FTL, or Faster Than Light, is a game that slipped under the radar for most people. I first heard about it from Giant Bomb, however at first nothing really made me want to go and check it out. Luckily it went on sale during the Steam winter sale and I picked it up for $4.99. The game is actually quite fun and incredibly addicting. You have to navigate the galaxy and fight other ships while maintaining your ship’s systems and determining which systems to upgrade with your limited resources. I’d try to explain it more in depth, but the Giant Bomb Quick Look below will give you the best idea of what this game is like. Enjoy!
The annual end of year Steam Sale has been underway for a few days now and it’s been quite an interesting sale. I had $10 in my Steam Wallet going into the sale and I decided to limit myself to that amount for the sale. Therefore I was able to pick up two games for $4.99 each. I bought Hotline Miami and Faster Than Light (FTL). On Amazon I decided to pick up GTA IV for $4.99. I have it on the 360 but figured it’d make for some good jump in and out fun on the PC.
So I rented Most Wanted from GameFly for some reason. I tend to absolutely hate arcade racing games. I want the most realistic experience possible, therefore I prefer Forza 4 (which is absolutely amazing). Anyway Need for Speed is what you’d expect from a modern arcade racer…Flashy lights, nitrous, dubstep, cinematic wrecks and more dubstep.
One thing that really bugs me is that during a race your car will literally change colors multiple times just because you drive through a repair booth. What the hell is that? Anyway, I recorded a gameplay video, though it doesn’t look great. I recorded it using my MacBook camera using the Windows 8 camera app…I’m not sure if it’s something to do with the software, or just being a laptop webcam (though I thought the MacBook camera should be pretty decent…maybe it’s just because I’m in Windows right now).
I’m about an hour into Metro 2033 (available FREE from THQ via Facebook (read more) and I have to say I’m having a good time so far. I had previously played Metro on the 360 but only for a brief 30 minutes or so. It never caught me. I’m really enjoying the dark atmosphere so far. I can’t really say much else as I’m not very far into the game.
So I just found out about the THQ Humble Bundle today and I’m glad I did because there are only three days left to take advantage of this great offer. If you haven’t heard of Humble Bundle, basically they usually take a collection of indie games and let you name your own price and even name how much of that money goes to each developer, the two charities (Child’s Play and The American Red Cross for this bundle) and the people behind Humble Bundle (to help pay for their bandwidth and other expenses).
I purchased Humble Bundle 2 and 3 which included games such as Braid and Cogs. The THQ bundle, however, features a rather large collection of well known, full retail games.
If you pay more than the average donation (which was around $5.61 when I made my purchase) you get all of the games below:
Saints Row 3 (bonus if you beat the average donation)
Darksiders
Company of Heroes (and DLC packs)
Metro 2033
Titan’s Quest
Red Faction Armageddon (and DLC)
You can download these games direct or through Steam (via Steam product keys that are unlocked after your donation of $1 or more). In addition to these games you also get the soundtracks to several of the games in either FLAC or Mp3 format, which is a nice bonus.
Pretty sweet deal for as little as $6. Of course the goal of the Humble Bundle is to raise money for charity (and in the case of the Indie Humble Bundles, to raise money and awareness for indie developers) so it’s certainly encouraged to give more than the bare minimum (you can donate as little as $1 if you choose, but then you miss out on Saints Row 3).
Remember, you only have about 3 days left to take advantage of this amazing offer! Head over to http://humblebundle.com to get a great deal on this THQ collection and donate to a great cause!
I see the title everywhere, and it seems you can play video games and not be a ‘gamer’, so what exactly is a gamer? Why are people obsessed with this label? I hear “if you only play Call of Duty you’re not a gamer” or “if you only play easy games, you’re not a gamer”. Why not? I don’t understand this at all. Personally, I play video games for fun and I’ve done so for over 20 years. I’ve owned a NES, GameBoy, SEGA Genesis, Nintendo 64, PSone, PS2, Xbox and Xbox 360 (in that order). Also an iPhone and Kindle Fire HD (mobile gaming). What does that mean? Why does it matter?
I mean if you enjoy watching TV are you a ‘TV’er’? ‘couch potato’? TV fanatic? The same goes for movies. Or cars even. Now I know there are people who are obsessed with movies and consider themselves some sort of movie hipster. And there are car people for whom cars are more than just a vehicle. But what difference does it really make? If you have fun playing video games, you have fun playing video games. That’s it. You might be part of a gaming community, be it Xbox Live, a forum, a website or even a blog. But does it really make a difference?
I’ll stop rambling now, I’m just tired of seeing the gamer vs non-gamer argument. Who cares. It’s a hobby. It’s a form of entertainment. If you play a game and I play a game, what’s the difference? Am I not having the same fun? Experiencing the same thing?
Millions of people hit the streets this past Friday (the shoppers holiday known as Black Friday), were you one of them? For the most part the holiday is a festive one, with people in the Christmas spirit enjoying a good day of shopping with friends and family. And yet hundreds of videos popped up on YouTube showcasing the ugly side of the holiday, like the one below.
There were plenty of deals to be had on everything from TVs to tablet computers and of course video games. Did you take advantage of any of the sales?
I decided to take advantage of GameStop’s buy 2 get one free used game / hardware sale and I picked up The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY, Assassin’s Creed II and You Don’t Know Jack.
It may come as a surprise, but for as popular as the Assassin’s Creed series is, I’ve never actually played any of the games until yesterday. Well I played maybe an hour of Assassin’s Creed II once, but I never sat down and got into it. Yesterday, however, I finally started at the beginning, with the first Assassin’s Creed (released in 2007). Five years have come and passed and this game has only made it into my library this week. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because five games have come out so quickly I felt overwhelmed and though I’d never catch up. And maybe there’s something a little disconcerting about having to play FOUR games just to get to Assassin’s Creed III (I don’t even know which game comes after II, Revelation or Brotherhood.. Furthermore I don’t know if either have anything to do with the story…Since they’re not numbered I’d assume I could skip them and go right to III, but who knows).
Anyway, here I am and I’ve finally played a few hours of Assassin’s Creed. So far it’s been fun, but I don’t feel like an Assassin at all. Every battle just turns into an anything but quick and silent sword fight against numerous enemies at once. I might as well just roll in with a bomb because there’s no way to be any less obvious. Maybe there is a way to actually assassinate people, but it sure doesn’t seem like it. Also the whole climbing thing feels very slow and annoying a lot of the time. When I’m trying to escape I climb like I’m in no hurry at all and often fall over and over again trying to actually get somewhere (or I’ll just bounce off of walls and end up getting stabbed in the back).
Other than that the only other thing that’s annoying me is how slow travel is in the game. Every time I have to leave the main hub it feels like I’m riding a horse for ages just to get to the next area. It’d be really nice to have some sort of fast travel system, because I’m tired of riding around over and over again. It’s not as bad once you get into a city (though again, climbing is a tad too slow) but it’s a pain to actually get there.
Otherwise I’m enjoying the game. I just don’t think it’s as amazing as everyone makes it out to be…And I have absolutely no idea what’s going on story wise…I’m just killing people I’m told to kill.
I’m hoping Assassin’s Creed II will be a slightly improved experience and then I’ll just have to figure out whether to skip straight to III or play the two games which I can only assume are side stories, first.
So the Nuketown 2025 map for Black Ops II has been advertised for months as a ‘pre-order exclusive’ map, available only to players who pre-ordered Black Ops II. And yet today I walked into the Bx and purchased Black Ops II and still received the Nuketown 2025 map. Could it be that not enough people pre-ordered the game so they just stuck all the pre-order copies on the shelves? I don’t know. Anyway I got the ‘exclusive’ bonus days after the game was released. No money down, no pre-order, nothing. Just walked into the store and I was rewarded with the map. Win?
Gumballs Plays Games 