Final Fantasy XIV

So it's finally arrived, FF14 was released today for PC only and while many will wait for the console version, I can assure you your better off waiting.

I participated in the open beta for FF14 and I have to say the game is done beautifully but that doesn't come without flaws. Playing through one of the three starting areas I noticed small things that need to be fixed, one of them being disconnected from the server and my quest disappearing and not being able to get it back. The entire game revolves around your single character being able to play as all classes and economy roles, such as blacksmith and carpenter, but that means you have 2 different type of levels. Your main level in the game is called your physical level, your class level is just named after your class and your stats and what you can wear all change when your class does.

I would say the console gamers might have it easier with it since by the time they get the game it will be patched correctly to fix most flaws with the game thus far. I will be picking it up shortly to give it a more in depth play through.

Sexy Cosplay FTW

I don't usually look too much into cosplay but I had to share this with everyone else as well. I have found an article with some cosplay women dressed as wonder woman, which may not seem too "WOW" at the moment but take a good look at the pictures and you will see why.

Short description for this blog, I just wanted to share these pictures with you.

WONDER WOMAN COSPLAY

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Click the link!

Your Welcome!

Apple Is The Worlds Second Largest Company

I would have thought Microsoft be a close second place but apparently according to reports Apple pulled ahead right behind Exxon in company worth.

Currently each share of the Apple company goes for 293 per, and the total cap is 267bn. These are the numbers from some of the top companies around the world giving Microsoft their total cap of 214.5bn and Exxon leading with 314bn. 

This came as a surprise to me to see how far ahead Apple is from competing companies given that Microsoft has it's fingers in more industries than Apple is doing very successful with all of them. You do have to give credit to them though, to have come so far in the industry and pull ahead of gas companies and all, Steve Jobbs has no problem putting out any product he wants because apparently he has the money for it.

Photoshop Sigs

I used to be pretty good at Photoshop but I sort of stopped making images with it for a while and started up again. So here are some of the sigs I've made for people, thought I'd share with anyone who reads this in case they need any artwork done.






Just a few examples of different styles.

Zombie Mode Returning To CoD?

Nazi Zombies was a big hit with CoD: WaW but was later replaced by spec ops, which there's nothing wrong with. In all honesty I would rather play Zombie mode.

The multiplayer options for Black Ops has been very "under the radar" for a while and they're just waiting to reveal a new multiplayer feature to us. Nothing specific has been said about it but during an interview Josh Olin, community manager for black ops, stated that if there was going to be a Zombie mode there would probably be a trailer soon. At the same time Brady Games has a paid strategy guide which they said to include a Nazi Zombie mode, which could very much be a mistake.

What would you rather, a Spec Ops mode or Nazi Zombies?

Nyko PS3 Raven

The Nyko Raven is a new controller that is going to be released soon for the PS3. It comes in two different version, one is more like the Dualshock 3 controller and the other like the image above giving more of an xbox 360 feel.

The one with the 360 layout has all the exact same button features with the concave analog sticks along with the trigger L2 and R2 buttons in the back. The material surrounding the controller is said to be silky smooth, which from the picture looks to be about right. The controller requires you use the USB connector to use it so no wireless bluetooth with this beast, as well as it doesn't turn on your PS3 from your seat but all that hardly outweighs the pros.

As far as I'm concerned I'm going to wait for some reviews first as it is a third party controller for the PS3 and they tend to have a bad track record. Most likely I will purchase it and see how it affects my PS3 game, I personally like the PS3 controller and it's size but it's always good to switch it up.

Console Worst Place For Discs

A recent article has given me some insight as to why not to leave your discs in the console. Most of the reasoning behind it is common sense but you wouldn't expect anything to happen to your disc while its in there.

Along with the most common reasons being that the consoles collect a lot of dust to spread around the disc but other than that they generate a lot of heat that has a chance to mess up the data on the disc. Another reason is that over time is the disc isn't in a upright position it can warp over time into an unreadable disc.

I have left my disc in my console for months at a time and have noticed scratches started to appear on them, so in my opinion it's better that we don't leave them in the consoles and return them to the disc case.

PS3 Exclusives To Play This Year

I always see people complaining how the PS3 has no games, when the fact is that it has plenty of games just that no one bothers to check for them. Here is a list of 12 exclusives that people should play this year.

12. Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One

11. Sorcery 

10. Twisted Metal

9. Motorstorm Apocalypse

8. Resistance 3

7. Final Fantasy versus XIII

6. inFamous 2

5. Killzone 3

4. Agent

3. Gran Turismo 5

2. Little Big Planet 2

1. The Last Guardian

Any of these game are sure to catch your interest this year for anyone looking to buy a PS3 and get crisp Blu-Ray HD.

New Xbox 360 Years Away

The Xbox 360 has been through a lot considering all the upgrades with its hardware but Microsofts Xbox & Entertainment Director Stephen McGill hinted that they are nowhere near knowing where the next step is.


McGill Quoted:


"I think there's still a lot of legs left with the Xbox 360, so we're years away from contemplating what comes next."


"As you know, with Xbox 360 we constantly innovate with the current console you have, through extra services on Xbox Live that we can pump down the service, then obviously with Kinect; that's a massive game-changer for the industry, transforming what entertainment in games can be for friends and family."


The Xbox 360 launched in November of 2005 and Microsoft has stated that this console is only half way through it's life span because they are able to upgrade the console as they wish. Not to complain though because at the stage graphics and gameplay are now  is something I'm very much content with.

Pokemon Black & White

Another Pokemon release, who's excited.....

I wouldn't say excited just because I'm fairly certain it's pretty similar to all the others except for the new pokemon but other than that we go get the gym badges and fight some elite group. Regardless of that the game is still very addicting and if I owned a gameboy I would probably buy one when it came out in North America.

Upon it's release in Japan it broke record sales by selling 2'638'285 units in it's first 2 days to it's previous 1'580'360 with diamond and pearl. I would encourage to buy it if your a fan.

Minecraft Madness

For those who have yet to try this game, you are missing out. Minecraft is a game I came across about 2 months ago even though it's been out for a while and it has a gamestyle like no other.

When you first look at the game all you see is a randomly generated map made from blocks, lots and lots of blocks. What makes this fun is that this is your world, its different from everyone else's and you can create whatever you like in it. There are 2 modes to this game, one is the building mode where you can make whatever you want from blocks that are already in your hotbar and the other is kind of like a play by yourself defense style.

If you go to youtube and search Minecraft you will see the crazy structures people were able to build in their world, this is in builder mode so they had infinite blocks. The defense mode you start off with nothing and create all your items and gather all your resources from trees and the earth to build a defense structure to protect you because once it turns nightfall spiders zombies and skeletons come out.

It's only a 10 dollar game and for something so diverse it was very much worth paying for, it keeps you addicted for hours.

www.Minecraft.net

Bioshock Infinite

Bioshock has been a great series thus far and I'm always looking for some more story to add to this steampunk FPS genre. It's one of those games that has been very forgiving over the years as it won best game it's first run and a multiplayer added on it's second, but with all games they need a change of scenery and this time they decided "Let's do the complete opposite" and make a floating city.

When the first trailer emerged you didn't know what to expect seeing as it started in a tank of water viewing a city, but when you realize it's some guy getting his head shoved underwater and thrown outside your given a complete view of the city and it's conditions. 

Another trailer was just released showing a bit of gameplay, I wouldn't say it's the best way to present gameplay but it is only a teaser for now.

Video: http://www.ripten.com/2010/09/18/new-bioshock-demo-mauler/

Little Big Planet 2

Little Big Planet 2 is soon coming to the PS3 and a recent video showed how much power this game has exactly. For those who have played the first LBP we know all the variants that you can make, well with this one there's that much and more making this one of the biggest user created content games to date.

The video I came across demonstrated a user created level where he had a first person shooter hitting targets and exploding barrels, which is a big deal when switching to different genres while your creating your level. From what I see of the video you also made the player able to zoom and reload actions, this truly shows the extent of how much content this game will have and how many different gametypes we will be able to experience.

Just for the users who may not know this is PS3 exclusive, even if you may be an Xbox 360 fanboy this game is definitely worth checking out.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kezLPA4Ssc&feature=player_embedded#!

Devil May Cry

There haven't been many platformers lately so the competition isn't big but DMC is one of the best one's out there. The story in the DMC game isn't the best but the gameplay is amazing and can vary to your style.

Now their releasing the new DMC in a whole new way, as it seems to be a prequel (again) and Dante redesigned as a whole new person. A look at the trailer shows him in an urban city with scenes where he's in a mental institute with someone trying to get his name, but as it keeps flashing back to the fight scenes the game looks more awesome. The combat style, I'd have to say, is going to be nearly the same as before from what I've seen and along with your dual pistols you have a new transforming weapon that acts like a spear and a type of whip I guess you could call it.

A lot of DMC fans are very unimpressed with this trailer for the reason that the redesigned Dante looked nothing like him at all and are worried that this complete change in the series may ruin it. I can only see it getting better as it always has, and being an individual with demonic powers the change in his looks will be affected by what happened in the past. This game looks to be an origin game for the DMC series and I'm very much looking forward to trying it.

The Big "O"

Gamers have always had an issue with either PC gaming or console gaming and everyone has their preference, well now you can have both in one.

A company called ORIGIN has created a PC called the The Big "O" with an xbox 360 console inside it to allow players to have the best of both worlds. This isn't a regular xbox 360 either you are also given the ability to customize it however you would like to increase gaming capabilities.

We have all had issues with the Red Ring of Death and other issues with the Xbox 360 but this promises to have none of that. The reason for this is the liquid cooling that has been integrated with each PC/Xbox 360, giving it the right temperature to remain stable no matter how long you play.

The default Big "O" includes:

• Intel Core i7 overclocked to 4.5GHZ
• Dual Intel Xeon X5680's overclocked to 4.3GHz
• 12GB's of Corsair GT 2000Mhz memory
• Quad SLI EVGA GTX 480 FTW video cards

You can call (1-877-ORIGIN-0) email the Big O team at thebigo@originpc.com to learn more.

Did Halo: Reach Live Up To It's Hype

Last night I was able to play through campaign of Halo and play a lot of multiplayer online in every gametype. With that being said I think I've played through the variants and looked through everything and want to discuss whether it deserved the hype.

Looking through many comments on the reviews a lot of people are either for it or against it, the main reason being the campaign and how short it was. I'm fairly certain in any of the Halo series there has not been a campaign longer than the 6 - 7 hour mark so any complaints about the campaign should be made to the entire series not just this game. None of the comments complained about the muliplayer mode probably because thats where Bungie put the majority of their time with a new ranking system and a crazy amount of gametypes it offers more than almost any game.

I played with the new forge mode which seems to be very promising, I'm very excited to see what levels people can make. The new firefight mode is also very well done and similar to the one from ODST but have little things added in to help you.

Overall this game deserved a great score but not a perfect one.

New Xbox Dashboard

Nearly every September Microsoft releases it's new Xbox 360 dashboard update to improve on everything it has to offer, but this year it's not looking too much better.

There was a video released showing what exactly the new dashboard is going to look like and I wasn't very impressed with what Microsoft had to offer. The dashboard as it is now is very versatile and more appealing to the gaming audience to make it feel like a gamer's console. With the new dashboard coming our way Microsoft has made things a little more neat and tidy which doesn't look well on the Xbox.

 Even though this video is a pre-release and they can still change what they want it gives some idea of what's to come and it seems that they have simplified things too much and made it look much more bland. Given that you will still be able to choose your own theme I'm sure the visuals could be different but as it stands with the default settings the new dashboard is not something I'm looking forward to, Kinect or not.

P.S. The picture above is of the current dashboard :)

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2a6KBGc0Uo&feature=player_embedded#!

Halo: Reach Midnight Launch

Tonight is the midnight launch of Halo: Reach and as one of the most anticipated games this year I'm sure the lines will reach the parking lot. One detail that is on a lot of players minds is if this game will have the lasting effect of the previous Halo games.

There has already been numerous reviews and details about the game released that it gives you a good idea about what your buying which is always a good idea, but this is a completely new game in the Halo series. They have changed a lot in form of how the combat system works, weapons and equipment. Add in a new campaign, firefight and online playlist and you've got yourself a new game like nothing before, a brand new kind of Halo.
The new forge system is something I think players will spend a lot of time with, snapping to objects and angle snaps allows players to have more functionality over their level.

 As this is the last of the Halo games from Bungie I'm sure they wanted it to have the lasting effect to have players continue playing this game for years, honestly I would still be playing Halo 2 from time to time if the servers were still up. I think Halo had a good series for games to compete with and Bungie went in the right direction every step of the way, not to say they had their faults with the game but what game doesn't.

Halo Pirates

As one of the most anticipated games this year nears its debut one has to expect a little piracy going around.

Looking at the Halo: Reach playlist there was around 10'000 people playing already and you have to take out the reviewers and the shops that sold early and and of their friends but that wouldn't equal up to 10'000 players.

I don't see the point of pirating a game if your going to show yourself online playing it before it comes out, your basically asking to be banned from xbox live. When this game hits the shelves there will be a huge ban on all the players who decided they couldn't wait a few more days.

Pirating games is getting easier and if your going to do it might as well do it right. play offline and don't post spoilers for the people who like to find things out for themselves. What you do in the privacy of your home is your business (doesn't mean it's right) but exploiting it is almost the same as bragging.

Black Ops Dedicated Servers

It's nice to see that companies learn from previous versions of a game they have just created so that they know what mistakes were made.

Treyarch has announced that players who buy the game for PC will be able to run their own servers but only if it's through a specific hosting service. That service and GmaeServers.com, Treyarch has a deal with them so you can pay 14.99 a month to host ranked CoD: Black Ops matches. 0.99 unranked, and the reason for doing is to not repeat the mistake that MW2 had with it's PC gamers.

I have joined many games in MW2 that have been modded to hell with one hit weapons, auto aim and super jumps everywhere, with GameServers.com hosting there won't be any hacks or mods and players can play on a quality server.

Keep in mind that this is only if you wish to host servers yourself, all the Treyarch servers will be free.

Original article: http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/111/1119736p1.html

Sony vs Microsoft Marketing

We all know the best way to sell a game is the marketing campaign. Currently Microsoft has put a more than average amount of money into Halo: Reach and the kinect system. Not that they don't have the money to spend but competing companies don't see this is as something that needs to dealt with by having a more expensive advertising campaign.

Sony's senior vice president of marketing at SCEA stated in an interview that he doesn't think they will ever outspend Microsoft on a marketing strategy. They have just spent 750'000$ on the Playstation move so gives you an idea of how much goes into these campaigns.

Based on some statistics on some of the revenue these companies bring in Sony would have no problem competing with Microsoft but doesn't seem to find reason in spending so much on smaller products, except Kinect which took them way too long to develop.

Overall I don't think Sony will ever have to spend too much because of how well they can deliver their advertising sometimes. Their blockbuster hits always get the praise they deserve (Uncharted 1 &2, Killzone 2, Little Big Planet, etc..).

Original Article: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=263948

Valve vs Microsoft

Valve once alienated the PS3 community but turned it around quickly when Microsoft would not allow them to release their free updates for the Valve games released on Xbox 360.


In a recent article Valve called Xbox Live a "Train Wreck" due to its policies regarding patch updates for games. An example of this is Team Fortress 2, on xbox 360 it hasn't received the patches it needs to fix some of the bugs but the PC users have receive numerous updates for free. It seems a little unfair to leave the community who are paying for service besides the game behind on updates.


As Xbox Live does reward us with some extra content of use on their network it still cost more to receive anything on there including movies, tv shows and arcade games. It's nice to have that availability from the comfort of your home but it gets to a point when you realize there are better options.


In the long run it seems PS3 has gathered quite a supporting community even with developers and may be the console to come out on top.


Original article here: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=263859

The Very First

This blog will be used for Gaming updates in arguments and ratings. Also reviews of new technology that emerges.