It is no secret that I am a PlayStation fan. Ever since my brother gave me a PS2 for my birthday complete with SOCOM II, I have been a fan of the PlayStation consoles. When the PlayStation Vita came out several years ago, I picked one up and purchased a few games for it. Unfortunately it has sat in my home office for almost a year without anyone picking it up. That may change next week.
One of the problems with the Vita is a lack of good games. Most video game companies have a limited number of resources and trying to put their games on all of the consoles, including the PS Vita does not always make sense. As someone that plays games, I would much rather buy a game for my PlayStation 3 or 4 than my Vita, so I understand why there is a lack of content.
Fortunately for me, there are a number of free games I am given all the time. Some games are good while others are not. This afternoon I was going through my library of games and noticed I have "The Walking Dead: Season 2" for the Vita. Now I know I said I wasn't going to play it in my last review. However the Vita has one thing that will make me change my mind: it is portable. I spend a lot of time on airplanes and in airports. The Vita is a perfect platform entertaining me in those situations.
Next week when I fly to the Bay Area, I will bring my Vita with "The Walking Dead: Season 2" and see if I can't continue the game. Naturally I will provide a review.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Video Game Review: The Walking Dead, The Complete First Season
Last night I received my first platinum trophy on the PlayStation video game console. I received it simply because I completed all five episodes of the video game The Walking Dead. There are actually six episodes if you include the "400 Days" episode found on the Game of the Year Edition. I have yet to play the sixth episode though as it is not necessary to get the trophy. As I completed the game, I thought I would give a quick review.
I just finished playing Heavy Rain and was looking for something a little more upbeat. The guys at work told me to play something else but for some reason I had my heart set on playing The Walking Dead. I should have listened because it was also rather somber. It played very similarly to Heavy Rain in that they are both more like interactive movies that require just a bit of interaction now and then. I am a fan of the television series The Walking Dead and thought the game would keep me entertained. I wasn't wrong.
The Walking Dead started as a series of downloadable episodes that take about two to three hours to complete. As I had a disk that contained all of the episodes, I binge played much as someone might by watching all the episodes of the television series. It started out as a lot of fun but I think having a break between episodes might have made it more enjoyable towards the end. By the fourth episode I just wanted the game to be over. I was pleasantly surprised that the fifth episode only took about an hour and a half to complete.
This evening I am trying to decide whether or not to play the "400 Days" episode or start a new video game. I enjoyed the game over the course of a two-week period but have decided not to play the second season as there are so many other video games I want to play. My hope is that the extra episode will tie up one or two loose ends in the story.
The Walking Dead is developed by Telltale Games and I picked it up for only $1. It is well worth the price I paid for it and would have been so even if I paid $20. The game has an ESRB rating of M for language and violence. Remember my disclaimer that I work for a video game company and may or may not be associated with this title in some way. In reality, I review games based on whether or not I want to play them and not the studio they come from.
I just finished playing Heavy Rain and was looking for something a little more upbeat. The guys at work told me to play something else but for some reason I had my heart set on playing The Walking Dead. I should have listened because it was also rather somber. It played very similarly to Heavy Rain in that they are both more like interactive movies that require just a bit of interaction now and then. I am a fan of the television series The Walking Dead and thought the game would keep me entertained. I wasn't wrong.
The Walking Dead started as a series of downloadable episodes that take about two to three hours to complete. As I had a disk that contained all of the episodes, I binge played much as someone might by watching all the episodes of the television series. It started out as a lot of fun but I think having a break between episodes might have made it more enjoyable towards the end. By the fourth episode I just wanted the game to be over. I was pleasantly surprised that the fifth episode only took about an hour and a half to complete.
This evening I am trying to decide whether or not to play the "400 Days" episode or start a new video game. I enjoyed the game over the course of a two-week period but have decided not to play the second season as there are so many other video games I want to play. My hope is that the extra episode will tie up one or two loose ends in the story.
The Walking Dead is developed by Telltale Games and I picked it up for only $1. It is well worth the price I paid for it and would have been so even if I paid $20. The game has an ESRB rating of M for language and violence. Remember my disclaimer that I work for a video game company and may or may not be associated with this title in some way. In reality, I review games based on whether or not I want to play them and not the studio they come from.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Trophy Hunting
I am back from vacation and so I have been playing video games on my boat during the week. I picked up a stack of games for next to nothing and am trying to get through a number of them as quickly as possible. Don't worry, I will provide reviews for some of the good ones as I get to them.
One thing I have started to notice is the number of trophies I am accumulating for the PlayStation family of consoles. I am told that there is a similar system for the XBox consoles. Trophies have absolutely no value other than the sentiment one assigns to them. I don't really play video games to collect trophies but the topic came up during lunch today. Those are the types of conversations you have when one work for a video game company.
Naturally I got a lot of good-natured ribbing because while I have over 465 total trophies, none of them are platinum. Most are bronze with some silver ones and a few gold thrown in. One of the guys I eat lunch with loves to trophy hunt. That means he finds out what is necessary to earn a trophy and then plays to achieve it. He feels it adds to the game as he must try out new things. While I may find a favorite gun and use it throughout the game, he will mix it up as different trophies can be awarded based on getting a certain number of kills with differing weapons.
I asked how to find out about the various trophies and how to earn them. Most of the time, the game will tell you what to do. Other times you have to do a bit of research on the Internet. To me that sounded like cheating. My buddy didn't think so.
Someone else at the table pointed out how he earned a trophy by connecting a rubber band to his controller and letting it run three nights in a row to accumulate 75 miles of driving for a remote control car in one of his games. Doing so rewarded him with a platinum trophy for the game. Everyone at the table agreed that he is a trophy hunter and it definitely qualified as cheating. Personally I found it to be hilarious.
There is not much to the current game I am playing and if things continue I will earn my first platinum trophy. Simply playing the game all the way through is all that is necessary. Does that make me a trophy hunter? I don't think so because I am not altering how I play the game. However if you catch me attaching a rubber band to my controller and letting it run all night for 3 nights in a row, then you can call me a trophy hunter. Now if I only had a rubber band on the boat.
One thing I have started to notice is the number of trophies I am accumulating for the PlayStation family of consoles. I am told that there is a similar system for the XBox consoles. Trophies have absolutely no value other than the sentiment one assigns to them. I don't really play video games to collect trophies but the topic came up during lunch today. Those are the types of conversations you have when one work for a video game company.
Naturally I got a lot of good-natured ribbing because while I have over 465 total trophies, none of them are platinum. Most are bronze with some silver ones and a few gold thrown in. One of the guys I eat lunch with loves to trophy hunt. That means he finds out what is necessary to earn a trophy and then plays to achieve it. He feels it adds to the game as he must try out new things. While I may find a favorite gun and use it throughout the game, he will mix it up as different trophies can be awarded based on getting a certain number of kills with differing weapons.
I asked how to find out about the various trophies and how to earn them. Most of the time, the game will tell you what to do. Other times you have to do a bit of research on the Internet. To me that sounded like cheating. My buddy didn't think so.
Someone else at the table pointed out how he earned a trophy by connecting a rubber band to his controller and letting it run three nights in a row to accumulate 75 miles of driving for a remote control car in one of his games. Doing so rewarded him with a platinum trophy for the game. Everyone at the table agreed that he is a trophy hunter and it definitely qualified as cheating. Personally I found it to be hilarious.
There is not much to the current game I am playing and if things continue I will earn my first platinum trophy. Simply playing the game all the way through is all that is necessary. Does that make me a trophy hunter? I don't think so because I am not altering how I play the game. However if you catch me attaching a rubber band to my controller and letting it run all night for 3 nights in a row, then you can call me a trophy hunter. Now if I only had a rubber band on the boat.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
E-Mail is Bad on Vacation
I just got back from a week in Hawaii and learned a very important lesson. I should say I re-learned a very important lesson: Avoid e-mail and as much technology as possible while on vacation. As usual, I brought my laptop so I could stay up on my e-mail. Each time I would turn on my computer, I would have at least one message that required immediate attention. It got to the point where I started getting mad at people for sending me work to do while on vacation. Then I realized that while some people knew I was out of the office, not everyone did.
Friends asking me to help with things in the neighborhood or with Scouts assumed I was just away during the week like I normally am. They didn't know I was trying to get some rest before the chaos that happens in the video game industry right as Christmas approaches. Once I realized that people were not going out of their way to upset me on vacation, I also figured out that the best way to keep from getting angry was to stop reading e-mail and checking my phones. In fact, I left them in my hotel room during the day and tried my best not to check them at night. I wasn't perfect, but it was nice to unplug from technology for a few days.
My 21-year-old daughter that came with my wife and I on this trip remarked how her generation found it difficult to unplug. She followed my example and left her phone in the hotel room as well. She noticed how others her age would float along on an inner-tube on the resort hotel's extensive lazy river with iPhone's in waterproof cases unable to refrain from constantly looking at the screen. She was disgusted with her contemporaries. I also noticed that younger children quickly snatched parents' phones the moment they were put down so electronic games could be played. Parents and adults were no better as they constantly ignored family members to stay in contact with their hand-held devices.
I enjoyed my trip to the islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I especially enjoyed not being connected to the rest of the world. My hope that at least one person reads this and follows our example and disconnects on their next vacation. It may only be for a day or two but you will be richly rewarded.
Friends asking me to help with things in the neighborhood or with Scouts assumed I was just away during the week like I normally am. They didn't know I was trying to get some rest before the chaos that happens in the video game industry right as Christmas approaches. Once I realized that people were not going out of their way to upset me on vacation, I also figured out that the best way to keep from getting angry was to stop reading e-mail and checking my phones. In fact, I left them in my hotel room during the day and tried my best not to check them at night. I wasn't perfect, but it was nice to unplug from technology for a few days.
My 21-year-old daughter that came with my wife and I on this trip remarked how her generation found it difficult to unplug. She followed my example and left her phone in the hotel room as well. She noticed how others her age would float along on an inner-tube on the resort hotel's extensive lazy river with iPhone's in waterproof cases unable to refrain from constantly looking at the screen. She was disgusted with her contemporaries. I also noticed that younger children quickly snatched parents' phones the moment they were put down so electronic games could be played. Parents and adults were no better as they constantly ignored family members to stay in contact with their hand-held devices.
I enjoyed my trip to the islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I especially enjoyed not being connected to the rest of the world. My hope that at least one person reads this and follows our example and disconnects on their next vacation. It may only be for a day or two but you will be richly rewarded.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Video Game Review: Heavy Rain
Monday evening I finished playing the Undead Nightmare expansion pack for Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption. It was a lot of fun after having spent quite a few hours on the original game. The expansion only took about 15 hours of total time to finish. When I was done, I wanted something a little different and just picked up Heavy Rain from Quantic Dream. Heavy Rain is an older game available on the PlayStation 3 video game console but still manages to hold up well. The reasons I picked the game are that it is significantly different than the other games I have finished playing, I knew it to be about a 10-hour game, and it is not another zombie game. It was a lot of fun to play in the evenings on my boat.
I didn't know what to expect when I sat down to play Heavy Rain. I imagined it would be similar to watching a movie with the chance to make choices that would effect the outcome of the story. There was actually a bit more involved in the game play and so it was a lot more interactive than I originally thought. During the game, you take turn playing 4 different characters as you try to find the "Origami Killer." You also try to make sure all 4 characters make it to the end of the game as you also try to save a young boy. I was not successful except for saving one of the characters and the young boy. I probably could have done better but one of my choices had far-reaching consequences. I did fairly good figuring out all of the clues and knew who the killer was before it was revealed.
Heavy Rain is rated Mature and definitely should not be played by anyone who is not an adult. There is violence, nudity, and strong language, so it is not a game for kids. Personally I enjoyed the game and would recommend it to adults looking for entertainment and a great tutorial on how to use the PS3 controller. I got the game from a recent sale "insider's only" sale for only $1 and while you may not be able to find it for that price, it has been out for a while and you should be able to find it for between $10 and $20. I should also remind you that I work for a video game company that may or may not be associated with this title.
I didn't know what to expect when I sat down to play Heavy Rain. I imagined it would be similar to watching a movie with the chance to make choices that would effect the outcome of the story. There was actually a bit more involved in the game play and so it was a lot more interactive than I originally thought. During the game, you take turn playing 4 different characters as you try to find the "Origami Killer." You also try to make sure all 4 characters make it to the end of the game as you also try to save a young boy. I was not successful except for saving one of the characters and the young boy. I probably could have done better but one of my choices had far-reaching consequences. I did fairly good figuring out all of the clues and knew who the killer was before it was revealed.
Heavy Rain is rated Mature and definitely should not be played by anyone who is not an adult. There is violence, nudity, and strong language, so it is not a game for kids. Personally I enjoyed the game and would recommend it to adults looking for entertainment and a great tutorial on how to use the PS3 controller. I got the game from a recent sale "insider's only" sale for only $1 and while you may not be able to find it for that price, it has been out for a while and you should be able to find it for between $10 and $20. I should also remind you that I work for a video game company that may or may not be associated with this title.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Expense Reports
One of the downsides of traveling a lot for work is that I often get stuck doing expense reports. When I was at Oracle, I was forced to do them every week. Fortunately I can now do them once a month but it is a painful process. My company uses a Software as a Service (SaaS) expense reporting solution. I hate it. I am fairly certain it was designed by someone that never ever had to fill out an expense report. Especially someone that never had to fill out an international one.
It takes me a while to get through my expense report and when I finally think I have done everything correctly, I get to deal with our accounts payable department. There are a number of little rules that we have and it is tough to keep them all straight. For instance, we have a daily food maximum of $100 for some cities and $125 for others. We also have the rule that the highest ranking employee pays for the meal and so I often get stuck paying the bill. This maximum food allowance carries through for people all from the same company. However if there is someone who works for our parent company, but not the US branch, then the expense item goes from a "meal" to "entertainment" and any limits on food go away. That means I have had expense reports kicked back because someone at the table was miscategorized as an employee when they should have been a guest. This delays payment by at least a week or two.
Last month I was in Japan and then I was in San Diego at the beginning of last week. Guess what that means? Yep, I am in the middle of doing my expense report. Nope, I don't like it.
It takes me a while to get through my expense report and when I finally think I have done everything correctly, I get to deal with our accounts payable department. There are a number of little rules that we have and it is tough to keep them all straight. For instance, we have a daily food maximum of $100 for some cities and $125 for others. We also have the rule that the highest ranking employee pays for the meal and so I often get stuck paying the bill. This maximum food allowance carries through for people all from the same company. However if there is someone who works for our parent company, but not the US branch, then the expense item goes from a "meal" to "entertainment" and any limits on food go away. That means I have had expense reports kicked back because someone at the table was miscategorized as an employee when they should have been a guest. This delays payment by at least a week or two.
Last month I was in Japan and then I was in San Diego at the beginning of last week. Guess what that means? Yep, I am in the middle of doing my expense report. Nope, I don't like it.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Time to Break Out the Walkman
This morning I pulled out a decade-old Sony Walkman and actually had a legitimate use for it. There was a radio program I wanted to listen to. It was something I could do at the same time I rode my indoor bike. Yes, I would have rather ridden outside but it was raining and so listening to my program while I got some exercise seemed like a good idea.
I have an old Sony Walkman that I got probably 10 to 20 years ago. It was one of the last cassette player models released and it also has a built-in radio. I found a fresh set of AA batteries and connected it to my favorite ear buds. Then I quickly found the right station and had a great indoor ride.
Sure I could have downloaded an application for one of my smartphones and streamed the program to it. However that seemed like a lot of work when all I needed to do was add a fresh set of batteries to something ready to go. Sometimes those old technologies may seem out of date but often times they still have a purpose. Today was one of those times.
I have an old Sony Walkman that I got probably 10 to 20 years ago. It was one of the last cassette player models released and it also has a built-in radio. I found a fresh set of AA batteries and connected it to my favorite ear buds. Then I quickly found the right station and had a great indoor ride.
Sure I could have downloaded an application for one of my smartphones and streamed the program to it. However that seemed like a lot of work when all I needed to do was add a fresh set of batteries to something ready to go. Sometimes those old technologies may seem out of date but often times they still have a purpose. Today was one of those times.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
