Confessions of a gamer

A lot people love the Ezio story in the Assassin's Creed games, with the conclusion of his story in AC Revelations you can imagine that a lot of people really wanted to play this game. But did this game deliver? Well let's find out by taking a closer look! The end of an adventure. If you played Assassin's Creed 2, AC Brotherhood and then AC Revelations then you're pretty much invested in the main character Ezio. You've seen him at happy moments and at terrible moments, you probably laughed and maybe even cried with Ezio. It's really a great adventure that comes to an end in AC Revelations. You start in Constantinopel, now better known as Istanbul, and fight your way through templar conspiarcies and investigate the tracks of another assassin called Alataïr (the main character from the first Assassin's Creed game). What's absolutely fun is that you can also play as Altaïr and see what happened to him. So in a way it doesn't just end one story but a...

It's silly when you think about it, someone that can't stop playing games but it's a real problem for some people. Once they start playing they can't stop, which means staying up all night and not going to school or work in the morning. You can imagine that doesn't end well for your study or job if you keep that up. But it's also keeping you from doing other things, for example spending time with family and friends or getting some fresh air. Gaming is addictive? For some people it can be, but that doesn't count for everyone. It's the same with gambling and drinking, some people can handle that and others can't. You probably know yourself what you can handle and what you can't handle, so you're probably the best judge of what you should and shouldn't do. But if you can't figure that out yourself then it's probably a could idea not to do it, just to be safe. That doesn't mean you can't play games, but just stick to a cer...

I'm pretty certain a lot of parents think so and it wouldn't surprise me that there are more people out there that don't really care about sex in games. But there are also people out there that don't mind it, some even like it and want it in games. But what is the downside of having sex in game and what is the upside of having sex in a game? Let's see if we can find an answer to that! Sex is bad? Well not in real life, as long as you do it safe, but in games it can be bad. Why? Well it makes the content of the game automaticly mature (meaning some people aren't allowed to play it), some countries don't even want the game in their country and it makes everyone that don't know shit about games go crazy with hate for games. So yeah sex in games isn't always a good thing and sometimes just bad for a game. Of course there are still ways to get a game even when you're not mature, live in a country where the game is forbidden and people on tv whine ...

No it's the only thing that matters! Well that's spoken as someone with some serious issues. I must admit that for a long time it was important for me to win, even now I still find myself a little bit obsessed with a victory. Why? For me personally it was the way I was raised, winning counts and second place or worse doesn't count. So you can imagine that this pushes you to win and when you don't win you have a feeling of anger and disgust. It's not a healthy way to live and it definitely keeps you from having fun with games, so play for fun and not for the victory! What's wrong with wanting to win? Nothing really, as long as you can handle losing. Because it's not a problem when you win, it's when you lose that you show that ugly side. To be honest some people can be terrible winners, especially when they didn't really deserve to win. For example people that camp a lot or use other cheap tricks to secure the victory. Oh it's all allowed but ...

So I finally got in the beta last night and decided to play for a couple of hours and unlock some specialist and weapons. It took me a moment to get used to it and it didn't help that I found myself facing people who already passed level 20, so it probably won't surprise you that I did terrible at first. But after some unlocking and figuring things out I managed to play better and actually got a second place with 17 kills and 4 deaths which is quite good for my doing. What's different? Well everything and yet not so much. Eh...what? The movement is fluent and you can see that very well when you're wallrunning or vaulting over an obstacle. This makes the game fast and smooth, something I like a lot! But at the same time you're still holding a gun in your hand and usually the one that spots (and often shoots first) the other player first is going to have the advantage. Don't be surprised to see people dropshotting and camping either, no matter how fancy the mo...

I must admit that I hardly ever participate in a Beta, mostly because of the issues that are in a game and I don't want to put myself through frustration when it can be avoided. But Black Ops 3 looks pretty cool and I'm very curious about it, so I decided to pre-order the game and reserve a spot for the Beta. Today I got my Beta token (a 25 numbered code that allows me to download the Beta) and I was ready to download the Beta, but guess what? It doesn't work! What went wrong? Somehow I get the message that the code doesn't work, so I try again but I get the same message. I tried the two other codes (you get two extra codes for friends) and those also don't work, so you can imagine that I'm not happy with this situation. I checked the codes and I didn't make any mistakes while entering the code, so at this point I'm really looking at Activision for screwing me over here. So what now? Well I did what most people would do, I seek help by checking...

Whenever I read comments I can't help but get the idea that some gamers are just spoiled. Just look at the Black Ops 3 beta, people get the chance to play a game that hasn't been released yet and still they complain. For the last couple of days you didn't even need to pre-order the game, it was an open beta at that point and anyone could play. But still people aren't happy. I heard people whine that they wanted more time, they were upset that Xbox One and pc players would get everything unlocked in their beta (higher level cap and an extra map) while this isn't even certain because the beta for Xbox One and pc hasn't started yet. But that doesn't keep people from spewing their filth over eachother and the game. Gamers are spoiled? Absolutely! Just look at gamers now and at gamers from twenty years ago, I'm not saying people were saints then but at least it didn't create such a load of whining and complaining as it does now. But to be honest you d...

When I first heard of the game Jade Empire I was very curious about it and really wanted to play it. Why? Because it came from the same developer (BioWare) as Knights of the Old Republic and I love that game! So of course I was interested in Jade Empire, but this game was a bit different then I first expected... Story. Well I won't spoil it for those that haven't played Jade Empire but it's a bit less interesting then what I expected and it's short. Do you believe that I beat this game in two days? Well it doesn't matter if you believe it or not, but I was disappointed that I beat the game so fast and it really made me sour. I felt like I wasted money on this game, at least for having payed the full price. You also get companions but these are nothing what you would expect if you played Mass Effect or Knights of the Old Republic, these people just fill in the companion slot if you want to take someone with you in a mission and don't really have something int...

These days it feels like people have a strong need for attention, wether that's on Twitter or Facebook or whatever form of social media someone would use these days. It's just such a large call for attention, look at me and like my stuff! I don't know about you but this makes me sad, especially when you see someone desperate and not getting the attention he or she wants. Why do people want attention? Well we all need some love and attention and I think at one point in your life you get that or have gotten that. I'm not saying that you need it to survive, eventhough some people make it look that way, but it's a comfort that makes your life more pleasant. For example when you have a dog you don't need to pet him or her, you can ignore the dog and go on with your life. The dog won't die of a broken heart but he or she will be unhappy, it's also cruel to do such a thing! But then there are people out there that do exactly the same thing. The price of a...

It surprises me when someone calls himself or herself a hardcore gamer, because nine out of ten times they don't even know what that means and just think it makes them look cool. But is it really cool to be a hardcore gamer? I doubt that, because that means you have bought and played over a hundred games and also completed those games. That means you spend a lot of your time playing games and does that sound cool to you? I don't think so! Being a hardcore gamer isn't cool? Well not in the way some people think it is, it doesn't mean you're good or an expert gamer but it means you play a lot and I really do mean a lot of games. No not ten games, not fifty but more like a hundred (if not more) games in a year and really play them and not just spend five minutes on one game and then move on to the other. Hardcore means you're dedicated to playing games and do hardly anything else than playing games, I don't think that sounds cool and I doubt other people wo...

In part one you could read that the leveling system changed, the quests and bounties have changed and your item inventory is bigger and allows you to level up one of your characters immediately to level 25. So what else is new? Factions. As you know there are three factions in the tower you can join, but now you're a bit more tied to a faction when you pledge your allegiance to that faction. For example you join Dead Orbit and you buy a type of token that says you're with Dead Orbit, but that means you can switch factions for a week. So you better make a good choice! There is also new armor and weapons but I have my questionmarks with the armor because it looks exactly like the current vanguard armor but with a different colour. I have to admit that this is lame, I really wish Bungie would create original armor for each faction, that makes is more recognizable when you join a faction and also gives you more detailed options for your own personal customization. You also get ...

Big changes are coming to Destiny, not just the Taken King dlc but also a lot of things you're probably familiar with now will change. Now before you scream bloody murder I would like to add that these changes look good, they actually improve things and that makes Destiny more fun to play. In the end that's what it's all about for me, having fun playing a game! A new way of leveling up. You still have a light level, but this works different now. You see it's not that an item has 20 light anymore, now it says how much attack or defense an item has and that will determine your total light level. Another good thing is that you can level up to 40 (instead of 20), the light level determines how much damage you do with attacks and how strong your defense is against attacks. So a higher light level now makes you tougher to kill and allows you to do more damage. A lot of things add up to this light level, also your class item (warlock bond, titan mark and hunter cloak) and ...

I hope that you've pre-ordered Black Ops 3 for the PS 4 so you can now play the beta with other people online, which means some multiplayer madness and getting familiar with the controls. But Xbox One and PC gamers get their chance next week on the 26th of August, so if you can wait that long then you should be ok. It's fast but not that fast? From what I've seen in the beta the character you control doesn't move as fast as in CoD Advanced Warfare, so that keeps things relatively normal. Sure you can run on walls and you still have increased movement abilities, higher jumps and faster interactions with the environment, which helps you move quicker and gives you the chance to surprise an enemy. Your gun is also ready to fire most of the time, so if you're quick on the trigger and keep your aim balanced then you should be lethal out there! It's like Treyarch tried to find a middle between the quick Advanced Warfare and the familiar CoD games from the past. It ...

Have you heard about the game Scalebound? It's something different then what you would expect, but at the same time it's not that strange. What am I talking about? About you having a dragon companion (or pet if you insist) and you travelling through a fantasy world! That sounds cool, but what does that really mean? Well let's take a closer look! Your best friend is a dragon? Looking at the dialogue it remains to be seen if the main character is friends with the dragon but you're connected (most likely because of the dragon arm the main character has) and that gives you the power to command the dragon. Do you remember those moments in Fable 2 and 3 where you could command your dog to do something for you? Well now you can do that with a dragon and cause a lot more destruction! You can also ride on the back of the dragon or fight along side the dragon in a battle. How does the combat work? The combat has some rpg elements, for example you see numbers when you atta...

After Final Fantasy X I was curious how the story would continue, as anyone that played and finished the game knows that the ending leaves some room for speculation. So I was happy at first when I heard that there would be a sequel, but then I saw what the sequel was and I was a bit less happy. I'm not saying Final Fantasy X-2 is a bad game, it's just not what I expected and what I like if I have to be honest. A game for girls? That's one of the first things I thought when I saw some gameplay from FF X-2, but that's of course silly because games are for everyone and not specically for guys or girls. But certain things in the game do feel a bit girly to me. I'm not talking about you playing as a girl in a team with two other girls, I'm talking about the whole dressing up power change thing. What does that mean? Well if you want another role for your character you have to switch to another costume, each costume gives the wearer another role so you could be wit...

One moment you're good friends with someone but the other moment you wish he would fall off a mountain, that's something that can happen when you play games with a friend. Usually this is just in the heat of the moment, words that are said are usually not truly meant and if you're good friends then I think you know that. But what if the friendship can't survive a certain game or several games? Playing games with a friend or friends comes with a risk? Well you could say that, I mean sure you can get upset and say things that might hurt the other but is that truly the end of the friendship? I guess that depends on how strong your friendship is, because if you're casual friends and don't know eachother very well then words that are being said could be taken seriously and that might make it more difficult to stay friends. But I think if you're good friends then it shouldn't matter, you're there for eachother in good and bad times and a game isn't...

You've probably heard people say that or read it in the comments thousands of times and yet people still do it, the whole do people still play that game? Nine out of ten times it's just a hungry troll asking for some attention but sometimes people actually do wonder if people still play Destiny. Why? Because we're almost a year after the launch of Destiny and the new expansion (the Taken King) is coming out next month. So it's no surprise that people would like to know if people still play Destiny, because in a game like Destiny you need other players to advance unless you like not being able to reach the max level and getting the best gear. Why should people still be playing Destiny? Because some people like it? Yes that might seems strange but not everyone started playing since the launch of the game and others took a break and came back recently. I also took a two month break and came back today to discover that Gjallarhorn is for sale, which means one of the few...

It's lame when you hear that a game that you want to play is going to be an exclusive for another console, even PC gamers can find themselves left out in this deal because sometimes games are exclusive to consoles. I don't think I have to mention how much that sucks and buying a(nother) console isn't always an option. But what if an exclusive game doesn't stay exclusive? Then you still have a chance to play it, unfortunately that usually takes time and I bet you prefer to play games as fast as they're available. Exclusives don't always stay exclusive? Nope, I've seen that happen several times in the past and I don't see this change in the future. Sometimes situations can even be turned around and exclusive deals are for the other console instead of for the console it was at first. Just look at CoD with Black Ops 3, Microsoft had for a long time a good deal where they got dlc first (a month before the other platforms) and that made it more popular to ...

After the huge succes, well it still is a huge succes, of GTA V you can assume that there will be a GTA VI and that this will be even bigger and better than GTA V. But does that mean you should stop playing GTA V? No! Because GTA V has gotten and probably will get a lot of updates and the best thing is that most of those are free! So it seems we've not seen the last of GTA V! GTA V lives on? Absolutely, more than 50 million copies have been sold and that makes it one of the most popular games ever! That's quite impressive for a game that's been released, first, in 2013 and is a mature (18+) game. But releasing it once more on the new consoles and later also on PC definitely helped, this means almost anyone with a computer and/or console can play it and that's exactly what a lot of people have done. Thanks to the vast amount of dlc, creative gamers that add new stuff every day and the online fun you can have with your friends and/or strangers makes it a very popular ...

This seems silly but some people actually hire someone to help them with a game, wether it's an achievement or trophy they can't get or just a difficult moment in the game they can't get past. So is there a market for gamers that want to offer their skills to others? Well I wouldn't call it a market, but it wouldn't surprise that some people can make some extra money out of this. Why pay if you can do it yourself? This is exactly what I would say, because if someone else would get me an achievement then that achievement would just feel wrong to me and it would be a stain on all the others I did get myself. An achievement is your accomplishment, so if someone else gets it for you then it just feels wrong to me. Besides if you have issues with an achievement or trophy then there are a lot of guides online that help you, wether it's a written walkthrough or someone who made a video that actually shows you how you do it. So even with some help you still did it y...

It's nothing new when you see under popular game videos a lot of hate comments, usually fan boys or girls that like to talk shit about other games then their favourite, and that's starting to become a trend to look for certain game videos and then try to be the most obnoxious and hateful commenter. Maybe that's just the way it is these days but I can't help but notice that people are looking specifically for popular games just to reach a larger audience for the hateful comments. What's wrong with an opinion? Well most of those hateful comments aren't really opinions, they're usually just comments left by trolls and/or sad sacks of shit that need some attention in their life. Of course you can waste time to reply to people like that but that's like feeding the vermin in your own house and it won't make it go away! The problem I have with hateful comments is that they hardly ever add anything to a discussion or help in any way. You see if you reall...

It seems almost impossible but there is a better game out there than Metal Gear Solid (aka the Twin Snakes on the Gamecube), what game is that? MGS 3 Snake Eater! From the opening, James Bond style, to the end it's an adventure you enjoy and that will test your skills. Oh sure it's not very difficult but it's definitely fun and has some interesting boss fights. By the way, if you haven't played MGS 3 Snake Eater then you might want to stop reading here! You're not Snake? Well...yes and no. Yes your code name is Snake and you look exactly like Solid Snake, but you're actually someone else. Who are you? Naked Snake, yes that sounds ridiculous but in a way it makes sense. I mean you get dropped in the middle of hostiles and a lot of other bad stuff so yeah it's just you and your skills. Who is Naked Snake? Well I take it you played the game already and if you haven't then you clearly ignored my warning earlier then it's ok to tell you, he's Big ...

When you play games then there's a good chance that people will have issues that, some just consider you a loser for playing games and others think it makes too much noise. Yes even when you turn down the volume and keep yourself quiet, because some people are just annoying douchebags with too much spare time and then everything seems to annoy them. So how do you deal with noise complaints and are games really that loud? Neighbours aren't your friends? That depends, you can have great neighbours and never have issues with them or you can have assholes that make your life a living hell just because they can. Of course there's a lot of in between types of neighbours but usually when they're not your friends things get can get ugly. Unless you have some type of arrangement that they don't bother you and you don't bother them, this doesn't even have to be said but it's sometimes an unwritten rule. Because why make trouble with the neighbours when you can...

As you probably already knew you can play as two different assassins this time, there's Jacob Frye (the muscle) and Evie Frye who is better with stealth and a bit less effective in a brawl. This means players can choose what they prefer. For example if you like to enter a fight with an explosion and beat the crap out of your opponents then Jacob is your man, but if you prefer to remain unseen and take out enemies one by one without anyone having an idea what's going on then Evie is the one for you. Two assassins for one player? Yes, there's no co-op so you have to switch between Jacob and Evie. This means that you can play as either of them in the open world and have fun with that, but there will be missions that only Jacob or Evie can do. So that means that you have to switch to the other character, wether you like that or not! But there's still a lot to do and I think it's probably a good thing that you switch it up because too much of one thing isn't a go...

If you thought that Metal Gear Solid V: the Phantom Pain is just going into missions and some online multiplayer then you're mistaken! All your missions and rewards or loot you take from enemies (even people) adds up to your base aka Mother Base, this is the place where you can relax after a mission and even check up on things that are going on there. But that's not all, there's so much more! What do you mean with Mother Base adventures? What I'm trying to say is that hanging around Mother Base will already give you a lot to do. For example you can inspect the troops (which boosts morale), listen in on some conversations, collect diamonds for extra money, talk and/or play with characters around the base (I think play just counts for the dog though, unless Big Boss has some private sessions with some people...but I doubt that) and you can upgrade your base. This makes it from a simple platform in the middle of the sea to a complex constructure that can be huge! You c...

One of the biggest issues I had on my Xbox 360 was the lack of space, I only had about 15 GB of space on my harddrive so you can imagine that this didn't leave much room for different types of games. Which meant a lot of installing and removing of data, sometimes also installing data again if you got rid of it but I wanted to play the game again or I downloaded new dlc. That's not fun and I would recommend to always go for the most harddrive space as possible. Which means at this moment the 1 TB consoles, Xbox One and Playstation 4 have this option for you. But what if you could keep your 'old' console and just install a game drive that allows you to have up to 2 TB? Sounds good to me! What are you talking about? I'm talking about the Seagate game drive that you can plug into your Xbox One and Xbox 360 and it allows you to store up to an extra 2 TB. Which means you can install a load of games and dlc before you run out of space on your harddrive. This is perfect...

After the succes of the first Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare game it doesn't surprise me that there was going to be a sequel and here you go, bigger and better...hopefully. It's still the same idea with third person shooting and being in direct control of one character, wether that's a plant or a zombie is up to you. But is this really something you want to play? What's new? Well the developers showed some new plant classes, for example there's a type of orange that can blast enemies with some type of laser (at least it looks like a laser) and he (or is it an it?) has some type of blast shield for protection. But then there's also a corn creature that can blast enemies with corn rockets and kind of fill the blaster role but with bigger blasts and probably a slower rate of fire. Then there's also a rose that has some magic abilities where the rose can turn a zombie into a goat and make it an easy target to get destroy or use some type of time field that...

After the big succes of the Resident Evil HD remake I'm not surprised that there might be a Resident Evil 2 remake, especially if this will be the type of remake that makes everything look better and hopefully also still be fun to play. The remake worked out very well for the first Resident Evil, but will the same trick work again now on Resident Evil 2? Why should Resident Evil 2 get a remake? Because it's a great game? Well yes but there's more to it, in Resident Evil 2 you go into Raccoon City and you can choose to play as Leon (the rookie cop) or Claire (the younger sister of Chris). Instead of the spooky mansion you now have a city full of zombies and other monsters and it's the trick to stay alive when danger lurks everywhere! What makes this game so much fun is the classic survival horror gameplay and yet at the same time you're in for some brutal action in certain places. But don't think it's just action, the moment the zombie arms reach through ...

Obscure is one of those games that you might not have noticed but is definitely worth playing, I was lucky to read about this game otherwise I might have missed it as well. This Playstation 2 game gives you another look at survival horror. Instead of playing as one character you can switch between five characters and you can even play together with a friend in co-op. Maybe that doesn't sound interesting but it is! Creepy after school adventure! You play as a group of friends that look for the brother of one of them, kids have been missing and they search the school (an old fashioned school with dormitories and all that type of extra stuff) for a clue. This game starts as a creepy game where danger could lurk behind every corner, even with a friend you could be in for some nasty surprises! But the further you get the more it turns into a slaughter, well not truly hack and slash but there won't be a lack of enemies. I must admit that the first couple of hours in the game are ...

It seems childish but for me this would be a bad thing, it's not that I wouldn't be happy for her that she did great but I would have to hear how she beat my highscore every day for a long time! Besides I find it annoying to see someone else with a higher score in my list of friends. So it's not just a girlfriend thing, I prefer to have the best score among my friends. Why? Well why settle with second or lower when you can be first! Is it really so bad when someone else beats your highscore? I wouldn't call it bad, but if you still play that game then you'll be confronted with the high score of someone else and a lot of games keep track of the highscores of you and your friends. So unless you truly don't care about such things it's easy to feel the need to beat the highscore of a friend just so you get the top spot among your friends. If these are online friends then it doesn't even have to bother you, because you only talk with them when you play ga...

As a kid I used to be annoyed that my family would hardly ever go on vacation, which means sitting at home and doing nothing. Then when school started again I had to hear all the stories other kids had with their vacation adventures and I couldn't tell them anything because I did hardly anything interesting. With games that changed a bit, ok I still didn't do much but playing games kept me busy but Summer time was still a difficult time because there would be no new releases and you'd often be stuck with the games you already played so many times. But now it seems things have changed... It's now fun to play games in Summer? Well there is more to offer in Summer, at least this year I've seen some interesting releases just before Summer (the Elder Scrolls Online, Pay Day 2 and Batman Arkham Knight) and then there are some awesome offers for free if you have a gold account on Xboxlive or the Playstation Plus service. For example on Xboxlive you could get Assassin...