I've been dark on this for a few weeks. Some major change ups have recently happened in my life and so I've decided to stop blogging.
Instead, I have created a new website all based around gaming. I will be reviewing games, reporting on news about games, interviews and possibly a YouTube channel where you will see me sharing my personal thoughts on what I'm playing, unboxing, and feeling.
I hope you follow me over there and let us have some fun playing video games. Also if you'd like to see my film thoughts check out my reviews over at Scannain.com :)
And be sure to continue listening to my podcast Speakin' Geek.
Thanks to everyone who always checks out my work here, looking forward to seeing you on the other side.
With the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them today there is now an even bigger treat available for Potter fans. Fantastic Beasts: Cases From The Wizarding World, the free-to-play mobile game from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, developed by Mediatonic, is now available worldwide for download on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and Google Play for Android devices.
Inspired by J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, in this new hidden object game, players investigate unusual cases as a recruit with the Ministry of Magic, Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Beast Division. Searching for clues at locations including Diagon Alley, the Leaky Cauldron, and Hogsmeade, players report to the scene of strange incidents with a magical creature at the center of every case.
Following the trail of evidence, players uncover hidden objects, analyze evidence, cast spells, and brew potions, piecing together clues to identify and relocate the magical creature in question.
Players can share their wizarding world experience with friends and fellow recruits by logging into Facebook to see each other’s progress and lend a helping hand. This type of game is a lot of fun and the addition of J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World is simply fascinating.
UK indie developer and publisher VooFoo Studios has announced the release of the first major Mantis Burn Racing patch for the PlayStation 4. The update, which is available now, adds new features including a new ‘Spotlight’ single-screen multiplayer event, makes improvements to the online experience with the introduction of a new Lobby system and the ability to race with AI drivers online, as well as making numerous bug fixes and general enhancements.
“We’re committed to supporting Mantis Burn Racing long-term and we want to encourage and support the multiplayer community, so we’re really pleased that today’s update brings some notable improvements to the online experience for our players” said Mark Williams, VooFoo Studio’s Technology Director.
Mantis Burn Racing Update Screenshot
Patch 1.02 is available now and is a 316MB download - here are the patch notes in full:
New ‘Spotlight’ event added - Play single-screen multiplayer in a battle to remain in the spotlight and be the final racer standing!
AI drivers can now be selected to fill the grid of online races
Extensive online stability improvements
Improved online lobby structure to allow players to race against AI while their lobby fills with human opponents
PlayStation Activity feeds added
‘Punching above your weight,' ‘The bigger they are’ and ‘I’ll bring it back without a scratch' trophies now never blocked from being unlocked
New ‘Far’ camera option
Players XP level now displayed in online lobbies
Gear reward summary now is shown post-race
Online leader board now showed post-race
Improved car-to-car collision physics
Mechanic tutorials added for Overtake and Hotlap events as well as x2 upgrades
Boost colour now is shown dynamically in the garage
Improved vehicle stat bar calculation
Option to permanently show players online IDs above their vehicle
Ability to fast switch between career seasons
Highlighted career events now auto-scroll when joystick held in any direction
Time bonus for overtaking vehicles in the weekly Overtake Challenge
XP line UI graphic tweaks
Weekly Challenge distance units now change dynamically with players selection
Overtake bug fixed that could cause the event to end prematurely
Improved logic for vehicle overtaking
Frame rate performance enhancements
AI tweaks
Audio tweaks
General bug fixes and polish
Fixed an issue where certain trophies would be unlocked at the wrong times
Fixed a potential crash when changing screen resolution.
Minor cosmetic bug fixes.
An update for the game has also today been released on Steam (for Windows PC) with an update coming soon to Xbox One.
An update for the game has also been published on Steam (for Windows PC) with an update coming soon to Xbox One.
To celebrate the upcoming release of FINAL FANTASY XV, Square Enix Ltd., in collaboration with Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen have announced a week long FINAL FANTASY XV culinary experience.
From the 22nd to the 29th November, the London restaurant will be the host of an exclusive FINAL FANTASY XV menu, featuring a selection of dishes inspired by some of the meals enjoyed by Noctis and his comrades in the game. Fans of the game will be able to come down and request the special menu throughout the week.
‘‘FINAL FANTASY XV has a unique relationship with food. The cooking and sharing of meals by the four friends on their journey emphasises the power a great dish has on bringing people together. We at Fifteen celebrate the magic of food with our meals taking inspiration from all around the world and we’re very pleased to be working together with Square Enix on bringing the fantastic flavours of the game to life.” said Jonathan Woodhouse, Events Manager at Fifteen London.
Once again the hype train of FINAL FANTASY XV continues, and this is one of the most exciting avenues promotion has taken in my eyes. If you have the opportunity head along to this one of a kind event.
Telltale Games have unveiled an all-new launch trailer and the release date for BATMAN - The Telltale Series Episode 4: 'Guardian of Gotham.'
The fourth of five episodes of the season, Episode 4: 'Guardian of Gotham' will be available digitally worldwide starting Tuesday, November 22nd on PC from the Telltale Online Store, Steam. And other digital distribution services, on the Xbox Games Store for Xbox One and Xbox 360, and on the PlayStation Network for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. The episode will be available the same day for compatible iOS devices via the App Store, and for compatible Android-based devices via Google Play.
Special note for Episode 4: Players will leave this event in very different places depending on where they choose to go in the third act, and this will significantly affect their story rolling into the season finale as well.
In Episode 4, Penguin has taken control of Wayne Enterprises, and the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane has a new guest - you - Bruce Wayne. With the Batman removed from the streets of Gotham City, Harvey Dent's forces and the Children of Arkham are at war, with innocent citizens caught in the crossfire. To escape the 'comforts' of your padded cell, you must choose allies to aid in your escape, even if they aren't the type to put a smile on your face. How far are you willing to go for justice? For vengeance? What now, Dark Knight?
The series is also available to purchase at retailers in North America and Europe as a special Season Pass Disc, which includes the first of five episodes in the season, and grants access to the subsequent four episodes as they become available for download via online updates.
Rendered to look like a living, breathing comic book, Telltale's vision of Batman features an award-winning cast of talent. The talent includes Troy Baker in the role of Bruce Wayne, Travis Willingham as Harvey Dent, Erin Yvette as Vicki Vale, Enn Reitel as Alfred Pennyworth, Murphy Guyer as Lieutenant James Gordon, Richard McGonagle as Carmine Falcone, Jason Spisak as Oswald Cobblepot, Dave Fennoy as Lucius Fox, Anthony Ingruber as John Doe, and Laura Bailey as Selina Kyle.
It's been two years since Ubisoft's open world action-adventure third-person shooter, Watch Dogs debuted on all available consoles. It was considered a hit, averaging at least a 7/10 unless you had a Wii U then you were looking at scores of an average of 5/10. As the months went by however glitches and issues started to appear. These included unresponsive battle mechanics, disappearing NPC's, and continuing problems with the online multiplayer. Worst of all was an element that in my opinion is unforgivable in any game, an unengaging protagonist. Seriously Aiden was as dull as dishwater; you could swap him with Jensen from Deus Ex Machina, and you wouldn't notice.
With Watch Dogs 2 Ubisoft now has the chance to polish all the blemishes from its predecessor to create a true open world action-adventure. This time around players are newcomer Marcus Holloway, a hacker with a heart of gold (don't they all) who hopes to bring down the corrupt businesses infecting the world, in particular, his home San Francisco (the playground gamers run around in this time). He is recruited by a hacker group known as DedSec who wish to use his skills to help save the world and free everyone from the grips of all the various insidious corporations. Think of it as a cyber Robin Hood and his merry band, and they are quite the merry band. My particular favourite is Wrench who quips with the best of them and has a fascinating character design.
Now this is a spoiler-free review, so I won't go into the specifics of the story, I will, however, go into detail about the gameplay, the graphics and my overall first impressions of Watch Dogs 2.
Watch Dogs 2 promises a lot, and unfortunately at this point does not deliver on all of them. The design of WD2 is decent; the cut scenes are well done, and the dialogue is well written, giving the characters a cinematic flair. Once you leave the cut scenes, however, there is a drop in animation quality that is disappointing. If only the game could keep this cinematic quality throughout the whole experience.
Walking through San Fransisco you feel like you are in a living breathing world, events are occurring all around you. Whether they are vicious muggings, police raids, even domestic disputes San Fransisco is a well-developed character all of its own. As you traverse San Fransisco, you will have a myriad of side quests to choose from given to you by DedSec, film stars and general NPC's and they are a lot of fun. They usually involve Marcus breaking into a secure area and hacking into the sensitive material to use against WD2's villains.
Helping the player deal out justice is an assortment of digital hacking goodies, including a quadcopter and jumper which allow you to hack areas without being seen. They add an interesting aesthetic change up from simply getting Marcus from A to B but ultimately feel unnecessary, and focus could have been put more into empowering Marcus further. On that note, the abilities Marcus has available to him are somewhat uninspired. You have all the abilities Aiden had in the previous game, and as you gain research points (upgrade currency), you learn new abilities to mess with the establishment.
I found it hard to spend these points as nothing jumped out at me as fun. You get access to several skill trees which allow you to choose your style of play, social hacking so that you can put a fake APB out on someone, one skill tree to focus on weapons like grenades and guns to improve loading ammo, or you can go the route of hacking vehicles. There's a lot available to you, but personally, I found social hacking the best because you could watch your actions affect the people around you. Even that, in the end, felt unimpressive.
Worst of all is the issue with the online aspect of WD2, promising a seamless transition into their online world Ubisoft stated this would be something sensational. And how is it? It's okay, at first I found it fun and harmless but at one point during my playthrough the game started to fall apart. The animation in WD2 became laughable, at one point I was on a motorcycle, and it bounced off the road like a pogo stick. It was infuriating and left a bad taste in my mouth. By the time this review in progress goes out, I can say that this issue has seemingly been resolved.
So what are my first impressions of WD2 after these first initial hours in its world? The world is well developed, the characters fun and interesting and watching chaos spring from your fingertips is hilarious. Unfortunately, the core gameplay feels far too similar to the previous game; there are notable differences which make it fun, but you don't feel as powerful as you've been led to believe.
After games like Grand Theft Auto V, and Just Cause 3 game studios need to up their game to give a new spin on the open world adventure experience and unfortunately Watch Dogs 2 is just not up to scratch. It's got the story, the characters, and the world, but the gameplay and the online aspect still need work. If you haven't played the first outing for the Watch Dogs franchise, this might interest you, but be sure to wait for a price drop.
The boys are back in town! Shane and Graham are back, and they're talking about the best things you can do to stop those post-election blues, stay in your fantasy world! They talk about the return of Young Justice, all those trailers we've seen and how Warner Bros. is secretly conquering the world even if the DCEU isn't doing the business it should. Be sure and follow Speakin' Geek on Twitter and Facebook and be sure to check out Shane's other podcast Disaster Artists.
In Mindgame, a classic “prison cell” drama from the late '90s, three diverse life forms are mysteriously transported to a cell somewhere in time & space and forced to fight. A human played by Sophie Aldred ('Ace' in Doctor Who), a Sontaran and a Draconian (played by Miles Richardson – son of Ian). Mindgame is the first and only time Sontarans (first featured in the Jon Pertwee era Doctor Who story The Time Warrior) and Draconians (also first seen in a Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who story, Frontier in Space) meet.
The two-disc set also includes Mindgame Trilogy, the sequel to Mindgame, in which we find out what happened to the three combatants after the battle!
Mindgame Saga stars Sophie Aldred (Doctor Who) and Miles Richardson. From the pen of Doctor Who writer and script editor Terrance Dicks and directed by Keith Barnfather (Downtime, Daemos Rising).
In celebration of the upcoming launch of Final Fantasy XV, Square Enix has announced Odeon presents Final Fantasy XV: Road to Release
Taking place at selected ODEON cinemas in the UK and Republic of Ireland, this one-off event gives fans the opportunity to celebrate together with a unique night of FINAL FANTASY fun - including a big screen broadcasting of a one-hour live stream dedicated to FINAL FANTASY XV, featuring new gameplay reveals and interviews with the FINAL FANTASY XV development team.
Each cinema ticket holder will receive a goodie bag and also enjoy an exclusive viewing of the incredible CGI feature-length film, KINGSGLAIVE: FINAL FANTASY XV, complete with an exclusive introduction from director Takeshi Nozue.
UBISOFT AND SPINNIN RECORDS ANNOUNCE CREATIVE COLLABORATION WITH WORLD-RENOWNED DJ AND PRODUCER OLIVER HELDENS
FOR THE RELEASE OF WATCH DOGS 2
Ubisoft announced that it has partnered with Spinnin' Records and world-renowned DJ and Producer Oliver Heldens in a collaborative venture to mark the release of the upcoming open world action-adventure game, WATCH DOGS 2. At the heart of this partnership will be the production of the official music video for Oliver’s latest track, ‘Good Life’ which will be creatively inspired by the lifestyle of in-game hacking collective, Dedsec.
Created by London-based agency Golden Wolf, the video will be premiered and streamed during a world-exclusive live performance by Oliver Heldens to take place at Google’s London HQ which will be temporarily rebranded to the company’s in-game representation, “Nudle”. The stream will run for an hour from 7pm on Friday, 11th November.
The world of Watch Dogs 2 represents a complete tonal shift from the first game,” said Mark Slaughter, Marketing Director at Ubisoft. “In its vibrant, subversive and sunny San Francisco setting and with a gameplay emphasis on challenging the establishment but having fun doing it. We set out to find a credible artist that had a big audience appeal but also represented the playful nature of Dedsec, so Oliver was a perfect fit.
Dance Music and gaming are highly interconnected. Our music is represented in games, many DJ’s are game fanatics and the fanbases of both Dance Music and Gaming have a lot in common,” said Steven de Graaf, Manager Global Partnerships & Live at Spinnin’ Records and MusicAllstars Management. “Oliver Heldens as a big fan of gaming and we have achieved a perfect match with his new record 'Good Life’. We are looking forward to our fans' responses.
In Watch Dogs 2, players explore the birthplace of the tech revolution as Marcus Holloway, a brilliant young hacker who has fallen victim to ctOS 2.0's predictive algorithms and accused of a crime he did not commit. In Marcus' quest to shut down ctOS 2.0 for good, hacking is the ultimate weapon. Players can not only hack into the San Francisco Bay Area's infrastructure but also every person and any connected device they possess to trigger unpredictable chains of events in this vast open world.
The track, “Good Life” is also confirmed to feature in upcoming DLC for the game. The game will be available worldwide for consoles November 15 and on Windows PC November 29. The exclusive live performance and will be hosted on Spinnin Records’ YouTube page.
