Bydood

Tag: gaming

  • How the new life is so far…

    It has been months since moving from UK to Australia. It has been crazy busy from when I moved and until now, I believe that I have come to a stage where it has kind of calmed down that I can sit back to write an update blog. It has been a while but lets go!

    So what’s changed? I started off with a bit of cash so the minute I landed, I was a little unstable but good thing that I had a place to stay so that was a huge benefit for me.

    With no time wasting, I immediately went job hunting. This initiated with a quick portfolio website for companies to see and whipping something up and looking for work, I felt like the portfolio was the key part of it all. Finding time to do it was difficult but eventually, it was complete… After an extra few days, companies started to call me and several initial tests were sent for me to do. Long story short, it came down to 2 choices where one company was interested and the other still in deciding mode but with a bit of thought, it became clear that I decided to choose the company that suited me best… So 1 month and a bit later, I was in the working life.

    So now the job was clear and out of the way, it came back into looking to find time for my projects, which were put on hold for so long. This became a little difficult as I gave the job priority. It was rather hard to find time since I did a few late nights and stuff but recently, my weekends have now freed up opening time for development.

    My progress now lies at a point where a new project that I thought of a while back can now jump into motion. At the same time, I have given more thought into a web project in collaboration with my brother so with that, I will be busy for the next few months. This is a great feeling as personal development starts here!! This deserves a smiley :).

    In another topic, networking is starting to look better. I am beginning to see a clearer forecast of friendly people to hangout with and stuff. Although this is still a small number, it should rise if I let loose but like I said, it’s only been a few months so let’s see in another fe months to find out where I get to…

    The games part of me have played a bigger role lately. Specifically, the Wii U is the console played most. I suppose I never really saw the potential in the beginning for the Wii U but with the recent games especially Mario Kart 8 (and of course, the multiplayer experience), it changes my whole opinion about the console itself. Maybe I am living in the good old days where play games next to people just makes a game 10 times more enjoyable. Whatever the case, it creates a great diversion away from the world.

    Moving on to a social topic, I ran into a few friends down in Melbourne to see how they were in the weekend. They were friends that I have known for years (since secondary school) and we all decided to redezvous in Australia! It was pleasant seeing these faces again and we had a great time just catching up and hopping from bar to bar. I guess I haven’t really had one of these nights since London but it was sure a good feeling that I was experiencing my first time in Melbourne with these guys! So if you guys are reading this, thanks for that weekend! It was awesome!

    So to sum up my entire time over in Australia, I guess I have been enjoying my time over here so far. The people are pretty nice, work environment is a splendid place to work in and the general networking is slowly happening making everyday a moment to remember. I did start off a little scared moving from a space I was once very comfortable in to an entirely new life but it is growing on me…

    Thanks for reading guys and I will try post more often. Until next time…

  • Kirby: Triple Deluxe – Nintendo 3DS – Review

    Kirby: Triple Deluxe, the Nintendo 3DS version, is actually the first Kirby game I have tried and playing from start to finish, I can give a full review of it.

    Kirby-Triple-Deluxe-300

    The game is developed in a 3D environment but keeping the retro feel by preserving the controls two dimensional. Considering the fact that I have only experienced Kirby controls on Super Smash Bros., the game feels the same when attacking enemies and avoiding the pits of death by inflating the pink bubblegum into the air (one problem: you can puff up Kirby infinitely so although some people will like this, I feel like the challenge decreases as you can float into the air throughout the entire stage).

    The layout of the stages and the interactivity of the game really challenges you ESPECIALLY when you are trying to get all of the Sun Stones and if you fail to comply, you are forced to either die and try again or complete the stage and do it again. I am the type to see that if a stage is not complete with 100% satisfaction, I prefer to do it again.

    It really keeps the player immersed with the variety of weapons Kirby can change into and the challenge of the puzzles. The game is very nicely laid out keeping the “learning as you play” formula. Also, there are some unexpected twists to the environment around every corner that surprised me.

    I feel there was a lot of thought considered into this game. I do believe that the cut scenes could have been good with some voice acting and I was rather disconnected from the storyline but truthfully, the gameplay really made up for those minor disadvantages.

    As a person, this game really fits my category of gaming as I enjoy my fair share of retro gaming. If I was to give a rating, it would be a good 9/10.

  • First glance at GTA 5

    Grand Theft Auto 5 is amongst us and having grabbed my copy on the first day of release, I managed to start playing it this weekend and here are my thoughts…

    I haven’t played it to its fullest just yet. I will give this a full review when I complete it but give my opinion in regards to where I am now…

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    The game dives straight into the action allowing players to be engaged immediately and in order to learn the controls, GTA grabs our attention with a ‘learn by doing’ approach which is very typical in the gaming era. However, it is a great way to learn the controls and is simple to get hooked. As the game proceeds, you get the entire understanding of aiming, shooting, running, hiding and getting into a car in the little 5 minute situation. The game is straight forward if you have played any GTA series before.

    The game is so far a great game with all the little extra things they put in. Seeing that the last GTA game I actually played was in fact Vice City and I enjoyed that game to the very end. From seeing GTA: VC to the 5, it’s obviously a huge improvement in graphics but more importantly, the game carries several different personalities in terms of characters (especially Trevor)… The consistency has been kept as well as the controls making players feel familiar and it is definitely a game worth trying out. The part that most people do is start messing around with the police mechanics in the game just to try see how long they last for…

    From this short review, I give it a 8/10 so far. Definitely beats the last few iterations of the GTA series… For me anyways…

  • Thoughts about gaming today

    There are so many perspectives when the category ‘gaming’ is spoken of. Generally, games have evolved to a large audience compared to how it was before. The game industries have made a great impact to the world but is it all for the best?

    XBox Hamster

    I am a fan of playing games but have toned down a big amount compared to back then. It used to be the routine to wake up early to play and end the day with playing a few more hours but I was not as hardcore as other gamers. I can’t quite pinpoint as to what happened to me and what got me to stop playing games as much now. Maturity? Realisation of other things happening in the world? Or just the fact that I don’t like change?!

    Gaming has changed completely with a different audience it once had. With genres introduced and more coming…

    My view on gaming is that games are great at passing time or killing time. But I would never come to a point where I’ll assign it as a religion! It also has come to a point where they make a huge deal about connecting with people, e-shops and the cloud. These things are very convenient but also encourages the behaviour ‘sit on your ass all day in front of a screen’. I know this because I am part of this disease too. Escaping this realm is very difficult but it’s all about self control and remembering that you have a passion in life.

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    I recently got back into gaming and I feel like I cannot play a single game properly anymore. However, playing multiplayer with mics gives you twice the amount of engagement! One thing I love about multiplayer gaming is that there is a limitation. If your friends are not online or the gamers are boring to play with, I can easily divert my attention to something else that is not gaming related allowing me to continue with the more vital things in life.

    One game that I actually sat down to complete properly was Tomb Raider. The game just kept having cliff hangers over and over again that kept me immersed throughout the entire game. Although I caught several bugs, it was easily ignored and felt like I grew to understand how Lara felt during her wild adventure. With the feeling of the sequel being released, hinted by Lara’s thoughts at the end, it is definitely a must buy from me…

    Consoles have now come to a point where it connects to you in a personal way. It predicts stuff like what you might be interested in. These kind of things are again, very convenient but hypnotises you temporarily that it is something you must have making you use money. Personally, I prefer the old days where we go to our local shops and find a game by just reading the back of a cover or reading in a magazine but the beneficial factor that it is sitting online and pricing is cheaper online, it pushes me to support the online team…

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    Summarising this is rather difficult but being as it is, the old days made gaming a whole load of fun. The days where we play together in the same room, buying games from shops, the discovery of games… Those days were much more exciting than the choices we have now. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the new features nowadays but if I were to choose, I’d probably go back…

  • Quick update…

    It has been a long while since I have written a blog post however, now that I have installed Evernote (http://www.evernote.com) on all my devices, I can finally share across all platforms so with this, I will probably write more posts…
    So I want to start with my development progress since I have been hard at work recently. I have been working on securing a virtual server which I recently purchased from Linode.com. This is the first time I have ever used this and I spent quite a bit of time doing this. My aim is to use this virtual server to keep all my future developments here so I can monitor precisely what is going on. Although it does require a bit of technical knowledge to get around to places, but it was rather fun just getting to understand it. The server seems to be stabilised and now moving forward to creating my web servers onto it. I have 3 in total so I need to secure those. This server has the capability to do much more and I plan to use it to its full capacity!
    So lets move onto movies… After a lot of waiting around, I finally sat down to watch the entire Fast & Furious collection (only the 5 movies… The 6th one is on hold until the DVD is released)… I think it was a good set of films but the fact that it was rather a messy transition between 1-3 but went back on the story at 4-5. But 2 was more of comedy and 3 was just a whole new story with new characters which rather put me off the whole collection altogether. In my opinion, I think the 5th was probably my favourite one.
    Moving back a bit more, so I went out to purchase a tablet, Acer W700, and I need to put my opinion on this bit of kit. So this device holds an Intel i5 3rd gen processor, 4GB RAM and Intel HD 4000. The 11-inch screen grabs an impressive HD resolution with pixel perfect display. Nowadays, this tablet is my complete replacement of my Mac Mini and it accomplishes more or less my day to day activities on a computer. One downside I would probably mention is the heating and the noise that comes out when a bit of activity is being processed on the tablet… Besides this, I believe it can sit side by side with a low end laptop but just with the touch screen controls…
    Finally, gaming… Resident Evil 6… The game I bought on the first day it came out and completed 2 campaigns but need to finish the last one. The game is pretty good with the storyline and all but one problem is the camera angles. It is very frustrating when the camera just moves around a lot and also, it is too close to the body that the bottom is not visible. If these issues were fixed, this may actually reach a 8/10 but unfortunately, I would give it a 7/10…
    I hope to work more on my blog so I hope you enjoyed this one.

  • A look into my world…

    Generally wondering where I am going in this world is rather frustrating… Could be because I am waiting for something to happen or whether I missed my opportunity. This life experience that I’ve had for this past year has been completely eye opening for me and I do not regret how I spent my money or how I spent my time. It’s because I am a late bloomer towards living life and truth be told, people who question me about it may not understand it but I don’t need to explain it to them because at the end of the day, it’s my life. Judgement from others can take someone’s positive thoughts into something negative and once you start letting that happen, regrets are bound to question in your head.

    I want to take a minute to talk about memories seeing that I’ve had several conversations about this matter. When we lose something back in the past, we tend to start thinking about every possible reason as to why or what we could have done to bring that memory back to the present. However, the truth is that we need to just realise it is nothing but a memory and it is better if we just leave it as it is and move from it. Sounds simple huh? But the problem stands that we are human and the package comes with caring about the past and reminiscing… All we really can do is just hope the suffering passes and try realise it is all for experience…

    Moving onto something less depressing, so the battle between Xbox One and PS4 is what everyone seems to be talking about and with everything considered, here is my opinion upon it.

    So Xbox One seems to have created so much drama with preowned games, the cost of the console (£429) and not allowing people with no internet connection to get the console and was told that if you don’t have an internet connection, then Xbox 360 is more capable to accomplish your gaming needs.

    That’s a little harsh Xbox! 

    On the other hand , we have PS4 which seems as though it is the anti-Xbox: no fuss about preowned games, price is reasonable (£350) and the internet connection does now have to be paid annually but its a small price to pay… I must admit, before all this drama, I was absolutely wanting Xbox but if they are going to make it difficult, then I would just have to settle with the PS4 which is a shame… But lets see if Xbox changes from now until November…

    So the other day, I swapped back from my LG Nexus 4 over to my iPhone 4S again (I’m so glad I didn’t sell it)… I tried using an Android for roughly 3-4 months but when I looked at the iPhone 5 and the upcoming iOS 7, it made me realise that I actually miss the iOS. The retina display and just the navigation is so simple and I think maybe it is the fact that I have used iOS for a long time that adapting to a new one just does not do it for me. But that is just me… Sometimes, I can be rather difficult but I believe that the interface design and navigation on the Nexus 4 is not as good as Samsung’s or Sony’s user interface.

    Things have been rather slow for me in terms of productivity and it is because of just how tired I feel when I get home from work and my weekends slowly turn into nothing but lazing about the house making me just want to go out as that would probably have been more productive… And maybe I should have… In specific, development has gone to a complete stop! I think I just need to exercise every evening and try fit whatever time I have left to accomplish my goals… My evenings were once very easy to stay up but now I sleep at 10pm… I need to change that routine!!

    I will be back on track soon enough… Need to get my thoughts straight first…

  • Withthegamers.com

    There has been a project that I have been involved with in an upcoming website releasing a version shortly. The first version of the website will consist of the latest news in gaming and will keep you up to date with the upcoming events such as the long awaited E3!

     

     

    Sign up to our newsletters at:

    The site will be free to use and is available to anyone. We have some exciting ideas coming ahead so be sure to check the website often…

    We are open to feedback as well so if you also have ideas, please let us know and we will be sure to note it down.

    Thanks for the support…

  • Xbox One announced

    So the Xbox One has been confirmed and from all the rumours spread before hand, it seems like the announcement did not reach the expectations of the viewers! In other words, it was over-hyped! Here is precisely what I think of the 1 hour presentation…

    Image from mashable.com

    The name “Xbox One” felt as though they were going backwards… There was a big number “360” at the end of Xbox and now they want to minus 359 from it? I don’t know but to me, it feels like a downgrade to me.

    The console itself was quite a bit of a disappointment to me. The style of it didn’t look so great and to be honest, the old one looks better. The Kinect (which now comes with the console) does look a little chunky and again, I’d prefer the old design. What makes up for my negativity is probably the controller. It looks more or less the same as the old one but a few changes but I guess for me, the controller made Xbox the right choice for me. Although it is not the best thing for beat em up games, it does accomplish other genre of gaming correctly. Seeing that the console and Kinect will be sitting in front of me, the controller is the vital importance of gaming here so all in all, its not so bad…

    Image from Technobuffalo.com

    The presentation then moved onto living room activities. From what I gathered, they seem to want navigation through TV, movies, music and games easier just with a few simple voice commands. Also, they introduced Skype into the mix. It seems as though I was looking at the Windows 8 interface since the Skype call was taken on the side and had the ability to also watch Star Trek. But with Skype integration, that is what made it interesting. One thing I really loved about PC gaming was that I could video call on Skype with one monitor and play  games on the other.

    Then there was a brief overview with EA Sports, Quantum Break and Call of Duty: Ghosts. Of course I expected no game line up since they did specify before hand that the games will be announced at the E3 Expo. Quite honestly, EA Sports always deliver the same and expected games so to me, that is no surprise. Quantum Break was completely baffling! Although the story line of this game remains a mystery, it looks rather interesting. Finally, Call of Duty: Ghosts looks more or less the same as their previous games but the graphics are a touch better.

    Image from Joystiq.com

    So the presentation leaves me with the following opinion. It wasn’t a full disappointment but the big point is that the Kinect will be sold with the Xbox One at launch which is a good thing. With the game line up coming up, there really isn’t much to say just yet but with Skype and TV integration, it makes the console worth having. The controller is also kept consistent which I don’t see a problem with.

    So far, a 7/10 only because I want to see what games are coming out on launch and especially the price is one of the key factors I was waiting for… One other thing they did not announce is the specific day of release… Would be nice to know when to expect this bad boy…

  • Mistakes

    Creating mistakes can be so easy… Some are plain obvious and some are hidden. Question is how do we know a mistake is coming? Let’s analyse…
    Mistakes are made when a certain action is done but then it is followed with a judgement by either yourself or someone else right? So in that case, why do we allow ourselves to consider it a mistake? 

    We are our own worst enemy!

    Some people say that they don’t live in regrets but truth be told, I think we all have one or more regrets if you analyse it carefully. But don’t let it destroy the person you spent building. Lying to yourself just means you’re living a life in denial. 
    Personally, I cannot sit and say I am a perfect person. I just feel as though there are people who are just so afraid in making that “mistake” which could be the very same opportunity that could make you a stronger person. If someone is telling you that you can’t do something, don’t let them take you down! It’s your life and even if you make that wrong turn, at least you tried.
    I am still trying to learn this methodology. As days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, I keep ending up in a spiral however, as I write this, I feel optimistic that I may just turn it all around in an instant… Nowadays, I use these mistakes to analyse why others judge them as mistakes.
    I don’t know about you but I’d like to redefine that very definition to a positive meaning rather than that negative vibe… Easier said than done but if we are given second chances, then let’s change it!

    I suppose what I am trying to get at with this post is that life is tough when people judge you and you are taken down from their comments when really, it doesn’t matter at all. Sometimes, they can be right but if you take all judgements to mind, it can take a big chunk of spirit from you!

    Everyday is a day worth experiencing to its fullest…

    Remember… Mistakes are allowed to be made because that is what defines you… 

  • A look into my perspective…

    It has been a while since I have wrote a personal log in regards to what I have been up to so I thought I would write it out. Mind you, there really is not much to put down but let’s go for it.
    So Dead Island: Riptide finally came out and I got to play with my brothers. Seeing that we were playing in different timezones, one end were feeling tired and the other was wide awake… I was on the end of feeling exhausted but as we only played it once so far, it is enough to give out my opinion.
    Dead Island takes place literally after the first game and to be honest, they did a good job in keeping it almost the same but it did feel a weeny bit slower. However, it was the first time playing on the Xbox version since I played on the PC in the last game so maybe that could be the difference? The characters were the same which made it feel like they made no effort and as my brother said, there really was no point in creating a whole new game for this as the models were the same and possibly the better graphics (a touch better…). But I think I’ve judged it too soon so until my next gaming session, that is where I may can give a full review upon it but so far, 6/10.
    I started playing the guitar and it has given me a exhilarating feeling knowing that I have finally picked it up after letting it pick up so much dust! I am currently just looking over YouTube for tutorials and keeping it simple. It is hard for me to switch chords but I am getting used to it though.

    As you’ve noticed, these are all home activities and to be honest, I have been at home most of the times to catch up on everything. Keeping a strong focus on projects is my main priority! But I will be changing my blog really soon. Keep a good look out for it.

    Even if you put a little effort towards your projects, its better than no effort at all…

    My days are beginning to become productive… I can see that when reading my post out loud, I feel a slight relief knowing that at least something is being done. It is not going as fast as I expect to do it but at least I am doing it.

    This has been a very delayed blog post and I am hoping I will sit down to write more again. Things have been so difficult lately. Project development takes a big chunk of my time but will probably get back to it.

    It’s important to stay focused…