I really wish MS hadn't made Ninja Gaiden Black backwards compatible.

I was FINALLY over my addiction to Ninja Gaiden. I was enjoying all sorts of new games and new genres. After over 1000 hours of Gaiden I thought I had it licked. I played the Tom Raider reboot (and sequel). I played Bastion, A Tale of Two Sons, The Walking Dead, Torchlight, Fallout. Skyrim, Doom, GTA V, XCOM, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid: Samus Returns, Castlevania LOTS, etc. I replayed the Mass Effect trilogy. I started playing the Dragon Age series. Origins was AMAZING. DA2 was fun. Inquisition was daunting but engaging and I was maybe thirty hours in when I got a message from my buddy. "Dude, Ninja Gaiden Black is playable on the Xbox One and it looks/runs amazing!" "Cool....but I played enough of that on the original XBox and the 360. Plus NG2, Sigma, 3, Razor's Edge, Sigma Plus, Sigma 2 plus, the NES trilogy.....okay might as well boot it up to see how it runs...."


Now, 2 months later I forger what I was doing and where I was in Dragon Age. The story is fading in my mind. The characters, the lore....all fading. I eat sleep dream Ninja Gaiden. I beat Normal. I beat Hard. I'm almost done Very Hard. Master Ninja is next. Approaching 20 million Karma in Mission Mode.....might as well chase 30 million since I never got there....and if I do, well screw it why not go for 40?


I have played maybe 8 hours of other games in the last 2 months. NHL 16 with a friend, and Rainbow Six Siege/Overwatch for a few hours each since they were free to try for the weekend (Overwatch is AWESOME.....Rainbow Six is good but 1, 3 and Black Arrow are still the best imo).


Today I have the whole day to myself. The kid is with the ex wife. Great time to get back into Dragon Age, right? Yep.....boots up Ninja Gaiden.


I wish I believed in a god so I could pray for help cause I think I'm like a guy back with his abusive ex- I know it's bad for me and everyone is telling me so but the sex man....the sex is just unbelievable.

Pilots Without Planes- A Titanfall Review

Titanfall is an online only shooter that takes place in a future in which humans have colonized outside of Earth but have not yet freed themselves of the shackles of violent confrontation. In a government vs. the people type scenario, diplomacy has failed, as it often does, and a violent revolution has broken out and both sides are utilizing mechanical, weaponized armour called Titans to do aid them in expressing their message of discontent. 

It would not be all that hard to understand why, to an outside observer, Titanfall might strike them as "just another fps." A standard, run of the mill first person affair replete with fast paced  action complemented by a screen covered in rpg-esque numbers and symbols; both of which work to provide immediate and visceral satisfaction and long term addictive behaviour, including the inability to refrain from buying overpriced map packs or a "season pass." Play the game however, and it becomes abundantly clear that Titanfall is more than that. The folks at Respawn Entertainment were clearly aware of the state of the genre and the long term implications of market oversaturation and worked hard to make a shooter that may look like the rest but is actually substantially different (even including addressing the pricing of post release downloadable content).

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's....a Pilot? Pilots Without Planes- A Titanfall Review

Titanfall is an online only shooter that takes place in a future in which humans have colonized outside of Earth but have not yet freed themselves of the shackles of violent confrontation. In a government vs. the people type scenario, diplomacy has failed, as it often does, and a violent revolution has broken out and both sides are utilizing mechanical, weaponized armour called Titans to do aid them in expressing their message of discontent. 

It would not be all that hard to understand why, to an outside observer, Titanfall might strike them as "just another fps." A standard, run of the mill first person affair replete with fast paced  action complemented by a screen covered in rpg-esque numbers and symbols; both of which work to provide immediate and visceral satisfaction and long term addictive behaviour, including the inability to refrain from buying overpriced map packs or a "season pass." Play the game however, and it becomes abundantly clear that Titanfall is more than that. The folks at Respawn Entertainment were clearly aware of the state of the genre and the long term implications of market oversaturation and worked hard to make a shooter that may look like the rest but is actually substantially different (even including addressing the pricing of post release downloadable content).

Introductory Thoughts on Xbox One.

Well I think its about time I hopped back on the blogging train.



After watching Microsofts Press Conference for the new Xbox I felt like talking about what I liked, what I hated and what I thought was just not needed.