Ace of Spades HQ

March 23, 2014

Gaming Thread 3/23/2014
— Gang of Gaming Morons!

Sorry about last week, I was at a show making some money and though I thought I had a write up in draft, it was no where to be found so either in my haste out the door, I didn't save it or it was eaten by crappy software (I'm gonna go with me being the culprit). I've been really busy this past week (getting ready for this year's show and sale season) so this is going to be really short, which sucks since this past week was GDC and there was a bunch of news to come out.

**************************************************
NEWS

• Even after them unveiling it for maybe a next year release, I'm still skeptical of Sony's VR headset. They have a horrible track record for supporting add-ons, can't throw more and more power at it to work like you can on a PC, and I have a hard time seeing people being fascinated with PS3 level graphics after the initial wow period. Throw in the fact that porting games doesn't really work (just in 3D you realize how flat a lot of stuff is) and like I said, skeptical. That being said, I'm quiet jazzed that someone else has announced a VR headset as hopefully it lights a fire under Oculus to get a move on with their consumer release and maybe get Microsoft give us some actual concrete stuff about their AR Fortaleza glasses (think Google Glass). Though before Sony releases the headset, I hope they bump up their specs to an OLED screen with a higher refresh rate (60 is way too low).

• CryEngine now becoming a subscription at $9.99 a month and royalty free. Hopefully they step up their game on documentation.

• Unreal Engine 4 is also going to be a monthly subscription at $19.99 a month and 5% royalty fee.

• After wasting the last 3-4 years, Koji Igarashi finally leaves Konami. He never got the sales that his Castlevania games deserved but I hope he can etch out a living in doing what he does.

**************************************************
STUFF I'VE BEEN PLAYING

With my schedule, my gaming this past week has been mostly mobile which frankly just means that I've been playing quite a bit more Brave Frontier than usual on my iPhone.

Also been sneaking in the random TitanFall match when I could. Still waiting for Respawn to fix match making.

**************************************************
NEW RELEASES

Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls (PC) - Well, Blizzard has made some improvements to the lack luster D3 since release (Loot 2.0 was a good start) and this is building onto it with the game's first expansion pack. $40 for a chapter and a bunch of fixes.

Deception IV: Blood Ties (PS3, Vita) - Though 3 and Trapt were frankly lackluster, I've always been a fan of this action slanted Dungeon Keeper clone. And this time it looks like the main character isn't whiny. Throw in the wooden horse torture device and I'm quite pleased. I'll be picking this up for sure

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma (PS3) - Personally never could get into the BlazBlue (I do like the Guilty Gear series tho) series but it's a new entry in the series and they've added quite a bit to this one, new characters, new sprites and a new mechanic.

The Witch and the Hundred Knights (PS3) - After what feels like an eternity (it's been 3 or 4 years when they announced it), the US finally gets this game. It's Nippon Ichi doing a 3D action RPG and it's been getting some really mediocre reviews. After it got trashed last year in Japan, not really looking forward to this. I'll probably still pick it up after a few price drops as I'm still a sucker for their games.

Thread is crap, I've just been buried under a mountain of stuff to do. I'm very sorry.

Catch me on Twitter

Posted by: Gang of Gaming Morons! at 12:26 PM | Comments (48)
Post contains 656 words, total size 5 kb.

1 Minecraft has eaten my brain.

Posted by: Brother Cavil at March 23, 2014 12:31 PM (m9V0o)

2 The UDK 4 engine is available for 19 bucks a month. Anyone wishing to grind away at game-making should check it out. Might be a worthy competitor to the free Unity. ... but that's just me. I'll be staying with the Unity, also available in the Pro version via subscription (are we spell checking here? .. yes, another Makers Mark!, please!), but anyhow ... excellent game thread and thanks to all who brought it to us! God Bless all here!

Posted by: and irresolute at March 23, 2014 12:37 PM (RqHWH)

3 Oh, hell, I missed that you had pointed that stuff out! duhh.... yes, day off, more Makers, please!!

Posted by: and irresolute at March 23, 2014 12:39 PM (RqHWH)

4 Sorry for the past month or so, just seriously bogged down with work and real life stuff

Posted by: The Dude at March 23, 2014 12:43 PM (48nJm)

5 Geez The Dude, talk about a Meh post.

No Eve ganking uber battle? Or did the servers fall into a black hole?

What is everyone's take on the Crytek CryEngine?

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 23, 2014 12:47 PM (BL00c)

6 I'm tempted to pick up Pure Chess for WiiU this week. It's been a long time since I've played chess, although I would prefer if Battle Chess got this level of HD treatment. Or Archon (which I heard that there was a remake of that, I still need to check that out).

Posted by: Arcadehero at March 23, 2014 12:48 PM (aS0AZ)

Oh and I am a psychic!

235
220 >>>Yeah. The future belongs to those who can read and speak French. it's like a videogame -- the point isn't that it's useful to win, it's that I set this god-damned goal and I am intensely frustrated at not being able to achieve it.
Posted by: ace at January 29, 2013 05:56 PM (LCRYB)

Clearly Steam needs to get in on a deal with Rosetta Stone, and set up achievements for learning the language.

First Achievement - Potty Break: You have learned how to ask 'Where is the bathroom?' in a foreign language.

Posted by: buzzion at January 29, 2013 06:00 PM (GULKT)

There is now a game on Steam called Influent which is a Language learning game. Doesn't sound that great though from one person's review, but hey close enough for psychic work!

Posted by: buzzion at March 23, 2014 12:48 PM (LI48c)

8 The Dude doesn't really play eve. I actually played some last night and we went and killed a shitload of Brave Newbies and Test talwars with harpy fleet

Posted by: Zakn at March 23, 2014 12:53 PM (XOog0)

9 Besides Eve, I've been playing Bravely Default on my 3DS

Posted by: Zakn at March 23, 2014 01:03 PM (EWy0D)

10 Little arcade gaming news, a PC/mobile app is being converted into an arcade game by a partnership of an Australian and San Marino based companies, Mini Motor Racing Arcade. Fits in the spirit of Championship Sprint:

http://tinyurl.com/kegzv9g

Posted by: Arcadehero at March 23, 2014 01:04 PM (aS0AZ)

11 I did it! Finally saved up enough for a (admittedly low-level) gaming computer, so I'll be able to play Skyrim without unavoidable XBox 360 glitches, and I'll have ways to avoid some of the annoying "realistic" things.

Does anyone have recommendations for good mods to add, especially to improve color? Darnit, everything should not be shades of gray, and grass should not be red!

I can't wait for the comp and Legendary Skyrim to arrive!

Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 01:13 PM (lW+5m)

12 E1,check out the nexusmods site, skyrim page their mod manager program, it makes mods one click to install,so easy then look under files and then top files or they have it broke down by catagory

Posted by: rain of lead at March 23, 2014 01:22 PM (emQ8O)

13 I picked up an Apple ][e yesterday. Anybody got game suggestions to look for?

Posted by: --- at March 23, 2014 01:24 PM (MMC8r)

14 you WILL need a steam account to install the game and steam has a skyrim workshop that also installs mods one click but you can only add 40-50 mods through steam, with nexus you can add hundreds

Posted by: rain of lead at March 23, 2014 01:25 PM (emQ8O)

15 13 I picked up an Apple ][e yesterday. Anybody got game
suggestions to look for?[/i]

Dung Beetles. Choplifter.

Was never much of an Apple II person, but I enjoyed those two.

Posted by: Anachronda at March 23, 2014 01:28 PM (U82Km)

16 What is everyone's take on the Crytek CryEngine? Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 23, 2014 04:47 PM (BL00c) fnord (BL00c) Don't care. I have actually been saying for years that games need to be more expensive, that prices are not keeping up with inflation and we're getting a lot of crap as a result, but I tend to play occasionally (and a lot of different games), so the whole subscription model Just Doesn't Work For Me.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith[/i] [/b] [/s] [/u] at March 23, 2014 01:29 PM (qyfb5)

17 also E1, since you are having to wait, go to youtube and look up a vid series called skyrim mod sanctuary, by gopher, it is now up to 75-80 vids and he is the go to guy for all things skyrim mod btw my daughter and I have thousands of hrs on skyrim and am running close to two hundred mods

Posted by: rain of lead at March 23, 2014 01:31 PM (emQ8O)

18 Rain --

Thanks a lot! I have a Steam account from when I tried putting Skyrim on this elderly machine, so that's not a problem (I hope).

I mainly want to improve the color and add things to do, so once the new computer arrives, I can do a lot of looking around.

Oh, by the way, do you happen to know the load order of the three official DLCs? I also got the SR Legendary edition to put on the new comp.

Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 01:33 PM (lW+5m)

19 re#16 agreed on the subscription model ESO is coming out and their price point is just too high

Posted by: rain of lead at March 23, 2014 01:35 PM (emQ8O)

20 E! it will do it itself but it's dawnguard, hearthfire,then dragonborn

Posted by: rain of lead at March 23, 2014 01:37 PM (emQ8O)

21 Rain --

I can't say how many hours I spent on Skyrim on the 360, but it was close to 2 years, 4 play-throughs. Despite numerous annoyances and quest-ending glitches, it's the best game I've played, better even than M&M. With the new comp and mods, I could be happy in Skyrim forever!

Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 01:37 PM (lW+5m)

22 when you sign into steam from the new machine it will ask you to verify once then you will be good to go

Posted by: rain of lead at March 23, 2014 01:40 PM (emQ8O)

23 Been playing a few of the games from the Sega Humble weekly sale.

Typing of the Dead was fun B-movie plot/action, though a bit vulgar for me. Binary Domain was a fun one - it stole its way to the top of the gaming queue, and I think I'll aim to beat it in the next couple of days.

The revamped D3 is funner now that you can get better loot. Glad that Blizz changed their minds, though I think the overall experience still makes me prefer to not buy games on release.

Posted by: ConservativeMonster at March 23, 2014 01:41 PM (M9BzG)

24 oh yeah, new expansion for Crusader Kings 2 this week. They're adding India

Posted by: The Dude at March 23, 2014 01:42 PM (bStrg)

25 Rain --

Thanks again! If I have to add anything from those by console, I do need the load order, so that's a big help. I don't expect to have to, but one never knows.

HEY! I can make Marcurio essential, and keep my area-effect spells from hurting him! ::happy Snoopy dance ::

Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 01:44 PM (lW+5m)

26 Does anyone have recommendations for good mods to add, especially to improve color? Darnit, everything should not be shades of gray, and grass should not be red! Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 05:13 PM (lW+5m) fnord (lW+5m) If it's a lower-end computer stay away from ENB for video mods. They're pretty, but they can be real hogs (even the "light" ones), and in my case they've irretrievably ****** up other color / visual mods and cost me a lot of work. (I've actually had nothing but problems with ENB mods - which is sad because they can be very pretty). I'd also advise avoiding the Steam workshop unless you absolutely HAVE to have a mod that's only there, and then keep it to one. I say this even though the Nexus Mod Manager is buggy and crashes on me a lot. The Workshop has installed mods I didn't ask for, uninstalled mods I didn't ask to, and ***** up my load order every single time I run the loader (I have to make my load order file read-only and undo that only when adding mods). Unfortunately modding can be a lot of work, bad load order, incompatible mods, etc. For color mods - check out the Imaginator: http://bit.ly/1dEC9uj It is a little picky (it seemed to work better in Fallout 3) but not everyone has problems with it. I have not had any conflicts with other mods, however, except when ENB mods overrode it and I had to remove everything to get control back. Also since you're starting out with mods, you should know certain modding slang, most of which you'll pick up reading comments on mods - two important ones: "Balance" or "rebalance" - this mod increases difficulty. Period. "Immersive" - dark. Particularly at night or indoors. Definitely get all the unofficial updates, they fix innumerable bugs (though some remain). I also recommend SkyUI (you also need SKSE), and along with that Better Dialogue Controls and Better Message Controls, which at least reduce some of the interface problems. I also customized the heck out of my controls at the very beginning when we were hacking interface files because Bethesda blocked many keys from remapping. That may not be an issue for you but tutorials are out there. One last thing - I recently got a companion mod called Vilja in Skyrim - it's freaking hilarious. And highly customizable, like making her quieter, but I love her observations and getting in arguments with other companions and stuff. It does require a few other mods. I have something like 160 mods.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith[/i] [/b] [/s] [/u] at March 23, 2014 01:45 PM (qyfb5)

27 E1 oh my yes just in new quests alone there are dozens and dozens. new lands, build your own house mods get thee to skyrim nexus and start learning there are thousands of mods now

Posted by: rain of lead at March 23, 2014 01:45 PM (emQ8O)

28 Rain --

Huh. I resent having to go through Steam for a single-player game, but since I don't have any choice and do love the game ... ehh. At least I can still play off-line and keep my on-line bill down.

Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 01:51 PM (lW+5m)

29 Wouldn't you know that last week was the one time I actually had something to post? Son and I both got our Hearthsteeds by playing Hearthstone. Son was impressed by Blizzard's good use of advertising by making it easy enough to get a Hearthsteed that even I could manage (although it took me at least three times as long to win 3 matches as him).

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 23, 2014 01:51 PM (GDulk)

30 yeah, what Merovign said although I have not had many problems with nmm you can get ctd's (crash to desktop) if two mods conflict

Posted by: rain of lead at March 23, 2014 01:52 PM (emQ8O)

31 Oh, by the way, do you happen to know the load order of the three official DLCs? I also got the SR Legendary edition to put on the new comp. Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 05:33 PM (lW+5m) fnord (lW+5m) Skyrim.esm Update.esm Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp Dawnguard.esm Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp Hearthfire.esm Unofficial Hearthfire Patch.esp Dragonborn.esm Unofficial Dragonborn Patch.esp (Other esm files) (high-res texture pack if installed) (other mods) I do not consider these patches optional. In my experience *everything* messes up that load order, I have to manually fix it every time I run the official skyrim loader (only to change settings) or even the Nexus Mod Manager. BOSS (Better Oblivion Sorting Software - for Oblivion, Fallout and Skyrim) is supposed to sort your loading order based on the community's experiences... last time I ran it it messed up the load order of those first few items. (sigh)

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith[/i] [/b] [/s] [/u] at March 23, 2014 01:53 PM (qyfb5)

32 $10 off Tales of Symphonia Chronicles on Amazon. Very much worth $30 for the two games

http://amzn.to/OLACgg

Posted by: The Dude at March 23, 2014 01:54 PM (bStrg)

33 With Nexus Mod Manager I've found it blows up on you less if you download and install one mod before doing anything else (like downloading another mod). IN THEORY you should download, install, and *test* each mod one at a time, but... like I said I have 160 mods, I'd never actually play the game. When something goes wrong it *really* sucks to nail it down. It is sometimes possible to combine multiple mods using the creation kit, I kind of plan on doing that with most of my minor mods, combine say 100 mods into 4-5 combo mods, just to make handling them easier.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith[/i] [/b] [/s] [/u] at March 23, 2014 01:57 PM (qyfb5)

34 Son's been playing a lot of Neverwinter and Eldest Kidlet discovered a Yahoo! fantasy-based strategy card game that she's really enjoying.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 23, 2014 01:57 PM (GDulk)

35 E! some people hate steam but I have come to love it they are always running sales sometimes as much as 75-80% off I have gotten so many good games at next to nothing and have yet to have any problems your mileage may vary

Posted by: rain of lead at March 23, 2014 01:57 PM (emQ8O)

36 29 Wouldn't you know that last week was the one time I actually had something to post? Son and I both got our Hearthsteeds by playing Hearthstone.

Gratz! I haven't been brave enough to try playing against an actual human yet.

In addition to being a moron, I'm also a moron.

Posted by: Anachronda at March 23, 2014 02:09 PM (U82Km)

37 13 I picked up an Apple ][e yesterday. Anybody got game
suggestions to look for?[/i]

Oh, yeah. And Pinball Construction Kit, too. I think that was an Apple II game.

Posted by: Anachronda at March 23, 2014 02:10 PM (U82Km)

38 And speaking of Apple II, I was quite disappointed in that Limbaugh fellow Friday.

He had a caller who claimed that IBM built the PC industry by opening their hardware.

And Rush *didn't* come back with "Oh, yeah? Well, Apple published the schematics for the Apple II in the back of the user's manual! Top that!"

I have a friend who wirewrapped himself an Apple II from those schematics.

Posted by: Anachronda at March 23, 2014 02:12 PM (U82Km)

39 The only two mods I'm looking at right now are "Realistic Colors and Real Nights", which looks much less grayed-down that the original SR, and "Ultimate Follower Overhaul".

Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 02:15 PM (lW+5m)

40 Um, you folks are way ahead of me! But with all the mods, and y'all to ask questions of, I should be able to happily settle in to All Of Skyrim for the foreseeable future.

You have my considerable gratitude.

And very likely many more questions later.

Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 02:24 PM (lW+5m)

41 There's a Skyrim mod I like for a house south of White run, lets poor new characters have a place to stash your stuff without being a city-sized castle (don't remember the name, PC crashed hard losing everything). UFO (ultimate follower overhaul) is terrific, you can have a squad follow you around and do the fighting when you want. Climates of Tamreil looks nice and didn't hit my PC too bad. Some of the Christmas mods I tried were cool, like one where the dragon shout was 'Ho! Ho! Ho!' sending your enemies flying. Since Skyrim got wiped I'm re-playing the Mass Effect trilogy on an Xbox. The ending of ME3 didn't bother me too though a bit of a downer.

Posted by: waelse1 at March 23, 2014 02:28 PM (StSl7)

42 I tend to go for the Mace of Molag Bol early on, and storage in the Abandoned House has been safe so far, so I would recommend that. Or use player.setav carryweight to a high value.

Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 02:37 PM (lW+5m)

43 29 Wouldn't you know that last week was the one time I actually had something to post? Son and I both got our Hearthsteeds by playing Hearthstone. Son was impressed by Blizzard's good use of advertising by making it easy enough to get a Hearthsteed that even I could manage (although it took me at least three times as long to win 3 matches as him).

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 23, 2014 05:51 PM (GDulk)

This is where you tap into creative use of child labor.

"You don't get dinner until you help mommy get her Hearthsteed."

Posted by: ConservativeMonster at March 23, 2014 02:48 PM (M9BzG)

44 Posted by: Anachronda at March 23, 2014 06:09 PM (U82Km) I am *terrible* at strategy so if I can win three matches I'm sure you'll do just fine. Posted by: ConservativeMonster at March 23, 2014 06:48 PM (M9BzG) He did help during practices but had wandered off before I got as far as actual play.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 23, 2014 02:56 PM (GDulk)

45 via Insty: RIDDING THE GAMING COMMUNITY OF Â‘misogyny, sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia and other types of social injustice.Â’ http://tinyurl.com/ptrpxku

Posted by: The GM's Hat at March 23, 2014 03:06 PM (AymDN)

46 Hey! Don't apologize! It's not as if you do it every time you post! There must be at least one time you did not! And seriously consider that most people would not notice anyway!

Posted by: Tonawanda at March 23, 2014 03:33 PM (mE1l+)

47 Wow! Just got e-mail from Amazon that my new computer should be here tomorrow, and the Segendary Syyrim on Tuesday. Don''t expect to see me for about a week or so ...

Posted by: Empire1 at March 23, 2014 03:38 PM (lW+5m)

48 I picked up Final Fantasy X/X-2 Wednesday and have been playing the snot out of it. Saved at Mt. Gagazet before the third Seymore fight tonight. It doesn't look as good as FF13, but it is sharper (smoother?) than the ps2 version. There's been a ton of stuff in the background I could make out this run through (statues, Macalania Woods at the edge of the Thunder Plains, etc.)

Only real bummer is from what I've read, the Dark Aeons are already loose, so all those cheap stat spheres in the fayth chambers are inaccessible until much later.

Posted by: Methos at March 23, 2014 06:12 PM (hO9ad)

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