Tales from the iRogan – Episode Wednesday

Tales From the Borderlands is the first Telltale Games’ game that I’ve played since The Walking Dead Season One. To be honest, I didn’t really like The Walking Dead game. I found it too slow paced with characters that weren’t interesting, and puzzles that were boring.

Executive Vice Janitor

Executive Vice Janitor

It set the bar low for what to expect from Telltale games in my case, and I haven’t, to this day, made it past Season One Episode Two. A failing on my part, I’m sure, as I’ve heard many a good thing about the series.

Late last year I purchased the Telltale bundle on the Xbox One hoping I would get into the games provided. I had heard good things about The Wolf Among Us, Borderlands, and Game of Thrones. So I bought it, and then waited.

As mentioned in earlier posts, I typically buy a lot of games, and don’t necessarily get to them in a timely manner. Now that I had excess HDD space I am now able to install these games, and at least try them out, get a feel, before diving into, head game first.

Tales from the Borderlands is a hell of a lot of fun, and I’m disappointed in myself for waiting so long. I’ve always loved the Borderlands games. They’re fun, fine tuned, and hilarious. The Telltale game is no different. It flows along the same Telltale formula: story-centric, some quick time events and dialogue choices. But it’s so good. And it has many interesting characters, and plenty of surprises. I’ve just about wrapped Episode 1, and excited to jump into Ep 2, so I’ll have a quick review up for it next week. Tomorrow I’ll have a piece written on #IDARB.

Onto some news, which, curiously includes some Borderlands. How quaint.


25 Keys of Borderlands, Please

With the release of the Handsome Collection, Gearbox is giving away a cache of golden keys. The codes can be found on the Gearbox Facebook Page, and can be redeemed in-game on the console of your choice, on both Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel. You don’t need the Handsome Collection to redeem the codes. They expire March 31st!!!

Mine On, Minecon.

Microsoft announced today that they will not be interfering with the annual Minecraft convention in July, even though they now own the Minecraft IP.

A Microsoft spokesperson assured that Minecon 2015 would be run by Mojang the same way it has in the past, stating, “We’re playing a supporting role; we want to listen, learn, and be inspired by the community that has made Minecraft great.”

Borderlands 2 Makes Millions of Dollars

Randy Pitchford announced today that Borderlands 2 sales have surpassed the 12 million mark. I’m assuming that’s including the repackaged version in the Handsome Collection.

Mystery Solved.

-iRogan

New Games, New Cities, New News

Cities has a weird way of making me forget to blink, or watch the clock…” I say absently, clicking away, creating trees along a gravel path between houses.

“Don’t you have to work tomorrow? It’s 2AM.” She replies.

“Just need to add a bus depot and map the routes…” I mumble. “This traffic is brutal.”

I wish my city creation was this pretty.

I wish my city creation was this pretty.

Continuing with my review-in-progress of Cities: Skylines, my 2nd play through last night was definitely more successful as I slowly learned the hidden intricacies of the game. The game will tell you how to build a road, but skips on the minutia of creating a successful highway off-ramp. Go figure it out, I guess? It’ll tell you how to paint districts, and glaze over the district specializations, but how about letting me know how to find the resources on the map for specializations?

*4 hours later* Oh there’s an Info Pane for that. Wait WHAT, there’s an info pane that shows me all this? You didn’t think to maybe mention this first, Game?

My city did survive the night this time. Didn’t need to skip town as Mayor like last time, while the power was out. Check mark in the positive column.

Stay tuned for further impressions throughout the week.


Out today, new and notable, for March 17th, 2015:

  • Battlefield Hardline (Xbox One, PS4, PS3, XBOX 360, PC) – Started playing this last Thursday during the EA Access trial on the Xbox One. I’m excited that it’s now out fully and I can play through the campaign. You can read my first impressions: Here
  • Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 2 (Xbox One, PS4, PS3, XBOX 360, PC) – Titled Atlas Mugged. The  Telltale Bundle is still sitting on my “ready to be installed” list, waiting to be played. Thursday I’m picking up an external HDD so I can install my full library. Man, that’ll feel good. Much bandwidth. I do think the first series I play will be Wolf Among Us. Starting to get worried about my ever-growing list of unplayed games. Might need to hire an intern to play my games for me.

There is absolutely nothing of interest to me, out there, on Earth, at all. Save these tidbits of news today:

Nintendo’s New Partnership and New Hardware?

Nintendo announced today a new partnership with DeNA to develop a mobile platform, to bring their library to mobile devices. They were also quick to point out that they’re not out of the console market, stating that they are developing a next-gen dedicated gaming system, code named “NX”. No further details on the console till next year.

The Last Guardian Trademark Filed Again

Announced back in 2009, Sony’s The Last Guardian is vapourware at this point. Sony has filed for the trademark for a 3rd time, and stated that the game is still in development. Whether that means it’ll be the same envisioned game, still on the PS3, now on the PS4, who knows. It’s gone the ways of Prey 2 for all I’m concerned.

Weekly Deals With Gold

Grand Theft Auto takes the front line this week for Xbox’s game sales.

On the Xbox One you can purchase the in-game credit card, which included $500,000 in-game currency for $10 off the retail price. $59.49 USD. Gross. OlliOlli is on sale as well.

On the Xbox 360, GTA V, GTA IV, San Andreas, and GTA IV expansions are on sale.


All for naught, you should probably go outside…

-iRogan

Telltale Bundle

Today for the Xbox One I bought the Telltale Bundle. This includes: Walking Dead Season One and Two, Wolf Among Us, and the Season’s Pass for Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones.

I’ve never really been a fan of these slower paces adventure puzzle games, but with the bundle I’ve committed to playing through them all. I will likely be doing a Let’s Play for each one, so keep an eye out for that in the new year.

Good Night,