Hardcore Gaming on a Budget

Posted on by Orion Williams
Deals, Games

dollar sign cut in half

Originally published January 15th, 2013.  There have been updates to the way gamers can save money as well as what systems are available.

As far as hobbies go, you can get more expensive than gaming.  That is not to say that gaming is an inexpensive hobby, but if you are playing more than just Angry Birds on your phone, you are going to start clocking up dollars pretty quick.  And if you consider yourself among the “hardcore” gaming crowd, you might be paying 500 dollars or more every year if you want to play the latest Halo, Battlefield, Call of Duty, Madden, FIFA, or other annual releases.

But if you are on a tight budget, or just looking to save a few bucks here and there, it doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the best that gaming as to offer.  Here are some money saving cheat codes to power up your game collection and your wallet.

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Max: The Curse of Brotherhood Review

Posted on by Orion Williams
Game Reviews, Games

 gameplay Screen Shot 2013-12-22 04-17-36    A review of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood from Press Play, on Xbox One, Xbox 360

When Max comes home to find his little brother, Felix, playing (rather aggressively) with Max’s toys, Max reaches his last straw and decides to run a web search on “How to make your brother disappear!”  He finds an incantation that, when recited, summons a portal and seconds later Felix is gone.

Max has a rather instantaneous change of heart and jumps in after Felix and his monster captor.  This brief cutscene is all you get before jumping into Max’s beautiful adventure.  The gameplay starts soon after and has you control Max in an effort to bravely acquire Felix from the evil kidnapper that has claimed him, the mustachioed Mustacho. Continue reading →

Xbox One Game DVR clips, The Epic Collection

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

The Xbox One includes the ability to record the last 5 minutes of gameplay and save it as a video file, which you can later upload and share to your personal Skydrive.  I took advantage of this feature and decided to compile some of my greatest clips here.

This here is a collection of all of my best personal game clips recorded using Xbox One Game DVR and uploaded using Upload Studio to my Skydrive account.  The clips herein may have been shared because of a funny moment in-game, or an exciting kill streak, or because something truly rare and special happened. 

My first Ultra Combo

From: Killer Instinct, Xbox One

My “Kool-Aid Man” Impression

From: Battlefield 4, Xbox One

A Sniper Rifle, some C4, and a Knife

From: Battlefield 4, Xbox One

Genevieve plays Monkey See, Monkey Do in Zoo Tycoon

From: Zoo Tycoon Demo, Xbox One

FIFA 14 OWN GOALLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!

From: FIFA 14 Demo, Xbox One

Stan Lee as The Incredibly Grey-Haired Hulk

From: Lego Marvel Superheroes, Xbox One

Pulp LEGO Marvel

From: Lego Marvel Superheroes, Xbox One

Brutal Assassination

From: Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag,Xbox One

M-M-M-M-Monster Kill (Shotgun Spree)

From: Battlefield 4, Xbox One

I can’t upload my Xbox One Game DVR videos to Skydrive

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

If you are having a problem locating your Xbox videos uploaded from Upload Studio.  Try checking your “Pictures” folder for a folder called “Xbox Game DVR”.  Why is it in the “Pictures” folder?  Your guess is as good as mine.  They are moving ‘pictures’, so maybe that’s why.

Upload Studio won’t upload to Skydrive

Project Spark Beta signups now available

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games

project spark logo

Project Spark is an ambitions game creation tool that has been in the works for two years. Being a Microsoft first party title, it appears to draw comparisons to Sony’s Little Big Planet. But those familiar with Microsoft Research will instantly recognize Project Spark’s roots, Xbox Live Indie Game and PC release Kodu.

You can sign up for early access to Project Spark through the beta program at JoinProjectSpark.com

Project Spark is coming for Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Windows 8.

Watch this video of Project Spark to understand more of what it’s about.

CastleStorm Review

Posted on by Orion Williams
Game Reviews, Games

CastleStorm - gameplay - 2013-05-25 04-48-48

As a gamer, it’s nice to have developers that you can count on for creating great games and content.  Quite often, developers become known for a certain game series or genre.  And so it becomes easy to think of DICE as “the Battlefield guys”, or Bethesda as “the action/adventure RPG guys”.  Likewise, it would have been easy to think of Zen Studios as “the pinball guys”.  And sure, their most notable work, at least the most prolific, has been Pinball FX and it’s spawn.  But today, Zen Studios carves a new notch into its development record with 2D physics-destruction tower defense action game (it’s hard to put this one into a specific genre) CastleStorm.

CastleStorm has several modes of play including Versus multiplayer and Co-op modes.  I suggest playing through the campaign first as a sort of tutorial and to unlock other modes and features.

Continue reading →

Thief reboot confirmed for Xbox One

Posted on by Orion Williams
Games, Uncategorized

Thief 4 LogoIn a press release from Square Enix, Thief (formerly Thi4f, and Thief 4) has been confirmed for realease on Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Windows PC in 2014.

Pending pricing announcements from Sony and Microsoft, the title may also refer to those that lurk around corners behind Gamestop hoping to nab next-gen systems at a “discount”.  Buyers, beware of water arrows fired from the shadows.