Has 2015 been good so far?

Evening guys!

As you may remember last week, I talked about a few of the games I was looking forward to in 2015. The likes of Batman, Homefront and Rainbow Six made my top games of 2015. Although looking to the future is always good, what about what has already happened? Today I'll be looking at some of the standout things that have happened this year in video gaming!

Thank god they're finally out!

One of the first things that comes to mind is the release of heists on GTA. GTA owners have been waiting for over a year for the eventual release of heists (I know because I am one). Rockstar kept on pushing and pushing back the release date of the heists until they were eventually released on the 10th March, which was about two weeks ago. Many were, well, impatiently waiting, and to be fair, from what I've seen, they look pretty good. The missions themselves look very in-depth and would definitely take time ad coordination to complete. Unlike the missions given to you by characters in the game, the rewards for these heists are insane. New vehicles and weapons were added in the heist update and the cash rewards for the heists themselves can stretch to up to $10million, depending if you complete the necessary challenges. Heists were one of the things I know I was desperately wanting and fortunately, Rockstar finally delivered.

Project Morpheus - Will it
take gaming by storm?

Another great thing that has happened this year is the announcement of the new virtual headsets! As mentioned a few weeks ago, Microsoft announced the new HoloLens headset, a new headset that will allow users to project holograms around them. A great new piece of technology that could easily take gaming by storm. Playstation also announced their own VR headset, called 'Morpheus'. It will have a 5.7 inch OLED screen with a 1080p resolution. This has the best specifications out of all the VR headsets announced so far, and seeing as it being released by Playstation, the company 'made for gamers', you can expect something good! These new VR headsets could easily take gaming by storm, and we could be seeing all the new AAA games, such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, being released with VR compatibility, which would definitely be a new experience for gamers all together!

Playstation or Xbox master race?

Finally, Playstation have continued to dominate sales everywhere. With the previous generations, i.e. Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, Playstation only just edged won the console war, selling around 630,000 more than the 360 (as of December 2013). This trend has continued onto the next generation, now current generation. Although there are no accurate figures as of March 2015, the most recent figures, which were recorded in December 2014, PS4 had sold around 20 million consoles, where-as Xbox had only sold around 10 million consoles. Clearly, this data shows that Playstation are in the lead, and by a long way too. Playstation are expected to continue dominating the sales, with Xbox forever trying to catch up.

What major gaming news have you guys heard recently? Do you think VR will be a success? Will the Xbox ever catch up?
Leave your ideas and opinions in the comments!

...and as always, thanks for reading!

Connor :)

2015. The year of good games?

Good evening folks!

Tonight I'll be talking about video game releases in 2015. I'll be looking at a few of the games I'm looking forward to seeing in 2015 and why I'll think they'll be great!

A newly released poster for the new
Homefront: The Revolution

Starting us of, Homefront: The Revolution is a game I am most definitely looking forward too. The first game, simply titled 'Homefront' was based around North Korea invading the US. You played as a Robert Jacobs, a freedom fighter who is fighting the North Korean invaders in his home turf.
Homefront was a great game, both in terms of single-player and multi-player. The single-player contained multiple different locations, enthralling story and different features to keep players involved. The multi-player also had some great features, like the ability to pilot vehicles. It was a game I liked playing and still like playing today.
The new game is said to be an open-world game, containing new tactics, weapons and features, such as 'Guerrilla Maneuvers', where you can use tactics like ambushes to swarm your enemies in-game and wreck havoc among foes. It may sound like another Call of Duty clone, but FPS interest me greatly, so I will welcome another Homefront game with open arms!

The concept art for the game looks great,
a game I really can't wait for!

Next on the list is Batman: Arkham Knight. The Batman games have always been great. Both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City were brilliant games, with smooth combat mechanics that felt awesome and were fulfilling for the player. The art style of the game was great too, very unique, in a way that you could easily spot a Batman game from the crowd.
Villains such as Penguin and Scarecrow will all be making a return to the game, which is great as I felt they both played an important role in the first and second games respectively.
Also, because Batman is single-player orientated, meaning no multi-player, you can expect a terrific experience from the game. Although not much else has been said about the game, you know its a game to get excited about!

Some concept art from the game.
Damn it looks good!

One of the other games I am looking forward to in 2015 is Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege. The other Rainbow Six games were a tremendous experience, allowing players to tactically plan how they were going to breach into enemy compounds and kill the bad guys. You could communicate with other players with co-op and this created an enjoyable experience for everyoone. There was even a function that allowed you to import your face onto your character model and play with your face in the game! Admittedly, this feature didn't always work as well as promised, but it was still a good idea from the guys at Ubisoft.
Siege promises destructible environments (much like those in Battlefield), hostage extractions, co-op play and much more. This is definitely a game to be looking out for, although no release date has been confirmed as of yet.

The list of games that are scheduled to be released in 2015 is rather large to say the least.
Let me know in the comments below what games you guys are looking forward too this year!

Thanks for reading,

Connor :)

Better or worse?

Good evening guys! Tonight I'll be blogging about the next generation. Now I know this might sound a bit strange, but I think their experiences with video games are going to be waaaaaay different than our current generation's was/is. It might seem kinda obvious, but let me explain.

The Gamecube start-up screen.
Oh the memories...

Back in the day, when I had a Gamecube in my room, I had the 'pleasure' of untangling the controller each time I wanted to play, locating my minuet memory cards (which was usually an issue for me), and working out what game I wanted to play, which wasn't difficult for me, as I only had about a few games.
I then had the pleasure of watching the start-up screen, which I loved. The chime that ran out as the trademark 'G' unraveled itself. The highlight of my day as a child.

Now however, none of that is around. I have a PS4 and to prep it and turn it on, all I have to do is press the 'Home' button on the controller and the Playstation turns on by itself. I don't even have to touch the console to turn it on!

The struggle of having
wired controllers...

I know most of you will find untangling controllers and hunting for memory cards very tedious, but for me, it was a part of my daily routine. I did it almost everyday for years, up until I upgraded. I knew no different. But will the kids of today have the same experience?
As I said earlier, to turn on my PS4, I don't even have to touch the console. Kids of today won't know the struggle of setting up a console to play.

This isn't the only thing they won'e experience! Classic platforming games like Mario and Sonic. I wasn't around when they were first released but I've had the experience of playing them, and it was great. Simplicity at its best!

Castle Crashers, one of the only good
modern platformer games

However, you don't get those kind of simple, classic games anymore. You do get the often hit like Castle Crashers and Shovel Knight. But most of the time its either crappy additions to a series, like Sonic Boom, or it's a crappy flash games. Did you know that Mario has featured in over 200 games since his creation back in 1983. How many of those do you reckon are flash games?

Do you see what I mean? They're not gonna have it like we did? Admittedly, they won't know the struggles that my generation faced, yet will they know a classic game? Will they ever see a Mario or Sonic like game again, or will they be stuck with crappy flash games that plague the internet? Do they have it better than us, or is it worse?
Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Connor :)

The future of video gaming...

Evening peeps, apologies for the lack of posts last week, I was deep in coursework. All is done however, so normal service shall resume!

Today I will be talking about the future of video games. I've talked about the past, my personal experiences, nostalgia, etc. Today however, I will be enlightening you guys on my opinions on the future of video gaming. What I expect to see, what I hope to see and we should be seeing. Soooo, lets get into it!

Video gaming is evolving. Do you any of you guys remember blowing into the cartridges of your Nintendo 64 games, hoping to spring life back into the cartridge? I do not, as I was not of age at the time, I however do remember doing the same to my Nintendo DS cartridges, mainly Animal Crossing at the time.

Nintendo 64 cartridges.
Do you remember?

Times are changing, cartridges and discs are being made redundant by digital downloads. In today's modern society, it is easier to buy and download a game on the marketplace of your PC or console rather than go and buy a physical disc. This method is certainly more efficient than going out of your way to buy a physical copy of the game, which most still do today. Many people still buy physical copies as they like feeling and holding their purchase. You can see what you have bought, touch and it and in most cases (I am a guilty of this), smelling your purchase. Ohhh don't judge me, freshly opened cases smell amazing! 

If there are those of you who do still buy physical copies of games, I am afraid digital downloads are slowly taking over. With the release of the next-gen, now current-gen consoles, you can now preorder your game of choice on the marketplace of your console, and have it ready pre-installed on the day of release so you can play it when you're ready. A much more easier and efficient way of dealing with things if I am perfectly honest. However, digital copies often cost significantly more than physical copies, with older games, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 being an example, still costing around £30 on the Xbox marketplace, which is rather expensive for a six year old game if you ask me!

Physical copies of games will soon be replaced with digital downloads, which is most certainly the future of buying and playing video games.

The Oculus Rift.
 The future of video gaming?

VR, or Virtual Reality. The much anticipated future of video gaming. While we have already seen VR headsets like the Oculus Rift be released to developers and the public alike, we can only expect more. The Oculus Rift, being developed by Oculus VR, is a virtual reality helmet that puts players into the game. You turn your head, the character in the game turns their head. You see what he sees, but only more enthralling.

The current quality of VR games however is rather low, with the market being filled with either B-list horror games or pornography simulators.

Hopefully, we can expect big things from Oculus Rift.

Microsoft recently announced the HoloLens, which is a VR helmet that projects holograms around you. You look at a wall, and you can pin the football onto the wall. Look down at a table, and you can play a game of checkers with the computer. The list of possibilities is endless, and if Microsoft can deliver on their promises, then we will have a real treat ahead of us.

What do I hope to see from video games in the future? Well, as an avid gamer, the list is ongoing. VR headsets with a variety of different games would be amazing, I mean, do we need more pornography simulators ?! I would also like to see a new video game streaming service, much like PS Now.

PS Now, an ideal service?

PS Now is a streaming service where you can play previous generation Playstation games, currently only PS3 games, for a price. You can rent games individually, the prices per game ranging from $1.99 - $44.99, which equates to roughly £1.50 - £35. The cost depends on the title you order and how long you rent the game for. The subscription will be priced similarly to PS Plus, with different periods of time costing different amounts. A one month subscription will cost $19.99 and 3 months will cost $44.99, which equates to roughly £13 and £30,which is very expensive. This could however be seen as cheaper than buying all the games individually, but whether it is or not, we'll have to wait and see.

So what do you guys think? What can you see in the future of video gaming? Do you buy physical copies or do you download? Are you looking forward to seeing VR headsets in your homes? Would you subscribe to services like PS Now?
Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Connor :)