Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are neck and neck?

Recent news has reported that Xbox One has reached one million copies in a single day. This is impressive considering that the Palstation 4 has about the same amount of sales and has been open to US markets for over a week now. This launch however has been countered however with a number of technical issues that have been affecting the playablility of the system. Microsoft had this to say, “We’re working directly with those affected to get a replacement console to them as soon as possible through our advance exchange program,” and “Customers have the option for us to send a replacement console right away without waiting until they have returned their old one. This means a customer only has to wait a matter of days, rather than weeks to get back up and running.” The lpaystation 4 however has a definite edge on the Xbox One. According to research done by Inside Gaming, the Xbox has released in over thirteen countries while the PlayStation has only released in America. They plan on releasing to other countries by Friday, so the numbers will even out between the systems. 

So what does this mean of the gaming world? Well it means for the time being the race and war between consoles is still very much alive. Gamers will have to see the numbers once the PS4 gets released around the world. In this humble bloggers opinion however, one should never buy the first gen of a new console. Of course there are going to issues and of course it will effect game play. Just sit back and wait a little while itll drop in price and become more dependable, so  just wait for that day.

Sources 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/xbox-one-matches-playstation-4-in-launch-day-sales-users-report-some-faulty-units/2013/11/25/98751584-55f5-11e3-ba82-16ed03681809_story.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvmZLG1tUYs

 

Top 5 Bioware Games of the Past Decade

There have been a lot of fantastic Bioware games in the past decade that has made the developer a true titan of the industry. Here ill talk about the top five games of the industry and what qualities made these games rise above the rest. 

5. Jade Empire

This Original Xbox game was a stand out among the rest when it first came out. Set in ancient China you play as a student of a master that has been kidnapped by assassins of the Empire who seem to have betrayed the Emperor. The fighting in this game, the story is rich and full without being to overbearing with detail, and each support character you are given is unique and adds something new to the game. Whether it be Dawn Star, your best friend with a  mysterious past, or Henpecked Hou the once great fighter now made coward by his overbearing wife. This was a great game that i wish either had a HD Remake for the 360 or a sequel was made.

4. Mass Effect 1 

  The Mass Effect series started out with a bang, creating a whole new universe for gamer’s to explore and this one was so good that it spawned a trilogy that created a powerhouse. MY fondest memories were playing Commander Shepard and shooting Geth down from the ceiling and again the support characters make the experience even greater. Also this is one of the first games i ever plated that included romance, so the player could get closer to the characters. Bioware also broke a few walls by having the possibility of same sex romance which i commend them on. 

3. Star Wars The old Republic 

The world was clamoring after the successful launch of Bioware’s Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and were looking for the next part of the story. The fans waited almost a decade for Bioware’s answer and it came in the form of an MMO, a unexpected turn of events.Now players to take part in the ancient struggle of the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire.The different classes you can choose from also offer a unique story experience for the players.

2. Dragon age Origins 

This was one of the first games i ever bought with my own money and it was well worth the effort. The combat was fantastic, the story was one of the best ever written and again Bioware outdid themselves by giving the player multiple Origin stories to choose from, thus the name. What really drew me i though was the romance you could pursue with Morrigan and the effects that could have later on in the game. How the player interacted with all the characters would ultimately effect the ending of the game, or at least what happened to the characters after the final boss was defeated.

1. Star Wars Knights of The old Republic

This is the game that really brought Bioware into the true world of game development. This game was a Star Wars game that a lot of the community were waiting for and it was art. Simpy art. Playing as a Jedi never felt so overpowering and gamer everywhere can agree that wielding a lightsaber felt satisfying. The story was how you wanted it to unfold, did you want tot be the Jedi that saved the galaxy from the Dark Side, or will you conquer all life as the One True Dark Lord of the Sith? Characters will join or betray you based on your actions and some will even kill friends to follow you. this game was both emotional and perhaps a spiritual experience and is a definite recommendation to all those who wish to know how BioWare makes games.

 

 

The Inheritance Cycle: One Step from Perfection

I am an avid reader of fantasy and adventure books. One of my favorite series is the Inheritance Cycle. Of course when i started reading this book back in seventh grade. It was an intriguing story, a common farmer becomes the first free dragon rider in a few centuries and must fight for the freedom of humanity. This series was supposed to be a trilogy but the writer decided at book three to add a fourth. I see this as a necessary step. The content he wanted to add and the story he wanted to finish could not be done in just three so he added a fourth. This is not the issue i have with the series. Sure i did not enjoy the idea of having to wait another few years for the final book, but it wasn’t a deal breaker for me. What broke the deal for me was what occurred in the fourth book. Eragon needs more power in order to fight Galbatorix. He was told to find the Chamber of souls if he needed more power. He travels to the ancient home of the dragon riders and finds the chamber. The contents of the chamber are what drove me over the edge. Inside the chamber are two different kinds of items. The first are essentially dragon souls, items that keep a dragon soul inside once the dragon died. This makes sense. Eragon already has one from his mentors dragon so why not have more? 

The second set of items in the chamber that make this the deal breaker for me. There were dragon eggs in the cave…this to me made the entire premise of the books ruined for me, The idea that there were three free dragons left made the books even more powerful. Eragon was one, his half brother was one, but for some reason that is not explained to me, his dragon cannot breed(?) and the last dragon is male. This gives the reader the idea that whoever has the last dragon will have to help Eragon rebuild the Dragon Riders by breeding more dragons. The idea of having hidden dragons made me so mad when i first read this. It eliminated that premise entirely and ruined the relationship between Eragon and the elven princess. Sure she shares with him her true name, but instead of going with him to the new land to rebuild the dragon riders, she stays with her people. WORST DECISION EVER! WHY?! I spent four books believing these two would get togther and the author set up their relationship very well, but then throws it out the window. Yeah i know, sharing true names is powerful i all, but im not an elf and its not relatable to the reader. It just ruined the books for me. Let me know your thoughts if you are an Inheritance reader.

XCom: Enemy You Must Fight

I have been a huge fan of both strategy and resource based games. From Rise of Nations to Starcraft, i have always enjoyed the experience of collecting resources and doing so in such a time that you can fight and defeat the enemy. However, in recent years, i have felt perhaps a lack if not a serious dry field in terms of strategy. Sure there have been Rise of Empires and other games, but as someone who made the jump between PC to consoles (Xbox 360) I felt that the genre that i had loved for so long is no gone. That idea was smashed when I purchased XCom: Enemy Unknown. This game is a multi platform remake of two separate games. The premise of the game is you are a Commander of the XCOM project, a organization made of over a dozen nations who’s goal is to preserve all human life from the threat of extraterrestrials. This is done through multiple types of missions and interactions with the aliens. As you fight them, you can choose to expand your base and research technology you retrieve through your missions. The story is quite powerful and effective, although the ending is quite cut and dry. The game itself can take one a while (my game when i ran all the way through was around 20 hours) but story wise its only a few hours. An expansion on the story is a necessary thing for me, which they have done is XCOM, Enemy Within and Slingshot Content Pack. As a strategy game it fits really well with the console setting and plays very well. There are no struggles with controls ant the turn base made that comparison between PC and console very smooth.

As to the story itself, it is not truly character driven, as in each new game has only three reoccurring characters. The soldiers that the program provides for you is completely random and you can change and rename you as much as you please. I renamed a few of them after my friends and got really attached to them and restarted the mission several times to make sure they made it through.  The three characters involved in the program are Central Officer Bradford, Dr. Vahlen, and Dr. Shen. Bradford serves the player as a sort of reminder and very helpful voice when one is playing. Dr. Vahlen is the leader of the science division and helps with researching the biological side of the aliens. She is fascinated at the aliens and is willing to push science to advance the human species. Dr. Shen leads the Engineer Division and helps you build things that you research in the lab. He is more the voice of reason, wanting to play it safe. He wants to adapt their tech but he sees the advancements in the biological department as dangerous. The aliens that you fight are the other set of characters and each one has strengths and weaknesses that one can exploit. The one alien i wish they had expanded on more and made a more critical part of the game are the Outsiders. They are an interesting enemy and come into the game as part of the story (you have to capture one to continue the story) but after that they disappear. Most of the other races evolve as the game goes on or new ones that are introduced are power houses. It would have been good to see how they would have been evolved to combat humanity and not just drop them off completely as soon as their function is over.

The musical score is as effective as the game play. Each piece of music that i heard through the game intensified the situation i was in.Scary situation were made scarier and getting ready to send your troops out were made even more awesome. All in all this is a game all who enjoy strategy and resource types of game play should check out this video game.

Journal 8

One border that i will be crossing during my travel through that many of the writers have gone through is the cultural border between different areas. This will come into play for my travel log because my character that will be traveling will be moving through not only different cultures but also different species in planets. His traveling will be much different in a lot of ways. I fell that his experience will be very much like the one piece that we read on Friday November 15. When the travelers reached the town during the funeral, the town invited them to participate in the event and even made them a key part of the experience. This will come into play with my character because there will be cultures that he can relate to, others that will be superstitious of him and others that will reject him outright.  He needs to be wary and understand that come cultures will not be as willing as others to accept him. In terms of galactic community, humans are a very young race but their ambition to be a key part of the community scares many of the races and ma affect his travels. That being said there are many who want to understand and even have personal relationships with humans like those in the village did to the travelers in the piece we read. Culture and massive distance borders are two borders that my character will travel through.

Journal 7

If there is such a competition between writers to go on even more outrageous journeys to write about,i can see both benefits and drawbacks to both the reader and to the writer themselves. First i will investigate for the sake of the reader. First of all, the benefit will come from the outrageous journey is self evident. If the writer is looking for even more exciting places to visit and journey to, the reader will absolutely benefit from this experience if the writer does put the journey on paper. With this benefit there comes a equal drawback. If the writer is always in exciting adventures, it might turn awy readers who are looking for calmer and more personal adventures.  I feel that sometimes I want to read about a great joruney but i don’t always want to read about the writer in danger or not focusing on a more personal journey. i believe the adventure would take away from the inner journey of the writer.

Next the focus will be on the writer. The writer would benefit from this because they would be able to not only expand their knowledge base of the world, but be able to attract a new audience in those who are looking for excitement. the drawback from this technique of searching for more outrageous adventures, it will perhaps create bitterness between them and other writers if they out due each other, but the greater risk is to their lives. Trying to find new avenues of travel may take the writer to places that even they should not go to for their own safety. Writers might even rush through researching the area in order to get the travel experience, so there is a definite safety issue with this competition. 

Journal 6

Humor is acritical part of life. People use humor to releave the the stress and dark times of their lives. So including humor in ones travel logs could be agood thing. It will attract many more readers than one might usually get and also make nthe piece a lighter experience for the reader. Also, it could give the reader an insight into a culture and a way another society finds humor in their everyday life. Using humor in ones pieces can be a definite disadvantage and could be a big con to their piece. Including to much humor can make the reader feel that the writer does not take the piece seriously and does not have a greater point to the story. It can also have th ereader question if the author is actually recalling true events if their is too much humor. Too much humor in a situation that is usuualy tense will be seen as fake or made up. If Darlymple used too much humor in his piece, i would have questioned if he had really tried to follow the path of Polo or whether he wrote down what truely happened  on his journey or made it ujp for the sake of the convenience for the reader. Humor can be a powerful tool in travel writing but it must be controlled and used in order to imerse the reader not make the reader question the authenticity of the piece.