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The previous year, 2016, was one of my greatest when it came to finds I took home from the local thrift stores. While my actual game finds were few, far between, and not too exciting, the various accessories I found to improve the experience of actually playing the games more than made up for it. So, I will walk you through both my luck, my thoughts, and my process when it came to building a better battlestation. First, I will give the highlights of these finds before moving onto set up and other pieces you'll need.
Continue reading Accessorize: Fortify The Ramparts
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Alright, Let's be real: being sick sucks. The silver lining is that you get to play all those sweet games that you wouldn't otherwise have time to play! Having been recently sick, I thought I'd go over some of my favorite sick gaming moments so that when you inevitably fall to a pH imbalance or broken bone, you have an Idea of where to start.
Continue reading Gaming While Sick
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Although I have been an anime fan for a number of years, much like with gaming, I tend to not be on the cutting edge of what is new and popular. As such, I was extremely late to the party for the phenomenon known as Attack on Titan. The first season of the show began airing all the way back in 2013 and I did not dive in until this year. With that said, I am hooked, and perhaps fortunate as the second season began airing shortly after I finished catching up with the first season. The premise is simple. Humanoid giants known as Titans have killed off most humans and pushed them into isolation behind huge walls enclosing their city. Military squads do their best to fend the Titans off but the situation is always somewhere between bleak and dire. I will make it clear without reservations, I am enthralled with the Attack on Titan universe and characters. With that in mind, I was excited with high expectations for the video game adaptation, which I played through recently on the PlayStation 4.
Continue reading Attack On Titan
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As long as I have been collecting games, I have always described myself as a "functional collector," meaning that I only picked up games I wanted to play. With only a few exceptions I held true to this ethic, and I plowed dutifully through every game I bought, but slowly my collection began to get larger; so slow that I hardly noticed. I began to long for a "video game" clean slate, longing for a day long past where I looked at upcoming games for something to play, not just something to add to the pile. So, I set out to create a backlog list of some sort, then everything came tumbling down around me.
Continue reading The List - Getting My Gaming Back on Track
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She just heard about her game's release window.
Most of us enjoy a good underdog tale and the existence of Nier: Automata certainly fits that description. It was released alongside two other highly anticipated AAA open world action/exploration games (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn). That alone would sound a death knell for most games. In retrospect, it is amazing Automata has gained the attention it has.
While polished, with amazing character design, art direction, and a fantastic soundtrack, it was created on a developer-admitted small budget with noticeably last-gen graphics. This is shared with the rest of the series, as Automata is an unexpected sequel to the cult-favorite series Nier, itself an offshoot of the Drakengard series. And like its forefathers, there are a lot of reasons gamers may miss it.
Continue reading Spoiler Free Thoughts on Nier Automata
If you are into collecting games, you've undoubtedly seen the abbreviation of "CIB" thrown around quite a bit. For the uninitiated, or as a refresher, that's gamer-speak for "Complete In Box." As a collector, you'll have to decide whether or not you want to collect loose games, mostly to play, or complete games, for any number of reasons. You may like the whole package because of the history of games, and the fact that most console games in today's world don't come with manuals. Perhaps you'd like to replicate the experience of being a child, opening the game, and reading through the manual before you play it. Or, maybe it's a pride thing, and having the total package is tantamount to some kind of bragging rights. Whatever the scenario you more closely fit, collecting complete game packages has become a trendy thing to do in gaming circles.
Continue reading Collector Quandry - What Is Complete In Box?
Ok guys I have not done a post in a long while, but this place has such a great community I feel like I can lean on you all for support. More than a month ago my wife and I were driving home from a normal weekend out when all the sudden we heard a metal clank noise and the the van was smoking and leaking oil. She pulled over on the side of the highway and waited for my dad to drop off my moms suv so we could get home with my newly acquired Sega CD model 2 and some games. Eventually we got it towed home and it's been sitting in the driveway ever since. We believe a rod was thrown, but we aren't sure. This van is essential to my independence because I have a disability called Cerebral Palsy which limits the use of my legs, so I am in an electric wheelchair.
Anyway this van is modified so I can take that chair with us when we go out. As of now my wife pushes me around in a manual wheelchair, which is not ideal for either of us. The gofundme was started by a very close family friend of mine, the goal is $5,000 because we are gonna get the whole entire van looked at (new engine things like that). As of writing this we've raised $1,820 so far, I could really use everyone's helping spreading the word or doing a small $5 donation that would really help us out. Our goal is to have this taken care of by August because my wife and I have been taking a trip up to Columbus Ohio for the past few years for an anime convention. Without the van and my electric chair this trip will be alot harder on us. Thank you all for reading and I appreciate any help given.
https://www.gofundme.com/...ir-van-4-the-breitenbachs
[img width=589 height=393]http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah83/zophar53/Flower%20title%20screen_zpsvr3lncz2.jpg[/img] From the thatgamecompany website
Thatgamecompany is responsible for some of the most beautiful and serene video games I've ever played. Starting with the simplistic, petri dish-esque flOw, and finishing with the desert exploration of Journey, their games have gotten a little more complex with each title, but still maintain a masterful balance of minimalistic controls, stunning visuals, and emotional impact that, in my humble opinion, has yet to be matched. However, while Journey may be the fan favorite, and is completely deserving of every accolade heaped upon it, for me personally, it's thatgamecompany's middle title, Flower, that stands above the others.
With large vistas of lush, green fields and what may be the best use of the PS3's ill-fated Sixxaxis motion controls ever, it remains my favorite game to play when I've had a stressful day and need to relax while letting all my cares melt away, even now, eight years after its initial release. A large part of this is due to its wonderful soundtrack, which I'd like to highlight in our second episode of RF Jamz.
Continue reading RF Jamz: A Look at Video Game Music Vol 2
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Recently my city held it's third annual Fan Convention. Each year I've had the pleasure of setting up and running the gaming area. It's a lot of work, and honestly I'd rather just attend the event as a patron and fully enjoy it. However, this year, I have more staff and experience doing this kind of thing than ever before, so I got to spend a bit more time than I have in the past experiencing the convention. I still had to work my butt off leading up to the event and during the prime times, but was able to explore a lot more than in previous years.
Continue reading Herculean Weekend with my Waifu Flash Mario!
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When the Nintendo Switch was first revealed, I actually gave it a fair amount of thought. It was strange for me to even consider, since I've been a primarily-PC gamer for such a long time. But the more thought I gave it, the more I realized that I wasn't actually all that interested in the games themselves. It was just the idea of having a new portable toy. And so I passed. The truth is that I don't actually do much gaming "on the go." So really, the bulk of my portable gaming is actually done in my house - usually on the couch with the TV on in the background. But having said that, I do like having the option.
I've dabbled with many Android based portable devices over the years; ranging from low end cheapies like Amazon's Kindle Fire to upper-end "powerhouses" like Nvidia's Shield (which the Switch's own hardware is based on). But ultimately, I'm always drawn to the idea of gaming on a Windows-based device. Perhaps the biggest reason is that I already have a rather gigantic collection of PC games. And thanks to cloud saves, it's easy to share a game between desktop and tablet. It's just a matter of figuring out what will play nice on a Windows tablet.
Continue reading Gaming On A Windows Tablet
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Back in 2006, a game known as Prey was released for the Xbox 360 and PC. While it was met with positive critical reception, it has been mostly forgotten about over the 10 years since its release. Truth be told, I rented Prey back when it first came out, but I was very hasty to decide that I didn't like it and returned the game without investing much time into it. I have always wanted to go back and give the game a proper try since it contains some unique gameplay mechanics, but I have never owned a copy and likely wouldn't have gotten around to it even if I did.
Fast forward to June 2016, a reboot of Prey was shown at E3, and I was immediately intrigued by the trailer. It instantly reminded me of the original Half-Life, one of my all-time favorite games. It also contained glimpses of some very interesting gameplay mechanics that I was excited to experience for myself. Since this new game is not a proper sequel to the original, I had no qualms about jumping right in without playing the original. Make no mistake about it, this new Prey has virtually nothing in common with the original Prey from 2006, save for the name and a general sci-fi theme.
Continue reading Prey
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RimWorld is an early access game developed by Ludeon Studios that has been available for purchase since 2013. Updates are steady, if a bit slow at times. It is the winner of multiple Indie Game of the Year awards for 2016, despite being in early access alpha, so there has to be something to this unfinished game, right? While I'm sure most by now have long been turned away from the idea of early access, there are still exceptions where games have plenty of content. Whether or not the content is polished or finished is another question. For Rimworld, each implementation of new features with every major update are actually functional, if a bit buggy for a few days post-release. RimWorld is in many ways easier to digest than Dwarf Fortress, and while Dwarf Fortress' simplistic graphics, archaic UI, high learning curve, and incredible depth are bound to turn off most would be players, RimWorld's simplistic art style at least adds flavor and something to look at.
Continue reading RimWorld
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Dark Souls is a game series that many people have very strong opinions about. Tons of people (including myself) love the game, and praise it's innovation in an otherwise stagnant triple-A gaming world. Others despise it, claiming it is "too hard" or not intuitive enough for the normal gamer to jump into. Whatever your stance on it may be, here is a list of mechanics that, for me, are entirely unenjoyable in an otherwise amazing game series.
Continue reading What I Hate About Dark Souls
[img width=700 height=403]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h32/grayghost81/interactive-sampler-disc-cd-volume-8_zpsardimgx2.jpg[/img] Image courtesy of gameigloo.com
Video game technology is taking us to a somewhat lamentable place, where physical demos of games are fewer and farther between than they were in the 1990's when I was growing up. Even though digital demos and game samples will probably always exist, many gamers miss the days of physical demo discs which were filled with playable demos, videos, or some other goodies related to upcoming releases. Even as I grow further away from an obsession with physical media, I can definitely look back fondly on the days of the physical demo discs of the fifth and sixth console generations. I still have many of these demo discs in my collection, and one in particular whips up so much nostalgia in me that it is one of the prized possessions I have.
Continue reading The Best Demo Disc
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Final Fantasy IV is one of the most important JRPGs to grace the console market, and would go on to shape the cinematic direction of developer Square's flagship Final Fantasy series for decades. It wasn't my first RPG, but it was the first for me where story primarily drove the game, and was the first to feature a knockout and memorable ending sequence. Despite this, I haven't played the game in nearly a decade (and not completed it in almost twelve years). So, won't you join me, my friends, as I re-experience Final Fantasy IV for the first time in years?
Continue reading Playing Final Fantasy IV on PSP
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