Almost 9 hours in. Campaign is going strong. $590 raised so far.
Make sure you check out the stream and donation page.
http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=152164
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Author Archives: iRogan
#DRAWTOBER – Day 1
So October is somewhat of a bittersweet month for me. I take part in a month long endeavor to draw more – appropriately titled #Drawtober. I draw quite a bit throughout the year, whenever motivation and inspiration sparks simultaneously. But with this blog, and my game queue, and other distractions, I find it harder and harder to actually find the time, sit down, and draw.
So, I quite look forward to October. But that also means setting everything else aside, including games, so that I can actually draw something every day. That’s the part that sucks.
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I’ll let you in on a little secret of mine.
I’m not a good artist. Therefore I rely heavily on my ability to critique my own work – unlike some truly talented artists who can produce godly work even without thinking off half their brain. It sometimes works and sometimes it doesn’t. It depends entirely on my condition that day.
Sometimes it takes me a few strokes to achieve the effect I want, and some other times it takes a few hours just to draw some damn random crap. It is entirely up to left side of my brain (the logical side) to figure out if something make sense or not. And THAT even depends on if I had a crappy morning or not.
But while my skill tends to fluctuate, my ability to self-critique is on a steady rise, and that is my only hope.
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This year, because of the blog, and because of the imposing Extra Life gaming marathon in November, I’m doing a full month of video game themed drawings. My hope is to complete enough that I’ll be able to auction some of them off during the event, possibly raise some more money.
Head over to the Extra Life page, I’ll be posting my work, daily.
In the mean time, I still hope to find some time to do some writing.
New Games, Games With Gold, and Oh Yeah, Destiny – IDL NEWS
Oh, The Taken King is out? OK, I’ll leave you alone forever now . . .
Just kidding. New games, new deals, and news: Uncharted 4, Mortal Kombat X, and Metal Gear Solid V.
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New Releases – Sept 15
NHL 16 (PS4, Xbox One) – EA’s annual NHL game is back for a new season, and thankfully fuller than last years bare bones edition. Online Team Play has returned, and EA has bolstered the Be A Pro mode. A new training mode is also available, as a new feature to catch new fans up to speed. NHL is an annual pick-up for me so expect some more impressions.
Forza Motorsport 6 (Xbox One) – Microsoft’s big simulation is back in a big way. 24 opponent races, rain and water physics and night-time races. The career still feels like a checklist and needs an overhaul, but the game is as gorgeous as ever with 1080p 60fps races.
Grand Theft Auto V Online – Freeworld Events (PC, Xbox One, PS4) – Today marks the new Online update. This has me interested in stepping back into the GTA world, and I already own the game.
Destiny: The Taken King (Xbox One, PS4) – The big 2.0 addition is finally here now, with actual story-telling, new missions, a new raid, new weapons, new playable area, new player sub-classes. All the things that will change Destiny is a big way. I’ll be jumping in tonight to transfer everything over and check it out. Check out future impressions in the weeks to come.
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Deals With Gold
Xbox One
- Forza Horizon 2: Storm Island
- Grand Theft Auto V
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
- Jet Car Stunts
- Unmechanical Extended (My Review)
Xbox 360
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Grant Theft Auto IV
- Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
- Darksiders
- Darksiders II (My Review)
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Some newsy type stuff:
Uncharted 4 – Uncharted 4: The Thief’s End will be released on March 18th, 2016. Sept 29th will mark the release of The Nathan Drake Collection on the PS4, remastering 1-3 into one nice package, and to catch everyone up on the series before 4’s release. Uncharted is a great series and one of the real reasons to own a PS3/PS4.
Mortal Kombat X – NetherRealm Studios has confirmed that it is still working on DLC for Mortal Kombat X. This includes new playable characters, skins and a new stage, due out in the first half of 2016.
Metal Gear Solid V – Konami has confirmed it has fixed the bug that plagued the game on all platforms, causing saved games to become corrupt when Quiet was brought along as a buddy on either Mission 29 or 42. The fix is available on the PS4 and PC, and will hopefully be coming to all platforms soon.
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This week I will continue to plug away through Metal Gear Solid V and will be jumping back into Destiny: The Taken King. I’ll be leaving my impressions of both, and possibly even writing another story, this one set in MGS V land. The game just lends itself to so many awesome encounters and creative experiences. I’ll also be picking up NHL and I know I’ll be dumping a ton of time into that, maybe even doing my first NHL review. And lastly, GTA V’s Online is calling.
This week’s Preview will focus on one of those games, and the What i’M playing feature will definitely be more MGS V. This is an exciting week to say the least.
-iRogan
TGS 2015, Nintendo’s New President, Halo 5, and Need For Speed – IDL NEWS
Monday, Monday, Monday.
The day the new week starts and new news starts coming in. E3 is over, Gamescom is over, PAX Prime is over. Tokyo Game show is coming up this weekend, and then the year’s shows should be done. Luckily I’m almost caught up on the news as those shows take up a lot of time. I’m not sure yet if Tokyo Game Show actually has press briefings or not, or if it’s just a game showroom. Will continue to investigate. <- *Update at the bottom*
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Onward though, to news:
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
Night Dive Studios has announced that it will be restoring and publishing modernized versions of Turok 1 and Turok 2. Both Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil will be getting graphical upgrades and other improvements. Unsure yet if this is only PC, or console release.
Mad Max 1080p and the Map Isn’t Finite
Avalanche Studios has revealed that Mad Max is 1080p which is nice to see, as a lot of the games to date on the Xbox One have not been true 1080p. And the map is also not finite.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Release Date
Square Enix and Eido Montreal have announced the release date for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The sequel to Human Revolution will be released on Feb 23rd, 2016 and is set 2 years after the events of HR, in the year 2029 with augmented people separated from normal residents. I’m super excited for this sequel, and should probably replay the first at some point. Hopefully it’s backwards compatible before February.
Borderlands Backwards Compatibility
Speaking of backwards compatibility, the original Borderlands is among the games that will be backwards compatible day one in the upcoming update in November.
GTA V Online Freemode
GTA V Online is getting a new feature update that will have structured events pop up in the open world for the players to join and play, with entering a lobby first.
Released tomorrow, the goal is to blend the freeform gameplay with structured events that offer rewards. Every 12 minutes in the open world, a new Freemode Event will start, with a countdown alerting players. If you miss the start or opt not to join, you can still spectate. Over 200 variants will be available at launch including cooperative battles, stunt challenges, king of the hill modes, and damage and speed limit tasks. Two new adversarial modes will be made available as well.
Nintendo’s New President
Nintendo has announced that Tatsumi Kimishima, 65, will assume the role of President and Representative Director for the company. The election will be for a 1 year term.
Kimishima’s appointment as the new head of Nintendo comes two months after the sudden death of former president Satoru Iwata from a cancerous bile duct growth. Iwata was 55.
Halo 5’s 60 FPS
S
tudio head at 343 Industries has confirmed that Halo 5 will consistently run at 60 frames per second. The goal from the outset was to deliver 60 fps across all game modes. This meant re-engineering the gameplay systems at the core and uses a “progressive resolution system” that scales the games resolution based on what’s on the screen at that time.
“This enables us to deploy resources where they have most impact across a diverse series of experiences throughout the game while delivering the most visually stunning Halo game ever.”
PC Need For Speed Stalls
Ghost Games has announced that the latest PC installment of Need for Speed, titled Need For Speed, has been delayed. Expected to be released alongside its console counterparts in November, the PC version wont be seeing its released until “Spring 2016”.
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Well, that enough news for today I think. Tomorrow we’ll talk about some more news, and new games and deals, and awesome things. Wednesday will be a Metal Gear Solid V wrap up: part 2. More game previews around the corner and then Tokyo Game Show 2015 stuff around the weekend.
Tokyo Game Show takes place from September 17th-20th, and is getting kicked off with Sony’s keynote tonight at midnight, so I should have a wrap-up later in the week. Sony, Square Enix, and Capcom are some of the main companies in attendance, so there should be some exciting news coming soon.
Stick around!
-iRogan
ACHIEVEMENT OF THE WEEK – Lovers In a Dangerous Spacetime
Last Tuesday I picked up Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime as my Tuesday game of the week. It’s a fun little co-op game built around relationships and communication, in space. You can check out my review for it here: iReview – Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
The nice thing about the game is it’s designed around co-op, so both participants in the game get achievements, which is nice, and sorely lacking from other co-op games: Rayman, and Chariot, to name a few.
Also, there’s co-op centric achievements, like playing the game in co-op, augmenting a turret while it’s being used by your partner, and having two missile turret weapons collide. All original, fun achievements.
The rest of the game’s achievements are dedicated to defeating bosses, and boss specific actions, and collection types. All pretty expected.
I’ve chosen two achievements of the week though, for this game, and both dedicated to the co-op portion. I chose two because they’re similar: play one way with a friend, and try to play the exact opposite.
Achievement of the Week – Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
Couples Dance Lesson – 10G
Pirouette 15 times in a single level.
To get this achievement, you have to cross paths with your partner 15 times during the level. It may not come naturally. Every time the two players cross paths, they perform a little pirouette dance before moving on.
Cooties – 50G
Finish a level without crossing paths with your partner.
This one is a lot harder to accomplish and will require an effort. Essentially it’s the exact opposite of the achievement above – do not cross paths with your partner. It’s a lot harder than one might think, and both people have to be on the same page to accomplish it – as the levels can get hectic at times.
The rest of the achievements this past 2 weeks were mainly in Lovers, WWE2k15, and Metal Gear Solid V. There was a break for a bit when I went down to PAX 2015.
Wednesday, Sept 2nd – Sunday, Sept 13th
Halo: Master Chief Collection
- Bro Hammer (Complete any co-op level on Legendary) – 10G
- Gunslinger (Halo 4: Beat the par score on Dawn) – 10G
- Dawn (Halo 4: Complete Dawn) – 10G
- Dark Fortress (Halo 4: Beat the par score on Requiem) – 10G
- Requiem (Halo 4: Complete Requiem) – 10G
- Lord of Admirals (Halo 4: Activate Terminal 2 on Forerunner) – 5G
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
- Awakening (Completed “PROLOGUE: AWAKENING”) – 15G
- Captured (Captured an outpost or guard post) – 15G
- Phantom Limbs (Completed “PHANTOM LIMBS”) – 15G
- Extraction (Fulton extracted an enemy soldier) – 15G
- Interrogation (Interrogated an enemy soldier) – 15G
- Undertaken (Completed a SIDE OP) – 15G
- Platoon (Increased Moth Base staff to 50 or more personnel) – 15G
- Beekeeper (Completed “WHERE DO BEES SLEEP?”) – 15G
- To The Rescue (Extracted a female prisoner) – 15G
- Enhancement (Developed 50 or development items) – 15G
- Battalion (Increased Mother Base staff to 250 or more personnel) – 15G
- Cry Havoc (Made D-Dog available for deployment) – 15G
- Gears Turn (Completed “HELLBOUND”) – 15G
- Apprentice (Completed a mission using a Combat Unit staff member) – 15G
- Trusty Steed (Raised bond with D-Horse to the maximum) – 15G
WWE2K15
- Ringmaster (Strike or wrench an opponent in 5 different chain hold positions) – 15G
- Tap! Tap! Tap! (Make an opponent tap out with a submission that is not a Signature) – 30G
- Gas tank never on empty (Win a match without reaching Stamina Level 3) – 15G
- One foot in the grave (Win a match by a leverage pin) – 15G
- True Champion (2KShowcase – Complete Hustle, Loyalty, Disrespect) – 20G
- You’re so desperate! (Win a match using a Desperation Pin) – 15G
- Read for the big leagues (MyCareer – Completed the NXT part) – 20G
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
- Romantic Getaway (finish the tutorial) – 10G
- Seat Warmer (Use every station in a single level) – 10G
- Generosity (Throw a gem into a station that is being used by another player) – 10G
- First Date (Beat any level in two player mode) – 10G
- Clearing the Air (Finish a level after removing all fog of war) – 50G
- Couples Dance Lessons (Pirouette 15 times in a single level) – 10G
- Bear-Knuckle Boxing (Defeat Ursa Major) – 50G
Back to newsy type stuff tomorrow, new games Tuesday, What i’M Playing wrap-up, Preview, potentially not a Review (depending how much further I get in MGS V) and all that good stuff.
Bye…
-iRogan
Idly Playing the Waiting Game 