Gumballs Plays Games

Thoughts on Battleborn so far

Posted on May 5, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

I didn’t know a lot about Battleborn going into its release, other than it was a colorful first person shooter with a MOBA mode. The game’s prologue didn’t offer a promising start. The first time you play the game you’re forced into watching some a sort of hyper energetic anime sequence that is unskippable and entirely boring. Some people certainly seemed to love the opening sequence, but I was not into it at all. I had to put the controller down and leave the room until it was finished.

Once you get to the playable portion of the prologue things don’t get much better. Sure the game needs to introduce you to the mechanics, but I found the opening story mission to be boring and incredibly long. I just wanted to jump into the MOBA mode (Incursion). Instead I had to play through an unappealing mission that serves little purpose.

Once I got past all the roadblocks and finally launched into the Incursion mode I started to begin regretting purchasing Battleborn. My original plan was to try to rent it from Redbox, however it wasn’t in stock anywhere nearby on the morning of its launch. I figured Battleborn might make for a nice ‘pick up and play’ game where I could play a match anytime I find myself with nothing better to do. I would have been better served to continue to play Rocket League during those times.

The idea of the Incursion mode seemed like it should be enjoyable, but there are quite a few things that stop it from being fun. First of all, I have yet to play a game in which anyone on my team was using a microphone. The Xbox One has already proven to be a place where very little communication takes place, especially when compared to the days of the 360, but in games where communication and planning is a necessity the lack of players using mics ruins the experience.

So far it seems like the general populace playing Battleborn is just running around trying to shoot at anything that moves without any particular strategy. This isn’t how a MOBA should be played, and every game of Incursion I’ve played so far has been a landslide one way or the other. No one wants to wait for minions to make a push, everyone just seems to congregate around the middle trying to shoot everything.

Now I can’t sit here and say I’ve done particularly well in Battleborn. I’ve died…. a lot. Another problem that I have with Battleborn is that it feels like there’s too much going on at once. There’s so much flash and color on the screen half the time I can’t figure out what I’m shooting at. And when I am trying to shoot at an enemy player, I can’t really tell if my attacks are effective. Sure there are numbers all over the screen (like in Borderlands), however I can never tell if my abilities are even hitting the targets I’m trying to hit. I’ve found myself frustrated more often than I’ve had any fun with Battleborn, and since no one else is communicating I just end up joining everyone in the middle repeatedly dying.

The story missions in Battleborn aren’t anymore enjoyable than the Incursion mode. You can matchmake with four other players, but I have yet to encounter anyone with a mic in those missions either. Everyone just runs around doing their own thing, and it just feels chaotic. So far I haven’t encountered any particularly difficult missions, but shooting at everything that moves with no real purpose alongside four other players isn’t exactly entertaining. Borderlands at least gave you a purpose, with its interesting loot drops and sense of progress. Battleborn hasn’t given me any sense of accomplishment or desire to do more. You can get gear as you accomplish things in the game, but I honestly haven’t found any of the gear I’ve received so far to make any sort of difference in game.

If you’ve been on the fence on whether to buy Battleborn, I’d have to recommend passing on it for now. Unless you have a group of players you intend to play with, I don’t think very many people will find much to enjoy in Battleborn. A team based game in which no one cooperates is makes every match nothing more than a coin flip. I’m not having fun, and I probably won’t play much longer. Too bad I bought the digital version and can’t recoup any of my $60.

First week home

Posted on May 3, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

Hey there, I’ve been home for just over a week and it’s been great, but it’s time I stop ignoring my blog! There’s so much I should be writing about, so I need to make myself sit down and start writing again. I figured I’d start with a brief check in, but I’ll write about much more in the weeks to come.

Since being home I’ve enjoyed all the great food I’ve missed out on, especially my first trip to Boise Fry Company, which I intend to write about over at ABoiseLife.com.

The food was great, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Boise!

I picked up a Samsung Gear VR which has been a pretty cool experience. One of the first things I did was boot up Minecraft VR and it’s a mind-blowing experience for sure!

I’ve enjoyed messing around with my new gaming PC, and tried my hand at Dark Souls III. It took a few days but I finally beat the first boss (technically just the tutorial boss) but am once again finding it difficult to progress past the very first section of the game.

I’m contemplating downloading Battleborn today (for the Xbox One), because I’ve been wanting a shooter I can fire up when I just want to play something casually. Rocket League is a great game to fire up and waste some time with, but I just want to shoot things!

Thanks, as always, for reading what I have to say, and I hope to bring some significant content back to the blog within a day or two! Until then I’m going to keep relaxing and enjoying America!

Nearly home

Posted on April 20, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

I’ll be back in the states in a matter of days and I couldn’t be more excited! Things have been slow here, but I’ll be getting back into the rhythm of blogging once I settle in back home. I’m looking forward to putting my new gaming PC to the test with Fallout 4, Quantum Break and Dark Souls III during my two weeks of R&R. I’ll certainly be streaming once I get everything set up, so you can look forward to me getting incredibly frustrated with Dark Souls III.

I’m also looking forward to finally checking out the new Apple TV, and setting up the Amazon Echo. I’ll probably take some video of the setup process of the Echo along with some first impressions, so there’s that to look forward to as well.

It’s been depressing to watch my daily site visits drop by at least 100 visits a day, but that’s what happens when you only post once or twice a month. I’m incredibly excited for this deployment to be over, and can’t wait to get back to a normal life!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by! I’ll be back soon!

I don’t understand why piracy is still a thing in 2016

Posted on April 11, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

I know I’ve talked about this before, but after listening to the song “Exposure Bank” by Sunrise Skater Kids, I’ve been thinking about the issue of piracy again. I just don’t understand how piracy is still seen as an acceptable route to obtain media without paying in 2016. With all of the options available today, getting access to a wide variety of media, be it music, movies, tv shows or even magazines, has become easier than ever. Spotify and Apple Music effectively let you download just about any album you can imagine for the price of a single album a month. Downloading music to your phone using Apple Music, for example, is as easy as searching for an artist and tapping a download button next to an album. It’s much faster and more reliable than pirating music, and it’s safer too. So why do people still pirate?

“We have so many loyal fans, It’s good to know our future rests in their hands, We all do this for the thrill, Real musicians don’t need much to pay the bills”

Napster became a thing when I was in middle school and it truly did revolutionize the way I consumed music. Before Napster I had very limited means of accessing music. My exposure to music came from what was played on the radio, what few CD’s I could buy in a year, and the music shared between friends (occasionally by trading ‘burned’ CD’s). Once I discovered Napster essentially the entire history of music became available at the click of a button. I was able to discover music quicker than ever before, and rather than spending hours at FYE using their listening stations, I could just download a song and if I didn’t like it I’d delete it.

“Buying bad music is the worst, Be sure to download every album, piracy comes first. Once you decide you like it, Get some merchandise and we’ll be supported.”

For a while most of my music was acquired via piracy, however the launch of the iPod and eventually the iTunes store changed everything again. All of a sudden it was easier to purchase a digital album than it was to pirate it. You would be guaranteed a certain level of quality for a price that CD’s could never compete with. The iTunes store was the first step in the right direction in an effort to supersede piracy as the default method of acquiring music, however in recent years another revolution has changed the music industry yet again: streaming.

When I first discovered Spotify’s premium service, which allowed you to download entire albums from just about every artist you could think of in a matter of seconds, my mind was blown. Once again an entire world of music became available to millions of users at the tap of a screen. Spotify Premium became the way I consumed music (outside of the car, in which I still enjoy my SiriusXM radio) until I switched to Apple Music upon its release. Apple Music works much the same as Spotify does, however I like the app better.

I can’t understand how anyone with any sort of appreciation for music could still pirate in 2016. For just $120 a year you can essentially “own” every piece of music that releases that year and all the years past. Not only that, but you have access you your entire music library on all of your devices, without ever having to transfer any files. It’s so easy it boggles my mind why anyone wouldn’t subscribe to a streaming music service.

$10 a month for all the music your ears desire seems too good to be true, and while it’s great for consumers there is some validity to the fears that the services short change artists. That, combined with the fact that I love vinyl, is the reason I still continue to buy music that I really love. For example, I’ve recently become obsessed with The Strumbellas and immediately ordered their “We Still Move on Dance Floors” album, and pre-ordered their upcoming album “Hope” on vinyl (I also bought both on iTunes, as I REALLY love them and want to support them!)

“Yeah, pats on the back, Yeah, live on the streets, You’re entitled to our music, You did so much to deserve it, Yeah, download a car, Yeah, don’t need to eat.”

There are so many options in other forms of media as well. The app Texture offers a sort of ‘Netflix for magazines” where for either $10 or $15 a month you get access to a wide variety of magazines including back issues. The higher priced plan includes weekly publications such as The New Yorker, TIME and Newsweek.

As for movies and TV, Hulu now offers an add on subscription to Showtime for $9 a month, and HBO and Starz both have streaming services that no longer require cable. You can get access to a wide variety of movies for relatively little money by subscribing to these services. If you want the latest and greatest, I still think the iTunes store offers great prices on movies. I’ve grown my library quite a bit lately just by watching out for sales in which popular movies go on sale for $9.99 or less on iTunes. A lot of new releases sell for $14.99 as well, which is cheaper than DVD’s and Blu Rays ever were. It’s cheaper than ever to watch movies legally, for the sake of the entertainment industry I hope that more people start to choose the high road.

R.B.I. Baseball 16 on the Xbox One

Posted on April 4, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

Opening day is here, and for those of you looking to get a baseball fix on the Xbox One you have but one choice: R.B.I. Baseball 16.

There hasn’t been a ‘true’ baseball game on an Xbox platform since 2013’s MLB 2k13 on the Xbox 360. Therefore, for those of us who don’t own Playstation platforms, we haven’t been able to scratch our baseball video game itch for over four years. R.B.I. Baseball 16 is the third game in the revived series that originally debuted on the NES in 1988 and returned to modern consoles in 2014.

If you’re looking for a realistic baseball experience, don’t expect to find it in R.B.I. Baseball 16. The R.B.I. series has always offered more of an arcade style experience and that’s still true in the 2016 version. The gameplay is incredibly simplified, in that at any given time you only need two buttons and the D-pad to play it. Pitching consists of pressing ‘A’ and using the D-pad or analog stick to either pitch a fastball (hold down), slow-ball (hold up), or curve (hold left or right). That’s it. Hitting and fielding are no more complicated.

On the plus side, R.B.I. Baseball 16 presents the game of baseball with a pretty realistic looking presentation. The stadiums look great and the players don’t look entirely cartoony. Unfortunately there is no audio commentary which would make for a nice addition.

For $20 R.B.I. Baseball 16 is better than having no baseball at all on the Xbox One, however I’m left wanting the simulation experience that the MLB 2K series offered.

My first gaming PC!

Posted on March 28, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

So I’m down to the final weeks of this deployment and I decided that I would treat myself to a gaming PC for when I return home. At first I looked long and hard at the Alienware Alpha and Steam Machines, coming really close to picking up an i5 version of the Alpha for $650. However, upon browsing Reddit and Steam message boards I saw an overwhelming amount of negative posts about the Alpha, most regarding hardware failures.

Ultimately I headed to iBuyPower and started putting a desktop together. They were having a sale where basically every component you selected would be upgraded to the next higher version for free. I have to admit, I know absolutely nothing about PC’s (I’ve used a MacBook Pro for the last four years, and it’s done everything I’ve ever needed it to, without ever having any issues) so I kind of went into the ‘building’ process blind. I just picked things that seemed affordable, and ended up with the following build:

AMD FX 8320 processor (with Corsair Hydro Series H55 liquid cooling)
16GB RAM (G.Skill Ripjaws X)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 (2GB)
MSI 970 SLI Krait Edition (motherboard)
600W Power Supply
2TB 7200 RPM hard drive

I have no real clue what any of that means, but I’ve heard it’s not a bad start, although many people have said I should have gotten an i5 CPU over the AMD. All I’m hoping for is the ability to run PC games such as Fallout 4 that will look better and run smoother than they do on my Xbox One.

I’m looking forward to getting home in a few weeks and putting the hardware to use!

Rocket League is coming to retail stores!

Posted on February 29, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

The hit game Rocket League will be making its way onto store shelves in disc form by way of “Rocket League: Collector’s Edition” packaging set to release by Q3 2016. The incredibly popular indie hit developed by Psyonix just recently released on Xbox One but was originally available on PC and PS4 in July 2015. Rocket League has already seen close to four million downloads, but a disc based version will make the game available to an even larger player base, especially those unable to download games due to limiting bandwidth caps.

The Collector’s Edition is being made available by 505 Games, already known for making other digital releases such as Payday 2 and Terraria available in physical format.

The package will include the three DLC packs that have already released. No pricing has been announced, however if you don’t want to wait for the disc based release the game is currently available for $19.99 in the Xbox store.

Rocket League is one of the most fun video games I’ve played in recent years, and it’s incredibly addicting. Every time I play it I end up telling myself “just one more match” for hours before I force myself to put the controller down. I’m glad that more people will be able to play Rocket League and am excited that the game will get more exposure via its presence on store shelves later this year.

Trying Soylent 2.0 — The future of food?

Posted on February 22, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

I first heard about Soylent from The New Yorker as I read the intriguing article “The End of Food” in the May 12, 2014 issue. After reading the article I definitely wanted to try the product, however I never got around to ordering some until last week. I eventually ordered a 12 pack of Soylent 2.0 and it arrived a few days ago.

The first thing I noticed is the simplistic packaging and bottle design. The bottle is a white, barren space, lacking any eye catching branding aside from a small logo near the bottom of the bottle. I’ve found that the absence of any significant branding has made people more likely to ask what I was drinking, which makes the simple design an effective marketing choice.

Upon opening my first bottle I noticed that Soylent doesn’t have any sort of smell or odor like I expected (I had expected it to smell gross). After I took a sip I was again surprised to find the drink tasted incredibly neutral. I’d describe it as a liquid slightly thicker than water with a hint of a milky taste. It’s easy to sip and leaves no real aftertaste. It’s much easier to drink than most protein shakes or products such as Slim Fast.

The real question is whether or not it works. So far I can report that it is incredibly effective as a meal replacement. I’ve tried Slim Fast before, hoping for a quick, easy to prepare lunch for work, but it never left me satisfied. Soylent, however, does the job quite well. I’ve sipped on a bottle of Soylent for breakfast and dinner so far, and both times the bottle satiated my hunger and left me full for hours. I’ve found it best to sip on Soylent over an extended period of time, rather than chug it down, as this seems to help the full feeling last longer. Add an apple or banana and you’ll be full and ready to start your day.

So far I’m impressed with Soylent. I’m looking forward to keeping a bottle in my backpack as I go biking, hiking or camping after I get back to the U.S.

Apple Music on Android may be in Beta still, but it’s terrible

Posted on February 21, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

The Apple Music experience on Android has not been enjoyable since its release. Granted, it’s been in a perpetual beta status since its launch on Android, but I still expect better. I’ve had a wide variety of issues with the app which make it difficult to use, and I’m often temped to return to Spotify until I get an iPhone.

One of the most annoying g problems I have with the app is that my downloaded music seems to somehow get corrupted. The music will show that it is downloaded to my phone, but the songs will not play when I don’t have an Internet connection. They simply appear to load indefinitely. What’s strange is that sometimes music that worked fine offline will suddenly stop working offline for no apparent reason. I’ll have to remove the download and re-download them to get them to work offline again. Nothing is more annoying than downloading something to listen to on the bus ride to work and have it not play once I’m away from WiFi.

Another issue I have that’s just as annoying is that the app crashes often. So often that my phone recommended I remove the app. Crashes happen while clicking on a song, browsing playlist or even when I try to skip a track. When the app doesn’t crash it will start and stop playing songs at random. At the gym I’ll hit play, slip my phone into my pocket and in about five seconds the song will just stop playing. I’ll try to restart the song but the play button disappears, and surprise, the app soon crashes again.

Despite all these problems, I don’t necessarily blame Apple. My entire Android experience has been terrible, and I often find myself contemplating paying off my Galaxy S6 early to get back to the much better platform of the iPhone.

It’s worth noting that Apple Music works perfectly fine on my MacBook and iPad, and overall I enjoy those experiences more than the Spotify experience. That’s the only thing that has kept me from switching back.

Rocket League on the Xbox One is not very playable outside the U.S.

Posted on February 18, 2016 by GumballsPlaysGames

I was incredibly excited for Rocket League’s arrival on the Xbox One this week. I had played it previously on my MacBook’s Windows 10 partition, but it never ran quite well. I figured I’d wait to enjoy the game when it released on Xbox. Last night after work, however, I was met with disappointment. Every game I played was unbearably laggy. So laggy that the game was unplayable. My car would constantly stutter and reverse direction over and over again and would randomly transport around the arena. I stuck the matches out, hoping it would get better, but it never did. I rarely came into contact with the ball, and by some miracle I managed to accidentally score a goal, brushing past the ball just before the opposing player knocked it into his own goal.

At the end of each match my ping was shown as being anywhere from 50 to 300, but even at 50 the game was unplayable. I’m currently deployed which is likely the reason for the lag as the only servers are in the U.S. and Europe, but I have no issues with games such as Destiny or Battlefield on the same Internet. A quick search on Google revealed that I was not alone, as many Australian players have reported lag making the game unplayable for them as well.

Hopefully the server issues are worked out in the near future, otherwise I’ll be waiting even longer to finally enjoy Rocket League.