OK so I caved. I gave in to the hype, the stories, the videos and the general ‘feel’ of the experience surrounding it, and I bought into an Alpha: I bought Day-Z. This is also smashing one of my golden rules; never ever, ever, pre-order anything and if you think about it, an alpha purchase is pre-ordering a pre-order. You’re not even buying a complete game…. just a promise of one. What the hell was I thinking?
While I was loading up Steam this evening I was merrily flicking through Twitter and saw a link to PC Gamer’s article on the Steam in-home streaming beta. Safe to say, I was intrigued to see what the streaming service was like for myself. I quickly opted into the relevant Beta through my Steam client, dug out my netbook and got ready to play. Some brief thoughts follow.
If you have no background with Blizzards Warcraft games then learning the ins and outs of classes, abilities and how best to play might take a little while longer, although a background in CCG’s (collectible card games) of any form will certainly help. As a person who played World of Warcraft for around five years, I knew from the instant I saw my first game that I wanted to play it for myself as it brought back memories of time spent on many of my characters, but still posed something of a new challenge as far as gameplay was concerned.
Liberty City – You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Amidst the high-rise buildings and cramped alleyways that smother the surface of a this once beautiful set of islands, a criminal element skulks. Of course, I should know, I used to be one of them.
But now things are different. Over the past few months I’ve been back on the streets of GTA-IV, but this time I’ve been wearing the uniform of Liberty City’s finest – I’ve joined the LCPD, and I’m going to do my best to make Liberty City a better place.
Left oar. Right oar. Left oar. Right oar.
As my small boat gently drifts downstream on the current, I pause and look above me at the tall trees that overhang the river. For a moment, I’ve completely forgotten the bustling floor of the exhibition, the Minecraft tournament and the explosive death-matches taking place not a dozen paces away from me. For just a few quiet seconds, there’s just me, my silent passenger, and the river itself.
I am the Sandman, and this is my home.
It seems like only yesterday that every potential SaGa, Mana and Vagrant Story revival at Square Enix found itself under the Final Fantasy banner in order to capture a little more marketplace enthusiasm. From the international renaming of SaGa titles in the early years through to the incongruousness of whacking Final Fantasy onto the Crystal Chronicles sub-series of action RPGs, for decades the premier JRPG company leant heavily on their most successful marque.
Indie developers are great, they are often so approachable and friendly. The games they make are part of the sea change that is sweeping through the industry. The old AA game space all has been all but obliterated and indie titles are taking up the mantle with growing support from the big boys, especially Sony as Shahid Ahmad talked about on day two of the Expo. I didn’t get to spend as much time in the indie section during my time at the Expo as I would have liked, but there were a few gems down there.
Grand Theft Auto V has proven to be a massive hit, it was breaking sales records within the first 24 hours it was on sale and has been receiving critical acclaim across many outlets. The Guardian’s review was featured heavily on the front page of its website. Here at Reticule Towers though, we haven’t yet delivered our Verdict, that will change in the coming weeks, but for now you can check out some thoughts from Chris and Kevin after the break.
Earlier this year I sold my PlayStation Vita to a friend at work. I reasoned that I wasn’t playing it at all, the money would come in handy and it would be better off with someone who might use it. After having digested some of what I saw at the Eurogamer Expo, I can safely say that I will be looking to buy a Vita again quite soon.
As I write this report on Day Three at the Expo, I realise that the morning has faded away into a blur and I find myself extremely thankful for the notes I made on my tablet this morning. I don’t think I would have remembered what happened without those notes.