Microsoft has a second chance at Browser Wars
Microsoft recently announced Edge, the new replacement for its legacy browser Internet Explorer. It’s not secret that IE has brought shame over Microsoft for its old and not so polished web browser mainly version 6, and although things has changed for the better in later updates the reputation haven’t.
All that is behind us as Microsoft reenter the browser wars with its new as the name suggest cutting Edge web browser. “Labeled as Gets things done” we can only assume that the new browser should make every day tasks little easier. Unfortunately we don’t have a final version so any speculations at this point are not 100% accurate as the browser is still in its early alpha/beta stage but judging from Microsoft bold statements things look promising.
It is worth noting that Edge will be Windows 10 exclusive meaning no backwards compatibility with older Windows but Microsoft promised to keep support of IE little longer due to corporates  still using it.
Little late but better than never.
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.
Adding Shaheen will boost Tekken 7 sales
Smart move. Adding Shaheen to the next Tekken will boost the sales as more gamers will want to pick it up to play as one of their own. Saudi Arabia and the meddle east is a large market and adding something that resembles it in the game will surly end up paying.
Now from my own point of view, the character resembles a middle eastern  guy minus the pants may I add.  Adding stuff is always a good thing although I’m surprised he is not a DLC or is he? Good news to Arab gamers and hope to see more features and new characters make refresh the series even though I am not a tekken fan.
Forza Horizon 2 is coming to PC [Rumor]
Rumors can be a tricky business, they can be started by anyone and fade away even quicker but once in awhile turn true. This may be the case with Forza Horizon 2 rumored to be coming to Windows 7 and 8 soon. It all started with Amazon listing Sunset Overdrive and Forza Horizon, and although both were pulled later this can only mean one thing: The rummer is true.
Why would Amazon suddenly make a listing by itself? The above makes sense with Xbox One not selling as anticipating it makes sense for Microsoft to port these tittles to a growing platform, aka PC gaming. I been saying this for sometime; Forza on the PC will be great. Downloadable cars and tracks by the mod community along with other extras, whats not to like?
Some will argue that it may hurt Xbox One sales as the struggling system needs exclusive for which I can simple reply with: It wont matter. PC gaming is not directly competing with consoles. Back at the day SEGA used to release and port games to the PC despite having a console.
My only concern is how will they market it? Games for Windows Live is dead so the way I see it they can release it on Steam or Windows Store. Steam is by far the best and the biggest PC gaming online store there is so releasing the game on valve’s tool is the best thing for business. The problem is, Microsoft store will be competing with Steam and the achievements thing handled by  non Microsoft software could be a problem.
If only Microsoft made Games for Windows Live more stable, easy to use and overall consumer acceptable like Origin is trying, things would have changed for the better. Never the less its not too late, as they say: Better Late than Never.
I’m looking forward to playing this on my PC with improved graphics and community created content and hope it seals well so that Microsoft can then start porting Halo and Gears of War collection in 4K.
The Evil Within Ending Theory
Spoiler Alert: Ending Discussion
The Evil Within’s ending is as confusing as it gets. At first all is good and simple until you realize that things are not what they seem. Lets debug it together:
Sebastian defeats Ruvik smashing his brain and wakes up from the nightmare. He then notice that everyone connected to Ruvik’s head was dead. Sebastian walks out with cops all over the place with Leslie the only survivor walking in the distance. All clear right? Wrong.
It is obvious that the game starts AFTER Sebastian was abducted -as seen by his missing photo in New Game+- and inserted into the Ruvik’s world. The supernatural things as seen through the surveillance camera is not real. Ruvik has no power in the real world.
Now before the final boss fight Ruvik finally catches Leslie and melts him presumably taking over his body in the real life. This theory explains the way Leslie walks as opposite how he used to. In short, many think that Leslie is controlled by Ruvik.
The problem with this theory is that:
- Why was Sebastian still having the noise headache in the real world after waking up as when he was looked up?
- How did Leslie disappear in seconds, let alone walkout unquestioned or stopped in front of all the cops?
My theory after searching the internet and reanalyzing is that you never leave the nightmare world. As Kidman said, nobody can ever leave. That explains the headache and the way Leslie disappeared. Its a Matrix inside a Matrix theory. Another thing to add is that before you wake up the hospital was very clean and tidy then looks deserted and broken down when you wake up.
This is the only theory that makes sense in my opinion unless we start arguing that Ruvik carried over his power into the real world which in my opinion will totally break the story. The future DLC will hopefully answer this and more like:
- What was the purpose of Ruvik mahcine?
- Why did the organization want Ruvik dead?
- Why send in everyone?
- What is this organization?
Speaking for myself; I did not like the story that much. I hate the “It was just a dream” thing in movies and games so I never was big on this game’s story. The thing that made this story kinda different is that the dream world is somehow connected to realty so not all was wasted.
Anyway, that was my take on the ending. Feel free to share your own theory in the comment section.
Ubisoft and Assassin’s Creed Unity issue
By now, the news should be out to everyone that the newly Assassin’s Creed Unity runs very poorly and unoptimized. Surprisingly, a simple fix was discovered; disconnect the internet from your console/PC. After killing the internet the FPS should double and the game becomes playable.
How did Ubisoft not test this is beyond me. Instead of placing a review restriction and try to hide the problem, admit it or better yet, take the extra time to fix it before releasing a half finished game with full price tag. And no, this is the not the first game from Ubisoft that came out half made. Trials Evolution Gold had this problem and still to this day is not fixed or patched. Resident Evil 4 port that they did was a horrible game that made Capcom redo it all over again for the PC.
Let alone the horrible Uplay that they impose as an attempt to capture steam sales. I get it, Ubisoft needs money just as any business but releasing broken games and place restrictions is not the way to go. Games and people and general likes to buy good stuff, meaning good games with great story and gameplay and not poorly optimized, half made release.
Gamers allover the world are raging and they have every right to be. I for one, will NOT be buying this until Ubisoft starts taking gamers, the customers that put money inside their pockets more seriously and trust me, I’m not the only one. It is one thing to forgive a mistake made by a trusted company, accepting broken products and getting used to it is another.
Sometimes you just say enough is enough and that’s exactly what many are saying. Ubisoft, I love Rayman and bought it across many platforms. It was nicely done and optimized so I bought it. We are not hatters, we buy good products so make your games right. Take extra months and even years but make the game right that’s all what we are asking.
A new Tony Hawk game is at work
Good news skaters and THPS fans; the man Tony himself twitted that he is working on another game with Activision. He also confirmed that the upcoming mobile game Shred Session was put on hold in order to fully concentrate on the next big project. Its about time if you ask me. As a big time Tony Hawk Pro Skater series fan I find this news exciting considering we haven’t good a proper game since American Wasteland and arguably Proving Ground.
Tony Hawk Pro Skater was always about insane yet fun tricks with new things in every new game until motion came and broke the series. Here is the THPS games chart:
| Name | Year released | Consoles | Developer | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro Skater | 1999 | PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, N-Gage | Neversoft | Main series |
| Pro Skater 2 | 2000 | PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Windows, Mac, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance | ||
| Pro Skater 3 | 2001 | PlayStation, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, Xbox, Windows, Mac | ||
| Pro Skater 2X | Xbox | Treyarch | Port | |
| Pro Skater 4 | 2002 | PlayStation, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Windows, Mac, Xbox | Neversoft | Main series |
| Underground | 2003 | PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Windows | ||
| Underground 2 | 2004 | PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Windows, Game Boy Advance, Mobile phone | ||
| Underground 2: Remix | 2005 | PlayStation Portable | Shaba Games | Port |
| American Wasteland | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Windows | Neversoft | Main series | |
| American Sk8land | Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance | Vicarious Visions | Port | |
| Downhill Jam | 2006 | PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, Wii | Toys for Bob | Spin-off |
| Project 8 | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable | Neversoft | Main series | |
| Proving Ground | 2007 | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360 | ||
| Motion | 2008 | Nintendo DS | Creat Studios | Spin-off |
| Ride | 2009 | PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 | Robomodo | |
| Shred | 2010 | |||
| Pro Skater HD | 2012 | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows | Remake | |
| Shred Session[2] | 2014[3] | iOS, Android | Big Bit | Spin-off |
| Currently untitled sequel | 2015[4] | TBA | TBA | Main series |
As you can see, its been sometime since we last played a proper TH game. I just hope that Activision gets it right with all the next Gen power available. I want a fun open city world with missions ranging from bigger to sick with folks walking around and possibly real traffic. What I don’t want however is a Skate Clone. As much as Skating is fun in real life -I do aggressive inline- the game should at least have some kind of insanity.
I agree doing crazy and stupid stuff all the time breaks the game but what I mean is balance. American Wasteland in my opinion combined both. Some would argue that THPS 4 was the last real Tony game but I disagree. While THPS 4 was keep the series in the same zone as the first three games, Underground 2 took it further with new rides and missions. Underground one was good, but the lack of a good story and gameplay made it an ok game. Still better than the later ports.
I am very excited and awaiting further details as they come.
Grand Theft Auto V PC version is getting 4K + First PersonÂ
On January 27, 2015 Grand Theft Auto V will finally be released on the PC with sweet improvements proving once again that PC version of any game will most likely be the superior version.
While many of you already saw GTA First Person mod before, this time it will be totally different as Rockstar will be remodeling the vehicles  and some other things to fit with the new FPM. Did I mention that the gloriouse graphics and beautiful city will be in 4K?
Now lets not get carried away with the above features just yet, in addition to the above along with other enhancements namely the draw distance there is one important feature unmarketed, can you guess it? Mods!
For the ones that don’t know, GTA’s online mode was started as a mod and even argued that it is better than the actual online made by Rockstar games. Lets not forget the downloadable cars and skins for the players. A community like not other, just look at GTA Vice City which is enjoyed to this day with custom content free by the loyal moders.
Even though the game is kinda old and over played on the last gen consoles, I for one am happy that I will be picking this up and enjoying it the way it meant to be played. My only concern is optimization. I just hope that Rockstar will deliver a better job than GTA4 which was poorly optimized with problems despite coming out late. Other than that I feel great that this game got the announced features and most importantly coming to PC where it all started.
This is a smart move on Rockstar’s part; Remaster a great last gen game while working on the proper next one. I understand that some will argue that it is too soon to remaster GTA5 and instead we should have got a truly next gen version. You are correct and I agree on remastering last gen games but this one gets a free pass. Not only was this one of the greatest GTA games, some of us -like me- did not get the chance to play it so why not pick the enhanced version on the next gen consoles and PC? Im impressed that they added official 4k support as 4k is yet to be mainstream but for the dedicated hardcore PC gamers this is a great feature.
Looking forward to playing this for the first time in its ultimate version soon.
The Evil Within PC version patch is out
The first Steam patch for The Evil Within is live. The patch includes the frame lock setting allowing you to go 30 or 60 FPS along with other little things like removing the black bars thus filling the entire screen and stability.
While Im all for updates, some of the things like FPS lock and bars remover should have been there from the start. I hate it how developers are handling PC versions while pretending that PC gaming is a closed console like environment. At any rate, the patch is the first step in the right direction and hopefully we will see further improvements and optimizations.