Diablo 3 Challenge - What Did I Get Myself Into?

Day 1 - ... When does the money start rolling in?

Total Earned: £0.00

You remember the challenge? Earn back the money spent on buying the game within the space of 14 days. Hack, slash and magic my way to that magic £40.

That's what I told myself, but then I bought Diablo 3 anyway.

My first thoughts were "this is gonna be easy" just play the game till rare loot drops then sell it all for minimum profit, rinse and repeat till you make it all back, right? WRONG. You can't just sell anything and expect to get a sale, for real money, straight away. At this stage in the game the gamers willing to part with cash are very particular.

Movie Talk (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance)

Title: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Theatre Release date: 17th February 2012

Home Media Release date: 12th June 2012

Ummmm, sir, your head is on fire.

I know, I know, it doesn’t really have much to do with video games, but I mean who doesn’t love watching movies?! (Especially the bad ones).  So, if you love movies carry on reading this post.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Demo (3DS)

We are blessed to have two 3DS demos available at the same time, oh you spoil us, Square Enix. The first of which is...

Title: Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

Platform: 3DS

Release Date: 3rd July 2012 (US), 6th July 2012 (EU)

It's been over 25 years of Final Fantasy and so to celebrate we have our very own rhythm game dedicated to the long-running series: THEATRHYTHM FINAL FANTASY.

The premise is simple you take 4 heroes from the Final Fantasy world and you guide them on a journey through the music of the series. The gameplay is as you'd expect from a touch-style rhythm game, you tap, slide, flick you way along with the music. The added bonus is that while you're doing all this you are either treated to a standard music video (cutscenes taken straight from the games - nostalgia factor 100) or your group of 4 intrepid heroes will battle an enemy of roam the wilderness.

Max Anarchy: Max Payne's Crazy Japanese Relative

PREVIEW
Title: Max Anarchy/Anarchy Reigns
Platform: 360/PS3
Release Date: 5th July 2012 (Japan), Q1 2013 (US/EU)


Max Anarchy (Anarcht Reigns in the West) is a game where your objective is to obliterate all the opponents in a large arena with a series of over the top weapons and abilities, all the while chaining huge combinations. If the sound of a Devil May Cry-style over-the-top action game but with multiplayer has ever intrigued you, then be intrigued by this game!

Seriously, you don't want to be on the receiving end of this.

An Idiot's Guide to Earning Back your Diablo 3 Money

Diablo and it's clones are games that have always been close to my heart.

Dubbed either "dungeon crawler" or "hack 'n slash", if there's one thing I know that's important to a Diablo game is the loot.

The pang of raw excitement you feel when a monster bursts with loot and you frantically scroll through the items to see if you see that tell-tale coloured hue of glorious rare loot.

Which brings me to the latest installment, Diablo 3, the newest of the game that kickstarted a loot craze all across the world.

As unrealistic as it might be I came up with a crazy challenge as soon as I heard the Real Money Auction House had opened up, allowing us to earn and spend real money in the world of Diablo 3.

My proposed project is simple: play Diablo 3 for 2 weeks, chronicling my adventures as I go along, all with the sole purpose of utilising the Real Money Auction House to earn back the money I have lost in acquiring the game itself.

The FREE Online Co-op List

"Free games", they're a beautiful thing. Come and join me as I take you through a journey of the best free co-op'able games I've had the pleasure of playing. I recommend you try them all. See my other co-op list for games that aren't free but still highly recommended for all your co-op needs.


Team Fortress 2 (PC)

Something strange is happening here...

Heroes of Ruin Demo (3DS)

PREVIEW
Release: 15th July 2012 (EU), 17th July 2012 (US)
Platform: Nintendo 3DS

With a time where we have so many Diablo-clones are on the horizon, Path of Exile, Torchlight and Diablo 3 itself being out, there doesn't seem to be a better time for a 3DS version! And with four player co-op, how can it go wrong?

4 times the fun!

The Online Co-Op List - Part 2

It's fun to play co-op games together, right? Builds friendships while breaking them down. This is a confusing concept but when you play the following game you'll understand. Missed PART 1? Go check that out!

Trine 2 (PC/Xbox360/PS3)

Needless to say we promptly walked in the opposite direction.

The Online Co-Op List - Part 1

Ever had the problem of having a set of computers available but with no games to play on them? First world problems, I know. But that's another blog post altogether.

I mean sure there are the giants that everyone has played at some point during their online multiplayer lives: Team Fortress 2, Minecraft, etc, but sometimes we crave something deeper and sometimes a bit more story-driven.

I've compiled a list of games that I highly recommend for multiplayer co-operative play with your friends since it was so hard to find anything comprehensive on the internet. (This is written purely from a stand-point of PC gaming but many of these games are multiplatform).

These are all Pay-To-Play, no ongoing subscriptions but you have to buy the game obviously - "Hey, sometimes you gotta fork out the wonga for fun".

Dungeon Defenders (1-4 Players, PC/Xbox360/PS3)

Who brings a lightsaber to a medieval reenactment, seriously?

What else you got, Nintendo?!

2012 is going to be good for the 3DS with so many first-party giants on the move: Paper Mario, New Super Mario Bros 2 and for all Pokemon fans you get an new and improved Pokedex and a Dream Radar available through the eShop, both of which can be used in the new and improved Pokemon Black & White 2.

So what else do they have on the way?

An Evening With The 3DS - Part 2

What else did we see from Nintendo's exclusive hour of 3DS magic?

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

We've had far too much coverage of this game, several trailers with one in particular spanning nearly 10 minutes. As a long term fan of the series I'm constantly left wondering "when are we getting Kingdom Hearts 3?" A sequel to Kingdom Hearts 2 and inspired with the new knowledge we learned from Birth by Sleep, the adventure follows Sora and Riku as they do some other nonsensical quest where we meet Disney characters along the way.

An Evening With The 3DS - Part 1

At their E3 press conference, Nintendo promised they'd be showing off a lot more titles in this specially planned hour dedicated to everyone's new favourite portable: the 3DS. Did they show us everything we wanted and more? Let's see what was offered!

E3 2012 Day 2 Nintendo Conference

If you came to the Nintendo conference expecting the announcement for new games, I'm afraid you'll have to wait till a separate reveal tomorrow. What they did show was definitely nothing unexpected and the distinct lack of third-party titles made me a little sad.


Pikmin 3

The previous installment came out in 2004 so a sequel has been a long time coming. New Pikmin types and a tease about 4 new characters. I can only assume that they will all be simultaneously working together to solve maps, allowing other players to drop-in and drop-out using the second WiiU gamepad or any of the other Wii controllers.

Guest Post: My E3 Round Up

So the first day of E3 is all wrapped up, I managed to get some sleep, and here I am now, writing up what the first day brought us in terms of expectations and disappointments. Day 1 was full of the big hitters minus Nintendo.

By far the most talked about and the most hyped (after the presentation) was Watch Dogs! This came out of the left field didn’t it?!

E3 2012 Round 4 Sony

 I've always favoured the original Playstation logo honestly.

 

Sony, the big hitter, you'd expect them to come up with a lot of nice titles to wow us with seeing as they're something of a powerhouse in the industry - although not financially if you've been following the latest news. It's been an interesting conference...

E3 2012 Round 3 Ubisoft

Ubisoft have delivered some nice content this year, including a deliciously well-kept secret. But I think I'm not alone in being excited about hearing more WiiU news.

There are some big hitters in the Ubisoft corner (Assassin's Creed) but a lot of titles surprised me when they were showcased.

E3 2012 Round 2 EA Conference

Madden again? EA Sports, indeed.

A strong delivery from EA, really kicked E3 up a notch by hitting us with a multitude of games - something I felt was lacking in the Microsoft conference, instead opting to give us more Kinect nonsense.

Honestly who actually uses voice commands over the controller? That's a unique brand of laziness.

E3 2012 Round 1 Microsoft Conference

Kicking off the event was the Microsoft conference. 

A mixed bag, mostly nothing unexpected and the continuation of many of their ongoing franchises and not many new IPs to speak of.

E3 2012

"It begins...."

Another year of great gaming has passed and now we swing around to the Electronic Entertainment Expo to (hopefully) fill us with excitement for the new year of games to come. Two days of conferences from all the big names in the industry and a venue filled with all manner of games, trailers, tech demos and booth babes.

Here's how the event is going to play out:

4th June

Microsoft’s conference - 5:30-7:00PM (GMT)

EA’s conference - 9:00-10:00PM

Ubisoft’s conference - 11:00-12:15AM

Sony’s conference - 2:00-3:00AM

5th June

Nintendo’s conference - 5:00PM-6:00PM