Monthly Archives: July 2014

Gamer's Life, General Commentary

I am not a novelty

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Image by Flickr user Hen3K Hen3K
Image by Flickr user Hen3k Hen3k

I see you. Staring. Staring at me. You think I don’t notice? You’re right across from me on this train; you’re not invisible.

All I want to do is play Pokemon on my way to work in peace. Is it the tablet? The fact that I’m using the tablet like a game controller instead of for reading, which is what women are supposed to do with tablet-like things, right? Read? Read and not play games? Because women don’t play games?

Take a look around. Nearly everyone, men and women, on this train is looking down at their electronic devices, and I can guarantee you that the majority of them are playing something. Because we play games. I am not a novelty. We all play games.

Continue reading I am not a novelty →

PC

The Duck Meets the Slender Man…It Was Not a Pleasure

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Image from Flickr User: Annoying Noises
Image from Flickr User: Annoying Noises

I did it. I finally played “Slender: The Nine Pages”. I sure hope the site where I downloaded it was safe, but all seems well. I downloaded version 1.3, and I had some trouble at first figuring out how to get it to work, as the computer kept complaining at me that I couldn’t open the game without the data folder being nearby. I don’t even know what that was supposed to mean, but once some hardcore unzipping occurred, once I realized that was what it wanted me to do, the game worked just fine. But, before I played, I wanted to do something very stupid. I wanted to wait until it was dark out, turn off all the lights, and light a few paper lanterns. I know, cute, little paper lanterns have very little to do with eluding the Slender Man, but they were all I had for some semi-spooky ambient lighting. Continue reading The Duck Meets the Slender Man…It Was Not a Pleasure →

Commentary

Onward To Destiny!: Lessons of the Beta

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All images captured by Hatm0nstar

It’s kind of hard to believe that the Destiny beta has already come and gone; it seems like just the other day we were all gearing up to see all the the Crucible and Cosmodrome had to offer, which turned out to be quite a bit! The long wait following its conclusion is definitely going to be difficult, but at least we get time to consider what we’ve learned during our time speeding and battling around the beta’s reticent locales. Continue reading Onward To Destiny!: Lessons of the Beta →

Gamer's Life, General Commentary

Watching Wolfenstein

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Image by Flickr user Javier Domínguez Ferreiro
Image by Flickr user Javier Domínguez Ferreiro

I enjoy watching video games being played almost as much as I enjoy playing them.  Though the act of watching games can border on frustrating, especially if/when the temptation to become a backseat gamer sets in, more often than not I find it perfectly fascinating to watch another player maneuver within and manipulate a game. Watching a game unfold at the hands of another player is like watching an ever-changing movie. As control switches between the player and the game, the viewer doesn’t know what’s going to come next. And even if you’ve played the game before, events may unfold in ways new and unfamiliar, revealing things that you might not have otherwise discovered. It’s no wonder that Twitch streams and YouTube Let’s Plays garner thousands of views! As long as you don’t mind spoilers, watching games is great way to both stay informed and learn more about games.

Continue reading Watching Wolfenstein →

PC

The Duck Watches People Get Terrorized by Slender Man

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Image from Flickr User: Eileen Striewski
Image from Flickr User: Eileen Striewski

Just the other day (as of writing this, at least), I was watching this gameplay video of a game I remember hearing about a few months ago or so called “Slender: The Nine Pages”. It is a PC game, and I was warned right from the start that it might be rather scary. That only intrigued me more, as I do rather like frightening things, and so I didn’t heed his warning at all and just kept watching, to varying degrees of regret. If you want to see the video for yourself, it is below: Continue reading The Duck Watches People Get Terrorized by Slender Man →

Gamer's Life, General Commentary

Why MMO’s?

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Image by Flickr User: JBLivin (cc) found yourself wondering what it would be like to actually live in the worlds of some of your favorite games?

I’ve been a console gamer for almost my entire experience with the medium, only venturing onto PC for the odd RPG or Steam deal. I also played Runescape for all of 3 months before dropping it in favor of jumping onto the Xbox 360 to join the Halo bandwagon. So, I admittedly have very little experience with MMORPGs. I’ve always thought about fixing that and trying to go back on and try one since so many other gamers out there seem to enjoy them.  However something stops me every time before I get too far with that thought, a notion that I simply cannot ignore: They just don’t sound very fun! Continue reading Why MMO’s? →

Console

Beginner Tips: Using the Xbox One and PS4 Record Features

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Image courtesy of Derek Nichols
Image courtesy of Derek Nichols

To me, one of the best aspects of this new generation of systems is how easy they make capturing video gameplay. For those of you who have been playing games for a while, I’m sure you can pinpoint a few times where you do something great or see something totally crazy happen in a game and only wish you could have somehow recorded the moment to show other people. Thankfully, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now make this dream an easy reality.

I’m using these features quite regularly (probably more than I figured I would), but I will admit trying to use these features successfully was a little obtuse at the beginning. Certain aspects of these sharing features were either not explained well or just not documented clearly enough. So, in an effort to provide some community service to you all, I figured I’d lend a helping hand and share some tips for both systems.

Have anything else you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments. Continue reading Beginner Tips: Using the Xbox One and PS4 Record Features →