And I say HAH! To Max Team for “spoiling” their game for all of you. Well, not really. There’s a good ending in here as well, but I’m not going to spoil that for you at all. Actually, I got a note from the guys (or was it ONE of them? Hmmm. How come you NEVER see Fernando OR Massimo at the SAME time in the same place? Hmmmm?) saying that the game is still being bug tested, but should be done at some point. Hey, it’s a FREE download, so I say take your time, boys. Take your time. If it’s as good as it looks, I don’t mind the wait one bit.
Well, it’s one of those Sundays where any major motivation went saaaaaailing out the window thanks to a lack of sleep. I blame Tales of Xillia 2 because I’m forging through it to get a review up, the crazy P.T. demo on the PS4 (thank you, Mr. Kojima!) as well as the soon to be released horror movie MOEBIUS for scaring my pants off (little in joke there – you’ll get it when you see this icky fright flick) and some rather stupid download issues with a couple of games I also need to review (it’s as if the entire borough is in some sort of slow time bubble in terms of finding a speedy connection anywhere!). Well, this week is going to be busy even if all that stuff above was done, but now I have to step on the gas a little more and hope today’s progress makes for a fun to read pile of articles.
Back in a bit. I’ve a bit of creative world-ending to take care of, now that I’ve got some coffee in me. Back in a bit (or tomorrow, whichever arrives first)…
Sooo, Creighton Tull Chaney fancied himself a crooner, huh? That’s a clip from the 1934 movie, “Girl O’ My Dreams” in case your interested. He even rhymes “akimbo”, “bimbo” and “limbo” here before he gets laughed back into his seat! Hmmmm. It seems the old prof thought his warbling was quite monstrous indeed and his disapproval sent the young mister off his would be singing career and down a darker path. Well, at least we got some good monster movies out of that rejection, hmmm? That, and the later know as Lon Chaney Jr. got his revenge of sorts by warbling the theme song to Spider Baby over 30 years later. Revenge can be sweet once in a while, but here it’s got the aftertaste of old booze and pancake makeup left on for too many hours.
Well, other than the alcoholism and other negatives, one could say the direction his career took was a more interesting life choice. I just couldn’t imagine From Mice & Men as a musical (and yeah, it would HAVE to have a Tom & Jerry cameo!)…
You actually don’t need to have played Tales of Xillia to fully enjoy Tales of Xillia 2, but in case you didn’t and are wondering what you missed, this under six-minute recap of key cinematic moments from the first game should get you psyched for the new adventure ahead. I’ve been playing since yesterday evening and will have a review up on Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on how far I get in the game. I should take my time with this and try to get as close to 100% completion as possible, but there’s SO much to tackle in this game that if I tried to blaze through too quickly, I’d definitely miss out on a lot of content. On the other hand, if I get caught up in all those side-quests and cat-catching (I’ve caught 23 out of 100 so far), this review isn’t going to get done until November (of next year, ha and ha!)…
Now, I intend to play this one completely solo just because I prefer the challenge of going it alone (and Okay, because I have a crappy home connection), but it’s great to see Blizzard championing couch co-op for this expansion. Remember, console owners get Diablo III included with this expansion, so it’s a great deal no matter which system you buy it for. Of course, the more powerful PS4 will get the better looking version of the game, allegedly with some other options not available to PS3 owners, but we’ll see about that in a few days, right? Actually, I’ll probably wait until I complete a few reviews in progress before I even decide to touch this one. I have the feeling that once I fire this one up, I won’t be coming up for air any time soon…
Well, this almost 16 minutes of gameplay footage is sure going to be helping sell The Witcher 3 to PC, PS4 and Xbox One owners (or make one buy a new console or upgrade a PC to run this gorgeous open world RPG… but, wait… what’s this? The Xbox One collector’s edition is getting (noooo!) extra stuff NOT in the other editions? Ruh-roh. Hmmmm… well, it’s just physical versions of the “Gwent” card decks so you can play that game (which is in ALL versions of the game) outside of the game space with like-minded friends and a cloth map of the game world.
Hmmm… I should be upset at this, but I know the internet fanboys will take care of that for me. It doesn’t affect the main game at all, so it’s not that big a deal. However, I can see some of the people cheering CDPR for stating that every version of the game would get the same content taking that a wee bit too literally and asking for Gwent decks for every version of the game. Of course, the company can just sell those decks separately at some point (and should if Gwent becomes popular enough to warrant making a lot more real decks).
Edit: I see that the whiners are in full rage on YouTube and a few message boards already! The developer did promise that TWC’s content on the game disc or via download would be the same, but it seems that didn’t extend to physical goodies at all, which as noted above, I really don’t have an issue with at all. I’m gathering they’ll stick to their guns despite the cranky types online saying they’ll cancel their pre-orders and I hope they do, but also reiterate that the ACTUAL game EVERY person is buying will be 100% the same across all platforms. Those cards and that map seem to be a bonus wrangled out by Microsoft, which seems to be looking to buy gamer love these days by getting them things they pay a lot for…
So, this week, Funko is giving away TWO very cool limited edition Hikari Sofubi Vinyl figures, one in the standard Hikari line and one in the Hikari Premium line. Going in reverse (because it’s Friday and I didn’t sleep last night thanks to that review copy of Tales of Xillia 2 that kept me up allllll night), enter and you can get a chance to win this HUGE Premium Blaze Spider-Man Hikari Sofubi Figure (#1 of only 1500 made!):
If you don’t win that big Spidey, it’s going on sale this October at your favorite Funko retail or online emporium! Or, you can try and be the lucky winner of win this lovely (well, for a Masters of the Universe figure, it’s kind of handsome in that devilish manner, I guess) Mythos Skeletor (# 1 of 1000 AND an Entertainment Earth exclusive!):
As usual, pop on over to one of Funko’s social media channels:
Finally, the close of the month (well, August 26) brings in DLC for Dark Souls II in the form of the Crown of the Old Iron King content (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, BUY IT!) and Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 (PS Vita – the jury is out, but it does look cute!). If you like your RPGs a bit more (well, a LOT more) European, Risen 3: Titan Lords (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) and Sacred 3 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) are out NOW, and while the reviews aren’t “stellar” for either game, I’m gathering both will find their niche among more open-minded RPG fans.
Well, now that your wallet is gasping for air and you’re curled up in a fetal position wishing you had more time to PLAY all those games, I’ll consider my work here done as I bid you adieu (for now)…
I’m pretty much going to stop following all these Hyrule Warriors videos because I don’t want to spoil the game any more than it’s been spoiled already (although I know I don’t know anything more about the story than I need to at this point, and that’s a good thing). But what the heck, here’s the opening (above), a whopping 85 minutes of gameplay from the great German site Nintendomination (thanks!) and what the heck, another Nintendo of America character trailer below:
After this, I’m sticking my head in the sand and waiting for the US release. I think Nintendo has a huge hit on their hands that may not be a system seller out of the gate, but WILL get into the hands of a great deal of the current user base still high on Mario Kart 8 fumes or looking for the next surefire hit from the company. This one’s got pure franchise potential stamped all over it in big gold letters and I’m so glad I’ve been supporting the system since day one…
Well, there goes my fall and probably winter, I’m gathering. At this point, BioWare has a lot of people following every bit of ink (digital or otherwise) scribbled about Dragon Age: Inquisition, but these days, I only write too much about a game if I’m worried it’s not going to find an audience. DA:I has a built-in fan base that’s going to dive into it no matter what anyone says about it, and I have nothing bad to say at all. Other than I wish every bit of content was on a disc and there wasn’t DLC to worry about at all. I’ve been saying that a lot about all games, so fear not EA or BioWare – I’m not picking on you folks for that. It’s just a poke I take at every company that hasn’t yet realized that not everyone likes this practice or can get to that content they’ve paid for that’s on the disc or locked away as a download unless one buys into it. Options are always better to have than mandates and this game world needs to be one that anyone who can play the game should be able to fully explore.
Dragon Age: Inquisition will be available November 18, 2014 for PC, PS3/PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. I’d say you should most probably buy this one…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 