The Daily Dose: Swtor server transfers finally open

It's about damn time too!

Well after what feels like forever, my guildies and I have finally been able to move off our graveyard of a server on Swtor. With patch 1.2  released back on April 12th we had hoped it would revitalise our initial enthusiasm for our new MMO home. Many of us would sit and grind PvP or our daily quests, while we patiently waited for it's release, it really did feel like something to look forward to. 

So the day came 1.2 was out and we had our new toys too play with. Which lasted about all of a week till we once again felt pretty burnt out and tired of the game. The problem? Our server was virtually void of players, you could hear a Jawa shit drop in the fleet. One minute we were happily Op'ing away, making progress, battering glow stick wielding hippies in the face and the next; most of our guild just seemed to start fading away. Or perhaps someone left a air lock open, because it certainly vacuumed up pretty much all of the sever population.

"Poopty peupty pants!"

The main issue being; that on release Bioware created a vast amount of servers to withstand the onslaught of eager hyped players that poured onto the game. As is natural with any MMO the servers began to stabilise over time, the "core subscribed player base" happily continued to enjoy the game whilst others left to go onto adventures in other games, or perhaps back to the ones they haven't been able to escape for six long years! The "core" all climbed to max level, gradually they got bored, tired of waiting... yada yada yada, you know the story.

So in the end we were left with a Death Star load of servers, with only a chunk of players scattered across most of them, and no server transfers in sight. Bioware even went as far as giving us a free months worth of subscription, obviously to make up for the wait, but that went completely to waste. I have just transferred my characters but I am only left with 2 days worth of game time to play with.

So we have now moved onto a server that had over 300 players in the fleet last night, incredible. I really do hope this makes the difference, because now I have to live with a damn " í " or " ú " in all my character names seeing as they were all claimed on this server already. * Punches keyboard repeatedly*  

The Daily Dose: My E3 top 3

Now I know it's been a little while since E3, so I'm sure many of you will be thinking this is all old news. But as a newly founded games blogger, I feel it would be incredibly wrong of me to let one of the biggest gaming events of the year go by without making a single post about it. It would wouldn't it?

So here is my top three must see games to watch out for from E3.
(That really wasn't meant to rhyme that much, I swear.)

The Last of Us (Naughty Dog) -

The Last of Us I was rather sceptical of to begin with; like all 'good' E3 videos they are normally scripted and played to near perfection during their live demo. When I originally watched this video I did so it with this in mind. I felt it was impressive, but as far as I was concerned it looked like Uncharted with some lovely graphical tweaks and a side kick. That was until I heard about the "Balance of power AI" featured in the game.

Basically if the AI does what it says on the tin, then the game should be an incredible experience. What we are seeing in the video is AI that "will react realistically to whatever situation your combat style forces them into." Supposedly none of what we see in the video is scripted, and watching the video again after reading this, I was in awe. 

BEYOND: Two Souls (Quantic Dream) -

From the developers of Heavy Rain comes Beyond: Two Souls. To be honest I was pretty much sold from the moment they mentioned who the developers were. Strong story, decisions and actions that change the way a game progresses are a major selling point for me, and Heavy Rain was one of the best examples of this.

Ellen Page takes the lead role, and it's pretty tough not realising it's her in the video, which speaks wonders for the graphics engine being used, I mean look at that sweat! The mannerisms and facial animations of the character models look incredible and in a game that is going to be centred around 'emotional challenges' this is going to be a key factor to a player's immersion.

It's an amazing achievement to have a brief pause in a game, which you can read more into a character's expression than the dialogue could ever tell you.


Watch Dogs (Ubisoft Montreal)  -

Desmond has finally been given his own game set in the near future... I kid. No this isn't another Assassins Creed  but the elements and visuals will certainly have you feeling as if you have stepped back into the animus.

You play as Aiden Pearce; a world class hacker. By using what looks like an extremely elegant smart phone you have the ability to hack into the lives and systems of everything around you. Your enemies outstanding loans, their criminal records, the fact that they are HIV positive, this guy can find out about it all and use it as a weapon.

Once again I found this to be another visually stunning game, that takes note of all the realistic little details. It's the subtle things that make the biggest difference, the character placing his hands in his pockets in the rain and the way in which his coat moves in time with the pace that he runs. Well apart from the fact that he doesn't actually push a door open, just kind of opens it with his face. (A friend pointed this out and now it bugs the hell out of me.)

However Watch Dogs looks set to be a very unique and interesting addition to the gaming market, and seems to portray how; in a world of ever growing media there are people with the power to control and manipulate it as they see fit.

    ______________________________

Now I apologise in advance if my selection comes across as PlayStation biased, the ridiculous thing is that I don't personally own a PlayStation 3 console. So it seems I may be forking out some extra cash if these games never make it to PC. (Or if they ever decide to remake FF7 as a PS3 exclusive, then I will just throw them my money.)

Streetpass: It's a lonely world out there for a 3DS owner.

As an avid Ninty fan I was one of the crazed bunch that jumped onto the 3DS bandwagon right from the off. How much of a fan do you ask? Well to sum it up, I was lucky enough to be invited to a Nintendo pre-release event, only to find out that I wasn't going able to see the 3D images it produced. Apparently it seems I lack stereoscopic vision or some such. I died a little inside.

Yes I know I'm mad, but I had to play Ocarina of Time 3D. Of course Nintendo then release a limited edition Zelda console, and at a heavily reduced price...I died a little inside at that too. One of my biggest gripes with the 3DS at the moment is it's StreetPass feature. For those of you that don't know, the 3DS can swap info such as your Mii and game data as you pass another 3DS owner, required that they have their wireless turned on and that they are close enough.

If only the world was really full of stick people carrying a 3DS.

Now the missus and I have been trying desperately to collect puzzle pieces that can be received from other 3DS owners on StreetPass (It's simple but addictive). Do you have any idea how hard it is to bump into another person with a 3DS, let alone one with their wireless turned on? I think my grand total for one day is three, just three! Even then it was when I walked through London during the Jubilee celebrations. Oh, and to top it all off not a single bloody one of them had a puzzle piece I needed.

To make things worse the 3DS has Play Coins that you can collect, but there is a daily limit of 10 coins which can be hoarded, unless like me you have already used them all by the next day. These can then be spent on a number of different little features, such as backgrounds for Letter Box a.k.a Swapnote in the U.S, heroes for StreetPass Quest (don't even get me started on that though), and extra AR Games.

 I wish this little green light would appear more often.

Now here is where my biggest frustration lies; if you can't meet anyone via StreetPass this is your only option to get hold of puzzle pieces. They cost 2 coins per random puzzle piece and you can get doubles...a lot of doubles that have no use whatsoever apart from making you want to throw your 3DS across the room. I even got a StreetPass accomplishment (god knows why they call it that) for "three identical Puzzle Swap pieces in a row with Play Coins!" Yay...Nintendo might as well have laughed in my face with that one.

It's a shame to see such a brilliant feature go to waste; especially as it's always quite an exciting moment to notice that green blinking light letting you know you've come across another 3DS owner. Unfortunately, for the time being it seems that I'll only get to see a green glow when it's my girlfriend's 3DS sat next to me, and she has all the same damn pieces.

The Daily Dose: Hawken

With such titles as Armored Core, MechWarrior and Zone of the Enders HD all being released this year, it's a pleasure to see yet another addition to the list of giant mech piloting games, which seem to be raining down destruction across all platforms lately.

Hawken is an FPS that throws you into the cockpit of your very own, completely customizable mech. The game will be releasing as multiplayer-only, but the best thing is that it is completely free-to-play. So if propulsion jets, rail guns and rockets are your thing, make sure to check out the extended gameplay trailer from Machinima below.

The open beta is scheduled to start on 12/12 of this year.

Seriously though...who doesn't enjoy ripping through twisted metal, while propelling themselves violently across a battlefield?

Flowers? Chocolates? Nah...Gym badges!

What more could a girl ask for, right?

I ordered this amazing little set for the missus a few weeks back, it arrived much quicker than expected and I couldn't have been more pleased. Especially at seeing her face when I showed them to her. They really did look the part, and had amazing quality to match.

Now all I have to do is find somewhere that could make an awesome case so she can show them off, to prove she really is a true Poké masta!

If you fancy getting hold of these yourself...well your just going to have to beat the eight gym leaders aren't you? Or you could just be sneaky like me and head on over to Sanshee and get them to send you the ones they smuggled out from Kanto, for a fair price.

Let me know if you find a good case to show them off in!

The Daily Dose: Majora's Mask, Fake Trailer?

Now this is something I would love to see happen.

But if anything, I would expect Nintendo to create a remake of Majora's Mask in much the same way as the 3DS' Ocarina of Time. There has been no talk at Nintendo's E3 conference to suggest this could be legitimate.

Although in an interview with IGN, Miyamoto spoke about the idea of any further Zelda remakes. " We haven't quite decided yet, whether we're going to do A Link to the Past, because there's also the possibility of doing a remake of Majora's Mask."

Perhaps the video might not be official, but there may be a hope of a remake after all, and alongside so many other fake Zelda videos I've seen previously, this is by far one of the most enjoyable and nostalgic.

And my god does the happy mask shop owner still creep me out...

Guild Wars 2 Beta

The second Guild Wars 2 Beta weekend has come and gone, and what an amazing gaming experience it has been. I've stayed completely glued to my PC screen and if the withdrawal symptoms aren't already bad enough, it's just going to get worse. Soon I'll start writing up my review and that means I have to relive it all over again by poring over my screenies. 

'Hi I'm Asmo, and I'm an addict.'

Back when he was still cool.

Gaming is an addiction to me; something I’m sure my mother hoped desperately I would grow out of. I used to wake her up to the loud sounding DUNK of our old Sony television that we had in the living room. Every morning at 4am I’d creep slowly downstairs, just to get in those extra couple of hours before primary school on my N64. I got yelled at a lot for doing that (amongst other things.) Know wonder she still hates me when I'm gaming.

It all started with my Dad's SEGA Megadrive. I still remember it sitting in a side cupboard collecting dust, the irony being that it was actually my Mum that had bought it for his birthday a year or so before. I never remember him playing it, I just knew it was there, and It looked so pretty!

So that was how my addiction began, watching that little blue blur race across the screen  for as long as I could hog the one T.V we had in the house. When I wasn't playing I'd even create little plasticine balls and roll them across the table thinking they were Sonic. I would also try putting spikes on it occasionally, but it didn't really look authentic. (I never was that great at arts and crafts)

My biggest love, as I mentioned before, was my N64. It was the first console that I was ever bought, although I'm pretty sure my Dad had actually got it for himself, but at least he had the decency to call it my birthday present right? So there I was, a copy of Mario 64 and as far as I was concerned the greatest machine that I had ever owned in my life.

I'll never forgot the first time I watched Lakitu the Koopa swoop down on his cloud around Peach's castle to bother Mario with his terrible camera angles. My Dad informing me that these 'Are the most amazing graphics he had ever seen.' I was still kind of sad at that point that my Dad had sold the Megadrive to put the money towards the N64, but I did forgive him...eventually.

These days I stick mostly to my PC gaming, but I will always be a console gamer at heart.