Minecraft Effects on the Mind

Hey, everyone. In my last post, I mentioned Minecraft. If you haven't tried it yet, I highly suggest giving the free mode a try. I enjoy playing the Alpha (soon to be Beta) mode, too. While playing the game, I began to notice something.

The game is very addictive. I love breaking block after block. Whether it's for a big structure or just to see what's on the other side, it is always fun. But while playing the Alpha mode, I notice that even simple games like Minecraft can really strike emotions. I like to see the sun and the moon and the trees and grass and when I spend a long period of time inside a really deep mine (in the game, of course) I begin to miss the artificial "outside" on the game. The lighting in the game really helps to produce this feeling because it can get pitch black in the mines and caves if there is no light anywhere. I always make sure to bring lots of torches with me because the warm glow from the small fire seems to provide some hope of actually seeing the "outside" again. Sure...if I wanted to, I could just dig straight up to the surface and completely ignore all of the tunnels I have already worked on...but where is the fun in that?

If anyone has ever played the Alpha version of Minecraft, they will know how easy it is to get lost in the caves. I can get lost in the same cave over and over again without trying. Sometimes I try to take care of one tunnel before I move on to another tunnel in the same mine, but it can be difficult when you can see empty black spaces that need light from your torches. Soon you begin to wander through the tunnels, placing torches to light your way, and forgetting which way leads out of the long maze of stone. At this point, I always try to backtrack so that I know I am not lost. Getting lost in these underground tunnels can be scary.

Minecraft is a great example of how games can give a player different feelings. And it is just one game of many that give these emotions really well. The free version of Minecraft is a bit more care-free than the Alpha version but both are a lot of fun.

As always, keep an eye on Steam for good deals on games. Especially since Christmas is just around the corner. Thanks for reading my blog. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

News Update

Hey, everyone! Lots of new things going on in the world of games and many of which I am pretty excited about. So let's just get to it.

First and foremost...a series I have been waiting to hear about for a few years has finally announced something big. I'm sure most people have heard of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but not everyone realizes that it is actually the fourth game in the series. A few days ago, the fifth game in the series was announced with a name, trailer, and release date!

I do not own anything in the video nor to I claim to own it.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has been set to release on November 11th, 2011. That's less than a year away! Let's see if it this date will stay or change. It has also been revealed that it will use a brand new engine!

Another big thing I'm excited about is Minecraft going into Beta. If you have never played Minecraft before, click on the link and play the the classic single-player minecraft for free just to get a taste of what can be done in the game. It is currently in Alpha but will be going into Beta on December 20th! This doesn't mean the game is almost finished. In is actually far from finished. The developer still plans to put a lot more content into the game. If you buy the game while it is in Alpha, you can get it for 50% off and get all future updates for free. But I guess I should answer the question...what is Minecraft?

Minecraft is a simple game in which the player mines, builds, fights, and survives. But there is a lot of depth in this simple game. Players can farm, build, mine, craft, create, fight, and more. This is the amount of things to do currently implemented with more to come. There are some fun physics in the game as well as dynamic lighting. The classic free mode is fun but only gives you a small taste of the things that can be done. Try it for yourself to see exactly what I mean.

It is also getting very close to the release of Dungeon Defenders (I hope). The game was already delayed due to some issues with consoles and their weird policies, but this is not a bad thing. The developers have already promised us even more content because of the delay. Dungeon Defenders is a tower-defense action role-playing game. Think of it as tower-defense meets Diablo. It is played from a third-person point of view in which you control a single person who can place defenses. The Diablo aspect of the game comes with the fighting. You can use your character to fight off the monsters invading your castle so the defenses you place to have to do all the work. With killing monsters comes loot...also much like diablo. And who doesn't like getting better equipment. I'm looking forward to this game very much.

And did I mention that Dungeon Defenders was made in the Unreal Development Kit (UDK)? This makes me even more excited because I know how to use UDK and it shows just how powerful this development tool is.

That's about all the major news that I am currently excited about. As always, keep an eye on Steam for good deals on games. Especially since Christmas is just around the corner. Thanks for reading my blog. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

FPS on Wii...Good or Bad?

Hey, everyone! I've been hooked on the remake of 007 GoldenEye for the Wii. Playing it as much as I have got me thinking about something. Are first-person shooters (FPS) on the Wii a good idea or a bad idea?

Sure, the Wii could be thought of as a more "family friendly" gaming console but it is still a console and deserves to have more mature games for more mature audiences. If we look at the other consoles, the XBox 360 released the Kinect recently in order to get a wider audience for their console. This means that there will also be more "family friendly" games for the console, too. But are developers going to stop releasing games for the 360 that are more for the "gamers" and "mature" audiences? The correct answer is...Nope. These games will still sell. The PS3 is also getting a motion feature to keep up in the console wars. But developers won't change their ways for the Sony's console either. So why should the Wii be treated any different?

GoldenEye 007 on the Wii handles very well. The controls feel smooth and natural. And there are options to adjust the controls to suit your fancy. This shows that FPS games can be developed for the Wii as long as enough effort is put into it. I also find that the controls of a FPS on the Wii can be a bit more real than on other consoles. I still prefer FPS games on the PC but the Wii controls simulated reality better. In reality, we can aim all over our field of view without turning our head. The same goes for the Wii. The motion control on the Wii allows the player to aim their gun all over the screen without moving the entire screen too much. FPS games on other platforms do not do this. Instead, they move the entire screen as though the players head and arms can not move independently of each other. This breaks the immersion a little. It doesn't break it enough to stop people from playing but it does make it feel a little less realistic.

We will have to see if the Kinect and PS3 Move will change FPS games on their consoles, but for now, let us just think about FPS games on the Wii. Are FPS games on the Wii a good idea or a terrible one? My personal opinion...a good idea. I enjoy them very much and think that the controls are much easier and more natural to use.

Thanks for reading my blog. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

I'm Back...

Hey, everyone. It's been a little while since I have made a post. I was in school and was really busy. Unfortunately I let the blogging get away from me but my quarter of schooling is over so I should be getting back to the blogging now. This is just gonna be a quick post but I will be getting back to the more detailed posts soon.

BlizzCon 2010 has come and passed. The new Demon Hunter class for Diablo 3 has been announced and looks very interesting. I personally talked to someone I know who went to BlizzCon this year and was able to play Diablo 3 there. He seemed to be pleased with the progress on the game so far.

Lots of new things have been announced for Star Wars: The Old Republic. New ships, new class details, new inhabitants, and more.

Goldeneye for the Wii has been released and is well worth the purchase. I did buy it and beat it. The single player campaign is fun but I would recommend it for the multiplayer. The online multiplayer is what keeps me playing it. The graphics are impressive for a Wii game. The controls take a little practice if you have never played a first-person shooter on the Wii, but the learning curve for the controls is only about 15 or 20 minutes, and there is a short tutorial to teach new players. The story is a bit different from the original but the changes do not hinder the game.

The multiplayer is what most people remember about the original so, naturally, the multiplayer is the remake is very well done. The split-screen multiplayer is fun with a few friends but the multiplayer that stops me from putting the game down is the online multiplayer. I'm not a fan of all the maps but the majority of them are fun and fairly easy to navigate. There are a number of modes to keep players entertained. My personal favorite is the Black Box mode in which two teams fight over a small box on the map. One team is trying to protect the box while the other team is trying to destroy it. The online multiplayer has an experience system similar to the Call of Duty franchise. You gain experience with eliminations, completing objectives, elimination streaks, and other similar things. With experience, weapons and game modes are unlocked which will keep people playing for a while.

There are plenty of people playing, too. Every multiplayer mode that I have played has always been maxed on people. This helps to speed up the already fast-paced multiplayer. I highly recommend everyone with a Wii to give Goldeneye a try. You will get many hours of gameplay out of this game even after the single player campaign is completed.

Thanks for reading my blog. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it. Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

Are Games really "Survival"?

Hey, everyone. It's been a little while since my last post. I was discussing video games with some people yesterday who do not really play video games and it made me think of an interesting concept.

The Resident Evil series and the Silent Hill series are categorized as survival horror. I was playing Left 4 Dead 2 and some friends asked what kind of game it is. One of them compared it to Resident Evil and asked if it was similar. I told them I suppose because you are shooting dead things, but it is still a very different game. Then I tried to explain it and realized that I was describing a survival game except with more action.

This explanation made me think of an interesting question. What really makes a game classified as the "survival" genre? Almost any game I think of has a common goal...do not die. This goal can also be described as survive. Left 4 Dead, Oblivion, Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft, Mass Effect, Call of Duty, and many other games all share this goal. Even simple casual games have the basic idea of surviving as long as possible to get the highest score or whatever else. The only games I can think of that stray from this goal are a few strange flash games on the internet.

So what allows Resident Evil to be a "survival" game? Perhaps it is in the horror genre and horror movies are usually about surviving the "horror" in the movie. Or perhaps it's because you can get scared to death...HAHA! But really, in my opinion, I think that many games could have the category of survival attached to them. What do you think? Please leave a comment and let me know. Thanks!

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me if you liked the post (you can find that off to the right side). Also be sure to follow me on my Twitter if you use Twitter. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

New GoldenEye Site

Hey, everyone. Just a quick update. I have a twitter account now for my blog.

In other news, the GoldenEye website in my last blog post has had a major update. Everyone should go check it out. If you look carefully, you will find small puzzles and hidden objects around the site. On top of that, there is more to come in the future! So click here to see the awesome new website for the upcoming Wii exclusive. Also be sure to see the new Multiplayer trailer here.

Steam is having a weekend sale this weekend. You can get the Stalker bundle for 75% off this weekend. That's 2 games for only $10!

Here is the link to my twitter account. Please follow me. Thanks!

Lately, I have been playing Oblivion...again. If you have never played it, check it out. You will thank yourself for it.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me if you liked the post (you can find that off to the right side). If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.

GoldenEye and More Steam

Hello, again. The final game I'm most looking forward to is GoldenEye 007 for the Wii. And with a November release date, I don't have to wait very long.

This game doesn't need a long explanation. Anyone who remembers playing the original GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 will find this game very familiar. It is a remake of that classic game. Most of the game will be the same except with a "facelift". There will be a few differences in the single player storyline and Pierce Brosnan, who played Bond in the movie, will be replaced with the current Bond actor, Daniel Craig.

Another big plus about this game is something that could not have been incorporated in the first one due to the technology at the time...online multiplayer! Most people kept playing the original because the of the multiplayer. It was a perfect game to play with a few of your buddies and now you can play with your buddies with having to leave your house! The online multiplayer will allow up 8 people and will have 16 different modes including "paintball" and "melee only".

And with this game being a Wii exclusive, things are looking up for the future of the Wii. I will keep my ears open for more news about this version of GoldenEye. You can look forward to owning this game in November.

The Steam QuakeCon 2010 sale today is Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition. It is on sale for 50% off today only! Or you can buy the complete QuakeCon 2010 Pack, almost $300 worth of games for just $70.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me if you liked the post (you can find that off to the right side). If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to ways I can improve my blog. If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer it.