The four multiplayer maps; Vertigo, Studio, Magma, and Encore.

Magma features a giant volcano that erupted spewing lava throughout the location.  Although lava has been used previously in zombie maps this will be the first multiplayer map that uses lava as an environmental hazard.  If you touch the lava it will mean certain death.

Encore is a giant outdoor amphitheater from London England with a raised center platform that players should try to control.  From the center platform players will have a good view of the rest of the map and can quickly cut down opposing players.

Vertigo is a tall skyscraper with many stairs, windows, and elevators perfect for setting up ambushes and camping areas of the map.

Studio is an old Hollywood back-lot full of building frames and giant props.  Studio is a reimagined map of the fan favorite firing range map.

The one zombie map called Mob of the Dead features actors voice acting four different characters that are attempting to escape from Alcatraz prison. During the escape they are overrun by zombies and must fight their way to the safety of the San Francisco Bay where their getaway boat awaits them.

There will not be any additional weapons or guns included with this DLC, but that doesn’t mean they won’t release any other weapons with another downloadable content expansion.

The tournament consists of 32 teams with each team containing 4 players.  They are giving away $1 million dollars in total prize money divided among the top 8 finishing teams.  I wish I was good enough to qualify, but alas I don’t even have a 360.  I will be picking up the Next Xbox after the initial price drop.

I sometimes like to skip a generation, and this was the gen that I skipped.  I’ve been mostly playing games of the PC for the last few years. Although when I decided to skip this generation I didn’t know it would be such a long one.  I remember my brother getting his 360 back in 2006 and back then I thought for sure they would have a new one out by 2010.

If you are on the first place team and you divide the winnings evenly a $100,000 pay day is pretty decent.  I know if I was a good enough gamer I would definitely try tournaments out.   Even getting $6,250 for eight place isn’t bad for playing a game.  That’s a good months worth of work for many people.

I wonder how they figure the taxes for tournament winnings.  They might be considered like game-show winnings, and if that is the case they will have to pay the tax man half of their earnings, but I’m sure they have their accountants give them some good discounts and rebates.

What I think is kind of hard for Call of Duty tournaments is they are releasing a new game every year so you will have to learn new perks, weapons, and maps every year.  This probably isn’t a problem for the average professional gamer seeing how they spend an absurd amount of time playing games to get to their level of play anyways.

If you can’t attend the event they might be broadcasting the matches over Xbox Live or online at Call of Duty Elite.

The double experience event begins at 10 AM March 28, 2013 and ends at 10 AM April 2, 2013.  If you haven’t tried out MechWarrior Online now is the time to download it and give a thorough run through. I’ve been having a lot of fun playing my Catapult specifically the CPLT-K2 class that I have decked out with twin ER PPCs and a Gauss Rifle.  I haven’t scored any headshots yet, but I do some extreme damage at great distances.

There are a couple of problems with my current loadout for my Catapult CPLT-K2, the first is I can only fire my twin ER PPCs two times without overheating.  If I fire it three times in a row I will automatically shutdown unless I hit the override button, but if I do that I will take some heat damage.  The second problem is I only have enough tonnage for one pack of Gauss Rifle ammo, which gives me 10 shots.  I have to be really careful with my ammo usage, and sometimes I take a little bit longer to aim which can cause me to take more damage.

Maybe I should decrease my armor another ton and either add one more heat sink or one more pack of Gauss Rifle ammo.  I also have a difficult time fighting light mechs so I tend to stick with the rest of the group so I don’t get targeted as quickly.  I find that if I go solo I get easily picked off or surrounded by light mechs that circle strafe me to death.

Each attempt costs a fee so there is no guarantee you will make your money back.  In fact I have gone through quite a few bad streaks and lost several hundred rupees.  But the chance of scoring a couple silver or an orange rupee keeps me coming back for more.

Below is a good video I found of someone playing Thrill Digger on expert level and each time they score at least a couple hundred points.

I also found a video that demonstrates my luck where the first hole I dig in gives me a bomb.  I found this video pretty hilarious with all the fails involved.

If you own a Wii and haven’t played Skyward Sword yet I highly recommend it.  It might not be the best Zelda game ever made, but it is a solid entry in the series.  The dungeons are fun and engaging, but I don’t really care for the flying aspects of game.  If you can get past the old fashioned mechanics you are in for a treat.

Plus I’m sure you can get the game at a discounted price now.

Fire Emblem Awakening 3DS box

I eagerly awaited for the Fire Emblem demo that was released on January 17th 2013.  As soon as the Nintendo eShop updated I hurriedly visited and began searching for where I could download the demo.

I haven’t really been keeping up on this game. I haven’t read any previews, and I haven’t looked for videos.  I have however played a ton of a Fire Emblem game on my Game Boy Advance, and I ate up the free Fire Emblem Sacred Stones game that I got from Nintendo’s ambassador program.

I would say I am a moderate fan of the series, but I do feel like it’s combat is a little repetitive, and I do tire of it after awhile.  I do like the permanent death of characters, and I feel it really makes you think hard before you send off one of your favorite units into a battle you won’t be sure it will be victorious.  I was hoping this next installment would make the game more cinematic and would overhaul the combat to remove some of the repetitiveness.

The above video is the game’s trailer and shows that they have tried to move towards a more cinematic feel.  In previous games in-between battles their was always dialogue that could sometimes become tedious if you weren’t that into the story.  During my first play through I was really impressed with the amount of video they packed into the demo.  But alas the long dialogue was also back, and I found myself feverously pressing the start button to bypass after awhile.

There are some minor tweaks to the combat with the addition of being able to couple characters together in a battle.  Other than that there wasn’t much difference.  I was greatly disappointed to see that the overlay map is essentially the same and wasn’t upgraded that much.  The graphics are crisp, but I don’t know why they have to show you the same attack animations over and over that itself is very repetitive and really turns me off to the series.  I really wish they had updated the map more.  It did receive a nice graphics boost, but other than that it was meh.

Overall I wasn’t that impressed and it seems more like a sequel with better graphics than a new game that really stretches the genre and improves on the gameplay.

Still I recommend everyone that owns a 3DS to at least download the demo and give it one good solid play through even if you’ve never played this genre before.  These games are lovingly crafted, have great depth, and excellent replay value. You never know you might discover a new favorite game.

I came back to my computer a couple hours later to check the status of the download and was pleasantly surprised to see it had finished.  I let the program begin installing.  As it edges towards the completion mark an error message pop-ups.

The dreaded d3dx9_42.dll error

I try to reinstall, but again I am hit with this error just before conclusion.  The only solution is to start the whole process over again by downloading the whole installation program.  I begin the download over again and go to bed hoping that by tomorrow I will finally be able to get into some serious Mech battles.

Luckily for me the game downloaded and installed correctly on my second attempt.  I don’t know what caused the problem and all my searching for the answer on the Internet turned up diddly squat.

If you are a new player to the MechWarrior style of combat you should check out their training videos.

First play through video help

Let me know how you guys are enjoying the game in the comments below.  I’d love to hear what your style of play is, which mechs are your favorite, if you prefer dealing damage with lasers or missiles, and what kind of armaments you outfit your mech in.  Do you go for a lot of heat sinks so you can continuously fire or do you put in extra armor?

PlanetSide 2 First Gameplay Impressions

If you are a new player, you might want to check out http://www.planetside2.com/game-tutorials the video tutorials. Below is a helpful video that shows players how to access the various vehicles. These videos really helped me understand this game.

The game is really fun and action packed when you can find a good battle.  When you are looking for a battle it can become a bit tedious and boring.

Luckily the classes all feel very well balanced and it only takes a few well aimed shots to take down any enemy class type except the Max, but that has a lengthy respawn time and costs resource points to use.  My favorite class is the Engineer, I’ve always liked building turrets in FPS games ever since Team Fortress.  Planetside 2′s take on an Engineer is very fun with you being able to set your turrets in most spots with enough room and jump into the seat and start blasting away with a pretty powerful mini-gun.  I’ve watched many enemy players scatter for cover once I’m in the saddle, and the ones that don’t are soon lying dead on the floor.

The last couple of weeks I’ve been busy playing many hours of Ghost Recon Online, and it’s been a blast.  It’s a free to play game, but with much higher production value than your typical free to play shooter.  You can pick between three classes; Recon, Assault, and Support.  They each have two distinct abilities at low levels. I’ve played all three and each one plays completely differently and it’s fun trying out a class on a map you know well for one class and seeing how differently it plays.

I really like how the game plays with running in third-person and turning into a more traditional first person shooter when you aim down the scope of your gun.  When you are running around in third-person you get a better sense of the action around you than in a standard first-person view.  You can also slide and shimmy yourself against the wall of many boxes and obstacles in the map.  I love sliding forward towards cover when I see an enemy poke his head out and open up a clip on me.

Many times I’ve been running up with my group; the opposing team will starting firing at us, and the smart players will immediately seek cover or return fire.  The action and paces of the matches are for the most part intense and as exhilarating as some of the older Rainbow Six games that I loved playing on the PC and Xbox.

I do have one complaint about the game and that is it doesn’t have enough maps!  There are only 5 different maps to play.  They did add one map within the last couple of weeks, and I hope they continue to add more maps as the holidays approach.

If you are looking for something to play while you patiently await the release of Halo 4 or Black Ops 2 I definitely recommend trying out Ghost Recon Online if you have a powerful enough computer to run it.

My initial reaction is WOW! I can’t believe this is on a Nintendo console.  WooH00!  They have really clawed their way back into the home console market since the dark days of Gamecube and N64.  No more second hand ports for a Nintendo console (at least until the PS4 and next xbox are released).

The image on the Wii U GamePad was extremely crisp, clear, and a beautiful 60fps of bullets flying and grenades exploding.  If anything I am more excited about being able to play games on the GamePad than on my 46′ HDTV.  I already own a 3DS, but when I get a Wii U my 3DS will become my #2 handheld.  My smartphone will stay in a solid #3 spot as a gaming platform.   I can’t wait to play games on the GamePad it will definitely take my toilet time gaming to a whole new level.

This video is from the Wii U release date and price announcement event held on September 13th 2012.  It shows two players playing on one Wii U in a split-screen multiplayer match against AI controlled bots.  With almost all split-screen games part of the TV is divided up for each player and this can allow for cheap kills by looking at the other players screen.  For Black Ops 2 the Gamepad player looks at his screen for his game and the other players look at the TV with only 2 players you can have a truer multiplayer experience than on traditional split-screen matches.

I’m very excited about the Wii U, and I can’t wait to see the online multiplayer details when they are released.  I don’t think Nintendo is planning on charging a fee to play online multiplayer games, and I can’t wait to see more details about the community features.

(This video is the whole press conference)

This is very exciting news for me, Nintendo fans, and gaming enthusiasts around the world.  I won’t be getting a Wii U at launch, but I have been watching all of the Wii U game-play videos I can find and so far I have been very impressed.  The graphics are on-par with today’s other current consoles and the additional game-play options brought by the gamepad look fun and easier to use than a traditional controller.  I am also greatly looking forward to having the ability to take my games on the go with the Wii U gamepad.

Some people like to claim that the next playstation and xbox will blow the graphics of the Wii U away.  I know there have been rumors about a new xbox in 2013 or 2014, but I don’t see Sony or Microsoft releasing a new console until late 2014 or they might even wait until 2015.  I remember half way through PS2′s life cycle Sony stated they hoped the console cycle would move from a new console every six years to a new one every ten years.  Also Sony and Microsoft are only recently breaking even or making a small profit on each console sold.  I’m sure they will want to keep their current consoles on the market as long as possible.  This will give Nintendo a huge window to have great success with the Wii U.