in games, or at least the ones I played, it seemed almost unthinkable to kill off the main character in any way. You were playing a hero after all, and a hero always survives everything and is hailed champion. Maybe that's what got some of us into games in the first place, the notion that we could play that hero and become larger than life in a an existance that isn't always tha...
As I leave the gym for the third time this week, feeling accomplished and satisfied with my routine, I began pondering why I torture myself this way. While seeing the weights grow progressively heavier and the amount of torture I can endure before I'm throwing in the towel is all a big party of joy, working out in and of itself is, to put it lightly, a grind. You go in day after day to do the s...
One of the many eternal struggles for video games has been the justification that it can be a popular form of art (/entertainment) such as books, movies and music. But I am sceptical about that, as there are hurdles to overcome for that to become a reality. Here are the the biggest reasons against it, in my opinion; People don't "quit." I've read about it and I've heard friends talking about it...
Life is all ups and downs, like your avarage theme park experience. And it seems gaming in general have that same pattern. I haven't touched my PSP in probably over a year's time and suddenly I'm playing it daily after having downloadedDef Jam Fight for NY: The Takeover from the playstation store. The game is simple, but lends itself perfect for a quick play here and there. No real investment,...
So I've been catching up on some Bombcast episodes as of late (perfect on my mp3 player at work), and one of the episodes had the topic of sandwiches. I am a bit on the fence concerning sandwiches, considering they are so easy to mess up and one ends up eating something that is the food equivalent of sitting through infomercials while neither intoxicated nor tired. It's dull eating. But as they...