Attack on Titan Video-Game to be Released for Nintendo 3DS

May 5, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The Attack on Titan video-game will be released this May the 12th for the Nintendo 3DS, and it will sell for $39,99 on eShops, says Atlus, the publisher.

Some of us were hoping for a new season to be announced for the much loved anime, but we’ll have to be pleased with this I guess.

Its title Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains is the literal translation from Japanese – but in Europe, it will be known as Shingeki no Kyojin: Humanity in Chains due to copyright claims on the whole continent.

There is no release date for Europe, only for North America, and Asia, but Atlus has high hopes that it will release an announcement soon regarding the game’s future on European soil. Both American and European customers will receive a free Attack on Titan theme with their purchase.

The story revolves around the idea that giant humanoid titans plan to bring the human race to extinction by hunting them down – they don’t just do this for the fun of it all; the titans are eating every single human they catch, regardless if their hungry or not.

The anime tv series that aired in 2013 was based on the manga series written, and drawn, by Hajime Isayama in 2009 – and it focused on how the military of the only city to survive, tries to fight back and defend their people.

The main protagonist Eren Yeager, his adopted sister Mikasa Acherman, and their childhood friend Armin Arlert, join the military after their quadrant has been invaded by titans who killed and ate their family. A Collosal Titan broke through the city’s defence, and made way for the swarm of titans. Eren saw his mother being eaten right in front of him, and with that motivation his only goal in life is to wipe out the giants that ruined his life.

Titans aren’t so easily killed. They have tough skin, and can regenerate quickly; only a quick and strong attack on their weak point can eliminate these brutal monsters – at the nape of their necks, a swift blow is enough.

The thing that makes Attack on Titan so unique and loved is the setting of doom, and utter despair that humanity faces. At the brink of apocalypse their only choice is to fight back and destroy these invaders – although their counter-attack missions prove to be utter failures. The army’s only weapons are reminding us of old Victorian London – flintlock pistols, cannons and swords. Pair the setting with a high amount of drama, cheesy acting, and sometimes annoying whining, and you have the perfect anime.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Attack on Titan, and I’m a geek when it comes to the series, but please, if next season is ever to come out, drop the whole melodrama, and make it less obnoxious – it has tremendous potential, and it can be one of the greatest animes ever made.

Here’s the teaser trailer.

There is also a live action movie planned for Summer of 2015, take a look at the trailer down below:

Image Source: 0, 1, 2, 3

League of Legends Doc – Why Are eSports So Popular Now?

May 5, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

eSports stands for Electronic Sports, or competitive gaming, and it was a pretty big thing in the early 2000’s with all the hype from Counter Strike 1.6, Starcraft, and Warcraft III, but it died for a couple of years due to poor management, high taxes, and gamers struggling to get a pay check – professional gamers that is.

In the last 5 years or so, eSports have taken the podium once again, with more and more gaming fans tuning in to watch matches – whether it’s from their comfortable home via Twitch.tv and also ESPN, or going to an actual event like the annual League of Legends World Championship; this is partly due to Twitch.tv that offers a great streaming service that is designed for gamers, but it doesn’t limit to that, and because MOBA games like LoL, Dota 2, and HoN are immensely popular now . In some circles, you are actually considered uncool for not playing MOBA’s. Why didn’t this trend start 10 years ago?

Free to play games that don’t suffer from the plague that I love to call microstransanction hell are catching really quick to the public. Take for example Team Fortress 2, it was a great game that I bought, but after a few years it went free on steam, and its user-base increased substantially. Sure, you can buy hats, and dyes to colour your gear, but they don’t affect the game in any way.

Pair free to play with catchy, and fun game mechanics, give the community the ability to buy whatever they want in the game as long as it doesn’t affect matches – as in skins for champions, cool new hats, announcer packs, dyes that colour your weapons purple, or maroon, name tags that change your title to Waldemar the Unconscious Hobo – and you have the perfect recipe to strike gold.

That’s what League of Legends did, and it’s the most played video-game in the world. In January of 2014 Riot Games, the company that developed LoL has shocked the world by announcing that 27 million gamers play LoL on a daily basis, and 67 million players monthly.

There are beginners that play the game for fun, there are those who do so only to win a match called tryhards – who relinquish every bit of fun just to taste gold; and there are those pro gamers that constantly come up with new tactics, new ways to dominate and climb the ladder.

No wonder there are so many people playing the game that want to become pro and attend championships – if you and your team win the LoL Championship event, well, let’s say you don’t have to work for a couple of years. First place consists of a $1 million prize, and the second one is $250k. Sure, you’ll think that the money is going to be split into 5 ways, but what you don’t take into consideration is the fact that eSport teams are being sponsored by huge companies like Intel, Kingston, AMD, Nvidia, ATI, Razer and other tech behemoths.

Although it’s a pretty big community now, it doesn’t have the respect it deserves, and this is were the League of Legends documentary comes in. You may know Patrick Creadon for documentaries such as Wordplay, I.O.U.S.A, and If You Build It – Patrick is one of the few filmmakers who released films that ranked within the Top 100 highest-grossing documentaries of all time, and that’s no easy feat to do.

” eSports teams don’t have the respect that they so badly crave,” Patrick says. “These North American teams are not unlike the 1980 United States hockey team going up against Russia [in the Olympics]. Our movie really captures a similar story.”

All Work All Play is the name of the documentary that chronicles the Intel Extreme Masters torunament of 2014/2015. It focuses more on the team-based game LoL, rather than the solo affair Starcraft 2. And it tells the story how eSports are currently being dominated by South Korean teams.

” You’re not watching the game or playing a game on a PC; you’re going to an arena!” says Patrick. “That’s more than half the fun: seeing it with other people who are like you that love this thing that you also love.”

And he couldn’t be more right. You gather your friends, and you go watch the event in a huge arena with other gee- err gamers like yourself, everyone rooting for a different team. Or you could huddle up at a buddy’s place, buy a ton of beer, order some pizza, and have an excellent Sunday.

It’s not a documentary that points the camera at people and just gets footage and edits it, Patrick set up his own account and played the highly loved MOBA, he interviewed countless pro gamers, he attended events, and he poured his heart and soul into this doc, and go figure, it was well received at the Tribeca Film Festival.

It’s not a documentary about gamers, it’s a documentary about humans that love their hobby. After the first screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, a woman fromt he audience had an half-hour long phone call with her younger brother who absolutely loved the game. Creadon says that the women stated she didn’t have almost anything in common with her younger sibling, and it was always hard to find common ground, but after seeing the movie she suddenly realized who he is. “She said the movie really made her feel closer to her brother,” Creadon says. “At the end of the day, eSports is really just about people and [the movie] is really a human story.”

That’s the beauty of it, but it truly saddens me that we, gamers, aren’t respected for our hobby, unlike footballers, golfers, and other major sports. I got some pretty hideous snide remarks last week when I met with some friends that brought some people with them that I didn’t now. Somehow we started talking about gaming, in general, and how they considered gamers to be the scum of the earth, a plague to society, and how they should all just get a job and grow up.

All Work All Play is a must watch to gamers, and non-gamers alike.

Other documentaries that also dwell in the gaming industry, and are worth a watch are…

Free to Play: The Movie

A documentary that follows 3 professional gamers on their quest to compete, and win the million dollar prize in the first Dota 2 International Tournament. It’s produced by Valve and it showcases what gamers sacrifice in order to achieve such a feat, and what challenges face them on their path to e-glory.

Looking for Group

Created by Blizzard Entertainment, it tells the tale of how World of Warcraft was developed, and how it become one of the most beautiful, and played MMORPG’s in the past decade. How countless friendships have been made, and even how people met and formed a relationship, eventually leading to marriage. I won’t forget that day when after clearing for the first time Black Temple, my guild leader who was playing from South Africa, proposed to his girlfriend of 4 years. I still talk to them from time to time – they have a baby daughter now, they bought a new house, and their planning on visiting Europe this summer.

World of Warcraft was one of the first games to get World Events right – like how realms where supposed to complete daily objectives, and gather items to open the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj.

All Work All Play will be available on :

– July the 21st in North America ( US, Canada, and Mexico), and Central and South America

– July the 28th in Europe, and Russia

There is no official release date for the Blu-Ray.

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Mind-Bending Surrealist Games That You Must Play

May 4, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Update 1/26/2016: We felt like there were so many other games worth mentioning in this surrealist games list. Some we simply could not leave out, so here’s an updated series of games you might want to try out in the near future.

Back to Bed

Back to Bed is a great example of Salvador Dalí’s surrealist painting applied directly into a video game. Adopting the very abstract graphic elements of surrealism, the PlayStation 4 adaptation of what was once a mobile title brings even more mind-blowing and impossible physics as you follow Bob’s trip through his own subconscious.

Bob suffers from narcolepsy. Bob sleepwalks. Bob dangerously treads onto suspended platforms, stairways leading into nothing and upside down floors. The game plays on the idea that waking up a sleepwalker is dangerous for their health and that the only way to truly help them is to guide them safely back to bed in order to prevent them from hurting themselves.

You take control of the only other character in the game – a dog donning a human face that doesn’t seem to respect the usual laws of physics either and brings the sense of companionship to the protagonist of the game. But he is not, really; the dog is Bob’s mere embodiment in the subconscious realm, fittingly named Subob.

Bob must help himself from falling into the pits of the dream world abyss as his sleep walking body slowly moves through bizarre levels that contain the even more bizarre presences and obstacles of the game.

In essence, Back to Bed is a surreal 3D puzzle game that will progress you through several dreams, each divided into 15 levels. And it’s one of the titles that take the concept of surrealist games literally – as the artwork is almost taken out of surrealist painters’ works.

The game is available on Steam, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PS Vita for $5.99.

Rememoried

Rememoried is an explorative first-person adventure game that takes you through an entire series of dream-like places where nothing is the truly ever clear. Memories mix and blend into one another, morphing the scenery as you gradually move through it and start solving puzzles.

Memories turn into dreams and the only way to move forwards is to forget them. A flooded forest-like place with hanging picture frames and eerie gigantic eyeballs in the sky greets you as you enter this world for the first time.

The very unclear goals of the game can only be uncovered by closely observing your surroundings and through hints that the various unnamed narrators give you. The dreamscape locations and unexplainable layout of world elements depict the confusing nature of dreams: impossible by the laws of physics, sometimes repetitive and yet forever changing.

Each level is another puzzle to solve. And with each puzzle you may find yourself discovering new game mechanics, wildly different places to explore and eerie – yet beautiful – graphics to behold.

Along with an amazingly good soundtrack, Rememoried is one of those beautifully designed exploration surrealist games that do not even need a complicated story behind it to make a beautiful gaming experience. There is no mention of who is speaking or how you got here; very much like the way things are in dreams.

The game is available on Steam for $4.99 until January 29^th and $9.99 after that date.

Killer Is Dead

A very different kind of game – at least in comparison to the titles listed so far – Killer Is Dead comes from no other than Goichi Suda himself, the name behind other big titles such as No More Heroes or Killer7; also commonly known as Suda51.

Killer Is Dead is not a quiet, ethereal place to be, but wildly confusing and certainly one of its kind. An action game in the real sense, employing hack and slash elements, Killer Is Dead puts you in the shoes of a hired assassin known as Mondo Zappa that uses a katana and a robotic arm implant to execute his enemies.

But every single time you feel like you got the story figured out, a flashback happens or you’re surprised to find yourself in a very unlikely place. A seemingly innocent looking candy house suddenly turns upside down as you find its very-similar-to-Alice (the Alice in Wonderlands Alice) inhabitant to be cursed to transform into a gruesome crustacean-like monster.

Mondo himself goes on his own eerie track of remembering his unexplainable past as the story is a long chain of confusing memories. Physically impossible traits and locations, visits to the dark side of the moon and repetitive dream-like sequences slowly uncover the dark past of the protagonist.

And all throughout the game, you’re constantly be on a personal quest to figure out whether you’re supposed to be laughing with the game, whether any of it is to be taken seriously or why the sheer awesomeness of some moments quickly drips into a hilarious, yet downright creepy depiction of twisted characters and places.

Three personal playthroughs of Killer Is Dead, and I still can’t settle on one particular constant feeling of the game. It’s a confusing mesh of all of the above and only you can be the righteous judge of whether it’s for you or not. Comic book-like visuals along with a soundtrack that sounds like it’s mostly played backwards along with a few, select CGI or stop-motion cutscenes only add to the emotion explosion that will rattle inside of your thoroughly confused and undecided heart.

And as a side note, I had to completely delete the nature of optional missions found in Killer Is Dead from my head in order to not tarnish the good opinion I’ve been left with regarding the game. It’s only fair that I let you know. Even if the game’s good features managed to delete the impact of awful ones such as the side missions for me, it may not do the same with you.

The game is available on Steam, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Journey

As a 2012 release that even to this day remains a PlayStation exclusive – made available for PS4 later, in 2015 – Journey is the kind of video game that everyone who managed to play remembers it with a warm heart. Even if not many did get to experience the amazingly soothing and different adventure that Journey was. But by all means, if you happen to be the happy possessor of a PlayStation, do try Journey out – it is an irreplaceable 2-hour long experience.

You take on a cloaked and hooded character whose name and background are not really relevant. A vast dessert stretches to infinity ahead of you while the scorching wind makes ripples in the ground and the sun transforms everything into golden dust. You start by walking towards the only distinct construction in the emptiness of the scenery and as you reach its peak, a great mountain of light rests as far as your eyes can see.

Walking turns into running; running turns into sliding as you try to go down a sandy slope. Sliding turns into graceful flying motion as you head towards the source of light without really knowing why. There are no words to guide you on your journey, no verbal explanation as to what this place is. All you encounter seems to be the remnants of a lost civilization and a vague story that slowly gets pieced together through hieroglyph-like paintings. But a white guiding presence makes its appearance every now and then to keep you going.

This mystical and emotion-fueled trip is simply enchanting and employs simple elements of puzzle-solving gameplay, focusing on the Journey more than anything else. The ambient effects and soundtrack compliment the speechless and almost cinematic experience even further.

You can purchase Journey from the PlayStation Store for $14.99.

Year Walk

Year Walk is a game based on an old Swedish folk story that says that whomever manages to complete the Year Walk ritual may then peer into the future at the cost of their Christianity. Coming as a once-mobile game and ported onto PC in 2014, Year Walk is a title that has gathered the attention of many; and for good reason.

Set in 19^th century Sweden, Year Walk is a first person game that mixes elements of two-dimensional and three dimensional sceneries, and follows the story of a man who lives in the woods. He has feelings for a woman who is not as ready to offer him hers, and thus he decides to go on the Year Walk, against her warnings.

Foreboding and, at times, frightening moments await the player in what comes next. Built upon a rich web of folklore tales that you can read in the game encyclopedia as you progress, the game will take you through puzzles and tense experiences as you encounter strange creatures and unexplainable phenomena in the deep, dark woods.

Many things await you to uncover them while some secrets are left hanging – depending on your involvement in the game. Featuring a very abstract approach to things, Year Walk takes onto a very artistic way to present a video game; dripping with atmosphere and surrounding everything in mystery, it is surely one of the most intriguing surrealist games out there. As long as you’re willing to get shaken by a jump scare or two every now and then.

Year Walk is available on Steam for $6.49.

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Surrealism is one of the most influential art movements of the past century, and Salvador Dali, Kansuke Yamamoto, Rene Magritte, to name just a few, have influenced not only musicians, and filmmakers, but also video-game designers, and developers. Surrealist games are a thing of the present, and boy, aren’t they just fabulous.

Actually, surrealist games have been around for a while now, and we can pin point their start in 1993 when Myst was released, but only with Psychonauts has the genre started to garner a fandom. I remember my first time playing Psychonauts, when I was just a wee lad, and thinking what a stupid game this is, but oh, I was so wrong. I got sucked into its universe so quick, that it trapped me in front of my PC for days.

But enough reminiscing, let’s talk games!

Jazzpunk

Released on February the 7th of 2014, Jazzpunk has received overwhelming positive reviews, and critical acclaim, as one of the best, and most funniest surreal video-games to emerge in the last 10 years. Jazzpunk is a single-player fist-person adventure game that tasks you to meddle with the absurd, and try to find a logical solution to your current predicament.

Each mission has its specific goal, an objective that you must finish in order to advance towards the next phase, or level if you may, of the game, but it doesn’t block the player on a certain path, no, au contrair, it offers the player limited freedom of exploration – I said limited because it’s no open world video game, but its levels are quite spacious.

The game is focused on a top-secret espionage agency that is being run out of an abandoned subway station in Tokyo, sometime around the 1950’s. You are in control of Polyblank, a spy that is tasked with various absurd missions like smuggling pigeons, cross-dressing, killing a pig with an ukulele, and of course you wouldn’t be a spy without assassinating a cowboy.

In an alternate reality plagued by corporate espionage, and sentient Martinis, Jazzpunk offers comedic relief in a surreal Cold War World.

Its available on Steam for $15.

Bastion

Well Bastion is one video-game that marked my gaming experience. An action role-playing game that sets the player in the surreal post-apocalyptic world of Caelondia. A catastrophic event fractured the city into different plateaus, as well as its surrounding areas, changing it completely. The majority of Caelondia’s inhabitants have been reduced to dust, while other alienesque species have taken control of certain zones.

The player is The Kid, and you are tasked with searching for special shards of rock in order to power-up Bastion. Enemies will attempt to put a dent in your quest of restoring Bastion as a safe-haven, and you must fight back using your weapons – you can carry two at a time, and also perform a special attack.

In his journey the silent protagonist valiantly fends off invaders, and collects the Cores. The Kid is taken to places he has never been before – some are more dangerous than others. Cities, forests, bogs all located in, what seems to be, the sky.

The whole game is superbly narrated by Ruck, another survivor that points The Kid in the right direction.

If you are a gamer then you’re most likely accustomed to this type of gameplay, where the player sees the world from an isometric view, but I can bet my life on it that you haven’t experienced a sound track more exquisite. Just take a listen to this song – I went on and bought the whole OST, and I still listen to it on occasion.

Available on Steam, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 for $10,99!

Psychonauts

Released in 2005, Psychonauts is one of the best video-games ever invented, and as a surrealist game, it stands as one of the contenders to the throne. The genius mind of Tim Schafer was behind Psychonauts, who is also known for Grim Fandango, Brutal Legend, the Monkey Island franchise, and to have spent over a decade at LucasArts.

Psychonauts received critical acclaim, and garnered a huge fan base that just loved everything that revolves around the game, and its main protagonist named Raz. A young and gifted boy who dwells in psychic abilities. He leaves the circus in order to join a camp that trains, and protects those who have similar powers – Raz’s main goal is to become a Psychonaut, a feared spy.

It’s an awesome adventure game that also includes traditional key console platformer element – best played with a gamepad.

This classic physic odyssey is a must-play for every gamer!

It’s available on Steam, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Playstation 3 for $9,99!

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

I bought this gem on a Humble Bundle deal, along with Bastion. At first I was a little bit confused about the gameplay, and how you can interact with objects, NPC’s, and straight-forward what you need to do in order to advance in the game. But all was washed down the moment I discovered a fellow wood cutter that led me to the entrance of a cave, where I fought a vicious shade.

This indie adventure video game teleports the player to a mythical little realm. You are tasked to relinquish the evil that resides in the world, and bring peace once again. Battle using your sword, and solve magical musical mysteries using sworcery.

A scenic, and atmospheric video-game that deserves the title of The Best Art Game released in the past 10 years, is one hell of an experience. Some may find it unnecessarily cryptic, with too many puzzle elements involved, while other will love every moment of confusion. This surrealist game can be perfectly described in one word – dreamlike.

All of it is encompassed by the beautiful soundtrack that Jim Guthrie created. Here’s a sneak peek of what you should expect.

It’s available on Steam, iOS and Android for $5,99!

Monument Valley

You’ve probably heard of this game from the last season of House of Cards. But Monument Valley is more than a cheap gimmick made in order to sway hipsters. It’s actually a beautifully well made game.

This puzzle game was compared by critics to M.C. Esher’s drawings, and also to Sword & Sworcery.

The player needs to lead the princess Ida through impossible mazes filled with optical illusions and mind-baffling objects. You will see that objects in-game are referred to as secret-geometry. The game is presented in isometric view, and your character journeys from hidden passage to hidden passage in order to be forgiven for something, and also progress to the next level.

The critics praised it for its ingenuity, its beautiful environment and attention to details, also its gorgeous soundtrack, but they noted the game’s difficulty being way too easy, and that it is a short length game.

Monument Valley is available for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, and Windows Phone for $3,99.

Myst

Myst is all about a world where everything that you see is somewhat different. Logic, and reason doesn’t have its use in this graphic adventure puzzle video game, because they will only slow you down. Adventure has absolutely no bounds, and you will travel to an island that emits an eerie feeling of mystery, and at times, of utter despair.

The player takes control of an unknown character who is referred to as The Stranger. After finding a book called Myst, the character places his hand on the last page, and is suddenly transported to the island the book was talking about. Now you are tasked to explore, and find a way out.

Back in 1993 when it was released, it received praises from critics and gamers alike, making it a surprise hit over night.

The Masterpiece Edition can be found on Steam for $4,99.

Alas, our journey has ended. In this writer’s opinion, these are the best surrealist games right now. Hopefully, we’ll see more and more as time, technology, and the arts, advance.

What is your favourite one? Don’t be shy and tell us in the comment section below, maybe I missed on!

Image Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 7

NASA is Keen On Analysing the Remains of a Supernova

May 4, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

NASA wants to probe the remains of a supernova that exploded 20,000 years ago – examining the Cygnus Loop may result in one of the biggest, and fruitful, experiments in our history.

The mission will involve a probe which will analyse the contents of the Cygnus Loop. A sounding rocket will gather data emitted from the stellar event – to be more exact, x-rays are still being emitted, and scientists think that they can find crucial information by analysing them; crucial information that can lead to a better understanding of what supernovas are made of.

Also, scientists hope that by studying Cyngus Loop’s contents, they will shine a bright light on one of the biggest questions that has plagued our world. What is the Universe made out of? The new data that NASA will acquire will most likely sprout a ton of new questions regarding our stance in the universe, and our fate in the infinite unknown.

On May the 2nd, NASA launched OGRESS – Off-plane Grating Rocker for Extended Source Spectroscopy – from White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico.

A following voyage is planned for 2018 on the star Capella.

But NASA isn’t the only one trying to breach the universe’s hard, and mysterious, wall. Elon Musk, the famous tech billionaire with a huge passion for spaceflight, and all space related things, is known for trying to be one of the pioneers that would make human life multi-planetary. Unfortunately he is encountering some technical difficulties, regarding his rockets taking off, and then actually landing them, without the whole utter destruction thing – here’s a YouTube video of the Falcon 9 landing failure.

Also, Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp is leading the private spaceflight project called Mars One – a non-profit organization with its roots in the Netherlands that plans to form a colony on Mars by 2027. The plans are that on 2027 the first humans will arrive on Mars, and every two years additional teams will be added. The goals is that by 2035 there would be 20 people living on Mars.

Slowly, but surely, humanity is entering a new space era, and in 100 years Mars will probably be a tourist destination.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also has a company with interests in space. Called Blue Origin, the company is doing the same research in reusable crafts like SpaceX, and on the 29th of April they have successfully launched, and landed their space-ship. Although everyone is bashing them for the design of the ship. Yes, it looks phallic, but do we really care? It’s taking people up-to-and-back from the heavens. Take a look at Blue Origin’s first flight.

It saddens me that companies don’t team up, and share their research. They are doing a great job, undoubtedly, but let’s be real for a second – they are seeing this as a huge opportunity that will make them even more rich in the future. Frank Herbert was right, corporate driven houses will conquer space, not governments.

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Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Release Date Was Announced

May 3, 2015 By Roxanne Briean 2 Comments

The third installment of Call of Duty Black Ops is set to be released on November 6, 2015. Open betas are not really their thing if you think about it, their last CoD game to feature an open beta prior to release was World at War. With Black Ops 3 all of that will change and everybody that pre-orders the game will have access to the open multiplayer beta.

The game will be available on PC and on the next gen consoles, such as PS4 and Xbox One, but it will not come out on PS3 and Xbox 360.

The beta will most likely feature three, different sized maps but no official statement was made as of yet. Treyarch’s studio lead, Mark Lamia confirmed that the multiplayer beta will be accessible by everybody who pre-ordered the game. He also stated that by doing this, they hope to attract more people that will play the game, prior to its release.

The PC version will be compatible with Windows 8.1 on 64 Bits, Windows 7 on 64 Bits and Windows 8, also on 64 Bits. The game will most likely be compatible with Windows 10 as well.

They have also released the minimum system requirements for PC along with a short preview. If you were to compare it with last year’s CoD Advanced Warfare, you will see that Black Ops 3 is only a little more demanding, only in the GPU region.

Treyarch said that they are putting a lot of emphasis on PC stability and good performance, showing a lot of confidence by releasing the minimum system requirements so early.

Minimum System Requirements for Call of Duty Black Ops 3

OS: Windows 7 64-Bit / Windows 8 64-Bit / Windows 8.1 64-Bit

Processor: Intel Core i3-530 at 2.93 GHz, or AMD Phenom II X4 810 at 2.60 GHz

RAM: 6 GB Memory

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 at 1GB, or ATI Radeon HD 6970 at 1GB

Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Network: Broadband Internet Connection

DirectX: DirectX 11

Last year’s CoD was exclusive to Flipkart, but because of the announcement, saying that that they will no longer act as a marketplace for the gaming scene, it is unlikely for the same deal to repeat this year.

The game’s story is set in a futuristic world, where, trough the use of biotech and cybernetics, they have created a new type of super-soldier. You get to play as a commando, in a world where technology is pushed to its limits, in a four-man-co-op campaign.

Activision’s communications manager, Scott Lowe, said that the new “movement system” will allow players to move more naturally throughout the environment and, at the same time, maintain full control over his weapons.

CoD Black Ops 3 will also feature a specialization system and a weapon customization option.

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The Whole Steam Workshop Fiasco

April 27, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

In the past week or so Steam has announced that Skyrim modders can now sale their own mods on Steam’s Workshop. It sounds amazing, right? Well, it’s definitely not, because Valve is racking in 75% of the profits. And that’s not even the end of it.

Bethesda Softwork decided to pair with Valve and offer modders the chance of selling their original work. Sounds like a great idea at first, but then, you realize that you’ve worked a month for that high-res textures pack for Skyrim, and you’re going to sell it for about $9,99 with more than half of the profits going to Valve. It’s definitely not fair. Their plan of encouraging gamers to publicly release mods has failed – mobs have gathered around the internet, and absurdly, they are fighting each-other.

Sides have been taken. Some applaud the initiative, while others see this as blatantly stealing their hard work.

Comparing what Valve is doing right now with other giants of the tech industry, kinda’ puts them in a bad bad place. Google, and Apple pay their developers 70% of the revenue, and keep only 30%. Even EA, the devil, isn’t taking this kind of horrendous tactic. Valve was supposed to be the chosen one.

The modding scene is huge. Every gamer wants to be a part of the scene, and create something. It doesn’t have to be great, sometimes the wackiest, and funniest things go viral.

Team Fortress 2 is well known for its hat addiction, and Civilization 5 for its huge fan created content – DiscWorld maps, World of Warcraft zones, even Planet Earth has been made by fans all around the world. I bought TF2 not only for it’s addictive gameplay, but because it also offered the possibility of interacting with other players through mods, and creating my very own gear. I bough Civilization 5 not only because I loved how in power I felt while destroying empire after empire, but because I could create maps, and other civilizations to play with.

I for one, don’t expect money for what I created, what I expect is a little bit of respect coming from Valve. I don’t want modding to turn into a dirty word. I only hope that we aren’t too late.

With the huge downpour of stolen content from various modding websites, Skyrim’s Steam WorkShop is filled with gamers just wanting to make a quick buck. I’m not saying that all of them are scrupulous, I’m just saying that there is a trend that seems to making its way. People are stealing content and selling it in the Workshop. How does Valve react to this? Of course, removing the mod from the store, but the whole process is incredibly tedious, and it can last a long time before your hard worked mod can be rightfully yours, once again.

This new trend can definitely lead to what I like to call microtransaction hell. If you aren’t accustomed to the term, let me succinctly explain it for you. It’s a method that casual games adopt, and a few AAA titles too, that lets the player buy additional stuff for the game. I’m not talking about hats, or a new dress for your League of Legends champion. I’m talking about game-changing items. If you buy item X your champion can level up faster, and if you pair item X with item Y, that is also available for purchase, then you can advance to the next level quicker. Smartphone games are plagued by such tactic, and unfortunately, it seems like it’s advancing each year, more and more.

But wait a minute, you may say, isn’t this a great way to get premium content and pay back modders? Yes, and no.

It’s a thin line that only time could tell if it’s going to really work out in the end, or shatter the line completely; but one can make some logical assumptions based on human nature. Anyone can be a modder, and you don’t require any certification in order to put your product on sale. As a modder, I am not required to update my mod for every game update. I’m not even require to make it compatible with other mods on Steam’s Workshop. Of course, I could do that, I could take care of the people that bought my work, but wouldn’t it be more profitable to release the same mode, but this time to be compatible with the latest patch?

How about refunds? Am I obligated to refund money? Yes, but within a 30 day window. In those 30 days it’s incredibly hard to find compatibility problems with other mods, and new game updates don’t come out every month. After the 30 day period I can keep the money even if the mod doesn’t work any more.

The whole system needs to be re-hauled, and we hope that this isn’t Steam’s Workshop last form – you need to sell over $100 worth of mods for Valve to pay you. A complete shame.

It’s a whole fiasco at this moment. Various modding websites have closed their doors, and taken down mods because the free content offered by those sites was found in the Workshop for sale.

Youtub’er Cephei has uploaded the perfect parody to the whole situation.

UPDATE 29.04.2015 – It seems like Gabe Newell, Valve’s founder and owner, has realized what an incredible horrible thing they’ve done, and they terminated the whole project. Bethesda also is acknowledges the fiasco they put themselves in. Nice damage control, but gamers won’t forget this. It’s really great that they listened to the community, but we, the gamers, need to be aware and not let this happen next time.

You can read the official statement on Valve’s Steam Workshop page.

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Polluted Air Can Damage Your Brain!

April 27, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

City polluted air can really hurt your brain – researchers from Harvard have announced on Thursday.

We all know that polluted air is bad for you, and we always knew that it hurts our body in a way, but we always thought that our lungs were at stake here, not our brains.

A study in the Stroke journal has found that senior citizens that are exposed, or inhale on a day to day basis small particles that are emitted in form of car exhausts, have a higher risk of mini-strokes, and brain scans have shown smaller brain volumes – when comparing to less polluted areas.

The World Health Organization, for short WHO, has declared air pollution to be the leading cause of cancer. Now findings suggest that just by inhaling dirty city air, our brain ages a full year. ” It suggests that subtle but potentially harmful effects are going on: The effect on the brain of being one year older is similar to the effect of pollution.” study’s lead author, Elissa Wilker has stated. Elissa is an instructor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School and a researcher at the Cardiovascular Epidemiological Research Unit at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Wilker and her colleagues have crunched data from 1995 to 2005 regarding MRI scans for senior citizens age 60 years and older. Their discovery was baffling, to say the least. Comparing from the pool of 943 adults, that shown no symptoms of dementia, or strokes who also lived in the most polluted areas, with those who lived in the most clean zones, researchers have found that those exposed to dirty city air have a 46 percent higher risk of mini-strokes and a 0.32 percent reduction in brain volume. – The scans were done as part of the Framingham Offspring Study.

But nobody knows how pollution affects our brain. “That’s the million dollar question,” Wilker said. “We think when you breathe those particles in they can cause inflammation.” But researchers are not sure. It is a mystery whether inflammation that starts in the lungs spreads to the brain, or the brain somehow sucks in all the toxic particles.

Dr. Lawrence Wechsler, an expert that hasn’t collaborated on Wilker’s study, and who is also the chairman of the department of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, has stated that the new research ” is a little worrisome for those of us living in cities.”. And that ” this is the most solid evidence we’ve had to date that there might really be some association between the low levels of pollution people are exposed to and some kind of long-term brain injury.”

Polluted air can be our downfall, and we have just been starting to discover how much it affects our body. But more so, polluted air is the arch enemy of senior citizens. With a 46 higher risk of having mini-strokes, we need a solution as soon as possible.

Dr. Beate Ritz, another scientist that is not affiliated to Wilker’s research, who is also a chair of the department of epidemiology at the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health has stated that ” Mini-strokes don’t cause as much damage as a larger stroke, but sometimes they can do nasty things depending on where they are [in the brain]. They won’t leave you totally disabled but they can make your health-related quality of life much lower.”.

And the nasty thing about mini-strokes, Ritz says, is that you don’t even know when you’re having one ” You might be a little more dizzy today and then lose a little more vision tomorrow. And people tend to attribute that to ageing instead of knowing what happened.”

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Call of Duty: Black Ops III Trailer Reveals 4-Player Campaign

April 27, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The first trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops III has finally been set free by developer Treyarch.

The trailer sheds a light on the time frame of the franchise’s new installment – it’s somewhere in the near future.

There is a huge difference between Black Ops III and last year’s Advanced Warfare; after all, there are different developers on board this time. Even though is set a little bit further in time than its predecessor, in 2060, there is absolutely no connection between the games. The new game will focus more on robot soldiers, and cyborg enhancements – the developers probably all saw Neil Blomkamp’s Chappie, and thought what a great idea; hopefully with less Die Antwoord present.

The trailer looks amazing. It starts with Rolling Stone’s Paint It Black – with gunshots synchronized to the drum’s beat – and it showcases a world in turmoil. Man against machine, fighting to the very end of extinction.

Ow, did I forget to mention that the zombie mode will most likely be present in Call of Duty: Black Ops III? The last 3 seconds of the trailer blatantly hints us that zombies will make a reappearance in the new installment. Zombie mode will have its own experience point-based progression system, set apart from the campaign mode, and the multiplayer fiasco. I say fiasco, because that’s the truth. Everyone runs around, shooting everything in sight. At least, that what happens in pub games.

The graphics looks great, but we aren’t just excited for more eye candy games. I, for one, can’t wait to play the game with my friends. Black Ops III features a 4 player co-op campaign – and it will also include a two-player split screen option.

With that in mind, the games has taken a different path, starting with how maps are constructed – you should expect wider, and larger maps. Cinematics and cut scenes will also be somewhat new – from the perspective of both soldier-mounted cameras, and third person view. Who knows, maybe we’ll see cut scenes from a robot’s point of view. Maybe they aren’t all that bad, maybe they are all misunderstood sentient, blood thirsty beings. Who knows?!

Exo-suits won’t make a reappearance in CoD: BO III, but the player will still be able to jump high in the air, and manoeuvre himself both in singleplayer, and multiplayer.

Only 4 out of the 9 classes for the on-line mode have been announced:

Reaper – a little gun wielding robot;
Seraph – in charge of a powerful revolver that will blow you to smithereens;
Outrider – master of bow and arrow; high tech compound bow that is;
Ruin – who has his mind dead set on explosives, and how to kill you with said explosives;

If you’ve played Titanfall, you’ll be happy to know that Call of Duty has paid attention to its own community, and others as well. The new game will feature wall run, and unlimited sprint.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III will be available on the 6th of November for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. If you pre-order the game, you’ll have access to the multiplayer open beta.

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Telltale Games and Marvel Teamed Up for a New Video-Game

April 24, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Telltale Games went to Twitter to announce their collaboration with the Disney-owned media giant – a new video game set in the Marvel Universe is due to appear in 2017.

Announced this evening in San Francisco, we’re excited to reveal an all-new partnership with the incredible team at Marvel Entertainment. We’ll be teaming up on the development of an upcoming Telltale game series project set to premiere in 2017!

Telltale Games are the ones behind the superb interactive drama games like The Walking Dead Season 1, and Season 2, Tales from The Borderlands, and Game of Thrones – with Minecraft: Story Mode also in development, it seems that Telltale is planning on having some great years ahead. Although their latest releases – GoT and TFTB – are weak compared with the first 2 seasons of The Walking Dead, we are keeping our hopes high.

At this point we can only let our imagination go wild – there is absolutely no info regarding what the game will be about. Possibly players will take the avatar of a young super-hero that meets occasionally with our all-time favourites Iron Man, Thor, Loki, Captain America and The Hulk. It is even possible that the developers will focus more on Guardians of the Galaxy.

If we take a look at Marvel’s movie release calendar we’ll notice that these 3 will hit cinemas in 2017:

May the 5th – Guardians of the Galaxy 2
July the 27th – The Spectacular Spider-Man
November the 3rd – Thor: Ragnarok

Plot wise, it can go any way, but it would seem logical to have a game that would promote these movies. I’m not saying that Marvel’s popularity is fading, but you always need to take precautions when it involves this billion dollar industry. As a fun fact, this week MCU – Marvel Cinematic Universe – is going to surpass the Harry Potter movies as the biggest film franchise in history. When you think that 15 years ago they were on the brink of bankruptcy.

I’m curious to what they are going to achieve, hopefully something great. And on that curiosity, a thought comes into mind. What cameo will Stan Lee have? He has been present in all MCU movies, he must portray an incredibly small role in the game also.

And another fun fact. With today’s release of Avengers 2, Stan Lee will probably surpass Steven Spielberg as number one producer in total domestic gross – almost $400 million is between these 2 giants.

Us comic-book geeks can just jump in excitement that we get more goodies – if X-Men could make a great come back with Telltale’s new game I can die happy.

In February Telltale announced that they are trying something new – a game/TV show hybrid project called “Super Show”. It is unknown at this point if the M-Universe will be under this model.

I know I’m just giddy as a school-girl right now. How about you? What are your thoughts on this alliance?

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Gioteck HC-4 Review

April 24, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Gamers are really picky when it comes down to sound quality. I remember back in the day, in my Counter-Strike 1.6 phase, when I was absolutely addicted to professional gaming and everything had to be perfect – from the keyboard and mouse that I was using, to my headset so I can hear my enemy’s footsteps. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t had enough money to buy a proper headset and I was using a really cheap one that cost me about $5. But alas, we live in the future now and we have a ton of premium gaming headsets. One that stands out is the Gioteck HC-4.

It’s specifically targeted towards PS4 gamers, but that doesn’t mean you can’t plug it into your tablet, smartphone, laptop or any device that has a 3.5mm audio input.

How does the Gioteck stand out?

Well firstly, it’s incredibly cheap for what it offers. You can buy it for $45, while other premium headsets start at $80 – like the Turtle Beach Ear Force P12.

It seems to have garnered a fan base because it listens to the gaming community and their complaints – knowing how to take feedback is essential in a successful business. The built-in rechargeable battery makes the HC-4 stand out; not only does it amplify your sound, so you never miss an enemy sneaking up on you, but if you run out of battery while playing, the sound won’t go off, it’ll only reduce the volume. You can easily recharge it using the included micro-USB cable.

While other premium headsets offer wireless connectivity, the HC-4 prefers to promote utility.

Material wise, I can say that it ain’t cheap plastic that will hurt your ears, or strangle your head, but it ain’t the best material out there. Sure, it’s not all covered in leather, but it does its job well, and you won’t be feeling any pain using it for your gaming sessions. The mic is good, the speakers are more than enough for casual, and professional gamers alike and it works with a multitude of devices.

The Gioteck HC-4 sports a simple design!

Gioteck manufactures a lot of gaming accessories – stands, controllers, cables, various headsets – not only dedicated for consoles like PS3, and Xbox 360, but for PCs too. Their target is to undercut official products, not with sheer numbers, but offering a viable, and a cheaper, option. HC-4 is one of their most successful products.

HC-4’s design is pretty cool – mostly because it is simple.

If you’ve seen a headset once in your life, then you are well acquainted with this one. The cable leads from the left ear-cup so you can connect to any device you want, it comes with an 3.5mm adaptor used to transmit both audio and microphone signals, and its blue colour seems to hit a soft spot with PS4 users.

As a side note, you can use The HC-4 with your Xbox One too, but you will need to buy a separate adapter.

For $45 you know that it’s cheap, but you wouldn’t have guessed the price just by looking at it, because it doesn’t look cheap. The plastic doesn’t shine, and wearing the headset will not put a tacky label on your forehead.

The padding around the ear-cups and headband are pretty comfortable – yeah, you can feel the difference between them and a $100 headset, but don’t forget how much you paid for it. And weighing at about 300 grams it will not put a strain on your head, and more importantly neck – and also, it will not feel really flimsy wearing it while you move your head around.

Out of pure accident I dropped my HC-4 on a wooden floor from an average height, that a gamer can drop it, and it went on working like before.

It’s blue and black colour scheme really fits it perfectly. The company’s logos aren’t that annoying on the sides – the one that I really felt it was awkward put was the one on the headband. It could have been much more cooler without it being there. But I wouldn’t mind going out with it, only if the microphone would have been detachable, and the cable a lot longer. It’s really too short for my taste – 60 cm is not even the distance from your pockets to your ears. More so, the cable can impose some difficulties to those that have a cramped gaming space. You have been warned!

The HC-4 sports four buttons on the left ear-cup:

One button turns the headset on or off
Two buttons shift the volume up and down
And the last button turns your mic on and off

Button functionality seems to vary from product to product. Not by much, but it’s worth noting that when paired with a MacBook the button that usually turned the microphone on and off, instead gives you the possibility of pausing and un-pausing it.

The headset also comes paired with a micro-USB cable that lets you recharge the battery that amplifies the volume. Although it really isn’t required for the battery to be fully charged for it it to work, but it’s a nice touch if you want to hear everything louder – like that Rogue stealthing near you, and on the crawl to annihilate your avatar, or that demo-man in Team Fortress 2 that just put some sticky bombs in the room in front of you.

Gioteck offers slightly above the average audio quality!

Logic dictates that you shouldn’t expect high-end quality audio coming out of your headset, but that doesn’t mean its output is weak. Au contrair it’s actually good. It doesn’t have noise cancellation features, nor does it fully support surround sound, but it does its job well.

You’ll have no problems playing Dragon Age Inquisition and listening to the incredible voice-overs, or the extraordinary oriental soundtrack, paired with undead growls from Dying Light.

But the HC-4 really excels in the volume output department. It’s loud as hell if you use the rechargeable battery, and you won’t feel disappointed after using it – like some of its higher-priced competitors that just stand in HC-4’s shadow; to name one – Turtle Beach.

Even though you won’t get the noise cancellation feature, the volume output is more than enough when it comes to blocking outside noises like birds chirping, dogs growling, and people fidgeting in the subway.

The battery lasts up to 8 hours, and when it runs out you’ll just get reduced volume – no need to run to a electric outlet to immediately pump some sweet life juice into it.

The microphone is okay’ish. I mean, I’m not entirely disappointed in it – the only thing that truly annoys the living hell out of me is that it isn’t detachable. While testing it in various games such as World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, and with software like Skype and Ventrilo, other gamers, users, have reported clear audio.

Gioteck HC-4 conclusion. Should I buy it?

Yes, you should definitely buy it. It is one of the best premium headsets at this price range, the only other headset that tries to compete with the HC-4 is the Tritton Kama at roughly $38.

Pros

Works with a multitude of devices – laptops, smartphones, tablets, consoles

Volume output is incredible

Audio quality is above the average

Great battery life – that doesn’t affect the headset’s usability

Cons

The microphone isn’t detachable

The headphone cable is really short

Audio cable isn’t detachable

What headset do you use, if any, for your gaming needs?

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Minimum System Requirements for Call of Duty Black Ops 3

How does the Gioteck stand out?

The Gioteck HC-4 sports a simple design!

Gioteck offers slightly above the average audio quality!

Gioteck HC-4 conclusion. Should I buy it?

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