Confessions of a gamer

I´m still surprised when I see someone with hundreds of friends, I say friends but I bet that person doesn´t even know half of them and that becomes even worse on your console when most people in your friends list are people you´ve never met and probably will never meet. But that doesn´t stop people from adding as many friends to their list as possible, the Xbox One alone can already have a thousand friends on one profile. Which is insane because who really has a thousand friends? Not me! It´s a popularity contest? Sometimes that´s how it goes, people want to have the most friends because the more people you have in your list the more popular you have to be. Right? Wrong! Oh sure it might seem that way but I bet that people with hundreds of people in their friends list probably only play games with a dozen of them. Let´s not forget that people with whom you really are friends, which means you actually talk and spend time together outside games, are just a very small fraction of the...

Perhaps this isn´t news for you but I always hoped that the season pass was a way to keep a game longer alive. To introduce new parts of the story or new characters into the game. In some cases it could even allow you to see the full potential of the game, for example when developers wanted to release the game sooner and put the stuff they couldn´t add into the game with dlc. But that´s the positive way of looking at it, the other side is a bit less positive where it´s about earning money on things that could´ve been put into the game but are deliberately left out so they could earn extra money on it. But you save money with the season pass, right? Yes you save money if you buy the season pass instead of buying each piece of dlc separately. But when you think that this dlc could´ve been part of the game and then it wouldn´t have cost you anything extra then I can´t help but feel that developers are trying to get more money out of people. As if games aren´t expensive enough you also...

The latest trailer of Batman Arkham Knight shows how you can switch to Catwoman, Nightwing and Robin for a devastating combo while playing as Batman. It´s an interesting trick that will make it easier to take out tougher enemies and gives you even more combo options. But what does this really mean? You can play as Catwoman, Nightwing and Robin? Unfortunately that´s not confirmed, so far I´ve just seen them in the trailer doing a combo with Batman and you take control of Catwoman, Nightwing and Robin during that combo but I don´t know if it means you can also play in the story mode as one or all of them. Of course I hope that you can, it was cool that you could play as Catwoman in Arkham City and as Robin in the dlc for Arham City so I can only hope that you get more of that in Arkham Knight. You could play as Catwoman, Nightwing and Robin in challenges but I think people will be very excited to hear that these characters are in the story mode and if you could pla...

When I first saw the main character in Final Fantasy X I had my doubts about him and about the game, he didn´t look at cool as Cloud or Squall (protagonists in Final Fantasy VII and VIII) and I thought I would have a difficult time liking Tidus (the name of the protagonist of Final Fantasy X). But I was wrong, oh I was so wrong! Final Fantasy X is for me the last Final Fantasy that really mattered and also the last Final Fantasy that had some humour in it. Eventhough the story is sad there is still a lot of fun in this game! Zanarkand. Tidus is from Zanarkand, but when he after the prologue ends up in the middle of nowhere he does his best to get back home. People think he´s crazy that he´s from Zanarkand, because they said that Zanarkand doesn´t exist anymore...at least the city that Tidus talks about doesn´t exist anymore. On his way there he meets other people and together they travel to Zanarkand for Yuna (a summoner that has to go there for her pilgrimage) and Tidus tags along...

I don´t know when it became funny to be an annoying douchebag online but these days it´s difficult to find a comment section without at least one of these creatures hanging around. They don´t watch videos for information or entertainment, they´re looking for something that will annoy anyone that does like the video and probably watched the video for that reason. Half of the time trolls don´t even watch the video, the title is often enough for them to find something to annoy others. What is a troll? It used to be a mythical creature, something from fables and bedtime stories. These days it´s someone that spends time online to annoy others, mostly for their own amusement. Some actually are succesful with being a troll, they get attention and popularity with their comments and eventhough they´re often a sad sack of shit in real life they can be the opposite online. Also don´t be surprised that trolls aren´t original, you´ll often see a troll repeat what another troll said and trol...

When I first heard of this game I thought it would be some lame movie game that will probably try to ride on the succes of the movie. But after seeing a gameplay video I had to slap myself in the face, not just in a way to apologize for my prejudice but also to be certain that I wasn´t dreaming. The game is actually looking pretty good and it looks like fun to play this game, what an unexpected surprise! So what do you do in this game? From what I learned it´s about getting revenge on the people that stole your stuff and left you for dead, which means you have to start over and become stronger to stand a chance against the people who wronged you. One of the things you do is finding parts for your ´new´ car and start building it into a killing machine. Not only does this look like a lot of fun, I think people can create their own unique car with all the parts that are available. This might seem like some lame item finding but when you look at the open world I think that there is so ...

Next month House of Wolves dlc will launch for Destiny, but what does that mean for Destiny? Well a lot! This isn´t just dlc that adds some new missions, this is dlc that will improve several things for Destiny players. For example you can exchange items, getting an ascendant shard for ascendant energy or vice versa. But you also get a new social area in the Reef which is accessible for everyone, even players that don´t have the House of Wolves dlc! What can you find in the Reef? First of all there are several new NPCs that offer you new missions and/or items. First you have Petra, you might know her from the Queen´s Wrath event in the early days of Destiny, and she offers you bounties and the shaders and emblems you could earn in the Queen´s Wrath event. I also saw that she has a cool ship you can earn, something quite unique...until everyone unlocks it and uses it. Then there is Variks, this is a Fallen captain that is loyal to the queen, he is part of another faction in the Reef...

It started small, these tiny computers that respond to you and that you have to give attention and ´food´ for them to be happy and to keep them ´alive´. You might know these tiny computers as Tamagotchi and for some time they were very popular. But now we´ve moved on to bigger and prettier things, you see beautiful animated creatures on your screen that respond to your voice and your movement in the room. I can´t help but wonder if this will one day replace real pets or will real pets always have a place in our hearts? Virtual pets are a good altnernative? It´s not that everyone doesn´t want to have pets, sometimes it´s just impossible for people to have pets  when they´re allergic or maybe went through a traumatic experience. Then there is also the problem of not having any room or time for a pet. But if you really want a pet then these virtual versions are a good alternative, of course it´s not the same but it´s better to have something than nothing! Pets don´t discriminate a...

For me Alan Wake was one of the best games I played, I really enjoyed playing the game and I couldn´t help but wonder if there would be a sequel. Well we got American Nightmare which takes place after the first game but I wouldn´t really call this a sequel. So everyone that enjoyed Alan Wake might be curious if there is going to be a real sequel for Alan Wake! Does the game really need a sequel? Well maybe not, but I wouldn´t mind getting back into the creepy atmosphere of Alan Wake and hopefully something similar to Alan Wake. I love the small town in the middle of nowhere where there is a dark secret and only the character you play can stop it. This is good stuff for creating a scary game or a good horror movie, it´s not about the amount of monsters or how scary they look. It´s the feeling you get when you walk in a hallway and suddenly the lights go out, you hear whispers by the window but when you look there is no one there. It´s these small things that can make a game very sca...

It´s interesting that people don´t always have the same arguments for a game when they consider it a good game. For example some people think that good graphics make a game good while others find the story more important, then there are people that value gameplay above everything else and will hate games that are difficult to control no matter how pretty they look. But what is a good game? There is no one type of good game? I don´t think so, because that means we all believe that graphics are important or we all believe that the story is the most important part of a game. We don´t all have the same reason why we like a game or dislike a game. So calling one game better than the others is an opinion and nothing more, it´s not a fact and even if that game sells more copies than any other game it doesn´t mean that game is better! Because we don´t all like the same type of games, which means that there will be games that aren´t popular but can still be a lot of fun to play. Popular g...

After GTA III I was really exicted about GTA Vice City, not only did this take place in the 80´s but it also has a main character that speaks (the main character in GTA III doesn´t say one word the entire game). With the music and look of the 80´s it felt quite unique at that time, especially since you could go where you want to if you didn´t feel like doing the (story) missions. It probably won´t surprise you that this is one of my favourite GTA games! You´re the star! You play as Tommy Vercetti, a mobster that escaped a drug deal gone bad. Instead of going home you stay and build your own little slice of heaven. Of course this doesn´t go without mistakes or problems but eventually you can become quite powerful! You get the help of your partner in crime Lance Vance. In a way you´re the Miami Vice duo of crime in GTA Vice City, at least I couldn´t help but get that feeling from this game. The good thing about this game is that you´re not just a drone that does things for others, yo...

I´ve noticed that a lot of guys ask online in a topic about gaming if there are girls that want to play games with them. The way they do that isn´t always the most charming way but I guess we all communicate in our own way. But I can´t help but wonder how succesful they are with such requests, because I often see these posts online with only a few replies. But when a girl asks for people to play games with then there are a lot of replies. That doesn´t seem fair to me... Guys prefer to play with or against girls? Not all of them, in some games I´ve heard some douchebags talk shit to a girl that joined the team and that kept going up to the point where she left. So I don´t think everyone is looking for girls to play games with, but I´m not surprised that there are a lot of guys out there that are looking for people to play games with and I don´t think that they would mind if there would be girls among the people that are interested. But why do some guys ask specifically for girls t...

With more people playing online it´s not a surprise that single player campaigns are disappearing, oh it might take some time before they´re gone but more and more you´ll notice how you´re put in games with other people wether you like it or not. I must admit that I wasn´t a big fan of that before but after playing Titanfall I did realize that it works and it´s not as bad as I first thought, I guess it just takes somegetting used to or should we try to keep the single player campaign alive? Single player campaign is better? I think it´s better if you play on your own, as in you don´t have any friends that play that game. So instead of being forced to play with random strangers you could just play on your own. It´s nice that this is an option that you get in a lot of games, but it´s possible that in the future this might change. You could try to see the benefits of it by meeting other people that like to play the same games as you but not every person online is friendly and sometime...

I hate updates, sure they have their uses but when you get an update almost every week then you get tired of that very quickly! You see it´s not that I don´t value the update, I just hate the time it takes for the update to install and thus keeping me from playing the game I want to play. I wasn´t a big fan of that on the Xbox 360 but it seems things are even crazier on the Xbox One. It takes even longer now? Not only do you have to install all your games, which means you can´t play the game directly, you also have to deal with longer waiting times for updates. On the Xbox 360 a 250 mb update wouldn´t take an hour, but on the Xbox One it does! I don´t think I have to explain how annoying it is that this keeps you from playing a game, especially if you have to deal with an update on day one and you have to wait even longer before you can play the game. Improved technology means more updates? It certainly feels that way to me, because on my Xbox One I´ve faced double the amount o...

We all get mad sometimes, but some people aren´t just mad they´re furious! It´s easy to say that these people are idiots, why get so mad over something? Especially when you talk about games, so many times people will say that it´s just a game and it doesn´t really matter. But it does matter to some people, so much that they consider their fury to be righteous. But is it? Getting angry helps? I´ve said it before and I´ll say it again, it feels good to let it out sometimes. If you bottle up all those negative feelings then you´re a timebomb that will eventually explode, but the difference is that this is usually at a time that doesn´t suit you and can do more harm than just getting mad every now and then. Which is why I would encourage people to let out some anger every now and then, not pointed towards other people directly but get yourself a punching back or scream to let some frustration out and you´ll feel better afterwards. When you´re furious you definitely want to make certain...

It seems simple, talking with others while playing a game. Unfortunately it´s not! People will often stab you, shoot you or keep bumping in to you because that´s their way of communicating. It´s like giving a caveman a controller and then seeing the result. Then there are people that can´t communicate without being rude, where almost every sentence ends or starts with an insult. But let´s not forget the people that like to be annoying and bring their stand up comedy shit with them. It´s not a surprise that some people prefer to play single player games or don´t plug in their microphone. Why do people behave differently online? The main reason is probably because they can, you can say what you want and who is going to stop them? Of course not everything is tolerated but when someone calls you a bitch or a loser then that doesn´t mean that guy or girl gets banned. So some people will say or do stupid and annoying things, mostly because they can and most likely because they can´t in r...

We´re close, so close to the new Destiny dlc! On May the 19th 2015 we get the House of Wolves dlc! This means new missions, armor, weapons and other cool stuff! If we have to believe Bungie this will be an improvement compared to the Dark Below dlc that wasn´t very popular with everyone. Hopefully House of Wolves will be a lot of fun and keeps us busy till the next dlc and/or expansion. Are you still playing this game? If you read any comment section under a Destiny related video then there is a very good chance that you´ll find this question, it´s often some sad attempt from trolls to annoy Destiny players. But what they don´t understand that some people actually like Destiny, even if there are things that are less interesting it´s still an interesting game that can keep you busy for quite some time! So if you don´t have the money to buy new games every month and you like to invest in a game (meaning you don´t mind spending a lot of time on getting stuff and unlocking things) then...

After the fun in Gears of War it wasn´t a surprise that there would be a sequel, but this sequel isn´t as popular as you might think. I hear a lot of Gears of War fans talk about the first game and the third game but the second game seems to be a bit on the background. But don´t let that fool you! It´s not a bad game! The team is back! What´s important is that the main characters are back, your favourite team of four that kick ass and carve their way forward through enemies. Once again you play as Marcus Fenix and his best friend Dom (you can play as Dom in co-op) and you get Cole and Baird tagging along with some commentaries. There are also some other characters you meet, but I don´t want to spoil it, because it´s not always certain if everyone makes it to the end! In this game you learn a bit more about Dom and deal with some dramatic moments, it´s also something that makes you want to kill the locust even more! Improved multiplayer. For me multiplayer feels a bit smoother i...

It might seem silly to some people but it actually happens, people that are attracted to characters from a game. Maybe it´s the outfit that character wears, maybe it´s the voice, maybe it´s the skills and there is also a chance it´s a combination of all of that! Is it weird? Probably, but it´s not forbidden. Why are some people attracted to a character from a game? I guess you could say why are some people attracted to other people? Well there are several things that can be responsible for that but when you´re attracted to another person there usually aren´t any questions asked, it´s biology and nobody will consider you weird for being attracted to another person. But when you say you´re attracted to a character from a game it´s weird, because that person isn´t real and you could never be in a relationship with that character. Perhaps that doesn´t even matter, some people just like the idea of someone or something out there with whom they have a great time. For most people that mea...

Well it´s not really news, I think most CoD fans already expected this but it´s nice to know that it´s true and not just wishful thinking. There´s still not much known about the story but apparently this takes part even further in the future, but this is a dark and twisted future where things aren´t really going well. What that means for you as the player remains to be seen, but hopefully it will be a lot of fun! Black Ops 3 means playing as another member of the Mason family? This hasn´t been confirmed, but it´s interesting to hear certain lines from the previous games in the teaser trailer. One of the things you hear is: "what do the numbers mean Mason?" If you played Black Ops then you´ll probably recognize that, so my guess is that whatever happened and is going on in Black Ops 3 is connected to the previous Black Ops games. If that also means that you´ll play as David Mason or maybe another member of the Mason family remains to be seen, but I wouldn´t be surprised if...

If you have the Xbox One just like me then you´re probably familiar with gameclips, moments where the console automaticly saves a clip because apparently it´s worth checking out again. In GTA V I discovered that this means you get a gameclip every time you do something interesting, for example headshot someone with a sniper rifle or do a barrel roll with your car. It doesn´t seem like a big problem but when you get 18 gameclips in one evening you can understand that you get sick and tired of that! Do you even do something with gameclips? I must have over a hundred gameclips by now from all the games I played, but I don´t do anything with that. Why would I? Half of the time it´s not even something special, oh wait do I want to make a montage with all my headshots? No thanks, I´m not really into that type of shit! It sucks that gameclips are recorded automaticly, what happened to letting your console know if you want to record something. Make that a special button on the controller o...

This game comes as a surprise to me, but to be honest I wasn´t a big fan of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. You play once more as Adam Jensen and kick some serious ass if you have to believe the trailer, which looks pretty cool. But if it´s going to be enough to convince me to buy this game remains to be seen... This is a sequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution? It certainly looks that way, which is good news for everyone that enjoyed playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution. This does mean that if you haven´t played the first game that the second game might be a bit confusing, but it could be that there will be a recap at the start of the game to let you know what happened in the first game. In a game where the story actually matters it´s a good idea to be up to speed before you play, but that´s how I´m looking at it. The fact is that you´re playing as Adam Jensen again and he seems to be less stealthy and more action packed. In Human Revolution you could choose your approach but maybe in this ga...

Slowly pieces of information, perhaps a better word is rumors, start to show up about Black Ops 3. To be honest it´s not even certain that the name of the game will be Black Ops 3, it could be something different. But that doesn´t stop the speculation train, the less information you have the faster the speculation train goes! Past or future? One of the biggest questions will be if the game takes place in the future or in the past, which is something that is still unclear and probably will stay that way until the developers decide to give some more information. But looking at the succes of CoD Advanced Warfare it wouldn´t be a surprise that it takes place in the future and that the soldiers also have some type of future tech that allows them to be more mobile. If that means it´s going to be an exo suit is also unknown, but it wouldn´t surprise me. But it could be that it takes place in the past, which means no super powered suits and no future tech, just using the old tricks in the ...

In some single player games you get companions, NPCs that follow you around and sometimes even assist you in battle. For some this makes the game more interesting but for others it´s just frustration and/or a waste of time. So do we really need companions in a game? I guess that depends on you... Why do we have companions in a game? In the old games it´s rare to see a character that has a companion, sure Final Fantasy is known for that but not everyone game was so hot for introducing more characters than the main character. This keeps it simple, but sometimes also a bit boring. It didn´t take that long for game designers to see the benefits of a companion. So Mario gets Yoshi and Sonic gets Tails. But why stop there? Just look at your random Mario and/or Sonic game and you see that they´re not exactly alone, a lot of characters have been added to the Mario and to the Sonic worlds. In a race or party game the extra characters give you and your friends a chance to play with other cha...

If you want to play a Batman game then this is the game I can definitely recommend to you, mostly because it´s so much fun to play! It´s a darker story then you´d think, especially if you compare it to some of the earlier Batman games, and you might be in for some surprises! But what makes this the best Batman game? I´ll try to come up with an answer without spoiling anything, for as far that´s possible... Batman, Robin and Catwoman. One of the cool things about this game is that you don´t just play as Batman, you can also play as Catwoman. I think that´s something a lot of fans will like and her unique fighting style and movement makes it fun to travel through the city as Catwoman. In the dlc you can also play as Robin, this is a mature Robin that kicks ass and knows how to deal with criminals using his staff and gadgets. You can also play as Nightwing in a type of survival and stealth mode but he doesn´t say anything, but it´s still cool you can play as several different characte...

Whenever I see or hear people talk to eachother it´s not surprising to hear the word hate used casually, I hate this or I hate you as if it´s just another word to be used just like that. In a way I feel like the word has lost its meaning because if people seem to use it so casually it most likely means that it lost its effectiveness. Or does it still hold some power? You don´t know what you´re saying? When you´re angry and/or upset you often say things you don´t really mean, for example a teenager that says he or she hates his or her parents because he or she isn´t allowed to go out. But even among friends it´s not uncommon, for example I hate that you always beat me in games. Do you really hate then? Probably not, but still the word is used to let the other know how you feel. Still it doesn´t seem like this is the correct word to describe your feelings, more appropriate would be to say that your parents suck for not letting you go out or that you don´t like it that y...

Well maybe not in your typical black cat or walking under a ladder business, but more the type of things they do before they start playing or sometimes even while they´re playing games. It probably won´t surprise you that this is more common among professional players, for example for a championship match or to qualify for a tournament. This doesn´t have to be a big procedure, sometimes it´s just a small thing but that can make all the difference for that person! Superstition is dumb? I guess it is, because it´s silly to think you could change the outcome of something by doing something else or something different. But let´s not forget that getting some reassurance helps you, so is that dumb? I don´t think so! Whatever helps you prepare or make you feel better is good for you, even if some people might laugh at that. It doesn´t matter what other people say or think, if it helps you then that´s all that matters. Perhaps it is silly but never underestimate the power of your confidenc...

For those of us who don´t have a lot of friends or don´t have friends that play the same games as you, there´s the choice to play with random strangers. It´s not the most tempting thing to do but it can help you get through difficult moments or even help you get certain achievements/trophies you wouldn´t get on your own! So maybe it´s not so bad to play with strangers? Random strangers aren´t so bad? It´s possible, but it´s also possible you get a bunch of douchebags that try to annoy you or just don´t do anything. Playing with random strangers is a risk, you don´t know what type of people you get in your team and that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. A game can be more interesting if you play it with random strangers, but at the same time it can also be a frustrating experience when people don´t communicate and get you and the rest of the team killed. But in a lot of games you can assume that people that play a team based game want to try and win or at least make some pro...

If you thought that Assassin´s Creed was done for after the AC Unity issues then you´re mistaken! Three new stories are still out there as dlc for you to discover, in the first story you go to China and play as a female assassin that has some unfinished business to take care of. But in this dlc things are a bit different, not only is the look a bit different you also play in 2.5D which changes things a bit for veteran Assassin´s Creed players. What does 2.5D mean in this dlc? This means a bit less freedom and a bit more action, because the pace seems to be a bit higher in this dlc than in the previous games. You don´t just move left and right, you can also move towards the screen and away from the screen. But it´s still a bit linear in my opinion, you don´t have the freedom that you had in the previous games. Is that a bad thing? No not really, because this dlc is still fun to play and you don´t have to worry that now everything is different. It´s still about stealth and killing yo...

With mature gamers I mean people that play mature games, it doesn´t always mean that the person is actually mature. But is it true? Is it more difficult for mature gamers to make friends online? For example in a CoD multiplayer match, is it easy to make friends there? What about in a GTA Online lobby? It seems easy but usually the older you get the more difficult it can become to make new friends. This isn´t just restricted to your every day life, this also counts in the online world. What makes it so difficult to make friends as a mature gamer? That really depends on you, maybe you´re a very social guy or girl and it´s easy for you to talk to strangers. But not everyone is like that, some people don´t know other people that play the same games as them and often find themselves alone in multiplayer games. Which is fine for some of them, for example lone wolves in gaming, but others would really like to meet others like them and play games together. Of course that´s easier said than...