Christmas and Games, a match made in heaven…

Christmas and games have a wonderful relationship. This is mainly due to two facts.

Fact one: Games are amongst the favorite present of kids these days, but do not underestimate the adults here. Not only do adults get games for Christmas but they also spend more money on them that month due to Christmas bonuses.

Fact two: You have more time for gaming. Many people have extra time off during December. So there is a lot of extra time for playing those games you got, or bought.

The gaming industry knows this, just like many other industries (Hollywood being another biggie there) the gaming world makes sure they have their A game on during the holiday season. But contrary to Hollywood for instance there are but few seasonal games. Off course a lot of online games like WoW or all the Facebook games will feature Christmas themed events and items, also there are a lot of those simple flash games where you can beat up Santa, ride Rudolph or where you have to sort out presents. But an actual Christmas game is a rarity. Actually the only one I can think of is A Nightmare before Christmas – the Game. It at least has the word Christmas in the title.

Off course with movies you watch them once and games are played over a period of time, so I understand why there is a lack of need to play a Christmas game in march. But still it’s odd when you think about it. You can get almost any product in a Christmas theme, with the exception of games. Which is especially weird considering that it’s the biggest entertainment industry out there with probably the most extreme profit rise in the season.

Child Pornography

Now I won’t go all morality on you, but I want to use this space (NLTarot.NL and NLGaming.blogspot.nl) to express my disgust about child pornography.

There are crimes I dislike, like tax evasion, stealing from large stores or speeding on the highway… then there are crimes I despise, especially animal cruelty but also stealing from another person, drinking and driving and speeding in urban areas.

High above all that there is rape and murder… but in my opinion that pales to the single most disgusting crime… child pornography. Now the news today and probably days to come is filled with reports of this 27 yr old guy who worked at a day care centers where he abused and molested children. After some time he was actually hired as a babysitter where he did the same sick things.… all of which he filmed. The resulting material was found in the United States. Apparently the guy was an encryption specialist and came from Estonia to the Netherlands.

Last Tuesday the guy was caught and has been interrogated several times since. Right now they are building a case, already more than 50 children seem to have been in one way or another abused by this guy. His portrait is spread across the country and I will gladly help with that… so if you know this guy contact your police department or email me and I will send through any info you have. This guy needs to be locked up for the rest of his life.

Prey giveaway and Ass Ass on Facebook

The same as with NLTarot I wil be changing the whole giveaway thing, in your favor off course. End of the year I will be doing the draw for Prey, no matter the amount of followers and directly after that I will be launching a new giveaway. So yay for that.

Here's the link, so you don't have to look it up... the giveaway is at the bottom following the prey review thingy.

http://nlgaming.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-blog-free-games-etc.html

On other news, I have discovered the Assassins Creed Facebook game… which is pretty awesome, a bit like vampire wars but way better and even though you don’t get to mess around with an avatar, for now after playing two days it’s already more fulfilling then Vampire Farm Mobster wars and related games. Next to that it’s actually linked to Uplay, Ubisofts own little corner of gamespace. So AC Brotherhood and the Facebook game Lost Legacy actually influence one another. Not in a big way mind you, but it’s the thought that counts.

Ass Ass Creed… (no spoilers)… Pulling a Dumbledore.

Ass Ass Creed… (no spoilers)… Pulling a Dumbledore.

So I was playing Assassins creed brotherhood, and when I finished it and the credits rolled I just couldn’t shake a slight feeling of confuzzlement, and shock. Now I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to spoil anything, but let’s just say… I had to blink seven times before I could begin to puzzle out what had happened. Now I have some theories and I hope Ubisoft will stick to their story and won’t pull a Dumbledore.

Let me explain… once upon a time there was a book series called Harry Potter… and all was well. Off course Rowlings series became a phenomenon and as with all hypes these days the internet was soon buzzing with all things Potter. When you read Potter somewhere along the line one of the most important characters dies. However everything up till then seems to indicate Dumbledore will be pulling a Gandalf*, meaning he will return in the hour of need. The Phoenix theme most of all, Dumbledores’ familiar. However Rowling had an obsessive internet following who soon came up with more or less the same storyline. It is my idea that Rowling did exactly the opposite of what her fans where saying just to seem original. Quite a challenge because although a fun read, little in the Potter universe is original neither person nor plot device.

So now I am hoping Ubisoft will stick to their original storyline and

are not changing it because

the fans “figured it out”. So we can find out which virtual-conspiracy-theorist has the sharpest mind. Another thing, I deeply hope Ubisoft isn’t just overcomplicating the storyline, throwing in layers and details with no other reason than to stimulate speculation (which they can later adopt as their own plot device).

*Pulling a Gandalf: Letting one of the main characters, often the protagonists mentor die, only to have him resurrect or not be dead at all somewhere during the climax of the story.

Game Clichés

We all know them, plot twists, weapon types level designs… It’s just like the whole game industry is haunted by clichés. So here’s a list I think a lot will recognize…



*Your first weapon is a rusty knife
*Red is Life, Blue is magic
*People you can rescue to make money are lost in caves… usually with only one exit so not that easy to actually get lost in.
*Your guide and mentor turns out to be your enemy
*The girl you’re rescuing is dead, dying or has to be killed by you (weird how often this happens in games) other than that she might just be in another castle.
*Your Arch nemesis is your brother or childhood friend.
*It’s okay to walk into a strangers home… oddly enough theft IS frowned upon.
*Sleeping heals wounds
*The ultimate weapon is only attainable when nearing the final battle, and often lost immediately afterwards.
*You cannot return home because: you are banned, your village has been destroyed, you are cursed and monsters seem to follow you
*Comets can be used to create stronger weapons
*pets carry weapons and gold
*You’re an orphan (your father or mother was a known: hero, avatar of the gods, villain)
*You can drown in one foot of water
*you have a maximum of 9 weapons
*enemies you meet increase in strength and size as such: rat => bat => giant spider => goblin/ orc => skeleton => zombie => human (Sorcerer, knight etc.)
*The final three level bosses are: a clone of yourself usually colored in black, all previous level bosses in a row, a mutated/ transformed form of your arch enemy.
*Because your own spacecraft has been destroyed you have to find and usually repair another vehicle… often one of the enemies vessels.
*The weapon or artifact you found in this level is the weapon need to open the final door or defeat the level boss.
*When faced with a moral dilemma the “good choice” takes more time while the “evil” choice increases the combat difficulty or intervals.
*Women wear noticeably less then male characters
*Once your skill is high enough you can do more damage with lasers or ballistic weapons.

Special editions

I am one of those idiots advertizing companies love. Show me a commercial of a hamburger and I rush outside to get one, not just because I want one, but because I NEED one. Off course this works the same with games… now there are games I simply have no interest in and that won’t change, Viva Piñata will never be part of my collection. There however are games that make me go “meh” at first, but when I see people in my friend list playing it or I see the commercial I start to go: ”I might want that” which inevitably changes to: “I need that” in the end. Fueled by reviews, magazine articles and colleagues talking about it I come to realize I might not even survive without having that game.

Off course funding, or more specific lack thereof at times gets in the way, I am not especially rich, quite the opposite actually. So I can’t always get what I want (humming the Stones here). But sometimes I get what I need.

This whole mess is an interesting challenge to begin with, but then there is such a thing as a “Collector’s Edition” or even worse “Limited Edition”. I have managed to convince myself that I want these only with my A rated games; Franchises which have proven to be awesome like Halo, Fable, Assassins’ Creed and the like. A collector’s edition seems to demand you buy it to prove you are a loyal fan and the limited edition needs to be bought before they are no longer available. No need to explain that when a new game of one of my favorite franchises comes out, I need to have the special, limited, collectors you-need-to-have-this-to-prove-you-are-cool edition.

There are usually three reasons for me to want the collector’s or other edition of a game, which are:

1 ) The collector’s edition has certain extra’s that make it worth the extra costs like a t-shirt, a patch (UNSC patch in Reach is awesome), Art book, bonus DVD or a statuette/ figurine.

2 ) The game developers need to be rewarded for making such an epic game. I love it when a company does it’s best to deliver something awesome. Years are spent in the creation, there’s been lot of play testing and a visible love for the game and it’s background is shown by the developers. Though not always successful, the effort is visible, Lionhead and Bungie are clear examples of this.

3 ) Extra in-game content, ranging from special armor types to complete exclusive levels or missions. Though I sometimes feel a bit cheated by this because I feel the extra content should have been part of the original game, this type of bonus is one of the most successfully employed. Pre-order the game to receive an exclusive weapon, buy the black edition to receive black armor and the white to receive white for example… actually causing some fans to buy game twice. Pokemon games are notorious for this concept.

So when it’s a franchise I care about and two of the above requirements are met, I will definitely try to get the special edition. Off course some offer more value than others. Fable 3 for instance, however awesome the coin, deck of cards and in-game content are it hardly justifies the 20 euro it costs extra, the legendary edition of Halo Reach however… though more than twice the price of the standard edition is well worth the 129 euro for the real fans, luckily they don’t release that many HALO games. Recently I acquired the “Codex Edition” of Assassins Creed Brotherhood which is by far the best value for money collector’s edition I have seen so far… for only 30 euro’s more than the standard edition…. You get:

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood game

Renaissance Collector Chest

Exclusive Codex

Map of Rome

Multiplayer characters cards
Exclusive artwork cards

Lineage DVD

Bonus DVD
game soundtrack

2 Exclusive single player maps: Aqua Gear & Trajan Market

2 Multiplayer characters: Harlequin & Officer

Exclusive Armor

And it comes in this chest, which is of surprisingly high quality.

Besides all that, though it starts off a bit slow it might very well be the best game of the franchise so far. So that’s a bonus right there, a good game, free with my Assassins Creed Brotherhood merchandize pack.

The Darkness...

The Darkness...Bloody effing awesome…

Since I haven’t really got the inspiration to do an actual interesting blog ( yes I did find some of my earlier blogs interesting ) and the little energy I had I already spent on my tarot blog ( http://www.nltarot.nl/ ) I will leave you with a tip on a low budget game still found out there that is so totally worth your while you might actually want to feel a bit of shame if you haven’t got it yet.

I am talking about “the darkness”. It starts out as a rather standard, though very good looking shooter, after the expanded prologue however horror like shooter delivers on a plane few do. It makes you feel like a powerful badass taking well deserved revenge. You feel justified in your cause as you slaughter mobsters and first world war German soldiers on earth and in hell with all types of standard weaponry and your supernatural weapon the darkness which manifests itself as monstrous tentacles that rip adversaries apart. And then there's your darkling minions, who are delisiously cruel and increddibly funny....

Though you feel pretty overpowered a lot of the time, this is how you should feel as the heir of the supernatural power of the Darkness, the game never gets boring and has some awesome moments....

Going for 10 to 20 euro’s (dollars roughly the same) it is a definite must have.

GO BUY NOW