2015 Gaming Wishlist

Red Dead Redemption sequel - One of finest open world games of the last generation. There was nothing better than roaming the old west, hunting down outlaws and generally just causing mayhem as anti-hero John Marston.

I imagine if my prayers are answered any follow up to RDR will be a console exclusive, so this will give me an excuse to buy a PS4 or Xbox One. ^_^

Skies of Arcadia HD Remaster- I'm sure this was announced or rumoured to be in development a couple of years ago, but nothing has been mentioned recently. One of the best RPGs of all time, it was originally released on the Dreamcast and later ported to GameCube as Skies of Arcadia Legends.

SoA has such a beautifully crafted universe that would certainly benefit from a high definition remaster. Some extra features would be nice too. ^_^

I've already posted about SoA before, so click the link if you want discover a little more about it. 

Captain Olimar amiibo- The big question is why hasn't this been announced already?! Captain Olimar is nowhere to be found in the next 2 waves of amiibos, which is quite surprising when Pikmin 3 has still been receiving updates, AND we were treated to the Pikmin shorts a couple of months ago.

Ideally I would like to see Olimar's amiibo with the red, yellow and blue Pikmin, perhaps with Captain Olimar wearing his helmet too.

Well, whatever 2015 brings. I hope you have a Happy New Year!

Day 93 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Kotaku UK Gimme PS4 contest

Kotaku UK have three 20th Anniversary PS4's up for grabs, so my wife and I have just destroyed our home for the sole purpose of taking this photo for the contest. 

We tried locations all over our home to find the perfect snap, we then decided to pick out our top games and put them on display with the consoles (fairy lights also seem to be very important).

I'll provide a link to the contest page below so you can check out the rules and enter for yourself, deadline is 10am tomorrow so you'd best be quick. Good Luck!

Kotaku UK PS4 Contest

BOO!!!

After a holiday, illness, and some personal stuff to take care of, I'm back. So what's been happening this last month?

Disney on Ice- The child in me wanted to go to Disney on Ice, and the adult in me was dragged there by the child in me, so we both enjoyed a night of whimsy, wonder and grossly overpriced merchandise.

The majority of the show is made up of re-enactments of your favourite Disney movies. While the performers skate around on the ice, audio samples from the movies accompany their performance. It's pretty good but during these segments I couldn't help but ask myself...why don't I just go home and watch the movies? The segments made exclusively for Disney on Ice however, were fantastic and certainly worth any Disney fans time.

One thing that surprised me though, there was no Frozen segment! I was also relieved as I'm sick of hearing 'Let It Go' but I was very shocked to find it wasn't included.

Play Expo- I went to Play Expo Manchester and sadly there wasn't much to report.

There was a lack of major developers this year (e.g. Nintendo, Ubisoft etc.), instead they were replaced with 100 PS4's which didn't offer the same amount of intrigue. I did get to try PT at long last, and it's still scary even in a room filled with hundreds of people, but it's not enough to make me want a new console.

Oddworld New and Tasty was also being demoed, and it wasn't too bad but I felt as though the magic of the original was missing, I miss the detailed backgrounds of the original Playstation release.

I also finally got to try the Virtual Boy, the only Nintendo console I had never even seen let alone played, and everyone's right...it is a piece of crap. I had a headache inside of two minutes and I can't imagine what it must have been like for those who actually bought one and persevered with it.

I don't think I'll be returning to Play Expo next year so I'll be looking for a new a place for my holidays.

Clear out- Some excellent progress was made clearing out some stuff and the possibility of getting a PC in the next few months has now become more of a reality. Don't get me wrong, there's still lots to do, but hopefully my Youtube channel will be up and running again soon.

And that's pretty much it. I'm determined to finish the 100 Happy Gaming Days feature, I think there's 33 days to go, so keep an eye out as I'll be cracking on with those. TTFN.

NERG, Pickups and Being Sick

I've been quiet for the last week as I've been especially run-down and I even had to take a sick day from work for the first time in three years. Now that I'm feeling better I'll fill you in on what's been happening.

NERG and Pickups

Last Saturday I went to the NERG (North East Retro Games) show at Gateshead Stadium. It was their second annual show and this year provided more arcade cabinets, more pinball machines, and more consoles. There was also 28 vendors selling an abundance of retro games, with plenty of Japanese import titles up for grabs, alongside clothing, consoles and various arts & crafts.

Unfortunately I didn't get much of an opportunity to play on many arcade cabinets or consoles as the venue was full to bursting, but I must admit a lot of my energy was focused on expanding my collection and being a nerd. Myself and the Missus did manage to find some absolutely fantastic games to add to our over-burdened shelves, here's a little list of what we got.

• Silent Hill- PS1 
• Theme Hospital- PS1
• Final Fantasy VII (NTSC-J)- PS1
• Parasite Eve- PS1
• Bomberman Fantasy Race- PS1
• Tenchi Muyo (NTSC-J)- Saturn
• Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly Directors Cut- Xbox
• Kirby 2 (NTSC-J)- GB
• Goof Troop- SNES
• Kid Klown in Krazy Chase- SNES
• Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak- GBA 
• Sailor Moon- SNES

Sick Day


Tuesday was an absolute nightmare as I fell ill and had to take the day off work, but in-between all of the sleeping, fever and mucus I did manage to play some games. I went back to GTA Online for the first time in weeks and is it just me or have the servers gotten worse? The game disconnected at least 3 times, and occasionally wouldn't connect at all, but this was the least of my problems.

While waiting for a Deathmatch to start I was treated to the musings of a 12-13 year old, which involved claims that he was going to rape and murder our families. Unsurprisingly he was kicked before too long, but if I ever hear a kid of mine talking like that while playing games I'll hollow out their console to make a litter tray for my cats. I'll be playing the SNES on sick days in future.



Later on in the day I opened Facebook to find a new advert for the highly anticipated Destiny from Bungie/Activision, revealing 2 expansion packs offering 'new' missions...but the game itself isn't even out until September. It didn't take more than a brief look at the comments section to show that consumers weren't too happy about content being cut from Destiny and repackaged as DLC, with some even considering cancelling their pre-orders.

Sadly this seems to be the way things are going with new releases as publishers attempt to squeeze every last penny from our wallets. I enjoy getting new content for my favourite games but shameful cash-grabs like these really put me off buying the latest games.

Still, at least there's a new 100 Happy Gaming Days post coming tomorrow and luckily I have a bunch of new games to choose from. Which one is it going to be?

Day Nine: Play Expo

I've been going to Play Expo for the last two years and I've recently picked up my tickets for this years event in October. It's held at Manchester's Event City venue, which is a stones throw away from the Trafford Centre, and for a whole weekend it's crammed with games as far as the eye can see.

Last year Nintendo were there to show off Zelda: A Link Between Worlds about a month before it's official release in the UK, along with Sonic Lost Worlds and a playable demo of the upcoming Mario Kart 8! I imagine Nintendo will be back this year and seeing as Super Smash Bros Wii U has a planned Winter release they'll hopefully be bringing it along.

Ubisoft were there last year with Assassins Creed 4 demoing on PS4, also about a month before the PS4 was on sale, so as you can imagine there was queue that rivaled the Great Wall of China. The same can also be said for the Oculus Rift which was attracting a lot of attention, hopefully they'll be back this year as I wasn't prepared to wait in the queue last time around, and Namco also made an appearance to torment gamers with Dark Souls 2.

Then of course there's the retro games with several hundred machines on offer from the Atari 2600 to the PS2; so I was certainly spoiled for choice. This was accompanied by a huge selection of arcade cabinets and pinball machines, ensuring that everyone who attends goes home happy. There's also little hubs set up for people to play tournaments on Super Mario Kart, Doom and plenty other titles so if you want to have a little competition you're covered.

There's also a large number of stalls selling games for pretty much every platform imaginable, along with some great gaming merchandise and handycrafts as well, I picked up this Blastoise T-Shirt last year.

Cosplayers are also welcomed with a load of people turning up in fantastic outfits and there's usually talks with various designers sharing their cosplaying tips.

This year is already shaping up to be something special as they've just announced the screen.play feature, which is promising meet and greets with Hollywood movie stars, photo opportunities, film props and movie cars. 

The thing that I'm looking forward to most though is the Classic Gaming Championships, and the final is going to be held at Play Expo. I'm going to enter the heats at NERG in July so wish me luck, I'm probably going to need it.