Adam's Blog

April 29, 2015

Welcome our new family member

Meet our new family member Screwlolo. I always been a cat and dog guy but since I moved out to my new place I could not bring in cats or dogs so we decided to bring in a genui pig.

The little guy is quite and shy but that’s just how everyone is around strange environment. We are thinking of bringing him a friend soon but still need to get him better cage although we keep him free when we are around. I always loved and rescued whatever animals I can find, I guess animals are better then some people after all.

April 21, 2015

Steam accounts restriction is a good thing

I was about to rage as soon as I red the news but quickly came back to my senses after realizing that its actually a good thing. Let me explain; Free Steam accounts and by free I mean zero purchases are mostly a ghost town or used to spam. It is very unlikely that a spammer or troll will put any money toward creating trouble. The paying customer will not notice a thing provided he spent $5 or more.

Official Restrictions:

Sending friend invites
• Opening group chat
• Voting on Greenlight, Steam Reviews and Workshop items
• Participating in the Steam Market
• Posting frequently in the Steam Discussions
• Gaining Steam Profile Levels (Locked to level 0) and Trading Cards
• Submitting content on the Steam Workshop
• Posting in an item’s Steam Workshop Discussions
• Accessing the Steam Web API
• Using browser and mobile chat

I can however see this becoming a problem for the following users:

CD Keys, retail purchases, and gifts do not remove limited user restrictions even if they significantly exceed the required quota.

What if the persons uses retail keys? Why should any paying account gets restricted? I feel the above will be removed or at least less restricted with time but for anything else this seems like a fair deal.

April 21, 2015

First attempt at mixed drawing

So I decided to give drawing another go and stick to it this time around and what better way to kick start this than to draw a regeneration chip from Titanfall.

Now I know that this is nothing to write home about but I did enjoy making it. The upper left is obviously the original along side the one I fully draw. The bottom one is where I scanned it, added G2 and the circle thing and digitally painted it.

I will be posting more stuff on my DeviantArt account so check that out if interested.

April 20, 2015

Daily Update: Playing Titanfall

As you may have guessed; Titanfall quickly became my all time favorite shooter even though I used to hate this game before until I decided to give it a try. Man, I’m glad I did and will be preordering Titanfall 2 from day one. Forget Bore of duty Advance Same Crap, this is the game to own and for many reasons.

The graphics are great as well as the engine itself. Everything looks futuristic and nice including water and fire. Weapons have great textures and overall feel as well as Titans. The movements themselves feel smooth and well done. The double jump feels natural and light as opposite to CODAW.

Sounds are also well done and Titan OS voice is a great addition. But I’m not here to review the game, instead I’m gonna update you of my progress and latest. in general.

My Smart Pistol MK FAQ is now available on GameFAQs.com so check it out.

I’m now a G4 pilot almost G5. For the ones confused; G is a rating system in Titanfall which allows you to regenerate after reaching level 50. Once regenerated, you are given a new G level banner with all the challenges reset back to zero. To upgrade to later G levels new special challenges must be completed and some of them seems hard.

I’m now on my last G4 challenge which is to score a critical hit on Titans using the charge rifle. That is hard in itself and can effect the way you play as you are constantly trying to get the challenge not caring about the overall score which to be honest is kinda of the game’s fault.

Overall, I’m enjoying Titanfall and became addicted. I know I should be playing The Evil Within new DLC but ?I just cant let go. I just hope that the next Titanfall will have more things to do than just regenerate. More weapons, maps and Burn cards as well as weapon mods. Get the game now.

April 5, 2015

Happy Easter

image credit

Happy Easter to everyone around the world. Joy and happiness to all.

April 2, 2015

Xbox One needs to step up its game

Its no secret that PlayStation 4 is currently ahead in the next gen console war, whats important is what comes next for Xbox One? Speaking openly; I prefer the Xbox or PlayStation but I must give credit and respect for Sony for making PlayStation 4 the system it is. Sure the online store is not that great and PS network gets hacked and goes down frequently but the console is nicely designed and the joy pad is a major upgrade from the PS3.

Xbox One is not far behind and I still believe that should Microsoft haven’t made the mistakes they did when announcing it scaring the people away, more gamers would have picked it up but enough with that; What can Microsoft do to win this war? A few things:

Keep offering great Bundles

Bundle important AAA games with a system. Not only will this increase the chances of peps buying the console as they will be getting a great game along with a purchase, this will also push the brand of the game. Generate enough popularity and you can easily make a 2nd part of the game as people already played and liked the first bundled one.

Keep the price down

Microsoft did the right thing by lowering Xbox Ones price tag and won over more gamers and buys. With the current price of $349 many will consider this when buying their next Gen.

Unlock all CPU cores dropping kinect

Microsoft marketed the hell out Kinext and although its not the future, some enjoy voice commands features. What Microsoft should do is unlock the final core and give the option to the developer to include or drop kinext features. Drop some OS features as well in the name of games improvements. Make the core focus of the system on games and games only. TV and Facebook can step aside.

Push Direct X 12

Educate and market DX 12 to developers in order to take the maximum advantage of the consoles capabilities and end the resolution war for ever. Any help counts during games development.

Have great Arcade Store deals

Self explanatory. Make great deals regularly and watch sales grow. Steam!

Gears of War 4

Gears of War made Xbox 360, and with the game rights in Microsoft’s hands I cant believe we still haven’t seen anything official! Its the most iconic game in Xbox’s history, use it as a weapon!

Exclusives

Do what you can to own exclusives and push the system sales forward using them. Sony realised this earlier and is hard at work. Street Fighter 5.

Keep going forward

This last point is kinda obvious; Dont give up and push forward. Microsoft has the cash and man power to do the job. Microsoft did allot of things right and can iron out the mistakes with constant improvements and that what Microsoft should be doing.

Feel free to share and add your own ideas in the comments.

March 31, 2015

Batman Arkham Knight PS4 bundle

Great news Arkham Fans, for only $449.99 you will be able to own a Batman shaped PS4 along with the game Batman Arkham Knight coming June 23rd. In addition and for a limited time; this bundle will allot the user to download extra missions and skins before they go public on other platforms.

I am not surprised as Arkham Asylum for PS3 had the Joker as an extra missions character. The Batman logo shape looks great on the console and for once I am excited for a bundle.

Regardless of all, I will still be getting this on the PC followed on Xbnox One and maybe down the line get it on the PS4 once I get that system.

Great news never the less for Batman and Ps4 fans. Finally, a Bundle that one can be proud owning (With respect to other bundle).

A small note, there will also be a normal non limited edition Arkham Knight bundle for $399.99.

March 31, 2015

GTA V PS4 patch downgrades graphics for preformance

Well well well, looks like PS4 gamers are getting PCed if thats a word. Latest reports claim that the latest GTA V makes the game look little worse in return for performance boost. Not the kind of patch I expected but here is the thing;

Consoles are not PCs, never were never will. When you initially program the game, take in mind the most important thing; Performance. Should the developers optimized the game from the start this whole thing wouldn’t have had to happen and we wouldn’t know the difference to begin with.

Now that this magic patch was released this will forever hunt the game, platform and some gamers. I understand that both side make an argument but this whole thing could have been avoided from the start, considering we are talking about last gen game.

I cant help but feel I’m gaming on 1999 PC where I have to balance out the graphics and performance, this shouldn’t happen on consoles as all PS4s are the same and developers should have thought about this before releasing or should I say re releasing GTA 5.

On the other hand, where is the PC version? PC gamers are told to wait for better optimization so the devz better deliver or we will have another pointless wait.

Overall, I find this new practice little strange and don’t belong in console gaming. Gone are the days where developers put in allot of time and effort releasing their games on PlayStation one and Sega Saturn without any patch or fix and games worked fine. New days, we have lazy developer releasing half made games with micro transactions and DLCs to milk you of every dollar.

I understand games are harder to make and cost more but stuff like this should not happen regardless. At least give us the option to on off this.

March 24, 2015March 24, 2015

Back from vacation, Back to blogging

Bonjour, I just returned from a great vacation and a much needed rest. I finally got married and what better place to celebrate at than Paris and Disney?

Disney Paris was amazing. I did not except it to be that fun considering I’m 29, but I did. The place was freezing and I came prepared, just not 100% and paid for it with being cold throughout my trip.

Back to Disney, there aren’t many rides or games to play, instead you are faced with parade and many themed smaller parks like the cowboy town and Aladdin cave. Not a bad thing but I expected little more from THE amusement park.

Moving on to Paris city, I bet you were Expecting the pic. I wanted to climb it but the cold + a massive Que made me quickly change my mind. Everything look old and nicely designed. Even for me, a lover of tech the city felt nostalgic.

Notre dame was amazing as well. Silly as it may sound; I never knew that the Disney cartoon was inspired by a true story.

Inside was even more beautiful than the outside if that makes any sense. I loved the mid-evil feel to the place and even light up a candle.

Yes, I managed to catch Mercedes fashion show on shanzelize street. The whole street is active and alive. H&M, Zara and many others dominate the street as they were originally started here.

Of course I manged to mistakenly visit a gaming store, well not just gaming but a whole section dedicated to great stuff.

All I can say is, I enjoyed Paris but loved Val Europe more. The hotel we stayed at was great and so was the surroundings. I recommend visiting France but don’t over stay. A 7 to 5 days is enough unless you know where your going.

Great to be back.

February 25, 2015February 26, 2015

Surprisingly I am enjoying Harry Potter book

Lets get something clear; I don’t hate reading. I am however very picky on what I read and when. I need to be in a quiet place with the right mood and often lose focus fast.

When the first Potter book came out, everyone around was reading it except me. Years went by and the films are now finished. At some point I decided to give it ago but did not want to pick the hard cover version as it was a bit expensive and I wasn’t ready.

Now I’m at the mall with my girl, I enter the book store and I see the paperback version at a normal price. I say to myself that this is it, I’m picking it up and buy it.

Not knowing what to expect I place it next to my bed and go to sleep. Two days later I crack open it and that was when I realized that reading can be fun. This was not the first book I read and I have some pending but this is the first book that made reading fun and exciting.

I am now half way through and looking forward to finish the story. Every chapter is broken down into reasonable exciting parts that push the story forward.

I admit that I still find it little hard to concentrate for a long time but I hope as I train my brain I will over come this problem.

All in all, this is a great book that should be picked by any one at any age who enjoys adventure and fun. This post was never meant as a review or advertisement but I’m glad I did pick it and you should too.