An idea for a future venture

Over the last 2 years I've watched a hell of a lot of videos on YouTube, relating to Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fifa 12, and Battlefield 3 and many more from directors such as KSI OlajideBT, Gunns4hire, Lvlcap, RivalXfactor, Xjaws, Elpresador, DCRU Colin, BigMooney & Sandy Ravage (Who could ever forget the "Booster Justice" videos Sandy released?

Anyway.. I found myself thinking the other day "Whats the one thing all of these YouTube directors have in common??" and the answer to this is simple. They are totally awesome at what they do

As an example, take a look at one of Sandy Ravage's videos:

Also one of my favourite video series on YouTube is by BigMooney and his Battlefield 3 top plays of the week:

Finally one of my fave directors is KSI OlajideBT and his FIFA 12 Videos:

Now I wish I could be as good as all of these guys in the above 2 clips, and every time I watch these kind of videos it makes me feel like I AM that good, and when I actually play the game, I'm not.. I'm.. well.. nothing more than average! Ok, granted on games like Black Ops I have a kill to death ratio of over 1.0 (which is nothing special, but for me its the base marker I want to aim at) and also on Battlefield 3, where its not about K/D ratio but I'm always checking mine to make sure I don't drop below a 1.0 K/D ratio. Battlefield is all about playing the objective and not a run/gun thing like COD so its annoying I am constantly focusing on my K/D!

So... What is my idea? Well basically, I am planning on doing a YouTube channel called "The Average gamer" where I record footage of my games and show them to the YouTube community and get people to give me tips/tricks to help improve performance on these games.. and maybe.. just maybe I can one day hope to be half as good as the above mentioned YouTube directors!

Those are my thoughts. Let me know what you guys think?

What I've been playing (21st May)

Well quite a bit has happened since my last update...I went to Nottingham with a few gamers from the Gamerscoreaddicts forum for a bit of a meet up, and in the end there was just 4 of us, but was such a laugh! Luckily my hotel overlooked the club we went to so was a short stumble back to hotel :) 

I'm  also in the process of moving house and will be in my new place on June 20th (Yay..Can't wait!!) but here's a run down of what I've been up to since my last post

Trials Evolution: I've been playing quite a bit of this whilst chatting online to Minkey Monkey and its been a laugh, we've both been ranting and raving over certain levels we get stuck on, but its such good fun!

Battlefield 3: Been playing this quite a bit and I must say I love it... Its so much fun when you have a couple of mates online as part of your squad, and it gets so intense... Nothing makes you jump more than hiding in a bush trying to pick off an enemy sniper, only for that sniper to see you and fires a shot that literally whizzes past your ear and the surround sound does a superb job of trying to portray realism.. my heart was pounding as I lined up a perfect headshot.. only for one of the enemy infantry to find me and slit my throat from behind. Bugger!

Sniper Elite v2: In my previous update I posted about the demo of this, well I now have the full game and I love it to bits. I can snipe away to my hearts content without worrying about being stabbed from behind (Well, not yet anyway! haha) Super fun game, and is a contender for one of my favourite games of the year!

Thats it for now folks, if you wanna contribute something to the blog let me know :)

Stu

My top 10 favourite gaming characters

This topic was suggested by Ted, so thought I'd have a think and here is who I have. In no particular order:


Jansen Friedh - "Lost Odyssey"
Jansen starts out being a bit of a dick but as the game goes on (all 100+ hours of it) you come to like him, as he embarks on a journey to become the partner of Ming Numara (who is the queen) and he ends up hapless, but in the end he finally gets his woman!


The Undertaker - Various WWE games
Lets face it, the Undertaker has been one of the most well known wrestling characters ever, so this is a no brainer


Batman - "Arkham Asylum" & "Arkham City"
Batman was never a favourite of mine, however when Arkham Asylum came out, it just made Batman seem ace.. The voice acting was spot on, and the combat was ace, Batman from then on, became awesome, as you progressed through the story, really endearing yourself to the fate of Bruce Wayne


The Joker - "Arkham Asylum" & "Arkham City"
If I thought Batman was ace in these 2 games, he's matched, and possibly overshadowed by the amazing character that is the joker. Mark Hammil (He from Star Wars fame) does the voice of Joker, and Oh my god, he plays it so well.. Joker for me is the standout character from these 2 games. You have to play them and experience it for yourself!


Claptrap - "Borderlands"
Claptrap is the little robot that you see numerous times throughout the game, and he comes out with some funny stuff ("I don't like this... this is making me nervous. Take a deep breath- I can't breathe! This is just a recording of someone breathing! It's not real! It's just making me more nervous!") Although he does turn evil in the DLC "Claptraps new robot revolution" in which he makes all the bosses from the main game into robot versions of themselves.. 


Niko Belic - "GTA IV"
Niko gets brought to what is essentially New York, by his cousin, on the promise of wealth and bitches.. Within the first 5 minutes he realises this, and then struggles to become someone, and there are times you feel sorry for him and he is just an all round good guy mixed up in the wrong things.. 


Unnamed man - "Saints Row 1/2/3"
The character we play in Saints row, is unnamed, but is one of the best characters from any game.. The stuff he comes out with during the course of the 3 games is hilarious - Especially the meeting with Burt Reynolds, and me and my brother have spent many an hour laughing at the stuff that comes out of his mouth through all 3 games...


Commander Shepherd - "Mass Effect 1/2/3"
Shepherd is a great character, and over the course of all 3 games, we get to shape him into the kind of person we want him to be..Want him to be nice, empathetic and polite, fine.. Want him to be a total cock and be rude, arrogant and a knobhead, then also fine! 


Tommy Vercetti - "GTA Vice City"
Tommy does a bit of time for the Mafia and when he gets out, they repay him by sending him down south to manage things there, however he becomes too big for them to handle so try to bring him down to size. Voiced by Ray Liota, Tommy is a character not to be understimated and comes out with some funny stuff!


Cole Phelps - "LA Noire"
On the surface, Cole seems like a normal person.. Career minded, kind hearted person with a loving wife at home, but actually turns into a bit of a knob and in the end makes the ultimate sacrifice.. His journey through the various cases we control him, you grow to like him and stuff that happens surprises you!


Well there we have it.. my favourite gaming characters... You may agree or disagree with these of course, but leave comments with your favourite characters and why!


Thanks to Ted for suggesting this topic!


Stu

Its been a while but here's an update!

Well its been nearly 2 months but a lot of things have been going on in those 2 months.. I had a trip to Prague which I thoroughly enjoyed, as well as a trip of a lifetime to Barcelona to watch FC Barcelona play a game at the Nou Camp, which I went to with Rob, my brother. Totally awesome!

Anyway, on a gaming front, here's an update on what I've been playing lately!

I've been playing a lot of Fifa Ultimate team, and even recently, the new DLC: Euro 2012, Specifically Expedition mode.. In Expedition mode, you start off with a random team of players, generally around the level 55-65 and you have to play each of the 53 teams available in the DLC. For the first time you beat a team, you get given a random "Reserve" player from that country who can you either keep or discard, based on his stats. The 2nd time you beat a time, you get given a random "Substitute" player to keep or discard, and when you beat that team a 3rd time, you get a random "First team" player and eventually you will have a decent team. I quite like the concept of it, so I'll keep playing it!

Trials Evolution has also come out, and I must admit, I've spent far too much time on it. Its the sequel to the hugely successful "Trials HD" but this time you move out of the warehouse of Trials HD and into the open world. The tracks are tricky, look good and overall, its massively massively addictive. The multiplayer side of it is hugely fun too.. I've even created a couple of tracks and uploaded them so check them out :D

I managed to get my hands on Battlefield 3 pretty cheap yesterday so I've been playing that a bit, and surprisingly, I dont suck at it.. Granted I had to pay a few quid to buy an online pass as it was a preowned copy but its worth it.. I can't believe I've not bought it until now!!

Today I discovered the delights of the demo "Sniper Elite V2".. You play a WWII sniper and the demo has you working your way down a few streets to plant explosives on the route of an armoured convoy. The thing that sets this apart from other shooters is that if you score a kill shot with a snipe, you will see the bullet leave your gun and in slow motion will show you exactly where it hits... You will generally get an X-Ray image of the body and see what damage the bullet does.. I've had quite a few shots where its gone straight through the eye socket and out the back of the skull... Nothing makes you go "OHHHH" like a good shot to the brain! haha... Definitely will be lovefilming this as I cant get enough of the kill cam :D

Over the next few months I imagine it will be more of the same for what I've been playing as I am hopefully going to be moving to a new place.... so fingers crossed!

See you all soon!! Also, still looking for more guest articles so let me know :D

Stu

What I've played (Saturday 3rd March)

Here's a quick round-up of what I've played for Saturday 3rd March:

Fifa2012
Again, I've been doing some more "Be a pro" mode, which is going pretty well... My pro is at Chelsea and we are 9 points clear at the top of the league.. Will be interesting to see who wants my services at the end of my 4th Season as a pro, after stints at Basel and PSG & now Chelsea.. Maybe Barcelona bound, who knows?? You can tell this game isn't realistic though, because Fernando *I couldn't even score in a brothel* Torres is 2nd highest scorer in the league.. Pffft!

Assassins Creed: Brotherhood 
This came from Lovefilm today, I hate assassins creed with a passion and it wasn't until I was getting nagged constantly by Minkey Monkey (only kidding minks, it wasn't constant...) that I thought about getting it, to give the online multi-player a go as I've seen various video's on YouTube with on-line gameplay footage, and I'd never been able to figure out how they could tell who was after who... So I gave it ago, and although I did shockingly bad, I still managed to get up to rank 7... Not sure if its one I'd buy, but for a rental its not *too* bad... Always satisfying when you stalk your target and plunge a knife into the back of their neck... Or if you are Minkey, walking past (me usually) and dropping what could of been a silent but deadly fart and poisoning me to death... Overall I'd say its worth a rental, but wont be doing the single player!

Driver: San Francisco
I'll be honest, I really hated the demo of this game. I loved Driver 1 on the old PlayStation, was a fab game... but when I played the demo of this, Ugh, it was horrible... The main USP of this is that you can "shift" between different cars whilst driving, to teleport into their car and control the driver, I thought was a horrible premise and I thought the demo was awful... This is another one of my Lovefilm rentals, and I have to admit, the demo really didn't do it justice because the game feels a totally different experience, the shifting premise actually works, and I love the handling of the cars! It also gives you the ability to have car chases reminiscent of the ultimate all time best car chase - "Bullit" starring Steve McQueen, which was actually set in San Francisco...  I've only played this for an hour or so, but I'm really really enjoying it, and will certainly consider purchasing this :)

Will no doubt be doing more gaming Sunday, so watch this space :)

Guest article......

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

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