Tau and Friends Play Silent Bomber Part 11

I'm don't even have any excuses for this episode, I'm just terrible.

Stream Marathon! Daikatana Until I Win!

Right, a long long time ago someone donated a little bit of charity money and a copy of a really shitty game, and then demanded that I play it live on stream! 

Well the date has been set, unless something goes wrong between now and then the marathon will start on Saturday the 30th of November and end whenever I finish the damn game.  For this event only there is 1 donation incentive.  If £100 gets added to the charity fund between now and Saturday, I'll play the game on Hard mode, if not I'll play on normal. 

I'm already suffering but if you really don't like me then donating to charity is a good way to get me to suffer more!  Hopefully I'll see you in the Stream chat come Saturday!  Twitch and donation links are on the right hand side of this page!

Next Gen is Really Grinding My Gears

OK, this is fucking stupid. 

Not too long ago we saw the release of the PS4 and Xbox One, something that should be an exciting time with all these new games and fancy hardware to play it on.  But no, it's not an exciting time, it's a time filled with loud obnoxious noises, sighing and eye rolling.  Let me show you what I mean.

That's a montage of the Xbox One making horrible grinding noises when you put the disc in, and there is a PS4 version as well.  Not to mention that since the release of these systems, a great deal of my twitter feed is "oh, my PS4 broke" or people asking questions like "just how many people have faulty systems?" and then getting a ton of replies.

This is fucking unacceptable!  When I bought my fat PS3 when MGS4 came out, I had absolutely no issues, and until it got stolen there were no problems.  Same with my slim PS3, which is preowned as well, zero problems there.  I had no problems when I was gifted my first Mega Drive, no problems when the N64 came out, nothing for the Dreamcast and then in 2013 suddenly the cutting edge systems have stupid high failure rates.

Microsoft and Sony...why fucking bother?  I don't want to have to worry about my potential purchase of a PS4 or Xbox One maybe failing because YOU can't fucking quality control.  One or two faulty systems is just tough luck, that shit happens, but THIS much faulty hardware being sold to people is a fucking joke and you should be ashamed.

Just go look at twitter for a while or do some searching on YouTube and there are tons of people with videos or tweets about how their shit isn't working as intended or just flat out not working at all.  Hell, the systems are less than a month old and already the term "Blue Light of Death" has been made up for the PS4.

So until this shit gets fixed, fuck next gen.  Right now there aren't any games I even want to play and even if they were I wouldn't want to spend the money because my system probably won't work.  So yeah, get fucked Sony and Microsoft, how about making something that works before taking peoples money?  Bunch of arseholes need to go drown in a lake of dicks.

Mainstream Gaming and Being "Offended"

OK here we go again, more failings of video game "journalism"

The above picture is from something on Rock Paper Shotgun where some guy has an interview with a member of Blizzard staff, and instead of talking about the actual video game, he decide to whine about their choice of costume designs.  The staff member in question though gives a disinterested response and gets him to leave, which is the correct way to deal with social justice morons like that.

Then said social justice moron takes to RPS to go and write an overlong, silly article about why it's offensive, why you should be offended and why the guy from Blizzard that was interviewed is a unfeeling monster.

I'm not going to link to the article because I don't want to give morons like the RPS staff clicks and therefore money, but if you really care I'm sure you can do some googling around.

Anyway, I'm not going to write (ANOTHER) article on why these social justice types of people who rant on about how women look in games are fucking stupid, I've done that enough, what I am going to say is that people need to get over the fact that maybe just some games aren't made for them.

Yes, this is a problem that has come with gaming going into the mainstream.  Now everyone thinks that they have a right to experience every game the same way everyone else does.  This is really what's at the core of his overlong rant about the Blizzard interview.  He's suggesting that people design not sexy women because it may make a certain section of players uncomfortable or whatever. 

Well newsflash for you Mr Grayson and your SJW crowd, maybe not all games are made for you and people like you.  Maybe you don't factor into that little thing called a target demographic so what right do you and people like you have for parading around making artists change their work?  The writer of that interview is very lucky I don't work for Blizzard or I would have told him to fuck off for wasting my time and have him forcibly removed from the building and getting a swift boot up the arse on the way out.

What I'm not saying however, is "don't be offended by things".  Being offended is fine, if you are thin skinned to the point where a lady in the thong in a video game makes you upset, then fine, so be it, but shut the fuck up about it.  There are a great deal of people who don't care and there are also a great deal of people who just see it and don't think anything about gender politics or whatever, because it's just a hot woman in a video game, nothing wrong with that.

If you want to make these arguments about gender politics then fine but keep it restritced to your own personal blogs or whatever and stop throwing bitch fits when people don't want to hear it.  Even if you consider gaming as an art form your arguments still don't hold up because 100% of art isn't there to make just YOU happy, you selfish sack of arse.

In terms of actual arguments about this issue, this post is a bit lacking because I'm TRYING to keep it short.  So the too long; didn't read version of this post would be.

Yes, we get it, you're upset about women being attractive, please fuck off to a different game if you don't like this one.  Maybe stupid non-games that pander to your "needs" like Gone Home are more appropriate.

Personal Best Double Bill

My speed running skills have been getting better and better over the last few days!

Yesterday I streamed some speed runs of Hotline Miami live and ended up getting a new personal best time and then this morning I streamed some They Bleed Pixels and got a new personal best time in that as well! 

So right now, I'm sharing the runs with you for your viewing pleasure.  They don't come anywhere near any records but I'm quite proud of them, so even if you only watch a few minutes of it I'll be happy

Shenmue 3: Good Idea, Bad Idea?

Very recently, I have been made aware of a rather sizable community of people all in support of a Shenmue 3 to be released.  This makes me very happy, Shenmue and its sequel are amazing games and it's a story that has been left unfinished for years now and that's just wrong.

Just to fill people in who don't know, Shenmue was a Dreamcast game that came out in Japan at the end of 1999 and in the year 2000 for everyone else.  It was, at it's core, an adventure game about a guy called Ryo Hazuki trying to get revenge for his father who was killed in front of him by a dude called Lan Di.  The player would walk around town, talking to people, gathering clues and items to progress the plot and having a few fights on the way.

Now after reading that you may think "what's the big deal?" but that's the problem with Shenmue, it's really REALLY hard to describe.  It's so much more than just a bog standard adventure game and there is so much to do crammed into what today would be called a small playable area it's staggering.  Aside from the adventurey revenge plot stuff, there is basically a Japan life simulator in here.  As Ryo you are free to go to shops, talk to basically anybody in the street who all have fully voiced lines, play games in the game center, enjoy some slots, collect gatcha figures....the list of stuff to do is fucking huge.

Hell, if you bought Shenmue you had access to full versions of fucking Hang On and Space Harrier as goddamn MINI GAMES.  Games that you could literally sit there and play for hours are nought but side attractions in the world of Shenmue.  So if the story is so good, and the game play is awesome with lots of content, how could a potential Shenmue 3 possibly be a bad idea?

To put it simply, gaming has changed and it's changed a lot.  Shenmue, as good as it is, is a slow methodical game.  Even the battle system revolves around finding spacious areas to practice in because it's not a simple one and if you don't put in at least a little time getting the hang of it, you'll be screwed.  There's also a lot of aspects to Shenmue that really weren't all that good but gave the game it's own charm.  The voice acting is a good example of this, it's kind of slow, stilted and weird in a lot of cases but not once has anyone called it bad, including myself.  Although, if you sit our current generation of gamers in front of a Shenmue title and I guarantee it'll be nothing but complaints.

Yes, this is what I'm worried about, Shenmue being drastically changed to suit the lowest common denominator.  The battle system being simplified, the amount of freedom being reduced for a "more streamlined experience", the once well placed and well done QTE's turned into a massive annoyance as they just do most of the combat for you, just like the list of the old games positives, the list of things that could go wrong is also huge.

Not that I don't have any faith in good old, Yu Suzuki.  I'm sure if he's in charge of a Shenmue 3 it'll turn out just fine, but keep in mind that he works for Sega, the company that basically wrote the rulebook on how to shit on your own gaming series'.  The other risk a Shenmue 3 runs is that it might come way to close to becoming another Yakuza game.

Not that there is anything at all wrong with Yakuza, but Yakuza is NOT Shenmue, not even close.  If a Shenmue 3 came out and it played just like a Yakuza game I can guarantee there would be the same amount of fan outcry as if you made the game shit.

Don't get me wrong with any of this post, I WANT a Shenmue 3, I really really do.  Nothing pains me more than to see something this good go unfinished and not get the degree of love and attention that it deserves.  My point is that Shenmue was very much a game of it's time and if it was made now, I can guarantee that Sega would not allow it to be made the way that we want it, it would be changed because they want it to sell.  Remember, gaming is now this mainstream thing filled with people who don't want to put in the time and effort to experience something like the people back in my day.

One final point to address.  There is some talk of people wanting a Shenmue HD collection, which sounds like a great idea at first, but let me just leave you with one image about why you might want to be careful with that idea too.

Yeah, this isn't the good old days of the Dreamcast anymore, let's pray that maybe something will happen with the Shenmue series, but let's also be very careful what we wish for.

Tau and Friends Play Silent Bomber Part #10

Paul takes up the pad and fights a different kind of enemy in this episode!  Enjoy!

Diretide!!!

Oh man, I do love me a good old DotA event! 

Diretide is the new DotA event that will continue on to around the 28th I think and it's being held in November because there was some update that threw their schedule off, so we get our trick or treating thing in November.  Better late than never though!

Diretide is a special game mode where each team has a big old bucket of candy on their side of the map.  The idea is that you have to kill monsters to gain candy and go drop it off at your bucket and the team with the most candy at the end wins the game.  Although, you can hop on along with your team into your enemies base and steal candy from their bucket, so a good balance of offence and defence is required if you want to win.

After a little while, the game ends and the winning team is granted a bunch of items, then the big monster that walks around the map sits his ass down and the 10 of you team up to go kill him as many times as you can within a time limit.  The more times you kill him, the better loot you get at the end so the great thing about this mode is that you're guaranteed some kind of prize just for participating.

It's a fun little mode and the games are way shorter than your usual DotA match, so you can hop on for half an hour, play a little bit and still come away with something for your time.  The problem is that it's a little bit broken with some characters being way better than others and some just being outright useless, but for a little mini game it's forgivable. 

The other thing is that there are groups of players who have figured out how to get the big monster kill count really really high, and this means that you will be seeing the same handful of characters basically every game, which can get a little bit dull.

But all things considered it's a fun little mode and if you're like me and don't give a flying fuck about item drops, the stuff you can sell on the steam marketplace means that you'll probably get to buy a cheap free game at the end of it, even if you only played a couple of games a day.

So if you don't already play DotA, go give it a shot.  People are a lot more forgiving of new players during an event because winning really isn't all that important here, just have fun and get some free stuff.

Silent Bomber and Blog Updates!

Right, it finally arrived! My internet in my apartment is now up and running! So let's kick things off with an episode of Silent Bomber!

Then a small update now that I have the internet again.

A while back I recieved a small donation to do a Daikatana marathon on stream, well this will take place pretty soon, I just need to set my stream up which I'll begin doing as soon as I make this post.  I'll post the dates on the facebook group so check there if you want to know the details, otherwise just follow the twitch and just wait for my thing to pop up.

After the Daikatana marathon there will be a Tomba marathon at some point so that's another thing to look forward too!  Also I'll be getting the episodes of Silent Bomber up at a much more rapid pace from now, so don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel!

OK, Mobile Gaming isn't THAT bad

Mobile gaming is always something that I've completely disregarded as a load of complete crap but since coming to Japan and not having a stable internet connection as well as being busy setting up a new place and whatnot, I've not really had the chance to sit down and play proper games for an extended period.

So of course, to keep myself from going insane, I've been making do with what I can with my iPhone and I'm actually pleasantly surprised with some of the things that I've been finding hidden deep within the app store.

So I'm sat here trying to beat my high score on Super Monsters Ate My Condo thinking that all the games I've been playing are pretty fun and with the exception of one title, don't try and go out of the way to try and squeeze money out of you in the form of micro transactions.  Not only that but a quick glance round the paid section of the App Store I've found all sorts of interesting looking things including full on RPGs made by Square Enix as well as all sorts of funky looking beat your high score time sinks, which is great for this kind of system.  So taking all that into consideration, why does mobile gaming have such a bad rep from people like me who player "proper" games.

Well I think I figured it out.

Angry Birds is pretty much entirely at fault for giving mobile gaming the horrible reputation that it's built up over the years.  I've played Angry Birds a little bit on my old Android phone, and it was fine, it made for a good distraction while I was ignoring my university teachers during my 3 month stint of depression in Paris, but it wasn't anything special, it was just a shitty little phone game I used to whittle away the time until I got to my PC at home.

But then you look around you and Angry Birds has this unreal amount of popularity.  There isn't just one game, there's like 5 or 6 of the damn things, all exactly the same but just themed a little differently.  Then you walk into shops and see Angry Birds merchandise clogging up the shelf like headphones or shoes or whatever.

So then people like me go and try it out, discover that it's nothing more than a mildly entertaining little puzzle game, get frustrated at the amount of hype people steep on it and then just blanket label all of mobile gaming as the same brain dead bullshit as a result.

Well luckily I've discovered not everything on the App Store is as shit as Angry Birds or whatever crappy social game is topping the lists, you just have to dig around for them.  Things like Mahjong Mobile, Punch Girl, Zenonia and other half way entertaining games are buried under the crap, so you really have to dig deep to find stuff like that. 

Although the other problem is that why would you do that when you can just fire up steam or your nearby games system and play something WAY, WAYYY better?  Still, the point is that my opinion of mobile gaming has been changed and now I just have 1 more thing to enjoy on boring train rides in case my DS or PSP/Vita batteries die.

Next Gen Attitudes Are Worrying

We are really close now to the launch dates for the next gen systems and it's an exciting time to be a fan of video games as we get to try out all the cool new hardware coming out.

Microsoft and their Xbox One are basically writing the rulebook on how not to launch a console, PS4 is quietly doing its thing and impressing people but isn't completely devoid of it's own bullshit and the WiiU, the one who got out the gate early, is just chugging away in the background producing a decent game once every couple of months.

So what do I mean when I say that the attitudes are worrying?  Well, think about it, what do you buy a games console for?  Playing video games on, right?  So what's everyone talking about when the topic of next gen comes up? Anything but fucking video games.

Sure, there is plenty of talk of hardware, resolutions, capabilities, if it needs online or not, the ability to play used games etc. etc. but where is any of the talk of the actual games?  Just thinking about the lineups for the Xbox One and PS4, there isn't anything that has me jumping up and down thinking I just HAVE to buy the new systems at launch to play that one really good game.

I remember back when the Dreamcast came out, people were pretty impressed with how the thing looked compared to stuff like the PS1 but the FOCUS was the fucking games.  I remember getting seeing footage for things like Power Stone and Jet Set Radio and thinking that I had to have a Dreamcast just to play those damn games.

That game focus seems to have been lost a little bit and with it so has the fun in a new console launch.  Back then, it didn't matter what system you were buying because no matter what you bought you were going to have fun with it.  Even the fan boys were happy if their buddies got the other thing, because then they had a chance to play it and despite many an argument being had over which one was "better" at the end of the day it didn't matter because you were still having fun.

That's gone now, and it's been replaced with technological pissing contests between the major companies and which system gets bought basically boils down to which one is fucking over the consumer the least.  Add a bunch of elitist PC pricks in the background screaming about how awesome their stuff is and all it makes for is a very tiring and unexciting start to the next gen.

There isn't a single game for the next gen systems that I have seen thus far that has made me excited, and that's sad.  If this next gen release period has proved anything to me, it's that gaming isn't about fun anymore, it's about which group of fan boys has the best machine.

I'm sure once the dust settles and some decent games get released, both systems will end up being pretty good in the end.  Hell, I'm sure even the WiiU will end up with a decent library a few more years down the line.  But the point is, that all this outcry at business policy and constant crying over things like screen resolution and frames per second has just pissed me off and now I don't give a flying rats ass about "next gen" anymore.

I'll be keeping an eye out for that one game that eventually makes me excited enough to drop money on a system, but until then, I'll be just sat here biding my time until Dark Souls 2.

The Silent Bomber Double Bill!

Right! I managed to borrow my friends internet JUST long enough to upload 2 episodes of Silent Bomber for your entertainment!  Enjoy!

More Updates Regarding Steam and YouTube content

Right, this post isn't going to have a picture because right now my current internet situation is a load of complete bollocks.

Over the last few days, I've been surviving by tethering my iPhone to my computer and using the internet that way.  Up until yesterday it was perfect, but then I went and ran out of usage so now my phone's internet speed has been capped out for the month and it's slow as all hell.

Yesterday I was hoping to upload another episode of Silent Bomber, but with my net now being what it is, it's basically impossible to upload anything without it taking 3 years.

However the good news is that today 2 dudes came over to our apartment and basically set up our internet plan, now all we have to do is wait about a week for the little box to arrive and then I'm golden.

So, expect sporadic updates for a while since my net access is extremely limited.  I'll be at least trying to keep up with daily written posts but it takes so long to do anything that I might just get frustrated and give up, hopefully not though.

Once the internet does come I'll be testing the stream, uploading videos and then jumping right into the Daikatana marathon as soon as I get some free time, so look forward to that.

I still also have a key for F.E.A.R 2 available and I'm willing to give it to the first person who throws a charity donation to the Alzheimer's Society.

Thanks for your patience

A KindaAwesome Post About Coin Op

The Game Centre is something I like to talk about a lot, it's easily one of my favourite things in the world. 

This time though, the post about me gushing over Japanese coin op isn't going to be hosted here, but instead you can find it within an article over with my good buddies at KindaAwesome!  All of the stuff I've said before applies here, read the post and help support these guys, they do good stuff. 

LINKS!

http://kindawesome.com/?p=2393

http://kindawesome.com/

Tau and Friends Play Silent Bomber Part 5

Pauls turn! Maze Level! We talk about stuff! Enjoy it!

Back At Home!! Quick Mobile Gaming Roundup

Right, well I just got back from my trip on Olive Island.  It was a fun little adventure even if it was completely game-less, but I think theses short breaks from ranting about industry bullshit are required for me to not go insane.

Anyway, due to the fact that I had literally just moved into my new place on the day we set out I accidently left all my proper portable gaming systems inside the new house and was left with nothing but an iPhone to satisfy my mid journey gaming needs, which is a bit shit.  So for now, I'm going to give a quick run down of all the mobile shit I was playing while sitting inside that car for 8 or 9 hours at a time.

First there was Mahjong 5, a Japanese mahjong game for the iPhone that allows you to play online completely for free.  Winning enough games generates you "MJChips" which allow you to play the paid modes for free too which is a really nice feature and motivates the player to play smarter to maintain their scores.

The next game was a strange little thing that was recommended to me by a friend via Facebook.  I'll go into more depth on this game in it's own post because it's surprisingly good for a mobile game.  As a brief description, all I'll say for now is that you play as a high school girl kicking the ever loving shit out of strange men.  It's weirdly compelling.

Finally there was Puzzle and Dragon

This is a gem matching RPG monster breeding type game where you build a party of 6 creatures, go into dungeons, match gems and fight monsters.  It's actually really good with an absolutely staggering amount of creatures to collect, however, I'm just going to leave one image for you on why I enjoyed playing it so much this weekend.

Now the rest of my day will be spent setting up my new apartment, I'll see if I can get some videos up in the next day or so.

I'm on a trip!

Right, well this was something I totally forgot about!

Right now I'm in a car on my way to Shoudo Shima with the family.  I'm going to be putting the interesting pictures on Twitter so follow me if you want to see them.

Once I get back I have a mobile game to review and if I an get some net access on my computer I'll get some silent bomber up!

Well, see you on twitter then

Update Time! Moving into a new place! Stuff Incoming!

Right, first of all, you may have noticed that it's the end of October, yet only one game from the October playlist got uploaded to YouTube.....

Well I'm sorry about that, but moving to Japan and having to set myself up in a new apartment kind of ate all my recording time.  Also not really having a proper place to record in made things quite difficult.  Those playthroughs aren't dead though! They are just sleeping.  Silent Hill, Resi 1, Outlast and Amnesia are games I want to play through anyway, it just won't be in season.  Fortix on the other hand......well I'll slog through it one day because I said I would.

Then there is the blog and the stream.  Well, I doubt very highly that I'll have access to the internet straight off the bat, so it may be a while, but once it's up then you can expect a great deal of streaming.  There may be a bit of downtime with posts too, but if I can get to a place with Wi-Fi I'll at least try and upload more Silent Bomber.

Finally, the social media side of things has expanded! Identity Gaming now has a Facebook page!  So go and throw that thing a like!  All future updates will be written there instead of here and it's another place to look to see if I'm streaming or not.  The link for the new page is here!

https://www.facebook.com/identitygamingcharity

So yeah, I'm moving house tomorrow, bare with me for a few days while I sort my shit out