Friday, October 28, 2011

Zombie Prom and Fallout 3

I have been playing Fallout 3 again. I mean I needed to finish it anyway and I am hooked. It really is an amazing game. I even like the DLC. I have spent many hours on it and I am just now getting to the second DLC pack. Everyone I know is playing Batman Arkham City and Battlefield 3, both games I do not own at this time, so why not indulge in a little single player.

I can't get enough Fallout and I really do hope the plans for a Fallout 4 do not fall through. Oh and no multiplayer please.

Tonight I am headed to a Zombie Prom. Not sure what it entails but there are zombies and someone there to do my zombie make up. I am game. I'll have to let everyone know.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Mass Effect 3 has disappointed me

I have been very vocal about my love for the Mass Effect series. I loved everything about it. It had a great story. The story would customize itself based on your playing and decisions. You got to transfer your save to the next game in the series and what you did in game one effected game two. I mean it was fantastic.

Now they have gone and did the unthinkable...multiplayer. Why? I mean seriously, why? Mass Effect is a fantastic SINGLE PLAYER game. Why slap a multiplayer on it and say "look how cool we made your game."

I heard the multiplayer rumors about a year ago and was contacted directly by one of the guys working on Mass Effect 3. He said he promised they would not ruin the game I loved so much and yet, that is what they have done. Players worked hard to create their own stories and universes in Mass Effect and now they are asking us to let other people in. I didn't want that. It will ruin the experience. Part of the appeal was the fact that everything I did in the game, every person I spoke to or killed, had some effect on what would happen in the future. Now I have to rely on other people to help me shape the third installment? I do not want that. This is my universe and I don't want anyone else in it. I mean, I managed the impossible in Mass Effect 2...I kept both Jack's and Miranda's loyalty. I have heard that is pretty difficult to accomplish, yet I did it. Why would I want the unknown element of some idiot online to help dictate whether or not I get to defeat the Reapers in Mass Effect 3.

So far the multiplayer reads like a combination of Call of Duty and Gears of War 3. You have 4 player co-op (CoD zombies) to help defeat waves of enemies (CoD zombies, GoW horde) and in process you will earn credits you can use to upgrade your weapons and equipment (CoD Black Ops). Multiplayer will effect your regular game too and somehow play into your ability, or lack of, to defeat the Reapers. I own those 2 games already and if I wanted to play them, I would. I needed Mass Effect for that much needed break from online multiplayer.

Anyone who has played a game that has a decision based element to and and co-op knows the risks. Let's take Fable 2 for example. We were all excited by the drop in/out co-op until people would join and start killing innocents, making your "good" game go "bad" and making the Fable worls fear you. It would make you lock your game down so people couldn't join. It was a pain and you know it.

Now we are being asked to do the same thing, then to add insult to injury, you will need to have EA's infamous online pass to play. Of course buying the game new means you'll get it in copy or at least it had better, but if you get it used or have more than one console and account, you'll have to shell out $10 to play. I think they just added multiplayer so they could charge this little fee. Next thing we will see is the "Season Pass" for however much money so we can get the first however many DLC packs for a discount price. If the internet can give an idea of how people feel about this, I am not the only person that isn't happy. Most Mass Effect fans are very upset.

I am so disappointed in the direction Mass Effect has gone that I am tempted to give up my Collector's Edition and not play Mass Effect 3. I am starting to think that single player games are dying out due to the almighty dollar. The big developers like EA have forgotten to listen to the players and what the players want because they feel that adding multiplayer will bring in more buyers and they'll make more money. News flash, those die hard FPS players that didn't like nor play Mass Effect before, aren't going to play it now.

Oh and thanks for lying to me and ruining my game. It doesn't matter how good the multiplayer turns out to be, you ruined the essence of my game, the single player experience.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Steve Jobs' passing

As everyone knows, the nerd world lost one of it's greatest yesterday, Steve Jobs. Now I could have an entire blog post listing everything he ever did or invented but that isn't what I am after.

Steve Jobs was one of the 2 greatest visionaries in the tech world. I consider Bill Gates the other one. Love or hate Apple products, you still have to give Steve props for everything he accomplished.

Without him, our technological world would be entirely different. He wanted technology to be innovative and accessible. He achieved that so many times over. I can remember when I was in 6th grade, learning a basic programming language on an Apple computer. There was a van full of them that would travel from school to school because schools just didn't have the budgets back them for computer labs. This was long before the Mac too. Yes I am dating myself. Just pretend I am 20-something.

The tech world will be a darker place without Steve Jobs lighting it up. I don't know that there is anyone that is "up and coming" that will be able to take his place and be as imaginative has he was.

He was an amazing man and the world will miss him.