by Kirky

3.April.2015

There has never been more proof until you see the stories below, told by real Sims players on Reddit, that every Sims player has a little evil in them. Some of these stories are just creepy, some are just funny, and some hit home when you realise you could easily tell five stories of insane events you caused in your own Sims life. The best of the Sims stories found in the Reddit thread have been posted here for your entertainment, and if you are interested in finding out some more sickening tales they can be found here. We hope you enjoy knowing you're not the only sicko out there who tortures their pixel counterparts! 

1. Hitting on my own daughter:

 "I wanted to see how many children I could have out of wedlock and still be an absent father. I would strike up conversations with every woman on the street, invite them home, seduce them, and ignore them. Rinse, repeat. Eventually my sims "family tree " grew incredibly large with children I had never met. I think I got to around 40 kids or so. This was the Sims 3, so you could walk around downtown and hang out with your neighbors. Eventually, my Sims little black children started popping up all over town, easily recognizable in a game that has predominantly white Sims. Every time I saw a black kid, I would run away to avoid meeting them. They would chase me down the street with "action events" like "tell dad about birthday" or "talk about school." Obviously I had to nope right out of there as quick as possible in order to maintain my status as the anonymous biological father of over half of Riverview's children.

So one day im doing my thing as usual- I see a fine looking woman on the sidewalk. "Can't wait to impregnate her and leave" I sadistically think to myself. This is my normal routine, of course. But something was wrong. No matter how much I talked to her, the "flirty" options would never appear. What the hell!! Is she really the first girl to not be in to me?

And then it hit me.

This woman I'm trying to seduce is my full grown daughter who I've never met. Hence why the romantic dialogue was not available.

I know its just a game, but I think somehow I'm going to hell for this."

2. Cult fun:

"I started a cult in my basement. Had a very charismatic man living upstairs who would go around town, meet and befriend people, then bring them by to his house. They thought they were coming over for a date. When they got there he'd take them downstairs, lead them in to a small cell with a toilet, bed, shower, and fridge, small table, and sink then he'd lock the door so that only himself and the cult leader could open it.

The cult leader was a rather large man with tiger facepaint, who was also very charismatic. He would wander through the basement, visiting the cells of these people. It would take weeks, but they started warming up to him. Eventually they would fall in love with him. Once they invited him in to their bed, their cell door was unlocked and they were welcomed in to the main room with all the other cult members, where they formed a band, skinny dipped pretty much all the time, and learned to cook for the hostages who had not yet converted.

Then one day the guy upstairs fired up the grill and burned the entire house down. All the cult members fled to their original homes, their families seemingly accepting them without any question."

3. The fireman's daughter:

"One time, I created a a husband and wife. The husband got the wife pregnant. They were so excited.one day, the kitchen caught on fire when the husband fell asleep while baking. That's the day everyone's lives changed. Forever.

The firemen came to put it out. No one was hurt. I always liked to hurry up and introduce my characters to the firemen before they leave the scene of a fire. I think it was just a challenge because if you couldn't get to them fast enough they'd disappear forever. But if you could just make a quick intro, they were then available for your sim to call and hang out with whenever.

So wife sim says hello. They strike up a convo, the fireman leaves. One day wife sim invites fireman sim out. They talk, they dance, and really hit it off. It isn't long before wife sim and fireman sim are having a full blown affair!

One day, the husband walks in on his wife with the fireman and gets all mad (despite him having been engaged sexually with the neighbor man for some time. But wife sim didn't know about that). So they divorce. Husband sim leaves, never to be heard from again.

Eventually the wife and the fireman move in together, into a new house. A fresh start. Then it's time for the baby, or should I say, BABIES! Twins! She pops out two beautiful baby girls! And despite the fact that they're not biologically his, the fireman loves them all the same.

They're one big happy family for years. The fireman works (though I can't remember if he keeps that career), wife raises the children. Until the girls are in the child stage. The wife starts stepping out. She doesn't even hide it. Just starts having dudes over and bangs them whenever. The fireman is mad but doesn't divorce her. He makes sure the girls get dinner while his wife is banging two dudes one night. He's upset, they argue, but they stay together for a while. The wife eventually leaves. I have her move out into a house with a bunch of guys and they have their own story, but Bang House is a story for a different day.

The fireman is now a single dad, raising two grade-school age daughters. He hires a nanny and works, coming home in the evenings to help with homework and make spaghetti, spend quality time. Eventually the girls are teens. He makes sure to intimidate their boyfriends and talk to them regularly about their problems.

Then they're off to college (sims university) and his work is done! He successfully raised two teenage daughters practically by himself and they weren't even his! Time to kick back and enjoy his life as a single man! He's finally free. And that's when things get dicey. I don't know why I did it. I'm not a sick person, I swear. Looking back, I think I just wanted to see if it was even possible.

One day, daughter one decides to go home and visit the only dad she ever knew. She drives her little rickety car home, has spaghetti with pops like always. They watch tv and talk. I remember thinking they looked so cute, after everything they'd been through. She has the best dad in the world, and he has this beautiful, studious young daughter. And they're just joking around on the couch as usual. That's when I decided to pull the trigger. And have her flirt with him.

He's IMMEDIATELY receptive. It was like it was a long time coming. Everything happened so fast and soon, they were woohooing in the hot tub I bought him as a "your daughters graduated from high school" present. Then in the bed. Then the tub again. This guy is just running a train in his daughter. I couldn't even stop them at a certain point.

Then they got engaged. Some real Woody Allen shit right there. Except, it was never really in question who her father was. He was there when she was born! He raised her, by himself half the time! This was abhorrent. Anyway so they got married and the other twin attended the ceremony like it was the just the most normal thing in the world. Fucking dumb ass sims. Depraved assholes, the lot of them. But great entertainment."

4. P.I. exploits:

"Mine goes something like this: In the Sims 3, my sim was a private investigator who had a thing for Woohooing every woman who gave him a case, every one. So eventually he got one from his friend's wife. Sticking to his code he gave her a good ol' fashioned woohoo. Now he thought a lot about his actions and decided it wasn't really fair to her husband and his friend that he woohooed his wife, so he woohooed him too. He confessed to cheating to both of them, broke them up, abandoned both of them, and stole his cop car. He returned it because, turns out, they're not worth anything (cheap ass government). Eventually he got sick of their attitude towards him and invited them to a "party". Due to his knowledge of crimes they were never seen again and Mr. PI got to continue his carnal actions in peace."

5. The tale of Tony:

"I had a really Alpha roommate in military "A" school. It's sort of like college for 9 months. His name was Tony. He always thought me playing the Sims was super lame and would laugh at me.

One day I decided to recreate Tony in The Sims. I made his character super buff and gave him all these awesome characteristics and got him a super sweet military job. Over the course of a week or so Tony would watch me play and he eventually got real into watching The Sims version of himself succeed. He loved that I made him (what an Alpha thing right?) and he loved his Sim. He would ask me, "hey antboy, how's Tony doing??" I got Sim Tony married, with kids, and I kept real life Tony up on his life in the Sims military and promotions and learned traits.

Then Sims Tony found the Beatles.

I quit Sims Tony's military job and pursued a career in music. I tried to learn guitar from scratch. I played so much that I neglected my wife and my kids and hung out a lot with the young neighbor boy who also had a guitar. Sim Tony fell in love with the neighbor boy and moved in with him to a new lot. Sim Tony got fired for not showing up to work and stopped working out and became an enemy to his old friends. He was now gay Tony the failed musician. I did this over the course of another week and real life Tony would watch in the background asking me "Why are you doing that?!"..."Did he just kiss that guy??"..."Does he live with that guy??"..."What the hell did you do to Tony??"

Real life Tony got really upset with me for awhile. There was weird air in our room for awhile and he would get mad when I brought up The Sims. I ended up deleting the game but saving the save file. We're still friends but he never really got over it."

6. Death in the pool:

"A thriving family of five is living in their brand new, beautiful two story house. It's a sweltering summer day, so Dad says "Hey everyone, let's go for a swim in our new pool!" Everyone changes into their new swimsuits and jumps in. Everyone except for Diane, the oldest daughter. She'd rather stay inside and chat online with boys.

The family swims in their new pool, laughing, splashing, having a great time. Mom does a cannon ball. Things are great.

"Dad, I'm hungry," says Tommy, the youngest.

"Hmm," replies Dad, "We have been swimming an awfully long time. Alright folks, let's hop out and I'll make us some Goopy Carbonara!"

The kids cheer, and Dad heads towards the ladder to get out.

"Well, that's odd," he says. "Could've sworn the ladder was right here." He looks around, panic starting to swell in his chest. The ladder is gone.

"Dad?" asks little Tommy.

"I... I don't know what's happening," replies Dad. "It will be okay, just stay calm and keep swimming in circles. The ladder is sure to turn up sooner or later."

They swim, frantically looking for the ladder. On and on they swim, searching, panicking. They're screaming now, but Diane can't hear them over her rock music.

Hours and hours pass. The youngest, Billy, is the first to go. As the strength finally leaves his body, he sinks to the bottom. His body disappears, and a tombstone appears next to the pool.

Tommy and Mom follow soon thereafter. Dad's soul is crushed. What started as such a happy day has now become a tragedy beyond measure. If only there had been some way to get out of the pool without the ladder... but it was too late for that now. He paddles his last and his tombstone appears next to his family's. The pool is silent.

And now, the part of my story that gets a little bit sad.

The next morning, Diane comes down from her room. "Mom? Dad?" she calls into the quiet house. Nothing.

She checks the bedrooms, the living room, the basement. Nothing. She checks out front, still nothing. Then she walks out back and sees the graves.

Reality hits her like a ton of bricks. She sinks to her knees, and begins to cry. She cries until her sides ache, until she feels like she can barely breathe. What happened here? Why is her whole family dead? Who did this?

She continues to cry and cry and cry, until realistically she should be out of tears but they still keep coming.

Eventually another feeling takes over; a rumbling in her stomach brings her away from her world of sorrow and back into the real world. She hasn't eaten since yesterday; best get something quick, so she can resume her mourning.

Unfortunately, she never learned how to cook. Not a problem, she'll just order a pizza. She calls the delivery place, and they tell her the pizza will be there in 30 minutes. Great, she thinks, that gives me plenty of time to mourn.

She returns to the side of the pool and reopens the faucet of her heart. Her tears drip into the pool, slightly altering its PH balance but that's unimportant. What is important is that she became so engrossed in her mourning that she didn't hear the doorbell ring when her pizza arrived half an hour later.

Hours pass and her pizza is left rotting on the front porch. Her hunger once again brings her out of her stupor, and she renters the house to order another pizza. They tell her 30 minutes. Great, she thinks, that gives me plenty of time to mourn.

Hours pass. Days pass. The cycle continues, and the ever-growing pile of rotten pizza in front of the brand new house is buzzing with flies.

Diane is still mourning. Her body is emaciated, her stomach is bloated and distended as she enters the final stage of starvation. She hangs up the phone. 30 minutes. I'll have so much time to mourn, she thinks. So much time...

She crawls back outside to be with the graves of her family. She curls up next to her father's grave, and the last breath leaves her body in a long, steady sigh. Her twig-like body is still, and disappears into the ether. Her grave stone appears right next to the others.

It's true that I watched this all happen. I could have saved her. I could have broken the cycle. But like a documentary film crew following a lost lion cub, it was imperative I did nothing; for if we do not let nature take its course, how can we ever truly understand it?

... Okay so yeah, selling the pool ladder was my bad, but after that nature had to take its course."

7. Why children shouldn't be allowed to play God:

 "My ten year old brother is not allowed to play The Sims anymore. He built a sims concentration camp. His attention to detail was very unsettling. Sims were packed into tiny rooms with only an easel. They'd paint to support the facility, and slept in their own excrement. When they would start to wear out, he'd have his "guards" take the prisoner to the crematorium to be burned.

We found his project when he was completing his breeding factory portion. He thought the whole thing was hilarious. Right down to the crematorium.

This spooked us quiet a bit."

If any of these stories, or all of these stories, hit your funny bones remember to check out the original Reddit thread. If you're in search of more fun anger stories about Sims, you should also check out the Chinman Chronicles. It is beautiful in its' own right.

by Kirky

1.April.2015

Have you ever killed the nazis? Have you ever destroyed a zombie horde with an axe? Have you ever sliced a dragon from head to talon? Every single gamer to exist has played at least one game that fits into these game types. Most gamers can tell you just how repetitive the game markets are when it comes to what games are being made and released on a regular basis. Every year the same style of games are released and it gets boring after you've played the third game like it. So why are these games still being made? Is it because it's still cool, or is it because no matter how repetitive the games get we will still play them?

The most common of the overly repetitive genre is war games. The War game genre will always be a popular area to make games due to how easy it is to rely on actual history. There isn't really any new ideas when it comes to war games. America vs Germany? Done. America vs Vietnam? Done. So many war games are inspired, if not completely based off, actual battles that the outcome of the game can be easily predicted before it is even released. The fact that these games make easy multi-player games without too much thought keeps them being pumped into the game circuit without too much hassle for the developers. The only real work they need to put in is to make America seem like the heroic, winning side in the game for it to sell.

The only way war games get more repetitive is when they add zombie soldiers. As we've seen, most game designers are big on the apocalyptic genre. There doesn't really need to be any planning for the actual game story as you spend the entirety of the game trying to survive. A great example of an apocalypse game done right with zombies is State of Decay - the game can be played for hours on end without you really doing anything other than getting a few bags of supplies and killing a few zombies. The genre sells so well because we all think it would be easy to survive the apocalypse. It helps that each developer adds their own twist to the genre - by adding something little that makes it different to the rest, it keeps you playing for hours just for this little factor.

The fantasy genre is always going to be popular. Not only is it overused when it comes to games, it is overused generally - in games, in books and in film. We see fantasy games in multiple forms as well. You can be part of a massively-multiplayer online game, or play alone marrying many villagers like in Fable. The best part about fantasy is how different it is from real life, but the games themselves are rarely different from each other - at the end of the game you as the protagonist are fulfilling the story line by being evil, or good, or somewhere inbetween to make you the best player of this fantasy realm. The fantasy concept rarely changes, and similar to the apocalypse games the developers only add little things to make them unique. Fantasy games will exist and will carry on being made for as long as dragons are awesome - that's right, the fantasy game genre will never die.

Though repetitive games can be seen as boring, there will always be games that fit the three main categories listed above. Why? These games bring you outside of your typical every-day life for your enjoyment. They may have similar plots, characters and environments, but each game tries its' hardest to be interesting to the consumer. As long as you - the gamer, the consumer, the player - are enjoying the game and its' genre, it will never change or be vastly improved. 

by Kirky

18.March.2015

I would hate to be a little girl again, exploring browser games for the first time. Have you seen the type of creepy games that are out there for girls now? It's no longer normal "dress-up" games where you get to put princesses in the outfits they wore in the films, it is now a lot more twisted. There are so many categories out there which make me question browser game developers worldwide. Why do little girls need pregnancy games? Why do little girls need love games, and dating games? There's a constant debate about what children should be able to see and play, and some of these browser games I felt weird playing, and I'm a grown-ass woman!

Dial for Love - Dial a stranger for love by dialing random digits on the phone you beautified just a moment ago! Whoever you call will give you a gift, because THIS is how love works. Remember, this is a game for children. What society is clearly saying to young girls is be vain and only care for what gifts the guy who's interested in you can give you. Suitable for young, materialistic girls around the globe!

The Now and Then Sweet Sixteen Princess Dressing Up series - Want to dress your favourite disney princess up for what can be seen in the US as the happiest day in a sixteen year old girl's life? Now you can, with the Now and Then Sweet Sixteen Princess Dressing Up games! Not only can you dress them in clothes suitable for when their characters are actually from in time, but you can also dress them in clothes that are much shorter that are supposed to represent MODERN clothes for teenage girls. You'll also see when you hit the modern versions of the princesses that not only are their outfits tinier, they're now covered in make-up, which is clearly a necessity for every modern teenage girl! What's that, you want to be a normal girl who doesn't have to spend hours applying more layers to the face than the outfit you're wearing? Every dressing up game ever tells you it's wrong!

Anna Beard Shaving - I didn't know Disney Frozen's Anna had a beard until this game, but once I learnt that she did I had every urge to shave the hell out of it! Personally, I'm surprised it isn't a ginger beard, since that's supposed to be her natural colour. I'm guessing the carpets may not match the drapes in this story. According to the story of the game some illness gave Anna a beard - I'm starting to think maybe she just liked steroids in her chocolates. As bad as the English is in this game, and how crap the actual actions are, I would rate it up there with some of the best shaving games of this century. You can also play Elsa Beard Shaving, if you loved this game so much!

Vanna Vlog - I opened up this game assuming it was about vlogging, and I was instantly hit with a rather detailed emo rack on my screen. This game claims to be about a "fashion" vlogger, but is essentially just a dress-up game with a different type of girl than usual. She's still covered in make-up with her tits on show, but now it's for a purpose, she's an "online star". This game could have easily been more fun and original, but it sank into the typical category of "girl games" which means make-up, clothes and "love".

Frozen Tooth Problems - Learn how to be a dentest today by pulling out your favourite character's canines, molars and incisors! Pull out their black teeth, drill out the cavities and give them the cleaning of a life time!... In what world is this a normal game? Dentists are highly-paid torturers in anyone's books, will we be teaching children how to waterboard next? The tools it offers you to use for the procedures are literally something you see in torture scenes in gangster/mobster films! In Grand Theft Auto, Trever uses some of this equipment! This is the type of game that gives me nightmares because people get paid to make this type of stuff. 

Elsa Birth Surgery - Have you, as a young girl, ever wondered what a Caesarean looked like? Well, in this game starring the Frozen Queen herself you can see just how it is performed, in a way! It is your duty to help bring Jack Frost's and Elsa's baby into this world by cutting into her womb with a scalpel and pulling the baby out! I guess this game isn't as bad as seeing Elsa PUSH the baby out, like some of the other Pregnancy/Labour games that exist on the internet, but this game is still up there for weird and creepy. At no point in my life, not even if I ever decide that I want to have kids, do I want to see another individual giving birth in any way. The game may not go into much detail about the process, but it still made me nauseous to play it even briefly.

By Kirky

7.March.2015

We've all seen it, heard of it, played it and had nightmares due to it. It is the nightmares of children and it has brought back the horrors to adults with every game that is made and developed by the cruel Scott Cawthon. I thought the days of me waking up in a sweat because I was being chased by animated objects were finally over when I was seven, but Freddy and his gang brought them crashing back with a passion. The game series takes the initial fear you feel from playing the first game and increases it after every new release. Why is the game series so horrifying though? Is it the graphics, is it the characters or is it something deeper?

Five Night at Freddy's started its' franchise just last year with the first game being released on the 24th of July 2014 - just in time for the school holidays! You play as a security guard sat monitoring cameras from midnight until 6am at the pizzeria, watching the evil animatronics come to life to torture you ever so slowly. Foxy would sprint to be at your side if you gave him a chance whilst Bonnie, Freddy and Chica just mocked you by glaring down the camera lens as if to say "Get ready to die". The Golden Freddy may even make an appearance, as if you weren't already considering sleeping with a nightlight. The fate of every player is practically set. You will, at some point during your five days of employment at the torture dungeon that is the Freddy Fazbear's Pizza be trapped inside an animatronic suit. The problem gets worse nightly, as the owners of the pizza place don't feel the need to top up the electricity generators often for the people on the night shift. By the end of the first game, you are crying for the final night to end whilst you're sat in the dark praying they won't come for you whilst you have an hour left.

Five Night at Freddy's 2 added to the original horror when it was released on the 10th of November. You are taken to the past, before any of the events of the first game, where you play as Jeremy Fitzgerald just starting his job at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Unlike the first game, where you have to watch out for just 5 freaks of nature terrorizing your evening shift, you now have no doors, a torchlight, a Fazbear mask, a music box and 11 animatronics causing nightly havoc. The game goes into more detail than the first, giving you more of a backstory about the characters who are keeping you up every night and the restaurant itself. Just like the first game, you can't leave the security office and have to watch the surveillance cameras from the safety of your seat. There's now also 3 entrances to the office - the hallway door and two air vents - all of which lack doors. At least you now have the torch and the mask - both of which can keep the animatronics from stuffing you into a suit of metal. The mask does not work on every animatronic, but the torch can reset some of the animatronic beasts with strobing. Another hazard has been placed in the midst of this deadly job position - a music box that needs to remain wound throughout the shift. As long as the music remains playing throughout the shift, The Puppet does not appear to kill you. If you make it through the five nights successfully, you have the chance to complete a sixth night so your character can get a daytime position at the restaurant when it reopens. Completing this sixth night will allow to create the custom level, like the first game's custom level, where you can change the level of the animatronics. This game took the nightmares that existed from the first game and extended them with the new threats - it may be brighter with the unlimited power supply, but the jump scares are just as powerful when you can see them clearly.

There is not much known about the third game of the series to date, other than the reviews that have come out during the last five days since it's public release on the 4th of March. Scott has teased at the game's existence and release since December last year with pictures and trailers uploaded to his site. From what has been seen in streams and videos since the third part of the horror fest was release, we can already seen this game is more horrid than the last. It is set in the future, thirty years after Freddy Fazbear's Pizza closed its' doors, and the restaurant has been turned into Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction, where the owners want to revive the legend that was the animatronics to make the experience authentic for its' patrons. After finding handfuls of neglected and ruined animatronic parts, they were able to bring just one animatronic back to life. This animatronic, known as Springtrap, comes with new issues such as illusions - that's right. Springtrap may not be in that room on the other side of the building when you see him now - he could really be lurking just outside the room, waiting for you to lower the cameras before he leaps at your head, thanks to ventilation issues in the building.

The reason the Five Nights at Freddy's games are so haunting is simple, which makes it even scarier as the series goes on. Unlike other horror games, you can't move from the position you're in. There is no way to protect yourself constantly without in some way ruining it in the long run. In the first game, you can't keep the doors locked as you'll run out of power almost instantly. In the second game, not every animatronic has the same reaction to the torch or mask, making it pointless to sit there all night with the mask on. In the third game, closing the ventilation and the doors will eventually take its' toll. By not being able to protect yourself at all times, like in games where you have unlimited bullets, there is the constant fear that this is the second you will die. Whilst that fear is what keeps you playing, hoping that now isn't the minute when the animatronic pops it's head through the door with that terrifying noise, that fear of having no control is always there. The jumpscares will always be there in the game, no matter how many times you play it, there is no definitive movement of the animatronics - you can't make a note of which one will come for you first, or how long it will be before all the power is gone. There is no guaranteed way you will survive a night at Freddy's, and that's scarier than a zombie mob charging in your direction whilst you've only got a melee weapon.

By Kirky

18.February.2015

Whilst browsing for games online, you have to be quite wary. Since the dawn of the internet, there has been and forever will be multiple sites full of weird and wonderful browser games that, no matter what, you may find yourself playing for a few hours. Here is a list of five of the weirdest games I have found whilst I've been online bored with nothing better to do, and I must admit, I may have had fun playing all of them. Remember that if you're bored, browsers have some of the best time-consuming games you can find. Every game on this list is worth at least one try. Hopefully some day, the browser games will be bigger and better than the console games so that we don't have to spend a fortune on great games. I hope you enjoy these games, as much as I did!

QWOP 

QWOP can only be described as the most pointless yet addictive game that can be found on a browse. QWOP, and its' sister CLOP, features you making a journey by bashing the QWOP or CLOP keys repetitively. It is hard, but you will go back to try to reach the 100m line. It may result in a crippled man or horse though, so try to be as fast as you can to reach the end. It takes patience, it takes heart, and it takes hours of needed time away from you.

Life in the West

In this Kanye game, you live a Kanye life, tweeting like Kanye, and all his Kanye strife. In this game you tweet as Kanye West to get Kanye points to spend on following people, such as Bulbasaur, Incorrect Bear Facts and Jerk Superman. It comes with an addictive soundtrack which inspires you just to hit the keys to earn more points, the faster you are the more points you get. It will make you dance, cry and live the Kanye dream.

The Fart Game 

Ever had to fart in public? In this game, which has no English instructions whatsoever which is probably wise, you ease out your wind and let it go publicly. Don't openly fart too loud in front of the man next to you, or it is game over. Also, don't hold in that wind, it will literally blow you away. I have never had as much fun farting as I did in this game.

Nicholas' Weird Adventure 

In this game you have to help Nicholas gather ingredients in the mall to give to the witch doctor who lives in the novelty shop so that you can make a wish at the water fountain to fix the escalator so you can go home. This weird little game was fun to play, even if I had to carry around a dead squirrel called Livey.

Royal Wedding Riff-Raff Bash

Kill the filthy commoners in this game whilst protecting Will and Kate's big day. Play as the forever lovable HRH Prince Philip whilst he aims his cannon at the common folk without carnations on. Stop Barry Chuckle, Fergie and Katie Price from ruining the royal affair of the century.

By Kirky

20.November.2014

In the Pokemon world, you are always battling the numerous pokemon-snatching teams, little kids who easily give you their savings and gym leaders your favourite Pokemon can demolish. The ultimate challenge always lies, as it has since Pokemon Yellow, Red and Blue, with your main competition: your hometown buddy who just so happens to have more experience than you at every point in the game. What, you have 8 badges? Gary Oak has 10 - in an 8 badge region. Beating this character with your final team is better than beating Giovanni and anything Team Rocket can throw at you. Sure, in the newer generations of the game you're not fighting Gary Oak, since he grew up, but you're fighting others with his ambitions of showing you up in a Pokemon battle. 

As a girl who grew up with Pokemon from a young age, naturally in my mind I've created the ultimate Pokemon team for myself that I think, personally, could beat the crap out of Gary Oak or his successors. Every generation adds more power to the burning force of the ultimate team as it is bent to fit the opposition's team and destroy their hopes and dreams - this is not the series, friendship doesn't help you succeed and you don't get badges for preventing the idiots of Team Rocket from catching your Pikachu and the gym owner's Pokemon. In this article, I'm going to tell you just how my ultimate team would destroy the Pokemon on the newest competitor's team and why.

The final team of Calem (if you're a girl) or Serena (if you're a boy) that you battle again depends on which pokemon you started with. As a fire starter (a twisted fire starter), I always pick the fire starter pokemon so Fennekin is who is who I started with so Calem's team featured a lvl 70 Greninja when I fought it. If I had picked Chespin as my starter, he would have had Delphox and if I had picked Froakie, he would have had Chesnaught. Either way, this is the only change on his team so it isn't that important in the long haul. The rest of his team is a lvl 66 Meowstic, a lvl 68 Clefable, a lvl 66 Vaporeon, a lvl 68 Absol and a lvl 67 Altaria. 

The best tactic for beating your opponent is finding out which pokemon they have prior to the battle. Most of this information can be googled nowadays, which makes it a million times easier than when you were battling on Pokemon Yellow. Once you've found out your opponent's team you can pick the best team to go against him. Of course, not everyone will have the pokemon I have (unless they've filled their pokedexs and boxes to the brim), so I will also tell you why the pokemon I chose for this battle annihilate Calem's side.

The pokemon Calem summons first for our rematch in Kiloude City is Meowstic. Since his Meowstic is a Psychic type, I summon my Gengar. Since Gengar is a Ghost type and Psychics are weak to Ghost types, any Ghost skills I use against Meowstic will be super effective. After using Hypnosis to put Meowstic to sleep, a few hits of Nightmare knockout his Meowstic and I'm ready for the next pokemon. Clefable, a fairy type is summoned and I replace my Gengar with my Nidoking. As much as I love Thrash as a skill for Nidoking, I summoned him for his poison attacks against Clefable since it's weak to them. After smashing the TM skills Venoshock and Poison Jab, Clefable is pretty knocked out. Flareon is the next to be summoned so I bring out my Vaporeon so that it is eeveelution against eeveelution. Lucky for my Vaporeon, Flareon is weak to it's water attack so after spamming the TM Surf for a few turns, we are half-way to beating Calem.

 I bring out my Lucario as Calem summons his Absol. Since Absol is weak to Fighting types, I smash out a few of Lucario's fighting skills: Close Combat and Power-Up Punch. I also throw the TM Rock Smash in there, to speed up the process making sure to abuse all of his skills for Absol. As soon as he's knocked out, I summon my Xerneas to fight Altaria. Since Altaria is weak to any Fairy type being a Dragon type, the legendary pokemon Xerneas, also known as Roger on my team, isn't absolutely needed. Roger fires Moonblast until Altaria is knocked out. Then, it is down to the final of Calem's pokemon. Greninja, at lvl 70. I summon my final pokemon, Venusaur, levelled by hand with love and care - as every one of the original 151 pokemon is when I get them. My Venusaur, the Grass type, slaughters Calem's Water type Greninja with Solar Beam and Petal Blizzard. It's over, it's done, innocent pokemon were abused. The final battle is completed and I've walked away with $7000 from Calem's pocket.

We can all kill innocent pokemon in the best way possible for money by using tactical research to make sure we are overpowered compared to our opponent. This is the best way to catch 'em all!

By Geno

13.October.2014

While we've heard about WWE 2K Showcase mode that'll feature John Cena vs CM Punk, and Triple H vs Shawn Michaels long rivalries that'll give us thirty-three matches to play through, we've been given details on MyCareer Mode.

In MyCareer Mode, you'll create your own superstar where you'll start out very limited and begin in the WWE Performance Center with head coach Bill Demott training you. As you play, you'll have to do challenges to advance, and as you progress through the WWE Performance Center, you'll head off to NXT, WWE's developemental system. From there, you'll have to compete against NXT & WWE's future stars, such as Rusev, Bo Dallas, Adrian Neville, Corey Graves and Sami Zayn.

After competing in NXT, you'll end up being called up to the main roster to either Smackdown or RAW where you'll be able to compete for championships, PPV's spots and main events, and taking on the biggest stars, possibly on the grandest stage of them all, Wrestlemania. You'll have alliances, rivalries and  media interactions, will impact player personality traits and crowd reactions. As you progress throughout the mode, you will also have opportunities in-game to upgrade your attributes, acquire new abilities, skills and moves, earn new clothing and unlock your own managers.

Another thing that I personally find very exciting, is win or lose, the story will continue, no having to replay a match and win for the story to continue anymore. No matter what happens, it'll change what is happening in your Career. All that will lead to multiple branching storylines, twists, turns and surprises. 

Then we have Career Invasion. This is where you can download anyone's character, or your best friends character and said character could just possibly show up into your story, and cost you the biggest match of your life. Your biggest rival, could just be your best friend.

This all sounds VERY exciting. 2K seems to be going all out for next-gen versions. Now come on 2K, now we need to see more gameplay, and the entrances.

WWE 2K15 arrives in stores for Xbox 360/PS3 on October 28th in North America and October 31st in Europe and for PS4/Xbox One, it arrives on November 18th in North America and November 21st in Europe.

- Geno

By Kirky

11.October.2014

State of Decay was released in June 2013 to Xbox 360 users, and honestly it took survival games to a new level. As well as being released on PC in November 2013 to PC users, the game also got additional DLC for a relatively low price, considering it started as a console game. For the time being, this game remains one of the best zombie survival games to be on the current market and it is always worth a play if you just want to kill evil chunks of walking flesh. There is also going to be a version of the game, State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition, scheduled for release in early 2015 for Xbox One users.

State of Decay started life as a basic, story mode survival game. The whole plot of the story from the original game was to keep as many survivors as possible alive whilst trying to escape from the zombie-infested towns you were trapped in pre-apocalypse. With the first DLC released for the game, it added additional survival levels whilst removing the story to make it a game purely for survival. You could advance to a new survival level once you found an RV and drove away with a new set of supplies ‘to a new town’. Though Breakdown used the same map as the original game, it added more difficulty. Hordes became more common and thicker, with more of the special zombie species scattered throughout the town you had to do your supply runs in. The second DLC pack, Lifeline, gave you a new set of characters with a new storyline to follow and a new reason to live. It changed the point of view to one of a soldier in the centre of a pandemic-filled city, trying to find the cure for the Zombieism.

Instead of just a normal range of zombies, State of Decay adds multiple types of zombie threats to the game, making it seem like a single player survival version of Left for Dead without the evil witches. Whilst the normal zombies just became irritating and in the way once you’ve been playing the game for a while, the special zombies kept up the interesting part of the fights alive. Though the SWAT zombies and the ARMY zombies are essentially the normal zombies in body armour, the rest of the special zombies make every hunt different, though I often hunted with the bumper of whatever car I was trashing at that point. Whilst the Screamers would attract the hordes with their crippling screams, the Bloaters explode upon the lightest amount of damage, omitting a poisonous gas that can kill or severely injure your character. The Ferals hunt like wild animals, lunging fast at whichever survivor is the closest. The Juggernauts the most damage to kill, with your bullets barely denting their skulls. He can pick you up and pull you apart with just his hands, and he is practically impossible to kill with a car without killing the survivor as well.

The best part of this zombie-killing game is that, no matter what version you are playing, the point of the game is always the same. Keep you and your group of survivors alive. Scavenge, hunt and kill. Whilst the original game’s and Breakdown’s plot mainly focus on the survival of the original survivors, Lifeline’s plot gives the player a whole new focus. Lifeline focuses purely on the abandoned soldiers left in the centre of the city, searching for the cure for the Zombieism that is killing everyone who hasn’t been made into food. The only hopes they have are of finding the lab notes of the recently-deceased scientist who may have found the cure.


Permadeath is something I have rarely seen featured in games, and it is one of the many reasons that I fell in love with State of Decay when I first played it. It instantly adds more focus and interest to the game whilst making it harder. Once your character is dead, they are gone. If you’ve killed off every single survivor you had, your game is over. The only way to get your survivors back is to restart the game, which means levelling every character’s skills again. Since the survivors get attacked by hordes, with or without you to guide them, it adds to how much attention you need to pay. A survivor can die doing a trade run, and if you weren’t focusing you are the reason they died. It keeps you on guard constantly, but it keeps you playing for hours. The best feature of the games comes with Breakdown, though. In Breakdown, you get an opportunity to invite veteran characters from the first game as ‘heroes’ for reaching an achievement. Once you’ve reached the achievement, for example for the first character who dies you get Jacob as a ‘hero’ to play as, you get to keep that ‘hero’ for as long as you’re playing that level of Breakdown. The game gives you the potential to get every one of the original 34 survivors to play as, if you can unlock them all. For every new level, you get a new variety of hero to unlock and by the time to level 6 you can unlock the best of the heroes. This game can keep you playing for hours, as if you are in a real survivor situation, and I cannot wait to see the competition for this game that will come from the other consoles.
Scavenge. Hunt. Kill. Survive.

By Kirky

02.October.2014

Anyone who has ever been in a guild or clan can tell you how much fun it is to meet people like you and have fun online, but have you ever considered what it is like to be the leader? As someone who ran a guild for eight months, I know first-hand it is not as easy as it seems, which is what my fellow guild leader and I thought when we made the guild. There were good times, but more often than not it became a chore, which killed the game for us and ended up with the guild dying out. Here’s a list of the main pros and cons of being a clan leader as it stands in most games.

An upside to being a clan leader is how fun it is. You can still have as much fun as possible with your members, even if you are the person with all the power to kick them out if they mess up. If you’re a fun person, the clan you’ve made and its’ members tend to be as fun as you. You can still do guild stuff whilst doing events with your people as often as you get online, and that’s where most of the fun with gaming online comes from. The downside to this is how much guild work you have to do. If in the game, you have to maintain your clan’s level, or you have to maintain some guild funds or objects, it gets hard and it gets quite repetitive when you go online. Towards the end of my guild leader career I was doing so many quests just for the guild that I just stopped doing my own quests. If you don’t have the time to be online all day, and you’re in a casual guild but stuff needs to be maintained more often than not you’re going to be left doing everything by yourself.

Like I’ve already said, as a clan leader you’re in charge. You can kick people, invite people, start clan events, start wars against other clans and a whole list more of the fun parts about being in charge of your own clan. But, there’s always going to be the negative parts to it as well. If a clan member has a grudge against a member of another clan, it could result in a long dispute between the two clans just because two members couldn’t kiss and make up. If there’s any ‘bullying’ type issues in guild, you’ve got to listen to both sides of the story and decide whether or not to lose a clan member. If it’s a clan you’ve not bonded with, it’s easy to leave, but if it’s a clan you’ve personally built up, these decisions get harder to make.

The events of a clan pretty much make it in games, so if you pick the cool events you can have a great time with people inside your guild. You can go all hardcore for PvP but act all chilled when it comes to doing events to help the lower levels in your clan to help them level their characters. But, there’s always those few rush levellers or too relaxed players who have the ‘it’s your job to help me, I don’t have to help you’ attitude that just infiltrate the clan to ask for help to then leave once you’ve done their bidding. These people are the burden of a clan leader, purely because you don’t want guild members to see you as unhelpful but you also don’t want them to walk over you like you’ve got nothing better to do than do every little thing they want you to do during your playing time. They’ll complain, they’ll bitch and they’ll moan until they’re red in their virtual faces, just because you’re too busy to help them level up at an impossibly stupid rate. More often than not, these level-bashers and overly-casual players are what make it awful to be a clan leader. They want your help, no matter what, but they won’t do anything for the clan unless it benefits them in some way.

If you want to be a clan leader, remember that it’s not all just fun and games. Sometimes, there is hard work and hard decisions only you can do.

~ Kirky

By Mici

29.September.2014

I found my way deep down in the "underground" of Playstation Home, after people repetitively asked me to try it out.

Once the application off the PS3 was done downloading and launching its start, I felt like I was doing something I wasn't allowed to do, I now became one of those people. Once I first put my virtual feet in one of the locations, it wasn’t more than a second before I got an Invite to go to someone's "house" Which I did. Once I was there, I was amazed with the "owner" having a mansion which seemed a little excessive, knowing you have to actually purchase it off the PS Store. He then told me he would send me clothes, which I was dying to get out of those awful "starter" clothes. He then dressed me up in a golden bathing suit and sneakers (good combo?),
That left very little to the imagination, but I put it on.

Then he took me to his yacht, along with some of his female friends, which all seemed to have a way to close relationship with him over the "net". After I looked around, I tried to steal his stuff (which I couldn’t).

Not understanding why he spent so much money to impress various "female" characters which he explained he had a relationship with, like an older nerdy sugar daddy which seemed normal after I spoke to these females. Everything on PS Home cost and without having to spend a dime, they get men to buy it for them.

I left. I ended up in the middle of the main PS Home location, still wearing my golden bathing suit.
Bombarded with creepy messages, I then switched back to my "starter" clothes in a jiffy, a red T-shirt and Jeans, covering myself up, blending in while I explore this unfamiliar scene. Being the defensive bitch that I am, I soon managed to get people off my ass for being a girl in a location with hundreds of single hormonal 13 year old boys.

Once I found some "normal" adults, then they showed me what Ps Home was all about and I was soon to enjoy many of the features of Ps Home, such as the sledge race, board games and other social events. After logging on a few times, even the most "normal" people I had got to know got weird and I then got to see the true colours of the application. With an exception of the few who log on to hang out with friends, have fun or troll others, most people used it as a dating site, some even seemed to "get off" on it. Even though you can't do any sexual actions, people found their own ways, resembling sexual actions and then it was time. I logged off and deleted the application. That would be the last time I stepped my foot into Playstation Home.
 
I understand what Sony was trying to create, which it lived up to and then just gotten taken over by lonely people looking for something more. Now that Sony announced that they will be closing Playstation Home for good in March 31st, 2015. I can't say I'm bothered about it.
 
This was my experience of PS Home, do you have one?

I found my way deep down in the "underground" of Playstation Home, after people repetevly asked me to try it out. 

Ones the application off the PS3 was done downloading and Launching its start, I felt like I was doing something I wasen't

allowed to do, I now became one of those people. Ones I first put my virtual feet in one of the location it wasent more then a

second before I got an Invite to go to someone's "House" Which I did. Ones I was there I was amazed with the "owner" Having a mansion 

which seemed a little assessive, knowing you have to actually purchase it off the PS Store. He then told me he would send me clothes,

which I was dying to get out of those awful "starter" clothes. He then dressed me up in a golden Bathing suit and sneakers (good combo?), 

that left very little to the imagination,but I put it on. 

Then he took me to his yacht, along with some of his female friends, which all 

seemed to have a way to close relationship with him over the "net", after I looked around, tried to steal his stuff ( which I couldnt)

Not understanding why he spent so much money to impress various "female" characters which he explained he had a relationship with, like a older nerdy sugar daddy. 

Which seemed normal after I spoke to these females. Everything on PS Home cost and without having to spend a dime, they get men to buy it for them.

I left. I ended up in the middle of the main PS Home location, still wearing my golden bathing suit.

Bombarded with creapy messages I then switched back to my "starter" clothes in a jiffy, a red T-shirt and Jeans, covering myself up, blending in

while I explore this unfamiliar sceen. Being a defencive bitch that I am, I soon managed to get people off my ass, for being a girl in a location

with hundreds of single hormonal 13 year old boys. 

Ones I found some "normal" adults, then they showed me what Ps Home was all about and I was soon to enjoy many of the features of Ps Home, such as

the sledge race, board games and other social events. 

After logging on a few times and even the most "normal" people I had got to known got weird and i then got to see the true colors of the application.

With an exception of a few who log on to hang out with friends, have fun or troll others. Most people used it as a dating site, some even seemed to "get off"

on it. Even though you can't do any sexual actions, people found their own ways, recembeling sexual actions and then it was time I logged off and deleted the

aplication.

That would be the last time I stepped my foot into Playstation Home.

I understand what Sony was trying to create, which it lived up to and then just gotten taken over by lonely people looking for something more.

Now that Sony announced that they will be closing Playstation Home for good in March 31st, 2015. I can't say I'm bothered about it.

This was my experiance of Ps Home, do you have one?

~ Mici

By Mike

21.September.2014

Esports (Electronic Sports) is a relatively new thing in the gaming universe, yes competitions and events have been held for gamers for many years but gaming has never been called a sport. Until now. With games such as League Of Legends and DOTA 2 becoming so popular and practically out of nowhere the idea for annual competitions for those games was a no brainer. The game themselves are based around small teams of 5 or less playing against each other to complete a series of objectives and ultimately destroy the other teams base. With player v player games (PvP) being popular for online gaming with Call Of Duty holding similar events, the term Electronic Sports has been on the rise in recent years especially with the addition of Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas or MOBA's. A DOTA 2 tournement has just finished with the winning team taking home $10,000,000 (That's a lot 0's).

The outside world views gamers as "Fat, Lazy, Living in their mum's basement" but when you can play a game and earn that sort of money, you would be stupid to not give it a go after all gaming is supposed to be fun right? With this new look on the competitive gaming world, games go from casual fun with some friends to a very hardcore session resulting in anger, insults and eventually "Rage Quits". So if gaming is supposed to be fun why is it so many people find themselves shouting at the TV screen or computer monitor and eventually switching off their console mid game or just quitting usually with the words "I hate this (Insert swear word) Game" Is this the kind of feeling you want to get from games to end up expelling your hate for it? With so many players trying to be "Pro" or "MLGers" the gaming community is turning toxic (A lovely word to describe negativity i picked up from LoL) With every gamer wanting to be professional or make a living from gaming should we encourage this with such a huge pay out or should we cool it back a bit because you don't have to play a game online for too long before you're insulted. Remember i said gaming was fun?

Now let's look at the schedule of the teams who take part in these competitions professionally, for starters they all move into the same house normally, a Coach or Trainer will also live there. They will wake up, eat food and then train all day everyday. Behind the glamor of playing at tournaments and competitions there is a slightly less glamorous  scene with players "training" on their game most of the day especially days leading up to tournaments. They have to live through the negativity to make a living. Now this isn't all cases by a long shot but from what i have read it is many cases and as a professional gamer they probably see it all. But that huge pay out is just over that hill and all they have to do is climb it. Teams are changing players all the time kicking out players who are "Bringing us down" or "shouldn't be playing with us" in other words not to their standard. Which is probably heart crushing to be told "Yeah you're not that good of a player we want you out" everything you have worked for crushed in seconds. Remember how gaming was fun?

Now i know the thought of playing games for a living sounds fun and that it would be every gamers dream job but in reality it really isn't. Many game developers have quit because of how difficult, time consuming and mentally challenging it is. Watch Indie Game: Documentary and you will see exactly how some of those devs feel, a good majority have signs of depression purely from working in the game industry. I know some game testers and for every hours play they have to write their experience minute by minute, the fun just flies out the window and yes casual play testers who get beta access say "Oh this is great" but you aren't the ones going through every single minute of play finding bugs and exploits. How many Beta players have actually reported a bug to a company? I know some of you have but probably not many. Who is the first person to cry when that bug isn't fixed? The players. So again working in the game industry even as something as simple as a play tester is mentally draining and tears any joy from playing a game because you know "When i'm done here i have a 6 hour report to write" Remember how games were fun?

SO back onto the topic of Esports, yes Esports is great and promotes the gaming industry massively. The games featured on Esports population shoots up almost every year, but the negatives behind all that put a downer on things. For the players to be called Athletes (As recognized by the USA) is just a bit silly. When someone says "Athlete" who springs to mind? Go on say out the first name you come to when you hear Athlete. What? You mean it wasn't Walshy the DOTA2 player from America? Not even F0rest the Counter-Strike player from Sweden? See this is how Esports is evolving. Personally i think Athletes should stay as Athletes and Esports players given a new title because the day an Esports player gets mixed with another Athlete and ends up in the ring with Wladimir Klitschko (Heavyweight boxing champion) would be well interesting at the very best. But jokes aside Esports is good and all but in my very own personal opinion its bad is almost balanced with it's good and now every 12 year old with Call Of Duty thinks they're going to be the next world champion and it's just not realistic. Those winning Esports teams are more like robots than gamers they, play, eat, sleep, repeat. From a personal experience i played in a team for Rainbow Six and we were invited to a tournament in America but turned it down because yes it would have been great but we had to provide everything! From travel, food, accommodation and would only see any money if we finished in the top 4 and at the time we knew we sucked we were just a bunch of mates who played the same game. But there is many people who wouldn't have turned that down and maybe been soul crushed when they got there and faced the real "professional teams"

Overall i think Esports should keep doing what it's doing but make it more inviting for the players who don't want to play the same game every night, they should bring an open division where you can sign up and just play. I know MLG do this but for most you need a team and there is a schedule and most of us have work or School so we can't keep to schedules all the time. Maybe make it more open and for god's sake lower the prize fund! $10 million for being better at a game than some people is ridiculous it is encouraging negative behavior to players who aren't as good as you. Many times i have heard people call others insulting derogative names because they didn't finish as high on the scoreboard as others the gaming world is getting negative especially with online gaming and maybe the 12 year old Call Of Duty players should take a step back and maybe the 24/7 DOTA2/LoL players should say "Maybe the players on my team have jobs and school and can't play as much as me, so they wont be as good or familiar" instead of "F**KING NOOBS, You're so F**king S**T! stop playing the game" and the worst case ive heard was on Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in which i head a player no older than 14 say to the player at the bottom of our board "Oh my god you suck, "Go Die"..." Welcome to the gaming world kids. Remember how games are fun?

Thank you for reading if you disagree with anything let us know and if you agree then do the same. Make sure you check out the other articles on the site and head over to our YouTube and check out some videos.

~ Mike

By Kirky

21.September.2014

As most gamers can tell you, the main protagonist is normally a man, as it has been since the existence of video games. As usual this has caused a lot of uproar from the supposed feminist gamers. From the feminist point of view, this is sexist and should be changed so that in every game you should be able to play as either gender. But are the developers of games wrong for not introducing more female protagonists?

As we’ve seen in the past decade, history-based games are a massive hit, ranging from the Call of Duty games to Assassins’ Creed. Is it wrong to not see female protagonists in these games? No, it is not. As a former History student (as well as being a logical person), I can tell you many reasons about why, in the range of games that have been complained about, women are not featured as a main protagonist. It wasn’t until the early 19th century that women could vote, let alone have jobs or professions, so would it make historical sense to have a female First World War soldier? Absolutely not – so why should it be featured in a game?

Most of the games that have been complained about for the lack of female protagonists are games that have a historical aspect. Yes, it isn’t fair that the female gamers in the world always have to play as men in the popular games, but it would be seen as ridiculous if a history-based game destroyed the era they are basing the game in for the purpose of introducing a female protagonist when most gamers don’t mind the male protagonist. Not only is it historically correct that way, it sticks to the main audience of the game.

 Personally, as a woman, I don’t mind playing as Trevor Philips when I want to go on a rampage in Grand Theft Auto V. I know that most of the series created by Rockstar are set about to appeal to the male audience, who are the majority of their sales. Companies will always appeal to the majority instead of the minority, and the same goes for games developers. Though it may seem like there are no female protagonists in the game world, the handful of female protagonists that exist are all strong, empowered women whose independence makes them great. Would you rather have women in all games with behaviours and plots like Trevor Philips, Stanley Parable and Desmond Miles or would you prefer strong women like Lara Croft and Ada Wong who can fight their way out of problems? If you make female protagonists the norm, then the whole way women are portrayed as the protagonist will change.

~ Kirky

By Geno

21.September.2014

This is gonna be more of a rant, then anything else. This is going to be about the modders, hackers, and glitchers on games (more specifically Read Dead Redemption).

In December of 2013, RDR was attacked, hacked, modded (or whatever you wanna call it) by a few no life modding assholes, which caused the game to lag horribly, players to be invisible, hideouts to finish within seconds (while getting hundreds of thousands if not millions of points) "zombies" to be laying on the ground crying for help. The "zombies" were actually zombies from Undead, but this was their "human" form. If you shot them, the game would lag even worse to where you'll possibly freeze, or get knocked off the game, even if you were alone. If you were in these sessions (we called them infected), and you switched, the "infection" would follow with you and infect every session you, or the other players would go into as well. This went on for 6 months before Rockstar FINALLY decided to "fix" the game. Where in reality, they broke it more than they actually fixed it. Sure, multiplayer finally works, but the other multiplayer game modes? Ha, get real. Undead freezes within seconds, co-op will error out mid-way through, poke & liar's dice have their share of problems. Racing doesn't surprisingly.. at least for me.

The Xbox version of RDR has been broken a total of four times now. Once before this happened in December, when it happened in December, and twice since June.. and right now, it's currently on it's fourth setback. Each time, it's done by the same person (or persons), and each time, it's happening quicker each time. This time, for Xbox, it lasted about a week or two before it got destroyed again. This same person enjoys doing it to stroke their own massive ego, an ego they have over a game, and a game they enjoy destroying. Pathetic!

The thing that bugs me about this, is I shouldn't have to go into a session on my guard at all times wondering if I'm either going to get frozen, knocked off the game, or worse, and when I tend to bitch, or complain about any of this, I'm either told to stop complaining and that it's part of the game, or to watch the map, or leave the session if I see some well known douche bag that does nothing but freeze you for joy. That's not what RDR (or any game) is about, nor is it suppose to EVER be like that. And for someone to tell me to leave the session, or watch over my shoulder, or go to Undead Overrun (that doesn't even work half the time cause Rockstar's to incompetent to fix their shit) to get immune to the undead weapons that shouldn't be in free roam to begin with. is one of the most idiotic statements or suggestions you could ever give me. I should never have to do that while playing a game, nor should you ever have to give me that dumb ass suggestion either.

Another thing that bugs me is some of the people that bypass the patches to get the ER, bait, wagons etc, is cause they are supposedly doing it to "fight against the abusers" when they are actually just as big of an issue and part of the problem as the others, especially when they're hypocrites (and ego-maniacs who think they're superior to others) and freeze you anyway for no reason, but still tend to wanna claim they're the "good" one's. Yes, SOME (not many) are bypassing, but only to defend the game against the "evil" one's. It's still a problem, but not as big of a problem they could wanna make it to be.

All of this modding, and glitching, and bypassing was happening well before December, well before June. It's been going on for a year or two, or more, and it just gets worse as time goes on, while Rockstar sits there counting the money they're still profiting off this half broken game that has won, what was it? 170 GOTY (Game Of The Year)  awards? Yeah, they're looking into the new issues THEY caused. Rockstar managed to fix multiplayer, but somehow fuck up single player, and the other game modes. It's been three months now, Rockstar, get off your ass, give a WORKING patch, not a half-assed one like the one in June.

Modding isn't only just an issue in RDR, it's a major issue in GTA V too, and has been since online got released almost. People modding money, cars, planes, ufo's, meteor's. Freezing other players and who knows what else has been happening since last time I played it. GTA IV didn't have much of this problem honestly. That game was full of modders that just added random cars, ramps etc and made it fun honestly. I don't agree with modding at all, but as long as you're not doing it to harm anyone, or the game itself, I don't have a problem with it. Whatever tho. Any complaints just normally fall on deaf ears when it comes to Rockstar, especially when it comes to Red Dead. Or fall on deaf ears of other players who will just give you the dumbass reply of "don't play then" or "leave the session then" which, like I said above, I shouldn't have to.

Anyway, enjoy my rant.

~ Geno

By Kirky

18.September.2014

So, as you have probably seen from previous articles, Archeage is a new MMO which has just opened its' doors to its' free-to-players on the 16th of September, as well as probably burning the many bridges they shared with their previous 'founders'. In this article, I will be talking about all that happened during the headstart and the official release from the first person perspective, not just as an onlooker.

After what can only be described as an atrocious headstart of the game for the founders, who paid between the range of £35 to £110, the company Trion have officially decided to ruin the game for many of these supporters. How, you may ask yourself, have they backstabbed their adoring supporters? And I am so glad you asked.

Between the 12th and the 16th of September, the people with founders packs dealt with the many mass disconnections, the extremely large queues to get into one of the few servers (originally 4 for EU, 6 for NA), the frequent bug issues, the DDOS attacks on both the game and the Trion's sites (both the forum for Archeage and the official Glyph site), the lack of land to place both houses and farms as well as a severe lack of information from Trion about the issues that were occurring. Whilst all this was going on, Trion and Archeage were still promoting and selling themselves as a great game to buy into, but it can now be proven that anyone who bought a founders pack in the last few days prior to the headstart has been truly backstabbed and ripped off.

On the official release of the game, not only did they introduce extra servers for the expected mass of free-to-players (7 servers are now up for EU, ... are now up for NA), obsoleting the whole point of the headstart 4 days for the founders, but they also introduced starter packs with better items than what the founders - the essential testing players - received, if they ever received them, in their founders packs.

For similar prices to that of the founders packs, the starter packs receive more beneficial items than the founders received, as well as more of them. Though it can not be argued that people who paid for the Alpha and Beta access of the game should receive these new items of the starter packs as they have experienced more of the game pre-headstart than the free-to-players, it is hard not to see the anger, hatred and downright disgust currently raging on the Archeage forum by the people who paid just for the ruined headstart weekend after the open beta had finished. These people were not informed about the starter packs that would be released as soon as the game released, which turns the stomach of many a player. No one prior to release was informed of the superior packs to come with similar, if not better, items to the other packs.

Were Trion trying to grab extra pennies prior to official release for the headstart weekend, or did they 'forget' they had already added and priced better packs for players in the patch they only updated 2 hours prior to the official release, which was postponed by an hour itself?

If I could go back in time with hindsight of all their errors for the release of this game, I would not buy the founders pack for this game. Not only did they ruin and obsolete the headstart of the people who supported them from the point they decided to translate this game for the Western world (that's right, this game already exists in Korea and Russia and has done for 2 years, so you'd think Trion would have seen the potential flaws as they happened to the other versions of the game), they also backstabbed them by trying to sell more. It is sad to know that gaming companies no longer give a damn about their fan bases, as another main company (EA) have already spat on their fans this year, but care more about the pounds and dollars you are willing to pump into their pockets.

Though Archeage itself is a good game, Trion have ruined what was supposed to be a fun experience for their fans and may never regain the trust they lost again. Stay free to play, don't give them a dime.

Thank you to the founders that provided information and their experiences.

~ Kirky

By Vago

16.September.2014

I know the whole world is playing Destiny at this very moment. They might even be playing it some were in a village and we might not even know, but this game has been good, it has been hyped, and it has been purchased by the whole world and that is a lot of gamers. One has to think with all this success do you think they might make sequels to Destiny?

 I mean the possibility is there, take a look at the video games that are out GTA, Call Of Duty, Battlefield, Halo (Also a Bungie classic) and Assassins Creed, all of these games have numerous sequels and there are a lot more games out there that have sequels. Some games developers are tasked with releasing a new game every year. The biggest example is sports games, all  sports games have a new release every single year and usually the updates or improvements is something very small or "tiny" upgrades. The graphics get updated and they look amazing or better than the last version, but will this happen to Destiny? Will all the hype and all the fame that is getting on all consoles bring more sequels to the next gen and later gens of gaming? Or wil Destiny be a one hit wonder with hundreds of expansions and updates like the vast majority of Massively Multiplayer Online gamers available today. Would a Destiny 2 make sense given the story line or will it be better for Bungie to use what they have learned and create another epic release as Halo was so many years ago and how Destiny is turning out to be now.

 In the opinion of ProGamers, sequels that look good and that are not entirely the same than the previous game, for example on one hand we have the Mass Effect trilogy, those games created a whole new world for players to explore and the story was immersing and had so many different endings and way you could play and every game continued the story and told one of the best Sci-Fi stories we have seen. On the other hand we have Call of Duty which releases a new game every year and every year the same thing happens, "It's exactly like the last one there's just this little difference". yet we still buy them and give the developers money this is why they keep making them. Game sequels should make you want to play and make you want to continue the story not get them because they're the newest version of a bland story. What do you think to Gaming sequels and the possibility of a Destiny 2?

~ vago

By Mike

13.September.2014

So ArcheAge the sandbox MMORPG available on PC has gone into it's Founder's exclusive 4 day head start and like most MMO launches it has been quite a ride for some players. Within minutes of the game launching Servers were queued with some servers quoting 3+ hours waiting time. The items that are founders exclusive have yet to be seen in the European servers, with some North American players reporting problems with the packs. Some even state that they received more than 1 pack and others received non so that may be why Europe hasn't seen any yet. As all MMO launches are bound to have queues we will not look directly at the queuing but we will mention how some players were placed in the "General" queue which is only for non Patron (The games subscription status) players, which of course all founders are Patron so this bug was notified and quickly fixed before the end of day 1. The queues although very long and tedious was better than not getting into the game at all.

After sitting through a 1 hour queue I managed to get into the game, create my character and begin my Journey for the next hour my game play was uninterrupted and went very smoothly, although the servers were very cramped and some NPC's had a large number of players around them making them difficult to interact with however the game played as it should have. That was until the first disconnect of the night, in which I quickly jumped back on to find myself in another queue... However don't fear because the games developer is implementing a grace period for disconnected players which will give 5 minutes to log back in and not require queuing. Queuing aside the actual game play is flawless with the odd bug here and there, one of the most entertaining was my character suffocating from air after having been under water, but a report has been sent to the developers and they should get round to fixing it. the Quests are very crowded and at one point i found myself in another queue as shown in the title Image to pick up a quest item, it was nicely organized though and it moved along fairly quickly. The biggest disappointment was the selfishness of players who as soon as they could placed a house in the limited farming areas and had their friends help with the blueprints which require a certain number of Gilda Stars (the in game currency gained through main quests). On more than one occasion i have walked through housing areas and seen 4 houses next to each other owned by the same player whilst other players cannot place the basic farm due to the plain selfishness of players. The limited land space is the biggest problem so far and the fact players can own more than 1 house is the cause, the houses should have been 1 per server that way it would have been equal chance for players to get houses or even place the basic farm, maybe Trion will look to this problem in the future but at the moment it is the biggest cause of world chat complaints.

With the server status fluctuating as can be seen via the twitter page that posts the status of the servers @ArcheAgeStatus the servers fluctuate between up and down causing plenty of lag and in some cases disconnections, however as we are into day 2 the queues are mostly gone but the disconnections are still there. As I am writing this the game is currently unavailable to me due to the server status and other errors causing issues with login authentication which is causing the game to not recognize players usernames/passwords and not letting them play. ArcheAge has personally posted saying their engineers are working on getting everything back on track as soon as possible.

All in all the launch has been Problematic with unseen errors appearing on peoples screens but Trion have done well to provide some public information and say they are working on it. We will just have to see what happens on Tuesday for the full release, I can see Queue Simulator 2014 being a big hit on September 16th it was a couple of hours for Patrons, the general queue will be insane!

For more information on ArcheAge please check out our Beta review or simply search Archeage and get involved in the madness!

~ Mike

By Mike

11.September.2014

Okay so I have played Destiny for just over an hour now and im now going to relay my experience back to you because research shows that if something doesn't interest you in the first hour you are unlikely to continue doing that. You like how I made that up? Yeah me too, anyway back on topic.

I started the game with a 30 minute download and compatibility patch which as always is useful, once the game decided it was ready, it was started with a cut scene of some astronauts on Mars and then. Character creation. The 3 classes are Titan, which is your run of the mill run and gun type class. Hunter, which as you guessed, is more sneak and snipe and finally Warlock, which is the wizard/mage equivalent of the game. I opted for a Hunter and after spending 10-15 minutes playing around with character creator and making some hilarious looking characters i finalised my Destiny... Character. After the initial tutorial mission the game hit me like a brick wall screaming "Hey i'm an MMO  Halo crossed with Borderlands!" which isn't a bad thing i like both of those games i'll get onto the points which brought me to that conclusion in a minute.

Leveling your character doesn't seem too difficult, you get experience for completing missions and killing enemies much like any other MMO, there is also a PvP arena which i have yet to try out, various shops you can use to purchase better weapons, items and armors. The missions seem very linear with no choices so far for alternate options. I have completed 5 missions and at least twice had to protect my "Ghost" while it carries out what seemed to be the longest "accessing files" in the world. The Ghost is your Peter Dinklage companion in the game, and i mean he is the voice actor, not that it's small. Well it is small... but, i'll shut up. So far I have not had a reason to party with anyone which of course is an option but it's not forced which is nice for any lone wolf players, that being said you do require the internet at all times to play this game.

The points which felt Halo-esque included some of the familiar looking armor and weapons a long with the fact it's a Bungie game so it is bound to have similarities. You have a rechargeable health similar to Halo's shield system you Jump crazy high which is made higher with the double jump perk. I know that Sci-Fi games are similar but when Bungie stated "Destiny is the Halo MMO" they weren't lying. I felt some Borderlands in there too with the combat system being heavily similar to Borderlands with you aiming your gun like a First Person Shooter and little damage numbers flying off your target, also the shops are similar to Borderlands and change their stock on a timed basis. It seems Bungie took all the best features from Halo and threw the combat system along with a few other feature from Borderlands into an epic Sci-Fi game. It reminds me of a similar MMO that is already on the market called Defiance which was available for PC and PS3 which is very similar to Destiny with it's Sci-Fi theme, very shooter heavy and similar features. Destiny is just better marketed to the masses which was obvious after winning the most successful game launch ever award.

Overall the game will keep me coming back to it, there are many features i want to try not to mention i want to get a cool looking cloak, that is my goal in any game that has cloaks. The updates with this game are what will keep people on board and playing so hopefully Bungie will surprise us with future updates, one of which has already been announced for the end of 2014 so we will see what they bring to the table. I won't rate the game as i have not played enough of it but be sure that i will be playing this game extensively for the next few weeks.

Thank you for reading and as always check out the other articles and head to the Facebook page and let us know what you think! As for me, I will be jumping back into my space ship and flying to my next Destiny!... Mission.

~ Mike
 

By Kirky

08.September.2014

Have you ever played a massively multiplayer online game that claims to be free to play and instantly thought to yourself "If I paid into this game, I'd be better off"?

In the modern day of gaming, most MMO gamers can tell you that most of the time the label of 'free to play' is not all that free after all.  Whilst most gamers would happily pay for a great game on a subscription-only, such as games like World of Warcraft, we all prefer the idea of playing a game for free. So why aren't they free anymore?

Since most games can't compete with the main subscription-only MMOs, any new MMO is released as 'free to play', but you need to be wary of the games which use this label. Since these games do not have to be purchased, they all now come with a mini-transaction store. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Games such as Rift and Path of Exile may have cash shops in-game, but they do not result in you being able to buy major advantages over other players. The cash shop is merely there for the cosmetic and catch-up purposes of the player.

For other MMO games, the cash shop is there to improve your character in ways you can not improve in-game. In the game Forsaken World, for example, you can buy gems, fusion agents, pets and their pet skills on the in-game store. All of these things improve your character and can improve them from the start. They give the players an advantage over every other player who doesn't buy in, and most of the time you need to buy into the game to actually have any success generally, not just with the PvP aspect. These are the claimed 'free to play' games you need to look out for, as they are more 'pay to win' than anything else. Most of the time, you can tell that these games aren't all that free by reading the chat window in-game for about five minutes as it tends to be spammed with people buying and selling for high amounts of in-game gold. Whilst the games themselves never say you have to spend money to win, there is always the competition to be better than the rest which fuels the spending of the hard earned money lining your wallet and the 'sales' they have frequently on in-game items that you need to improve your character.

Do 'free to play' games still exist in the MMO world? Yes, but you need to search to find them. Check the reviews online and always remember to try the game. There may be a buying aspect to the game, at certain points, but the choice to buy is always your own. Every game out there is worth a trial, and there may even be one worth spending for.

~ Kirks

By Mike

07.September.2014

Remember the days of going down to your local gaming shop, waiting outside in the cold for it to open, running in and picking up the first copy of the game you want you see, throwing money at the cashier and running home to play your holy grail? What happened to that feeling? All of a sudden the feeling of going out and physically purchasing games is quickly becoming a thing of the past, with all the modern ways you can now get a hold of games, gaming shops may be a thing of the past in the next 10 years and that would be so depressing. With digital copies of games being the preferred choice for most gamers especially those on PC, physically having a box and a disk isn't as appealing as it used to be, especially since now most games, even console, require you to install a portion of it. So why sit there with a disk and install a portion when you can save yourself the trip down to the game shop and just install the entire game?

For PC gamers there is only one real way to get games and that is the Steam platform by Valve. If you are a PC gamer or even if you aren't you have most likely heard of Steam. It has thousands of games a click of a mouse a way, put in your bank details and done your game is downloading. Now I'm quite a sucker for Steam with my steam library having over 100 games in it, so i can give a fair view that Steam as a way of getting games is probably the most convenient platforms available. Steam sales are a big draw in and many people think "why should I pay £30/$50 on a game from GameStop when i can get it on Steam for like $20" this is true the value you get with some Steam sales is amazing, speaking from experience here, I got Skyrim, Far Cry 3 and Just Cause 2 all for less than £10/$20 which is why I am a sucker for Steam. But for the oder generation of gamers this is not what they want, many gamers still love the trips down to the game shops, picking up games, looking at the back of cases, talking to staff and generally being 100% more social than us modern day gamers who have everything at out finger tips thanks to the internet and digital copies.

With Steam being one of the first mainstream digital platforms for games, many other game companies have followed suit with EA coming out with Origin and Ubisofts Uplay, how long will it be before printing CD's becomes a thing of the past and hardrive sales skyrocket due to the terabytes of gaming platforms and games we will have to download? Other companies have used the success of Steam to produce their own websites selling games, CD keys for Steam games and in some cases movies. It seems the digital age is upon us and the physical age is dying out faster than the Dodo.

Now I'm not saying this is a bad thing, Steam and the similar platforms have made everything so easy for gamers and even those who didn't game, giving them access to new ways to play which is fantastic for the gaming community. We have seen a very sudden rise in server population on hundreds of games that have recently become available on Steam and similar platforms, not only do they give you access to games far more easily they show you similar games for you to try which broadens your gaming horizon. But I will never forget my trips to the gaming shops and talking to the staff about games, I'll never forget 1 trip on New Years Eve when I went in for Arma X Anniversary Edition I scraped the price tag of £30 together went to the counter and spent probably 30 minutes on a cold winters evening talking to the guy behind the counter about the game and other games, when we finally remembered i was purchasing a game he put it through the counter pressed some keys and said "that will be £15" I thought he had got it wrong but paid the £15 non the less it was only after saying thanks and goodbye i looked at the receipt and saw he had actually put a 50% discount on it and wrote "Awesome dude" on the receipt. That is probably one of my favourite trips to my local Game shop and a lot of people wont have similar experiences. It's a shame to see so many game retailers in financial trouble because of the digital age.

If you want more information on anything you have read above you can send us a message over on the Facebook page and next time you're walking by your local game shop just go inside and wander around a bit talk to the staff because it's service you will not get anywhere else.

~ Mike

By Vago

04.September.2014

Microsoft will be letting Xbox Live Gold members play one of Xbox One's best selling games, Forza Motorsports 5 from Thursday (at 12:01AM Pacific) till Sunday (at 11:59PM Pacific).

Between those times, you'll have unrestricited access to the game. Meaning you'll unlock achievements and participate in a very special in-game endurance event called the Grand Tour of Prague. However, once the time expires, you'll have to buy the game, be it in Xbox One's store, or at a retail. From there, you'll pick up right where you left off.

For the U.S Players, you'll be able to enter a sweepstakes for a day-day trip to Arizona's Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, where you'll be able to participate in the Forza Motorsport Grand Prix Road Racing Class.

This comes just weeks before the next release inthe Forza series, Forza Horizen 2. Forza Horizon 2 releases September 16th.

What are you waiting for Gold members? Get to downloading! Enjoy it while you still can!

~ Vago

By Vago

01.September.2014

Has anyone else had that one game that you just cant get enough of? The game that keeps you up at night just because you want to level up or want to gain more cards or just want to defeat the worst noob out there. Well i hope every gamer has that game, the one that keeps them up at night and be that game that you will never forget you played. I know i have played a game like that, on high school nights I stayed up looking at my PC screen trying to figure out the best tactic trying to figure out what will be the next move that the opposite team will do. Yes that game is not checkers or some board game for me, that game was Age of Empire a tactics game that every move that you did effected the outcome of the match. To me that is the first game that "I fell in love with" a game that i will always remember for years to come that i played and enjoyed even though most of the time i fell asleep on the keyboard. What was the first game you fell in love with? Or if you do not want to call it that, what is the game that you will never forget playing.

~ Vago

By Mike

19.August.2014

:WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS:

So as you know if you have played any of the Assassins Creed games, that they tie in at almost every corner from the characters you play as to the characters you interact with. This will get confusing so lets kick it off with Altaïr and Desmond Miles.

You start the first game as Desmond Miles a character with a lack of personality, who at this point you know nothing about, you are running around as Altaïr in what looks to be a crazy tanning machine trying to find the Apple of Eden. The first game revolves more around the idea of Altair being Desmonds distant ancestor and the Templars of the 11th century still being around in the 21st and they are after whatever it is hidden in Desmonds past. Altaïr as you find out in the second game is the "Master Assassin" and becomes the leader of the Assassins Creed of which the later assassins follow. The first game is the starting blocks for the series and allows you to meet the female companion Desmond will have until he inadvertently stabs here... More on that later.

The second game has Desmond on the run from the Templars with his trusty companions Lucy Stillman, Shaun Hastings and Rebecca Crane. The crazy tanning machine we spoke of earlier is now set up in in a hidden location and Desmond begins his training with the help of another ancestor  Ezio Auditore da Firenze, try saying that 3 times fast. The game again follows Desmond and Ezio's journey through time to recover the Apple of Eden and rebuild the Codex, a book written by Altaïr which all assassins must follow the rules. During this game Ezio meets famous artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci who crafts Ezio's hidden blade to allow him to keep his finger (An old assassin tradition to show dedication to the creed) the first two games are pretty straight forward With Altaïr being the ancestor of Desmond and Ezio, basically Desmond is the tie in, it's not until the 3rd game where it gets confusing.

(I will skip out the 2 games between the 2nd and 3rd but will give a brief overview of what happens.)
Ezio becomes the head of the Assassins and after aging 20-30 years the now grey Ezio can still run around, climb buildings and take down endless guards. It must be all that fruit and vegetables he eats. Demond has again escaped the templars and set up shop in the ruins of Villa Auditore. After running and jumping through hoops to find the Apple of Eden (which turns out to be in the basement behind the old cupboards) Desmond reaches out and touches the Apple which leads to time freezing, an alien saying she is Demond's ancestor and Desmond losing control and stabbing Lucy before going into a coma. Assassins Creed Revelations takes place in what is now Turkey, Istanbul. In this game you learn more about the alien race known as the "First Civilisation" and the vaults and relics they created Desmond awakens at the end of this game and states they must go after the vault which brings on the confusion of Assassins Creed 3.

So here goes, Assassins Creed 3 has you playing as Ratonhnhaké:ton also known to us lazy folk as Connor Kenway who it turns out is the son of the Templar Grand Master Haytham Kenway, although you don't find this out until much later in the game, Once again Desmond is the tie in with both of these characters being Desmonds ancestors and obviously them being father and son. At the end of the game there is a plot twist, Desmond Dies. I'll let that sink in, all the work you have done over the last 5 games is gone, just like that all the characters you have played as are thanks to Desmonds lack of selfishness. By choosing to save humanity rather than himself.

Which brings us to the fourth installment and my personal favourite which has you playing as a nameless, faceless, first person character at a gaming development company that is using the Tanning machine (Animus) to find exciting game ideas from the past. Your particular character is part of the "Devils of the Carribean" development process with your character following the footsteps of his distant ancestor a Welsh pirate by the name of Edward Kenway... wait what? Yes this new character you play as in the modern day world is non other than another relative of Desmond, however the story does not point this out although it is obvious from the character you play. The Templars take particular interest in this character after themselves working out they have a common ancestor to Desmond. So lets explain this, Desmond is the ancestor of Connor who is the son of Haytham who is the son of Edward, who is the great great great great grandson or something of Ezio who is the great great great great great, you get the picture of Altair but at the same time this new character you play as is also the relative of Desmond and therefore all of those people. Unless of course Edward is the first common relative they have because Edward has 2 children to 2 different women so maybe his daughters tree leads to this new character and his sons tree leads to Desmond...

Right i am confused now, basically Assassins Creed is tied in, hats off to the writers i don't know how they can keep up. We will have to see where Arno the french revolutionist ties in because he is probably the grandson of Edwards daughter or something.

~ Mike

By Mike

16.August.2014

Hello Games are bringing a whole new meaning to 'open-world' when it comes to No Man's Sky.

Recently, Hello Games revealed the game is so large, it'll take 5 BILLION YEARS to visit every single planet in the game. Even if you just visited each planet for one second. This was made possible because Hello Games decided to use 64-bit numbers rtaher than 32-bit. Even with 32-bit, it would've taken thousands of years to visit each planet.

Now because of 64-bit, that number jumped dramatically. Hell Games have said that can't even begin to tell us how many planet's there are in the game. But with how long it'll take, one can only imagine the number.

What do you guys think? Too big of a game? or is No Man's Sky finally the open world game you've always wanted? Let us know below!

No Man's Sky releases in 2015 for PC & PS4.

By Mike

14.August.2014

DLC or Downloadable Content is extra content for your games which you can get for what is usually a small fee. The most common form of DLC is multiplayer items or maps because "Everyone wants to be the best" The Call of Duty franchise is very DLC heavy especially with it's multiplayer maps, with there being usually 2-3 map packs planned or in development for the game even before it has released.

For most gamers DlC is a nice optional thing to have however some gamers feel compelled to own all the DLC for a game even if they rarely use it, for example I own all the DLC map packs for Modern Warfare 3 (Stupidly i know) and i very rarely play the game and even when the packs released i was putting less than a few hours a week into it. When companies plan DLC like that it is purely to make money, that is the general feeling. Especially when the DLC is planned prior to the release of the game. When games get DLC that further the story mode or add something unique that is when a DLC is deemed fair such as Skyrim. It took around 100 hours to complete that game fully and when the DLC came out those added another 20 or so hours of questing and exploring i feel 20 hours is worth the price of some DLC but when games are adding things like the clothes in Saints Row 2 you could buy... I mean WTF? are your single player clothes really that important? Some other pointless DLC includes the Oblivion Horse Armour and the Tomb Raider Multiplayer DLC both of those things could have not been made and nothing would be different.

Remember back on your PS2 when if you wanted something extra in your game you had to complete specific challenges like if you wanted a specific car you had to finish a race in a certain time or if you wanted a special weapon you had to get 50 headshots on a level? what happened to giving us a challenge to earn rewards instead of saying "Here have this weapon which will make everything easier, but WAIT! it will cost you $5" I mean it takes the fun out of most things. I know we have to pay for devs work but if the game was complete in the first place we wouldn't need DLC. Now i'm not saying DLC is bad and should be buried along with the likes of Miley Cyrus and The Walking Dead: Survival Instincts but what I am saying is that DLC should make you want it, because it adds a new dimension to your game or gives you another spree of enjoyment, not give you a new setting to have 12 year olds tell you "how much they slept with your mother" or "how much you suck a certain sexual organ" I think in future i will not purchase DLC until i have experienced 100% everything in the game and only then will i consider DLC if it adds something to the game that will bring hours of enjoyment.

Another thing is the Season Pass which is a relatively new thing to come out at least commonly. Sports games have season passes which give you updates all season long and even gives you weekly player packs for their "Ultimate team" and "career mode" as the name suggests. So why the hell do games like Call of Duty and Titanfall have season passes? I'll tell you why, it's so you can buy all the DLC before it is made which is a huge commitment. You are basically saying "Yes in 6 months time when all your DLC is out I will still be playing this game enough to warrant the extra $30 on a season pass" it is a stupid idea. Season passes should not be so games can sell you DLC before it's made it should be for sports games which is the only genre of game i can fairly say should have a seaon pass as sports games are constantly updated with player changes team changes and the fact you build a team from scratch so the weekly packs help. Can i also say when i Pre-ordered Titanfall i got the season pass free which was a nice gesture but i have literally played 10hours of Titanfall since it released so if i had bought the season pass i'd be a little bit annoyed!

Thank you for reading, it's a bit of a rant but i can safely say i will not be purchasing any DLC in the coming months.

TLDR: DLC is not bad but some is tedious and pointless, map packs are stupid and don't even get me started on Season passes... Oh and something about sucking a sexual organ.

By Kirky

12.August.2014

Since the creation of World of Warcraft, many companies have produced, sold and released many massive multiplayer online games. Though many of these games have a similiar fantasy based vibe, with a limited selection of races, they have all had their unique selling point to draw in the masses to their gaming community.

Archeage has found a new and unique way to bring in their players which can guarantee continuous play as well as developing a new type of addiction. Whilst most MMO games give you the ability to harvest the map's natural resources whilst developing your character, Archeage takes this to a new level. Instead of just harvesting the bounty of the land, you can grow your own crops. By adding the farming feature to the game, it gives the player the ability to farm their own land, to raise their own animals and to build their own forest. Whilst you can use these natural resources of the game for your quests, they can also be used to produce the character's own property. Ever wondered if you can own your own boat or ship in an MMO? Archeage gives you the ability to do so by trading Gilda Stars, which can be obtained from the main quest line, for the blueprints of houses and transport. Though you need to pay weekly tax for your houses and farms, the land itself is yours to use to your heart's desire!

Unlike any other game, however, what you own can be destroyed and stolen by the other players. In the game, every player (once they have reached level 15) has the ability to pillage your properties, steal your crops and slaughter your animals. This mode, also known as the bloodlust mode, can be activated at level 15. The mode lets you steal from your own faction instead of just stealing from your enemies of the opposite isle, though it can lead to being punished with prison time voted on by your fellow peers on the jury. For every criminal act you perform, you receive 3 infamy points - your crimes can be reported by other players using the red footprints that you leave at the scene of the crime. If you die following a battle with another player after receiving 50 or more infamy points, you will be placed into a trial where a select group of level 30+ players get to vote whether you are guilty or innocent of the crimes reported against you. With 300 infamy points, you can become a pirate of the high seas, though beware that you will be hunted down if you return to land outside of one of the ports.

Like every other MMO, to add alongside its' unique features, Archeage has a range of races to select from: the Elves; the Nuians; the Firrans; and, the Harani. Each race has its' own unique abilities to adapt the character, though there are no race-specific classes like in some MMOs that are currently playable. The class system adds to the individuality of this game by letting you develop it further as you play the game. Instead of selecting a race at the start of the game for your character, you select the first of 3 classes you wish your character to be. As you get into the game and level, you add the other 2 classes to your character, adding to its' playability. It is also possible to remove any of the chosen classes if you wish to change their style. There are hundreds of combinations possible, allowing your character to have an advantage in the game for your benefit specifically depending on your game style, especially in the PvP. As with most MMOs, PvP is available to all players. The PvP zone on the map is set in the sea, to make trade runs between the continents more interesting. There is also PvP available on-land, though these areas are specifically marked as "War-Time" to allow people to avoid these areas if they wish, though these areas change regularly to give a realistic war vibe.

It is currently in the stages of the third closed beta event this week, only available to Founder Pack owners. In the next month, it will be hosting open beta events for its' free to play members. It will be open for playing at some point within Autumn this year so if you are interested, look out for Archeage news on the Trion or Archeage website.

If you are interested in Archeage, or any other Trion games, let us know over on the facebook page and we will be sure to keep you updated!

~ Kirky

By Mike

11.August.2014

So it has recently come to light that a hacker has used illegal means to gain access to  up to 24 million, yes million, League Of Legends accounts and has been using this access to charge players to remove enemy players from the other team to gain an advantage. This is just one of many mainstream MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games to be victim to hackers. Back in 2012 hackers  gained access to Blizzards World of Warcraft severs and literally killed off thousands of player's characters all in one instant. Now that is a relatively safe form of attack with the only thing you losing out on is a few minutes to respawn, but what of the major hacking attacks in which bank details, personal information and important things are taken by force using cyber attacks. Many Online games now offer improved security for their servers and other also offering an authenticator, which is a small device or phone app that generates a code unique to you that is require to log on. The code usually resets every minute or so.

This brings the question will online games ever be safe from hackers? In my honest opinion there will always be people wanting to exploit the system we see it everywhere, from politicians to bankers to players on GTA, so MMO's will be no different, due to the growing popularity of Esports and online competitions, multiplayer games have risen in popularity and servers have reached the limits in some cases. With the League Of Legends attack it just shows how many players were at risk during the attack, and as a LoL player myself i know it can be frustrating when you disconnect and there is also a temporary ban should you disconnect mid game, so millions of players were at risk to bans or possibly losing their account all together. Which doesn't sound like a lot to people who don't play MMO's but they are growing not only in popularity due to the game but also the social side, i used to play an online RPG purely for the friends i made there. For most the game is the only way to contact these friends and in some cases these friends are relatively close so to lose that all in a sudden can be heart breaking.

There has been risks of hackers since the dawn of online games, with people giving their details out to strangers who will "Power Level" your character or "Get you the best gear" but this is true. 99% of these are scams with the only intention of stealing your account. I know everyone has played Runescape or knows someone who has, that game is huge. Bet you also know someone who was hacked or scammed? It's easier on that because it's mostly kids and teenagers who want to be the best like no one ever was, but it's so common it's scary.

Stay safe in the world of MMO's keep your passwords and details to yourself and store them on paper rather than a word document, and if an authenticator is available i would recommend using it for that extra bit of security, the last thing you want is your months and possibly years of work gone just like that.

~ Mike

By Vago

6.August.2014

With so many DLC for GTA Online one has to wonder when the heist will actually come. But many people are asking and have been wanting the Bikers DLC, so many people so many MC Crews are in GTA Online that it will actually benefit Rockstar from releasing this DLC. What I do like about the whole "MC world" in GTA V is that they are well organized and they actually have rules and really like to enjoy themselves out there with the limited amount of Harley style motorcycles and clothing.

When I say they are well organized I would like to bring up a special event that will be hosted by the MC's on September 6, 2014 they do invite everyone to join. If this even were to turn out like everyone expects it, it would be a wonderful thing to see so many online gamers gather for a cause. But hey if you are reading this and just would want to join this or actually give it a try I do advice you to go to http://the-mc-community.weebly.com/accredited-mcs.html and do check it out, if you would actually want to join one of the accredited MC that they have and not just join a MC that was made by a five year old yesterday. I myself have been in a "MC Crew" on GTA Online, and some of them are really friendly some of them have beef with others or some are just plane crazy. But you have to check this event out when enemies and people that hate each other leave the problems at home and gather in peace its a must attend to see what is going on. Myself and my crew will be there recording, we even have made a few bike shows and bike runs. This event will be on both XBOX and PS3, they will have a biker purge party that will taking place in a public lobby and will be praying on the non- bikers.

With the mentioning of Rockstar and them lagging it with the Heist DLC, it might not even come out for the old gen, as they said it would. What would you think about getting a Biker DLC, some more Motorcycles, biker attire to appeal to a Biker Crew?

Check out the link below for the biggest GTA Online MC event.

http://sturgissandyshores.weebly.com/

By Vago

5.August.2014

Researchers have done another study, this time it shows that if children play one hour of video games that it will be good for them only if its one hour or less. They have found that when children do play an hour or less they become more adjusted and fewer conduct problems. The other "add-on" that children get while playing games is that they have better empathized with others.

But when something like a murder happens or something bad happens with the children or young adults that have outburst and do play games they immediately blame the games, the game developers and the game community. Its all fine and dandy that they do research and do all this brain storming but they really need to make up there mind of were "in there views" games will fall. For me games are good some people use it as an escape from there life's and actually do fall in love or fall into the community of people that might be friendlier than people in real life. And there is the ones that do game but for fun, gaming has become a perk to some its enjoyable and at the same time you have children who get on and just try to be hard balls online aka internet warriors.

Gaming is fun for everyone, there just has to be a limit. I believe that young children should not be allowed on games that have violence, we do not want to hear the words "its games that turns children or anyone else like this" if you do research and do say something positive then leave it at a positive level and do not go back on it. 

Oxford experimental psychologist Andrew Przybylski said he hopes the view of parents changes and comforts parents who think video gaming harms the children. Andrew Przybylski also stated that "he hopes the results will comfort parents who think playing video games is harmful for their children. Future studies on the subject should look at other aspects of gaming, including children's motivations for play and the "structural affordances of different kinds of gaming contexts."

By Geno

4.August.2014

Hello PG fans, it's time for a bit of WWE news finally. Today, we'll be talking about WWE 2K15, developed by Yuke's & Visual Concepts (first time for VC) and published by 2K Sports. It was revealed that 2K15 will be using the same high profile motion capture tech that's be used 2K's NBA series. Cool, right? Not only that, but 2K15 will have better animations, motion captured movesets, character models etc. The works! Not only that, but for the first time EVER, WWE will be coming to next-gen! Yes, PS4 & Xbox One! But don't worry, it'll be out for PS3 & Xbox 360 still as well. Game Modes have yet to be announced. Sure, we'll have the same standerd stuff like 1v1, Tag Team, Triple Threats, Fatal 4-Ways, Steel Cage, Hell in a Cell etc all that from previous games. A lot of fans a looking for NEW (or returning) match types to the WWE series. Ambulance Matches, Buried Alive, Stretcher Match, Punjabi Prison and others. At The Money In The Bank PPV on June 29th, 2014. John Cena won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the 15th time. The next night on RAW, it was revealed that Cena would be on the cover of this year's game. On July 14th, it was officially (and finally) announced that for the first time ever, 'The Icon' STING would be coming to the WWE as a pre-order bonus! And now we move to SummerSlam AXXESS, where we will finally get to see 2K15's trailer, the roster reveal, gameplay and for the lucky people there, they get to actually play it! Are you looking forward to it? Hope your favorite wrestler made the cut? Are you also looking forward to the second biggest PPV of the year? Stay tuned and keep an eye on our website, Twitter and Facebook Page. 

By Kirky

23.July.2014

Are you thinking of buying the next generation of EA's 'The Sims' series on September 2nd when it's finally released? In this article, I will tell you what to expect from the new game 'The Sims 4' as well as what not to expect.

The game release has been anticipated since late 2013, but the late release has given the creators a lot of time to show us what we have in store when the game is finally ready to be played. With the amount of walkthroughs, trailers and teasers that can be found on the official Sims website, they have left us wanting the game for nearly a year. Though there is a lot to be explored upon the release, there has been some announcements to confirm what is not going to be in the main game upon release, though it is always possible with the many expansions that will be expected with the game - as no trailer shows pets, we already know one expansion we are all likely to spend our money on. In the main game, there will be a lack of swimming pools. That's right, no more drowning your sim when you get bored of them. The easiest way to kill a sim since the first release of the series, as we are not counting putting a sim in a small room with no doors to die, will not be involved in the main release. Their reasoning behind this lack of a murder method? They made such a strong foundation that they can, as stated by Ryan Vaughan, producer of the game at Maxis, "fulfill... every one of your desires in the years to come" that it was hard to feature every piece of content from the previous games in their new revamped system for build mode in the essential starting base. Another feature that is not making the final cut for the base game release is the toddler phase of childhood. Though it is not the best phase of the game for many Sims players, it was still a worthwhile part. There is currently a petition circling the corners of the internet for Maxis to bring in these game aspects, but if you are a Simlish toddler murderer who specializes in swimming pool deaths, do not hold your breath and expect these parts any time soon.

Though the game misses out on parts of the previous games in the original base game, the revamped system gives you alot more choice to personalize, give character to and develop your Sims. Were you sick of the old slider system to customize your Sims? Now the system is based on pulling and manipulating the Sim's actual body with your mouse, to give the Sim's body more of a unique aspect. Pull and contort the bumps, lumps and muscles of the human form in the Make-A-Sim mode. Like in the previous game, the Sims have emotions, or as they were called in the last game 'Traits', to explore but this has now been developed in such a depth, story mode could be an adventure at your fingertips. By being able to create unique personalities for your distinct Sims, you can make a splash with the new emotion system. Instead of having all interactions available throughout the game, the actions available depends on the mood of the Sim. For example, a parent can play with their child whilst happy though if they are sad, the actions will no longer be available. The range of emotions now available adds to the character's personality. A romantic Sim can be flirty and passionate, whilst a sporty Sim can be energetic. The emotions are available for all Sim ages, adding more detail to characters.The Build mode itself has also been revamped to give more personality to each building and home built in-game. You can click, drag and construct in a more simpler fashion than ever. It gives eases to the build with the new tools, though the system is likely to take a lot of getting used to for previous Sim fans.

The last upcoming feature to be mentioned, as its one that I know online players will love, is the Sim Exchange. Since The Sims 2, the Sim Exchange has been an easy way to get new houses, clothes and hairstyles for your characters to use in-game. Now, in The Sims 4, it will be possible to exchange sims alongside their personalities. You will no longer just be exchanging the skin for the character, you can now exchange the character itself. With this new availability to the system, it will be easier to add new playable characters to the game without moving too many muscles.

So, The Sims 4 looks like it is ready to be the greatest Sim game yet for people wanted a more expanded, simpler system to live Simlish lives in. Is this game for Sims lovers? Yes, it is, and it's available for pre-order.
 

By Mike

22.July.2014

So Destiny Developer Bungie have stated that "Destiny is very much Halo: The MMO" with the beta available and people already getting into the game is the fact Destiny is more or less Halo a good or bad thing? It has been said that Bungie shouldn't "throw away the lessons they learned creating a series that became the flagship for Xbox" which is true Halo undoubtedly became the flagship for Xbox if you couldn't tell from their E3 conference.

However some reviewers have said that it would be stupid to create a completely different type of game after creating Halo because to use their words "creating Gran Turismo and then creating a fantasy Warlock game would be stupid." Now i'm not one to argue with anyone, but i'm just going to point out that Crash Bandicoot, that platform-er which had you running around a cute little Bandicoot breaking boxes and wearing masks and trying to stop evil Dr. Cortex. If anything a child's game if ever i have seen one. Possibly one of the best PS1 games but a child's game non the less. Now we shoot forward 15 years to find Crash Bandicoot developers Naughty Dog have made a new game, another cute little animal based plat-former? No, they have created possibly one of the best PS3 exclusives known to man, The last Of US. Yes, Crash Bandicoot is the same brain child as The Last Of Us, but of course they are stupid for not using all the lessons they learned creating Crash. Another good example is Rockstar creating Lemmings and then deciding they wanted to create Grand Theft Auto, I can see the similarities.

The trend is, game companies that evolve and are not just 1 trick ponies produce better quality games, now i'm not saying Destiny won't be good. All i am saying is to say yourself that Destiny is an MMO Halo is ridiculous, you're branding yourselves as a company that can only create 1 type of game. In my personal opinion, Bungie should come out next year and develop Viva Pinata 2, although master chief might make an appearance and shoot Horstchio in the face with his Battle Rifle.

 On another note i look forward to trying the full release of Destiny and hopefully it wont be like playing Halo, but only time will tell. Thanks for reading and may i welcome you to the ProGamers Website.

 ~ Mike

By Mici

22.July.2014

I made a post on google+ earlier today which went something like "How come there is still to few female main character based games. I mean characters Gamer Girls can love? Do we need more female game developers or just a bigger audience of girl gamers?"

Which lead to a big discussion after being called a narrow minded attention whore, for using the term Gamer Girls in the first place. First I would like to say there are two type of girl gamers, on one hand there is the one who get dulled up and take pictures of herself holding a controller and on the other hand you have a female who just love to play video games. In case anyone is wondering. I'm talking about the second one. Not the first one I was accused for being earlier today.

The mainstream games, often come with main male characters, they look alike, sound alike and have almost the same basic story to back them up to be the cocky white male character they are. Oh yeah and normally they have some type of weapon of mass destruction.

Both the gaming industry, developers and gaming community is and have been a man's world and more and more girls are grabbing a controller, kicking ass and taking names. But yet there is still to few female lead characters in the mainstream games. As well as attractive games for teenage girls, apart from Sims. To make it more acceptable as well as more desirable to them to want to start playing video games.

I'm not saying that if there is a male main character, that I won't play the game or rate the quality of those game's as bad because I don't get to play a menstruation female with boobs. But I do enjoy a game like Beyond Two Souls or Tomb Raider, mostly due to the story around the female character. It feels like I can relate more and have more of a bond with the character.

I think a lot of things have to change before females consumers will be equal to male ones. But to break that circle we have to get out of the 1940's mindset and treat us as equal without having to hear the "kitchen joke" in every second session we go in. Girl gamers have to stop the hate between each other, it is not a competition for the male gamers attention, snap out of it! There can be more then one queen in a beehive. And last but not least the gaming developing companies, need to do small steps at the time to change the perspective as well as having more playable female characters within the mainstream games. There are still more male consumers, then female. But they need to soften up to the idea, to drag in more female gamers.