Confessions of a gamer

I´m pretty most Halo fans already know but the release date for Halo 5 will be the 27th of October in 2015! Yes that´s right, that´s this year! So all the Halo players, whatever Halo game they use for multiplayer, have something to look forward to. Let´s just hope the game won´t disappoint... Master Chief vs Agent Locke? If you´ve seen the trailers then you probably know that there will be two main characters, Master Chief and Agent Locke. You might know Agent Locke from the Halo Nightfall series and he looks like an interesting character. But what does that mean for the story? Well so far it´s been slightly revealed that for some time in the game you´ll play as Agent Locke, what that means exactly is still a mystery but you can imagine that it will have to do with Master Chief. If this truly means that they´re on opposite sides is also unclear, the trailers might suggest that but trailers aren´t always the most reliable source of information! The best multiplayer? A lot of peo...

Wether you like strategy or not, anyone can play Stratego and with some good positioning of your troops you can be a wothy opponent! It´s a typical 1 vs 1 game where it´s not about speed or skill, it´s more about tactic and luck. This might make it less interesting for some people but this at least gives anyone that plays it a chance to win, even from more experienced players. Each player has a certain amount of troops from a certain rank, a higher rank beats a lower rank (except bombs that kill everyone except the miner/sapper) and once you get the highest piece of the opponent then it´s as good as over. This highest piece the Marshall is almost unbeatable but a spy could kill that piece or you can beat a Marshall at the expense of your own Marshall. You don´t see what the pieces of the other player are until you jump with one of your pieces on it, then you´ll see if you made a good choice or not... Strategy. When you call a game Stratego then it´s not a surprise that it´s abo...

Is it really a sin to stop caring about something that used to mean a lot to you? Maybe it´s not a sin for everyone but gamers might consider it as a sin. I´m not talking about the whole true gamer bullshit, it´s more like walking away from something that used to mean so much to you. It feels like betrayal and yet it´s also liberating to admit that things have changed. Too old for gaming? I thought about that, maybe I´m just getting too old for playing games but to be honest I doubt that´s the case. I´ve been playing games for more than twenty years and that´s cool with me, I mean as long as I´m having fun I don´t see a reason to stop. Age doesn´t have to mean anything with gaming, it´s about you having a good time doing what you like to do! Things get repetitive? It´s weird that I didn´t notice this any sooner but I´m getting the feeling I´m playing the same games over and over again. Perhaps I´m now starting to notice this more because I´m almost literally playing the exa...

Have you heard about Bloodborne? I can´t imagine that you haven´t but in case you haven´t then let me summarize it for you, you make a character and that character will then have to go through a lot of shit that will probably get you killed a lot! Does that sound familiar? It probably does, but that doesn´t mean that this game is terrible. This is actually a beautiful looking and tough game that will separate strong willed players from rage quitters! Character creation? That´s right, you can create your own character and that character can be a man or a woman. It´s nice that you get these customization options but to be honest it will suck to see your beautifully made character die a lot. Perhaps you like to make a hideous character and then see that character fail a lot, I guess it doesn´t really matter because you´re most likely going to die a lot in this game and the way you look doesn´t really change that. But if you´re going to die then at least you can make certain you look g...

Somehow Halo can always surprise, just look at Halo Online which is an online multiplayer game that´s free to play! The downside is that it´s only available on PC and only in Russia, yes that´s kind of lame. Unless you´re a Russian that likes to play Halo on PC... Free to play? Yes this game is free to play, something that will probably attract a lot of players...in Russia. But I´m pretty certain that this will change sooner or later, I mean to restrict something like this to only one country (even when it´s a big country) is ridiculous and I find it unlikely that it´s going to stay this way. The good thing is that you can play online multiplayer for free against other people, so if you´re sick and tired of the Master Chief Collection then this might be a good alternative. At least it´s cheaper... What does this mean for Halo 5? Nothing bad I hope, as far as I know the game is still a work in progress so we just have to sit and wait for that. This makes Halo Online a good game ...

It´s often said that parents don´t know anything about gaming, because you constantly see kids (under 12 years) playing games they shouldn´t play (16+ games). How can a parent let their kid play something like that? What some people forget is that a lot of parents do their best, but sometimes it´s difficult to figure out what their kids do exactly when the parents aren´t looking. Being a parent is difficult? Big surprise, well not really but being a parents is difficult. Anyone that says that it´s easy doesn´t know what he or she is talking about or is an idiot! What some people sometimes forget is that parents work, these days it´s even common that both parents work which makes it a bit difficult to check all the time what your kids are up to. Not that you´d leave your kids home alone but it´s not uncommon that sometimes kids are back home before the parents are and that does give them some freedom, for both good or bad things. I think you can expect that most parent...

Don´t worry I won´t go into the science behind it but apparently gaming helps some people go through difficult times. Think about people that lost someone important in their life or when other bad things happen in your life, it can be rough to go through these bad times but games can actually help you with that! Gaming makes you feel better? I´m not saying that every game helps you with that and it doesn´t work for everyone, but gaming can help if you let it. For example when you lose someone important in your life it can be difficult to deal with that on your own and when you don´t feel like talking about it with other people it can make you feel even worse. Games like Dragon Age or Skyrim offer you big worlds with a lot of things to do, this isn´t just a good distraction but also helps you feel better by doing things in the game. For example building a house in Skyrim, becoming friends with your companions in Dragon Age or just go on adventure and discover new things in both game...

I hate being the bringer of bad news but it´s still something some of you might want to know, Batman: Arkham Knight is delayed with three weeks. The new release date is now the 23rd of June. It´s not that bad, I mean three weeks is better than three months and hopefully this means that you get the game without any bugs or other crap in it. But that´s the positive way of looking at this... Why is this game delayed so much? Perhaps there are issues? To be honest I don´t know, but I can imagine that Rocksteady (the developer) has a pretty good reason to delay the game and that would most likely be for our benefit. That doesn´t mean that it´s cool, I mean a lot of people want to play Arkham Knight but so far we just see pretty pictures and interesting trailers/gameplay. That´s nice, but sooner or later we want to play the game and at this point it´s definitely sooner! But delays are a good thing, right? Well it´s not good for you, at least if you want to play the game asap. But whe...

There´s a good chance that you haven´t heard of this game, probably because you can´t play it anymore and it was never super popular. But there is definitely a group of fans that would like to play this game again, which is why they´re working on City of Titans which will hopefully become the next best thing. But it started with City of Heroes, a simple idea that became quite big in the good years! Living in a dream. Everyone that likes super heroes will have a good time with a game like City of Heroes/City of Villains, because you can create your own hero or villain and then go on missions or just explore the huge city. But it´s not just about following a story, there are a lot to choose from, you can also go your own way and make your own adventures on your own or with friends. You can form your own super group and create your own base, this is expense because you pay for that with super group experience that you earn by playing in super group mode. If you don´t like the whole te...

I don´t know how the economic situation is in your country but a lot of people don´t have a lot of money to spend, the money they can spend is usually for basic needs. I guess as a gamer you could consider games also as a basic need but that doesn´t fill your belly and keep you warm and dry! Because you first have to spend money on your basic needs it leaves less money for fun things like games, which is rough but unfortunately that´s the way it is for some people. Gaming is an expensive hobby? Unfortunately it is, in the good years before the economic problems you might not have noticed this but now a lot of people have discovered how expensive gaming can be. Just look at new games, you´ll easily pay 60 Euros (about 65 Dollars) for a new game and a new controller is 55 Euros (about 60 Dollars). I haven´t even talked about the new consoles, because in 2013 the Xbox One and Playstation 4 became available. For some people the Xbox One became available in 2014 but it still meant that ...

If you´ve played a fighting game then you probably know that there are usually a couple of unusual characters in the game, some have a weird look and others have a strange fighting style. But somehow they still fit in with the game, eventhough Tekken goes a bit far with the bear and kangaroo. As weird as that might sound it´s not the strangest thing, what´s even weirder for me is to find some characters from movies in these fighting games. Does that make sense? Probably not... It doesn´t matter with which character you play? You might think that but I disagree, because each character has his or her own unique skills and that makes it not a good character for everyone. Some people like fast character with weaker hits and then there are people that like slower characters with more powerful hits. It´s also not a surprise that some characters are just rubbish and others overpowered, so it actually does matter which character you choose. For example if you face someone that plays as one...

I think we all have had a moment where we would rage quit a game and that´s ok if you´re playing a single player game, but when you play a multiplayer game it´s a douchebag move! In some games it means you abandon the game making it harder for the team to win, but there are also games where it means that it´s impossible to win and it results in failure for the rest of the team. So how do you take care of these type of people? You humiliate them and show them that they suck! At least that´s the tactic that´s being used in Mortal Kombat X. Is rage quitting really that bad? It´s not bad if you play a single player game, because the only person you affect with that is yourself. But when you play with other people it affects everyone, sure in competitive multiplayer it means one team has to fight with one person less on their team and that can make it easier for the other team. Sometimes that´s even better, because when you get rid of a bad player there´s a chance that a better player c...

All the CoD Advanced Warfare fans are in luck, the new dlc will be arriving in less than two weeks on the 31st of March to be precise. This means four new maps, 2 new weapons (a hybrid weapon to be exact) and a new zombie map. So that should keep all the CoD trigger happy people satisfied for some time! What´s so special about this dlc? I´d say the new weapon because this hybrid weapon looks interesting and eventhough I´m not much of a LMG type of guy I´d still like to check it out! This new hybrid weapon is called the Ohm/Werewolf and it allows you to switch between a shotgun and LMG. Of course you also get four new maps but I don´t think that´s the special part, the new zombie map is more interesting because you continue to play as the four celebrities from the first zombie map. Hopefully this means more intense action and a lot of fun! There´s also a special exo ability that only works in a certain playlist, the exo grapple which hopefully brings something refreshi...

This might seem strange to you but I can´t help but wonder if you play better when you´re happy or when you´re angry, because I´ve had moments where I was in a good mood and made my way through difficult parts in a game without trouble but the same thing happened when I got angry and also made my way through difficult parts of a game. So do you play better when you´re happy or angry? Happy gaming. When you´re happy you usually don´t get annoyed that quickly in a game, unless you get a lot of crap thrown at you in a very short time! There is only that much you can take before you break! But having fun and being happy go very well together, this makes gaming even more fun and makes the experience even better. The good thing about being happy is that you can deal better with a set back, for example when you died and you haven´t saved the game for some time or there are no checkpoints. That´s rough but a happy gamer can usually deal better with this negativity then an angry gamer. But ...

Have you played Rayman Legends? If you have a gold membership on Xboxlive you can download the game for free, which is nice and definitely a good thing. But is it really a fun game? Let´s take a closer look at Rayman Legends and find out how much fun this game really is! Fun or frustration? Well it´s not that difficult to figure that out, at least at first! Because Rayman Legends is fun, you can play solo or with friends in levels or some cool mini games. This keeps the game fun and even when one person makes a mistake then the other(s) can still try to make it to the end of the level. The levels get more difficult the further you get and that can be frustrating, especially when you play solo and have to suffer through the same stuff multiple times because of failure. No matter how much fun a game is this is the type of stuff that annoys you and that can be quite frustrating! So it´s better to play this game with friends? Yes, I think it´s safe to say that. Playing with friends...

I think almost everyone that plays games or has played games knows about this game, it´s a board game that can go on for a long time! Eventhough it can keep you and your family and/or friends busy for quite some time it´s still a lot of fun, especially when you know what you´re doing and of course get lucky. In this digital time it probably doesn´t surprise you that Monopoly is also playable on your PC and console, which means you can play with people all over the world if you want to or just play against family and friends online. But is this old game still fun to play or is it time for something new? Simple fun is good fun! If you play Monopoly for the first time it might look a bit confusing with all the houses and hotel stuff, but in truth it´s actually pretty simple. Depending in which country or what version you play you buy either streets or towns and then try to bankrupt the other players. You get cash every time you pass the start point on the board and there are ...

When you´re in a relationship and you like to play games then there are sometimes moments where your boyfriend or girlfriend will ask you to spend some time with him or her. It´s nice if he or she also likes to play games so you can spend time together playing games, when he or she isn´t a big fan of that then that usually means turning off your console or computer and spend some time in the real world with your boyfriend or girlfriend. It seems easy but unfortunately that doesn´t count for everyone... Love conquers all? It´s an old saying, but these days I wonder if it´s still true. There is so much you can do these days and romance isn´t that important as it used to be. I mean do you still write letters to your loved one? Probably not, because now you have text messages and the internet to talk with people from all over the world. You can spend an afternoon with your boyfriend or girlfriend outside doing something fun or relaxing, but then there are also people that like to spend...

Maybe you´ve never experienced it before but sometimes there are moments in a game where you just make it or things work just in your favour, is that skill or is that luck? I guess that depends on the person that´s playing, because some people don´t believe in luck and only in their skill. But is that really the truth? Does skill or luck play a big role when you play games? Let´s find out... Skill isn´t for everyone? It can be frustrating, you practice for hours or maybe even days and there are still people that beat you in online multiplayer. Sometimes there are just people out there that have more skill or use some tricks to beat you, but it could also be luck. I guess there are multiple reasons why someone beats you, the important thing is that you don´t let it bring you down. Sure some people have a lot of skill, when you don´t have that much skill then it´s more difficult for you to beat that person. But it´s not impossible! My advice is that you should play for fun and not to...

Great news for all the Titanfall fans, there will be another Titanfall game! What´s probably even better news is that the game isn´t exclusive to the Xbox One but will also launch for the PC and Playstation 4. So everyone that missed out on the first one can catch up in the second game, which is nice because exclusive games are often a big fuck you towards gamers that play on another console. Are people interested in Titanfall 2? I think so, eventhough the first game was riding on a big hype train it´s still a fun game to play. I definitely had a lot of fun with it and I hope Titanfall will improve on certain parts to make it even more fun. I played Titanfall on my Xbox 360 so I don´t know how things are on the Xbox One, are people still playing Titanfall? It wouldn´t surprise me but to be honest it´s been about a year since the launch on the Xbox One so it´s not strange if people decided to move on to other games. So it´s definitely a good thing that there will be a sequel, hopefu...

When I think of the future I think of things becoming better and faster, but what is actually better and faster? Instead of pressing buttons you wave at a device and that identifies it as a certain command, does that seem like it´s better and faster? Motion control is unreliable? As much as you might hate a controller it´s pretty reliable, ok you need to charge it or if you still use batteries then you have to switch that every week or so but at least it works. Motion control is a bit less stable, if you don´t makethe right movement or somehow the camera doesn´t recognize you then you´re in for a lot of frustration. Let´s not forget how ridiculous it looks when you stand in front of your tv making these weird gestures, I don´t know about you but after a long day of school and/or work I don´t feel like doing that! But the most important thing is that it works, you don´t want to waste time making it work you just want it to work. Motion control can work, it can definitely work well b...

With a gold membership you can play online multiplayer with others, that´s nothing new and probably the main reason why a lot of people have it. But do you know that you can also get games for free and discounts on some games with a gold membership? Why would you want to have a gold membership? It seems silly to pay money to be able to play online with others, but I´ve done that the moment I bought my Xbox 360 in 2006 and I don´t regret it. Yes it´s a shame that you have to pay to play with others but it´s not the end of the world, compared to those years you have now a great deal with a gold membership. Every month you can get a game for free, not some game nobody wants to play but actually interesting games worth checking out. But you also get some nice discounts on games and dlc, which makes it more interesting to check out certain games. Because when you´re not certain if you´re going to like a game then paying the full price might be too much of an obstacle, but if you can get...

I used to be a fan of Final Fantasy, a lot of memorable moments in gaming come from Final Fantasy games and I still have fond memories of playing those games. But Final Fantasy changed, the characters became weirder and less interesting with almost every new FF game. But Final Fantasy XV might change that, it looks like this game could finally be the FF game that a lot of fans have been waiting for! What makes FF XV so interesting? Several things but the one thing that´s really important to me is the amount of freedom you have in this game. You decide where you go and also how you get things done, which means you choose your path and also if you want to fight enemies or not. You´ll see enemies on the map and that means that you can choose to fight them or not, there´s no random encounter going on where every five steps you have to fight. Enemies will spot you if you get too close and attack you if you stay in their line of sight for too long. When you want to complete a mission, fo...

Ever since the first Age of Empires game I really enjoyed the way you play these games, it´s simple and yet gives you the chance to go into detail. For example creating your unbeatable army, a solid economy and a legendary culture. But it was usually just fighting battles from the history books, there wasn´t a hero and not a real story that ties it all together. But then there´s Age of Empires III, a game that does have a story and one that connects over generations! Make your own legacy! I really like following a story, something that connects everything and is interesting to check out instead of just going from random battle into another random battle. Of course you´ll have to start with building up a camp, which can grow into a city if you´re really going to invest, but there are also moments where it´s more about exploring or fighting. This diversity keeps the game interesting and doesn´t feel like you do the same thing in every chapter. Don´t be surprised if things go differen...

So today is international women´s day, in case you don´t know, but what does that mean? Well I could give you a speech over the struggle of women for equal rights but I prefer to talk about women and games, because to be honest I´m not really an expert when it comes to the history of women through the ages. Female gamers aka gamer girls (I know some people hate that term but you know at least what I mean) aren´t a myth, they´re real and they like to play games just as much as guys but somehow they face more bullshit than guys. So what´s up with that? Well let´s take a closer look at the female experience of gaming. The curse of the female gamer. Ok maybe that sounds a bit dramatic but at least I got your attention, because a lot of people don´t realize how annoying it can be for women to play games. I guess in single player games it´s not that much of a problem, eventhough some people might give them shit because they play games, but in online multiplayer things can sometimes get u...

There are a lot of different games out there, all types of genres with good games and bad games in that genre. But there is one genre that suffers the most, the super hero genre where games are usually not good. Sure there are some games that are fun but that´s quite rare and you´ll most likely find a bad game than a good game. So what´s up with super hero games? What makes this genre so difficult? Will we ever get great super hero games or is that impossible? There aren´t any good super hero games? Well there are some but then again not every game with a guy or girl in a costume is super powered. For example the succesful Batman Arkham games let you play as Batman and you´d think that´s a super hero game but it doesn´t play as one, because if you run towards enemies with guns there is a good chance that you´re dead. Perhaps that´s the way it should be for Batman because he doesn´t use those type of tactics on his own. So what about one of his super powered allies? Well Superman do...

Great news for music lovers on the consoles, Rock Band 4 is coming! I must admit that I´m a bit surprised because I thought we had seen the last of music games, I guess Rocksmith is around but that´s about it. I´m glad that Harmonix decided to bring out a new Rock Band game because I really enjoyed playing Rock Band 3. Rock Band 4 will only be for the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One, so that´s a bit of a bummer for people on the last gen consoles. But is it worth checking this game out? Yes! Do you have to buy new instruments for the Playstation 4 and/or Xbox One? No you don´t have to do that, at this moment people are working hard on making the instruments for the last gen consoles work on the current gen consoles. So that means you don´t have to buy new guitars or drums, which is a good thing because it would suck if we needed to buy that again. It´s nice that you can just continue playing with your old instruments because why throw away something that works pretty good? Can we ...

I´m so excited! The release date for Metal Gear Solid V is the 1st of September! Which is a good thing because that´s less than six months away from now. Together with Metal Gear Solid V: the phantom pain you also get Metal Gear Online where you can face other players in multiplayer. Why should you be excited about this game? Well... The biggest and most intense Metal Gear Solid game! You play as Big Boss, yes that´s the original snake and the guy you played in Metal Gear Solid 3. This game takes place after the game Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, so in a way you pick up where you left off. I won´t spoil the story but things get intense and this game might answer questions you still have, so that´s definitely a nice bonus. What I like about this game is that you decide what you do next, nobody tells you what to do but you choose the next mission and how you do it. There is a lot of freedom for the player and that gives you several ways of dealing with missions, wether you operate...

In a way it´s crazy, you just bought a game and if you want to play it with others (sometimes it even counts if you want to play it solo) then you have to pay extra money for that. It´s absurd but apparently that´s the way it works, at least for Xbox 360 and Xbox One gamers that need Xboxlive gold account to play online with others. But is that fair? Playing games shouldn´t cost you money? I´m pretty certain a lot of people agree with that, that playing games shouldn´t cost you money but unfortunately it´s not up to gamers to decide that. A developer can choose that you have to pay money to play their game even after you already bought the game, it´s insane but in a world full of greed it´s nothing new. Do you remember Final Fantasy XI and later Final Fantasy XIV? You might have heard of them but did you actually play those games? I didn´t, because you need to pay to play and that´s next to the Xboxlive gold account (which already costs you money). It´s crazy but I guess gamers are...

If you have to believe the ´old´ movies then that´s probably true, if you have to believe some people on the internet then it´s true but what about you? Do you think virtual reality is the future of gaming? Instead of pressing buttons on your controller or keyboard you do everything with your mind, which seems cool but is that safe? Perhaps it´s a good idea to take a closer look to virtual reality gaming. Don´t fix something that isn´t broken? I´m actually surprised how some people just want things to keep going forward in such a way that we hardly have one thing and we already need the other. Of course the controller and keyboard have been around for quite some time but do we really need to replace that? Just look at the Kinect, I think that alone already shows that people aren´t ready to move on and are quite happy with what they have now. I don´t want to jump in front of my tv to play games, I want to sit on the couch after a long day of school and/or work and relax. I don´t see...

In my early days with a console I only played Nintendo games, it wasn´t until the Sony Playstation that I played other games which was a good thing because I felt like I was getting too old for Nintendo games. But that´s of course ridiculous, you´re not too old to play certain games! For me it was Mario Party 4 that reminded me of that, because once you start playing this game it´s difficult to stop. Addictive mini games. The mini games in Mario Party games make these games so addictive, it´s not just that you want to beat your friends but also set a new record in his or her game. Sure this can put some tension on your friendship but it´s still a lot of fun! Booksquirm is my favourite mini game in Mario Party 4 where you have to squeeze through holes in the pages of a book while it turns the pages, with every page this goes faster and the holes aren´t exactly perfectly shaped. So this is just one example of a simple game that can be a lot of fun to play! The mini games are...

Have you noticed that a lot of games that have been released in the last couple of years are actually new versions of old games, which kind of makes me worried about the future because if this keeps going we just play the same games over and over again with just a graphic update. To be honest I don´t mind it that much, but it´s also nice that there are new games and new things to discover. So I certainly hope that developers will invest their time in making new games and not so much in bringing old games back. What´s wrong with bringing back an old game? Not that much, especially if it´s a game that you really like. For example Resident Evil is a good game and I like having that game now on my Xbox One, but that doesn´t mean I want every Resident Evil game with a graphic update. I´d like to see new Resident Evil games and if possible something else completely. A game like D4 (Dark Dreams Don´t Die) is a lot of fun and something else, it´s great that games like that exist a...