On Hiatus. College. Sorry.

This blog will be quiet for a little while. College has just started so I am kind of busy right now. Sorry.

Mod Review: Hexxit ModPack for Minecraft

First, I would like to apologize for not posting, I still haven't played enough games to review them. Except for today's subject.

I will be reviewing the Hexxit Modpack for Minecraft today instead of a standalone game, although the pack almost makes Minecraft an entirely different game.

The Hexxit Modpack adds a ton of new features, including, but not limited to, new mobs, items, events, foliage, and structures. The pack adds so much stuff and runs so well, that I can, at least for the moment, not think of playing Minecraft without it.

One of the most fun things I have found about it, is that it adds falling stars and Meteors. The stars are the more fun ones in my opinion, mainly because they don't obliterate their surroundings when they land. When you pick up a fallen star, you get a star piece and an experience boost, if you wait too long, it turns into stardust. Meteors are more destructive, but the Meteor chips can be turned into tools and such. There are different Meteor types, but I wont explain them since I think experience is the best teacher.

The pack adds a few new mechanics to the game as well, luckily there are books in-game to teach you the ropes. And if you get really stuck, just use the wiki page to figure it out. No shame in looking it up if you are really stuck. Games are meant to be played, and while it can take the fun out of a game to just look it up instead of figuring it out for yourself, it can be just as bad to not be able to play the game to its fullest because of a frustrating puzzle or item combo you just can't seem to figure out.

Anyway, I highly recommend this pack, and luckily for those of us that can't mod Minecraft to save our lives, especially server-side mods, there is a launcher available that downloads its own copy of Minecraft, using your account, no pirating here, then the mods, then it mods the game for you. Same with the server.

You can get them both here.

Thanks for reading!

No review for today

I am sorry for not posting Friday, I was an orientation leader at my college and had to work.

Also, there won't be a post today. I need to sit down and play some more games that I am going to review, as it is, I haven't played any games recently enough to honestly give them good reviews.

Thanks for your patience and thank you for reading.

Gaming News: Slow Week

It's a slow week in the gaming news department.

The only big thing of note that I was able to come across was the the US government now recognizes Pro gamers as athletes. If they are playing League of Legends at least. Not sure how I feel about that. While I love to see fellow gamers get ahead, it seems a bit of a stretch to call the athletes. But I still have to respect those who have gone pro and earn six figure salaries.

Since this is such as low news week, I am going to give a little troubleshooting tip.

If you are trying to play Star Wars Battlefront II on Windows 7, and Vista, you might be running into an issue where the game crashes after trying to load a map. You can set up the game and everything, but once you hit the loading screen for the map, it crashes. The main fix for this is to go into recording devices and set "Stereo Mix", or "What you here" to the default recording device. This only works on older installations of Windows as newer ones have drivers that removes it because of fears of Copyright infringement. The easiest workaround I have found is to just get a pair of headphones, earbuds, or what not, and plug them into the mic jack and set it as the recording device. The game should run now. The game doesn't care what it is, it just wants something set as the recording device and active for some reason. The game will still be a bit glitchy because of its age so be warned.


That's it for today. Thanks for reading!

Game Review: Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is Bethesda's hit post-apocalyptic RPG based in the DC area.

The game is based in a fictional universe where most of the future predictions from 1940-1960 came true. At least until the nuclear war between China and the USA happened. the game is set 200 years after the nuclear war as your character emerges from the underground vault.

The best way I can describe the atmosphere of the game is, imagine the late 40s, early 50s style, and music. Now imagine that it just never went away. Any cars you find, wont be able to use them, are going to look like they came out of a 50s Sci-Fi film. The music is big band and such, the robots look like you would expect as well.. The art style is undeniably my favorite part of the game.  It's like being transported back in time, and forward at the same time.

I wont say anything about the story beyond what I have already said. That is for you to find out.

The game operates almost identically to the Elder Scrolls games. You have weapons you find and buy, the weapons have set damage stats that change depending on condition. Same with armor. The way it varies from the Elder Scrolls game is that it relies on ranged weapons such as laser pistols and assault rifles. The game is absurdly fun, and looking at my experience with the game, might just speed up time around you as you play. The game is strictly single player, which might be a turn off for some people, but is a plus for people like me.

There are several DLC packs that have been released, but I haven't tried any of them out yet so I can't giver an opinion on them yet.

Overall, I think this game is definitely worth the money and time. Now, I am going to continue to explore the wasteland.

Thanks for reading!

Throwback Friday: Ratchet: Deadlocked

This Friday's game is Ratchet: Deadlocked.

Ratchet deadlocked was released on October 25, 2008.
The game is was developed by Insomniac Games, and was published by Sony Computer Entertainment.

The game is the fourth in the Ratchet & Clank series and was the first (and only, to my knowledge) game in the series where Clank is not a playable character, which is evident once you look at the title.

In the game, players must fight their way through the Dreadzone tournament to win their freedom and stop the evil Gleeman Vox. Ratchet will have to fight ex-hero Ace Starlight, and the exterminators along the way to victory.


The game plays like the previous games in the series minus Clanks heli-pack ability. Players will have to fight their way through hordes of enemies and survive various challenges throughout the game. Instead of Clank, Ratchet is aided by two combat bots that will assist him in combat , hack computers, and turn bolt cranks. Another unique to the game is that there is a a multiplayer co-op option for the campaign where a player takes control of a robotic partner and the job of hacking and other things is turned over to the players.

The game is a fun game and should not be overlooked. The game is available on the PSN store for $9.99 and is a good time waster. I will say that the PSN download has some animation glitches, but so far nothing affecting gameplay.

Thanks for reading!

Gaming News: GTA V Gameplay trailer

This week, Rockstar Games released a video showcasing GTA V's actual gameplay. Take a look below (Warning: I felt the need to link to the official video. Please note that there is strong language in said video. If there are small children around, do not watch, or wear headphones. Thank you.):



The game looks promising, and I can definitely say that I will probably pre-order it. If it was  coming to PC.

While I own both a Xbox and a PS3, I prefer to play games on the PC I built. It's just something I do. So far Rockstar has not given a release date for a PC version, or even confirmed if it is coming to PC at all. But a job listing from Rockstar for a PC graphics programmer has raised hopes for the release of a PC version. A late PC release is nothing unusual for the GTA series with most games in the series having their PC version come a few months later than the consoles.

Overall, the game looks promising and is probably going to be a lot of fun. I can only hope they keep the multiplayer game modes from GTA IV. This might be the first game in the series I actually play. As long as they don't mess it up. Like Duke Nukem Forever mess it up.

One final thing before I end the post, keep an eye out for the Steam Summer Sale. It has been hinted that it will start tomorrow, but no one outside of Valve really has an idea as to when the sale will actually start.

Thanks for reading!

Sorry for not posting yesterday!

I apologize for not posting yesterday. I was too busy playing Fallout 3. On a related note, next Monday's post will be about Fallout 3. Things will continue as normal tomorrow. thanks for reading!

Throwback Friday: Twisted Metal

Today's game is: Twisted Metal for the PS1.

Twisted Metal was released on November 5th 1995.
The game was originally developed by SingleTrac, and was later handled by different developers.
the game was published by Sony Computer Entertainment.

In the game, a man called Calypso hosts a tournament, the Twisted Metal tournament. In each tournament, the contestants battle it out in a vehicular free for all. The prize? One wish, no matter how absurd, impossible, or just stupid, Calypso has the power to make it come true, often times with unexpected side effects. The tournament takes place in cities around the world, with total disregard for civilians or national landmarks.

The game is based solely on vehicular combat. Players do combat with each other with each other in their own unique vehicles, most often themed for them. The weapons used in the game are machine guns, missiles, and other assorted weapons. The game is dark and when it does use humor, it is very dark, easily falling into the black humor category.

Multiplayer is quite fun and addicting. I will say that this game should not be played by younger gamers because it does have such a dark premise. But beyond that, it is a very enjoyable game. the game is available for download from the PSN store for $5.99 and is worth the money. Have fun blowing each other to kingdom come!

Thanks for reading!

Gaming News: Don Mattrick leaving Microsoft for Zynga

Wednesday's gaming news is that Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment division including X-Box, is leaving Microsoft to become the new CEO of Zynga. For those of you who don't know who Zynga is, Zynga is the company behind Farmville, Mafia War, and the like, so if you keep getting those annoying request for manure or what not, then now you know who to blame. Zynga's was originally doing quite well when they first started and Farmville reached its peak, but within the last year Zynga has seen their stock fall quite a  bit.

Now I don't know all of what was behind Mattrick's decision to leave Micros0ft, in fact I know next to nothing and am not interested enough to try and find out, but his timing couldn't have been worse. As it is now, it looks like he is getting out before he can be fired over the backlash the Xbox One garnered, possibly as a straw man for Microsoft.

Now, is it a good thing for him that he has become Zynga's new CEO?
Zynga has seen falling stock and people leaving their games in large numbers, forcing them to lay off workers and to close down the less popular Facebook games. Well, so far, the stocks appear to show some confidence in Mattrick's ability to bring the company back into the spotlight, since the announcement, Zynga's stock has risen a bit and looks to be the beginning for a steady climb, unless it doesn't.
We will just have to wait and see how things at Zynga are handled.


I know one thing though, I won't be clamering for the newest Farmville spin-off to be announced, and the game requests I get are going to be forgotten in my notification bar.

Thanks for reading!

Game review: Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

I don't know if I ever fully explained the goal behind the Monday blog posts, so I am going to do that now. On Mondays I am going to review games for the current generation of consoles, but I am going to review older ones that people should be able to pick up for cheaper than normal. This is so people like myself can know what games are good, but won't break the bank. Any way, on to the review.

Today's review: Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

Turning Point is a first person shooter based in the fictitious universe where the Germans win World War II and have invaded America. You take the role of a construction worker turned freedom fighter as you fight to save America from the Nazi invasion.

The game is played in general FPS style, two weapons, can pick weapons off of enemy's corpses, grenades, the usual. The game is not remarkable on the innovation front. But what the game lacks in innovation, it partially makes up for with action and solid gameplay. The game has a single player campaign and online multiplayer, I can not say either way on the multiplayer because I haven't played the multiplayer. The single player campaign is good, not great, but good. The campaign mainly suffers because of how short it is. I honestly think it could have been a much better game if they had spent more time on it, made it longer, add more weapons, and just generally polish it up a bit.

All in all, the game is ok. It isn't the best, but it isn't horrible either. The game is any where fr $5 to $8 on Amazon.com, for that amount it would be a good weekend time killer or what not. As I said, the game is ok so if you are having a hard time deciding what to play, just pop this in and give it a go. it won't blow your socks off, but it can at least help kill some time while you figure out what other game you want to play after you are done.

Thanks for reading!

Throwback Fridays: CTR

For this week's Throwback Friday, we are going to take a look at CTR: Crash Team Racing for the PS1.

Crash Team Racing was in North America on September 30, 1999. It was developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Playstation. The game sold 1.71 million units in Europe, 2.64 million in North America, and just under 500,000 units in japan. Because of its success it was re-released as a greatest hits, and a platinum hits as well.

The game has a very Mario Kart like feel to it, each driver has their own car, power-up boxes scattered across the twisting track, items that give boost, fire rockets and so on. The game is very solid and has almost perfect controls that allow the gamer to focus on winning the race.

The graphics are, as it is with all older games, outdated; however its cartoony art style keep the game looking crisp, fresh, and enjoyable.

The game has a single player campaign and a multiplayer mode. The single player mode is a campaign where the player must win races  to win trophies and eventually beat the alien Nitros Oxide,

The multiplayer is as one would expect from a kart racing game. Players race around a twisting track as they try to avoid obstacles, find shortcuts, and outsmart their fellow racers and win the prize.Each track is filled with item boxes, and wampa fruit boxes. Item boxes are filled with various items that can be used to win the race. Wampa fruit boxes are filled with (did you guess it?) wampa fruit, the more wampa fruit you have, the faster your cart goes. You can get turbo by running over green turbo pads, acquiring a power-up, or powersliding. There is also a battle mode where player battle each other with the game's power-ups.

All in all this is a really good game. In fact it is my family's favorite game to play with each other. The game is available for download from the PSN store for $5.99 and I highly suggest giving this game a try. If you still have this game, maybe it's time to dig out the PS1 and get a nice dose of nostalgia.

Thanks for reading. Have a nice day!

Finals week

Hey, Just wanted to say that it is finals week and therefor I probably wont be able to post until Friday or next Monday. I apologize for the delays but my summer class is almost over.

Schedule change/ Wednesday News

First of all, I would like to say sorry for not posting on Monday. But, cable is back online so we are good to go. Second, I am changing Wednesdays to gaming News, at least for now.

Ok, time for todays post.

The big news in gaming today, is that Microsoft has revised its DRM policy for Xbox One.
The most important effect this will have is that you WILL NOT have to connect your Xbox to the internet to play offline games. The only time the system will need to connect will be during first time set up. This goes for games downloaded off of Xbox Live as well.
The ability to sell, trade, and share games like you would for the 360 is now back as well. So Gamestop, you have been spared.
And finally, some good news to those who like to play games that normally aren't available in their country, regions have been removed, meaning the systems can be played in all areas of the world, government allowing, and games from across the world can be played as well. I foresee some hardcore RPG fans importing some JRPGs in the future.

Now, there were some features that were dropped as well. I won't go into details but most of them revolved around the cloud and your games library. Most specifically the ability to play your games library wherever you want without needing the disc.

All in all, it is good to see Microsoft actually listening to its fans. Sony, you might actually have some competition if Microsoft can keep it together.

Here is the link to the announcement from Microsoft's head of Interactive Entertainment.

That's all for today folks, be sure to check back for Throwback Friday!

Internet Outage

Just alerting any readers that a storm came through my area today and my Internet connection is down. That means Mondays post is canceled;however, I will try to make next Mondays post extra big to make up for it. Thanks for reading and bear with us.

P.S. if you were wondering how I am posting this, lets just say posting by iPhone on rural 3G is not pleasant.

New Schedule/ Throwback Friday!

First of all, I would like to thank anyone who has read this blog so far.

Now, to the good stuff. I am happy to announce that I have finally come up with an actual schedule and have set myself digital reminders so I won't forget. (I am actually quite reliable once I have iPhone alarms set.)

Here is the schedule:

Monday: I will attempt to post reviews of current games, as in games for current consoles. I generally wont be able to make reviews on brand new games due to lack of funds. But I will do my best to review games as I acquire them. At times I will also give my opinion on current trends and news in the gaming industry.

Wednesday: Will be interesting facts about games and the game industry. I will attempt to set up a way you can send in any interesting facts and I will be sure to credit you as well. These facts will not be limited to Easter eggs and such, they can also be glitches and interesting quirks a game has.

Friday: Will probably be my favorite. Fridays are going to be Throwback Friday, meaning reviews and facts on classic and older games. I'll try to show some of the more under rated ones if possible. I am hoping to e able to provide short clips and such of game-play in the near future along with these.

I am going to try and post these around 10:00 PM Central time. Post could be subject to delays due to homework and such, just a warning.

Ok, on to the actual post.

Throwback Friday: Spyro: Year of the Dragon

Spryo: Year of the Dragon was released in the North America on October 25th 2000 for the Sony Playstation, also called the PSOne, PSX, and of course the Playstation One. Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a 3D platformer adventure game. The plot of the game is that a mysterious stranger has stolen all the dragon eggs and it is up to Spyro and his friends to get them back. Most levels consist of collect gems and completing tasks for characters to earn the eggs back, eggs are also hidden throughout levels and the overworlds as well. Spyro uses his various abilities to complete each task and overcome obstacles.

Personally, this is one of my favorite games. Period. The game is lighthearted and just generally fun to play. The egg collecting gives the game good replay-ability, as does gem collecting. Overall the game has aged well and should be fun for all ages.

Luckily, for those who would like to either, replay this game, or try it out, Sony has put the game up for download to PS3 and PSP, and in extension PSVita I would hope, for $6.99 USD. I highly recommend this game to anyone looking to spend a quiet weekend on the couch with a classic.

Thanks for reading, see you again Monday!

Sorry for inactivity

Meant to get back to doing normal posts, but of course I didn't.

Anyway, not promising normal posts are going to start anytime soon. But I am trying to get a schedule for this here blog made up and ready to follow. Still going to be doing gaming reviews and such. Think it will be three times a week. Thanks that is it.