Tech blog post #2 29/2/12 IPad 3, GAME troubles and warehouse 13

As promised, here is my second blog post for the 29th feb to make up for no post yesterday.

First off rumours have been flying around twitter today (to be honest, when ARN'T rumours flying around twitter) that apple may be unveiling the iPad 3 next week on march 7th. If true, then the unveiling comes in typical apple fashion, releasing an upgraded product not even a full year since the predecessor. I am not doubting apples decisions, because I know that whatever they do they will remain successful and people will purchase there products, but I personally feel that yearly upgrades are slightly unnecessary and apple may run out of ideas to keep things fresh for future products if they don't enlarge the
release gap between products.

Seeing as I am trying to cover 3 topics in one post I will now move on to another trending topic on twitter today. That being a leaked document revealing a shocking discovery, that retailers GAME and gamestation wont be stocking what could potentially be the game of the year, (mass effect 3) in none of there stores or even online. I have witnessed first hand that this has caused much upset among mass effect fans (myself being one but luckily I hadn't pre ordered yet) especially those who had order the "N7 edition" I don't know what this means for the future of the chain but its definitely not the best news as they will miss out on an incredible amount of sales.

Anyway one last thing I would like to talk about is the tv series warehouse 13. I watched the 1 hr 30 minute pilot episode on Netflix last night and loved it. The plot is basically about 2 secret agents that get transferred to a new department, a department that operates from a huge warehouse in the middle of nowhere. A warehouse very similar to that featured in the Indiana jones movies, full of weird and wonderful artefacts and relics with magic powers. The story for the pilot episode was very gripping and makes you want to keep watching, especially when the warehouse is first discovered by the characters and lots of random occurrences start to happen to that the audience wants to see answers to. The chemistry between the 2 main characters is very good, with the male agent being sort of a comedian and getting drawn into the mysterious warehouse by an offer of cookies from an eccentric man claiming to be the warehouse owner. And the female agent has a more professional attitude and often disagrees with what the male character says. I am looking forward to watching the rest of this series (currently on its 3rd with a 4th series in production this year) and seeing what other artefacts will be discovered and what other situations the agents will get themselves into.

That's all for today's updates then, Not sure what I will cover in tomorrows blog but maybe some more news about GAMEs situation or the iPad 3 will have come to light by then, so stick around.

Ryan

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Tech blog post 29/2/12 Kingdoms of Amalur

Hello readers!

Apologies for not having time to update my blog yesterday, it was quite a stressful day due to me arranging moving house. So things are going to be a bit hectic for me over the next few weeks as well but I will try and update the blog as much as possible.

Anyway the first thing I would like to talk about today is kingdoms of Amalur, the action Rpg released by EA earlier this month. I picked Koa up at launch but only invested a minimal amount of time In it because my new pc arrived shortly afterwards which kept me preoccupied for the following weeks. So last night I thought I would continue playing the game because it was quite enjoyable (360 version btw). I picked up where I had left off, which was in the middle of a forest somewhere because that's where I last saved the game. I was running around the forests in my mass effect shepherd armour (which looks awesome btw) killing annoyances known as boggarts (similar to those Hobbes in fable). The combat in Koa is simple to execute and is a lot more fluid than say skyrim, but if you take the time to learn your advanced moves and combos it can become harder but more rewarding by dealing more damage. With these combos the game kind of feels like a street fighter game mixed with a free roam Rpg. There are three basic combat options and then a few hybrid options As well, but the main 3 are might, finesse and sorcery. Might is for the sword or heavy weapons fighter, finesse is the polar opposite and for those who prefer lighter weapons that deal less damage but attack much more rapidly, and sorcery is the Mage class offering destructive lightning spells etc. The hybrid classes are say for example, my character, who is a sword wielding Mage who uses mana to boost his attacks.

All of the basic Rpg elements are present in this game such as quests, side quests, skills, coloured gear and much more. The skills are very fun and rewarding, the game offers blacksmithing, alchemy, sage craft and lock picking. The map is very big with multiple regions like deserts and forgets and I am 6 hours in and still in the first zone so it's promising to be a lengthy journey. The game has a similar conversation system to mass effect, but its slightly pointless because the conversations and actions don't have any consequence as there isn't a morality system in the game (no good or bad choices). The game has coloured gear with white items being common and purple being ultra rare with blue and green colour items In-between white and purple, and if you pick sage crafting as a spell you can put socket gems in your gear to make it even more powerful!. My main and only real gripe with koa, is that the developers have not made it easy at all to understand this universe, even during the first hour you are bombarded with names and races you won't have a clue about such as Almain varani and liosalfar to name a few. Admittedly an open world fantasy Rpg does need to be populated with exotic races to make it feel alive and diverse, but not in a way that bombards a new player to the point where they get a headache during the first hour.

Overall though I would say the fantasy world of Amalur is defiantly worth a visit, especially for fans who are exhausted of being a dovahkiin (although that's not likely just yet). And there is still about a week to go until mass effect 3 is here so check it out in the meantime!

That's all for this post, but because I didn't update my blog yesterday I may do another entry later today to make up for it, and talk about warehouse 13, the tv series I began watching last night which I highly enjoyed.

See you later

Ryan

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Tech blog post 27/2/12 Uncharted Golden Abyss!

As I kind of anticipated, I didn't have time to update my blog over the weekend. But perhaps that's a good thing, because I have had more precious time to spend with the things I am about to talk about, mainly being uncharted golden abyss.

So let's get started then, uncharted golden abyss is the most popular vita game at the moment, no seriously, it topped the UK charts being placed at number 1 beating even console and pc games. So I picked it up myself, and I was completely blown away. Golden abyss really is the signature game for the vita at the moment, and probably will remain that way for quite some time too, at least until studios release games specifically for vita and not just ports like rayman origins. Golden abyss shows off and utilises most, if not all, of the vitas new features, including the front and rear touch screens, the camera, the accelerometer (tilt controls), and the hardware itself boasting great visuals that almost rivals console. You may be wondering how the external camera works in this game (uncharted also has an in game camera used to take in game pictures but that's something else), the external camera is used at points in the game where you receive bits of parchment or paper that need to be held to a light source to see the hidden messages written on said paper/parchment. I did as instructed and held my vita towards my window where light was coming in, and there it was, the hidden message was slowly appearing before my eyes. Another feature you will use in golden abyss (this one being used more frequently) is chalk rubbings, when you discover a relic that has an inscription on it then you will have to take a chalk rubbing of it, by swiping your finger across the front touch screen until 100% of the rubbing is legible. Sometimes you will come across artefacts that are dirty and covered in mud (to be expected if they have been buried for thousands of years) so you will use the front touch screen to wipe them clean and the rear touchscreen to rotate the artefact to make sure you clean every last book and cranny. Then there is the accelerometer, which can be used to swing drake for example if he is hanging on a vine, by tilting the vita device backwards and forwards. Another reason why Golden abyss is the vitas signature game is because it boasts amazing visuals and sound which is a first for handheld gaming, the jungles look vibrant, lush and green. The water looks realistic, fluid and clear, and the sweeping vistas look incredible. Nate's voice Sounds just as good as on ps3, and you can hear every crumble of rock and piece of splintering wood as you climb around.

For diehard console uncharted fans, all of these gameplay additions may be making you cringe, but don't worry, despite a lot of additions (i must stress they are additions, not changes) the core gameplay of running, jumping and climbing remains the same, and plays with the same button configuration as uncharted on ps3. The new additions just enhance the experience and really make you feel like a treasure hunter and these vita features add a welcome new level of depth to gaming and hold great potential for future vita titles.

As for the story in golden abyss, (I am at chapter 20 of 32) it is so far very engaging. As most of you may already know, drake is a funny protagonist, often making jokes towards the side characters. The story itself is full of plot twists and surprises which draw you in, which may be a bad thing for a handheld, because if you are playing on a train or bus, you may miss your stop if you are absorbed in the story. The story cutscenes in the game are very good and so is the voice acting, but I felt that for a console that is supposed to be "pick up and play" they drag on a little too long wasting precious battery power and gameplay. Also in heavy combat I sometimes noticed a slight frame rate drop but nothing that lasted longer than a few seconds and wasn't a very persistent problem. Apart from those little things though, uncharted golden abyss is a beautiful handheld game that utilises most of the vitas new functions and has plenty of collectibles to add to replay value. Multiplayer would have been nice but is not essential as portable gamers are not often near wi fi. All in all, golden abyss is in my opinion the best launch title for the vita .

That's if for today's blog, hope I didn't ramble on too much about uncharted, but there was a lot I wanted to cover about this game, in tomorrows blog I will probably talk about wipeout for the vita or perhaps something else.

Anyway hopefully see you tomorrow

Ryan

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Tech blog post 24/2/12 More Vita and tv shows

So i spent most of yesterday evening playing the vita in bed, and being able to play games on it that look hardly any different to their home console counterparts (uncharted and rayman origins for example) it's almost like having a portable ps3.

I found myself really liking the friends list on the vita, because I can log in using my ps3 network ID so I can still chat to my friends who are on the ps3 whilst I am on my vita which is very impressive.

With the vita my whole trophy collection now travels with me, and I can view and compare my trophies with my friends on the fly. I like the fact that the vita games also include trophies, I always found achievements and trophies add extra life to a game, and give you a sense of accomplishment, especially if you obtain a time consuming or difficult achievement.

There is an app on the vita called "near", which picks up who else is also playing on a vita in the same area as you, and I was very surprised to see about 6 or 7 people pop up in my normally quiet area, playing there's.

There are still a few more features and games on the vita that I haven't experienced yet, but i hope to play as many as I can in due time.

I spent the remainder of yesterday evening watching a tv show called "the hard times of rj berger", which is an American comedy about a teenage boy dealing with problems at school such as girls and bullies and then problems at home with his parents. The program reminds me of my life, and i can relate to the main character having experienced a lot of what he has, and then there is the added laughs on top which makes it even better. I watched the last few episodes of season 2 last night, and it ultimately ends on a huge cliffhanger, and with MTV cancelling series 3 and the show completely, the audience are left wondering how the story carries on. I would still recommend people watch the show as over the 2 series there is a lot of plot twists and turns and the end of series 1 is shockingly good.

So after I finished watching rj Berger, I spent a bit of time on the PC version of battlefield 3, which is a vast improvement over the console version, both in terms of graphics and player count, the Xbox version only allows 12 v 12 players max whereas the PC version allows 32 v 32 which makes a huge difference, especially on the larger maps which really feel like a huge open conflict unlike on console where they felt a little empty. You can also play the same map as many times as you like unlike console that has a forced map rotation which used to annoy me.

So that's all for today, I wouldn't normally talk about tv shows, but if this is going to continue being a daily blog then I can't ALWAYS talk about tech related things, as people would get bored and I would run out of things to talk about. I may blog over the weekend if I have the time.

Maybe see you tomorrow

Ryan

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Tech blog post 23/2/12 VITA!!

Anybody who read my blog post from yesterday will probably be laughing at my self control issues, because i mentioned that I would delay buying the vita until funds permitted and would probably wait a few weeks to buy one. Well, I lasted one day, the barrage of pictures on twitter of people with there vitas was too much.

So an hour before work this morning I quickly rushed to Tesco to pick one up with a free rayman origins game and 4GB memory card, I also picked up a ham and cheese sandwich whilst I was there. Upon entering the shop, I immediately saw it, standing proudly in a tall clear display stand surrounded by games and memory cards almost teasing customers to buy one. I approached the stand and reached for the vita like Indiana jones would with an ancient artefact. Damn, the display case was locked. I approached the customer service desk and asked how I could get the vita out of the stand, the assistant went off somewhere and returned with a key and continued to pull a brand new boxed vita from the display stand. I stood there, Eagerly awaiting her to hand it to me, at last, she did. I had one hand on a brand new vita... And a ham and cheese sandwich in the other... Does life get any better?.

I went to the checkout and paid for the goods, the lady recognised I had picked rayman as the free game (even though I have rayman on Xbox there wasn't many other games that appealed to me and uncharted wasnt part of the free deal) and she started to tell me how she used to play rayman and found it very hard, I agreed and said it was fairly challenging but fun nonetheless, anyway, I was just glad she started a conversation with a customer unlike a lot of boring shop worker "drones" these days. She asked me how many hours I planned to spend playing on it, "countless" I replied and walked out the shop with the lady smiling at my response.

So I have had a little bit of time to check out the vita this morning and so far I am highly impressed, the screen is rather large but still compact enough to fit into the average pocket. Whilst we are talking about the screen I would just like to make a point about how crystal clear it is, In fact, I think playing rayman origins on the vita OLED display actually looks more crisp and vibrant than it does on my 22 inch 1080p HD tv! Now that is very impressive especially seeing as it is a handheld!. Because it is a handheld, using as little space as possible is always a priority to reduce overall weight and keep the device portable, so you can understand why the memory card and game cartridges are very tiny, almost minuscule for the memory card in fact, but the the only real problem with this is the risk of not being able to find the memory card if it is dropped.

The general user interface is very simplistic, especially on the home screen, where every feature is represented in a little bubble, so If you would like to use the camera then you just touch the bubble with the camera, simple. You can log in on the vita using your ps3 profile if you would like to view and compare your ps3 trophy collection on the move, whilst acquiring yet more trophies in vita games.

Todays post has gone on a bit longer than intended but with the launch of a new console that everybody wants to know about I felt I needed to at least cover the core features, I will most likely talk more about the vita in future posts.

Thanks for reading

Ryan

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Tech blog post 22/02/12

I picked a good day to start blogging, with today being the release date of Sony's new handheld games device, the PS Vita, I think I will begin by talking about that. As with any new gadget release, whether it be an iPhone, tablet or games console, there is always going to be a lot of hype surrounding them. With these new products, we are always promised by the manufacturer that they have expanded upon since the previous entry, by being faster, looking prettier or having a must have new feature to sway owners of the previous devices to fork out yet more cash. Sony seems to have nailed those 3 points on the head, with the vita indeed being faster, prettier and having more features than the PsP.

I myself would love to pick up a vita, but only If funds are permitting. Seeing lots of pictures on twitter of my friends with the vita and lots of games and accessories is not making resisting the purchase any easier. The vitas launch line up of games definitely appeals to me more than the launch line up of the 3DS did (which I purchased on impulse because it was a new gadget and then traded in a month later).

Despite early adopters of new gadgets often encountering problems (iPhone 4 signal comes to mind), I am still willing to take the risk mainly for bragging rights, however if there is a problem like the aforementioned then it backfires on me. I have only seen 1 or 2 tweets so far about technical problems with the vita but am not yet yet sure if these problems are "server side" or "client side" so to speak.

The appeal of being able to play AAA games like bioshock and call of duty on the move sounds incredible. So knowing me, I probably will pick a vita up at some point because I am unable to control myself, it could be in a few weeks or even tonight if I see many more pictures on twitter of people enjoying their ones.

Watch this space

Ryan

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Ryans first blog post 22/02/12

So this is my first blog post, and unless you follow me on twitter you won't know much about me (unless you work for a secret government organisation).

I am a 20 year old working in full time employment, in my spare time I like to play video games on a multitude of consoles mainly the Xbox or PC.

I have many reasons why I play games but one of the main reasons is the social aspect, it is very easy to communicate with people over headsets whilst you play so by sitting at home in front of the tv you are still in a sense being social by taking to your friends. I play with friends I know in real life, but I have also met many more new friends from across the globe.

Another reason I play is to escape from reality, I work in an office from 9-6 which is pretty dull, so when I get home I want to get as far away from that dullness as possible, and by playing games such as battlefield 3 with jets, rockets and explosions going on its the exciting counterweight to the dull day.

Apart from gaming I am interested in gadgets and gizmos, such as mobile phones, cameras and iPods etc. I am fascinated by how they work and how they make people's lives easier (admittedly sometimes harder).

Another hobby of mine is to collect models such as those from sci fi films such as star wars and also model aeroplanes. I am interested in aeroplanes because I am fascinated by how they work, the fact that such a heavy peace of metal can fly in the air for hours on end safely carrying over 400 people really intrigues me. I also like aviation photography because it captures these great machines in all there glory.

Well that's probably long enough for my first post, stay tuned for more, I will try to talk more about tech related things in future blog posts but this was just an introduction so people can build up an impression of me.

Thanks for reading

Ryan

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