Xbox LIVE Arcade Compilation (Xbox One) Review

There are two lessons to be taken from this experience. First and foremost is to make sure when you buy a game it’s what you want. When I picked this disc up at a local Gamestop several years ago, I was hunting for the collection that Super Contra was on. The game had been removed from XBL so that would be the only way to get the only home version this close to arcade-perfect. Needless to say, I picked the wrong disc.

The second lesson comes in the price of the game. While it now sells for about $5 on the Gamestop website, I picked it up for a mere $.99! Not sure if the game I wanted, I was more then willing to take the chance. Lesson number 2: you get what you pay for.

Now, since this is another collection disc that I had planned to use with my (then fully working) Xbox 360, I had decided to treat this collection as one big review. Each game is listed and linked separately below:

• Feeding Frenzy
• Boom Boom Rocket
• Luxor 2
• Pac Man Championship Edition
• Uno
• Bugs
• Overall

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing (Xbox One) Review

It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced shit of this level. To be up front I actually bought and own the PC version of this game in my Steam collection, but when my brothers showed interest in playing this game together, I opened up the Xbox version I had gotten for free thanks to them buying me Xbox Gold for a birthday gift. They never joined me, and I don’t blame them. This game is an absolute heap of shit and one of three games in total now that even though a game ending bug did not occur, I did not and have no intention of finishing.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not quite as bad as the other two titles to have this fate with me. Had I been allowed, I would have finished this game just to say it was over. However, before I could finish, my subscription to Xbox LIVE GOLD ran out taking away this and every other game I had downloaded for free in return for using the service. Thank you Microsoft, for this early escape.

Pneuma: Breath of Life (Xbox One) Review

It’s been a while since I played through a game on the Xbox One. In fact the last time was early this year when we all played through Halo: The Master Chief Collection. And while the games on that collection were good on their own, that specific disc of them was found fairly lacking. And since then, the system has pretty much served me for Youtube, to chat with my brothers who use the system religiously, and as a BluRay player. I have not found myself playing it since just yet.

And then came Extra Life. Originally I had no intention of playing this game on the big day, as we were having guests over and I wanted as much social gaming as possible. But for whatever reason while I had chosen to test the capability of my main media machine’s streaming with this game. Now before anyone argues, yes, I know the Xbox One can do it on it’s own, but that is not the only console I have or expected to play with. It was just the one I had on at the time. And while playing around with it, it struck me… this was a game I was going to play through. And when everyone started to pass out at around 22 hours, I decided to continue my journey. I do not regret that choice, or the choice of finishing my marathon with this gorgeous title.

Halo Master Chief Collection (Xbox One) Review

I can not say the Xbox One has been a great experience for me so far. At this time, I have bought two games for it total. The first was Destiny, which if you have read my review of that, you know I was not exactly thrilled with it. Still, I bought this machine to play with my brothers, and they immediately began getting excited about another game coming out, or rather four older games coming out together. Together, we pre-ordered Halo: Master Chief Collection.

We tried to play it day one, but as anyone who either has the game or looks at gaming sites knows, it did not launch in a respectable form. Any kind of multiplayer was fucked up beyond being playable, co-op or vs. And while Co-op seemed to work to some degree in a few weeks, it took about a month for vs gameplay to be worth anything. I would honestly argue this is the single worst launch I have ever seen, and I was one of the day-one purchasers of SimCity 2013. But things are finally starting to settle and it seems like the multiplayer is finally working well enough to use from time to time, so it was time to pop the disc in and play!

Far Cry 4: The Disappearing Game

Wow, Ubisoft just can not catch a break, can they? Yesterday, reports were coming in to Ubisoft and Microsoft that Far Cry 4 was no longer available on Xbox LIVE as a download. Not only that, but anyone who had bought the game got a message asking if they own the game when they tried to run it. I can only imagine the frustration when a game you spent $60 on refuses to work anymore, and in fact behaves like you didn’t even buy it to begin with, but that is the issue they saw.

Volgarr the Viking (Xbox One) Review

Another review by Joe’s Xbox Name

“Rise, warrior!” The Norse God Odin commands. A mighty Viking warrior rises from the earth with sword in hand. On the right side of the screen a chest awaits. Upon opening, a shield adorned with the mighty hammer Mjolnir presents itself. The weapon, thrust into the open air, collides with a man sized lizard; splitting his skull in twain. Continuing forward you find yourself at the edge of a clearing that overlooks a treacherous amazon. Who knows what other unnatural beasts lurk beneath the brush. For gold and glory you must press on. For you are Volgarr the Viking.

Crimson Dragon (Xbox One) Review

An Xbox One review from Joe’s Xbox Name:

Xbox exclusive and next gen launch title, Crimson Dragon casts players as a mystical dragon rider. Aided by your airborne reptile companion, your job is to blast everything and anything on sight as you progress through an eight to ten hour campaign alone or paired up with a wingman (Either an NPC of your choice or a buddy.) But does this game soar or never leave the runway?

Destiny (Xbox One) Review: Second Opinion

Once again, please welcome Joes Xbox Name with his own take on the game Destiny:

On September 9^th 2014, Destiny was released for Xbox360, PS3, XboxOne and PS4. Being Bungie’s first outing since the well-received Halo Reach in 2010, and the most expensive original IP to grace the videogame industry, Destiny has been heavily watched during its four year development cycle. Not only was Destiny produced by the company who created a defining game franchise of the FPS genre for the past decade, but the longevity of the game was bolstered through a ten year additional content plan after the initial release. To many this seemed like the end all be all for the FPS genre if not for the entire generation of gaming. But does Destiny live up to the hype?

Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition (Xbox One) Review

Written by Joes Xbox Name

Diablo III was originally released in 2012 exclusively for PC. Having waited the better part of a decade for a sequel to my favorite PC game of all time, I splurged on the special edition. Although the skull with the soul stone thumb-drive and giant box were pretty awesome, the game itself was a disappointment. This was due to the loot system’s real money auction house making the drop rate of any useful item infinitely low, the graphics were subpar, and the character customization was severely limited. Tack on a lack of PvP and fixed online status, I ran through the game once, put it in its box, and never looked at it again.

Destiny (Xbox One) Review

And here we have it, the single biggest hyped game of 2014, and for my brothers, it was the reason they both bought Xbox Ones. I promised them I would play with them, starting with this game, so of course reserved and picked it up myself. And now I’ve finally put my controller down as I have finished playing. So what did I think? Well, to be quite honest had I known what this game was going to be like, we would likely not all have Xbox Ones yet. This was simply not worth it.

Beaten Back: Microsoft Changing XBL Gold (mostly) for the Better

What the hell was that plopping noise? Why the hell did pig shit just drop from the sky? Do I really want to look up and risk the pig dropping another one? Well cause and effect time and the fact that this pig is flying can be shown in moves Microsoft is making. Incidentally, apparently it has become hockey season in Hell.

Well That Could Have Gone Better, Eh Machinima?

The news has been buzzing around for a day or so now, and bringing it up here will likely get me called some kind of fanboy, but… we really should talk about it, as it brings into question the value of anyone you don’t know’s word rather directly. So here we go. It appears that over the past few weeks, Microsoft and Machinima have had a backdoor deal in which the big Ms were paying off youtube channels to promote the Xbox One. Now this in itself wasn’t that big a deal, considering we see things like that all the time in movies, games, sporting events and many other public actions. A company or three will sponsor the event provided they get some positive publicity from it.

But the problem here arises in that the very terms of the event required the people doing it to not breath a word that about this sponsorship.

Platforms of the Platform: 3rd edition

Well, it’s that time again. As the new platforms roll out, gamers are choosing what they want to be their main gaming beast for the next several years. Some will pick Xbox One. Other will pick the PS4. Still more might even pick a WiiU. But there is a trend of gamers who are considering walking away from the console mess and starting anew with PC. Each and every one of these gamers making a switch will of course need a little time to adjust, but the PC might prove the most interesting (and confusing) switch. To these gamers, they will be moving from static machines to something flexible, fluid, and full of choices they frankly never had to consider.

Now, as far as hardware goes, these choices have been covered again and again from professional websites to forum members eager to welcome someone to their ranks. But no one seems to consider where to get your games, and what sources to welcome in. Allow us to help with that. In what follows, you can get to every source we talk about by clicking on the picture for it, so if it appeals, have a peak. And welcome. Although I do not believe you should abandon your console field, but add PC to your selections, welcome and enjoy.

Can’t Trust Their Word

Guys, I know at least a few people who are going to be pissed to hear this, but there is currently a story going around we need to talk about: Apparently XBox One still has online DRM built into the system.

From the “wtf, how are you so dumb?” files: People Petition to get the Old Xbone back

Did you have to read that title a few times? Cause this is no joke. Right now on change.org, there is a petition to get Microsoft to return the XBone’s policies to require always online and be exactly what it showed itself to be during E3. Those same policies that caused hard-core followers of the Microsoft machine to stream away to pre-order PS4s, and even trade in their 360s to get PS3s in protest, are being requested by petition.

FINALLY! We have PSO2 news!

Sometimes, it pays to troll the internet and forums… and while so far E3 has not revealed anything for PSO2, we may finally have reason for this. According to PSO-world.com, Sega has confirmed that the North American release of the game has been delayed. However, they have not explained why. The good news is that this means it is still coming. But this could also me we are waiting on a new version to be developed….

The “Villainous” Used Game

Before I begin talking about this, let me be up front and tell you that I was inspired this morning watching Jim Sterling mix it up and give his own views in his latest Jimquisition. This is an amazing commentary series and one I highly recommend my readers keep up on. If you want to watch his latest, you can see it here. But this time, while I agree with a lot he has to say, I can’t say he covered the topic quiet as much as I would like… let’s begin, shall we?

We Called It….

We called it and this week, MS confirmed it. They are lined up to lose the new generation of gaming. Tuesday, they revealed their new system and… wow… not even armed with the information we had last time, could we predict this would go so wrong.