Danny Dibo's Blog - Apr to Jun 15 (9 followers)
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Jun28
War MachinePermalink
Hello all!
Thank you for stopping in for another edition of the blog.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Super busy with work, and attempting to finish up a few of these backlog titles, and then the surprise that was the Gears of War Beta, which pretty much chewed up all my play time on a few occasions this past week. Not that I consider that a negative. I really want to be ready when the game drops in late August. Hell, I want my whole team ready because when it really hits the fan, this is the game I most enjoy mastering and feel I am definitely on an elite level when it comes to the Gears Trilogy. Of course, our team does have a couple of loose ends. (New father, and a turned call of duty player) Have left our team with a couple pieces to be filled. If you enjoy Gears as much as we do, and you feel like you are at least good at the game, please let me know. We may possibly have a spot for you in our Gears group. We will play some games with you to see your ability level and how your play style fits the overall team style. If we feel your a good match, you may be asked to compete with us or be on the team as a backup. Either way, we are very excited that gears is back and cannot wait for the mayhem!

Besides gears, I have been keeping busy with a few other games.
Xcom and Killer Instinct, mostly. I am on the third run of Xcom. Late in the game, where you sneak aboard what you think is the mothership, only to find out there is a Bigger mothership that you couldn't see. The game is incredibly difficult at this point, but will seem like a walk in the park compared to the last 2 runs. (One on Impossible, the other with Ironman settings). The best thing I am able to take away from this, is I pretty much have the game figured out as far as what to do and what not to do. The bad is, with a game like this where you are forced to choose between very difficult choices, you can't really be 100% sure of your strategy at any given time. Very fun, and tactical strategy game.

Killer Instinct, which has become my other time sink for dubious reasons, got lots of play the past two weeks. Mainly while I finished up the Cinder matches and challenges. (Wow, does cinder suck in this version!) But sadly, the bulk of the time was spent with the words "uploading data from ultratech servers" plastered across my screen, as apparently the "shadow" character that I made and must have fight 100 matches on his own, cant even load up correctly! Ya, total bull crap. Everytime I attempt to fight another shadow, or even claim a bounty, my game goes into a state of perpetual loading and I am forced to dashboard and quit it.
I really hope they release a patch for that soon, as I would hate to only be missing the completion because I can't use the crappy mode they threw in there at the end. I have 2 characters left to focus on, I really hope the shadow mode is fixed by time I am done with at least one of those.

Not to focus on the negative, but I have already encountered many more achievement glitches with games on the One, then I did in twice this time on the 360. Maybe developers are getting sloppy, maybe the new hardware doesn't take to the system as smoothly as the last generation did, but I think its just the developers knowing they can make changes in the event something goes seriously wrong, and therefore not putting in do diligence straight away.
Don't really know how best to fix this problem, all I know for sure is I have never been a fan of broken or glitchy released games. If im paying full price, I don't think im wrong asking for a completed product.

But enough negative, there were some positives this week.
Two new completions to add to the list and did I mention a gears ;)beta!

Completion # 313: Outland
Game is a few years old at this point. Most easily described as a 2D platformer in the "Metroidvania" style. Lots of backtracking, as you add more moves to your repitour. The main gameplay hook is the "Light/Dark" energy, which you are able to switch between on the fly, as the game progresses. Blue and Red, makeup the colors that stand for light and dark. If your Blue, you can stand on blue platforms, walk thru blue doors and blue attack pellets don't hurt you. So essentially trying to avoid alternate colored attacks, while switching back and forth to kill enemies of the opposite color, can become very hectic but never feels out of control. The One million gold achievement is a bit grindy, and will have you farming money, well after your finished with everything else the game has to offer. Not a bad title, just one that simply does everything good and nothing great.

Completion # 314: Expendables 2: The Video Game
I should have known, dammit I should have known. Any game that tells you in the title, your playing a video game, goes right into the redundancy file, and should not be bothered with. Unfortunately, I didnt listen to myself and got this little eyesore cheap. Its so incredibly boring and repetitive, that Ill just use that as the excuse for how terrible this game is. Rather then go into the story, the level design, the awful voiceovers, the crappy graphics, the glitchy gameplay, the poor collision detection, or the fact you die CONSTANTLY. Ill just say leave this one alone until its removed entirely from the arcade. Not worth the points to have to deal with a bad Stallone translator. :(

Well, thats about all I have for you this week, everyone. I received a question from one of my readers, would like a few more before I put out a Q&A/AMA style blog, but always kicking around a few ideas!
Till the next time everyone, have a good weekend, and avoid those terrible games!! :)
Posted by Danny Dibo on 28 June 15 at 02:25 | There are no comments on this blog - Please log in to comment on this blog.
Jun15
Microsoft, Slams down the Mic.Permalink
Hello All!

Welcome to a E3 Edition of my blog.

I am being forced to work late tonight, thanks to those Blackhawks, again. Hopefully this time, they can finish it off.
The positive side of this, I was home early to watch Microsoft's E3 press conference! In a quick synopsis, I was pleasantly and overwhelmingly surprised! What a show!
I have to tell you, I think the future of gaming looks incredibly bright.
Its impossible for me to go into detail about everything I saw. So I have created a top 5 List of the things I am most excited about from E3!

#5. 4 words. Gears. Remastered. Beta. Tonight.
Yeah. Microsoft not only confirmed the rampant rumors of a Gears remake. But they also announced a Beta for the game, starting TONIGHT! Yep, that's what they said! Gears series is the best time I have ever had with a video game. This for me personally, was like a flashback to the golden ages. Can't wait to get my code and dive in!

#4. Fallout 4
Technically speaking, this was shown on Bethesda's show. But still, I am very excited for this game and even more so, now. Thanks to watching the intro to the game and the announcement that PC mods, made for fallout 4, will also work on the Xbox one! That will undoubtedly make that game more replayable and fun. The other announcement, of a preorder bundle, that comes with an Actual working Pipboy, is just too fucking awesome to comprehend.

#3. ID @ Xbox/Rare
I will lump all this together, because picking how excited you are for a premise of an indie game, is not easy to determine. Cuphead, Below, War of Mine, they all look like the type of games I would enjoy. The Main showstopper in this "smaller games" pool, was by far and away the announcement of the "Rare 30 Collection". A boxset of 30 of Rare's greatest games all in one set. This includes, Battletoads, RC Pro-am, and Blast Corps (among many great titles). The wow factor? This collection will have a total 10,000 Gamerscore!! Drool...

#2. Gears 4!!!!!!1!!!One!!!!
Not only a teaser, but we actually got to see Gameplay footage of Gears 4 in progress! Game looks amazing. And brings a few questions with it. Where is Marcus? And who is this new enemy the Cog's are fighting?
I can't wait to answer those questions. This will be amazing, I have not only faith, but hope that this can be the next super leap forward in cover based shooters. Not just drooling, hanging out with a defibrillator.

#1. Hololens.
It would take something extremely groundbreaking to stop a new gears from toping my excitement list. Low and behold, I witnessed just that. The hololens glasses from Microsoft. The tech demo actually gave me chills. Holographic gameplay is light years beyond what I imagined this console generation was capable of. I really dont even have any interest in Minecraft, but the technological capabilities of this thing give me glimpses of a future very much like the ones we have seen in Sci-fi movies. There's not even much more I can say, go to YouTube. Type in E3 2015 Microsoft hololens. Watch future unfold.


Well thats all I have time for today. Wrote this on my lunch break!
What was your most anticipated items, and what blew you away?

Till next time, friends! What a time to be on Live! ;)
Posted by Danny Dibo on 15 June 15 at 23:49 | There are no comments on this blog - Please log in to comment on this blog.
Jun07
"Me is the Best Friend, You ever had.."Permalink
Hello All!
Finally a beautiful weekend makes its way to the Midwest!! :).
And thanks to the Blackhawks, I am stuck at work tonight. :'(

Yeah, unfortunately the location of my new job position puts me very close to the Epicenter of it all. And, even though the game is in Tampa Bay tonight, the city is really rocking for its Blackhawks. Since the game starts soon, most people have settled into where they are going and it has slowed down, so since I have the time, I thought I would update here.

Basically, keeping with the plan has been the goal and my focus this past week. Clearing some games on my hard drives and making space as well as working on that crop of games to get into the backlog some more.
My Brother came by and visited this week and we played some games, working on a little bit of the backlog, as well as starting a few games.
One of which was the Beta for Smite. I have to tell you, I didnt really find the appeal in this game. It is very much like Happy Wars mixed with Shadowrun, and while the Former was a lot of fun, the latter was a nightmare to complete. Even to this day the only reason I even have the final achievement for killing all enemies without being touched is because a very good friend at the time F1xell, set up a session and with multiple PCs, set up multiple copies of himself in-game so I could roam around and kill them carefully. (Side Note; F1xell, was awesome for for this, I felt really terrible because I told him I would help him with any other game in return, and literally a couple weeks after this, My account was hacked and stolen. I couldn't go online or anything for almost 2 months, when I came back, had a few messages from him asking if and when I could help with one of his games. I apologized when I returned from limbo, but never got another reply or heard from him again. Just hope he didn't hold a grudge or think I was just using him. ) but I digressed..

Smite isn't anything special in my opinion. Better games seem to exist for free (Warframe) and in this genre (Aforementioned happy wars), so unless this releases for free, I doubt I will be taking any longer looks at it then the hour we spent with it. Here is what else we started up...

I am Alive:
We spent about an hour with this game. I definitely like it better then Deadlight, so far at this point. Things have that same "hopeless, defeated" vibe, but the navigation is a lot more intense, and the interactions with random other survivors is great. The fact that you have no idea of what to expect when you come across another person adds a level of timidness and uncomfort to all these exchanges which helps tie into the mood of the game, and how sparse supplies are very much makes you think about your choices. The first time I seen the help message "Bullets are extremely valuable, think twice before using one or pulling your gun on someone", I knew this game has some clever pacing. Still too early to know what I've gotten myself into for sure, but so far I do enjoy it!

CastleStorm (X1):
This game we played for close to 2 hours. It really got its hooks into us. Lol. Best described as Angry Birds meets '2D Wreckateer', very fun game which basically consists of level after level of doing such chores as entering a mine, stopping waves of enemies or destroying an enemy castle. Usually with some handicap for variety. Such as, not being able to summon soldiers, or only using the catapult or something along these lines. The game is extremely repetitive, but has charm and is fun in that angry birds type of way. Still haven't played on hard but I like this, so I can recommend it.

Because of the new games started, I reached a new milestone: 450 Games played!! I can tell you easily the best game to me, in that 450 would be the Gears of War Trilogy. (I know thats three of them, but still)
The toughest, worst and biggest surprises however? Those I would probably have to go thru and decide. hmmmm...probably save that for when I hit 500 played! ;)

I was also victorious in completing another pair of games this week. :)

Completion #311: Call of Duty 2
Yeah, THAT call of duty. The one made in 2005. The one that was so covered in dust it had to be washed down before I could start it. The one that has been staring at me from the Collection tower for years, going unnoticed. Yeah that one. I finally started it late last year, and put it on the backburner once again, before finally going to work on it past month or so. A lot of people told me this game is one of the hardest call of duty's out there. I haven't played many Duty's, so I can't really comment on that. Its definitely easier then CoD4, and CoD:WaW it seems to be right around there for difficulty. Basically I found if you go very slow and steady, most of the time you can create openings for yourself to move up pretty routinely. Not a bad game, just glad to be done with it.

Completion #312: Super Time Force
This game was a very pleasant surprise. Received it for free in games with gold, I just hoped it wasn't generic. I am happy to report, it is very far from generic. An 8-bit styled platformer, with the added mechanic of a rewind ability that lets you replay the area you are working on, while imprinting the previous 'life' still into the environment. This creates boss battles that seem literally impossible with the short timer you are allotted, turned into bullet sponges that drop in seconds due to 10-30 copies of yourself all doing damage in different ways. The area where this game seriously shines is story. Very funny with so many nods to the nostalgic NES games of our past, usually when I beat a game I am smiling because its over. The ending of this game had me laughing and I really liked the way everything was tied together. If you understand the title of my blog, you already have. ;) Capy games did a fantastic job with this one, and I will be watching for their future projects thanks to the time spent with this one! Highly recommended!!

Well,, thats about all I have for you guys today. Gonna go check on the game and see how we are doing. Go Blackhawks!!

Till next time! Have a safe and enjoyable week everyone!!
Posted by Danny Dibo on 07 June 15 at 00:05 | There are no comments on this blog - Please log in to comment on this blog.
May31
Something, Something; Darkside...Permalink
Something, Something...Com-plete. :P

Hey Everyone, woke up this morning and watch some old reruns of Family Guy episodes before work. This put me in a fun lighthearted mood before I got to work! When I got here, I noticed a lot of people are very hostile and ignorant, so I made the executive decision and decided to go write a blog in my office. :D

First things first, hope all of you are doing well! Getting ready for summer and the barbeque weather. Unless your in the Midwest with me, that is. Today is last day of May and I had to wear my winter jacket to work. I don't remember the last time I still had winter clothes on this late in the spring! Logically, I associate this to weather experiments our government is doing, or chemtrails. And if I could find the correlation, im sure it has something to do with measles vaccines, as well! But I've digressed...

Uncovering National secrets isn't my goal, enjoying my games is!!
A few of my friends on here have Backlogs that eclipse mine by a Mile. Thanks to the Games with Gold sales, my games collection has grown even more varied and expansive, as up till recently, I didn't buy games that weren't physical copies. (Minus my arcade games..). However between Gold sales and free games, I have amassed around 70-80 games on my hard drive as well!
Now a new problem has arrived... Memory!! >.<

Yeah, something so abundantly obvious has never been a second thought for me, as most physical copies on the 360 do not Require an install. Imagine my surprise when I downloaded Double Dragon Neon for $2.50 only to have it go onto a queue area because I have no space!!
Now my goals have had to be reevaluated and refocused as far as gaming habits. I wanted to get the DLC for Bioshock infinite, complete the game 100% and move on to spec-ops: the line. Basically, play the games I have been waiting to finish, and start the games I have been sitting on impatiently. Now, I realize I must clear some of the clutter and finish some headaches before I can move on. So my goals are Now as follows:

1. Complete the Games I have started on the Hard drive first.
2. Start No Disc-based games until at least 5 more games are completed.
3. 360 takes precedent over the One.

Doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you see my stack of games and realize I have Cod Black ops, Fable 3, Fallout: NV, assassins creed and Mass effect (among others) all of which are still unopened and I started, you see I have many AAA games that are basically just dust collectors right now. I would really like to catch up on some of those.

However, I am a completionist at heart, so back to work I have gone on some of the longer crappy games, and the games I had started on account of the Leap frog event. Making some progress in that regard this week, completing a few games and raising the Completion Bar to 310!! Here are the newest additions to the club...

Completion #307: Rayman Legends (Xbox One)
A fun "family" platformer. This game has phenomenal graphics, funny animations, awesome sounds/music, and very tight controls. (The best for platforming I've seen in a while.) The game is exactly the same as it's 360 counterpart, but still a very fun game. I have been done with all but one achievement for months, the requirements to get "awesomeness Lvl 11" are insane to put it mildly. Turning on Rayman every day for the last 4 months plus, just to complete daily challenges and earn credit toward this achievement!! For those that are unaware, in this version of rayman, once you have completed the game, gone back and found all the teensies, collected enough lums for gold on every level, and unlocked every character in the game...you still are BARELY Level 10, and with nothing left to earn credit on, you must play daily challenges every day...for a few more months. Good game, fun game, but by the time I had this achievement, I hated everything about these challenges. If you have been there, you understand.

Completion #308: Deadlight
I really can't believe how pathetic this game is. Take away the graphics, (which by the way, aren't great. They just use terrific shadowing.). And your left with a makeshift speedrun title. The game really isn't very appealing for its action, and the story makes me question the direction this team was taking with this game altogether. It feels like there was no time for the next act to be made so they just ended it there at Act 3. The greatest appeal this game has, is how it doesn't suck you into an engrossing adventure. Your playing and your running to survive, and then it's over. No lingering in the shallowness of it, no extensive backtracking, just here is a game, play it. Thanks for the short little look into the depressing side of zombies, and no seconds for me, please.

Completion #309: Crysis
The original Crysis. I am a fan of the Crysis series, and enjoyed part 2 very much. Because of this, at some point I got the Original on sale. Not much to say on this game, other then it was enjoyable. The playthrough on Delta (Read: Hardest Difficulty), was an insane pain in the ass at times, not because the game is broken or impossible, but because I had completely forgotten about the ability to cloak and run past groups of enemies. By the time I reached a fight I couldn't solve and the lightbulb finally warmed up, I was one level from completing the game again! Needless to say, this doesn't go against the review of the game for my own stupidity. In fact I should gift that as a positive, to Crysis. When you have a game thats very openly designed and you reach a roadblock, its nice that a game has a few different ways to solve it as opposed to being pigeonholed into making the one technique you have, work under the mission parameters. Fun older game, decent story...if you can get it cheap, its worth the time you will spend with it.

Completion #310: The Game of Life (WP)
Maybe do this as a "compliment sandwich" in which I say my problem with this game first, followed by something positive, and finish where it needs improvement. First things first: This doesn't translate into a "Phone game" very well, whats even the point of this?
Something good...something good...Well, I haven't played Life in decades! Thanks for the nostalgia!
To finish up and summize: The game of life is like real life, the questions of what is its purpose and what are we doing here, are both front and center in your awareness, and just like real life, at the end you are no closer to answer to these great questions..

Well thats about all I have for now folks!
Ill finish with a question for all my other completionists:

Why do you collect games and backlog?
Is it because of deals you pick up you weren't expecting? Because you play everything to 100% and fall behind?
Or are you saving them for something special or a rainy day? Just curious guys!
Any questions you have for me, feel free to ask as well!

Thanks or taking the time to read, and have a good week everyone!!
Posted by Danny Dibo on 31 May 15 at 23:01 | There are 2 comments on this blog post - Please log in to comment on this blog.
May21
12 Reviews & a Pace Lap...Permalink
Hello, Everyone!
Thanks for taking the time to stop in and read today.

I was online looking at storage cabinets for my kitchen, and decided an update would be more fun, instead!

While I was away, the news came out the Servers for my Favorite Game (/Sarcasm), NBA 2k14, would be shutting down. First they said in 30 days, then conveniently changed it to "in 9 months". They claimed it was because of public demand, but truth is, the game is literally nothing but a start menu without the servers, as every single solo and offline mode, has you syncing up thru 2ks Wonderful (/Sarcasm) servers! So give people 9 more months with your shit game. I never made it to completion. Falling 2 achievements short of this now impossible task, as a couple months before the announcement of the first closing was even made, the packs of cards for the 2013-'14 season mysteriously vanished from the Myteam Mode.
In a way, I'm happy I cant work on that atrocious game anymore. But in another way, I really wanted the completion for something I put over 800 hours into, when it was all said and done. One thing stays the same, I am never purchasing another 2k sports title, and quite possibly any future 2k games at all.

About a month and a half ago, I seen a link for a contest here on TrueAchievements, called "Leapfrog". I decided to sign up for it as I have a ton of games I have yet to crack open, and it seemed like the motivator of fun and competition was present, which I really enjoy.
I knew I had no chance of winning. I croaked out exactly where I thought I would, day 15: Moving day. Not only did we spend the entire day moving, but once I was finished I had 4 hours and no internet or wi-fi access. So basically ended up dead in the water.
Point was it was still fun and showed me a competition like this can be very entertaining and strategic. Right now, the surviving competitors are on Day 38! I cant say id still be in it this long if I Had survived Moving day! It really is quite amazing to see that type of production.

I did start a decent chunk of new games on account of the leap frog and so I guess a good place to start would be to give my little "personal perspective reviews" on these games.

Another World: 20th Anniversary
I know its a remake of a 20 year old game, but could we Please update the controls on this bad boy?! The SAME button for running And shooting?! Seriously though, this game looks as awful as anything you have ever played. Controls worse then any other game ive played across all Xbox systems, and lasts about as long as a state farm commercial. The completion can be had very very easily, but if your not using this game for its easy achievements, stay far far away from this unpolished mess. It holds no other spoils.

Conan
An older 360 game. Its been sitting on my shelf ever since my friend borrowed and subsequently lost my mass effect, and replaced it with....this. =/. I gotta tell you, its really not half bad. It plays a bit like a generic Devil may cry, but the combat is surprisingly tighter then I would expect from a game of this magnitude. The executions get repetitive quickly and the dialogue is flat for the most part, but I'm about a third done with it and I am pleased that it is not as horrendous as others have led on.

Majin & the Forsaken Kingdom
I think this game was made for children. But the combat and platforming are so poorly executed that I have a hard time believing a child could get anything from this, other then a migraine. The games camera brings naughty bear to mind. An on the fence game that may have charm, but you are dealing with a terrible view of that charm if it exists at all. Not a big fan of this game. Bad camera + Collect-a-thon = Bad design, everytime.

King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match
The only ultimate match needed here, is one coated in rubber cement and dropped on a gasoline covered copy of this game. It actually holds up worse then you would expect from a 17-year old fighting game.
Don't waste your time here. (and if you already have and still need the 100 online wins, message me, I want to get this done and over with, asap)

Fruit Ninja Kinect 2
First impression: seems much deeper than the first one.
Second impression: can't really describe this game until I mount my Kinect in a better spot, right now its on a bad angle which makes this game an awful feat to navigate. More in an upcoming blog..

Max & the Curse of Brotherhood
Fun platformer. Good controls, excellent graphics. Game was done very well in my opinion, and I like forward to playing more of it when time allows. Don't really see why this was so hated by some people I speak with in the community, unless the second half is just piss poor done?

Goat Simulator
Baaaaaa! I could really just write that and it would sum it up perfectly.
This game is a mess, but it is actually a fun mess. Like bumper cars. As long as you go in knowing its not a race and you can't possibly finish without a couple bumps and crashes, you will still have a good time. Besides, look at All that Goat-Neck!!

The Game of Life (WP)
Was life really only about how much money your worth in the end? I honestly never knew that. Lol. Seriously though, this game is an easy complete. But I see absolutely no value in it outside of that. Your not going to play this with your friends passing the phone back and forth, and no one is honing there "Life skills" here. So like I said, if not here tot the achievements, move along sir.

Expendables 2 Video Game
I appreciate games that let me know im playing a video game. (/Sarcasm). That way I won't forget and put my controller down. Honestly, this game is best played with 4 people, as it would probably go much faster and hold a moliculum of fun this way. Actually, this game is best played with the sound down, so you do not have to hear the terrible voice-over actors that sound like friends hanging out doing bad impressions. Actually, this game is best not played at all, keep your friends and play whatever they want to try instead.

Cut the Rope: Experiments
Fun, simplistic little puzzler. I liked the first one and this seems more of the same. Like the new gadgets and obstacles, and of course, nom keeps his cutesy charms. So far only finished with the first world, but don't think ill have many complaints about this one. Games like this make me sad the touch controls and mobile games cant expand more.

Super Time Force
I really like this game. The 8bit graphics are done very well considering they are 8bit. The action gets intense and hectic but I never felt like it was out of control or overwhelming. The story and the characters make up the single greatest assets of this game. All the personality really shines through and I laughed many times from the absurdness. Definitely recommend this game to anyone who wants a fun flashback.

Deadlight
Not really what I expected. Kind of like shadow complex but it seems instead of getting stronger you get more and more feeble. Easy collectibles and short like valiant hearts but the story doesn't hold the same depressing atmosphere as VH, despite the material that's more then suited for it. Better combat, barely but it is there. Decent game, im sure you all have already played lol.

Well that's about all I have for you right now. Ill be back next week to blab and discuss some more. Till then, everyone keep fighting the good fight!
Posted by Danny Dibo on 21 May 15 at 22:43 | There are no comments on this blog - Please log in to comment on this blog.
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