Is Beyonce's New Video "Formation" too Politically Charge? - See for Yourself

With an expected stellar appearance at Super Bowl 50 from the world's best living performer, Beyonce, she has taken an opportunity use her celebrity to address America's social injusitice and hate made towards her family.

Beyonce's new video Formation alludes to the city of New Orlean's history—from visuals that conjure the free Creole women to Hurricane Katrina and her daughter.  The video opens with the clip features shots of Queen B lying on top of a sinking New Orleans police cruiser as well as a graffiti’d wall that says, “Stop shooting us.”

There’s also a scene of a black child in a hoodie dancing in front of a line of police officers in riot gear. At one point a man holds up a newspaper called “The Truth” with an image of Martin Luther King Jr. on the front page captioned, “More than a dreamer.” Blue Ivy Carter, Beyonce’s daughter, also appears in the video.

The video is viewable for now. so click on it below.  You know the tidal and Youtube war will have the video gone in a minute.  I never understand why you have to pay for what used to be free?  To me the social media is free advertising by fans that help drive demand for consumers to make purchase.

XCOM 2 - All You Need to Know Before Making Your Purchase

Are you a human or a number on a spreadsheet?

Taking place 20 years after humanity shockingly lost the war we played in 2012’s excellent XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you lead the rebel squad in a fight to overthrow a decades-long alien occupation of the Earth. In XCOM 2, you march a four to six-person squad into battle against -superior alien forces.

What I love the most about the XCOM series is its unpredictability and dare of attachment to your customized soldiers. While playing I consider myself a tough as nails Commander that makes the best decision possible given the intel i have on my enemy. But XCOM will make you shed a tear while watching your squad of rebels get wiped out from the roll of the dice turn-based combat engine. Sometimes their is no upgrade that can counter your bad luck, or a poor decision that results in your squadie getting left in the open exposed to an alien's overpowered attack.

Turn-Based System
If you're results-oriented or a big fan of percentages, then you will love XCOM 2. Before you attack, you are given a display of your success rate percentage or your chance to kill and damage you enemy. Deciding whether to take cover near by half or full shielded areas reduce or increase your defense from enemy attacks.

Diversity Matters
Nothing like being enslaved and facing the end of the world to make you band together for the common cause of freedom, lol. In XCOM 2, developers wanted to focus on ensure diversity inclusion was a top priority.   Developers stated that gender, race and nationality do not play a factor in your attributes, so each character was designed with random attributes to benefit the squad.

In a interview, Firaxis Senior Producer Garth DeAngelis said, "The company philosophy is to build game experiences that stand the test of time—it just follows that most of our games have this natural representation of diversity. Since the world is a part of our game experiences, for both Civ and XCOM, it speaks to a global audience more naturally. But all in all, we’re a gameplay and experience-driven studio, and we simply want to create engaging and fun experiences for all types of people."

Intelligent AI

This time around, enemies are geared to compensate for the concealment advantage. The Advent Shieldbearer is a prime example of this: if an enemy survives and isn’t disabled, it’ll activate a power that gives it and every ally around him an energy barrier that’ll absorb some significant damage. You have to be careful about who you shoot first, because it makes a big difference who’s alive when they start fighting back.

When you take out two of the three aliens in a group, the last one may be smart enough to retreat and group up with another nearby group. The AI displaying a will to survive, gives you one more thing to leverage when engaging enemies: leave no survivors, or the next fight might be harder.

What is new?
XCOM’s five soldier classes received an upgrade with new and diverse ability sets. The Specialist’s remote hacking and healing abilities introduces risk-reward opportunities, especially against robotic enemies. Augmenting those abilities with weapon upgrades such as combining a Sharpshooter’s Killzone skill with a high-capacity ammo mod lets him take up a six reaction shots in one turn.

One great change is the way you have to manage the engineering staff by assigning them to specific rooms. They can accelerate build times or accelerate progress on things like soldier healing times or increasing power output. You can see their names and faces once in awhile, making them feel like people rather than a number on a spreadsheet, even if they don’t have unique stats. Unfortunately the science staff doesn’t get the same treatment – they have names, but after you recruit them you’ll never see those names again.

The character creator very limited with a small number of faces available with no sliders to adjust them, the only body type is peak physical condition, and accessories like hats and glasses are sparse. Oddly, modders will fix this problem.  

For base-building you don’t have to stress out about adjacency for resource bonuses.  Instead, the variety here comes from the layout of power nodes in the layout of your captured alien vessel, where the special power-granting tiles might be accessible or near the end.  Reading the map and adapting is important. Starting from a random location, your mobile base has to stay ahead of the aliens by darting around the map making contact with resistance cells in various regions, collecting supplies, and launching raids against the aliens.

Overall

With a focus on variety and replayability, XCOM 2 tried to fix all the complaints gamers had with XCOM.  The game isn't perfect with a few cosmetic glitches and bugs, but it can be fixed in a patch.  If you are a good decision maker under pressure and love a challenge, then XCOM 2 is worth the investment. Overall, with new tactical combat, unpredictable maps and randomized objectives and loot, the game is solid and has a lot of potential to keep those interested in a turn-based, strategy game hooked for hundreds of hours.

Can The Division Overcome the Disappointment of Destiny?

For those of you who played Destiny 1.0 you are a sucker for hype, lol. Bungie owned up to their mistake and tried to fix their lack delivery of quality gameplay in Destiny 2.0: The Taken King expansion. When you look at what Destiny had to offer, the true question is what went wrong and what can The Division do right to avoid the same mistake?

Destiny's greatest mistake was its ambition. Destiny was a combination of first-person shooter, RPG, open-world, co-op, competitive and MMO-lite genres into a single package, but the sum of its parts didn't rise up to the challenge of over-hyped gameplay it advertised.

Looks like Ubisoft has paid attention to detail and noted the complaints raised against Destiny and integrated solutions to resolve what it’s advertising for The Division. Let's compare and contrast Destiny with The Division.

Destiny’s game world is a series of playable interconnected fauxpen-world hubs with required inefficient two-step travel to reach: to orbit, then to the next location, even if it’s on the same planet. This means that Destiny players are tolerating multiple loading screens just to get to where they want to play.

By comparison The Division has an enormous open world that allows players to seamlessly switch between solo play, cooperative antics and competitive multiplayer, without two-step travel and without loading screens.

There are specific safe spaces where you can run into random players or your buddies and co-op to tame the dystopia of a post-pandemic New York City. It’s resembles the Tower from Destiny, except there’s no situations of dragging everyone back to orbit before going into a properly playable space.

The Division has a selection of emotes, just like Destiny, which range from options such as star-jump, to wave and surrender emotes. Also, players can use proximity VOIP, so you use your microphone to communicate with anyone in close proximity to your playable character. It creates a practical impact in terms of inviting other players to join you, or warning them about hostile territory ahead, it’s also a tactical tool that means you can hear chatty and potentially hostile players in the Dark Zone, and get the drop on them.

The Dark Zone is rumored to be the best-integrated player-versus-player-versus-environment (PvPvE) space, to date. Halo 5’s PvPvE Warzone mode recently had a crack at the mode-straddling space, but fell short mostly thanks to the pay-to-win feel of the REQ system, particularly as it relates to the RNG approach to scoring meaningful vehicle drops.

The Division combines the PvE looting of Destiny’s formula, with the PvP idea of Crucible, except that you don’t have to engage other players, if you don’t want to. In fact, like playing a Raid in Destiny, it’s smarter to team up and work with up to three other players to take down the AI-controlled enemies in the space. Then again, given that these supporting players may turn on you at any point in the Dark Zone, you’ll never be sure of who you can and trust, or for how long they can be trusted if you choose to work with them.

Unlike Destiny and your average RPG, The Division doesn’t force players to pick and stick to a predefined class, with all of the pros and cons that this implies. While players in The Division can specialize in terms of three roles that can be broken down into damage-dealer, damage-taker or healer, players are also free to mix and match abilities (and the gear that complements a particular play style) on the fly.

The Division’s game world isn’t your usual post-apocalyptic space, either, with the developer pledging that players will feel that they’ve made an impact on winning back New York City at the end of the campaign. Players will actually be able to see tangible evidence of their impact on the game world, even if it’s only limited to the base of operation and particular NPC/wildlife encounters, instead of the Destiny-like approach to a game world where absolutely everything resets. Completing a mission from the trio of story threads in The Division lets players unlock a specific station in one of three wings in their base of operation that leads to the unlocking of a new ability in the associated medical, tech or security tree.

There’s a greater relationship between narrative and abilities, it also means that the solo player will be able to visit their base of operation and see the fruits of their labor in civilizing New York City. At the end of the original Destiny campaign, regardless of class, you were given the same weapon and felt as though you’d achieved a whole lot of nothing in terms of the grander narrative.

In conclusion, The Division will deliver what it PROMISED!

Far Cry Primal - Is a Game Sat in the Past, a Vision of Gaming's Future?

"Do you walk Alone?- Takkar"

Far Cry Primal is set during the beginning of the Mesolithic period ca. 12,000 years before present, in the fictional land of Oros, an open world filled with wildlife such as mammoths and saber-toothed cats. Survival is a daily challenge as tribes come into conflict with one another and nature. Players take on the role of a hunter named Takkar, who is stranded in Oros—a valley that was once covered in ice—with no weapons or resources after his hunting party is ambushed.^[5] Takkar, using his newfound skill of taming animals, will eventually rise to power and lead his own tribe.

“At the beginning of the game, you’re naked, so you have to craft everything, you have to gather resources,” says Jean-Cristophe Guyot, Far Cry Primal’s creative director. “Night is super-dangerous, because that’s when the predators come out, so you have to have fire to protect yourself and repel the animals. If you go up in the north, it’s very cold, so you’ll also need the fire there to keep yourself warm. If you explore caves, fire is very useful.”

As players progress, they can craft more lethal weapons with a larger variety of resources. Players are also tasked to hunt for food and learn to create fire. Besides facing natural predators, players also get the chance to be the leader of a tribe, and drive other tribes away from the world. With this feature, players are tasked to manage and protect their fellow tribe members.

Players can tame wildlife such as prehistoric badgers and saber-toothed cats in the game by giving them food to eat. These animals serve as a companion for players and assist them in combating enemies after being tamed. Players can also issue commands to them. Different companions have different behaviors and players can switch between them at will. 

Takkar also has a pet owl, which can be directly controlled. Through the owl's vision, players can scout enemies' outposts and highlight enemies.  I will update the game and content as I play more of it. Thank you for your support!

After you save Sayla from a saber tooth tiger attack, she invites you her safehouse/cave.  When you finish a side quest to find herbs to heal her wounds, she will inform you about a war between the Udam and Wenja.  The cave becomes the first save point and unlocks an additional feature of building a community and recruiting refugees to aid you in a war between tribes. 

Linkle- a female version of Link?

This has not been released to the United States market and only available in Japan.  With all the controversy of who Linkle is not, such as Link's sister, there is a theory about who Linkle may become.  Some experts are predicting she will be an alternate female version of Link that will be featured in a solo game. 

Linkle is a young woman who lives in a small village in Hyrule where she takes care of Cuccos as a shepherd.^[1] Since she was little, she believes herself to be the reincarnated hero.^[2] She believes that the symbol that proves it is the Compass given to her by her grandmother, which has been passed down for generations.^[3] After hearing that Hyrule Castle is under attack by a demon, she sets out on a journey to save the kingdom, donning a green outfit.^[4] She enters a mysterious forest, only to become lost and suddenly have her Compass stolen by Skull Kid, forcing her to retrieve it from him.^[5] Twili Midnaaccompanies her on her travels at some point.^[6]

Her story is described as a side story separate from the rest of the game's plot.^[7]

Development

During the development of Hyrule Warriors, Linkle was originally designed as a female version of Link.^[8] She was also proposed to be Link's little sister, but the idea was scrapped due to Eiji Aonuma not wanting her to conflict with Aryll, Link's sister in The Wind Waker.^[9] Sketches of her were included in the Hyrule Warriors art book from the Japanese limited editions of the game. Thanks to this, Linkle grew in popularity among fans, convincing the developers to include her in the game.^[10]

She was announced for Hyrule Warriors Legends during the Nintendo Direct web stream on November 12, 2015, where she was revealed with a slightly different design and two Crossbows, as opposed to the one shown in her early concept sketches.^[11]

Linkle was the last character that former Nintendo writer, Chris Pranger, wrote for before leaving Nintendo. He said that she is his favorite Nintendo character to have written for.^[12]

Trivia

• Prior to her announcement, her Crossbow was hidden among the game's artwork, hinting at her inclusion.^[13]
• Like Link in Link's Crossbow Training, Linkle's Crossbows glow when certain moves are performed, glowing red when charging a Bomb Arrow and glowing green when rapid-firing.
• Eiji Aonuma stated that due to her popularity, he is going to keep in mind the possibility of including her in a future Zelda game.^[14]
• Her Compass is available as a clock in the Japanese and European limited editions of Hyrule Warriors Legends.

6 Year Anniversary- Thank You

6 years ago when I watched a report that stated minorities aren't represented on gaming television and media because they are not valued consumers by major corporations, I decided to be the voice of the consumer and start a website called www.hivegaming.blogspot.com dedicated to gaming and anime. 

 

Today we celebrated our 6 year anniversary.  I just wanted to say y'all the real MVP, and I love you all! 🎮. Shout out to everyone new and old.  If you just found my blog, then leave a comment and say hello.  I'm here today bc you all thank you for helping make a difference. 

Crashlands: Final Game for a developer

"This is the story of Crashlands, a massive 2D action-RPG crafting game I've been working on with my two brothers since I was diagnosed at the ripe age of 23 with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. 

Cancer is a great clarifier. It stripped out all the petty, superfluous aspects of life and demanded just three things when it struck me in 2013: survive, find meaning, and figure out how to look good bald."

Yes I do read y'all comments.  No I don't only review the main stream games, and I do play tons of Indie games. I found one game that I fell in love with by Butterscotch Shenanigans. Well you don't find a story about someone more dedicated to his craft than this one.  Really sad, but Seth made an amazing game with the last bit of life he had.  

Crashlands plays a lot like Don't Starve. It's an open map with single button combat.  Storyline is decent with a bit of wit and irony.  If you read the post by the developer you will learn all the backstory to why the story is what it is. 

There is a lot to do here in Crashlands from over 500 crafting schematics to collect, farming crops, breeding and growing pet/companions in addition to a long game and amazing storyline. It's an rpg, so be prepared to grind to gain items and level up.  

Crashlands is simple nothing complicated.  You get a funny story and great combat. It's sad this is the last game the developers will make bc the lead is dying, but it's a good way to go out like a champ. I give Crashlands a 10/10.  It's no pity, the game is just plain good!

Here is a link to the developers final story:

http://toucharcade.com/2015/03/27/crashlands-the-last-game-i-make-before-i-die/ 

Don't Starve: Shipwreck Tips and Tricks

I didn't have a chance to play Don't Starve: Reign of Giants DLC, so this expansion was an interesting new adventure for me to dive into for my free weekend.

First of all Don't Starve: Shipwreck is for the hardcore survivalist gamers only. Aside from the obvious of being stuck on an island alone, there are some new features that worthy of your investment.  There are 100s of new items, recipes, resources, and enemies. My favorite new feature is the ability to travel from island to island in a boat or raft. You can fish, use nets, and traps while on the boat.

Each new season brings longer nights and shorter days, mixed with adverse weather like hurricane winds and rainy weather that affect your health and sanity. Being wet or cold can seriously decrease your sanity meter, and you will start random fires or start to see shadow creatures that will try to kill you. Learning which shelters and outfits to wear will improve your survival rate.

In previous versions of Don't Starve, food and building resources limitations were the greatest challenge.  Now that you can get in a boat and sail to a better opportunity, that's the least of your concerns.  The biggest challenging feature of Don't Starve: Shipwreck is maintaining your sanity and not getting poisoned.

In order to survive here are the best two tips.  In order to maintain your sanity, here is a good tip. Make a crock-pot. Then find a jungle tree grove, and chop down the tallest tree in order to get a banana bushel.  Once the stormy weather starts, collect the hail that drops.  Add a bushel of bananas, two pieces of ice/hail, and a stick into the crock-pot.  Your new recipe should grant you a banana Popsicle which will restore your health, food meter, and give you 30 sanity.Also, in order to take on the poisonous creatures and tree guards, instead of making the wood armor, find the recipe for the seashell armor which is invincible.

Thank me later, lol.  With the right tools and resources you can over come any challenges.  I'm glad I can help my fellow video game hobbiest.

7 Days to Die - Alpha 13 Released

Well the fun pimps finally released

7 Days to Die "Alpha 13"!

Here are some of the features and resources:

• New Zombies, High-Res Zombies and Animals – We have 5 new base male and 3 new base female high res zombies, a new high res nurse, a new high res frozen lumberjack, and a new hd crawler. Basically all zombies are high res now and the apocalypse never looked so sexy! If that wasn’t enough we’ve added a new Screamer Zombie that investigates world heat map locations that are too hot based on noise, smells and activity so the spider zombie has returned to a normal zombie in the spawning mix. We’ve also added zombie bears to the game be very careful with these guys they will fuck you and your fort up. Last of all we’ve added chickens to the game for another source of meat, feathers and eggs their finger licking good.
• Motion Capture Zombie Animations – We’ve integrated a complete set of new motion capture animations for the zombies that are root motion driven. Meaning they are anchored to the world and their animations drive their motion and speed. The set includes per region pain animations, jumps, attacks, bites, dramatic deaths and a new death to ragdoll animation transition system. There are several variants of walk and run including fit, fat, convulsions, strong and crawl as well as a custom spider zombie moving on all 4s set.
• Zombie Dismemberment System – We’ve added a brand new cutting edge dismemberment system. The system allows players under the right weapon conditions to lop-off with a melee weapon or shoot off with a firearm a zombie’s limb at the elbow, shoulder, knee or hip and take off their heads. Zombies keep coming until their head is taken off or the damage given meets the required damage threshold. Damage to zombie arms/legs cannot kill the zombie, only direct damage to head/chest can kill it now.
• Dynamic Limping and Crippling System – In-conjunction with the new dismemberment system we’ve added a new dynamic limping and crippling. You can attack a zombie legs and their walk can change from normal to a hobbled walk and if you damage them enough they fall to the ground and become a crawling zombie. Spiked traps, landmines, pipe bombs, landmines and fire damage also interact with this system with similar results.
• Knockdown Combat System – We also added a new knockdown combat system that allows player to knock down zombies into prone or kneeling stunned states and deal more damage during these states. With this change health of all zombies have been adjusted up. When a zombie is in the prone stunned state players deal 3X damage and while in the kneeling stunned state deal 2X damage. The system tracks accumulative damage to an upper body knockdown pool for prone knockdown and accumulative damage to a lower body knockdown pool for the kneeling knockdown. For each knockdown pool the damage is accumulative and must reach 0 in a limited time for a knockdown to occur as there is a constant refill rate.

We like it Cold, Hot and Wet! Extreme Weather Survival System

• World Temperature – The world has a global temperature in Fahrenheit Degrees and is displayed in the new map under map stats and can also be seen by hitting F8 in debug mode only. This world temperature fluctuates per biome, per time of day, and gets colder the higher you are and warmer the lower you are. Wind speed can also impact the temperature which is also shown in the map screen maps stats section.
• Player Temperature – The player has a core temperature in Fahrenheit degrees which is the world temperature +/- how it feels to the player and is displayed in the new character menu in the player stats section next to the thermometer icon.This can also be seen by hitting F8 in debug mode only. When the player gets too cold a snowflake buff displays in the lower right corner of the screen with the players core temperature next to it warning the player of his current status. When the player gets too hot a sun buff displays in the lower right corner of the screen with the players core temperature next to it warning the player of his current status. These buffs can also be seen and examined in the new active buffs panel in the new character screen.
• Player Wetness – The player can get wet by moving through water volumes in the world or by being exposed to rain or snow overtime. The more the player submerges himself in water or the longer he is exposed to rain or snow the higher the wetness % goes up to 100%. When the player gets wet an umbrella buff displays in the lower right corner of the screen with the players wetness % next to it warning the player of his current status.
• Temperature and Wetness Defense – All clothing has a positive or negative insulation degree value which can be seen by left clicking an item and examining it which displays the stats in a new Item info window above the backpack. Most items have a positive insulation defense value but a few are special and have a negative value for hot weather survival. Some clothing have a waterproof defense % which can be seen by left clicking an item and examining it which displays the stats in a new Item info window above the backpack with full item stats. A players total summed Insulation and Waterproof values can be seen in the new character screen in the upper left of the character window next to the thermometer and umbrella icons.

• Temperature Modifiers
  • Wearing clothing that has a negative insulation value will cool down the player and is desirable for hot weather survival. F.E. the cowboy hat keeps the player cooler in the desert.
  • Wearing clothing that has a positive insulation value will warm the player and is desirable for cold weather survival.
  • Getting wet by moving through lakes, rain, or snow will make the player wet and colder when he’s cold and cool the player down when he’s hot.
  • Activity that uses stamina, like running or swinging a pickaxe, will warm up the player.
  • Standing near a campfire or forge that is burning will warm up the player.
  • All clothing will have a waterproof % capping how wet the player can get.
  • Going indoors will warm you when you’re cold and cool you when you are hot.
  • Exposure to direct sunlight will warm, and shade will cool, the player.
  • Some foods and drinks have temporary core temp warming or cooling properties. F.E. drinking coffee warms you while water and goldenrod tea will cool you.
  • Wind speed can also cool the player down and will be seen in the new map screen under map stats.

Harvest and Universal Block Upgrade System

• Harvest System – We’ve overhauled block health so everything in the world from a wood wall to a deer carcass has a health and when attacked decreases and adds resources into the player’s inventory automatically showing both added and dropped inventory changes with a GUI informational pop-out on the bottom right corner! The system is global giving the player the right feedback and additionally allows the player to yield bonus items when using the right tool for the right job. For Example using a wrench to take apart a car or air conditioner or using a knife to harvest a deer can yield special bonus items or larger yields. The system also communicates resources removed or needed when attempting to repair or upgrade blocks. Note: With the introduction of harvest and crafting list we have had to majorly change the amount of resources the player receives from wood, stone, metal, clay basically everything and the costs for crafting them so a lot of rebalance has gone into this.
• Universal Block Upgrading – We’ve added a universal block upgrading system. With it nearly every block in the game can be upgraded if the player has a construction class tool such as a Stone Ax, Wrench, Claw Hammer or Nail gun and the right resources such as wood or scrap iron on his person. The game knows what a blocks core materials are to start with such as wood or brick and takes it to the next higher tier in the games overall upgrade hierarchy. This allows players to take over locations easier and save them the trouble of tediously tearing out a block to upgrade it unless it’s part of a new floorplan design. Not to worry we have maintained our old building system so you can still build and the old way. This includes every door, window, most full size wall blocks, roofing blocks and more.
• Block Upgrade Hierarchy – So the overall upgrade system hierarchy is listed below including 1 meter blocks, stairs, roofs, poles, windows and doors. Building has never been more fun!
  • Wood blocks upgrades to reinforced wood blocks by right clicking with a repair tool and using wood resource
  • Reinforced wood blocks upgrade to metal reinforced wood by right clicking with a repair tool and using scrap iron.
  • Metal reinforced wood blocks upgrade to a scrap iron blocks by right clicking with a repair tool and using scrap iron.
  • Scrap iron blocks upgrade to a reinforced scrap iron blocks by right clicking with a repair tool and using scrap iron.
  • Reinforced scrap iron blocks upgrade to a reinforced concrete block by right clicking with a repair tool and using concrete mix.
  • Reinforced concrete walls upgrade to steel walls by right clicking with a repair tool and using forged steel.

Brand New GUI with added functionality and Skill System

• New Inventory controls – Ok before you get on our case about changing inventory controls please try it and give it a chance. Your muscle memory will fight you at first but after you get use to the new controls we think you’ll like it. We had to change them to allow item inspection and actions to be done from a static window. So here are the new controls:
  • [Left Click] to inspect an item, recipe or active effect
  • [Left Click] hold and drag to take a stack
  • [Left Click] to drop or swap a stack
  • [Right Click] hold and drag to take a half stack
  • [Right Click] to drop one item at a time

• New Clean GUI Design Framework – The first thing you’ll notice is the minimalistic new clean design. The minimalistic design is more immersive improving flow and conveying needed information better displaying it all in one large page not sub-pages under sub menus. Even veteran players will appreciate the new flow and ease of use. Our team members have even commented that they find themselves crafting items they never knew existed. The system will allow us to iterate much faster and add new stations quicker and provide a great framework for mod support. In the video options we’ve added UI background and UI foreground opacity with defaults of 50% for background and 100% for foreground which can be tweaked to your liking. Note: there are some minor issues and elements to be grouped with this.
• Paging System – We have integrated a new global player inventory paging system accessed by hitting the ‘Tab’ key. The new paging navigation system is located at the top center of the screen and clicking on the icons switches between crafting, character, map, skills, players, and creative screens. The old short cuts still exist ‘m’ key for map, ‘I’ key for the scoreboard which is now the player’s screen, ‘U’ for the creative and new ones ‘B’ for character screen and lastly ‘N’ for skills all of which can be rebound to your liking.
• Item info window – We have added an item info window that appears on every screen that the players backpack does right above it. With it you can read descriptions and stats for every item, recipe, skill or buff in the game and where applicable perform actions taking the place of the old right click menu. Note: We have done a first pass on descriptions buffs and skills all have descriptions and most items you can loot, or make have them except for some of the misc. décor type items.

• Crafting System – The new crafting system can be accessed by hitting the ‘Tab’ key or the crafting icon in the new paging system header. The crafting system has been overhauled with a large generous recipe window on the left which includes a favorite’s button, search and page scrolling. We’ve also added a brand new info window over the backpack which allows item description information to be displayed with a left click. The info window also shows available actions per item such as scrap, drop or equip. When you click on a recipe the info window changes to a crafting window which displays in a table format the recipes required items, names, amounts needed and the amounts you have. In the crafting window action panel you can increment the amount you want up or down or hit the max count button and simply hit craft. The crafted items will go into the crafting queue under the recipe window with a timer and will dump into your backpack when they are done. Up to 4 recipes can be queued at once. You can cancel queued items by clicking on them. Inventory management has been changed to left click to view an item info, left click and drag to take an item , right click and drag to split a stack, right click to drop one item at a time and shift left click to move a stack between spaces.

• Character System – The new character system can be accessed by clicking on the character icon in the new paging system header. The new system offers a generous new larger character window to see your character better than ever playing a cool animation with no sub-page clicking to see what you need. On the upper left of the character window you can see your characters total clothing defensive values displayed. We have streamlined these defensive clothing attributes into 7 core groups including: Concussive defense % by the hammer icon, puncture defense % by the knife icon, fire defense % by the fire icon, radiation defense % by the nuclear icon, insulation defense temperature by the thermometer icon, water defense % by the umbrella icon and clothing weight % by the weight icon. Worn clothing can also be individually inspected showing stats in the new info window. We’ve also added a new player stats window with many valuable player stats and a new buff window where active buffs can be viewed and inspected for more information.

• Map System – The new map screen features everything the old one did and so much more including a full 3 kilometer zoom out. It can still be accessed by ‘M’ shortcut or by clicking on the map icon on the new paging system header. On the top left you’ll notice a new map stats window which displays time and day, outside temp, wind speed and your elevation. The central map window top bar has a row of buttons where you can see your player’s current position, show it on the map, see your bedrolls position and show it on the map, see your cursors position and remove your quick waypoints. When you right click on the map you can set a quick waypoint or save a waypoint picking an icon for it and naming it which adds it into the new waypoint window on the top right. In this waypoint window you can click on a waypoint in the list and in the button bar track it on your compass, show it on your map, remove it from your saved waypoints or share it with allies or everyone on the server. These shared waypoints will go out to others who will receive them in the new waypoint invites window on the lower right. Here you can add the waypoint to your waypoint list, show it on the map or remove it. Who needs google maps with a system like this?

The Rise of Tomb Raider - Female gamers must play this

"I wish this pain wasn't so familiar. Like looking an old enemy in the eye. It wants to take me down. It wants me to lie just down and die. I won't.  I can't!"
- Lara Croft, the Rise of Tomb Raider

For any fan of Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider series, we had our share of ups and downs with the franchise. Well for the first time, we can say Tomb Raider isn't over-hyped.The Rise of Tomb Raider is a dark horse.

Analyst said it made the mistake of coming out on the same day as Fallout 4, but The Rise of Tomb Raider stays on it's own two feet and holds its ground with the best of them.  The reasoning being, this game is exactly what you expect.

I tell you from the start that Lara really has it bad this game.  Every 10 minutes structures are literally collapsing around her, attacks by bears, and salvage thugs that come at her with all they got will keep your heart racing. The timed actions sequences ensure you stay moving, and enemies will have you scared to move until you have a real strategy to take them on. I know you're thinking that i'm drinking the kool-aid, but this is really a good game.  It's large, has a skill tree and level up system, plot driven missions, and a lot of action that keep you active and excited to stay invested.  Now, here is the good and bad analysis.

Let's get the bad news out early.  The Rise of Tomb Raider does not have much replay ability and the game is linear where you have to complete the current mission unlike Fallout 4 where you can explore the open-world and get to the main storyline when you feel like. The storyline is progressed by a mix of flashbacks for the plot and goals you set to learn the truth of a mystery that made her dad crazy.

Now here are the positives.  First of all, this is a game about a survivor.  The Rise of Tomb Raider has a purpose, and make you feel like Lara  Croft has a vital role to play in order for you to finish the game.  The days of Lara being eye candy are gone.  She isn't bouncing around in a spaghetti strapped t-shirt and daisy dukes any more. Lara is clever, self-aware, dark, gritty, and hungry.  Each level is filled with well thought out traps, puzzles, mysteries to solve, and personal challenges to overcome.  You have to think to survive and completing the game is a given.

I swear, this game will make you think about how you approach your obstacles and have you second guessing on whether you are doing the right thing.  Fighting enemies isn't limited to a gun battle anymore.  There are elements of stealth and hand to hand combat that are designed well to make you feel like someone who doesn't have a lot strength for combat but compensates with her brain.  Lara's fist fights with enemies get real graphic and rewarding.  From gathering herbs to heal yourself, to upgrading a homemade bow to take on a giant bear, you really use nature to survive with barely anything.  With hidden treasures, alternative paths and fast paced gameplay, I always felt like I was missing something.

Honestly, surviving against zombies and bandits in 7 days to die or Ark really drained me.  Learning secrets, history, and testing my limits in the game made The Rise of Tomb Raider the most fun game that i have played in a while.    It's definitely worth playing and a treat for fans that always knew a good Tomb Raider game was possible.

It's a great game that overcome the negatives people associated with the Tomb Raider franchise.  Lara Croft showed strength, intelligence, leadership, the ability to make tough decisions, and kick butt when needed. It's cool when hardwork doesn't go unnoticed. The good resume is all here: solid story, good graphics, innovative combat, quality AI, and well designed gameplay from start to finish.  I'm not one to give a game a perfect score, but  The Rise of Tomb Raider comes close.

Fallout 4- Best Perks Tips in the Game Ever!

Well let's try something new.  Instead of doing a mass upload of game reviews, I am going to focus on one game and give a real detailed evaluation or analysis of what I like and dislike about the game. Also, i will give away Easter Eggs you may miss and tips that will help you early on.

This time, I will blog about one of my favorite game series Fallout.  After nearly half a decade, the real Fallout 4 is released.  I know some think Fallout New Vegas was the Fallout 4, but no it was not. New Vegas is an expansion of Fallout 3 with the same storyline/timeline happening on the west coast.
Fallout is more of a prequel, that happens 200 years after the actual war that caused the wasteland we know so well.  This time you can choose to be a former military man or woman with a new born son named Shaun.  After the nuclear fallout happens, your family takes safety in fallout shelter.

I'm not too far in the story, so i can't speak about everything. Instead of surviving in the fallout shelter, you get frozen an time capsule.  This was a change of pace and very suspicious to me from the start.  At some point in timeline, you awaken to find your spouse getting murdered and Shaun kidnapped by an institute scientist and mercenary named Kellogg.  Looking for Shaun and getting revenge for the murder of your spouse are what starts your journey in the new fallout wasteland.

Like every Fallout game, you will encounter raiders, mutated animals, and needy NPC's that want to give you missions they can't do themself for some reason, lol.  The missions are purpose driven with a build around what features they want to show you what the game has to offer.

Bethesda capitalized on the survival crafting trend, and they created a pioneering crafting challenge for you operating base. In earlier Fallout games, you would carry around a bunch of junk and sell it for a few dollars.  Now...for the first time in Fallout, everything in the game is useful.  You can break down spoons, boxes, radios, etc...in order to modify weapon or armor, and craft furniture, power options, buildings.

The best perks to get between level 1-10 that will help you survive and take advantage of the game:

1.Scrapper - Waste not, want not! You can salvage uncommon components like screws, aluminum, and copper when scrapping weapons and armor,
2. Local Leader - As the ruler everyone turns to, you are able to establish supply lines between your workshop settlements., You can build stores and workstations at workshop settlements
3. Medic - Is there a doctor in the house? Stimpaks restore 40% of lost Health, and RadAway removes 40% of radiation.
4. Hacker - Knowledge of cutting-edge computer encryption allows you to hack Advanced terminals
5. Locksmith - Your nimble fingers allow you to pick advanced locks.