Roast Beef Round-up E3 2015: The PC Gamer Show

The sigh of relief that went out after the PC Gamer show at this year’s E3 summed up the sudo talk show perfectly. Whilst many, myself included, had high hopes for the first dedicated PC conference, the thing we got on the day was rather lack lustre and almost certainly overstayed its welcome.

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A Cynical Review: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will be instantly familiar to anyone who has played the previous two games, the guns feel the same, the movements the same, hell it even has the same UI. So why should you buy it?

To start with, Pre-Sequel, offers a new campaign with four new classes. As the name confusingly conveys the games story is set after the first Borderlands but before the second charting Handsome Jack’s rise to power. Arguably Jack was the best character from the last game. Yes he was the villain, but he was a likable villain whose personality and character carried him through and easily made him the most memorable part of that game, so it’s nice to see him make a return and get a different perspective on what made him how he is.

E3 2014 Roast Beef Round Up: EA

EA decided to change the conference hall set up by having what could only be described as a wedding reception. I’m not sure how to feel about this set up but then again that’s not what we came for, we want games and EA is a publisher so will provide. I say provide, but in all fairness EA opened with a documentary which I’ll get on to in a moment. The man EA sent out on stage to quote Jim Sterling, looked like an evil wax figure brought to life. What made this even more surreal is that it said EA was putting the gamers first, which as well as being another check on the E3 bingo card is laughable.

E3 2014 Roast Beef Round Up: Microsoft

This year I was hoping Microsoft would open with a well thought out apology. They would apologies for all the issues they have had to correct, issues that were of their own doing, the latest of which was selling the Xbox One without Kinect. To my infinite sadness this did not occur.

A Look Back At: Battlestar Galactica

As of late I have been watching the re imagined seasons of Battlestar Galactica, and whilst I felt season one was a bit lacking, season two picked up the pace and since then I’ve been hooked. Watching BSG again reminded me of a game by the same name I played awhile back on the PS2, I couldn’t finish the first mission and ultimately gave up on it. It turns out my mentality was similar to ‘Starbuck’s’ in the series, in that I felt I was just there to kill toasters and nothing else, and thus the mission objective never got completed. Never the less, I have decided to go back and face this adversary again and I’m happy to say with better results.

The Cost of Destiny

 

It would appear that Bobby Kotic’s wallet has gotten too full as of late. In a recent announcement, Activision has revealed that they are spending $500 million on Bungie Studios next game, Destiny, for development and promotion.

This being Activision, the amount of money being spent here seems less extreme. Taking a logical look at the situation suggests that this move is less of a risk than initially appears. For one, Bungie isn’t a new studio. They have over a decade of experience behind them and as such know what they are doing. Activision’s relationship with the studio is as classic as it comes. Activision provides the money and publishes the game and Bungie are left to their own devices to makes said game, and so Activision clearly trusts Bungie enough to invest so much in them.

A Cynical Review: Awesomenauts

Dota style games are renowned for their difficulty to get into, in an old piece I wrote I mentioned that in many cases going it alone in a MOBA is not a smart move as the domain of public matchmaking is a treacherous place to say the least. Thankfully if you are not willing to put the hours in to getting good at Dota or LoL there are games further down the lane pushing game list that are much easier and welcoming to newer more casual players and thanks to the latest Humble Bundle, I have finally gotten into a Dota style game that a) I’m not terrible at b) doesn’t have people yelling at me for the smallest mistake. c) Doesn’t require a pre-built team that are on the same page as me to succeed.

State of the Game: Planetside 2

State of the Game is a series where we look at the recent changes and updates brought into a game and the effect those changes have had on the meta of the game. In a day and age of Early access, game changing updates are becoming common place and it pays to know what they do.

Whilst it hasn’t been classed as a Beta for some time, Planetside 2 has been in a constant state of development since it supposedly became a full release. Go to the Planetside website and you’ll find a roadmap of the planned updates and content patches Sony Online Entertainment plan on rolling out over the course of the year making for some interesting reading.

The Future is Now! Or is it?

It is news like this that sits perfectly in my cross hairs of cynicism. Whilst Facebook’s purchase of Snap chat seemed like a strange move, their purchase of Oculus and the Rift project caused many in the industry to turn around a say ‘hang on a minute. From a games industry angle the purchase of the Rift seems like a horrible event. A company that is responsible for some of the worst games in the industry, purchasing a project that is touted as changing how we play games, looks like a recipe for disaster, and while I do agree that Facebook’s portfolio in the industry is worth nothing more than the dumpster outside of my apartment, I am not so blinded by cynicism to see the advantages that such a business partnership can offer. So from there let us actually look at the situation we now stand in.

Planetside 2 TR War Report

As I have been playing a lot of Planetside 2 lately, I felt it was only fitting to write a somewhat satirical war coverage story of last nights engagements  in the style of my faction of choice, the Terran Republic.

Greetings loyal citizens of the Terran Republic. I am pleased to report that the ongoing war on Auraxis continues to go well for our devote Terran forces.

Last night, Terran high command issued orders to capture and control all 9 Bio Labs across the surface of Auraxis. The squad I was stationed with began their operation on the continent of Indar, where their objective was to seize control of the Alatum Bio Lab from the Rebel forces of the New Conglomerate. Needless to say the NC were ill prepared for the arrival of our elite forces and were forced to retreat within a matter of minutes. Yes it would appear clearing this Bio Lab was more an act of pest control than assaulting an enemy military confirming the rumours our spies had curated whilst infiltrating the NC ranks. From there it was a simple matter of securing the surrounding area, as to ensure the rebels could not enter the Bio Lab without alerting us to their presence.