Monday, May 23, 2016

Ex-Megadeth drummer Nick Menza dead at 51

     Sad to hear that Nick Menza, ex-drummer for Megadeth has died at the age of 51. He collapsed during a show at the Baked Potao, a place I used to frequent quite often. I could've been at this show. His drumming fueled Megadeth's great work in the 1990's. Marty Friedman tweeted this: "We all know the great and unique drummer that Nick Menza was, but he was also a trustworthy friend, a hilarious bandmate, as well as a very loving dad. I`m beyond sad, did not see this coming at all. RIP Brother."


Overwatch later today

     So Overwatch goes live today at 4 pm in California. I'm not sure when it'll be available in other states or countries but thankfully I don't have to worry about that. This game has been overhyped af but I've jumped on the bandwagon. I really dug the heck out of the gameplay ever since I played the beta at my friends house. He was listed as a family member at Blizzard and somehow got into the beta while I never got beta access until the open beta, which was available to everyone back on May 5-9th. It was a great beta experience especially when I was able to play it on my own computer. For some reason when I played it at my friends house I wasn't quite at my best but when I participated in the open beta I was a beast at the game, especially w/ Pharah, this cool rocket launcher Indian girl. I remember I was getting honorable mentions at the end of every match w/ her. I know who I will be maining.
     Anyways, despite the fact that Overwatch has been over-hyped you should still get this game or at least try it at your friends house. The game is only $40 on PC and $60 for Ps4 and Xbone. It's $60 on PC if you want some cool skins, portraits for Starcraft II, and Tracer in Heroes of the Storm. I already have Tracer in Heroes and I don't need Starcraft portraits really. They're cool cosmetics but it doesn't really matter to me so I just pre purchased the base game for $40. I'm so looking forward to this game.
    However, if there's one thing I've come to know about Blizzard is that they usually have a lot of server wide problems when their games launch. This happens to a lot in gaming and its usually fixed a few hours later or if its really bad more like a week or two. We will have to wait and see. I'll keep you guys posted on Overwatch and what its like. At some point I'll write up a review about it. I'm off work the next two days so I'm going to thoroughly enjoy this Overwatch launch experience.

Time to go be a hero. Something I would never do in real life. Haha.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Streaming again

     So after talking with a bunch of friends today I came to the conclusion that I play too many video games without making some sort content out of it weather it be great game plays or just comedic material (how about both). By now I should have a YouTube channel and have somewhat of a small following on Twitch. I have neither but I will soon. I'm going to start working on adding content to my Twitch account-twitch.tv/megaman1597, streaming more and what not. In addition, I'm going to start a YouTube channel showing off great plays from certain games-Heroes of the Storm, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch (when it comes out), and Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex First Assault. I was streaming a bit a while ago and all my friends thought it was super cool but they wondered why I stopped. I stopped because I felt like it was super difficult getting viewers but at the same time you gotta work for your audience. It doesn't just magically appear. So yeah I'm going to start having gaming content online. One of the things I'm going to focus on super heavy is streaming the heck out of Overwatch once it becomes available to play. I feel like that's a great opportunity right there. I have a friend who doesn't like streaming because he's not a very talkative or sociable person but he's a great fps gamer and he has all these great killshot pro mlg style videos that are pretty sweet. I'm definitely inspired by him. And most of my gamer buddies on Facebook are all streamers. I gotta get back on that bandwagon. I'll probably start streaming again sometime tomorrow morning. Check out my stream sometime. I'll post when I'm live on my twitter page-https://twitter.com/fig_land. Stop by sometime when I'm live and check it out I'm always down for more tips and stuff.

See ya in the Nexus!

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Overwatch hype and other gaming news

     Hey, its been a long while since I've last written. I've been busy w/ the daily life grind-making money, resting, and repeating. It's been good working hard but I've also been having fun too. Work has become somewhat of a fun place with great people and attitudes. I've been gaming and playing a lot of guitar. This simple ritual I do everyday makes up most of my life at the moment. I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the hype gaming news that has been percolating the media recently.
     Overwatch has been getting all the hype recently. Its the main and probably most popular game to come out of the brand new "heroes moba first person shooter genre", even though the game hasn't even come out yet. It launches May 24 but it already has such a big business model (pre-order anyone?) going for it and its super popular because Blizzard has released all these animated shorts (which thankfully are free) and people are all goo goo about the game's lore and heroes. I played in the closed and open beta and I can say that the game is interesting enough for me to buy it and keep playing it, at least for a while. We will have to see how good the game is on the long term but usually when these brand new fps (first person shooter) games come out they are fun in the beginning but they don't usually last. Hopefully that's the case with Overwatch.
     I only played a bit but from what I remember Payload is the main game mode. Its pretty much the exact same idea as Payload from Team Fortress 2 but Overwatch stands out from Tf2-it is by no means a Tf2 clone. Overwatch is visually more busy than Tf2, has more variety and more heroes, and costs $40 for the basic build, or $60 for a bonus edition w/ cool character skins and stuff. The only similarity (which is good btw) between Overwatch and Tf2 is the graphics (which are cell shady and cartoony), the idea of character hero classes which are all different, and some of the play style is similar. However, in Overwatch its only 6v6 pvp battles. Tf2 usually has more players.
     Anyways, Payload doesn't stand out in Overwatch by any means but the game is fun. Don't trust my judgement? Just buy the game when it launches on the 24th, you will see how good this game is. The game doesn't push the envelop in terms of play style or anything new but it keeps the player engaged on a purely fun level. In addition, the game has a steep learning curve. It's easy to get into but hard to master. I can see this game going places in terms of esports as well. Players were already great players in the beta but once the game is released and fully polished w/ more maps and heroes it will turn in a competitive fps gamer's paradise. I might be pushing it saying that but I do believe its true. This game is literally a game changer.
     I wasn't really that good when I played the beta but I still had fun because Overwatch focuses more on team based objective game-play, rather than picking an assassin and seeing how many rambo kill shots you can get. Don't get me wrong. When the game comes out there will probably be tons of people playing it like Call of Duty rambos but once the game gets going long enough it will be great. Anyways, enough about Overwatch, its already been hyped enough since like BlizzCon 2015.
     In other news there's supposedly another Smash 4 patch coming out soon-1.1.6. I think its going to come out overnight. I don't know the details but I heard about it from the SoCal Smash Group I'm in on Facebook. They usually know whats up. However, I don't know when the patch goes live or how long the servers will be down. I think the game needs another patch because some of the low tier characters could be better and of course some of the high tiers should be nerfed a bit. It's always hard to balance a fighting game because just changing one thing causes a chain reaction that changes everything. But its a necessary act because it keeps the game evolving-something Smash desperately needs. I haven't played Smash at my house in so long but I still play a lot with my friends. It's the main game we play competitively and although I haven't been practicing or going to tournaments (b/c of work) I feel like my playstyle has changed for the better, especially with Bayonetta. I've also improved by leaps and bounds with Fox, who used to be my original main before I played Zero Suit and Bayonetta. Even before Fox I used to main Shulk. Good times :D
      Lastly, a new hero came out for Heroes of the Storm today. I was off today so I got to check out this new hero in-game. She's a time manipulator (named Chromie) sorta hero from World of Warcraft, she's a gnome. I feel like the whole time thing is played out because Tracer is in Heroes too but its cool. She's not the coolest hero but I do think some of her abilities are flashy and she has some cool aoe's (area of effect: like slowing people down). I've become a high level player at heroes and I try to focus on playing ranked matches when I do play. I still focus on mastering support healing characters but I'm also great with dps and tanks too. It's a free to play moba game by Blizzard and if you haven't already been playing this gem you should definitely go install it on your computer right now. Right now, this game is that good. It has that League of Legends moba vibe but its such a better game. I can see it becoming just as popular if not bigger than League and Dota.
     There's still some other cool gaming news. Battleborn was released recently, its another one of those moba fps games. I'm in the beta for another game like that called Paladins (developed by Hi-Rez Studios, which brought us Smite), its okay but its no Overwatch. There's also the reveal for the Pokemon Sun/Moon starter Pokemon, which all looked hella lame to me. Dark Souls 3 came out recently too. And finally, the new Doom game will be released soon. That's a lot of new gaming content that's already out/will be coming out. As I said I'm really excited and focused on Overwatch. I just hope that it lives up to the hype that it's had. First person shooter games seem to be a big let down sometimes, especially when there's not enough maps or engaging player modes. We'll just have to wait and see.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

May Update

     Life has been good but it's definitely had its ups and downs. I haven't written for a while because I've just been busy with the daily life grind, but thankfully it ain't all bad. Things have been good too, I've been hanging out at the beach, playing a lot of guitar, and am even looking for other musicians to start up a band-be it a metal band or a jazz quartet. As I write this now I'm listening to Hendrix's band of gypsies album, the one with the insane guitar solo on Machine Gun. What a classic album man! I wish I could play the guitar as funky as Hendrix could with his wah-wah rhythm guitar chords while taking leads in a call and response blues style. The guy was incredible!
     Haha, anyways I've been getting back into music. I'm finding out that I'm a much better jazz guitarist when I focus on just playing the song-the head, middle, and outro more-so than just taking solos over the whole tune. In addition, I've realized that sometimes you don't have to shred over anything. Sometimes a simple melody or a singing tonality connects more to the soul than some sixteenth note three note per string bebop lick. Haha, I do like those as well! Music is great. It's got my creative juices going again. I've never sounded better on the guitar. Maybe its because I'm older or perhaps its just because I've listened to so much more stuff than say like 3 years ago. I've definitely become a much better guitarist and musician. It's a great feeling. Now I just need to find a group to play together. I'm down for anything really. Even punk. :D
     I've been playing some games as well. Mainly Heroes of the Storm but I've also been playing the Overwatch beta which has been amazing! I'm not a big fps guy but this game has me wanting to improve my mouse and keyboard shooting skills. It's super fun and its a blast to play online with a good team. I picked up Guilty Gear thru Steam's anime sale and its a cool game. I haven't had the time to play it enough but its given me another reason to use my fightstick-which is super fancy by the way. I've even been playing YuGiOh w/ my friends. I have a cyber dragon deck that focuses on powering up machine type monsters. It's a fun game but I think Magic has a much cooler more dark and gothic feel to it.
     Oh yeah, today I saw Captain America Civil War with my brother. The movie is amazing and you should all go see it. I'll probably do a separate post about it later but just wanted to say that Marvel does a great job with their heroes. Its a shame that Batman V Superman turned out to be such a blunder. It's not that it was bad but it was definitely not good. 
     Lastly, work sure was weird tonight. Here's to all those weird days! XD

New Year, New Me, [Not Really]

Hello Universe ,  How is it going out there in the free world ? It's a new year, happy 2024! It's time for all those happy go lucky...