Been/blown away
First off, let me apologise for not being around lately. I'm not sure how many people are regular readers or have missed this blog in its longer-than-a-month absence, but nevertheless, I'm sorry. My real job took its toll on this blog. As did my new girlfriend (who is a hot hard-core gamer, btw, eat your heart out). As did my resurfaced World of Warcraft addiction. As did Deus Ex: Human Revolution. As did Mass Effect 2. As did the Assassin's Creed games. All in all, I had valid reasons for choosing to take a sabbatical from writing about games and choosing to play them more. Mostly valid.
Sorry about that, it needed to be said. But that's not why you read this blog. A lot of things are going on, or are about to go on, so let's break them down, shall we?
Part 1: Things You Should Be Excited About.
Let's start off easy. Does anyone remember Saber Rider? That Firefly-before-Firefly 80ies cartoon? This writer does, and has loads of fond memories of its Wild West-meets-Sci-fi episodes, its obligatory super-advanced spaceship/giant fighting robot and its kick-ass music. Witness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKxWl4PcBY4
Camp by today's standards, I'll concede that. But if you were raised on it, you'd know what I'm talking about. What has this to do with gaming, you ask?
Head over there and find out. I'm disappointed by the announced release platforms, DS and iPhone. This probably means we won't get the game the Star Sheriffs deserve, and instead of
re-igniting interest in the franchise (like the new Cartoon Network Thundercats did), it could potentially be another lame joke from that party guest everyone had forgotten was still in theroom. We'll find out, I assume.
But wait, there's more to be excited about than my fav 80es cartoon getting a videogame. Skyrim, for one, has managed to do the impossible: make me replay Oblivion. Various previews and interviews promise to do everything I hated about the previous two games differently. Clunky, awkward combat? Seemingly gone. Restrictive levelling? Gone. Open world? Thankfully still there. More life-like NPCs? Thankfully, yes. Guards sniffing you stealing an apple from across the world and riding for days to arrest you for that heinous crime? Probably still there, but we can't have everything. I'm not sure if I'm falling into the hype trap or seeing the light, but I'm really getting excited. So much that I actually re-installed Oblivion to get a feel for Bethesda games again. My one sentence verdict? For once, I hope they do it right.
Mega-colossus Square Enix have also unveiled their new graphics engine. For those who drew a blank, Square Enix is the company behind the Final Fantasy games, and also the current owner of gamer favourites like Taito and Eidos. So, in a world about to be slapped in the face with Cryengine 3 and new Unreal tech soon, what can this primarily Japanese company offer? Reality, as it would seem. Head over to PC Gamer for the full story:
Last, but not least, WoW's upcoming 4.3 patch. I've been investing a lot of time in this game lately, and it shows. And come next patch, I can only weep for the time that I will sink into it, never to return. So, to summarize:
1) Three new heroic dungeons, much akin to the Lich King dungeons we got in Wrath, tied very closely, lore-wise, to the main raid of the patch. They will be dropping 378 loot, so here's your chance to catch up on the gear you've missed.
2) Deathwing raid. Blizzard are promising one of the best raids in an MMO so far. Reading about it, it does sound suitably epic.
3) Epic gems. We're finally getting those, although this time around they will be rare. Found in satchels dropped by raid bosses (much like the satchels you get from low-level instances), they will be only available to raiders and will be a semi-rare drop in those satchels. If you stocked up on Pyrium hoping to prospect them, tough luck.
4) Void storage. This seemingly useless infinite bank will cost 100g to get anything in or out of it, and will strip any gear from its enchantments or gems. I still haven't figured out what is the point of this. Maybe it has something to do with...
5) ...Transmogrification. This is part brilliant, part plain bad new feature, allowing you to change the model your gear is using for that of another similar item. You hate your new shoulders? You make them look like some shoulders you actually like. This is the brilliant part. You decide to attack that PVE-dressed player? Too bad he's in transmogrified PVP-gear. This is the bad bit. Also, I always felt like you take the good along with the bad, for example a helmet that looks like crap but its stats are good for you. Removing this feels a bit too much like Blizzard going "Have it your way, please keep subscribing to our game".
Part 2: Things I've Been Up To Lately.
Like you might have gathered, loads of WoW, including my first few proper raids and levelling another character. Also playing properly this time the last two Assassin's Creed games which, somehow, I never got around to playing to the end before. Kinda ashamed to admit that, but meh. Also, here's the big one: playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Remember what I said a few weeks back? "Despite all my anti-disappointment pessimism (still haven't forgiven Invisible War), I have high-hopes for this." Well, I'm only a few hours into the game, but by golly, it hasn't disappointed me yet. Forget Bioshock. Daddy's home. Full review to follow upon completion.
Oh, and I can't help but notice this blog has surpassed the 10k visitor mark. Thanks for that!
But enough about me. What have you been up to?
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