Bandai Namco Delays Code Vein to 2019 — All The PlayStation You’ll Ever Need.

For those of you who’re hyped for Bandai Namco’s Code Vein, your wait for their own original take on the Dark Souls formula has just been extended, as the official Bandai Namco Europe Twitter account broke news that they’re delaying the game from September 28 until sometime in 2019. CODE VEIN RELEASE DATE MOVED TO […]

via Bandai Namco Delays Code Vein to 2019 — All The PlayStation You’ll Ever Need.

Sudden Strike 4 European Battlefields Edition (Xbox One)

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Sudden Strike 4 European Battlefields Edition, is one of the few RTS games I have played this console generation, and is the ultimate version of the game containing both the game and the extra maps and such. I should also throw a quick thank you to Kalypso for tossing me this review copy.

The game itself on the One X is beautiful, and despite the old days of RTS’s not playing well on a controller, I had no issues with controls on this game.  The game also heavily focuses heavily on real life battles. This is actually my favorite aspect of the game. Each battle has some sort of explanation and as you play the game you unlock historic videos.

The game however isn’t perfect, in fact anyone familiar with command and conquer will remember the missions where you get a set number of units and a set mission to accomplish? These were my least favorite missions, and that is essentially the entire game. This is 100% a preference however. The missions are fair, yet challenging and function just fine and do have some nice variety. You may be securing a gas station to refuel your tanks or securing a bridge. That being said if your favorite part of an RTS is base building like me, this is going to be a bad time for you.

The game also makes it VERY easy to create and switch between groups of troops. I found myself creating groups of tanks and infantry simply because I could and then using them as separate entities to back each other up. The RTS genre is slim on console, but if you are looking for one, this is your chance. The game itself is a 7/10 for me, and I have no issue telling you, if you want an RTS, this is worth checking out. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Chappaquiddick (2018) — Dan the Man’s Movie Reviews

Politics and scandals? You don’t say?!? Nearly a year after his brother Bobby was murdered, Sen. Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) was considered the next great hope the U.S. Democratic party had. Did he really want to be that? Could he even do it? All of those questions were about to get answered until on July […]

via Chappaquiddick (2018) — Dan the Man’s Movie Reviews

Evil Dead

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Before the one-liners, before the madness of Asliegh Williams killing Deadites in the middle ages, before the remake that took itself way too seriously and Ash vs Evil Dead (series) there was the gory, claymated wonder that was the classic Evil Dead. Like many wacky misadventures, Evil Dead is about a group of friends that go to a nice sweet little cabin in the woods. Things are fine until the basement door pops open and in the basement they find an old tape recorder and a peculiar book made of flesh and written in human blood- like we all do. On the recorder is a translation from a past victim of the book, who loudly recites the translated incantations, unleashing the Evil Dead on them. Malevolent spirits awaken, attacking and possessing the friends, turning them into disgusting demons. By the end, on the cusp of his sanity is the whimpy, meek, Ash but can he rise to the challenge?

I know I’m playing against the the gross opinion but I actually like the original Evil Dead best. I like the gritty filming and there is a good blend of WTF scenes that are funny actual horror. Linda, Ash’s girlfriend, creeped the hell out of me with her clownish make up and wide grin. The infamous tree rape scene holds up pretty well in my opinion and is still alarming. In the end, Evil Dead is a simple movie with a simple premise that is a damn awesome B movie I recommend checking out for the simple fact it is a fun horror movie of gore, slapstick, and some chills. May the gaming gods bring you glory, now it’s time to go to sleep:)

Is evil, evil?

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Below there will be spoilers for multiple movies and TV shows that I will list.

  1. Supernatural 2. Marvel Infinity war 3. final fantasy 9

 

When I was young I remember never questioning things like this. The good guys were good, the bad guys were bad. That was it. There was no in between. The character I played or the protagonist in the movie was the good guy, the people they faced off against was the bad guy and that was how I viewed things. But then I got older and things didn’t seem so simple. However in my old age I have to wonder, maybe it isn’t so simple.

Watching Supernatural I see Gordon Walker, obsessed with killing Sam who happens to be the Antichrist. Now for those that watch the show, this isn’t entirely wrong. He actually does help mess things up pretty badly. The Winchester brothers while a force for good and saving the innocent numerous times do inadvertently cause some problems, like start the end of the world. While maybe not the best way to go about it, was Gordon a bad guy? Killing Sam would stop all kinds of bad things from happening and save many lives.

Thanos is another good example in the MCU Thanos Not the Villain?    while he may not be the typical example of a hero, and he may have a messed up way of going about it, he is far from being truly evil. What he says is factually correct, and his solution will actually work.

On the flip side, many of the people we see as heroes, aren’t truly good. Captain America in the same movie in his refusal to trade lives is guilty of the same “evil” we accuse Thanos of. He took the choice as to living or dying away from countless people in both Wakanda and in the universe as well as for Vision when he refused to let him sacrifice himself. By the time Vision was allowed to make that choice, it was far to late. Both Thanos and Captain America are arguably equal on the scale of good and evil.

There was a time in video games this wasn’t very common however, it was simply a good vs evil story. There are however exceptions to the rule. Garland from Final Fantasy 9 for example, he was a bad guy but only mostly. While he is responsible for Kuja and some unsavory things he wasn’t lets destroy the world evil like Kuja.

Now I am not saying all evil characters aren’t evil and all good ones aren’t good. But as a kid the subtle things were lost on most people and as an adult going back and seeing these things is rather odd. Fun, but odd. Now there is no real reason for this, just some random thoughts. Tell me what you think or any examples you have, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Exorcist (movie)

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In 1973 we got a movie that changed horror forever, traumatizing thousands because of its dark as hell themes and realistic effects that hold up remarkably well today, almost 50 years later. Directer William Friedkin (Bug ) took the terrifying book by William Peter Blatty and pulled no punches.

The Exorcist follows the demonic possession of Reagan MacNeil, a 12 year old little girl and the two priests that come together to take on the daunting task. The intro to the movie we meet Father Merrin at an archaeological excavation in the Middle East, culminating in a stare down with a freaky looking statue we get a foreboding dread he has encountered before. Across the world, Reagan is with her mother, a successful actress,  as small, strange things begin to happen. Her mother doesn’t notice until a disturbing sight happens at a big party she throws, leading to sights nothing within reason can explain. Reagan turns violent, having violent seizures and physically striking at the doctors trying to help her. Enter Father Damien Karras, a priest dealing with the loss of faith after his mother’s health plummets and dies;  Chris, Reagan’s mother, reaches out to Karras who inspects Reagan and comes to the dark conclusion about her possession. Can Merrin and Karras save her soul and expel the demon?

The possession sub genre hasn’t been my favorite, for every The Exorcism of Emily Rose  there’s a The Devil Inside but the Exorcist is honestly the greatest and undeniable progenitor of the sub genre. The effects are damn good, even today when CGI has taken over film land. The acting is amazing and the characters are strong. I will say the movie is slow, with decent gaps between scares where we see the characters develop, but some modern audiences may frown upon that. Horror fans and film buffs alike, this is a must watch. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Is Cross Play Important?

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The question today is simple, is cross play important? This kind of depends on how you look at it. Sony recently has been getting a lot of flack for not really being involved with it which honestly isn’t as true as it is made out. They have plenty of cross play with PC games for example DC  Universe online. That isn’t to say it is great with it, but the idea that Sony is completely against it and has none is false.

The other problem is people keep throwing around the term anti consumer in reference to it, but that also isn’t true. Anti consumer is when a company’s policy is unfairly against the customer in favor of the company. Sony being against cross play is in no way unfair to anyone. You aren’t being punished or hindered from playing the games.

vgchart If you look at total consoles sold for PS4, Xbox one and the Nintendo Switch The PS4 has outsold both the Xbox and Switch, combined. To say there is some anti consumer practice going on where PlayStation 4 users are being hurt and lack people to play with is insane. There is no anti consumer practice occurring.

Companies do things to benefit themselves on a business level and to help their customers, but cross play with Xbox and Nintendo honestly doesn’t add much for Sony. They already have the biggest player base outside of PC gaming. They would simply be giving their competitor access to their customers. And when something goes wrong, they would be blamed. And as a person that owns both Xbox and PS4 I can’t help but acknowledge that I run into far more issues with people on my Xbox than my PlayStation, and I spend more time on my PS4.

Now on to the flip side of things. While I do agree and acknowledge Sony is 100% right for not embracing cross play in a wide-spread manner because truly it does not help them, and people are also ignoring that in the early days of online game play it was Sony that attempted to make cross play happen and Microsoft that said no, and it was because they had the bigger online population which nobody seems to care about or want to acknowledge, there are some games I think Sony would be smart to simply bite the bullet on and just let it happen with. Minecraft and Rocket League for example have been out for so long at this point anyone that is going to buy the games, have basically done so. While it doesn’t benefit them I don’t think ti will really hurt them to go along with it either.

Sony has outsold everyone at this point, and as such they are smart not to let their competitors simply have access to their players at every turn. Especially since most people I have personally come across and know personally legitimately don’t care and can take it or leave it. But to save face and pacify some, Sony would be smart to simply embrace cross play for some older games and see how it goes. Most people don’t care, and with older games it won’t cost them anything. And while right now they are undeniably king of the mountain, at one point so was Sega and Nintendo, being right and being smart aren’t always the same thing. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Real Genius (1985)

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Real Genius is one of those 80’s movies that for some reason most people I know haven’t seen, and that greatly upsets me. The story is simple. Mitch is recruited to a school for super smart people, he works with Chris the smartest person in the school turned slacker. They are tasked with a school project to build a laser. They aren’t the only two doing this but hey they are the main two.

As the story goes on we see all sorts of shenanigans, from the turning an entire section of the school into ice for a winter carnival.

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To throwing a massive party with the local beauty school.

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The movie is first and foremost, a comedy. This starts out pretty early with the scene where Mitch meets Chris, and he asks about him being prepared for gravity reversing itself and even trying to convince him the antenna on an odd remote control is in fact a penis stretcher, and offers to let him try it.

The movie does eventually take a more serious turn however, as early on you the viewer will discover the laser is actually being developed by the school for the government as a weapon to be used from space to assassinate targets. Mitch and friends eventually find this out as well, but not until the laser is finished and in the hands of the government.

They will of course go on a quest to put an end to the weapon and take revenge on the dean of the school for lying to them in the fist place, which will involve filling a house with popcorn. He hates popcorn. Regardless the movie is currently on Netflix, go check this out. The movie is amazing and has a great soundtrack. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Games that made me want a Nintendo

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Yesterday I talked a bit about Games that made want an X Box and there I mentioned how I only had a Nintendo 64 and GameCube. I have friends that absolutely swear by Nintendo through thick and thin and so I wanted to talk about some games that make me want a Nintendo. In no particular order I’ll begin with the franchise I have a little experience with..

kirby 1. Kirby-

One of my favorite N64 games was Kirby 64 and to this day, I haven’t had a gaming experience so weird but epic at the same time. I’d love to replay it again. I also want to see what else the series offers in cool power combinations and imagination.

metroid 2. Metroid –

Back in the old days, I played the demo for Metroid: Prime for GameCube and fell in love with it. I always like the Giger influences of the earlier games, plus Samus was always one of my Smash Bros. favorites.

eternal darkness 3. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem-

I love a good horror game, and I’ve heard many tell me how much this game scared the hell out of them. I’ve heard stories about the sanity meter and how eerie the game becomes after it becomes distorted. It sounds like a game we need today.

f zero 4. F-Zero

I’m not a traditional racing fan. Cars going fast bore me. But going light speed through bright colored maps in a insanely aggressive slam-feast, hell yeah I want to play that game!

zelda  5. Legend of Zelda –

Believe it or not I never played a Zelda game in my life. I know Link, Zelda, and Ganon by name and name only. I heard rave reviews for several of the games, including Breath of the Wild. Someday I’d love to see what all the hype is about.

I hope you enjoyed my list and may the gaming gods bring you glory