World of Final Fantasy is getting a demo!

Now I may not have played many Final Fantasy games but I have grown up knowing the characters and fighting the monsters in games that I have played. I have always enjoyed the series and think it really is a fantastic series of RPG’s

I am excited to play World of Final Fantasy which comes out October 25th. This is interesting because it is actually coming out in America before Japan.

Square Enix has just announced a demo is coming out on the 17th of this month. I’m sure a demo will also come out in the US.

In the demo fans will plunge into a dungeon that is in the game in unique way. They will befriend mirages and fight monsters to get a feel for the game. I love that demos are such a prevalent thing as even though reviews can be enlightening playing the game for yourself can really make or break a purchase.

This game also looks super cute but also has the same Final Fantasy aura of past games. Plus with the new stacking function I am excited to see how this game will play out. I do hope they are able to give us the demo as I really do want to try out this game after watching people play it in convention video.

 

Dartrix,Torracat, and Brionne…Oh My! Here come the Alolan starter evolutions!

Once again new Pokemon News has been shared with us and boy howdy was it some good news. Long have we waited for news of the starter Pokemon evolutions and the wait is finally over. Though I must say I’m thinking their might be multiple evolutions for these Pokemon.

Dartrix is the evolved form of Rowlet and really looks like quite the snob. I’m curious what this owl will evolve into, it really could go in many directions. Will it actually become an archer like the “leaks” have purported?

Torracat is the evolved form of Litten and it looks like quite the cool cat. I’m not sure how this could possibly become the supposed leaked evolution as it is on four paws. Though the idea of it punching is disconcerting. We don’t need another Fire Fighting starter.

Now Brionne is the evolved form of Popplio but I just think this Pokemon really is just to feminine to evolve from the boasting Popplio. I’m really curious to see what it evolves into, and if there really are multiple evolutions for these starters.

This next Pokemon was once Anime only but now Ash-Greninja is joining the Pokemon Games. I’m excited to add this Pokemon to my collection as it is really just so cool. Ash-Greninja has really been such a great Pokemon on the series, and to actually be able to have it on a team if one wanted is spectacular. This Pokemon really has been part of probably the most exciting saga of the Pokemon Series and I am excited to see him in action.

There is also a new connection area called the Festival Plaza. It really does remind me of Join Avenue from Generation 5. You can link up with people playing the game and using special points, deck out your plaza.

When the Pokemon are in the box they can now go to a special  island. Here other Pokemon can join them and might even become your own Pokemon. Finally Pokemon are going to be able to do something while they are boxed. They can  even go on a treasure hunt and find some great things.

Also announced officially was the Pokemon Sun and Moon demo which comes to the Eshop on the 18th of this month, one month away from the release.

With more news coming on the 14th, Pokemon Sun and Moon keeps looking better and better. Cannot wait for November 18th!

 

Beyond Good and Evil 2 officially in development!

If you are like me, you’ve played the Beyond Good and Evil game, fallen in love with it and ever since anxiously waited for a sequel. Now, we have received news of Beyond Good and Evil 2 a few times before(from 2008 onward) without it ever actually happening. This time though it seems that Ubisoft(more specifically Ubisoft’s Montpellier studio) is actually making real progress what with the E3 hype this year, released pieces of concept art and all. Michael Ancel is working on the long waited sequel: “If you’ve been waiting for news about BG&E … Well here you go! We are delighted to confirm that Michel Ancel is currently working with the Ubisoft Montpellier studio on a new Beyond Good & Evil game.”. But he is also working on another game and so there is yet no idea as to when the game will actually be ready, as Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot have said: “It’s difficult to say,” […] “Michel is working on it, but he’s doing two games at the same time–he’s doing Wild at the same time. It’s coming along, but he has to spend more time on it, so we can see it faster.”

Guillemot has also said that “It’s not only the desires that are important, it’s can our team come up with something that will be a revolution,” he said. “You don’t just want Beyond Good & Evil 2, you want a fantastic Beyond Good & Evil 2. You don’t want us to bring it back as something that isn’t perfect. That’s a challenge we’re facing; we have to come back with something crazy and something that will be great.” At least for me this is a welcome statement, because it’s always better to wait a little longer to get a great experience than to get a “meh” experience fast. This geek cannot wait to hear more! Stay tuned.

Play with passion!

auburn.geek

5 Essentials For PSVR

With less than 2 weeks to go before the launch of the Playstation VR, it’s probably time to consider making sure you have everything needed to get the full experience, plus a few extras that are just damn right cool!

Unfortunately, there are some things required to get the headset working the way it was intended, so we’ll cover those first.

The Playstation 4 Camera 

Originally when it was confirmed that this is something you’d need to use PSVR, some people were understandably confused as to why. It’s now become clear that this is what tracks where the controllers are and also helps track head movement to give a natural feel when looking and moving around the virtual world.

The above is the new look PS4 camera which is slightly smaller and lighter but is now cylindrical. The features are all the same as the original square one and will work the same way, but is probably more targeted for those who haven’t picked one up yet.

Playstation Move Motion Controllers 

Another obvious one for those who have researched into virtual reality, but not needed for all games on PSVR. Some games like Battlezone use the regular PS4 controller, but a lot seem to require the Move controllers to give more life-like actions in games like Batman Arkham VR, or Until Dawn: Rush of Blood.

Again, for those who don’t have their old controllers kicking around from the days of the PS, you can now buy this twin pack of controllers in one box. But for the convenience of this double pack, you’ll be looking at over double the price of buying them individually or even second hand! The only new feature of these is that you can use you PS4 charging cable on them, rather than the PS3 one.

Room Requirements

This is something that personally worried me when it was brought up back in July, as I personally don’t have this much clear space free. This may have changed since it was leaked back in July, but the pamphlet image above suggests that players need to dedicate 9.8′ of depth and 6.2′ of width to their PSVR play area. This includes a two-foot dead zone directly in front of a single PlayStation Camera, which must be set up for tracking purposes, and a few more feet back to position a chair so that players can look and wave arms all around their play space.

To an extent this makes sense that you’d need plenty of room for movement, but I’m hoping that this is more of a suggestion than a necessity.

Batman Arkham VR

I previously talked about this game, because lets face it who doesn’t want to be Batman!

It was just recently confirmed that the main story of this VR experience will only last around an hour, but I imagine there will be other things you can do like Batarang practice or maybe locking Alfred in the freezer at Wayne manor. Either way this will be a short game and luckily the price reflects this at £15.99 (price not yet confirmed for the US), and will be available at launch.

Star Trek Bridge Crew

I’ve always wanted to boldly go where no one has gone before, but the local bus only takes me to the city centre (and that’s boring after using it a few hundred times), so Star Trek Bridge Crew is definitely the next best thing. Not only being the closest thing we’ll ever get to deep space travel, it’s one of the few online VR games I’m interested in as it requires players to take different roles aboard and work together to take out enemy ships.

There’s no word on an exact release date for this, however it was said to be available late autumn, but with the large amount of games available launch day, I feel this may be one that will have a few delays before it gets a solid release window.

Apparently there will be 50 games available at launch, so this is just a couple of my top games I’m looking forward to.

There is a lot to consider before investing into PS VR or any other VR headset available, as the cost can soon add up if you’re buying everything from scratch. Also it’s worth considering that most of the public haven’t had the chance to demo this yet, so is it really worth the risk and all that money, and will it be a fad that goes the same way as the Virtual Boy? I personally have cautious optimism and will be buying one which I will give some review impressions for later next week.

SNIKT!

The Cake is a Lie… But the Portal Movie is All True!

It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction – Captain Lensflair himself, J.J. Abrams has confirmed that the Portal and Half-Life movie adaptations are very much still alive, and that we can expect an announcement about Portal very soon.

Speaking to IGN on the red carpet, where he was promoting new series Westworld, Abrams said that production company Valve had been very busy with the projects and he hoped to be making an announcement in the not too distant future.

He didn’t give much away about the plot lines of either movie, but did say, “We are having some really interesting discussions with writers, many of whom…once you said you’re doing a movie or show about a specific thing that is a known quantity you start to find people who are rabid about these things. As someone who loves playing Half Life and Portal, what’s the movie of this, it’s incredible when you talk to someone who just ‘gets’ it, it’s like, oh my god, it’s really the seed for this incredible tree you’re growing.”

Let’s hope both adaptations are a huge success!

Follow me on Twitter @pixiewose

Let’s talk about DLC…

Dear reader and gamers, the time for us is really bad. If us, who love gaming all night or during the weekend, right after a hard day at work, what will it be of us after a few years when games will cost more than £80 plus £30 of DLC?

Yes, the new thing so called DLC is taking over the gaming industry and gaming content. We need to defend our original value… alright I’m gonna stop with the speech and that. But here’s one question for you all, is the DLC really worth it and bring more to the game experience?

In the 90’s, I was in my Gaming prior, my Pac-Man or Pokemon would never leave my side. But also in that time, you had the full game experience in one game, either it was a AAA or Indie game. Yes, a full gaming experience where you needed to reach high scores to unblock secret levels or to scratch your head to find secrets about the world of the game you are playing. Remember the amount of hours you’d pass on it just to finish at 100%, the frustration, patience and anger of hours of searching or doing a level all over again because of something specific or to reach perfect score. Wasn’t it why games such as Final Fantasy 7, Tomb Raider, Mario, Tekken and others were said to be part of the best games ever made by gamers?  They were because of the hours of play you’d pass on it to access and discover everything.

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Remember Final Fantasy 7, to fight the last boss and have a chance to win against it, you needed first the  The Knights of the Round, 

but to reach it you needed the gold Chocobo,

 but to get it you needed to make your original Chocobo go through stages by feeding and make other babies Chocobo. Yeah it was a really long process if I’m honest, but that was the dedication for the value of the game you bought for and the feeling of finally achieving that game to 100%… priceless.

Okay now, imagine that all the thing I just said we’re DLC! (wich I suppose will be in the FF7 remastered) the value of the game would have been enormous when you already pay a great sum of money for just to fight Sephirot… 
But the one who actually get the gold medal for is Bungie with Destiny. Damn they are the worst thief in the gaming industry, when you think the original game is £50 plus the 4 dlcs’ which cost around £20 each (and I’m nice still by saying that), I’m like GODDAMN!! I don’t say there DLC  doesn’t have much content but it’s not as much as to justify a total product that goes over the £100… the worst is that every gamers who have bought it to is original release doesn’t receive any discount on future DLC for their commitment but instead new players got discounted into one package. That’s a big stab on the back of their true players on my opinions. 

For now, the gaming industry aren’t making games to give the gamers a unique experience but more to actually empty our bank account than anything else. Luckily you still have companies who actually give a 100% game as it’s release or makes free DLCS’  for multiplayers mode. 

As a final say in this article, I wouldn’t say they make the gaming experience  better actually destroys it by how much we all have to spend in just one games when all we want is to buy different games and finish them fully for our own entertainment. And don’t even start me on the micro-transaction… 

Anyway what do you think gamers of DLC?  Do you agree that we need to spend more money to have a full gaming experience now on separate bundles or do you agree with my argument? 

Let us know your though on it in the comment section.

Peace everyone. 

What Are Ya Playing? September 28th 2016

This month I have been playing many games, even though of course I have more to finish. I’m almost done with Phoenix Wright Spirit of Justice which is just a brilliant game like all that came before it.

I’ve also been wrapped up in Dragon Quest VII Fragments of the Forgotten Past. That game has over 50 classes and so much story to read it is a little unbearable. Though really the level of customization balances it out. I don’t think I’ll ever 100% this game as just beating it has taken me 100 hours plus.

On Friday Yokai Watch Bony Spirits and Fleshy Souls comes out and I am all set to play it. I loved the first game and can’t wait to see the new Yokai. As the Pokemon type super hit, this game is really worth the play if you haven’t given it a shot. If you haven’t played the first one feel free just to buy the sequel as it has a tutorial in the beginning just in case.

The res of this year is looking like a ton of good gaming fun to be had. I’ve already pre-ordered World of Final Fantasy and even though I haven’t played a lot of the games it looks like a solid RPG. I’m even probably going to get Dragon Quest Builders as playing Dragon Quest VII has sucked me into this new world.

I clearly have some sort of RPG addiction but that’s not bad… is it?

I’m also playing Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch which is stellar. I mean a studio Ghibli based game? I am ready for the sequel and will probably get that too even if it isn’t worked on by Ghibli. It still looks Ghiblish enough for me and I think that is what matters.

All I know is I love gaming and with so many games including the long awaited Pokemon Sun and Moon, there are tons of adventures out there ready for me to undertake. Plus with 2017 on the horizon, The NX coming out, along with Breath of the Wild, Persona 5 and Horizon Zero Dawn, the future of my gaming plans really are looking bright.

The Playstation Experience is on its way

Playstation sure does like to give fans a venue to get lots of news on upcoming games. Unlike Nintendo which relies on Directs Playstation employs presentations and events such as the Playstation experience.

I am curious what they will show but no doubt it will be great. With many games already on the horizon for next year, it will no doubt have a few good things to share. From Persona 5 to Horizon Zero Dawn to the numerous other possibilities, I can’t wait to find out what news they will be offering up.

There will also be the Capcom cup where the best of the best Street Fighter V fighters will duke it out for a chance at part of 250,000 dollars. People like to think that gaming can’t give you money if your good at it and boy are they wrong. This world is changing and its time for gamers to take their spotlight. I mean personally I’d much rather watch someone play a game then kick a ball around.

We don’t have long to wait as its almost the end of September. All I know is I hope they have a few tricks and hidden games up their sleeves because big reveals are always so fun to take in! Tune into the coverage of this event at 10:am on December 3rd!

LEGO Dimensions: Five Year One Packs To Consider

LEGO Dimensions Year Two releases in three days, but which Year One packs should you buy in the meantime? Well, here are my five favourite Year One packs for your consideration:

Doctor Who Level Pack

Character: The Doctor

Vehicle: The TARDIS

Gadget: K9

Price: £24.97

LEGO Doctor Who is arguably the best value out of all the LEGO Dimensions packs. Not only do you get an authentic Doctor Who level based on a new storyline (The Dalek Extermination of Earth) with Peter Capaldi, Nicholas Briggs and Julian Bleach reprising their roles as The Doctor , the Daleks and Davros respectively, but the pack allows you to play as all thirteen incarnations of the Doctor – effectively thirteen characters on one NFC tag. Not only that but the TARDIS mini-build has access to every theme tune (bar the TV Movie theme) and TARDIS console room throughout the show’s 53 years on air. K9 (voiced once again by John Leeson) is a nice addition too, although it is a shame that he is a gadget rather than a character in his own right.

Cyberman and Dalek Fun Pack

Character: Cyberman

Vehicle: Dalek

Price: £12.99

The Cyberman and Dalek Fun Pack is the cheapest way to access the fantastic Doctor Who Adventure World, featuring a host of familiar faces such as Captain Jack Harkness, Madame Vastra and Strax (voiced by John Barrowman, Neve McIntosh and Dan Starkey respectively). You also get Doctor Who’s two most iconic enemies in one pack; the Cyberman (with Nicholas Briggs reprising the role) in particular comes with a whole range of abilities such as mind control and diving underwater. As with K9, it is a shame the Dalek is a vehicle rather than a character – but it does make sense in context of the show, given that the casing is merely a travel machine operated by a  Kaled mutant. Plus: having the Doctor ride a Dalek never grows old!

Doc Brown Fun Pack

Character: Doc Brown

Vehicle: Travelling Time Train

Price: £12.99

Overall, I prefer the Doc Brown Fun Pack to the Back To The Future Level Pack. Whilst I enjoy playing as Marty McFly and having access to the hoverboard from Back to the Future Part 2 and the Delorean Time Machine is nice the level was a bit on the short side – especially in comparison to the 45 minutes of gameplay from the Doctor Who Level Pack. The best Back to the Future content in the game is probably the excellent Hill Valley Adventure World and you don’t need to pay £21.99 to access that. Just as with the Delorean from the Level Pack the time-travelling train from Back to the Future Part 3 allows you to visit all three Hill Valley timezones – 1985, 1885 and 2015 – and any other Back to the Future time travel spots in the main campaign. Christopher Lloyd also reprises his role as Doc Brown and has a number of abilities including the ability to fix LEGO objects and use hacking terminals.

The Simpsons Level Pack

Character: Homer Simpson

Vehicle: Homer’s Car

Gadget: Taunt-o-Vision

Price: £19.99

Homer Simpson is one of very few Simpsons characters with voice clips in the game. For reasons unknown, Twentieth Century Fox would only allow LEGO Dimensions to use the voice work of Dan Castellaneta. It is testament therefore to Traveller’s Tales that they managed to make two LEGO Dimensions Simpsons levels that feel authentic to the popular animated sitcom: the Starter Pack level Meltdown at Sector 7-G…and the level pack’s The Mysterious Voyage of Homer.

The Mysterious Voyage of Homer is based on the classic Simpsons episode by the same name and it feels exactly like playing a LEGO recreation of the story. Fortunately for this level they were able to use the voice of Johnny Cash (who played The Space Coyote); for the other voices they replace the characters’ dialogue with mime. This strange mix of modern LEGO dialogue and past LEGO miming works surprisingly well; you don’t even notice that most of the voices are missing and the story is still easy to follow. The Mysterious Voyage of Homer leaves you wanting a full-blown LEGO Simpsons videogame, even if they wouldn’t be able to include voices for Bart, Marge or Lisa.

Oddly the pack refers to the Family Sedan as ‘Homer’s Car’; regardless, the vehicle is a nice addition to the collection of iconic cars (such as the Ecto-1 and Delorean Time Machine) available for the game. The Taunt-o-Vision feels like classic Simpsons with its wacky ability to blow up Silver LEGO objects. It’s just a shame that the Springfield Adventure World feels rather life-less without any of the show’s cast reprising their roles to give out quests.

Emmet Fun Pack

Character: Emmet

Vehicle: Emmet’s Excavator

Price: £5.79

Emmet was of course the star of The LEGO Movie and in my book that makes him a must-have for any LEGO Dimensions player. It is amazing that they managed to entice famous Hollywood actor Chris Pratt to reprise his role when archive audio would have been a much cheaper alternative. Emmet is not only a great character but he is also the only NFC minifigure to have the drilling ability (well, until the Jake The Dog Team Pack is released this Friday). The thing I love most about this pack however is the fact that Emmet’s Excavator can be rebuilt into the Destruct-o-Mech, which bears a strong (and probably deliberate) resemblance to the Construct-o-Mech from The LEGO Movie:

So those are my top five favourite LEGO Dimensions Year One packs. Do you agree with my list? Let me know in the comments below.

All prices are taken from Amazon UK as of Tuesday 27th September 2016.

The Bunker Review

Spoiler Free

The 90’s brought us some of the coolest (and weirdest) things you could ever ask for in a childhood; which you just can’t beat – Supersizing at McDonalds, Pogs, the N64, and one of my all time 90’s favourites…Crash Bandicoot. There were also a number of parts of that era that now seem strange like Floppy Disks, watching MTV for music videos, or full-motion video (FMV) which were usually made up of a bunch of no-name actors and were about as fun as watching golf whilst hungover.

Because of this, FMV games for the most part have been forgotten with the occasional developer taking a stab at it, most memorably 2015’s “Her Story” where you had to search through a database of video clips from fictional police interviews, then use the clips to solve the case of a missing person. The gameplay and acting in this game were so incredibly intelligent, that it made the FMV aspect of the game, a complete joy to watch.

The Bunker (created by Welsh dev Splendy Games) not only features FMV, but is a complete live action experience giving it more of a feeling of an interactive film. And that’s fine with me. The story is strong enough to keep your eyes latched to the screen for 2 – 3 hours and keeps your attention sharp for the occasional quick time event.

You play as John, a 30-year old man that was born in a poorly designed nuclear bunker and has never seen life outside of the walls of the government facility. As you play through, you discover how John became the last remaining survivor within the bunker, and his life of following “the routine” to keep the place running smoothly until he can resurface. Things don’t go to plan when a random error forces John into doing some emergency repairs to continue his survival.

John has spent his entire life sheltered both mentally and physically by his only family member – his mother, which has given him a childlike naivety and fear of anything he’s not familiar with. The role of John is masterfully acted by Adam Brown (also known for his role as Ori in The Hobbit), who takes you through a range of emotions and challenges that John has to experience on his own. There’s a constant sense of feeling uneasy and that maybe you’re not entirely alone. The game never throws any cheap jump scares at you for no reason, instead it’s intelligent in the way it makes you feel uneasy, which is greatly helped by the fact you’re trapped underground and not allowed to leave.

Adam Brown’s acting isn’t the only one worth mentioning, as Sarah Greene also gives a stellar performance as John’s mother, amongst a whole host of supporting characters. You never feel like the cast just came to set after remembering some lines, it genuinely feels like these people are survivors of a nuclear bombing and you’re witnessing something that actually happened.

It’s hard to find anything I would consider a major issue towards player enjoyment, as the game doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not, but if I had to find the needle – some more puzzles would’ve made this a challenging experience. And if you don’t make any decisions for a while, the video would go on a loop…but that’s it. Trying to find anything else would just be unfair.

If you like the sound of what you’ve read and get a few hours spare one evening, take a chance and download this game. It’s available on PS4, Xbox One, PC and later in the year it’ll coming to Android and iOS, so there’s plenty of reason to play.

Just be prepared for afterwards, when you may feel the need to take a long walk in the park as you contemplate things, and Morgan Freeman narrates your thoughts.

SNIKT!