4-day weekend

I am beginning a 4-day weekend and I have some ambitious gaming plans.  First, I am going to start a Necromancer in Diablo 3.  The patch came out on Tuesday, but I haven’t had time to play it yet.  I’ll probably be level 70 by Tuesday.

Next, there is an achievement in Rock Band 3 that I haven’t completed.  It is to play all 70+ core songs (not downloads) in one sitting.  I am going to complete that at some point this weekend.  I’ll keep you posted with my progress.

I’ve also been into Fallout 4 again, and I hope to push the main story line fairly far ahead as I’m curious as to how this ends.  If you haven’t played this one, I recommend it!  Both Fallout 3 and 4 are excellent games with amazing story telling.

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It’s that time of year!  Twice a year, Steam has ridiculous sales on most of the games, some up to 90% off!  This is when I load up on games that I had placed on my wish list.  There are a lot of games that you can get for under $5 and it’s worth it.  This ends July 5, so check it out!

Shut-up-and-take-my-money

 

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atari

So a video on the web site www.ataribox.com has surfaced showing a quick, 22 second hint at a new Atari console.  It appears that this may be the real deal.  Insiders say that it’s not going to be a flashback console, but a brand new Atari system.  There is very little known about it, but the CEO of Atari did confirm that “we are back in the hardware business.”

I’m intrigued and a bit excited!  A new player in the console market?  I would have thought SEGA would have come back first, but more competition is good.  They will really struggle to play with the biggins (Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo), but we’ll see what they’ve got.  See the video below for more information.

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Oldies but Goodies – Coaster!

Genre:  Simulation/Builder
Platform:  PC

I really like roller coaster building games.  I have played nearly all of them and I’m about to venture into one of the newer ones – Planet Coaster.  My love for the genre first started with a game called Coaster by Disney games.  This was one of the first coaster sim games.

This game was really ahead of its time.  It was released in 1993 and didn’t benefit from the internet for much endorsement.  I don’t think a lot of people know that it existed.  In this game, you could not only design a roller coaster and put it through computer simulations, you could ride it yourself!  It wasn’t the best graphically, but they get an A for effort.

Coaster 3

You could also have other people test it for you and they would rate it.  I tried so hard to find an image of the folks after they rode it, but didn’t.  Their faces would change based on the intensity of your coaster.  On your most insane (that didn’t kill them), they would have vomit on their faces.  It was pretty funny to my juvenile self.

I was able to find this game on gog.com.  It doesn’t run very well, however, as the speeds are just off.  I tried tinkering with emulation settings to no avail.  Try it for yourself, though, and enjoy the ride!

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Fun with Card Battles – Animation Throwdown

Genre:  Card
Platform:  PC and Mobile

I discovered a game a few days ago that has suddenly consumed the majority of my time.  I have played almost 24 hours since.  This game is Animation Throwdown, available on Steam or as a mobile game.

This game combines things I really enjoy – a good card battle game, adult swim (or Fox’s Animation Domination) cartoons and comedy.  The game contains card sets from the following cartoons – Futurama, Family Guy, American Dad, Bob’s Burgers and King of the Hill.  I am very familiar with all but Futurama, but I have seen it and at least know the basic characters.  I am regularly chuckling while playing this gem.

You play with your typical card-battle rules.  Each card has a damage and health number.  Each one of these numbers can be enhanced by combo cards, but you will have to research the majority of the combos.  This can take anywhere from 1 to 24 hours, depending on the grade of card you are researching.  The higher-level combos are well worth it.

There are several different game modes as well.  There’s a guild rumble, quest line (adventure mode), arena and challenges.  There is enough content to keep you busy for a while.  You can also upgrade your cards as you play and recycle cards that you don’t want to keep.  As of right now, you can only have three decks at a time.

The game is free to play, but it tries hard to get you to pay to advance quicker.  I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t suckered in once.  If you like any of these cartoons, even if you have never played a card battle game, please check this out!  You will likely have a fun time.

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April 2017 Games With Gold

April 2017 GWG

Time sure is flying.  It’s time again for this month’s games with gold from Microsoft.  This month’s games seem to be a bit on the dark side:

  • Ryse – Son of Rome – We got this one with our XBox One and haven’t played it yet.  It was fairly heavily advertised pre-release for its graphical prowess.  We’ll see how it stands up.
  • Walking Dead – Season Two.  I don’t like the Walking Dead TV series and zombies just aren’t my thing.  But I love just about anything Telltale puts out and The Walking Dead series is no exception to that rule.  The story telling is amazing and it plays like a “choose your own adventure” game in that your decisions drastically alter the future of your game.  I have played season one and I’m looking forward to adding season two.
  • Darksiders looks to be a post-apocalyptic game involving demons and the end of time.  I don’t know that I’ll play this one.
  • Assassin’s Creed – Revelations – You can’t go wrong with an Assassin’s Creed game, so I’ll definitely be adding this one to the backlog.  I’m not sure what it’s about, but I’ll give it a shot.
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Steam

I have featured some fairly obscure games on my site, and you may wonder how I find them all.  I have one word for you – Steam.  What is it?  It’s a service which works with thousands of developers to feature their games for you to buy.  The store interface is great, but what really stands out is their recommendations.  They really tailor to your previous purchases and you can customize the tags included in the search.  You can see customer reviews, similar games, videos and screenshots.  You can build a wish list of up to 50 games and follow many more.  When one of the items on your wish list goes on sale, they’ll email you.  There are many free games as well.

They also arrange “discovery queues” for you, which is where I find most of the obscure games.  They pick 11 games for you, and you can say whether you want to follow it, add it to your wish list or are not interested.  The queue gets smarter as you go.

Steam Store

Steam is more than just a store, though, it’s also a way to keep your PC games organized.  Every game that you purchase from Steam is listed in your library, which you can categorize however you see fit.  You can also add non-Steam games to this library as well.  If you’re not a Steam member, I would strongly recommend it, as this is where all of the best PC gaming is these days.

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Chey’s Top 25 – #4 – Diablo 3

Genre – Dungeon Crawler
Platform – PC

It has taken me a very long time to write this article.  Every time I go into the game to get some screenshots, I end up playing for hours and forgetting about the screenshots.  I already have Diablo II on my top 25, but Diablo 3 takes my number 4 spot.

I have been playing this game since day 1.  It did some things well and some things not so well.  Blizzard has made some major changes over the years, usually for the better.  In the beginning, there was a player market place where you could sell in-game items for real money (or for in-game currency)!  I made a whopping $13 way.  Many argued that this made the game unfair.  I found it a new and thrilling element to the game.  A couple of years in, they removed the auction house.  In doing so, they really upped the quality of crafted items, which made the reliance on super-rare drops less, which ultimately made the game more enjoyable.

Another thing that I was disappointed about was the skill tree, or lack thereof.  Instead of highly customizable skill trees, there are a handful of skills that you can pick from.  You can go into an advanced mode, which allows you to put any skill into any slot, which helps a bit, but I still miss those skill trees.  After you hit level 70, you start to gain Paragon points, which allow for some further customization, but I would still like to see more.

Another thing that was changed was the inventory.  Diablo has always been about the loot, and they greatly improved this in Diablo 3.  Items, no matter their size, only take up one inventory block.  The runes are a thing of the past, but items are still socketed and there are many different sets of armor.  In a more recent update, they rolled out ancient armor, although I still have yet to see one.

Screenshot007

The story is solid.  The graphics are great (check out some of the screenshots below).  If you have the expansion, you can pick from the following classes – monk, witch doctor, wizard, crusader, barbarian and demon hunter.  I’ve played each one up to level 70, but my favorite, by far, is the monk.  I also enjoy playing on hardcore mode, which means that when you die, it’s game over.  As you progress through the story, you can choose followers to join in your quest.  They are actually useful and have different abilities.

I would say ignore the negatives that you may have heard about this game and try it for yourself.  It’s a lot of fun and you’ll likely get sucked in!  I have played over 600 hours on my main monk alone and I keep going back to it.

 

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