Tag: pc gaming

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Mortal Kombat X System Requirements

mortal-kombat-xThe PC System Requirement were announced and I have a mixed feeling. Lets look at the requirements before going any further:

MINIMUM:
    • OS: 64-bit: Vista, Win 7, Win 8
    • Processor: Intel Core i5-750, 2.67 GHz | AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.4 GHz
    • Memory: 3 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 | AMD Radeon HD 5850
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Hard Drive: 25 GB available space
RECOMMENDED:
    • OS: 64-bit: Win 7, Win 8
    • Processor: Intel Core i7-3770, 3.4 GHz | AMD FX-8350, 4.0 GHz
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 | AMD Radeon HD 7950
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Hard Drive: 40 GB available space

As seen, the minimum requirements aren’t that bad or high except maybe for the i5 CPU but overall are more than manageable for anyone with a PC from 3-8 years ago. I do think though that the recommended are a bit over the top. i7 and 8 GB Ram? The standard amount of Ram these days is 4-6 so giving 8 GB is a bit over. I also think that i7 is unnecessary and with a good optimization the game should require less.

Now I know that this is the next gen and so on but even then, this is bit over. Of course I will need to test the game to confirm as this may turn out to be another The Evil Within where they recommended insane specs only for the game to run max at much lower specs. Guess we will have to wait and see.

Regardless of all, the game uses a new engine and looks great. Judging from the videos we saw, it also plays great and smooth so I’m not surprised the recommended specs are high. Im still unsure if I will be picking this up on the PC or Xbox One but I am glad that another Mortal Kombat is making its way to the PC thanks to Steam.

You can preorder the game on Steam and get the free DLC with it for $59.99.

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Simpsons skins are coming to Minecraft

simpsons_minecraftCredit: http://mashable.com/

I think we are starting to see how Microsoft will start benefiting from the huge Minecraft purchase and the first downloadable skins are here. For only $1.99 you will receive The Simpsons skin pack on Xbox One with Xbox 360 around feb. The rest of the platforms will surly follow although I am surprised this isn’t on the PC yet.

While this is in no way a big thing, I honestly like it as it gives some colors to an already great game. Lets just hope they wont overdo it.

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Microsoft is working on a new VR Headset for Xbox One

Xbox_One_VR

VRFocus confirmed that Microsoft is working on a new Virtual Reality Headset for the Xbox One. Not surprising since this is a direct response to Sony’s  Project Morpheus and Oculus Rift.

What I don’t understand is; Why are Sony and Microsoft spending time and money on gimmicks? There will be a time for virtual reality and the matrix but it is not this day. Concentrate on fixing your consoles and optimize them. Fix the whole 1080p drama and help develop bugs free games. Time and energy is spent on failed so called future tech that no one will probibly care about, just like the Wii controller, just PS cam, just like Xbox kinect and so on.

I remember when the 3D craze was just getting started and they were selling us that the home 3D screen are the future only that no one cared and android smart TVs were flying off shelf instead.

When will the big boys realize that we just want proper games? This whole next gen future gadgets thing is getting out of hand. Gone are the days when I can simply insert the CD and start the game. Now we have to download 15GB+ day one patches and hope that games will be fixed later.

I am yet to find a reason to buy a next gen console as I can get everything on the PC for way cheaper and better. I find my self interested more in retro than the modern era consoles and crap like this only makes me want to stay in the past.

Nintendo on the other hand is trying to stay true to gaming but the horrible Wii U 3rd party support and the overpriced controller is killing them. Gaming companies should go back into making games fun to play and enjoyable instead on concentrating on crap no one is asking for.

Noe excuse me while I go look for food while browsing eBay for some real old school games. Out.

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Games take too much space

spacehdIt is the year 2014, video games has grown to the point that a single game install can take up to 50 GB+ let alone day one patch of 20 GB. This is becoming an issue to a growing number of gamers as hard disk space is something to be considered very seriously. Fast internet to download monthly patches is a luxury many don’t have including myself.

Now I know that games are getting bigger and more space is used by all the HD stuff and what not but I’m sure that sure that developers, if worked hard could come up with a way to optimize and compress the content without noticeably effecting the quality. We are doing this to video files since I don’t know when using Handbrake or other software so whats the problem with games? Compress the videos and music but give me a smaller  install requirement any day. Allow the option of selecting the install type and video/music quality to save disk space.

The other thing is the day one 1GB patch thing; take your time developing and optimizing. I understand that bugs are found after release but not this much. Assassin’s Creed Unity had over 300 bugs that are being fixed with patches, don’t tell Uobisoft did not know about that.

The simple fact is developers are rushing the games out half finished with hopes of fixing them along the line and that is something I hate! I can wait an extra month or two so please take your time and optimize. Gone are the days where developers had to figure of the PlayStation one and Sega Saturn to take a full advantage and release an optimized version and there were no patches back then. Now its all about money and quick yearly releases with little to no effort put in.

I really hope that future games become less space demanding and fully playable day one. Is that so much to ask?

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Pokemon goes V.R using Oculus Rift

pokemon_vrA dream come true for old school Nintendo and Pokemon fans. Pokemon has gone VR. Well not really but this test created by a developer using a motion control and Oculus Rift.

How do I personally feel? I don’t know. Sure it’s cool to be using VR in games but are we there yet? And the most important question; Will this be the next 3D? I remember the craze that came along with the new 3D technology, I my self own a 3D TV and I am yet to test it. Truth is, no body cares any more. The hype shifted to the smart TV which is basically running android on your TV. And with the whole Facebook, Oculus Rift deal things can go south.

I’m not saying this is the next gimmick but I also not sold that this is the future. Just like flying cars, this is just something we are not yet ready to do. Concentrate on making Great games > This VR thing.

I just don’t want this to be the next Wii controller. Doing VR for the sake of VR. Concentrate on making great games and when if Oculus Rift becomes mainstream then and only then jump on the train. Now I realize that no official statement or support been made regarding this but I feel like developers will take note and try to early adopt for the sake of adoption.

I said it twice, I will take great games over new gimiks any day.

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The Evil Within Ending Theory

The_Evil_WithinSpoiler 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:

  1. Why was Sebastian still having the noise headache in the real world after waking up as when he was looked up?
  2. 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:

  1. What was the purpose of Ruvik mahcine?
  2. Why did the organization want Ruvik dead?
  3. Why send in everyone?
  4. 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.

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Nvidia CEO: Consoles are dying

Nvidia

And so I think that there’s too many other ways to enjoy games now, for the game console to enjoy the hay days of the past. But we’ll see. The thing that I do know is this, without any question is that the PC is continuing to expand the number of titles. Great titles are coming to the PC. It’s is continuing to grow and the quality of titles is growing up ever so fast. – Jen-Hsung

Read more: http://wccftech.com/nvidia-golden-days-consoles-over-other-ways/#ixzz3J9VnCTiG

So unsurprisingly Nvidia CEO officially voiced his opinion on consoles and PCgaming and it makes sense. Now before you acuse me of anti consoles; I own old and new gen and game on everything from Game boy color to Xbox One. PC gaming has grown to the point were almost every type of game is available unlikely the PS2 era were PC gaming was restricted to shooters and RTS. New days, everything from platforms to sports are available on Steam, GOG or Origin as well as physical copies so there is no shortage.

PC gaming problems decreased over the years as well. Gone are the days were a game would not install or you need to configure stuff for it to work correctly . Of course, some issues are there and you will get into trouble if you don’t know what your doing but that’s very rare these days. I can simply plug in an Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller and enjoy The Evil Within on big screen and that’s exactly how I played it.

Almost always the game looks, feels and plays better on PC and once a problem is discovered you are not limited to the support of the company who made the game as the community puts up unofficial patches all the time if not even better than the official. You are not alone and people are always there to help.

Now do I think consoles will die soon? No but they will continue to decline until there is no point. Back at the day consoles were special with special games and overall feel, not they are basically PC parts put together in a box. Nintendo on the other hand is trying hard to keep the console era alive by putting out great console type games.

I enjoyed playing Sega Saturn, PS one and Dreamcast but new days I just cant get into consoles like I used to. The need to install and 15 GB patches and have problems that Pc gaming used to have turned me away. I still enjoy Nintendo, retro and 3DS but that’s about it.

I really hope that consoles go back to the way they used to be; Fun and simple.

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Farcry 4 pulled from Steam along with other future Ubisoft games [UPDATED]

farcry4

UPDATE: So it seems that the games are back on Steam ending the speculations and discarding this blog post. I gotta give Ubisoft respect for sorting this out and eliminating the problem I wrote bellow. The article stays as reference as its still hold information on the current status of Uplay not to mention you still need it when starting some games through Steam.

Want to preorder the latest Ubisoft games? Sure, but you will need to install and do so through Uplay. Ubisoft pulled Farcry 4, Assassins Creed Unity and The Crew from Steam but says its negotiating with Valve. First EA and now this? Lets get something straight here; Uplay is in no way near Steam or even Origin. I personally installed Uplay when I wanted to play Trials Evelution Gold Edition which I bought on Steam and apart from the slow and overall ugly interface, the game was running turtle slow even tough I can play The Evil Within fine.

Ubisoft saw Valve and EA do it and thought they would jump on the train as well. I have no problem with competition and I welcome it with open arms as long as its good. In this games, Uplay needs allot of work both on the inside and out, until then stop forcing people to use it. Better yet, keep your games on Steam AND Uplay so we as consumers can have a choice. Business is business I get it but keep in mind you cant screw the consumer and move on. Allot of us were looking forward to preordering FarCry on steam and no we wont.

The other two tittles which were pulled as well are Assassins Creed Unity and The Crew. I was looking forward to The Crew as I think it can bring a new thing to racing and open world in general but until I make sure that I will be able to enjoy the game my way without jumping through programs and logins I wont and trust me Ubisoft, I’m not the only one.

We live in the day and age of self branding hence this blog but give people a choice, you gonna get your money in any case. Sell the game through steam while slowly but surly working on Uplay until its ready and tested and people will automatically buy them through your platform, not by force. I hope Ubisoft and EA rethink this through and give us the gamers the choice we deserve.

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Bethesda cancel Prey 2 and it is good!

Prey_2

Bethesda finally came forward and announced that Prey 2 is officially canceled as it was not meeting the set expectations. Normally I would get sad as a game gets canceled, but in this case I’m not and for a good reason may I add.

Prey 1 or should I say the Original Prey was about Alinies abduction and you had to find a way to escape while killing everything in your path. Good enough for a generic shooter with a few great add-ions like walking on walls and sprite stuff. Nothing unusual but the story was straight forward with the bad guys came, kill em to save the world and it was good enough for most of us at that time.

Prey 2 took us to a totally different setting and it was bad. I’m all up for innovation and new stuff but just because its new doesn’t mean its good. The new story takes place years later with you as a bounty hunter capturing aliens for money. You see how ridiculous that sounded?

Prey was about aliens coming to kill us and it was up to you to stop them. Now that they are everywhere and you hunting them for money took away the fear and excitement found in the first one. Not to mention the probably horrible ending. In the original Prey you wondered about how all this will end, you had a goal and a purpose.

Once again I’m all up for new ideas and what not, its just I find it stupid. Even Bethesda found the game to be boring and not up to the first part standards. Should they decide to continue working on Prey 2, I really hope thy scrap the whole thing and start fresh with a story like you are fighting for your life on an alien planet after you got abducted or something else. As long as you have a purpose I’m all for it.

Any way, I’m sorry that some of you were looking forward to this game but it is for the best that this mess gets canceled and hopefully we will get a proper Prey 2 at some point and the not so far future.