E3 2012 Summary - My take on things

Here are my thoughts of what I've seen via G4's coverage and read about the stuff shown at E3.  I hope on day I am able to attend this event.  So, lots to cover, so here goes... In no particular order.. (well, the order it is shown on the wiki page.)

Microsoft Keynote:

Halo 4 live action trailer was the usual for the series, having only played Reach and ODST, I’ll probably check out Halo 4, but not likely something I’d buy on launch day.  I don’t expect it to be a complete flop, even though the game is not done by Bungie.  Developers of these big franchises are usually really good at listening to what the fans want.  

Games of 2012 - Q3 & Q4

been a while since I've done one of these...

So.. here goes..

a couple games coming out later this month are somewhat interesting..

June 19th PC - Civ 5 expansion Gods & Kings.. will probably get it.

June 19th Consoles - Lego Batman 2 (for all you lego fans).

 

June 26th (not firm) - Skyrim Dawngaurd expansion.

Diablo 3 - review

So, I figure I would hold off on this review till I had a decent amount of time into the game. 

  

It has been a number of years since I have played any Diablo games.  It has been so long since I clicked endlessly for hours, killing monsters and creatures of the forces of evil.  I pre-ordered and pre-loaded the first day that Blizzard starting taking pre-orders.  Was the wait worth it?  After (and still) playing the game for quite a bit, I say yes, totally worth it.  Blizzard, once again, does not disappoint.

One thing I remember back with the previous games was my lack of interest of playing through the game multiple times.  I did not "get" the whole loot collecting aspect of the game, mostly because I played on my own, so I was never exposed to "better" items, and thus, never looked into how to get them.  I do remember trying out a second play through in Diablo 2, but didn't like how everything was significantly harder.  I was young, and did not truly appreciate it in that way.  But thanks to games like Borderlands, I've gotten the loot bug.  So that is why I've been lagging a bit on my blog and YouTube work.

Ghost Recon Alpha - making me want to buy the game

This is one awesome film, really makes me want to get the game right away.  But unfortunately, with Diablo 3 here, and new MW3 maps & modes.. I don't think I could squeeze in time for this.  I'll definitely pick it up later when the price drops, and probably will end up just getting it on PC.  We'll see....

Diablo 3 - First few minutes.

Since I actually have a job to goto, I couldn't stay up to play Diablo 3 right at 3am EST when the servers launched.  Although I already had the game preloaded a while ago, I figure its a game that I'm in no rush to play.  I've already waited this long, whats another few hours.

So this morning, I woke up, and had a few extra minutes to kill, so I started it up just to get it going.  I only had about 5 minutes before having to get on with my regular morning routine, so I only did the first two "quests", although they were mostly tutorial like quests.

Off the bat, the game feels familiar, just like the previous games, but with improved graphics.  You can see there's a lot more attention to detail with the map and the characters, but the core elements are still there to give the familiar feel.  Which is not a bad thing.  It is something that Blizzard seems to do well, don't mess with what works.  I'm sure the upgrades and changes to the game will feel more apparent once I get deeper into the game, and I'm looking forward to it!

I'll check back in later with more... 

Black Ops II - Multiplayer details - rumours & thoughts

The below has been posted from another site. 

My thoughts will be in italics... 

Game Modes

• Escort, a new game mode.
  •  Similar to Search and Destroy however a live player must be escorted to one of three areas (or two depending on the map) without being killed.
  • The match will have rounds, consisting of one life only. (Interesting, a less campy version of S&D - I'll reserve judgement till I actually play it)
• Drop Zone and Kill Confirmed will return (Good to hear, both are nice additions to the rotation)
• Team Defender and Infected will not return (too bad, they were interesting, but infected did lead to some boosting.  If they were faster on the banning of people, then it wouldn't be as bad)

Pointstreaks

• Will follow from Modern Warfare 3’s system (But will they stack? i.e. kills from a air strike counting towards your next reward?)
• Larger emphasis on objectives (nice to hear)
• A bomb plant is worth 2 points
• A neutral flag is worth 1, however an enemy flag is worth 2
• A flag assist capture is worth 1, a capture is worth 2 (Not bad, won't matter much in Domination for the way me and my friends play it, maybe they should make defends worth an extra point as well?)
• The Specialist Pointstreak has be modified
• 2 kills now gets you 1 perk
• The 4th kill gets you 2 more perks
• The 6th kill gets you 3 more perks
• The 8th Kill gets you 4 more perks
• You do not get every perk when you reach 8 kills (Interesting, Not sure how I feel about it, I rarely use it in MW3, and when I did, my play style would usually mean I'd die by around 6 kills anyways.. )
• Perks only become “Pro” when you have them Pro (Seems logical)
• RC XD will not return (yea, a laggy RC-XD was a bit annoying)
• Heat vision is a new Pointstreak reward. When you get the required points, you can activate this Pointstreak and your player pulls out a scope and attaches it to your weapon. (Interesting would like to know more.. like, can you toggle it? - i.e. remove it, does it affect ADS times?)
  •     This scopes main advantage is it’s ability to detect enemies through most walls. Note, the scope can only be attached to primaries not including shotguns  (does it overlap existing scopes/sights?)

Item Packages

• Requires 5 points
• Fall along side care packages and air drop traps.
• Features a list of package items only Including ammo, mini gun, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, and body armor (Interesting, makes it useful and not overpowered by giving a high point reward in it.. I like this idea.)

Prestiges

• There will be 15 prestiges
• There will be 50 ranks
• Every two prestiges there is a 5 rank increase
• The final prestige has 90 levels 

(Interesting, I like it progressively gets longer and longer - guess I'll have to wait till the next XP event to hear about other rewards and how the unlock progression works.  With extra levels, are there extra guns available to fill in the gap? or just more challenges?)

ELITE 2.0

• ELITE is being fully incorporated into Black Ops 2
• Combat record has been modified and re-named as ELITE Stats
• There will be a specific lobby for clan matches (new way of leveling clans) (Finally!, they can do this with the regular operation challenges as well IMO)
• Clan Tournaments can now be implemented

Removed

• No MOAB or Nuke (good riddance)
• No last stand (finally)
• No death streaks (finally)
• No flame thrower attachment (meh, I'm indifferent about this)

Map Design

•     Map design and size will be following Black Ops not Modern Warfare 3 (Hopefully more dynamic elements in the maps like in Black Ops - i.e. doors to open and close)

Sniper Rifles

•  Improved sniper rifle usage.
•  No aim assist for any sniper rifle.
•  Less sway

(This should reduce the amount of quick scoping, and it'll just be plain ol luck for no-scopers. Maybe they can address that even more if its still an issue.)

Customization

• No longer just perk 1 chooses the players appearance
• Appearance is a combination of all perks and type of Pointstreak being used.

(still no character customization - i.e. face/body etc, oh well.)

Hardcore

• Larger emphasis on hardcore than ever before
• No grenade launchers
• Only vehicle guided rocket launchers permitted
• Respawn timings decreased (for most modes)
• 1 bullet in the foot will no longer kill a person, a head or chest shot is usually required.
• A person will now bleed out if severely injured.

(Sounds good to me, I'll probably play more HC modes again)

Perk System 2.0

• The Perk Pro system has been upgraded
• There is now 2 options a perk can advance to.
• Both require different challenges to unlock
• Once the desired Pro version is unlocked, the player can select that as their “Perk Pro”.
• Once selected, the only way to choose the other option is by entering prestige mode.
• For example Perk slot 1 has the perk called Speed
  • Speed – Reduces the time taken to aim down the sight
    • Pro I – Swaps weapons faster
    • Pro II – Throws equipment faster

(So, does this mean at higher prestige, both pro effects are available - if unlocked? - either way, I like the added depth on this aspect of multiplayer.  Idealy, I would like more class slots too, like 15 or 20.) 

Combat Training

• Will be returning with vast improvements.
• Difficulty is no longer based on how long the bots take to start shooting.
• Bots now have an advance AI system
• Similar to the behavior seen in the MW3 Spec Ops survival

(It'll give this mode a bit more life, and help some new people get some practice.)

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