Confessions of a gamer

In case you haven´t heard about this game let me try to explain it quickly. You play as Maxine, she´s studying something to do with photography and one day she finds out she has a special power. She can turn back time and so make different decisions and/or change certain events. The things that you do and change have an impact on the story, it´s a lot like the Walking Dead game from Telltale games, and that can be a good thing or a bad thing! Isn´t going back in time cheating? If it´s part of the game then I wouldn´t call it cheating, besides you can´t go back all the time. There will be points in the story when you can´t change something, so it´s not like you can contantly change things! Otherwise the game would be too easy, sometimes you have to live with your decisions. Those decisions can have a big impact, sometimes helping someone can have a big impact in the future. But would that really stop you from trying to change things? Probably not... Is this a full game or just lik...

With the Xbox One now released in most countries and most new games coming out only on the Xbox One and not the Xbox 360 anymore it´s only a matter of time until the console is dead. Or not? Because the Playstation 2 lasted long after the Playstation 3 was available and talking about that Playstation 3, that console is also still alive and kicking! So perhaps the Xbox 360 can still go strong for several years? Age doesn´t have to mean anything? Well that depends, because I wouldn´t expect to see new many new games appear five years from now on the Xbox 360. But that doesn´t mean your console is dead, instead of buying new games you could buy older games you never played and that should keep you busy for quite some time. There are quite a lot of retro game shops where you can buy old and/or used games, not just for the current gen consoles but also for the old consoles. This can go back to the Atari and NES times. So if you really want to hold on to your console then you can do ...

These days almost everything happens online, not just your study or your work but also when you play games this happens mostly online. So it sucks the moment something goes wrong and you lose connectivity, even if it happens for just a second it´s enough to kick you out of a game and you have to start over. Which makes me wonder, is this always online thing such a good thing? Always online sucks? That´s probably a matter of opinion but it´s true that it´s not the most ideal for every gamer out there, not everyone can be online all the time and if that´s required to play games then you´re shit out of luck! The worst part is when you´re in the middle of a mission or level and somehow you lose connectivity and that means you have to do everything again. Trust me when I say that this is enough to make your blood boil if this happens a couple of times on one evening. I´m not saying that games should be perfect, I mean losing connection can happen, but putting save points in games so thi...

Have you heard anything about the Sims 4 lately? No? Well you´re probably not the only one. There was a time that the Sims games were big business but now it seems only the die hard fans are still playing the latest Sims game. So what happened to the Sims 4? People get tired of starting back from the beginning again? That wouldn´t surprise me, because it sucks that you lose all the expansion items and abilities in your new Sims game. For example if you bought all the expansions in the Sims 2 then it sucks that in the Sims 3 it´s back to the basic stuff and you´ll have to pay to get almost the exact same things back in your game. I can imagine that people are sick and tired of that, they just want to play the Sims and not deal with the same crap every time they buy a new Sims game. The Sims 4 isn´t an exception and yes you lost your pets, supernatural creatures, the weather and many more things you got in the expansions of the Sims 3 and before that in the Sims 2. It would be great ...

The ´new´ zombies mode is out in CoD Advanced Warfare and probably one of the first things you´ll notice is how similar this mode is to the zombie mode you know from Treyarch in World at War and the two Black Ops games. But is it really the same or is the Sledgehammer version quite different? Treyarch zombies. In Treyarch zombie mode you play as one of four characters, sometimes celebrities, and you have to survive for as many rounds as you can. You can play with three other people online and/or another player in splitscreen. You can buy guns from drawings on the wall (you´ll get exactly the weapon that is displayed there) or you can buy one from the random box (you´ll get a random gun which can be a very good weapon or a terrible weapon). The further you make it the harder it becomes, but the zombies are often predictable and making a zombie train (let all the zombies follow you in a line and take them out whenever you can shoot back) is often the way to go if you want to make...

I don´t play a lot of PC games but when I heard that there would be a super hero game with DC super heroes in it I just couldn´t resist buying it. I´m actually surprised there wasn´t that much hype around it, but the cinematic trailer on youtube did look pretty and I bet that made a lot of people curious about that game. But the problem with these type of trailers is that they don´t show you the gameplay, which is usually one of the most important parts about a game! Who are you in this game and what do you do? You play as a hero you created yourself, which means you can pick your own powers and also customize the look of your character. That means you can play as a man or a woman, you can be black or white (or anything in between), you can play as a hero or villain and you can create your own costume. Unfortunately this costume is usually quite simple in the beginning because you´ll have to unlock a lot interesting costume parts before you can wear them. You´re a new hero or v...

Whenever I´m in an online open world game I do my own thing, I don´t really care about other people and just want to have fun with quests and adventures. But eventually you´ll meet other people, wether you like it or not, and then there will be moments that they might need help. So what do you do? Helping others is a good thing? You would think that, but unfortunately not everyone likes it when you assist them. I´ve even met people that were angry at me that I revived them and made it their mission to chase me around hitting my character, it´s weird how some people just can´t accept help or are so hostile towards other players for just being nice. I would like to add that this behaviour often happens without any form of communication, so no messages or voice chat to help figure out what their problem is. It´s strange though that people would refuse help when some enemies are too tough to take on yourself and in some missions you actually need other players to advance. But I guess s...

I often hear a lot of people talk about the old Resident Evil games as if those are the best games ever, I would normally agree but to be honest it´s not all great. Which does raise a question, are old Resident Evil games better than new Resident Evil games? Good and bad things about old Resident Evil games. When you play Resident Evil or RE 2 and 3 then things aren´t easy. You can only carry that many items at once and the fixed camera settings add a creepy point of view to the game. But at the same time this is also annoying, because it sucks if you have to go back to an item because you couldn´t carry that earlier and bump into walls all the time because the controls are a bit weird in fixed camera angles. But it´s interesting how it was more creepy when things went slower and there was no such thing as an autosave or almost infinite amount of bullets scattered across the game. At the same time you do have the safety of the item screen to reload, equip another weapon or heal...

About ten to twenty years ago there was hardly ever a game out there that required more than one player to play it, because most games back then had a focus on one player. Another player could join in some games but the focus was nine out of ten times on player one. But these days it´s all about the co-op experience and playing online multiplayer against your friends or strangers. So I can´t help but wonder if these days you´re required or expected to have friends that play the same games as you. You don´t need friends to play games? That depends on what type of games you play, even in certain games that are made for playing in a team you can try to solo it but that experience is usually a more frustrating one because the computer controlled characters are often terrible. So you do need friends? It´s always nice to have friends, I really do mean friends and not assholes, especially when they play the same games as you and like playing games with you. Unfortunately that´s not al...

I´m not just talking about youtube comments, nobody really cares about that but I´m talking about being the first person that beats a game or beat a certain level or challenge. Somehow there are people that take this serious and spend hours and maybe even days on it to be the first person to beat it. But why? It´s not like people will remember you as being the first guy to beat that game. Even when it´s about more important things like the first man to cross the ocean in a plane or the first man in space then people still don´t always know who that is. So what gives these people the idea that it´s so important to be the first person to beat a game? Maybe it´s just important to him or her? Oh so it´s self-glorification? Perhaps it´s not that extreme but this personal victory seems silly to a lot of other people, that you race through a game or challenge just to be the first to beat it and only a handful of people would know about it and probably even less that actually care about it...

This especially counts for people that have already played Resident Evil on the PS One and Gamecube, probably even more on the Gamecube because this Resident Evil is exactly like the Gamecube version. It looks pretty much the same and the controls also feel the same, so why should you buy this game? Why should a veteran Resident Evil player buy this game? A simple answer would be nostalgia, this is a good reason for me at least because I really like the first Resident Evil game and the Gamecube version made a good game even better! So to get the chance to play this again on my Xbox One is enough reason for me to buy it because it´s been a lot of years since I last played Resident Evil. For new players it´s probably a bit different, because the controls are a bit weird and the inventory system isn´t what you would expect. So new players might be in for a strange but interesting experience, at least I hope so. But is it worth buying it? That depends, if you love the first Residen...

Have you ever heard of the term cheesing it? Somehow this is a big deal in games like Destiny. I´m not saying that it´s ok but to make such a big deal out of it seems a bit ridiculous. Especially when you might be doing it by accident or it´s the only way for you to make it through a strike or raid. Does that make you a bad person? I guess that depends who you ask but I understand that people that play alone a lot use different strategies than people that play together with others a lot. So this lone wolf behaviour sometimes doesn´t go well with teamwork, eventhough some people just use cheap tactics because that takes less effort for them to succeed. Are you already getting an idea what cheesing it means? What does cheesing it mean? It usually comes down to using cheap tactics, as in taking advantage of something in the game that makes things a bit easier, to compete a strike or raid (for example in Destiny). It might not surprise you that there are always people out there tha...

A lot of people like Saints Row 2 the most, at least people that don´t accept the changes in Saints Row 3 and 4. I won´t bore you with the details why some people hate the last two Saints Row games, but it comes down to people not liking the crazy turn Saints Row took and the stronger focus on fun than reality. But Saints Row 2 holds on what they started in Saints Row and it´s feels like business as usual or not? Saints Row 2 is what GTA IV should have been! It´s a bold statement so let me explain. In GTA IV you play a rather dramatic story about an immigrant with anger issues, not only did I almost quit the game halfway in (when you hit rock bottom) I also hate the main character so much that I just muted the game so I didn´t have to hear that asshole talk. Another issue with GTA IV is no cooperative mode and you can only play as the fat douchebag (Niko), add then a shit load of dramatic bullshit that didn´t do the game any good. Then there is Saints Row 2, where y...

Have you ever encountered people in online multiplayer that attack you on sight? I´m not talking about team based games, eventhough it´s nothing new there, but more in the open world type of games where you can encounter other players. It´s strange how some of these people then have the urge to attack you, eventhough in some games you can´t kill other players, so there isn´t really a point to this behaviour. Maybe some gamers are just douchebags? Perhaps, but even a douchebag would realize that there is no point in attacking another player when it has no effect. For example in Destiny you can explore planets in patrol mode and there is a good chance you encounter other players. Sometimes people like to farm or they´re trying to complete bounties which sometimes leads to a clash with another player. It´s frustrating when another player keeps harassing you, because you just want to enjoy the game and it´s not easy when someone else it making it their mission to annoy you. So in...

There was a time and a place that the violence in a game meant jumping on the head of an enemy and the closest thing to sex was getting a thank you from a princess (later also a kiss). But those days are long gone, unless you still enjoy playing Mario games, because now we have games with a lot of violence and also computer animated characters bumping into eachother (probably sex). Is this the beginning of the end? The difference between sex and violence in games. Let´s be honest, without sex none of us would be here and I think it´s ridiculous how some countries make sex seem like it´s worse than violence. That doesn´t mean that I think it´s ok to expose kids to sex, but usually games with sexual content are marked 18+ so as long as the shops check the age of the person who buys that game and parents check what kind of games their kids are playing then that should be ok. Games with violence aren´t always marked with 18+ unless two people are holding hands becaus...

I´m not surprised that some people actually believe that, especially when you look at certain games where the guys look like they could kill you just by staring at you and women look ridiculously attractive. But this doesn´t count for all games, some games are sometimes the opposite where the woman is the tough bad ass while the guy just stands there for appearance. Unfortunately that doesn´t take away the fact that a lot of games lean towards men. There are more male gamers than female gamers? That might actually be right, but the rise of the female gamer isn´t a myth and this might have some influence on what type of games you can expect. No longer is multiplayer dominated by male characters, now you can also make your custom female characters in games, something that MMORPGs already have for years. Besides is there really a game out there that screams for men only? Maybe you think women are too scared to play surival horror games or are incapable of playing a fast first pers...

I think we´ve seen all types of characters in GTA games, usually not the type you´d take too seriously and that are funny even when they don´t try to be funny. But somehow Rockstar has never had a female main character in GTA. Sure with multiplayer there are customization options and yes you could play as a woman, but that´s not the same. Where is the charming femme fatale, the tough chick from the streets or the crazy girl that likes to empty her gun into people? Women aren´t interesting main characters for a game? Excuse me? Have you played Tomb Raider? For the Playstation players there is Beyond Two Souls and let´s not forget about the now exclusive to Nintendo Bayonetta. I doubt a lot of guys really care if they play as a man or as a woman, I´d say some guys even prefer to play as a woman anyway. So what excuse does Rockstar have not to make a GTA game with a playable female main character? I know that there are whiners out there complaining about violence towards wome...

You don´t always realize it but music plays a big role in games, in some games more than in others but that doesn´t take away the effect it can have on you. It can make an awesome moment epic and a scary moment terrifying! At the same time there is sometimes also a lot of emotion in music, for example when someone dies in a game then that moment becomes so much more intense when you hear sad music. While romantic tunes make a moment you spare with someone special in the game almost unforgettable. The first time music really meant something to me in a game was in the legend of Zelda: the ocarina of time. Even now I sometimes whistle some of the tunes you learned on your ocarina, that´s actually quite interesting that a game has such an impact on someone. Final Fantasy VII and VIII quickly followed, games with soundtracks that are masterpieces! We thank these works of art from the genius composer Nobuo Uematsu, who made a lot more brilliant works of art. It truly made Final Fantasy ga...

We´re just a week from the launch, at least if it still launches on the 20th of January, and I´m very excited about this game. Sure I´ve played the PS One version and also the Gamecube version (RE remake), but that doesn´t mean I´m done with this game. Resident Evil is my favourite Resident Evil game and I can´t wait to explore the mansion again and face all the zombies and other creatures once more! What makes this game so much fun to play? A lot of things, but if I have to name something then I´d say the creepy mansion is a great place for a survival horror game. You never know what to expect behind a door and the traps make mistakes deadly! Let´s not forget about the zombies that await you, especially the crimson heads that will chase you like a madman! Of course there are a lot more monsters in and around the mansion but no need to spoil the fun for those that haven´t played the game. The characters are also interesting, with the silly dialogue you can´t take it too se...

Usually when I talk about a game here that game is usually not that popular anymore, well maybe to some but not to millions of people. World of Warcraft is different because it´s still very popular! But why is this game still so popular? Wether you like it or not but this game has a lot of fans and they like to play this game, especially since there is a lot to do in this game. What makes WoW so much fun to play? I think the possibilities in this game make it a lot of fun, there is so much you can do and there is never enough time to do it all on one day. But let´s not forget the two factions (Alliance and the Horde) with the races that are alligned to those factions, which leads to a lot of options in creating a unique character in a world with millions of people in it. When I just look at crafting and exploring then I´m already happy to play this game because there is so much to do and see! If you´re more into quests then there are a lot of quests, I really do mean a looooooooooo...

There´s probably some asshole out there that claims this but instead of trying to be mister by the book I´m going to be mister speaks from experience. Because all you have to do is play a multiplayer game where you´ll encounter other people. The worst is of course complete strangers because then you don´t know what you can expect and unfortunately that sometimes leads to unpleasant encounters. Are gamers more agressive these days? Well not everyone of course, but I have noticed in certain games that random encounters with other players aren´t always pleasant encounters. I´m talking about people that attack you for just getting near them, sometimes a quest takes you to a spot and there happens to be another player there so it´s not like you´re looking for trouble. Even when they can´t hurt you there are people that see it as their duty to annoy you, because why enjoy yourself playing the game when you can be an asshole to other people? But let´s not forget the ´tough´ guys that talk...

In short words, they´re expensive and break easily. But to be honest this is nothing new and not restricted to one console, it seems with every new console the controllers are more fragile and more expensive. Which makes you wonder why, because for the price of a new controller you can buy a new game these days! So what should be done about this controller problem? First of all you should get two and not one controller when you buy a new console, because a lot of people have friends and/or family with whom they play games. So it sucks that you have to buy the second controller next to the console, which is a fucking rip off! In the early Nintendo days you got a second controller with your console, so what happened to that? Oh right more money, it´s always about money isn´t it? So if you have to buy a second controller then it´s nice that this controller isn´t too expensive, because it´s a shame if you spend so much money on a controller while you could´ve bought a new game. But i...

After taking a break for a couple of months I´m back in Destiny, it´s nice to be back and it doesn´t take long to get familiar with everything. But unfortunately a lot of things that I didn´t like before are still exactly the same, none of the updates have changed that! Which is a shame because with some improvements this could be one of the most fun games out there! So how do you improve destiny? -1- Customization options. It´s not a secret that you can customize your character, but when you´re a high level character everyone looks the same, maybe they use a different shader (armor colour) but that´s about it. It would be better if you could upgrade legendary armor you like to the highest quality (without having to buy the armor that allows you to reach higher levels), for example you can upgrade exotic armor and also weapons so why not give this option to your legendary armor you already have and like? I´m certain Bungie can find some way with crafting to make this possible, that...

When you´re new to a game (especially when you´re new to playing games) then it´s sometimes rough to beat the veterans, it can be quite frustrating when they beat you in every match and even have time to humiliate you. Of course this calls for revenge but what can you do when you´re absolutely awful in that game? Practice makes perfect? Yes and no, because no matter how much practice you get there are sometimes people out there that are just better than you in a game. This sucks and it´s probably not what you want to hear, but unfortunately this is the truth. But don´t let that stop you from trying to be better, because even if some people might be out of your reach that doesn´t mean that you can´t become a better player. You can´t win them all and I don´t think it´s healthy to play like that, as long as you´re having fun with some succes then you should be having a good time! Succes makes games more fun? I think it´s safe to say that, especially when you´re the one that carrie...

I know that achievements/trophies aren´t for everyone, some people really don´t give a flying fuck about them but that doesn´t mean that they don´t get them. So what is the point of getting achievements/trophies and do we really need them in games? As much as some people might hate them other people actually like getting achievements/trophies. For some it´s a hobby to get as many as possible and then there are some that just want to get rare achievements/trophies or complete as many games as possible (getting all achievements/trophies in a game). This alone will probably keep achievements/trophies in games because they´re fun to collect and especially now that you can use the achievement picture as your background on the Xbox One. But does an achievement or trophy have a real function? Not really, because it´s not something you need to keep on playing or be considered as great by other players. But achievements/trophies can give you bragging rights (for as much as that´s importan...

Are you still playing Destiny? Have you played the dark below expansion or plan to do so later? Then you might be interested in the latest Destiny dlc news! Someone leaked a picture of Destiny dlc planned for 2015, which means a busy year for all the Destiny fans! What can we expect in 2015? A lot! First there is the house of wolves expansion that is supposedly going to launch in March, then in September there is a huge expansion (which might be sold on discs as well) called Comet: plague of darkness. Then there are two expansions coming after that called vex and forge of gods. It remains to be seen if this will all be launched in 2015 and especially now that it´s leaked they might want to change certain things. Anyway it means that Destiny will be an interesting game to play in 2015! Comet: plague of darkness is not Destiny 2? I don´t think so, because it looks more like a very big expansion. This probably means that you can also buy this dlc on a disc. But the m...

I was very excited about this game, because Guild Wars Factions was my first encounter with the mmorpg genre and I had a lot of fun in that game. So it made sense that I wanted to give Guild Wars 2 a chance, the awesome trailers and screenshots took away any doubt I had at that time. All I had to do is wait for the game to launch and it finally did on the 28th of August 2012. What did you think of the game? I loved the game, I played the game every day for hours and kept that going for a month! I worked hard (in the game of course) to earn enough gold to buy blue gems (this is what you need to buy items in the game shop and yes you can also use real money to buy blue gems but I never did) so I could unlock more character slots (you start with five) so I could make all classes (total of 8) and try out all races (total of 5). This did ruin the game eventually for me, spending too much time in a game and then mostly grinding sucks the fun out of any game. That didn´t mean that I hate ...

It´s not difficult to make some New Year´s resolutions, but it might be difficult for you to keep them. I don´t think that you´re doomed when you don´t stick to your resolutions but if it´s something you were honest about then you probably feel like crap later for not sticking to your resolutions. In case you don´t give a flying fuck about that then nothing has really changed, but I don´t understand why you would make resolutions anyway if you don´t plan to stick to them! So what are your resolutions? Popular resolutions are losing weight, you quit smoking, do good (become a volunteer), spend more time with family and friends. As simple as these might sound for some people this can be difficult, especially smoking is a tricky one because a lot of people just can´t quit or it only lasts for a certain amount of time and then they start smoking again. This is why I think it´s smart to have a resolution partner, someone that motivates you to stick to your resolutions and you do the same ...

Have you played this game already? To be honest I didn´t think much of this game when I first heard of it but since it´s free (season one) on Xboxlive I couldn´t help but give it a try. To call this game weird would be an understatement, but weird doesn´t mean bad! The story is also a bit vague, especially at first, but at least you don´t have too much trouble with making progress because the game isn´t really that difficult. But it´s definitely weird! So what can you expect from D4? You play as David Young and you´re some kind of psychic detective, you try to solve the murder on your wife and you have the ability to travel back into time to investigate crimes. Yes that sounds pretty weird and that´s exactly why I call it a weird game! But the characters in this game are just as weird as the story, some are just a bit odd while others are just crazy! This makes the game probably a bad choice for people who take the story seriously, because you probably won´t feel at home in this g...

It´s not always easy to make decisions, especially when you don´t have a lot of money and you do want to buy a lot of things. This will sometimes mean that you´ll have to choose to buy a new game or decide to buy dlc for a game you already have, because having both can be a bit expensive. So what do you do? Games take priority? That´s how I would see it about ten years ago, dlc wasn´t as big as it´s now and definitely not as common. When you´re done with a game then that was it, oh sure you could play it again but there wasn´t really any hope that you´d get dlc to introduce new things into your ´old´ game. So it makes sense you would spend your money on new games, at least that´s how it was for me. But things change, more and more interesting dlc became available and it really started to feel like I was missing out if I didn´t buy it. For example zombie maps in Black Ops and Black Ops 2 are just too tempting not to buy. This sometimes came at the cost of not buying a game, but this w...

Do you like to play games? I take it you do because I don´t see another reason for you to read this, but does that mean you also play a lot of games? Do you play games all the time or just every now and then? It´s not surprising if you don´t have a lot of time to play games, school and work can often keep you from playing games and then you also have family and friends that like to see you occasionally. Less is good? I guess, I mean thinking about your health it´s probably true. Sitting in front of your tv or PC all day playing games isn´t exactly healthy. But it really depends on how much hours you spend on playing games, I´d say one to two hours on a day isn´t that much and I don´t think you have to play less. But if you spend six to eight hours on a day then you might want to play a bit less, as much as you like to play games it´s good to go out and do other things. But what if you do a lot of exercises? I guess that makes it a bit less harmful but you don´t want to spend six to...