Ok, so I asked the other day if some people could write a short article for the blog.. Anything, as long as its gaming related, and today I had my first submission... So, without further faffing about, Please say Hi to Minkey Monkey....
Why I game.
Hey folks, I'm Minkey Monkey or Minks... but I'll pretty much respond to anything lol. Stu asked if I'd write a little piece on gaming. Now I'm not really any good at reviewing etc so I try to stay clear of that as a general rule but I thought I'd have a crack at something. After a little thought I have decided to let you know why I game.
I could say it started from an early age and that I was hooked instantly, but I'd be lying. Yes I did have a sega way back when and did spend alot of time on Alex Kidd but it wasn't essential, I preferred reading a good book. It wasn't until I discovered RPG's that I REALLY got into gaming. The first was FF9. It hooked me in straight away. It was like having a book on my screen that I could interact with and to top it off it looked amazing! I know people gripe at the length of cut scenes but I love them! I don't care if it's 20 seconds or 20 minutes! It seemed I finally found a game I could get into! Full on submersion, escapism... and that's exactly what I'm after when I game, now I have branched out and will play FPS, puzzles, arcades etc but RPG's are what started me off. I love getting lost in a back street, jumping across buildings, killing Templar knights, hunting for cogs, trying to sneak past the witch (left 4 dead... those witches seriously freak me out!). For some people gaming is about being the best, getting those achievements or trophy's, completion etc, but for me it's all about escaping the real world, even if it's only for half an hour. It's as simple as that.
I'd try to write more but at the moment I'm full of cold and it makes being coherent a challenge so I'll leave it there and maybe, some time I'll try my hand at writing again.
Toodles.
Massive thanks to Minkey for stepping up to write a little article on why she games. I'm sure this kind of thing is similar to many of you...?
Stu
Wednesday 29 February 2012
Tuesday 28 February 2012
What I've been playing
Last night I had an unexpectedly free night so thought I'd catch up on a little bit of gaming..
Thought I'd start off by doing a couple of matches with my "Be a pro" character on Fifa 2012, nothing significant... Then thought I'd do a bit of the "Ultimate Team" mode.. Now this has been my favourite addition to the last few carnations of Fifa. Its basically a mode where your team is built up of player cards that you have won via the in-game auction house, or buying packs of cards.. There are big numbers of each player, and each card has a formation that the player works best in. My team is always a good old fashioned 4-4-2 formation, so naturally I only keep/play players who have a 4-4-2 formation.
I decided to do an online game with my 4-4-2 team, and I was amazed that I won 2-1 (As I'm crap at it, and hardly ever win! hahaha) but the goal my opponent scored (around 90th min) was the same kind of goal that I always concede since Fifa 2010 and thats where the opposition player runs with the ball into the box, and then does a skill trick, to cut inside and always, always uses a finesse shot (a placed, curled shot, instead of power) and it annoys me! This is one of the reasons I like Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (PES2012) better as there is no finesse shot, and for me, it just plays better.
After my win, I decided to have a go on Battlefield 3 that the lovely people at Lovefilm had sent me.. Wanted to have a go on the online side of things but first there was a big 167mb update, and then it wanted me to install the HD content, and then there was another 2gb update... And then it wanted my online pass code details (Which I didn't have as its a rental) and I wasn't going to pay like £10 to get one.. so that was short lived! back to Lovefilm you go!
Then played a bit of Call of Duty: Black Ops with my brother, on a Combat Training mission, which pitted me and my brother against 9 AI controlled enemies. For a laugh we decided to go all "Gangsta" and roll with Uzi's with the rapid fire attachment. This was fun, although the iron sights on those guns are shocking and we couldn't see bugger all while aiming down the sights! We ended up tomahawking people which is always fun!
Moved onto PES and I must say, this is the game I spend most of my "online time" on. The best thing in my view about PES is the fact I can do co-op with my brother against an AI controlled team. You cannot do this online on FIFA where its just 2 human v 11 AI, and this for me is a shame. Anway, I digress.. Barcelona vs Bayern Munich was the fixture, and seeing as they inflicted a 3-2 loss on us last time, we needed revenge. Did we get it..?? Pfffft, did we hell! I got Puyol sent off after 15 mins for a silly challenge and we ended up losing 2-1, to the most stupid goal ever! Ribery crossed the ball in from a corner and Gomez headed the ball.. Luckily we had a man on the post so he blocked it, but the ball dropped and bounced twice on the keepers back, he got up and smashed the ball into one of our players faces (unintentionally of course!) and it flew off him into the net! Bah!
Anyway, I have a few people interested in writing a couple of articles for you lovely people, so keep checking back soon!
Cheers
Stu
Thought I'd start off by doing a couple of matches with my "Be a pro" character on Fifa 2012, nothing significant... Then thought I'd do a bit of the "Ultimate Team" mode.. Now this has been my favourite addition to the last few carnations of Fifa. Its basically a mode where your team is built up of player cards that you have won via the in-game auction house, or buying packs of cards.. There are big numbers of each player, and each card has a formation that the player works best in. My team is always a good old fashioned 4-4-2 formation, so naturally I only keep/play players who have a 4-4-2 formation.
I decided to do an online game with my 4-4-2 team, and I was amazed that I won 2-1 (As I'm crap at it, and hardly ever win! hahaha) but the goal my opponent scored (around 90th min) was the same kind of goal that I always concede since Fifa 2010 and thats where the opposition player runs with the ball into the box, and then does a skill trick, to cut inside and always, always uses a finesse shot (a placed, curled shot, instead of power) and it annoys me! This is one of the reasons I like Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (PES2012) better as there is no finesse shot, and for me, it just plays better.
After my win, I decided to have a go on Battlefield 3 that the lovely people at Lovefilm had sent me.. Wanted to have a go on the online side of things but first there was a big 167mb update, and then it wanted me to install the HD content, and then there was another 2gb update... And then it wanted my online pass code details (Which I didn't have as its a rental) and I wasn't going to pay like £10 to get one.. so that was short lived! back to Lovefilm you go!
Then played a bit of Call of Duty: Black Ops with my brother, on a Combat Training mission, which pitted me and my brother against 9 AI controlled enemies. For a laugh we decided to go all "Gangsta" and roll with Uzi's with the rapid fire attachment. This was fun, although the iron sights on those guns are shocking and we couldn't see bugger all while aiming down the sights! We ended up tomahawking people which is always fun!
Moved onto PES and I must say, this is the game I spend most of my "online time" on. The best thing in my view about PES is the fact I can do co-op with my brother against an AI controlled team. You cannot do this online on FIFA where its just 2 human v 11 AI, and this for me is a shame. Anway, I digress.. Barcelona vs Bayern Munich was the fixture, and seeing as they inflicted a 3-2 loss on us last time, we needed revenge. Did we get it..?? Pfffft, did we hell! I got Puyol sent off after 15 mins for a silly challenge and we ended up losing 2-1, to the most stupid goal ever! Ribery crossed the ball in from a corner and Gomez headed the ball.. Luckily we had a man on the post so he blocked it, but the ball dropped and bounced twice on the keepers back, he got up and smashed the ball into one of our players faces (unintentionally of course!) and it flew off him into the net! Bah!
Anyway, I have a few people interested in writing a couple of articles for you lovely people, so keep checking back soon!
Cheers
Stu
Monday 27 February 2012
Borderlands 2
I've recently been playing Borderlands with a few mates from work, and also over the last year or 2 with my friend Rachael.. Currently got a level 65 character and on playthrough 2 of all the DLC content for it, and its an absolute blast.
You can imagine my excitement when I saw this the other day:
Now normally I **Hate** dubstep music, as it annoys me and reminds me of Chavs on a bus, playing their music out loud, however, I love the music in this video, I went out and bought it on Itunes seconds after the video finished playing. I think the music fits in with the video and it really really adds to the whole thing, making it pretty much a perfect trailer in terms of what it aims to do.... Nice :)
I think this video has got me more excited for a game than any video I can remember in the last few years.
It shows that Gearbox and 2k software have really spent the last 3 years improving on what was already a fab game, and I for one, cannot wait for this to come out in September!
Do you guys agree..?
Stu
Sunday 26 February 2012
Relaunch time...
I know it's been a while since I've posted anything on the blog but I thought I'd get back into it...
I'm hoping to get some guest contributors to write an article or two, so watch this space
More to follow later
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)