So, it turns out that my XBOX One wasn't actually broken, but somehow a failed update made the system not connect to my wireless network. Anyway, after having it unplugged for approximately two months, I plugged it back in, turned it on, and it downloaded updates again! So it is now fully armed and operational as Emperor Palpatine would say. I just bought an external hard drive for it from Amazon, we'll see how that turns out. I'm liking the fact that you can play a lot of the old XBOX 360 games on it, but the bad thing is how long it takes for it to download the game to the system once you insert a disc. I put COD: Black Ops I in, and it took at least 5 hours to download it. But I loaded Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga today, and it did it much faster, so maybe that was just a fluke.
Some other updates, I've been streaming every now and then on Twitch via my PC. My Twitch stream is at https://www.twitch.tv/gregatron5000 ... so look me up sometime.
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Saturday, October 1, 2016
That FIFA time of year again...
So FIFA '17 is out now, and I haven't bought it yet. I'm still pretty much sticking with FIFA '16 for a while...why? Because FIFA games never change much from year to year...right?
Well for the most part they don't, but this year's edition has added some kind of story mode...and the Frostbite 3 engine. I'm still not wholly convinced I should spend in the neighborhood of $60 for it yet though. The worst thing about EA games is that I can't even get them cheaply on the PC, thanks to EA forcing you to play through Origin. I'll be honest too, I mostly only play career mode as a manager and sometimes I play Ultimate Team, so the new story mode isn't really appealing to me. I just like getting a League Two team and getting them promoted all the way into the Premier League. Sadly, the main reason I buy a new FIFA game is for the roster updates.
Which brings me to PES 2017; I haven't played a PES game since Playstation 3. I'm a sucker for the licensed teams, and PES doesn't have a ton of them like FIFA does. But I have heard that PES is the way to go for a better quality football (soccer) experience. But then I saw a video comparing the console to the PC version, and that was a major turn-off. Why would the PC version be worse than the console version? That makes zero sense. Here is a video showing the differences:
YouTube video comparing PES PC/PS4/XBONE
The GTX 970 in my PC should blow whatever a PS4 or XBone can do out of the water...instead it looks like Konami decided to screw PC users over. Which, Konami hasn't been the greatest games publisher over the past 5 years or so anyway. They've sold their souls for pachinko machines instead. I suppose I could buy PES on XBone or something though...which I may do, I suppose I could use the ton of Bing search points that I have saved up to buy it.
Anyway, as far as FIFA goes, I don't plan on buying the new version anytime soon, I'll just continue playing '16 for the meantime.
Have any thoughts on this topic? Please comment, I'd love to hear what you think.
Well for the most part they don't, but this year's edition has added some kind of story mode...and the Frostbite 3 engine. I'm still not wholly convinced I should spend in the neighborhood of $60 for it yet though. The worst thing about EA games is that I can't even get them cheaply on the PC, thanks to EA forcing you to play through Origin. I'll be honest too, I mostly only play career mode as a manager and sometimes I play Ultimate Team, so the new story mode isn't really appealing to me. I just like getting a League Two team and getting them promoted all the way into the Premier League. Sadly, the main reason I buy a new FIFA game is for the roster updates.
Which brings me to PES 2017; I haven't played a PES game since Playstation 3. I'm a sucker for the licensed teams, and PES doesn't have a ton of them like FIFA does. But I have heard that PES is the way to go for a better quality football (soccer) experience. But then I saw a video comparing the console to the PC version, and that was a major turn-off. Why would the PC version be worse than the console version? That makes zero sense. Here is a video showing the differences:
YouTube video comparing PES PC/PS4/XBONE
The GTX 970 in my PC should blow whatever a PS4 or XBone can do out of the water...instead it looks like Konami decided to screw PC users over. Which, Konami hasn't been the greatest games publisher over the past 5 years or so anyway. They've sold their souls for pachinko machines instead. I suppose I could buy PES on XBone or something though...which I may do, I suppose I could use the ton of Bing search points that I have saved up to buy it.
Anyway, as far as FIFA goes, I don't plan on buying the new version anytime soon, I'll just continue playing '16 for the meantime.
Have any thoughts on this topic? Please comment, I'd love to hear what you think.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
XBOX One woes
In my gaming history, I've gone through the PC/console switch a few times, but I think for the most part I've been a PC gamer. The first thing I had to game on was an MS-DOS computer and for the most part, I've played PC games more hours than consoles. But that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy console gaming as well, especially when it comes to retro consoles. During the PS2/XBOX/Gamecube era, I returned to PC gaming when I bought a PC and upgraded the GPU when I was in high school. One of my friends convinced me to get an XBOX 360 when I returned from Iraq in 2007, and even then it took until I actually played Call of Duty 4 to actually get into playing the XBOX 360 consistently versus the PC I built in 2006. When I was in college, due to online gaming and working at GameStop, I switched to gaming on consoles a lot, but around 2012, I started making my transition back to PC.
In 2014, when I was in D.C. for a bit, I decided I'd get an XBOX One to play with some people that I worked with up there, since they were not PC gamers. Since then I've sometimes played the XBOX One for exclusives or FIFA, but I haven't used it a whole lot. This weekend I was gifted a 1TB external hard drive, and I hooked it up and formatted it for the XBONE. After getting everything ready, I noticed that my wireless connector stopped working. I troubleshot everything, and lo and behold, there was a hardware malfunction.
This is what I don't like about console gaming. Now in less than two years from buying an XBOX One, I now have to send it back to Microsoft for repairs. I get that they have to get cheap components sometimes for building consoles, but seriously...less than 2 years? Meanwhile, you splurge a bit on a PC, and you won't have to worry about replacing things for a while. Not to mention the price of games on PC are definitely cheaper. And thanks to Steam and GOG and Origin, decades of games are available on PC...on modern consoles, you're essentially limited.
The only consoles this generation that I've been really content with are the Wii U and the 3DS. They have exclusive, great games, and they are super reliable (as Nintendo usually is). Other than that get a PC...
Then you probably won't be spending $115 on a stupid repair for your modern console.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Updates
Well, sorry I haven't written in a while guys and gals, I just bought a house in December, and between moving in and all that jazz, haven't had a lot of spare time. But now, hopefully I can start writing a little again. I think that my format will include modern games, retro games, arcade stuff, as well as some TV and movie reviews. Hopefully I will be able to stay on track and get some stuff going, so stay tuned!
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Rant: Why you should be down with the Nintendo Virtual Console
So if you own or have owned a Nintendo Wii, Wii U, 3DS or new 3DS, then you're probably familiar with the Virtual Console service. It originally appeared on the Wii shortly after the system launched, and it was a big deal for Wii owners during that time. I remember being able to buy and download a ton of ordinarily expensive SNES and NES games when it debuted. To start with, it seemed like every Monday was a new awesome title being released on the Virtual Console...but then it seemed like there started being some "meh" titles released with the great titles released here and there. Most people, including myself, seemed to fall out of following it after about 2009 or 2010.
That's why I decided to bring up this topic now. You can still buy games on the Nintendo Store on the original Wii, and there are a TON of games there to download now. The highlights are the TurboGrafx 16 (which is awfully expensive to collect for if you don't have one) and a lot of more expensive SNES, SEGA and NES games. The Virtual Console on the Wii also has NEO GEO AES and Arcade titles, as well as Nintendo 64 and Sega Master System titles. The NEO GEO titles are worth it alone, as a lot of AES titles sell for well over $100 USD on eBay. It really is a good cheap way to collect a lot of classic games without just downloading sketchy ROMs...not to mention the emulation on the Wii is perfect.
The Wii U also has a virtual console, and if you didn't have a Wii (or at least, didn't buy Virtual Console games on the Wii), you can go to the Wii channel on the Wii U and still have access to all the old Wii Virtual Console titles. In addition to the original, the Wii U has a Virtual Console too, but the systems on there include the NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy Advance, Wii and Nintendo DS. Notably you can buy EarthBound on the Wii U Virtual Console, as well as Mother (EarthBound Beginnings).
The New 3DS virtual console includes NES, SEGA Game Gear, and Game Boy games. A large host of classic Game Boy titles are on there, as well as the 3D remasters of SEGA Genesis games. You should pick up the 3D remaster of Fantasy Zone if you like shm'ups and Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins.
Also if you don't own a Wii, Wii U or a 3DS...do you even play video games? There are a ton of great titles on all three systems. So if you get tired of playing your blockbuster title games on the XBONE or the PS4 (or PC if you're like me)...go get one of the Nintendo systems. I'll probably talk about a lot of the great games on them as the blog goes on.
That's why I decided to bring up this topic now. You can still buy games on the Nintendo Store on the original Wii, and there are a TON of games there to download now. The highlights are the TurboGrafx 16 (which is awfully expensive to collect for if you don't have one) and a lot of more expensive SNES, SEGA and NES games. The Virtual Console on the Wii also has NEO GEO AES and Arcade titles, as well as Nintendo 64 and Sega Master System titles. The NEO GEO titles are worth it alone, as a lot of AES titles sell for well over $100 USD on eBay. It really is a good cheap way to collect a lot of classic games without just downloading sketchy ROMs...not to mention the emulation on the Wii is perfect.
The Wii U also has a virtual console, and if you didn't have a Wii (or at least, didn't buy Virtual Console games on the Wii), you can go to the Wii channel on the Wii U and still have access to all the old Wii Virtual Console titles. In addition to the original, the Wii U has a Virtual Console too, but the systems on there include the NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy Advance, Wii and Nintendo DS. Notably you can buy EarthBound on the Wii U Virtual Console, as well as Mother (EarthBound Beginnings).
The New 3DS virtual console includes NES, SEGA Game Gear, and Game Boy games. A large host of classic Game Boy titles are on there, as well as the 3D remasters of SEGA Genesis games. You should pick up the 3D remaster of Fantasy Zone if you like shm'ups and Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins.
Also if you don't own a Wii, Wii U or a 3DS...do you even play video games? There are a ton of great titles on all three systems. So if you get tired of playing your blockbuster title games on the XBONE or the PS4 (or PC if you're like me)...go get one of the Nintendo systems. I'll probably talk about a lot of the great games on them as the blog goes on.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Rant: Genesis does what Nintendon't
The old SEGA slogan from the late 80s / early 90s used to strike fear into Nintendo fans everywhere...right? Well maybe to a certain extent...I have to admit my bias, I'm a bit of a Nintendo fanboy when it comes to video games, but I'm a bit more open-minded as an adult.
I wanted to discuss the SEGA Genesis in particular, because I was in a local used video game store the other weekend, and I overheard a guy (who was probably a few years older than I was) talking about how he just picked up a Genesis, but he wasn't finding a lot of games he was interested in to buy for it. I'm a late-adopter of the SEGA Genesis myself, but over the years I've done some research and discovered how great the library of the system that I wasn't a fan of as a kid was.
One thing I will say about the Genesis is, that faster processor makes a difference, especially when you compare shoot 'em ups on it versus the Super Nintendo. Going back as an adult and playing SNES, you tend to notice the slowdown when there are a lot of onscreen objects (Just go play Super R-Type and see what I mean). The Genesis tends to plow right along and doesn't suffer from much slowdown at all, which means the cream of the crop on the Genesis tends to be shoot 'em ups and beat 'em ups. The Genesis has some real gems when it comes to these genres as well, in later blog posts I'll be reviewing a few of those games.
Back to what the gentleman in the store was complaining about, a lot of the really good titles to get on the Genesis are a little harder to come by. This may just be due to the lack of popularity of the Genesis versus the Nintendo systems, or just the fact that a lot of the great titles didn't get the attention that other titles did. As a kid, especially from circa 1990-1999, I read a lot of Nintendo Power magazine. The only bad thing about Nintendo Power is that it was quite obviously, biased. A lot of these great Genesis titles I ended up missing out on as a kid, and I think a lot of people that were strictly Nintendo fans did as well.
So what I think someone like the gentleman in Matt's Game Exchange needs, is a good solid list of titles to get on the system, and here are a few I would recommend:
I wanted to discuss the SEGA Genesis in particular, because I was in a local used video game store the other weekend, and I overheard a guy (who was probably a few years older than I was) talking about how he just picked up a Genesis, but he wasn't finding a lot of games he was interested in to buy for it. I'm a late-adopter of the SEGA Genesis myself, but over the years I've done some research and discovered how great the library of the system that I wasn't a fan of as a kid was.
One thing I will say about the Genesis is, that faster processor makes a difference, especially when you compare shoot 'em ups on it versus the Super Nintendo. Going back as an adult and playing SNES, you tend to notice the slowdown when there are a lot of onscreen objects (Just go play Super R-Type and see what I mean). The Genesis tends to plow right along and doesn't suffer from much slowdown at all, which means the cream of the crop on the Genesis tends to be shoot 'em ups and beat 'em ups. The Genesis has some real gems when it comes to these genres as well, in later blog posts I'll be reviewing a few of those games.
 |
| Some of my Genesis collection |
Back to what the gentleman in the store was complaining about, a lot of the really good titles to get on the Genesis are a little harder to come by. This may just be due to the lack of popularity of the Genesis versus the Nintendo systems, or just the fact that a lot of the great titles didn't get the attention that other titles did. As a kid, especially from circa 1990-1999, I read a lot of Nintendo Power magazine. The only bad thing about Nintendo Power is that it was quite obviously, biased. A lot of these great Genesis titles I ended up missing out on as a kid, and I think a lot of people that were strictly Nintendo fans did as well.
I think I finally bought my Sega Genesis around 2004 on eBay for pretty cheap. I have a model 2 Genesis, and the first game I got for it was Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Now, don't get me wrong, Sonic is no Mario, but it is a pretty good platformer with a slightly different dynamic than Mario. Sonic is built around blazing through a level along multiple paths versus Mario, which is basically a little more based on exploring. Over the years I picked up more excellent titles, such as Gunstar Heroes, Truxton and Contra Hard Corps. In fact, if you like Contra, Contra Hard Corps is probably the best non-NES Contra to play, and probably the hardest in difficulty.
 |
| Here is my model 2 Genesis hooked up in the living room |
So what I think someone like the gentleman in Matt's Game Exchange needs, is a good solid list of titles to get on the system, and here are a few I would recommend:
-Sonic the Hedgehog
-Sonic the Hedgehog 2
-Sonic the Hedgehog 3
-Space Harrier II
-Super Thunder Blade
-Altered Beast
-Ghouls'n Ghosts
-Phantasy Star II
-Phantasy Star III
-Phantasy Star IV
-Thunder Force II
-Thunder Force III
-Thunder Force IV
-Truxton
-After Burner II
-Columns
-ESWAT: City Under Siege
-Gaiares
-Ghostbusters
-M.U.S.H.A.
-Marble Madness
-OutRun
-Paperboy
-Space Invaders '91
-Star Control
-Streets of Rage
-ToeJam & Earl
-Zero Wing
-Battletoads
-Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
-Double Dragon
-Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
-Ecco the Dolphin
-Kid Chameleon
-Paperboy 2
-Streets of Rage 2
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist
-Disney's Aladdin
-Fatal Fury
-Gunstar Heroes
-Jungle Strike
-Jurassic Park
-Mortal Kombat
-Shining Force
-Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition
-Super Battleship
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
-Contra: Hard Corps
-Earthworm Jim
-Ecco: The Tides of Time
-Fatal Fury 2
-Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition
-Mega Man: The Wily Wars (in the USA, this is available on repro carts)
-Mortal Kombat II
-NBA Jam Tournament Edition
-Samurai Showdown
-Shining Force II
-Sonic & Knuckles
-Steel Empire
-Streets of Rage 3
-Super Street Fighter II
-Vectorman
-Vectorman 2
-The Lost World: Jurassic Park
-Frogger
And of course, there are many more, but I tried to list the ones that stand out to me. As you can see, there is quite a selection to collect. If you don't want to grab these on the Genesis due to cost, you can pick a lot of these titles up on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console, and they also released the Sega Genesis Mega Collection on the Playstation 3 and the XBOX 360. These are much less expensive ways of collecting great Genesis titles, but being the nostalgia person that I am, I try to get them on the original console.
Also if you are playing the fighting games on the Genesis, I recommend finding a SEGA Genesis 6-button controller, it makes quite the difference.
That pretty much sums up my rant on why the Genesis is a great system and a good one to collect for, even as a Nintendo fan. I'm sure there are many other titles that people enjoy that I missed, and I encourage anyone to comment and include your favorites too.
My next blog entry should be a game review, I think I'm going to discuss Rare Replay on the XBOX One and perhaps some more retro titles...but until then Play it Loud...er...I mean SEGA!
Monday, August 3, 2015
Introduction
So I should probably do a little introduction to my video gaming experience and collection before I get into reviewing. My first experience with video games that I can remember was playing my cousin's NES. I was probably only 4 or 5 at the time, and the majority of gaming on the NES back then consisted of trying to shoot the dog on Duck Hunt for laughing at me when I missed. My first experience with gaming at my own house was when my parents bought me a MS-DOS based Tandy computer in 1990. I had a pretty extensive library of MS-DOS games back then, including: Pac-Man, Galaga, Space Invaders, Q-Bert, Tetris, and a golfing game with primitive voice sounds called "World Class Leaderboard."
My first console was the Super Nintendo, and I got mine when it launched in the U.S. in 1991. That was essentially the start of my console gaming experience, and it also means that I'm probably slightly Nintendo-biased when reviewing games/consoles. Over the years though, I've definitely come to really like the Sega systems from the era as well.
I'm partial to 2D shooters as far as genres go. I really like shoot 'em ups, or SHMUPS as they are sometimes called. I like simulation games (however not so much the Sims, think more like the tycoon games). My love of strategy games also tends to focus me to being a PC gamer more than anything, but I do also enjoy playing consoles. Here is a quick list of the gaming consoles that I own:
-Atari 2600
-NES
-Sega Genesis
-Game Boy
-Super Nintendo
-NEO GEO CD-ROM
-Sega Saturn
-Sony Playstation
-Nintendo 64
-Game Boy Color
-Sega Dreamcast
-Sony Playstation 2
-Game Boy Advance
-Nintendo GameCube
-Game Boy Advance SP
-Microsoft XBOX 360
-Nintendo Wii
-Sony Playstation 3
-Sony Playstation Portable (PSP)
-Nintendo DS
-Nintendo Wii U
-Nintendo 3DS
-New Nintendo 3DS
-Microsoft XBOX One
I think that pretty much covers my list of consoles. Hopefully I should post my first review/rant on gaming this weekend sometime. I'll try to include whether or not it's a rant or a review in the title. Also I plan to do retro and new games, so I'll try to change it up from post to post. Well, hopefully a post will be showing up here again soon, so stay tuned!
My first console was the Super Nintendo, and I got mine when it launched in the U.S. in 1991. That was essentially the start of my console gaming experience, and it also means that I'm probably slightly Nintendo-biased when reviewing games/consoles. Over the years though, I've definitely come to really like the Sega systems from the era as well.
I'm partial to 2D shooters as far as genres go. I really like shoot 'em ups, or SHMUPS as they are sometimes called. I like simulation games (however not so much the Sims, think more like the tycoon games). My love of strategy games also tends to focus me to being a PC gamer more than anything, but I do also enjoy playing consoles. Here is a quick list of the gaming consoles that I own:
-Atari 2600
-NES
-Sega Genesis
-Game Boy
-Super Nintendo
-NEO GEO CD-ROM
-Sega Saturn
-Sony Playstation
-Nintendo 64
-Game Boy Color
-Sega Dreamcast
-Sony Playstation 2
-Game Boy Advance
-Nintendo GameCube
-Game Boy Advance SP
-Microsoft XBOX 360
-Nintendo Wii
-Sony Playstation 3
-Sony Playstation Portable (PSP)
-Nintendo DS
-Nintendo Wii U
-Nintendo 3DS
-New Nintendo 3DS
-Microsoft XBOX One
I think that pretty much covers my list of consoles. Hopefully I should post my first review/rant on gaming this weekend sometime. I'll try to include whether or not it's a rant or a review in the title. Also I plan to do retro and new games, so I'll try to change it up from post to post. Well, hopefully a post will be showing up here again soon, so stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)