AFTER 3 OR SO FRICKIN YEARS OF WAITING I ACTUALLY GOT IT!
Although the sale is over you can still pick it up for 9$. The game is actually in a playable state this time around! Will post a review later.
Tuesday 24 June 2014
Saturday 21 June 2014
Twitch!
Good news everyone. I just created a Twitch account!
So if anyone wants to watch me play Warframe or something else just go right ahead.
http://www.twitch.tv/theonedefiler
Steam me if you want to play something too.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/XxTheDefilerxX/
So if anyone wants to watch me play Warframe or something else just go right ahead.
http://www.twitch.tv/theonedefiler
Steam me if you want to play something too.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/XxTheDefilerxX/
Friday 13 June 2014
Thursday 12 June 2014
Japanese Gaming Industry Dying?
So, I took a look at the launches of our dear, dear consoles earlier this year. I'm really unsurprised they turned out like a smashed cake. People are getting sick of console bullshit. Insane disc locked content, DLC extortion, stupid ass DRM, the list goes on. People eventually figured out a decent gaming PC (about $700) is about a console and three games. Plus, we have Steam sales, the Indie Gala, the Humble Bundle, and better exclusives. Honestly, what's so great about Halo? When they want to make another weapon they just take two existing ones and make an abomination out of them.
But this isn't about consoles. This is about Japanese gaming. As you all know Japanese gaming is heavily based on consoles. For this (and among many others) I believe the Japanese gaming industry is collectively going down the shitter. A good word to describe the situation is "stagnant". For example, what's the most innovative game that came out of Japan in the past generation? Dark Souls? Hell no, it only survived because westerners picked it up. Metal Gear Revengance? Nope, Kojima would agree with me.
You see now why things are so dire over there. I think this is due to a combination of greedy, bureaucratic companies doing what they like and an extremely conservative environment that looks down upon independent thought. This is more than just an issue in gaming, this is an issue with Japanese culture in general. Japanese society is heavily based around both conformity and artistic expression. The two sides are by definition opposed and this creates a highly paradoxical and conflicting society. It's no wonder that their youth are going through a massive identity crisis right now. Young, sheltered men are trying to break free and be individuals in an environment that expects them to conform. Things will get a lot worse before they get better in the land of the rising sun. But, as the expression goes: "The darkest hours just before the dawn.".
Even if the Japanese are a largely marginalized people nowadays I highly suggest we keep an eye on their culture and trends, both gaming and otherwise. Things will get extremely hairy there and then extremely strange right afterwards. If everything follows my predictions I hope to see an indie game revolution sometime within my lifetime just like we have here in the west.
WHAT THE HELL IS THIS AND WHICH HEAD ORIFICE DOES IT GO IN?
But this isn't about consoles. This is about Japanese gaming. As you all know Japanese gaming is heavily based on consoles. For this (and among many others) I believe the Japanese gaming industry is collectively going down the shitter. A good word to describe the situation is "stagnant". For example, what's the most innovative game that came out of Japan in the past generation? Dark Souls? Hell no, it only survived because westerners picked it up. Metal Gear Revengance? Nope, Kojima would agree with me.
You see now why things are so dire over there. I think this is due to a combination of greedy, bureaucratic companies doing what they like and an extremely conservative environment that looks down upon independent thought. This is more than just an issue in gaming, this is an issue with Japanese culture in general. Japanese society is heavily based around both conformity and artistic expression. The two sides are by definition opposed and this creates a highly paradoxical and conflicting society. It's no wonder that their youth are going through a massive identity crisis right now. Young, sheltered men are trying to break free and be individuals in an environment that expects them to conform. Things will get a lot worse before they get better in the land of the rising sun. But, as the expression goes: "The darkest hours just before the dawn.".
Even if the Japanese are a largely marginalized people nowadays I highly suggest we keep an eye on their culture and trends, both gaming and otherwise. Things will get extremely hairy there and then extremely strange right afterwards. If everything follows my predictions I hope to see an indie game revolution sometime within my lifetime just like we have here in the west.
Tuesday 10 June 2014
This Summer
I'm done all of the "hard" subjects for school exam-wise so now I'd like to tell you about my new project. I'm happy to introduce my next two game projects for the summer:
Ascend: Steeped in Blood
Ascend: Sons of the Dominion
Both projects will be made in RPG Maker and feature art made by yours truly. I don't know if SiB will be done by the end of the summer but you can expect SotD by summer 2015.
Both games will take place in the same universe and feature two different casts of characters. Some references will be made but for the most part the stories will be separate. I will try to include as much humor as possible in both without spoiling the effect.
SiB will take a more detailed look into feelings and thoughts. It will be more controversial but will have a deeper meaning to it. It will explore topics such as racism, jealousy, anger, obsessions, and regret. It will have a very hostile tone and the main characters will behave more like antiheroes. I feel as if the writing will be thinner, but more powerful for this one because it deals with some very personal problems and issues.
SotD will take a more generic turn and feature more political themes as opposed to personal ones. The heroes will act more benevolent but will still come across as angry and violent. It will have a more robust and easy to follow storyline and will (sadly) conclude the duology.
I am hoping to crank these both out so I can submit them for my university application.
Concept art will be here soon. Cross your fingers.
Ascend: Steeped in Blood
Ascend: Sons of the Dominion
Both projects will be made in RPG Maker and feature art made by yours truly. I don't know if SiB will be done by the end of the summer but you can expect SotD by summer 2015.
Both games will take place in the same universe and feature two different casts of characters. Some references will be made but for the most part the stories will be separate. I will try to include as much humor as possible in both without spoiling the effect.
SiB will take a more detailed look into feelings and thoughts. It will be more controversial but will have a deeper meaning to it. It will explore topics such as racism, jealousy, anger, obsessions, and regret. It will have a very hostile tone and the main characters will behave more like antiheroes. I feel as if the writing will be thinner, but more powerful for this one because it deals with some very personal problems and issues.
SotD will take a more generic turn and feature more political themes as opposed to personal ones. The heroes will act more benevolent but will still come across as angry and violent. It will have a more robust and easy to follow storyline and will (sadly) conclude the duology.
I am hoping to crank these both out so I can submit them for my university application.
Concept art will be here soon. Cross your fingers.
Thursday 5 June 2014
Epic Vids Episode 3
I really like the voice in this mix. I think this remix really stands out from the others.
Top 10 Most Insufferable Communities in Gaming
There is no such thing as a good gaming community. People are shit. Just read my Watch Dogs article if you need more proof. I don't know how people decide to act this way or if they act this way in public (some of them go on my bus) but the internet is a wild place. In retaliation I've created a followup to my Watch Dogs article titled the "Top 10 Most Insufferable Communities in Gaming". The selections aren't presented in any specific order as every player has his own experiences, but this is a rather rough take on the worst of the worst.
1 - Call of Duty: I remember the glory days of CoD where the average age was over 20. Everyone was mature, helpful and wanted to have a good game. Heck, I was prime microphone spamming age and I still got along well with the guys on there. Just the simple fact that they didn't immediately judge a nine year old kid based on his voice really speaks volumes about them. Then something happened. Modern Warfare happened. The game quickly became a festering shithole of mic spamming, boosting, fapping, singing, redneckery, and just about everything else terrible a community can have. Mind you, I didn't see how our PC cousins fared but I assume they had a slightly smoother trip because a six year old can't operate a credit card or build a rig.
2 - League of Legends/Dota: Moba's deserve a special mention on my list because of how toxic the fanbase truly is. To be honest I played LoL about a year before it went mainstream and even then I considered it terrible. To their core Moba's are heavily team based games. One poor player can ruin an entire match. You're all probably seeing where I'm taking this, right? Matches can quickly devolve into a circle-jerk of blaming each other for feeding the enemy team. I normally talk to people who aren't normally hostile on Skype. You can tell when they start playing LoL or Dota because they become angry, aggressive, and antisocial. Also, I forgot to mention moba's done like this are inherently terrible gameplay-wise. If you want a great moba with a much better community try out Awesomenauts.
3 - Rust: Rust is an especially interesting game. Despite it's $20 price tag it's attracted a lot of terrible people. There are two types of people in Rust: enemy combatants, and unconfirmed. Rust demonstrates that people turn to violence when in fear. If you wander into the forest alone then you'll be shot out of fear. If you speak a different language, then they'll kill you. Don't get me wrong though, there are plenty of honest and innocent people just like you too. No game has been as extreme or surprising as Rust in my opinion. For every insane axe wielding Brazilian there's at least one greatly generous gent just dying to give you an M4 assault rifle. Despite the amount of trolls and mic spammers Rust is a great game and especially fun to play with friends. Rust stands out among other games on this list as an example of a game that is actually worth playing.
4 - Total War: Holy shit. Some of the most annoying, toxic, stupid pieces of shit come from the Total War fanbase. They love their patron company and will support it even if it means shutting out any sense of logic. The worst thing about them is that they'll admit that TW games are complete ass (Shogun 2 got kind of close to being decent) and still get pissed at you. Sure, there are people like me who have a bone to pick with CA but they are few and far between. TW is completely out of the mainstream meaning there's only a few brave souls that have the courage to expose the sheer stupidity and blindness of them. Let them rot I say, they can't really do any harm other than taking up the front page of Steam for half a year despite no one buying their product (Rome 2). Fuck you Creative Assembly, fuck you.
5 - Skyrim: We're all guilty of being an Elder Scrolls fanboy one time or another. It's just a phase. I first heard about how great Morrowind was back in the day and I almost threw up when I saw the graphics. I'm going out on a limb here and saying that Oblivion was the apex of the series. I enjoyed it thoroughly and put it away when it was done. I didn't spray memes about it all over Steam and pretend it was a gift from the gods. For a largely singleplayer game players have somehow found out how to fuck with everyone else. The mods are crap, the gameplay is simplistic, and the graphics are quite regressive. People will defend this shit like anything else. Most of the Xbox original generation that I was apart of grew out of the mentality that all games were perfect and flaws were there for a reason. As someone who dabbles in game design I personally admit, yeah, we fuck up a LOT.
6 - Halo: Since almost every Xbox comes bundled with a Halo game kiddies will inevitably get their hands on it. This means the community which was fucked up in the first place with 20 year old scumbag frat boys was then burdened with the CoD treatment. Holy hell, does it make an interesting display. You'll see whining, teabagging, mic spamming, and the usual activities except Halo is just a bit more competitive than it's uglier cousin CoD. The game is even patrolled by admins hired by Microsoft that are abusive as hell. As soon as I see one of them I immediately run for the hills and leave the lobby. The recent titles have really gone down the tubes as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad I'm out of the scene.
7 - Team Fortress 2: I knew I was forgetting something.This game just so happens to have an especially vicious cult surrounding it. While others can brag they have followers to use as an attack dog on forums and such, TF2 literally infects everything it touches with it's own distasteful brand of cancer. It's not really surprising that the community is so awful because the entire game is just one big meme. Now, some people have been complaining that it was good before it went free to play. Bullshit. TF2, just with every Valve game has a god awful cult surrounding it that will strike down constructive criticism like an Avro Arrow would shoot down a nuke. In fact I'm pretty sure about 90% of adults who play TF2 still are bronies. That's how sad and broken this community is. At least the Russians didn't get a hold of it!
8 -Minecraft: While I do think the game it's self is fun with friends you really must be careful who you play with. In a mere matter of seconds hours of back breaking labor can turn to rubble. I admit back when I played Minecraft on the old Xbox 360 I was a real terror. I was called the Osama of the server because I made small 1x2 tunnels everywhere and destroyed everything. I would gain people's trust only to destroy or steal from them to get a good laugh. Hell, I'm not even guilty about it! What makes the Minecraft community so bad isn't the greifers, no. It's the five year old Nazi admins that rule every server with an iron fist. Considering the very same people play Halo and CoD just look there for further reference.
9 - Final Fantasy: FF fans are convinced that FF is the greatest thing to ever grace the earth. They think shitty turn based gameplay that would suit a Gameboy in the late 90's still applies today. Sure, RPGmaker is exempt from this because anyone can make their own FF clone. However, I'm not here to complain about the gameplay, I'm here to complain about the people who buy every single fucking FF 'remastered' eddition that rears it's ugly head on Steam. If they liked the damn game so much why don't they use an emulator? Because they're idiots, that's why. While this community isn't really as hostile as the other ones on this list (unless you provoke them) they take up Square Enix's valuable time by suppoting this crap instead of something great like a new Hitman game.
10 - Runescape: While I haven't played Runescape in a loooonng while I only assume things have gotten worse. There are three types of Runscape players. Idiots, scammers, and people who tell you to piss off. This is pretty self explanatory as to why it's such a cesspool.
In conclusion..... Gamers are idiots, plain and simple. Sure, there are a few neat people hanging around here and there but you're mostly going to run into the worst of the worst. Quite frankly I think this paints a very grim picture of hummanity because people really do reveal their true faces online, even if it is anonymous.... OH SHIT I forgot Garry's Mod... Yeah same rules apply as in TF2.
Honorable Mentions: Counter Strike, every GTA game, World of Warcraft, Toribash, Postal 2, Mount & Blade, Garry's Mod, Battlefield 4
1 - Call of Duty: I remember the glory days of CoD where the average age was over 20. Everyone was mature, helpful and wanted to have a good game. Heck, I was prime microphone spamming age and I still got along well with the guys on there. Just the simple fact that they didn't immediately judge a nine year old kid based on his voice really speaks volumes about them. Then something happened. Modern Warfare happened. The game quickly became a festering shithole of mic spamming, boosting, fapping, singing, redneckery, and just about everything else terrible a community can have. Mind you, I didn't see how our PC cousins fared but I assume they had a slightly smoother trip because a six year old can't operate a credit card or build a rig.
2 - League of Legends/Dota: Moba's deserve a special mention on my list because of how toxic the fanbase truly is. To be honest I played LoL about a year before it went mainstream and even then I considered it terrible. To their core Moba's are heavily team based games. One poor player can ruin an entire match. You're all probably seeing where I'm taking this, right? Matches can quickly devolve into a circle-jerk of blaming each other for feeding the enemy team. I normally talk to people who aren't normally hostile on Skype. You can tell when they start playing LoL or Dota because they become angry, aggressive, and antisocial. Also, I forgot to mention moba's done like this are inherently terrible gameplay-wise. If you want a great moba with a much better community try out Awesomenauts.
3 - Rust: Rust is an especially interesting game. Despite it's $20 price tag it's attracted a lot of terrible people. There are two types of people in Rust: enemy combatants, and unconfirmed. Rust demonstrates that people turn to violence when in fear. If you wander into the forest alone then you'll be shot out of fear. If you speak a different language, then they'll kill you. Don't get me wrong though, there are plenty of honest and innocent people just like you too. No game has been as extreme or surprising as Rust in my opinion. For every insane axe wielding Brazilian there's at least one greatly generous gent just dying to give you an M4 assault rifle. Despite the amount of trolls and mic spammers Rust is a great game and especially fun to play with friends. Rust stands out among other games on this list as an example of a game that is actually worth playing.
4 - Total War: Holy shit. Some of the most annoying, toxic, stupid pieces of shit come from the Total War fanbase. They love their patron company and will support it even if it means shutting out any sense of logic. The worst thing about them is that they'll admit that TW games are complete ass (Shogun 2 got kind of close to being decent) and still get pissed at you. Sure, there are people like me who have a bone to pick with CA but they are few and far between. TW is completely out of the mainstream meaning there's only a few brave souls that have the courage to expose the sheer stupidity and blindness of them. Let them rot I say, they can't really do any harm other than taking up the front page of Steam for half a year despite no one buying their product (Rome 2). Fuck you Creative Assembly, fuck you.
5 - Skyrim: We're all guilty of being an Elder Scrolls fanboy one time or another. It's just a phase. I first heard about how great Morrowind was back in the day and I almost threw up when I saw the graphics. I'm going out on a limb here and saying that Oblivion was the apex of the series. I enjoyed it thoroughly and put it away when it was done. I didn't spray memes about it all over Steam and pretend it was a gift from the gods. For a largely singleplayer game players have somehow found out how to fuck with everyone else. The mods are crap, the gameplay is simplistic, and the graphics are quite regressive. People will defend this shit like anything else. Most of the Xbox original generation that I was apart of grew out of the mentality that all games were perfect and flaws were there for a reason. As someone who dabbles in game design I personally admit, yeah, we fuck up a LOT.
6 - Halo: Since almost every Xbox comes bundled with a Halo game kiddies will inevitably get their hands on it. This means the community which was fucked up in the first place with 20 year old scumbag frat boys was then burdened with the CoD treatment. Holy hell, does it make an interesting display. You'll see whining, teabagging, mic spamming, and the usual activities except Halo is just a bit more competitive than it's uglier cousin CoD. The game is even patrolled by admins hired by Microsoft that are abusive as hell. As soon as I see one of them I immediately run for the hills and leave the lobby. The recent titles have really gone down the tubes as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad I'm out of the scene.
7 - Team Fortress 2: I knew I was forgetting something.This game just so happens to have an especially vicious cult surrounding it. While others can brag they have followers to use as an attack dog on forums and such, TF2 literally infects everything it touches with it's own distasteful brand of cancer. It's not really surprising that the community is so awful because the entire game is just one big meme. Now, some people have been complaining that it was good before it went free to play. Bullshit. TF2, just with every Valve game has a god awful cult surrounding it that will strike down constructive criticism like an Avro Arrow would shoot down a nuke. In fact I'm pretty sure about 90% of adults who play TF2 still are bronies. That's how sad and broken this community is. At least the Russians didn't get a hold of it!
8 -Minecraft: While I do think the game it's self is fun with friends you really must be careful who you play with. In a mere matter of seconds hours of back breaking labor can turn to rubble. I admit back when I played Minecraft on the old Xbox 360 I was a real terror. I was called the Osama of the server because I made small 1x2 tunnels everywhere and destroyed everything. I would gain people's trust only to destroy or steal from them to get a good laugh. Hell, I'm not even guilty about it! What makes the Minecraft community so bad isn't the greifers, no. It's the five year old Nazi admins that rule every server with an iron fist. Considering the very same people play Halo and CoD just look there for further reference.
9 - Final Fantasy: FF fans are convinced that FF is the greatest thing to ever grace the earth. They think shitty turn based gameplay that would suit a Gameboy in the late 90's still applies today. Sure, RPGmaker is exempt from this because anyone can make their own FF clone. However, I'm not here to complain about the gameplay, I'm here to complain about the people who buy every single fucking FF 'remastered' eddition that rears it's ugly head on Steam. If they liked the damn game so much why don't they use an emulator? Because they're idiots, that's why. While this community isn't really as hostile as the other ones on this list (unless you provoke them) they take up Square Enix's valuable time by suppoting this crap instead of something great like a new Hitman game.
10 - Runescape: While I haven't played Runescape in a loooonng while I only assume things have gotten worse. There are three types of Runscape players. Idiots, scammers, and people who tell you to piss off. This is pretty self explanatory as to why it's such a cesspool.
In conclusion..... Gamers are idiots, plain and simple. Sure, there are a few neat people hanging around here and there but you're mostly going to run into the worst of the worst. Quite frankly I think this paints a very grim picture of hummanity because people really do reveal their true faces online, even if it is anonymous.... OH SHIT I forgot Garry's Mod... Yeah same rules apply as in TF2.
Honorable Mentions: Counter Strike, every GTA game, World of Warcraft, Toribash, Postal 2, Mount & Blade, Garry's Mod, Battlefield 4
Wednesday 4 June 2014
Hiatus
I've been studying for exams lately making it extremely hard to add to the blog. However, this has a silver lining because I've discovered typing is good practice at essay writing. I've got about two lengthy articles in the works that will show up either today or tomorrow.
Tuesday 3 June 2014
The Internet is at it Again
Yep. Expect the expected.
Now, I have nothing against sandbox games in general, or even freedom. I'm heavily against censorship in all it's forms. I'll even go a bit further and say that freedom of speech within limits is an abomination. But this is just fucking sick. Okay, so we expected a few McVeighs would upload a few videos of this, but this is just shocking. Hell, Ubisoft is unsurprised. That means they were EXPECTING it.
On the flipside it does demonstrate how much privacy has become an issue nowadays with all this social media and creeping. This is actually rather educational and eye opening about how people can be categorized and profiled based on what they post. For just this once, I applaud you Ubisoft for bringing these issues to light.
Now, I have nothing against sandbox games in general, or even freedom. I'm heavily against censorship in all it's forms. I'll even go a bit further and say that freedom of speech within limits is an abomination. But this is just fucking sick. Okay, so we expected a few McVeighs would upload a few videos of this, but this is just shocking. Hell, Ubisoft is unsurprised. That means they were EXPECTING it.
On the flipside it does demonstrate how much privacy has become an issue nowadays with all this social media and creeping. This is actually rather educational and eye opening about how people can be categorized and profiled based on what they post. For just this once, I applaud you Ubisoft for bringing these issues to light.
KMFDM Angst Album Review
So I've taken a bit of a break for the last while, I've been up to a lot and I am STOKED to get back to school and see everyone, even if it means writing an exam. For my first music review I though I would do something VERY special and this just so happens to be one of my all time favorite albums.
Track List:
01 - Light: This is a very, very good song. In fact my favorite of the album (tied with a few others). Gunter's guitar skills really shine through and produce some really great sounds. Sascha's singing is also extremely good.
02 - A Drug Against War: This is probably KMFDM's most prolific song. It even secured some MTV music video treatment. It's a fairly fast track that may turn some away but it does sound pleasing if your ears are used to industrial music.
03 - Blood Evil: This track has a great beat and sounds a bit creepy to boot. Definitely not single material but still pretty fun to listen to.
04 - Lust: I don't like this one too much, but it does have a creative beat. En Esch probably had some input as it sounds quite different.
05 - Glory: Very, very cool song indeed. The lyrics are tight and the beat is strong. Oddly, sound quality dips a bit but I don't care that much. This is a great song nevertheless.
06 - Move On: Gunter takes the spotlight once again with slow moving riffs and some great singing and lyrics by Sascha. This song is quite addictive.
07 - No Peace: This song starts out pretty weak but picks up quickly. The guitar is excellent and the female vocals are great too. It's also extremely catchy.
08 - A Hole in the Wall: The first thing I thought while hearing this song is that it is quite heavy (heavy is good) and that the programming is excellent. Other than that there's not much else.
09 - Sucks: This song has quite the inside joke behind it. Anyways, I personally think it's not as strong or creative as the other tracks on this album. The lyrics are pretty funny too.
10 - The Problem: WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?! I seriously hate this song. Not because it's bad, but because it ruins the album at the end. It doesn't have the courtesy to appear in the middle and lessen it's blow. It leaves a thoroughly bad taste in my mouth. For many, this song will remind you of how terrible the 90's really were. The lyrics however, are in a class of their own. Seriously, check them out.
This is an excellent album despite a few weak spots. This is just not any industrial album, this is THE industrial album. It contains a whopping three singles and some of the most creative guitar work I've ever heard. I highly recommend if you need a taste of the 90's.
Sunday 1 June 2014
Epic Vids Episode 2
Fuck it. I'm getting bored. I'll upload videos whenever the hell I feel like it.
Those Russians sure know how to reinvent rock-paper-scissors.
Those Russians sure know how to reinvent rock-paper-scissors.
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