The second trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2 was recently released and has me excited about the game. After watching the new footage, I immediately called my friend that used to work for Rockstar Games and asked if he had a way of getting me a discount copy of the game. While I would be willing to pay full price for the game, I also try to leverage my contacts in the video game industry to help me get good deals.
Red Dead Redemption is a special game to me. It showed me that playing video games in the evening can be much more rewarding that watching television. After several weeks of playing the game nightly, I felt like I was losing a friend when the game ended. In the trailer for version 2 of the game, there doesn't seem to be any connection between the two games other than they both take place in the western United States in the mid 1800's. Someone explained to me that the new game is a prequel. I'll be very interested to see how the two games are related.
The only bad news delivered in the trailer is that the game will not be ready until the spring of 2018. With all of the anticipated game releases between now and Christmas, that is probably a good thing. I can still be disappointed though.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Video Game Review: Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception
Monday evening I finally finished playing Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception on my PlayStation 4. This is a game I started playing with my son over Christmas last year but didn't have time to finish until now. Rather than pick up where I left off, I started over a few weeks ago. I'm glad I did as I had forgotten a number of the controls. Besides, the beginning of the game is a lot of fun and worth playing over again.
I have mentioned that I am a fan of the Uncharted series of games and really looked forward to finishing up the original trilogy. I have to say that my favorite of the 3 is the last one. I felt that Uncharted 1 and Uncharted 2 were the same story with just a bit different window dressing. I think that 2 did a much better job telling the story than 1 but they had a lot of similar elements. Uncharted 3 continues to share some of those elements but also has a lot of new elements that increased my enjoyment.
I felt like the end of both Uncharted 1 and 2 required me to fight some pretty difficult battles with superhuman monsters. Naturally I would die and have to restart the battle. Eventually it got rather tiring and only my desire to finish the game kept me playing. With Uncharted 3, the end battle also felt difficult but I didn't have to worry about superhuman monsters. I will confess I didn't make it through without dying once or twice, but the battle felt more natural and I enjoyed it significantly more.
Uncharted 3 is part of the Remastered Uncharted Collection game available for the PlayStation 4 and has an ESRB rating of T for "Teen." There is some mild language and violence but I have and would allow my teenage boys to play the game. If you have a PlayStation 3, you can find the game for that platform relatively inexpensively and it is definitely worth the price.
Now that I have finished Uncharted 3, I will take a bit of a break and play a different type of game. Playing the same game series one after another can lead to a bit of a burnout. Once my next game is complete, I am really looking forward to Uncharted 4 and will play that.
I have mentioned that I am a fan of the Uncharted series of games and really looked forward to finishing up the original trilogy. I have to say that my favorite of the 3 is the last one. I felt that Uncharted 1 and Uncharted 2 were the same story with just a bit different window dressing. I think that 2 did a much better job telling the story than 1 but they had a lot of similar elements. Uncharted 3 continues to share some of those elements but also has a lot of new elements that increased my enjoyment.
I felt like the end of both Uncharted 1 and 2 required me to fight some pretty difficult battles with superhuman monsters. Naturally I would die and have to restart the battle. Eventually it got rather tiring and only my desire to finish the game kept me playing. With Uncharted 3, the end battle also felt difficult but I didn't have to worry about superhuman monsters. I will confess I didn't make it through without dying once or twice, but the battle felt more natural and I enjoyed it significantly more.
Uncharted 3 is part of the Remastered Uncharted Collection game available for the PlayStation 4 and has an ESRB rating of T for "Teen." There is some mild language and violence but I have and would allow my teenage boys to play the game. If you have a PlayStation 3, you can find the game for that platform relatively inexpensively and it is definitely worth the price.
Now that I have finished Uncharted 3, I will take a bit of a break and play a different type of game. Playing the same game series one after another can lead to a bit of a burnout. Once my next game is complete, I am really looking forward to Uncharted 4 and will play that.
Thursday, September 14, 2017
New Product Hype
Apple just released some new products this week. A friend of mine caught me in the gym and commented about how the reporting on the iPhone is not really that objective. I had to agree with him to a point. I have come to the conclusion that iPhone reviews come in only two flavors: lovers and haters. Lovers talk about all the merits of the new device and think it is the greatest invention ever. Haters talk about how there is nothing innovative about it and how other smartphones already have those features.
It is important to look at all new product reviews and try to figure out if the author is a lover or a hater. Some reviewers have been burned by products in the past and try to dissuade anyone from buying anything from the manufacturer ever again. Other reviewers are simply looking to get free products and will say nice things about mediocre products.
I have yet to see much of anything about Apple's new phones but am not really looking. I currently have 3 different smartphones and am not in the market to replace any of them. One of my phones is an iPhone SE and it works just fine for me. My other 2 phones are both Android ones and also work amazingly well. Given the $999 price tag for some of these new phones, I'd rather spend the money on a better laptop and get a cheap phone. You may think differently.
It is important to look at all new product reviews and try to figure out if the author is a lover or a hater. Some reviewers have been burned by products in the past and try to dissuade anyone from buying anything from the manufacturer ever again. Other reviewers are simply looking to get free products and will say nice things about mediocre products.
I have yet to see much of anything about Apple's new phones but am not really looking. I currently have 3 different smartphones and am not in the market to replace any of them. One of my phones is an iPhone SE and it works just fine for me. My other 2 phones are both Android ones and also work amazingly well. Given the $999 price tag for some of these new phones, I'd rather spend the money on a better laptop and get a cheap phone. You may think differently.
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Telltale Games
This afternoon I finished playing "Game of Thrones" from Telltale Games. A few weeks ago I finished playing "Tales from the Borderlands," which is another Telltale game. Rather than review them separately, I thought I would review them together. Review is probably too strong a word as I will do more describing of what it is like to play any Telltale game. They all play very similarly. These are not the first games I have played from this game developer as I also played "The Walking Dead."
Playing Telltale games is a lot like watching a slightly interactive movie. There are a lot of scenes where you have no control over what is going on. Then every once and a while you can choose your dialog or make some minimal button presses on your controller. If you don't select the dialog quickly enough, you don't say anything and that has an effect on the story. Given the choice of watching a movie alone or playing a Telltale game, I much prefer a game.
"Game of Thrones" played very similar to "The Walking Dead." I felt like no matter what I did, people I cared about still died. When things started going well, bad things quickly followed. I am sure that a lot of that has to do with the original content that the games are based upon. I have never watched an episode of "Game of Thrones" on HBO but I did watch a lot of "The Walking Dead" on AMC. Ultimately I stopped watching because I got tired of seeing people struggle against all odds to better themselves only to have circumstances beyond control propel them back to having where they were before. Some people enjoy that formula and it keeps them entertained. I don't and so I stopped watching. After playing "Game of Thrones," I probably won't be watching that series at all.
"Tales from the Borderlands" is based on a video game and is actually quite humorous. I enjoyed finishing the game and it constantly kept me entertained. The game still had the element of succeeding only to crash but much less than the other games.
One nice thing about Telltale games on the PlayStation platforms is that most reward you with a platinum trophy for completing the game. Both "Game of Thrones" and "Tales from the Borderlands" had platinum trophies. If you are into trophy hunting, then definitely play as many Telltale games as you can. I paid nothing for either of my latest Telltale games as they came for free as part of my PlayStation Plus subscription. If you had the chance to add them to your library while they were available, I highly recommend playing them. If you ask me how much I would pay to play them, $5 sounds about right but I doubt you could find them for that price.
Playing Telltale games is a lot like watching a slightly interactive movie. There are a lot of scenes where you have no control over what is going on. Then every once and a while you can choose your dialog or make some minimal button presses on your controller. If you don't select the dialog quickly enough, you don't say anything and that has an effect on the story. Given the choice of watching a movie alone or playing a Telltale game, I much prefer a game.
"Game of Thrones" played very similar to "The Walking Dead." I felt like no matter what I did, people I cared about still died. When things started going well, bad things quickly followed. I am sure that a lot of that has to do with the original content that the games are based upon. I have never watched an episode of "Game of Thrones" on HBO but I did watch a lot of "The Walking Dead" on AMC. Ultimately I stopped watching because I got tired of seeing people struggle against all odds to better themselves only to have circumstances beyond control propel them back to having where they were before. Some people enjoy that formula and it keeps them entertained. I don't and so I stopped watching. After playing "Game of Thrones," I probably won't be watching that series at all.
"Tales from the Borderlands" is based on a video game and is actually quite humorous. I enjoyed finishing the game and it constantly kept me entertained. The game still had the element of succeeding only to crash but much less than the other games.
One nice thing about Telltale games on the PlayStation platforms is that most reward you with a platinum trophy for completing the game. Both "Game of Thrones" and "Tales from the Borderlands" had platinum trophies. If you are into trophy hunting, then definitely play as many Telltale games as you can. I paid nothing for either of my latest Telltale games as they came for free as part of my PlayStation Plus subscription. If you had the chance to add them to your library while they were available, I highly recommend playing them. If you ask me how much I would pay to play them, $5 sounds about right but I doubt you could find them for that price.
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