I’m aware this news is stale as heck, but that doesn’t mean I can’t share my opinion on it. So, I shall opine away. That’s the word, right? Opine? One sec… okay I checked the dictionary and that is correct.
Basically, in case you didn’t know this, China’s internet is very censorious. It will block anything that is inconvenient to those in power. And Winnie the Pooh apparently. Xi Jinping really hates that guy. In fact, it’s actually common knowledge that if someone from China is in any sort of messaging thread, forum, or chat group; you can get their internet instantly shut off by mentioning:
1989 TIANANMEN SQUARE PROTESTS 天安門大屠殺 JUNE FOURTH INCIDENT 六四事件 DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT 八九民運
Shit, now nobody in China can read this rant. Oh well. China cut off or online multiplayer for some of biggest games because unfortunate information about the CCP keeps popping up and they just can’t have that. Animal Crossing is has already been cut on the chopping block, but they plan on more, they are just getting started. They can still play the multiplayer games sure, they’re just playing only against others in their country. Or so I’m led to believe.
This isn’t even a CHINA BAD article. This is actually a GET F*CKED BLIZZARD article. If you dig back a while, publisher Blizzard bent over backwards to appease China when several incidents occurred that made them look really bad. TenCent, a Chinese entertainment company, owns a sizable chunk of Blizzard. So, whenever it came down to them appeasing the company, they would bend the knee every time.
And that’s the crux of this opinion.
Are you f*cking happy now Blizzard? You have shown numerous times that you are completely out of touch with your fan base and tried to make up for it by announcing a bunch of games people are anticipating. Dropping Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 is not gonna make your many controversies go away.
Now, the country you so desperately tried to pander to is about to hurt your bottom line. I guarantee this will have a negative impact on user activity in your games. Now, I know you won’t really FEEL the difference because you’re a soulless organization who sold off their dignity a long time ago. But deep down, after all the epic screw-ups you committed, your day of reckoning has finally arrived. Okay, yeah that was a week ago. This is your week of reckoning!
I implore Blizzard fans, I know you love their games. Gamer boycotts are virtually useless and lead to nothing. Just pay more attention to what they are doing. You always have to vote with your wallet. Decide if that freaking loot box is worth it, considering all they’ve done. Hold off on your pre-orders until you know the game isn’t broken. Because their new games will ship broken. I guarantee it. They cared too much about China, only for China to turn on a dime and stop caring about Blizzard. Nice one. Come @ me in the comments.
Hate reading? The audio version can be found HERE.
Learning how to play as more healers like Mercy, Baptiste, Lucio, and Moira
Click this poorly constructed link to check out the most recent shenanigans feating me, VindallTV, and some other guy whose name I repeatedly forget. Not because he’s not memorable, my brain just throws away people’s names almost immediately. Oh! Anyway, the gameplay vid:
So yeah, “Chet Improves at Overwatch” is a pretty good title. But just so you know, “improve” doesn’t mean “good”. I suck so if you have a hard time watching people be bad at a game, you may want to turn away.
You gotta admit, I’m fast learner. I was using Lucio for like 5 minutes before immediately wallrunning around like I’m playing Titanfall. Shout out to Titanfall BTW. Still, doesn’t help that I didn’t know shooting my teammates did NOT heal them and I was wasting my time with that. Hilarious.
I also took quickly to Baptiste after initially being god-awful at it. One I learned how the health grenades worked, I jumped from ‘scrub’ to ‘competent’ in two matches. I like the healing grenade but god damn do I hate his gun. Burst firing is not my thing, and slow burst firing is even worse. Seems rather ineffectual in PvP so I stuck to healing my friends.
In Battlefield V, I stick to healing. It only makes sense that I also do it here. It’s a rather fun thing to pull off. So, if you wanna see Chet improve at Overwatch, get ready to see more and more medic plays. I’m sure they are totally fun to watch and not as bad as watching pain dry. Unless you were being paid to watch paint dry, that would be pretty lit.
Chet improves at overwatch is brought you by the letter D, for dumb.
Do you like Mercy? Do you like Overwatch? Would you like to suffer through 30 minutes of Chet being terrible at overwatch? Well, we have the video for YOU.
Sadly, you’re going to have to click on this link to see the video, because WP apparently is allergic to Twitch I guess.
So how exactly did taking my Overwatch virginity come about? Well… a friend wanted to play it. I told him I don’t want to play your stupid game. He insisted I play his stupid game. Last time I played a stupid game with him, he had me play Sea of Thieves. SEA. OF. THIEVES. I thought he was kidding.
He wasn’t. Turns out though, that even though I couldn’t care less for the game, I was good at helming the ship! Nice.
But Overwatch wasn’t too bad really. I got to play three rounds or so. Could have been more. I didn’t want to play more. I wanted to open my lootboxes! Not because I was excited to open them. I just wanted to experience firsthand, the introduction of the game mechanic that ruined video games forever. I was not impressed. Why do people like these? Tags? Voice lines? You serious? I understand skins but, come on, really? This? You want me to spend money on this? NO.
Anyway, lootbox mini-rant aside, this is the footage. We did terribly, you have been warned. Next time I will try to get the audio a bit better balanced. As of right now, streaming it alone was a very spur-of-the-moment move. If you wanna check out my friend who’s way more skilled, head over to VindallTV. He puts actual effort in. Unlike yours truly.
For SEO reasons I’m just going to write Overwatch Virginity here. Stop reading and enjoy the damn video you c-
Rumors. Cardboard. Sneakers. This Lucky Gamer Recap has it all.
Another week another surprise announcement from companies we thought were out of surprises. This week in gaming news Activision publishing CEO takes a walk, Nintendo tells us to play with the packaging, and information leaks from every pipe in the house to fuel rumors. As In read that back I realize it sounds like Video Games went back to middle school for a week. That’s ok though, we all need to tap into our inner child every now and then. Don’t worry its totally cool as long as you come back to adulthood in a reasonable timeframe. I mean I spend have of every week acting like a child on purpose and look at me. Probably not the best example, any way here are the goods to make you feel lucky this week:
1. Nintendo literally tells kids to go play with a Box.
When it comes to video games, Nintendo is the crazy uncle in the family who you’re never really quite sure what he does or how but you know he’s bringing in the big bucks. Ever year Nintendo drops this insane, outrageous, damn near ridiculous plan for a new product. This year that product is Nintendo Labo, a line of build it yourself experiences for the Nintendo Switch. Players will be able to build cool experiments that can be connected to the Switch and interact with specific software. I could talk about the fact these kits are completely modular or I can reference the silliness that is Nintendo calling them your creations Toy-Con’s (sounds pretty bad out loud) but instead I want to tackle something bigger. All the kits are made of Cardboard Sheets designed to interact with your console. That’s right. Cardboard. That’s what they’re selling us now. A variety Kit for $69.99 that includes materials to build a two cars, a fishing rod, a house, a motorbike, and a piano OR a Robot Kit for $79.99 (that brings material to build a robot suit). And I’d be a damn liar if I said I didn’t want them all.
2. It seems even publishing maybe exhausted from Call of Duty.
After eight years with the company Activisions Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg will be leaving the company. Eric had an incredible run with the company and is making the strong decision to go out on top with Call of Duty WWII and Destiny 2 both dominating the top selling games list of 2017 (#1 and #2 respectively). For some this may be a huge moment of exciting because you are thinking “COD is trash anyway, maybe the new guy can make it better” but you’re wrong. That wasn’t his job. For some people this is terrifying new because you are thinking “Damn now COD is gonna be trash, the new guys going to ruin it.” but you to are also wrong. His job was to sign off on titles getting published so we can play them till our hearts collapsed. So if you’re thinking “thank god maybe we wont get anymore awful ports or licensed games” you are absolutely right cause those were totally his fault. Damn you Eric. However, on a serious note, Where ever Eric moves on to, we at Hard Mode Gamers wish him the best and thank him for all his hard work for this ungrateful and under satisfied industry. Don’t be mad you know damn well we are never fully satisfied as gamers.
3. Strong chance there will be significantly fewer happy people this spring.
Things happen in this industry regularly because there are so many uncontrollable variables. I’m not gonna do the list thing sorry. Originally slated for an April 13th release date, We Happy Few has been delayed till sometime time in the summer. Compulsion Games, the guys developing the game, have simply said they just need a little more time to polish the game up. The detailed version seems to point at story pacing revisions as the primary concern so who knows exactly when it will be ready. This game has had quite an interesting development cycle if you ask me, so while you wait for it to release in some undisclosed timeframe, catch up on the whole process on the developers website. Crowdfunding for the win!
4. Let’s put the good Xbox rumors in the same place and as the bad ones last week.
As you get to know me you’ll get to understand I treat all systems equally. No bias or inequality in my world. Do something good you get applause, do something bad you get the saw. This week, if all these rumors pan out to be true, Xbox gets a huge applause. First rumor is that a new Fable games is in development at Playground Games, home of Forza Horizon. Supposedly the recent success of Horizon Zero Dawn, the other horizon game, was a major influence on this decision and if so, that is the type of healthy competition we need. Second rumor on the report is that Microsoft is working on another Xbox Elite Controller for it’s most elite players. There obviously aren’t a ton of concrete details but, if rumors are to be believed the new control will bring rechargeable battery built in, a USB C port, three levels of hair-trigger locks, a three profile switch, and more. All of which, in my opinion, is sooper dope.
5. More on the rumor mill.
Like I said this was the week of gossip gamers, so let us soak it all in. A series of European tore listings let slip that a last generation THQ game may be getting a new generation facelift. Red Faction: Guerrilla may be seeing new life on PS4 and Xbox One as early as sometime in the near future. See that’s how rumors work they tell you a bunch of information that ultimately goes nowhere. Not my fault, come at me bro. In a completely unrelated leak, comicbook.com reports that TT Games may be working on two new Lego adventures for us to die over. The first being a Lego Incredibles game, obviously to coincide with the release of the highly anticipated Incredibles 2 film. That one I’m pretty inclined to believe is true because of the blatant marketing opportunity. The second rumored Lego game in development I’m not entirely convinced is real yet. Supposedly the other Lego game in development is a DC villains game centered around the Rogue Gallery (you know the Joker, Lex, Harley, Mr. Freeze, etc.). Unless a rogue gallery film is in the works or this was supposed to coincide with the Justice League sequel we will never get, I don’t know how this would entice the normies. But hey what do I know?
6. Blizzard World is here! Almost.
The long-awaited Blizzard World Map for Overwatch, announced back at Blizzcon 2017, will be available on January 23rd. See straight to the point for all the fans who came here for one thing and one thing only. If you are unfamiliar for some outrageous reason, Blizzard World is a new Overwatch map that pays homage to Blizzards other franchises that paved the way. Featuring areas themed around games like World of Warcraft & Hearthstone you can expect cool easter eggs to be laced all around the theme park. Exclusive streaming deal with Twitch, an incredibly supportive community, and new content on a regular basis, Overwatch has made it very clear it plans to be a part of E-Sports for a long long time.
7. The partnership of incredibles! Playstation themed basketball shoes.
Nike reveals a brand new pair of incredible basketball sneakers called the PG-2. Why is this video game news? Well I’m glad you asked. You see these particular basketball sneaks are the birth child of a unique breeding ritual between Nike, Playstation, and Paul George. Paul George is a basketball player who plays for the Oklahoma City Thunders and is a long time Playstation fan. Playstation is one of the greatest video game platforms of all time and with basketball games that features Paul George and Nike clothing. Nike is a clothing company that just had to sit back and watch one of its main competitors dominate the “nerd culture” community by starting a DBZ sneaker line. This combination was just a heavenly match waiting to happen. How this beautiful shoe came to be is unbeknownst to me however. I will absolutely need a pair when they are made available for purchase on February 10 at a look shoe dealer near you. If I don’t get a pair, Just be careful walking back to the car.
July 27th, 2017 by Stefan Adrian "AdminMas7er" Robu
Lawbreaker, Dream Maker, A Love Taker
LawBreakers is an upcoming arena-style First Person Shooter developed by Boss Key Productions and published by Nexon. I had some opportunities to try out the game during some of its alpha and beta stages.
Gameplay
Compared to other arena-style shooters on the market, Lawbreakers brings something new, but rather remmiscent of good ‘ol Quake, but in the form of low gravity. This makes the maps a lot more vertical and a lot more fast-paced. It also feels like Overwatch, but with a higher skill-gap.
Speaking of skill-gap, the characters are REALLY HARD to master, and not as easy to use. Sure there may be some characters which are, let’s say, noob-friendly (e.g Vanguard). Others are having some high-skill requirements, such as the Gunslinger. Game-modes wise; the modes are pretty easy to understand in the case of “what am I supposed to do”. Currently there are only 4 game modes: Overcharge, Turf War, Uplink and Blitzball.
Maps
Not much to say, really. The maps are really well made, aiming at a combo of good looks and playability, also including some low-gravity areas, mostly in the center of said maps. These are also, the objective spots.
Graphics
The game is made in Unreal Engine 4, and that’s a very powerful and nice-looking engine. Performance-wise? It runs pretty well, even in the most recent Beta. For consoles, the game aims at a 60FPS target, even having PS4 Pro support at launch to make the game look even better.
First Impression Overall
Compared to Overwatch, LawBreakers takes a more serious tone, and that’s seen in its looks and its gameplay. For me, having played a bit of both Overwatch and LawBreakers, I feel that this could be a strong contender to its popularity, while the PC Beta may be gone, the Playstation may have a chance soon to try the game as well.
LawBreakers is currently slated for release on August 8th for PC and Playstation 4.
[Late to the Party]
In which we play multiplayer games that are more or less “dead” and see if they are worth playing now. We opened up a more recent game, Battleborn, which we really did find for just five dollars. Is it worth it?
