Confessions of a gamer

It probably sounds kind of weird but there are sometimes games and movies where I don´t want the hero to win, I want the villain to win! Especially when the villain is so much more interesting than the hero. But what does that say about you? Does that make you a bad person? To keep it simple, no it doesn´t make you a bad person. But I guess it really depends who you would ask and what the situation is. For example siding with a terrorist that wants to hurt innocent people isn´t something I would support and when you openly admit that you want that person to succeed it might get you negative attention. That´s assuming that it would be based on real events or that it´s considered as a possibility. In a fantasy movie with super heroes and villains these lines are a bit blurry. For example a lot of people love the Joker from the Batman comics, cartoons and movies. He hurts a lot of innocent people and doesn´t care about them at all, still he´s popular because he´s a complex and interesti...

As a kid I often bought game magazines to check the latest games (this was before I discovered internet and had internet for myself) and I was often influenced by the reviews because when they said a game was great then I wanted to see for myself. At the same time that also meant that I didn´t play games because they got a bad review, I guess as a kid you´re easier influenced and the opinions of others matter more to you. But when you get a bit older and make your own decisions you realize that you don´t have to follow someone elses opinion, you can make your own opinion and decide for yourself if you want to buy a game or not. I´m not saying that I don´t value someone elses opinion but I won´t follow someone blindly in their opinion, because I prefer to make my own decisions in life! Besides what one person likes the other might hate and vice versa. Do reviews still matter? I think they still matter, it´s especially useful for people that still have doubts about buying a game. Hopef...

For everyone in a hurry and would like to know what it means, it means a lot of good deals on consoles and games (well there´s more but that´s what matters to me)! So what are you waiting for? If you want to buy a game or console then now is the time! Is this an American thing? At first I thought so, I mean it´s the day after Thanksgiving and big surprise you don´t have Thanksgiving in every country. But apparently this discount isn´t restricted to one country, several countries have discounts in their stores and that can help you save some money when you want to buy games. Even in the Netherlands I know at least of one shop (Media Markt) that has this special offer just for today, so check your local store and see if there are any deals near you. I don´t think you want to miss out on that unless you have a thing for hitting yourself in the head, in that case carry on... So this means that a lot of people will be out there buying stuff? That´s one way of calling it, it´s probably m...

It makes sense to a lot of gamers but is this something that can and will happen? Perhaps, I think some developers wouldn´t mind offering some DLC for free but there are also developers that will ask money for DLC. In a way it makes sense to ask money for something they made, but at the same time gamers wonder why this wasn´t part of the game in the first place. So is DLC going to be extra money for developers or bonus content for gamers? Maybe even both... Why can´t developers put DLC in the game on the day of launch? That´s a fair question and it would make sense to add all the content you want to put in the game from the day you release the game, but at the same time DLC earns the developers extra money and it also means they can release a game faster. You see if you also had to wait for the DLC then the launch of a game would take even longer, which means more patience and that´s not something everyone has. But what about content that is already in the game but has to be un...

In a lot of games there are moments where you can choose between certain options, often this is something that will have an impact on the world you´re playing in but usually the options you have are so diverse that there is a good chance that you´ll like one of the options. But what if they don´t give you a choice or the choices you have aren´t the ones you want to make? What do you do? I would like to add that there will be spoilers from Mass Effect trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 so if you´re not familiar with those games then you might not want to continue reading! Some developers like to brag about the choices you have in their game, you have so much freedom and you can do so many things until you reach a moment in the game where you don´t have a real choice and have to choose between two outcomes and you don´t like any of them. For example in Mass Effect you have to choose to either leave Kaiden or Ashley behind, your first two team mates and there is no way to sav...

Did you see the latest Batman: Arkham Knight trailer? If not then I can definitely recommend checking it out, because it looks amazing! It´s a combination of cutscenes and gameplay but it all looks pretty smooth, so that´s good to know and hopefully will make this the best game in the series. Unfortunately it´s also the last one in the Arkham series, which is a shame because these are probably the best (super) hero games out there! If you haven´t seen the trailer yet I advice you to stop reading, because I´m going into details from what I saw and noticed. The addition of the car looks great, it´s a good way to travel but it can also help you in a fight, it´s pretty cool how a lot of things seem to work with the press on a button and hopefully that keeps frustration low. Batman also uses his environment to his advantage in taking down enemies, for example dropping items on them or smashing them into a device. His moves look almost super human but the best way to explain this is to fal...

Did you watch the cartoon when you were a kid? Well maybe you still watch some of those cartoons, I don´t think you can be too old to watch that because it´s fun and you´re never too old for fun! But the cartoon is one thing, the game is something else. The problems with games and movies/series/cartoons is that it doesn´t always work, which sometimes leads to some awful games. But I´m glad that Ducktales isn´t one of those games! In the game you play as Scrooge McDuck, a name I didn´t recognize as a kid because in Dutch he has a different name (Dagobert Duck). But that didn´t keep me from playing it or understanding the game, it´s actually quite simple and that´s nice when you´re a kid. You travel around the world looking for treasures while dealing with the enemies of Scrooge (Beagle Boys and Magica De Spell to name some). Eventhough you bounce with your cain on the heads of enemies it´s never a kill this enemy type of game, it´s just good fun and smashing items. Maybe as a die ...

It seems a bit silly but this actually happens in some games, people that are banned for life because they did something that was not accepted. In most cases that means cheating, this is something that isn´t accepted and if you get catch you pulling that type of shit then you´re done for! But is it always just to ban someone for life? When it comes to cheating or offensive behaviour then I can definitely understand that people are banned for life, nobody wants to play with or against cheaters and the same counts for people that say hurtful things just because they think it´s funny. I do think that it´s important that you warn someone first, give them a chance to stop or else they´re banned. It wouldn´t surprise me that a lot of people wouldn´t take that seriously and just continue what they did but at least you gave them a choice and if they kept being assholes then you can punish them for that. That seems fair to me and anyone that complains after that isn´t even worth listening to....

Good news for everyone that has Xboxlive and a gold membership, you can download and play the game Sunset Overdrive for free! But this only counts today, the 22nd of November! So if you know everything about this game already and you always wanted to play then now is the time, have fun! What is Sunset Overdrive? It´s an open world game where you shoot monsters and do ridiculous stunts while moving through the city or attack these monsters. It´s a big open world game where you decide where you go and you can do whatever you want, even character customization is up to you and you can make your character look as cool or ridiculous as you want to! This is a good example of a fun game, it´s not annoying or frustrating but has a focus on fun. Which means you have a good time playing it and you can share that fun with others because there is multiplayer as well. You can play together with other people and together tackle some missions or just make awesome stunts in the city. Because the cit...

After playing Dragon Age: Inquisition for a lot of hours (I don´t think I even left the house yesterday) I think I´ve got some more to tell you about this game, which might be useful for everyone still thinking about buying this game or not. So to keep it short, is this really a good game? Yes, this game is a lot of fun and quite big so it should keep your busy for quite some time! If you want to learn a bit more about the game then feel free to read some more. The story is once more all about you, because somehow you survived a terrible explosion and that gave you the ability to close rifts with your left hand. This makes you the only person that can stop whatever is trying to get into the world. Together with some loyal supporters you start the inquisition (a group working outside the chantry, their main goal is to stop the rifts from spreading and closing them for good), it´s up to you (since you´re the leader of the inquisition) to decide what course of action you´ll be taking. Y...

If you´re not familiar with Bioware games then it might come to you as a surprise that there are gay relationships in some of their games, for example Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 had this option for you in the game. People made a big deal out of it then and now once again it´s a problem to some people that you could have a relationship with someone of the same gender as you. But not a lot of people seem to understand that this is optional, you don´t have to do this and even if you did then this doesn´t make you gay. Welcome into the 21th century where there are people with a different skin colour and different sexual orientation than you, you can leave your prejudice and stupidity in all the other centuries! Why is it such a problem for some people that you could have a gay relationship in a game? To keep it civilized I´d say a lot of people consider it as wrong, mostly because they just look from their own point of view and that´s usually enough for some peop...

I think it´s safe to say that Link is my favourite Nintendo character and it´s a pleasant surprise to see him in Mario Kart 8. But to be honest when you put so many Nintendo characters in a game then one of the most popular characters can´t be left out! Or do you think that Nintendo should´ve left Link out of Mario Kart 8? It´s up to you because Link is a dlc character so if you want him in the game you´ll have to pay for it, but if you don´t want him in the game then you can just pass on this dlc. Does Link fit in Mario Kart 8? At first I would say no, because karts and Link don´t really seem to match in my opinion. If they would put Epona (Link´s horse) in the game then that would make more sense, but the problem would then be horse violence (all the red, green and blue shields) and an animal against karts (which also seems a bit unfair) situation. In Super Smash Brothers he fits in nicely because it´s a fighting game and Link can definitely fight, but I´ve never seen him in a ...

I decided to first type this first impression because my opinion sometimes changes after playing a game for a couple of days, but so far Dragon Age: Inquisition looks amazing! If you´re not convinced just check the wonderful world gameplay launch trailer, amazing! But also the characters look interesting, they´re quite diverse and I bet it will be fun to get to know them a bit better (some a bit more than others). This is the type of game that keeps you busy for several days and then you´d probably want to play again with another race and class just to see what impact that has on the world and probably also make some different choices. There are just so many possibilities! What kind of game is Dragon Age: Inquisition? It´s a friendly RPG, with friendly I mean that it´s not a whole load of bollocks when it comes to menus or stuff you need to know to actually play the game correctly. But don´t let that fool you in the battles, you can easily be wiped out by enemies if you don´t pay att...

After all the issues around Assassin´s Creed Unity it´s not strange to look back at one of the early games in the series, especially a fan favourite like Assassin´s Creed 2! In this game you play as Ezio and he´s a young guy who joins the assassins after something terrible happens. A lot of people love Ezio and prefer the games where you play as him. But what makes Ezio such a popular character? I think a lot of people like Ezio a lot because he´s the first character you kind of follow for most of his life, it´s not just a moment in the life of the main protagonist like with Altaïr in the first game. You see Ezio as a baby, then a young man, a middle aged man and eventually an aging man (gray hairs make him look a bit older). This doesn´t all happen in one game but it´s still a character you follow through his life, which helps you get a connection with him and it was also difficult for some people to let go in this character when Assassin´s Creed III introduced a new protagonist. Ez...

Have you ever heard someone talk about true gamers? It´s quite ridiculous to be honest because some people claim that not everyone that plays games is a gamer, somehow there are true gamers and wannabes. Where the fuck did this come from? I remember a time when it wasn´t cool to play games and yet we played games because it´s fun, there wasn´t a need to prove yourself and more likely than not you didn´t even talk about games with others because it wasn´t considered as a cool hobby. But now there is a thing called being a true gamer, probably invented by some sad sack of shit that thinks that he or she is special or some douchebag that looks down on others because they play something else than he or she. Is true gamer the same as that PC master race bullshit? No that is something else, usually brought up by a pathetic loser that thinks that he or she is special because they have a PC instead of a console. Guess what? I have a PC and I have consoles, I don´t feel more special playing g...

Do you still play Destiny? If I have to believe the comments under almost every Destiny video or news related item there is no one that plays this game anymore. To be honest I stopped playing myself when CoD Advanced Warfare came out, because I wanted to focus on that and my daily business in Destiny didn´t mix well with trying to unlock achievements in other games. But now there are updates in Destiny, the question is will this make people return to the game and keep gamers that are still playing this game in Destiny? So what will change? First of all voice chat. Isn´t there already voice chat in Destiny? Correct, but Bungie will put a special channel in Destiny for people that are looking for groups to do strikes or raids with. Something a lot of people are looking for and since a lot of strikes and especially the raid is difficult (if not impossible) to do without a solid group. So hopefully this channel where everyone with a headset can chat with eachother in the game can find li...

Have you noticed how in the last couple of weeks there are several new games that suffered some serious issues? This makes me wonder if games these days are just a piece of crap or that they´re released too quickly just to meet a certain deadline. Either way it´s not fun for gamers to play games that are full of bugs and glitches, even worse when you´re even unable to play a game at all! Does this affect the entire game or just one or two modes? In CoD Advanced Warfare I´ve had no issues in single player or exo survival, but in multiplayer there are some serious issues and sometimes that makes it close to impossible to play. I´ve had matches where there was so much lag that hardly anyone could walk away from their spawn location, I´d say that´s pretty bad! In the Master Chief Collection there have also been issues with multiplayer, some players have a lot of issues getting into a match and if that´s the main reason why you play Halo games then you´re shit out of luck! As far as I´ve ...

In the Halo 5 reveal trailers they showed some new abilities that every titan has, so no more special loadout for you! In arena type of maps you battle another team of four people and the first team that reaches 50 points wins, a typical slayer match but it looks so much faster than what I´ve seen before. So what´s going on? (1) Thruster pack. This is a little boost for players to evade, catch up or to reach higher platforms. You can´t spam it endlessly so you have to use it when you really need it, because otherwise you might be unable to use your thrust when you need it! It looks a bit like the thrust ability from Halo 4, except this time it actually looks useful and every spartan gets this so no unfair balancing here! (2) Ground pound/slam. When you´re up in the sky you can choose to slam down on the ground, with a direct hit this will instantly kill your victim! It looks a bit like the Titan (striker) ability to do exactly the same with the fists of havoc special ...

If you like an open world where you can do a lot of crazy stunts, grapple and shoot like crazy then Just Cause 3 might be your type of game! From some of the early screen shots I see already some resemblance to Just Cause 2 (a fun game to play) but in this game everything seems bigger and better. So in a way it´s exactly what you would expect from a sequel, but can it survive next to so many other giants in the world of games? I think that Just Cause 3 will survive because it´s mostly fun, where so many games want you to suffer through challenges or frustrating moments you can just relax and unwind with Just Cause. It´s not a game you play when you´re super serious, so if you enjoy playing Saints Row games (especially the last two) then Just Cause might be something for you. I´m pretty certain that most peopl have heard about the Just Cause games but how many have actually played it? I don´t think it will matter that much for Just Cause 3 because you´ll probably start a whole new adv...

Do you remember when Halo 4 came out? So many people that were upset because it was so much like CoD (in their opinion), they vowed to never play that game and yet a lot of people played Halo 4 and a lot of people enjoyed playing Halo 4. So what about Halo 5? Well in the latest teaser trailer you could see a character sprint (something that was added in Halo 4, to make everyone able to sprint and you don´t need a special ability for that) and a character was aiming down sights. Somehow this made a lot of people mad and once again people say they won´t play the game just because of that. But how serious can you take these people? Let´s go back to Halo 4, so many say that it´s the worst Halo game so far and yet a lot of people played it and said they had a lot of fun playing it. Not just the single player or spartan ops, also multiplayer. Sure it´s a bit different but different isn´t always a bad thing! For once you could make your own loadout, so you choose which primary and secondary...

For a lot of people from my generation this is probably one of the first games they played on a console, eventhough some people played on a Sega console and probably first played a Sonic game, and first introduced you to Mario. It´s not his first appearance, but I think it´s the first time he was called Mario and it didn´t involve fighting a gorilla! But you once again you had to save a damsel in distress, it´s the special ability of Peach to always get kidnapped in almost every Mario game (kart, fighting and sport games not included). I actually played this game first when I was nine, a friend of mine had this game and I kept trying to beat levels and his time on those levels. Not easy when you don´t have the game nor console yourself! You see my first game for the NES was Super Mario Bros. 2 and that was almost a year later. So yeah I had to deal with my inexperience and do whatever I could to win, with some succes because the game is fun enough to keep trying. Eventhough it´s ...

I think a lot of first person shooter gamers hate campers and dropshotters, these are people that use cheap tactics to win and unfortunately they´re quite effective (which usually means more and more people use these tactics). But with the new exo abilities and movement I didn´t expect this to be used as much as I´ve seen so far in CoD Advanced Warfare, but it seems now more than ever that people use these cheap tactics. What happened? Games like CoD are full with people that are just unpleasant (to keep it civilized), people that want to win at any cost because for them that´s the most important thing in the world. Instead of trying out exo abilities or jumping around they sit (or they´re prone) in a corner and wait for you to move into their line of view. For those that do move around a bit there is still the dropshot option where they instantly fall on their belly and shoot you, there isn´t much you can do about that and it´s not a surprise that you often lose in those encounters....

Did you know that Mass Effect 4 is already in the middle of being made? Which means that it will take just a couple of years more until we can play it! Well that might be a bit too optimistic but at least it´s good to hear that Bioware hasn´t forgotten about the Mass Effect universe. But what can we expect in this new Mass Effect game? For as far as I heard it´s going to be a new story, so this might be a stand alone story and has nothing to do with Shepard and events that happened in the previous games. It might even take place during the other games, at this point there is no information about this. You can already see some art from the new Mass Effect game and it shows some new and strange worlds, which makes me believe that this new Mass Effect will take us further away from home than ever before! So no Shepard in Mass Effect 4? No I don´t think so, Bioware was pretty clear about Shepard and how his story ends in Mass Effect 3 no matter what type of ending you pick. If Mass Eff...

Exo survival is pretty much the same survival as you remember (probably) from Modern Warfare 3, but now you have your exo abilities and the enemies that try to kill you also have these abilities. You have to survive for 25 rounds and then the map flips, which means that you start over from round one but you keep all the stuff you unlocked and the enemies will be a bit tougher this time! But is this really a mode that you´ll play a lot or just to unlock the zombie bonus round? I have to admit that I´ve been playing this a lot just to unlock the tier 4 map (Riot) where you have the zombie bonus round (after 10 waves you get a zombie round and you have to hold out for a moment and then escape). It doesn´t even last that long but seeing how extreme that can get it wouldn´t surprise me that a lot of people are excited about it, especially now that it´s a fact that there will be more zombies in future dlc, not as a bonus round but as a separate mode. So only the zombies make it fun? It´s...

Have you played some multiplayer matches in CoD AW? What a stupid question, of course you have! So what do you think, is it everything you always wanted or is it something you don´t like? A lot of people are excited about it but I´m not a lot of people, so let´s take a closer look at it and hopefully it´s just as good as so many people say it is. Do the new abilities completely change multiplayer? Not as much as you might think, because a lot of people still camp and dropshots are also nothing new. So in a way a lot of people are still behaving like the annoying assholes as I remember in previous CoD games. Some actually take advantage from their new abilities and pick higher spots to camp on (rooftop campers, it´s nothing new though if you played Assassin´s Creed multiplayer). Exo abilities are used but not as much as you might think, I don´t see many people go invisible and I´ve never seen anyone use hover. Stim is a bit more popular, it gives you some extra health and it´s a good ...

So it seems that we´re getting first person view in GTA V, but only on the new consoles (Xbox One and Playstation 4) and pc. It looks interesting and I´m certain a lot of people are excited abot this, but is this really what we need in GTA V? What happened to the heists? I mean we get a lot of dlc packs (for free, I´d like to add that) and other new things but what happened to the heists? How will first person view change GTA V? For me it would be more intense, in first person view things come straight towards you and there is no escape and when you look from third person view you´re more like an observer that just happens to be able to control the person you see. But also in vehicles it will be quite interesting to experience this is first person view, for some that´s the best view when in a car (or plane). Because I´m a terrible driver I know that this won´t work for me, but it´s nice that it´s an option you can turn on or off, so it´s not like you have to deal with this! Wha...

As you would expect everything looks pretty good in this new CoD game, the action and adventure is there but that´s nothing new. The exo abilities you get with your exo suit make you more than just a trigger happy soldier, you become so much stronger and you´re able to do amazing things with just the press of a button. This was risky and it seems it payed off, big time! CoD Advanced Warfare is the best CoD ever? I´m certain a lot of people might be shouting that but I don´t know, it looks amazing but I think a lot of people that played the older CoD games have some good memories about those games so I doubt that this will be wiped away just with some fancy new tricks. But for players new to CoD it´s probably one of the best first person shooters, it´s fast and it´s deadly! My favourite two ingredients for making a fun first person shooter! I must admit that the story is pretty interesting, it´s more relevant than several other CoD games and the scary thing is that it´s not even that ...

Why are you looking back on a game that is only a couple of years old? Well I like this game, I´ve played it a lot and to keep things in a CoD mood (because CoD Advanced Warfare is out, for a lot of people) I thought this would be an interesting game to talk about. What is so special about Black Ops 2? I think a lot of people have a lot of reasons to like or dislike a game, for me it´s actually pretty simple when it comes to Black Ops 2 because I was actually quite succesful in the CoD game. But of course that´s not the only reason, I like the zombie mode and also the campaign is a lot of fun. A nice bonus song at the end with a funny clip and of course multiplayer that even let a rookie like me do well. Oh I didn´t destroy people but I had some nice killstreaks and just by playing as I like to play and that´s running around like a madman! At first I had my doubts about this game, I really enjoyed playing Black Ops (that takes place in the past) and I was hoping that Black Ops 2 wo...

Whenever I play a multiplayer game there are (almost) always people that misbehave, which can be a bit of trolling up to the part where you´ll meet people that try to make your gaming experience miserable. That´s annoying (to say the least) and unfortunately there isn´t much you can do about that, but why do people do these things? The most logic answer is because they can, no one will be able to do something about it and the anonymous online world allows you to get away with it as well. So maybe a more interesting question would be, why wouldn´t you misbehave online? Because some people aren´t looking for trouble or don´t want to be bothered with such things. This might be a surprise to some people but there are actually gamers that just want to have fun playing a game, shocking isn´t it? Not the type of fun that comes at the expense of others, no just fun playing a game and perhaps getting some achievements/trophies while they play a game. But even the most noble of us all co...

It seems that Destiny is quite popular and as popular as CoD Advanced Warfare is it doesn´t look like it´s going to beat Destiny. Which is surprising because usually a new CoD game is the most popular game of the year, yes even with all the hate CoD games get. So what happened? I think it´s safe to say that Destiny was (and maybe still is) riding on a hype train, it´s new and something different but still familiar enough to step in the game world and do your thing. Also the open world and rpg elements make this an amazing game! Eventhough not everyone likes the game, there are a lot of haters, it´s still very popular. CoD Advanced Warfare has to battle not only against Destiny but also the bad reputation that CoD Ghosts was responsible for. A lot of CoD players are disappointed in that game and with that decided to move on, which is weird because CoD Ghosts isn´t really that different from the other games. Oh sure the pick ten system and not dying that quickly in Black Ops 2 is bette...