Indy Space Shooter - Jamestown

If you're an old school gamer who loves either top down space shooters or side scrolling shooters, then you definitely can't miss out on this awesome indy title, JamesTown.

JamesTown is a british top town shooter with a retro pixel feel with new school shooting mechanics and music. Oh god, the music. Wonderfully composed and goes perfectly with the game.

Fans of the old school genesis game, Thunder Force 4 or Lightening Force (depending on your region) will definitely find this title worth the bucks. The shooting mechanics and the air tight controls make it easy to veterans for dodging all them bullets on harder difficulty.

Thunder Force 4 - Stage 9

Although I could go on praising this game, I had one minor itch with the game, no online co-op. It's not much to gripe about but it's enough to be there since if you're a completionist for achievements or for that 100% satisfaction, it's got some goals for beating the game with 2 to 4 people locally.

Overall, it's an instant buy for space shooter fans out there. If you're new to the series, give it a go. It's not like it has a hefty $60 buck price tag next to it, huh.

Just like the old days. Getting busy!

Until next time.

Bit Of An Update Govna'!

Hello Internets!

Yes! I know I have been slacking lately in terms of content! I have a legitimate excuse! I swear!
Buuuut, I'll tell you about it another time. Today is an update to touch a bit on why I cannot upload sometimes, as for the review writing, I blame both my work schedule and the lack I have any desire at the moment.

Believe me! I dearly want to finish uploading my final videos for Resident Evil 5 and create an in-dept walkthrough here on the blog for your viewing pleasure, however whenever I go to film my chapters using FRAP's, the Raw recorded footage shows up in Windows Movie Maker as a corrupted file.
When I'm home from work I'll attach a screenshot to show as proof.

Now having that, seeing my hard worked recorded footage show up as corrupted is a huge pain in the ass, I'm not sure if it's Windows Live Movie Maker having an aneurysm with my raw files being 11.5 gigs each for 3 minutes of game, or if Fraps is being a total d-bag and screwing up my files.

I'll try to have it solved soon since I've wanted to upload the rest of my Resident Evil 5 walkthrough with a friend and voice chat included, and I've wanted to add more videos of Audiosurf, Beat Hazard, BIT.TRIP. Runner, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood and Portal 2. Seriously good footage lined up.

As you may have seen on @HULKGAMECRIT's Twitter/Blog recently, I have co-hosted an episode of his Podcast talking about gaming and Usage Based Billing for Canadians, amongst other things as well for good measure.

I'll edit this post after I get off work (or whenever I can get my ass away from Assassins Creed long enough) to clean this post up and add some pictures. Also I have a new theme in the works so hang tight.

Play list:
-BIT.TRIP. Runner
-The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina of Time 3DS
-Pokemon: Crystal
-Assassins Creed 2
-L.A. Noire

As always, you can view what I'm playing on my Backloggery or feel free to say hi on Steam

App Review: Game Dev Story

Here's my first review for an Android Game App, Game Dev Story.

Game Dev Story is a Simulation game based on developing your own company from the ground-up into something comparable to EA or Blizzard/Activision would look like in their offices.

The game starts you off with a small building and a quick tutorial of the interface and how to proceed into the game. Although the game doesn't recommend it, with its own in-game tutorial, it's a really good idea to start the game by hiring a 3rd or 4th developer of your choice and proceed to generate some cash-flow by doing side-jobs instead of working on a game straight from the get-go.

A glimpse into EA's offices. Working on that next big game!

Once you got some cash to boot, you can start making your first game by starting out in the PC gaming category, since all the current consoles available require you to buy a license first. After you choose your categories of what genre of game, and how it will be affiliated with current trends, (Like, choosing a Puzzle game with Animals as a first game tends to work well, PopCap games? Anyone?) the testers will give some feedback on how the game might turn out on release.

Some thing's that I noticed with the game right away is the manual save feature. Sure, there is an auto-save that work's just in-case you hit the "Back" or the "Home" button on your mobile phone. But the thing that bugs me is the fact that you can only have 1 manual save at a time, so you cannot let your significant other, or any roommates give the game a try without erasing your current data.

During the development process, based on how you train your characters, it will affect on how fast your team can develop the game within a certain time frame by adding Game points, Creativity points, Game Art points and Sound points. You can decide to spend some coin to upgrade your characters so they perform better for side-jobs or when the big project needs to work tough, its a bit of a gamble, but it might pay off as sometimes it does a "Super-Upgrade". In turn, your characters get double or triple the reward for upgrading them.

Overall, this Android App game, Game Dev Story does offer a lot of replay value since you can pick up new tricks and ways of going about with each play-through. The free version of the game offers the first 3 years (In-game) to test the waters, but if you want to continue, you'll need to shell out $2.75CDN (Price may vary based on the country you live in) for the full deal.

My Final Say:
This game is great! I've spent many hours making my company develop some sweet games and bringing in some high profile names to work for me. It does teeter me that there's no side-view to play it like a Gameboy Advanced, but that's knit-picking. Everything about this seems like it's been tested and tested and tested over again. My view, it's worth the bucks. Every penny of it was paid back ten-folds in gaming value.

Rating: 8.9/10

Pros:

- Replay value is worth the price of admission

- The retro sprite design is perfect for a Sim game like this

- Interesting take in our world's video game industry

Cons:

- One manual/auto save at a time. No multiple profiles

- The beginning tutorial is okay, but could have done a lot better to get new players on their feet

- Updates to the game needs a change-log on the App Store Page

Link to the Free Version: 

https://market.android.com/details?id=net.kairosoft.android.gamedev3enL

Link to the Paid Version: 

https://market.android.com/details?id=net.kairosoft.android.gamedev3en&feature=top-paid

What should I review next? Let me know via E-Mail or in the comments below.

Canada, Throttling and UBB

It's no lie, Canadians pay one of the highest Internet rates around the world, and the amount of Internet we get back is peanuts compared to other countries. I'm sick and tired of this whole thing to be quite honest.

I recently thought it would be a good idea to do a Speed Test to check that I'm getting what I pay for. Here's the result.

So 2.02MB/s of Download, 0.39MB/s of Upload and Slower than 81% of Canada. Wow. I'm lost for words.
These speeds are utterly disgusting. Now I'm not putting the blame on TekSavvy, since they rent their Internet lines off Bell Canada.

Before I get into this rant, I just wanted to plug OpenMedia.ca and VoteNet.ca for all their hard work in covering the Canadian news and dogging these Telecom companies to stop gouging us. You guys are the true heroes when it comes to fighting the good fight. Keep it up.

Guess what? Shaw Internet is going full steam ahead with its Usage Based Billing, despite the Half-Million Canadians against this form of gouging!

Shaw: Yeah! We have Pricing Power. Let's go gouge us some Canadians!

Alright! It's rant time!

Let it be known that Bell/Rogers has a known history to both Price Gouge consumers for lowering their bandwidth caps and making their cost even higher. Also they are known for two other notable features, they throttle their speeds to users who Torrent (The new way to download, since Peer-to-Peer isn't the cool thing anymore) and they have a bad habit of hiring customer service agents who are there to stone-wall any concerns with your bill, and tell you, "It's your fault, go away *click*".

So whats the problem? The problem is that Bell and Rogers have the mentality of, "We're too big of a business to care about our consumers anymore! It's all about the shareholders and raising our dividends and profits for the next quarter!" Even Rick Mercer is hitting the nail on the head how our Internet companies are consistent for screwing us over.

Now Bell thought it would be a wonderful idea to take the gouging one step further. To impose Usage Based Billing (UBB) on the Canadian consumer market, and the funny thing is, our government organization, the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) actually gave Bell and Rogers the green light to actually impose this new billing onto consumers as early as mid-2011 with a base rate plus an extra $3-5 dollars for each Gigabyte used in your month.


On paper, pricing consumers based on how much they use is a great idea, but when it comes to prices like these, consumers just cannot afford it. This is really killing innovation within the Canadian market. Paying a high base rate for a low bandwidth cap then +$3-5 bucks per each Gigabyte over? That's going to add up quick and kill internet based companies like NetFlix really quickly. But I guess going back to our $25-$40 bucks a month Cable/Satalite box is cheaper than using $8 bucks a month Netflix right? ...right?


You know, I'm so sick and tired of the same old, "Yeah, We're Bell and we're reducing your Internet limits and charging you more because you don't know whats good for you!" mentality. Here's a couple videos you should just watch to help clear things up for the average user.

"Lang and O'Leary Exchange - Interview with Bell then with TekSavvy"

"Stop the Meter on your Internet Use"

"Canada's worst Cell Phone Bill" - This guy gets charged $17,000 for his Cell

I'll continue on this issue in one of my next articles in the future, but this is just the tip of the Iceberg with Canada's corrupt Tele-communication industry.

How much do you guys pay for your Internet and/or your Cell Phones every month? Do you think the price is right? Leave a comment and tell me.

Get informed, read more about Usage Based Billing and how Canadians are standing up against it with OpenMedia.ca

Battlefield 3 - Fault Line Trailer [12 Minutes of Awesome]

Another sweet trailer has been released on the highly anticipated Battlefield 3 from DICE games, this one uses the footage that we've seen so far and has built on it even more.

I'm not going to spoil any of it. Just watch.

On a rating from 1 to 10. How awesome what THAT? It really looks like Call of Duty has a ton of catching up to do if they want to call themselves "The Greatest War Game of All Time!"

Androids and You (Well, more like Me)

Coming Soon: When I actually have time to sit down and write a full review of the Motorola Atrix

Is it worth the bucks? After I write the review, you'll know!

Quite recently I managed to upgrade from an old Nokia Flip Phone to a new and super sexy Motorola Atrix running the Android OS.

Just a small upgrade right... right?

Shortly after getting my Android, I immediately load it up with Apps, and with glee, I saw that Emulators had made it onto the Android Marketplace! Yay Nostalgia.
Thank you GameBoid, thanks to you I spent the boredom part of my job for these past few days playing Pokemon Red, and likely tearing Gary Oak a new one. This is an actual screenshot using the GameBoid Emulator on the Android.

"ANUS used GUST! SUPER EFFECTIVE!"

If you want a list of the Apps I currently use on my Android, I'll list them here along with the link to actually download them. Hooray for the lazy Internet denizens,

• Blogger - A blogging app for BlogSpot users.
• Blogger-droid - Another Blogger app. Never hurts to carry another.
• Color Flashlight - Turns your phone into a handy flashlight
• Gearoid - GameGear Emulator
• 3G Watchdog - A handy app for anyone who has a Bandwidth limit on their plan
• Advanced Task Killer Free - Killing them apps, great for bandwidth sucking apps
• Alarm Clock Xtreme Free - Great alarm clock, highly customizable
• Arcade by Kongregate - Why download games when you can Internet them?
• Battle.net Mobile Authenticator - For keeping your B.Net Account Super Safe.
• Dropbox - Great App for streaming your files onto your phone while on any WiFi
• Emulator ROMs - Downloading roms never was so easy
• Emulator ROMs Plus - More roms to choose from
• GameBoid - Gameboy Advanced Emulator, works flawlessly.
• GBCoid - Gameboy/Color Emulator. Hooray Nostalgia
• Gensoid - Sega Genesis Emulator. Nice to have
• Inferno Galaxy - A live wallpaper, looks nice on the Atrix
• Jewels - For those Bejewelled addicts out there
• LiveProfile - An alternative texting system, works on Android/Black Berry/iPhone OS
• Nesoid - Cant get enough of MegaMan2 or Zelda.
• NYTimes - Daily read of New York times, great for those who already subscribe
• PS3 Trophies Pro - If your a hardcore PS3 user, you need this. Worth the price.
• Quadrant Standard - A benchmarking system to test your phones strength.
• Ringdroid - Lets you edit your songs and use them to create usable ringtones for yourself.
• ShareMyApps - No explanation needed.
• Skype - Voice calling chat needs work, but using it to text works great.
• SNesoid - A super great SNES Emulator.
• Speed Test - Benchmark your internet speeds on your phone through your WiFi.
• Steam Mobile - Its PC gaming, Steam. But Mobile, check the stores or your friends.
• Talk To Me Classic - Reads out your phones notifications, calls, emails, etc.
• TalkToMe - Its google translate with a creepy robotic voice, Perfect for picking up chick
• Tetris - I can't stay away from tetris, can you?
• Timesheet - Lets me track my work hours, plus how much I get paid.
• Translate - Language translator
• Twitter - An app for Twittering. Self explanatory.
• Useless Facts - Who doesn't like reading useless facts with a group of mates?
• WhatsApp - Another alternative SMS program. IMO the best around so far
• Winamp - A better way to listen to music than the default player on the Atrix

So that's my App list on my Motorola Atrix, using the Google Android OS.  I might start posting my personal reviews for Android Apps, if there's anyone wanting to read once in a while of course.

On another note, a new video has been released by DICE, the makers responsible for Battlefield - Bad Company 2 and various other and older games in the Battlefield Series. You can watch it here:

Tell me what you think! Recommend any apps? Want me to review any? Let me know, leave a comment or E-Mail me.

I'll come back to it later

I'll get to it later, sleep comes first.

God all mighty, I have never wanted to cluck a duck harder than I ever remember after having to fight a Manikin copy of Cloud of Darkness with Squall on Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy that was about 18 levels stronger than myself.

Easily I had to retry about 100+ times since in about 3 Bravery Hits, I was instantly from 1000 BRV to Broken.

After I finish Duodecim, I'll be writing my first gaming review on this blog.

Until then, time to crash.

Also: Before I forget, here's a quick upload of the new Source Mod game released on Steam.
Dino D-Day