Showing posts with label xbox one. Show all posts
Showing posts with label xbox one. Show all posts

Monday, 23 September 2013

Tokyo Game Show

This is it. I've hit the big time. I literally spent three days in Tokyo playing video games, taking pictures of girls in skimpy outfits, eating delicious pizza, and getting paid for it (well, except for the pizza). This was my first year to attend Tokyo Game Show as press, and it was a really amazing experience.

Two years ago, I attended the show on one of the "open-to-all" public days. It was an... experience to say the least, but the incredibly massive crowds and lackluster games put me off attending it the following year. However, thanks to my gig at the Escapist, this year I scored a press pass, which changed the game considerably.

On the press days, I was free to pursue the games at my leisure. Lines were rarely longer than 20 minutes, and I could use my "press pass powers" to skip them entirely in some cases. Furthermore, there was a fantastic selection of games on display that I actually wanted to play, and I got a bunch of cool freebies just for being press.

Speaking of the games, Titanfall was far-and-away my pick for best in show. It felt smooth, slick, and polished enough to be released tomorrow, and was just a whole lot of fast-paced high-octane fun. Check out my hands-on preview for it here.

Microsoft impressed me overall a lot more than Sony. I was not a fan of the DualShock 4 at all, and none of the game's that Sony was showcasing for the PS4 really caught my eye. Sony hyped up this keynote speech on the first day, then went on to spend an hour talking about Facebook and casual gamers. Yawn.

Other cool games I got to play were Ryse: Son of Rome, Battlefield 4 and Wolfenstien: The New Order. Being a big Battlefield fanboy, I was pumped to get my hands on the latest game, but also being a member of the PC gaming master race meant that I was constantly frustrated by the limited PS4 controller.

I also attended one of the much-dreaded public days, but with some good friends by my side, and a plethora of amazing cosplayers to entertain me, I still had a fantastic time.

So, that was my Tokyo Game Show 2013 experience, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I eagerly await my next opportunity to attend any convention as press, as it really changes the whole experience substantially. Maybe I can squeeze a visit back home for PAX Australia next year...

Here are links to all of my coverage from the show:
Subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and be sure to check out my Escapist profile for daily updates!
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Sunday, 7 July 2013

NEWS: Sunday Update

PHEW! It's been a couple weeks since I last updated the blog! Really sorry about that, I've been in over my head at both of my jobs. At school, it's now week three of four straight weeks of elementary school. Anyone who's ever taught it knows that it's fun, but it's so exhausting! As for the Escapist, I've been commissioned to write a feature article about the history of mechs in videogames. Look forward to seeing that by the end of this week.

Last week, I went to Nasu Highland Park. It's a theme park near where I live that I shied away from going to for the longest time, because a friend of mine who has lived in Japan a lot longer than me told me it was "shit" and to "not bother." I'm really glad I disregarded that advice, because it turned out to be one of the best themepark experiences I've ever had! Sure, it wasn't as glitzy or glamorous as Disneyland, but it was half the price, had little to no lines, and still had some pretty freaking sweet rollercoasters.

Check out this video my friend Jerry made about the whole experience:


On to the last couple week's news posts! Sorry to give you such a big dump all at once:
Top three stories:

  • Ellen Page: Naughty Dog Ripped Off My Likeness

  • Nintendo Fans Fight For Region-Free Consoles

  • League of Legends Oceanic Servers Now Available
    • Okay guys, that's it from me for this week! Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and check back here every Saturday for a roundup of my Escapist news pieces!
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    Saturday, 15 June 2013

    NEWS: Saturday Update

    E3 is finally over. What a crazy week it's been. This was my first E3 that I covered for the Escapist and the increased workload I had to deal with was intense. It should all pay off in the end though (literally, as I get paid per article).


    So what's my opinion on E3 this year? Obviously, there is the Microsoft thing, which completely baffles me. I am somewhat of a Microsoft fanboy (i own an Xbox 360, although how I came about owning one was more of an opportune than deliberate purchase) and even I have to admit that Sony wiped the floor with them. It was just one bad policy after another. I know Microsoft are trying to change the gaming world here, and they knew there would be resistance, but damn.

    A lot of people compare what they are doing to what Steam did to PC gaming several years ago. I tend to agree with them there. Steam was met with just as much (if not more) resistance than is now facing the Xbox One, but at the end of the day it turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to PC gaming.


    Microsoft wants to do the same thing with console gaming, but damn, they could have done a LITTLE bet better PR on it. Maybe eased people more into it rather than just dumping bad news after bad news.

    Aside from that whole bru-ha-ha, a lot of cool stuff came out of E3. We got to see Titanfall from the guys who made Call of Duty back when Call of Duty was a competitive PC FPS and not a running joke. If they pull this off, it'll sit besides TF2 and NS2 as a go-to multiplayer FPS for me.

    Watch_Dogs, with it's hide-and-seek multiplayer and crazy gameplay options looks set to really shake things up.

     There was the announcement of the new Battlefront, which doesn't really need to have anything else said about it (fingers crossed for a PC release).

    And then there was of course, Nintendo's direct, which pretty much hit everything right. Wii U has no games? OK. How about some big first party Nintendo games? Super Mario. BAM. Donkey Kong. BAM. Mario Kart. BAM. Oh? You are sick of the bog-standard Nintendo franchises you always see? Well here's Wonderful 101, a crazy new IP that's about controlling a whole mob of superheroes at once. You want third party? We got third party. Batman. Assasin's Creed. Bayonetta 2, which is a Wii U exclusive!



    Ok we done. NO WAIT HERE'S SMASH BROS. Ok we really done now. NO WAIT HERE'S MEGA MAN IN SMASH BROS!! PEACE OUT BITCHES!

    As you can imagine, I haven't had too many real-life adventures this week! Next weekend i'm planning on attending a 'scavenger hunt' in Fukushima, which sounds fun.

    So anyway, here's the news for last week:


    Story of the week:



    Okay guys, that's it from me for this week! Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and check back here every Saturday for a roundup of my Escapist news pieces!
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    Saturday, 25 May 2013

    NEWS: Saturday Update

    Good afternoon everyone! This week saw the announcement of the Xbox One, which love it or hate it, is going to be a major contender in the upcoming console war. My opinion is that its just the logical evolution of the 360, a device that can "do it all," and it actually looks pretty good. I probably won't buy one as it seems pretty much exactly like a media center PC/SteamBox (which I have already...), but if I had a choose a console for the next gen, it would probably be the Xbox One.

    As for Japan, this week has saw the arrival of the Austrian exchange kids. My school district does an exchange with a school in Austria once a year, so earlier in the week myself and some other teachers went out drinking/karaokeing with the Austrian teacher, and the other night we had a farewell party for everyone involved in the exchange. The biggest surprise was just how incredibly well the students spoke English. I'm lucky if my kids can throw together two sentences without constantly pausing, yet these kids were pretty much at native level.

    How can the B.O.E see these kids, with their fantastic English ability, arrive every year, and still refuse to change their backwards-ass foreign language education? The results of a proper English curriculum are literally right in front of you. Oh well, looks like its back to another week of "repeat after me" and studying grammar.
    Here are this week's news stories:

    Bonus Content:
    This week saw the release of the first episode of the much talked about, but never actually attempted Happy Steve, Angry Steve Podcast. This was basically just done as a proof-of-concept type thing, to prove that we could actually do it and just get it out there, so I'm afraid it is very rough around the edges. Any criticism you can give us is very much appreciated.

    Okay guys, that's it from me for this week! Be sure to subscribe to my twitter for up-to-date news and blog updates, my youtube channel for gaming videos, and check back here every Saturday for a roundup of my Escapist news pieces!
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    Wednesday, 22 May 2013

    FEATURE: Happy Steve, Angry Steve Podcast Episode 1: Xbox One

    Hi guys, today i'm bringing you an exciting new project. I've teamed up Steven Thompson over in Fukushima to bring you the first episode of the "Happy Steve, Angry Steve" podcast!

    This week, the two Steves get happy and angry about Microsoft's recently revealed Xbox One.

    Download the MP3



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