Hello y'all. Been awhile since my last post. And I figured this would be an apt time to revive this wondrous blog to talk about several awesome things related to my adventures in this crazy thing we call gaming. This includes getting a new gaming rig, playing several awesome games, and most importantly, going to e3.
THAT'S RIGHT. GOING TO e3.
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I probably should talk about that last bit first, seeing as it is most likely the thing that has grabbed your attention. But nay, I'll get to that in a bit.
FIRST. I got myself a new computer. (I'll put up photos in soon)
Intel i7-2600 3.4Ghz
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD6950 2GB
Seasonic 660W Power
8GB DDR5
1TB HDD
23" LCD monitor
This purchase was most definitely motivated by the upcoming slew of releases planned. Getting ready for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Rage, and definitely Battlefield 3. Hopefully it'll last a good few years before upgrade. By then I'll get dual cards, and three monitors for ATI Eyefinity awesomeness.
My former gaming wonder The Beast, a notebook from Asus, is still more than capable currently but it has had trouble running Crysis 2 and Witcher 2. It is time to put it to greener pastures i.e. running my word processing (har har).
SECOND. Games I've been playing.
WITCHER 2
I'm not far enough to give an absolute final verdict, but of the fair bit I've played of this seriously epic long RPG - this may be for me, the RPG of the year. Bioware botched that up with Dragon Age 2 which left me very disappointed at the lacklustre scope and poor writing compared to the first. Taking David Gaider off the script was a stupid idea, and rushing the whole damn development to cash in was not right either. Dragon Age 2 could've been the magnus opus to build on the awesomeness that was DA, but whatever.
Whereas Dragon Age 2 was not taking enough risks and not giving its dialogue enough punch for us to care, Witcher 2 has cocks, cunts, and all manners of grit in their speech. Which is not to say that that's what it takes to impress me, but there is certainly a deeper level of maturity and naturalness to the dialogue. And that extends to the entire design of the world of Witcher 2. It friggin' lives and breathes. People walk about, you can talk to all of 'em, and they appropriately respond to you. Day and night cycle, houses can be entered, and there is just a rich variety of things to do and see. On top of the badassery that is Geralt.
Combat is no walk in the park even on Normal difficulty. There's a bit of Assassin's Creed in there in the need to time your attacks and be positioned correctly. No enemy is too easy, you always have to be on your toes and to me, that's what real combat should feel like. It reduces the grindy element too.
Needless to say, this is really great and everyone should be playing it. The graphics are really sparkly too.
Crysis 2
I finally got around to playing this properly. It didn't run so well on my notebook so I put it aside until I could get my PC. And boy, is this game actually pretty fun. Shooting games has been getting rather tired of late, but Crytek injected an element of brains into the proceedings by opening up multiple paths to an objective, vertical as well as horizontal gameplay, and firepower that packs decent punches. Yeah, all the suit powers are there, but it never feels like you're too imba, which is always important. Challenge in a game.
And shit, New York City burned to ashes is so morbidly beautiful. The graphics are really stellar in this as well. And all super shiny on my new computer! LOVE IT.
Dirt 3
I've always said that I'm not a big fan of racing games, and I'm just not that good at it. But in recent times, racing games have been reaching out to non-racing people like me more and more, and I'm increasingly coming to like the genre. Need for Speed started it with Most Wanted and then waned with Carbon and Underground, but brought it back with Hot Pursuit which is just a full-on awesome Michael Bay experience of racing. But now that I've got my new PC, I need a new kind of driving experience.
An immersive one. And Codemasters' new game is absolutely perfect for this. Switch to in-car view and tackle the rough terrain, intense weather, and aggressive opponents as if you were right there in the thick of the action. The graphics are mind-blowingly hyper-realistic and the driving hits the line perfectly between exciting simulation and heart-pumping arcade entertainment. Driving is challenging and not for the faint of the heart. And the Flashback feature that started in Race Driver: Grid and carried over to their newer titles is just the most genius thing a racing game can ever have. It stops you from restarting races over and over just to get it perfect. Instead you rewind time and keep going thereby minimizing disruption of flow. Like Prince of Persia. And boy, what a creative game title menu presentation.
THIRD. Going to e3
Yes siree. I think it's time I let on that I'm going to e3 in LA for Razer with a couple of my colleagues. For those who know me, or have been following my blog for sometime, you'll know that games are pretty much the greatest thing to me. And when I got to join Razer, I was over the moon that I was closer to games that I ever thought I'd be for a career. And now, I'm going to e3.
It's so unbelievably crazy that I have to control myself writing this and careful not to gush too much. Making the trip to e3 is an honor, a mecca to the holy place of games that I know I will savor every second of. I'm such a fanboy, but I don't care.
It's from the 7th to the 9th of June but I'll be leaving for LA from Singapore on the 4th. Haven't been to the States either since I was 7, and what I remember are recollections from my parents. This time I'll be going back armed with a hunger to do proper coverage on games, with photos to boot. I promise to try and bring back a chock full of info so it'll almost be like you guys were right there with me. Also going to represent Razer and make some exciting announcements and show off a line-up of sexy new products.
LOOKING FORWARD TO IT.
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