Binding of Isaac Review

Hey guys, i know its been a while since my last blog post, but here it is. My review of the game the Binding of Isaac by Edmund McMillen. I know the game has been out there for a while and I really wanted to play it to, but due to various other things keeping me busy in the time frame, I did not have the opportunity to do so. Anyways, when I saw it in the latest Humble Bundle, I decided to buy it and play it immediately.

Well the game is good to say the least. It draws your attention in from the intro sequence that strangely appears whenever you start the game. Slightly annoying after the first few times you see it but it is a well crafted story nonetheless.  The art style used is interesting, the art is rather simple and depicts what it needs to depict. It is also visually akin to other products of McMillen in the gaming field.

The game's story revolves around the Biblical story about the Binding of Isaac, where Moses must sacrifice his son, upon command from God. In the game, the protagonist Isaac, is considered to by impure by God, and he tells Isaac's mother that Isaac has been corrupted by the devil. And if the mother is able to kill her son then god will believe that the mother truly is his follower.

So if you are easily offended by material that may take religious matter out of context and warp it in order to make it an interesting game, I would suggest that you do not buy this game or even try it out at any given time because you will only find heart ache when you play this game, and this world has no need for people to whine about games on the grounds of religion.

The game generally has only one basic story mode, where one plays as a certain character ( when one is following the story, then Isaac) to try and traverse through the basement Isaac is locked inside to defeat his mother and stop her from killing him. Alternatively, the player can also decide to complete the game using various preset abilities, by utilizing the challenges option.

When you start you only have a single character unlocked, who is the protagonist of the game; Isaac. However as you progress through multiple playings of the game and accomplish various achievements, you can unlock other characters as well. The release of the Wrath of the Lamb DLC also introduces a new character, Samson.

The character starts of in the first level of the basement, which is the simplest level, there is not much variety in terms of rooms, mobs to fight, or even the loot that is available to the player. There is one treasure room present that offers one of a plethora of various power ups. As the player progresses, the treasure tends to increase in power and utility, however this may not always be the case. There is also a boss room in each level, this is the main hurdle the player needs to cross in order to reach the next level of the caverns. Defeating a boss rewards you with a power-up and some health and shields. It may also provide you access to a devil room that contains power-ups that are purchasable in exchange for health points.

The game basically revolves around the player navigating from one room of the cavern to the next, finding the boss, killing the boss and progressing to the next level, until reaching the final level and defeating your mother. However the true fun in the game comes through multiple playthroughs and trying to figure out what is the best strategy to use to complete the entire game.

The mobs in the game tend to get a bit repetitive as they are usually recolours, or the same monster, just with slight difference in design. However some monsters are rather interesting, especially the 4 horsemen and the 7 deadly sins.

The music follows the game well and the sound effects given to each monster and ability really make the game feel like a different experience.

Overall I would say that The Binding of Isaac is a well made game that is fun for quite some time due to the lack of repetition during playthroughs, but unless the player has bought the Wrath of the Lamb expansion pack the time which it can be played is rather reduced because, the expansion pack adds many more collectibles as well as a new stage and a character. So if you would like to play a dungeon crawler combined with a shooter, with gameplay to last you quite some time, i would recommend you try out The Binding of Isaac

Black Light Retribution Review

Black Light Retribution is a free to play First Person Shooter developed by Perfect World Entertainment, and is currently in its open beta phase. Now like most free to play games, there is an item store, which often runs on the basis of micro transactions by players having to pay real money in exchange for a certain amount of in-game currency. However the difference in the game's item shop is that it contains both items that can be bought with currency that can be earned by participating in matches (GP) and also the premium currency which involves payment (Zen).

The game operates on the Unreal Engine 3 engine, which allows for highly detailed graphics, of characters, weapons and environments as well. However, one feature that the Unreal engine allows is destructible environments which is not featured at all in the game. Therefore to run it at high graphic quality and have a reasonable frame rate, one should have a computer with a good graphics card. However, playing it at slightly lower quality does not take away from the game that much.

The game play is rather like any first person shooter. There are different game modes present in the game as well; the traditional free for all death match, the team death match, a king of the hill based game mode which involves two teams competing for three control points located on the map, the team with the most points at the end will win. There is also a capture the flag mode which the players can enjoy. A player can choose up to 7 load outs, all secondary load out slots, after the first need to be purchased. In each load out, the player must choose a primary weapon and a secondary weapon. The player must also choose a grenade type and a melee weapon which stay the same throughout the load outs. Also the player must choose certain items which he can purchase from weapon depots located across the map. These could range from refilling ammo to mechanized suits.

There is a large number of customization one can bring about in their characters in terms of armour, camouflage, weapon add-ons, emblems, etc. However, many of these visual customizations can only be purchased by using Zen.

The gameplay is great, there is no denying that, however the ping that Indian users get is not adequate enough to play the game at it's full potential. The reason for this is that the game only has servers in USA and Europe, so if they had a server located somewhere in South Asia or South East Asia, then the ping could be better and the game could be enjoyed more.

Also I would prefer it if not all the items had to be purchased to use, and the problem is that all the items after the original items only have a certain time period till which they can use, after which they expire. This should be changed so that the player can have the option of purchasing permanent equipment, removing the need to constantly purchase the weapons and modifications that you prefer over and over again.

Overall I would say that the game is going in a pretty good direction currently as it is in Open Beta right now. Hopefully by full release they will have permanent items and have a server or two located in Asia.   

Girls and Gaming

Most males on the internet generally tend to discriminate against women playing video games, and have the common mind set that girls do not play video games and the girls tend to run away from guys who do have an avid interest in games or general fantasy/sci-fi/technological pursuits. You can commonly posts on the net saying that there are no women on the internet, and if somebody tells you that they are a girl, then it is assumed that they are a G.I.R.L (Guy in Real Life). Another belief is that if women/girls actually do play video games, then they are not attractive at all. These beliefs are usually formed due to the stereotypes we find in our social environment, we talk to our male friends about gaming and we can easily have a lengthy discussion, but if we talk to most females, they will either not know much about the topic being conversed or will just call it stupid and nerdy and walk away, therefore leading us to believe that girls find games stupid and therefore do not play them.

However in recent years, girls have taken a much more active stance in gaming, both in terms of recreational playing and competitive playing. And video game/console developers are starting to notice this and are trying to encourage a larger female player base. Many companies think that girls often like to play feminine games, that often do not involve shooting, or violence of sorts, and rather prefer games that are cartoony and are rather casual in play style. But many females are actually interested in First Person Shooters, such as Call of Duty and Battlefield 3 and Role Playing Games, mostly Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. This is because they often interact with males who play the game, and due to this interaction, they start finding the game interesting and decide to try it out for themselves, often getting rather engrossed in the game.

When the topic of girls playing video games is brought up, they are usually associated with playing games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Hello Kitty or other games that are usually based on repetitive action, cute mini games and highly animated graphics, because men cannot imagine the possibility of a female gamer playing a "hardcore" game and actually being successful at it in comparison to the other people she would be playing against. This is a common misconception as females can often defeat males in various games, around all genres from sports to shooters.

Males are also slowly adapting to a number of girls playing the same game that they are playing, however, in many cases they treat the females in a different manner than they would treat members of the same sex. They tend to protect the females in quests from monsters, help by giving a lot of equipment and gold, and will constantly protect the girl from being harassed by other members of the society. This behaviour usually stems from the fact that many of these males have limited interaction with females and treat the game as a platform to interact and get closer to them. Many of the females often take advantage of the behaviour of males towards them to try and get further along in the game, whilst not actually even caring about the male. However in certain cases the female prefers if she is treated like a normal male because they would rather play the game than involve themselves with interactions with the males, therefore they often create male characters in game so as to be treated equally.

Now many people still believe that females do not take an active interest in playing video games, however there is a large number of females I have personally interacted with and read about that play games rather seriously, in the gaming clan Fever Clan(http://feverclan.com/). There are also many all girl gaming clans and groups that play competitively for games like Call of Duty, Counter Strike, Dragon Nest, Tekken, Soul Calibur, etc.

Therefore we can easily see that girls are starting to pick up video gaming, and are actually interested in playing the games and not using it as a tool for social interactions. This shows that the dominance of males in the field of gaming, has got new found competition with the arrival of female gamers.

Mouse Grips and which mouse suits you

Generally most people do not pay attention to the way they hold their mouse, and when they get a new mouse they find that it really doesn't suit them and they never manage to figure out why. The basic reason is that each individual has a different style of holding a mouse, and each mouse has a different structure that makes it more suitable for a certain style. When a person purchases a mouse they must buy one that suits their style of grip, the size of their hand and suits their dominant hand of use. There are three different mouse grips one can use:-

1. The Palm Grip - This is the most common method an individual uses a computer mouse. It involves the user placing his entire hand onto the top of the mouse, resting his palm and the pit of his hand on the rear of the mouse. The mouse is held and controlled by the user pinching his hand together to hold the mouse between his thumb, the heel of his palm and his ring or pinkie fingers. The index and middle fingers are usually placed fully on the left and right mouse buttons respectively.

A slight variation of the palm grip style is where the pinkie finger is used as the right side stabilizer to hold the mouse, with the index, middle and ring fingers placed on the left button, scroll wheel and right button respectively.

The palm grip is defined by the fact that the entire surface of the user’s fingers and palm make contact with the surface of the mouse and the contact points on the mouse are large and undefined.

2. The Claw Grip - The claw grip is another style of holding a mouse that requires the user to arch his/her hand and form a claw shape, pulling the mouse in so the rear end of the mouse is stabilized by barely touching the pit of the user’s hand.

The claw grip is characterized by the arching fingers required to hold the mouse and press each mouse button. The formation of the user’s fingers and the retracted stance of the hand over the mouse make this grip vaguely resemble the claw of a bird, which is where the style draws its moniker. The mouse is held and controlled by the tips of the user’s index and ring or pinkie fingers and stabilized by the pit of the user’s hand so the mouse does not sway when it is lifted.

The main difference between the claw grip and the palm grip is that in the claw grip, only the fingertips and the pit of the palm come into contact with the mouse whereas in the palm grip, the entire length of the fingers and the whole palm rests on the mouse surface.

3. The Fingertip Grip - The fingertip grip is considered to be a subset of the claw grip, where the user grips the mouse solely with the tips of his/her fingers. While this grip style strictly speaking falls within the claw grip subset, it is a popular grip, particularly amongst proponents of certain genres of games, thus elevating it to the status of a primary grip style for gameplay. Unlike the conventional claw grip, the base of the palm is moved away from the rear of the mouse as the user is not concerned with stabilizing the rear of the mouse in his hand and wants increased precision and control of the mouse on the mousing surface instead.

Good Mice for Each Grip:

Palm Grip – Razer Deathadder ($44.99), CM Storm Sentinel Z3RO-G, Logitech MX Revolution

Claw Grip – Steel Series Sensei ($79.99), Mad Catz Cyborg R.A.T 7 ($78.99)

Fingertip Grip – Logitech G9X ($64.99), Razer Abyssus ($29.99)

Signature Tutorial (With Images)

Today I will be showing you how to make the following signature:-

So, the steps taken to make the signature are as follows :-

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Continent of The Ninth Seal VIP Test

From the few videos I have seen, I was pretty intrigued by the Continent of the Ninth Seal. So when I heard that a VIP Closed Beta test was going to occur for the Global version, I decided to rush in and get a key. From what I had seen I expected the game to be pretty decent and polished, however I was pretty sorely mistaken. Read my experiences below. 

After trying to download the game for three days, due to the download file constantly getting corrupted, or the connection to the server getting lost, I got slightly annoyed. I tried downloading it through the normal download, then I tried the downloader they (Webzen, the distributors of the Global Version of the game) recommended, i tried a random software called Download Manager Pro and then I finally succeeded with Download Accelerator Pro.

Now like most games, after installation of a 4.16 GB files, you should be able to use it straight from the program, but, Webzen has tied up the game with their site, so have to log on to their site and then play the game from there. This step I could deal with because this process has worked with Maplestory, a game I was fond of for quite a while.

In the game launcher, you are shown the latest news, an option button to set the basic graphical settings of the game, you can check the patches and you can start the game. Upon starting the game, you choose a server (currently there is only the VIP test server) and then you are sent to your character selection screen, which contains 12 character slots, more than quite a few games that are out right now. When you create a new character, you can create one of three classes; a warrior, a ranger and a shaman. A warrior is a traditional Tanky, Semi-Damaging Class(Locked as Male), Rangers are the standard DPS class (Locked as Male) and Shamans are the basic Mage class(Locked as Female). While creating the character the user is given quite a bit of customisability with their characters, and can adjust various features of their hair, face, body and most other aspects of their appearance.

The interface of the game is quite dated and resembles those used in games that were made around 5-6 years ago, this is really not appealing when you're playing a game in 2012 when the rest of the competition has a much neater and better looking interface. There are also numerous typos when quest descriptions are given, when characters speak, when cut-scenes occur, etc. This may be fixed later on as the game progresses into open beta and eventually into complete release, but typos just tend to annoy the user

Upon entering the game for the first time, you are presented with a tutorial that explains the basics of the game quite well. The commands are basic as in any action MMO, where the mouse is used for basic attacks, and creating combo attacks, various hotkeys are used for skills, and the WASD or Arrow keys are used for movement. The F button is used for hitting enemies that have been knocked down. The battles are far too clunky and slow for my liking; when compared to games like Vindictus and Dragon Nest, where the game play is far smoother and faster.

The skills that are learned can be divided into three types; active skills, stances and passive skills. Active skills are those which the player utilizes from the hot key bar and have a variety of effects. Passive skills provide a certain bonus to some stat or the other, without having to be utilized. Stances are like passive skills, they do not need to be equipped on a hot key and used, but they provide a set of actions that the player can utilize. These actions also provide certain skills as well.

PvP has not been released yet, I shall give a brief overview of that when it comes out.

Overall, the game is too slow and clunky for my liking, however some people may enjoy it. The graphics are decent, but the interface seems very dated.The major factor that I liked was the huge degree of customization the player is allowed, however if the game itself is not too great, then no matter how much you customize it wont make much of a difference. If you want to play a good Action MMO I would recommend you give Dragon Nest(SEA or NA, depending on your location) a try, or if you have access to a US/EU IP then you could try out Vindictus as well.

For full image click here

Bleach Chapter 480 - Final Arc

So, the final storyline arc of Bleach has begun following the Fullbring Arc, and it's titled the Final Holy War, dunno much about the reason for the arc name yet, but it should be cleared up somewhere near the middle of the arc. The chapter begins with the Shinigami Research Institute complaining about there being many hollows just instantly disappearing, and the Captain of the 12th Division of the Gotei 13, Mayuri Kurotsuchi states that only a certain group can erase Hollows from existence completely, and they must have a hand in this.

The scene then shifts to a new recruit Yuki Ryuunosuke, who is asleep and drooling, upon which the soon to be ex-shinigami representative of Karakura Town, Zennosuke Kuramadani shouts at him and tells him to pay more attention,as he is going to be replacing him as the shinigami representative of Karakura Town. Yuki apologizes and his then slapped by his friend and partner Shina. After slapping him, Shina tells Yuki to stop being a sissy, as he feels afraid of the large number of hollow appearances in Karakura Town, and to stick his chest out with pride. Yuki laughs at this because Shina has a negligible chest, so sticking it out would be pointless.

Later Yuki and Shina head out to Karakura town as the new shinigami representatives, and a mysterious figure is seen standing on a building. Shina decides that they should split up and patrol, Yuki is against it because he is afraid that they might get attacked by hollows. They soon get attacked by hollows and are not able to do anything against them. Ichigo appears and kills one of the hollows, he then introduces himself. As soon as he finishes his introduction, a shadowy figure can again be seen lurking in the background.

Read it here :-

http://read.homeunix.com/onlinereading/?image=Bleach/Bleach%20c480/001.jpg&server=nas.html

And use auto pager when reading the manga, it helps you read the manga faster and with less effort.