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Weekend Gamer Update: Labor Day

Weekend Gamer Update:

Read More Games Can you believe it? Baldur’s Gate 3 is out now on the PC. I paid full price ($60) for this game in Oct 2020, and have played a demo or early access of the game. I maxed out my character, and have patiently waited for the full …

Baldur’s Gate 3

After over 60 hours, I finally made it to Act II. There are three acts in the game, and each Act, I felt could have been sold as three different games.

Act I set up the story and throws you in the outskirts Baldur’s Gate. All signs points to Baldur’s Gate, so the goal is to travel there… but getting there is harder than it looks. Act I basically is a giant tutorial on how to play the game. You have to solve the goblin crisis, the grove, and help inhabitants along the way. I tried to complete everything in the first part: killing the hag, killing the giant spider, saving Halsin … and murdering every goblin!

Act II, you are given several choices to get to Baldur’s Gate 3. You can travel through the underdark, you can try to go through Githyanki, and finally through the cursed land. Your companions’ stories also unfolds, with Lae’zel’s story the most compelling to me. Her entire belief turned upside-down… and even her god, the undying queen, is out to kill her.

Shadowheart’s story is no slack either… you have to make some hard decisions to keep her in your party, because fighting her will result in her leaving your party. You’re given an impossible decision to save both Shadowheart and the Nightsong… and, there is a way to save both of them! My first play, Shadowheart kills Nightsong. After reloading the previous save, I confronted Shadowheart and she got angry and left! I’m sorry, we can’t have that, because she’s my only cleric and a useful one at that! Finally, after various choices, I was able to reason with Shadowheart and as a result, save both of them! It’s the best scenario… however, I know most players will just “go with the flow” and continue the game.

Anyway, currently, I’m about 100 hours into the game… and I finally got to Act III! It’s been a long journey, and I have a feeling that it’ll end up being 150 hours when I finally finish the game. And when I see the credits roll… the first thing I want to do is start another game, with a different character build!

For those who are interested in checking out the game, I wholly recommend it.

Read More PlayStation For the lowest priced, PS+ Essential, you only get three or four “free” monthly games… and the ability to play online games, just like the original PlayStation Plus. For $3 more, you can get PS+ Extra, which includes the monthly “free” games …

PlayStation

With the extra-long Labor Day weekend, that means more weekend gaming for me. Originally, my plans were to see Soul Asylum at the Minnesota State Fair, but having walked about 10 miles on the Second Day of the Fair and seeing that this weekend is going to be over 100 degrees Fahrenheit… I think it’s probably in my best interest to stay indoors and keep cool.

With the Labor Day weekend here, there’s actually a lot of sales going on right now. GOG is having an Autumn 2023 Sale, which includes the original Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, Cyberpunk, The Witcher, etc. A good sale, unfortunately, I own all those great games, so there’s not much for me… but if you are interested in those games, get it on sale and try them out.

Steam has a PlayStation sale… including, for the first time, a sale on The Last of Us Part 1. The game launched poorly on PC, and I wasn’t really didn’t love the television show… so I haven’t exactly been excited to re-play the game again. I bought the game when it was on the PS3, and re-bought the game for PS4. Do I really want to get it again for the PC? I probably will get it… but who knows.

Speaking of Sony, they recently announced a huge price hike in their PlayStation Plus subscription, with their premium plan going from $120 to $160. What do you get for the extra $40? Absolutely nothing.

On top of that, with the recent useless $200 PlayStation Portal (a tiny screen to stream games locally from your PlayStation 5), I’m not a PlayStation fan at the moment. I’m glad I never bought a PlayStation 5, instead going with Xbox for this (and next) generation.

Yours,

Weekend Gamer

Read more Weekend Gamer and Technology.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

The Last of Us

Read More The Last of Us As for The Last of Us, I'm in the middle of the game right now. It's hard. The clickers are impossible to kill, basically one attack will kill you right away. Having said that, the play style is a lot more fun than Beyond: Two Souls ....

The Last of Us
hbo.com

I love the video game The Last of Us, probably my personal Game of the Year in 2018 for the PS3. The game was so good, that I re-purchased it for the PS4. I probably would’ve have bought the PS5 version if it wasn’t so hard to find the Sony console. I kid, I saw one at a retail store, but am waiting for a “slim” or new version. I absolutely hate the look and massive size of the current PS5 console (I think it’s ugly).

I love the game, I know the story well, so I’m very interested in this HBO Max’s television show based on the game.

I just saw the pilot, and there are some sequences that are straight out of the video game. Of course, the show made some changes to the story, like adding more store to Joel’s daughter. It’s weird, but the show cast a girl that doesn’t look (or mix race?) anything like Joel. As for Ellie, they also cast the girl from Game of Thrones… and she doesn’t look anything like the girl in the game. Personally speaking, I would have preferred they casted someone who looked like Ellen Page. I get it, they cast people who can act, but it’s just my personal preference to have them look exactly like the characters in the game.

I think whenever they lifted the scenes from the game, I’m very happy. It’s when the show decides to change things or add stories and characters that has nothing to do with the game, that’s when I’m not interested. There’s enough from the game that I think the pilot does a good job in setting up the story.

As for the story, if you’ve never played the game, it’s about how this fungus destroyed the human race. It’s somewhat based on real life fungus that would take over ants and control them, like puppets. Anyway, this random girl, Ellie, may hold the key to saving humanity, and it’s up to Joel to transport her across the country. It’s a simple story, I don’t know if they can stretch it out to more than one or two seasons.

Here is my fear: I haven’t played the sequel to The Last of Us, but I’ve heard fans absolutely hated the game. According to these gamers, they made Joel into a bad guy and everybody revolted against it. So my fear is that fans will absolutely hate Season 2 or something. I don’t know, I haven’t played the second game, so I’m reserving judgement.

I am excited enough that I may re-buy The Last of Us for the PC when it is available on Steam (which I previously mentioned will be available Mar 3, 2023).

Update: Now that I’ve seen up to Episode 3 of The Last of Us, I thought I would share my opinion on what I’ve seen so far.

Of the three episodes, I think Episode 2 is by far the best. That’s because it’s so close to the game, that I’m really happy how it turned out.

I hated Episode 3, because it had nothing to do with Joel & Ellie. For whatever reasons, the show creators devoted a whole 70 minutes to two random characters Bill and Frank. Look, it’s a beautiful love story… but it didn’t really fit into the grand story! I wish HBO Max would have made this episode a “special”, I wouldn’t have an issue with it. Instead, I’m spending so much time with Bill & Frank, and it’s all for nothing! Maybe they could have cut the time in half and devote half the episode to Tess?

In the video game, you do meet one of these characters, but it’s a totally different story. In the game, the two hated each other.

Of course my opinion on Episode 3 is in the minority… as the whole world seemed to love this episode.

I’m hoping Episode 4 goes back on track and we can see those deadly fungus creatures and more action.

The show is doing so well that they’ve already announced a Season 2!

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Game of the Year: Elden Ring

Read More Elden Ring Yes, I’m finally playing Elden Ring, the game that literally everybody was playing in February 2022. The game went on sale on disc, so picked it up. I popped in the disc, expecting to play the game. Guess what? You can’t just put in a disc and play the game. ....

Ever since I started playing Elden Ring in September 2022, I knew this game was special. At first, you might get discouraged, but as you build up your character, you feel accomplished when you finally take down that boss!

Of all the games that came out in 2022, I really felt that Elden Ring was my personal game of the year.

As it turned out, the Game Awards also agreed with me, and gave Elden Ring the “Game of the Year” award as well. The game also won three other awards: “Best Game Direction”, “Best Art Direction”, and “Best Role Playing”. Its biggest competitor, God of War Ragnarök, the sequel to my game of the year 2018 God of War, won “Best Narrative”, “Best Score and Music (Bear McCreary)”, “Best Audio Design”, “Best Performance (Christopher Judge)”, “Best Action/Adventure”, and “Innovation in Accessibility”.

I personally haven’t played God of War Ragnarök as the game is on PS5 (which I don’t have) and it was only released in November 9, 2022. I’m sure the game is deserving of those awards, but it just seemed really unfair to release the game only weeks before the Game Awards… so it’s so fresh on everyone’s mind.

With the Game Awards over and done with, I’m excited to see how everyone loved Elden Ring … that it’s almost guaranteed to get a sequel. Of all the Souls-like games, I felt that Elden Ring is the best among them, thanks to the open world nature of the game.

If you follow what I have said in the past, I have disagreed with Sony and their greed. In additional to raising the PlayStation 5 prices, they’re releasing their new games at $69. New games on Xbox are $59 (or in some cases, free via Game Pass), and games on PC are $59 new. Sony wants $69 to be the normal price for “next gen” games. Let me speak for everyone, no one wants to pay $70 for a new game. Since I refused to get a PS5 (and being locked in that $70 per game pricing), I’m glad to see that Sony decided to release their PlayStation exclusive games on Steam, starting in Jan 2022 with their PS4 game God of War. I think the trend is good for Sony, as they’re seeing even more profit from having their games on the PC.

Since these PlayStation games are now available on Steam, I have purchased God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition, Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, UNCHARTED™: Legacy of Thieves Collection, and Days Gone. Besides from GoW, I wouldn’t have bought or played these other games, if those games remain exclusively on their PlayStation … so, yeah, I’m glad Sony is moving their games outside of their PSN.

Even though I own The Last of Us on my PS4, I’ll probably re-buy it on Steam, as the game is now available for pre-order for Mar 3, 2023.

Returnal also has a listing, but no release date is set. I’m probably less interested in this game, but will likely pick it up if it’s on sale.

In other gaming news, Ubisoft has come back to Steam, with its game Assassin's Creed Valhalla on Dec 6, 2022. Ubisoft wanted to make money by force PC players to buy games directly from them, using their U-Play launcher. Unfortunately, PC gamers refused to buy it on U-Play, so Ubisoft has decided to bring their game back on Steam.

Enjoy,

- Weekend Gamer

Read more Weekend Gamer.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Elden Ring

Read More Demon’s Souls I was a bit surprise to hear that the 2009 Gamespot Game of the Year went to Demon's Souls. What was so surprising is that the game was hardly marketed here, I mean I didn't really see any advertisement for the game nor did I read any reviews …

Yes, I’m finally playing Elden Ring, the game that literally everybody was playing in February 2022. The game went on sale on disc, so picked it up. I popped in the disc, expecting to play the game. Guess what? You can’t just put in a disc and play the game.

The game required a 50GB download/update. This might be more common than you think, as sometime the game on the disc is actually not complete. For example, if there are cut scenes or files that are too large to fit on the disc, you need to download the missing components. It just basically suck, because you can’t really play games offline.

Having said that, I’ve been offline and playing the Elden Ring game, after that one-time 50GB update. In recent news (as of today): “Microsoft is making it easier to play games on your Xbox Series X, even if it’s offline — as of the 2208 update released earlier this month, you won’t be forced to do an online compatibility check to play a game from an Xbox One disc. Instead, you can just pop the disc in, install the game, and play; no internet connection required.”

That works out just fine for me, as currently I’m only connecting online via my iPhone’s internet connection on Visible Mobile.

As for Elden Ring, playing at first was overwhelming, as the game is open world and you can wander where you like. I like that sort of game play, but I found myself getting killed a lot and I didn’t really understand all the mechanics in leveling up or farming for “souls”. I’ve played other “souls” games, starting with Demon Souls on the PS3, so I’m familiar on how they work. To be honest, I’m surprised that this sort of role-playing/action game is beloved by so many gamers… as they are very hard game. They’re so hard, that I’ve never beaten any souls games. I like playing them, but man, I generally suck at my timing for defending and attacking.

What drew me into Elden Ring is that the software developer, FromSoftware, hired George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones) as writer. There’s actually not much of a story, but it’s clear that FromSoftware wanted a Western perspective/writing style to the game to appeal the Western market.

Anyway, I’ve been watching some masters at the game explain how you can level up faster and how they did it. It’s fascinating. You can go from level 1 to 100 in just an hour. There are obviously some exploits, but I didn’t think it was cheating.

Right now, I’m at level 15 and I’m still learning all the basics. I still suck at defense, but I’m enjoying what I already put into the game. From this point, I’m just going to take it easy and explore the world.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer: Game Pass is still amazing

Read More Xbox So, I joined Game Pass. There are two price points, the $10 per month pricing is strictly for Xbox games, and the $15, called Game Pass Ultimate includes PC, EA and Xbox Gold (you need this to play online Xbox games) …

One and a half month into Xbox Game Pass, I’m happy to report that it is an insane deal. It doesn’t even make any sense how MicroSoft is even making money off Game Pass… the value is just that good! Sure, some games do rotate out, but there’s still enough there to keep me in the service.

I’m not at all worried about Sony’s PS Plus service (coming in June 2022), which is basically their answer to Game Pass. As I previously pointed out in last month, they’re not going to include downloadable PS3 games. This is because the architecture is so different, that the PS5 or PS4 cannot run PS3 games. Sony’s solution is to let you stream those PS3 games - which is not an option for me. My internet is not great, and I think it’s a poor solution to Sony’s PS3 problem.

Anyway, back to Game Pass. I have so many games (it’s about 400 games available on Game Pass Ultimate), that I finally got around to trying Game Pass on the PC recently. While the experience wasn’t amazing: the Xbox App on the PC that I was under the age of 18 and put restrictions on what games I could download. That was an easy fix (but why was this a problem before?)

Then the Xbox App would not sign me in, no matter what I did. After rebooting my computer, it seemed to sign in fine now. Again, why was this a problem? I see that others experienced similar problem, especially after the App updated.

So… when you get the Xbox App to actually work, it’s pretty amazing! There are certain games that are available on the PC only, such as the latest Age of Empires IV, that I need the PC App to run. Again, I’m impressed that I’m playing these $60 games, for basically free… so long as I pay for that service.

I knew that MicroSoft said that my Xbox games will be available on the PC for free, if I purchased them, but I never looked into this as I didn’t really care that much. So imagine my surprise when I see that my Xbox games that I bought showed up on the Xbox App for the PC… meaning I now I have access to the PC version of some of these games. Now, that’s cool.

Going forward, I think I’ll only buy Xbox games, as it’s somewhat of a “two-for-one” deal for me (since the games will be available for me in two places).

One final thing about Game Pass that I didn’t know, until after I joined… it’s that you actually get to keep one or two games forever. Whatever the Xbox 360 games Game Pass/Games with Gold offers for the month, after you click on get for free, it’s yourself permanently. Seriously, I didn’t know that.

Sure the 360 games aren’t amazing (or are available for cheap), but I feel it’s such an added bonus, that I am more than happy to remain on the service for the time being.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

PlayStation Game Pass

Read More Xbox So, I joined Game Pass. There are two price points, the $10 per month pricing is strictly for Xbox games, and the $15, called Game Pass Ultimate includes PC, EA and Xbox Gold (you need this to play online Xbox games) …

Sony’s answer to Game Pass is finally here… at least in a pricing leak. According to Venture Beat, the new PlayStation Plus will include elements of PlayStation Now elements, with the three different tiers: Essential ($10), Extra ($13), and Premium ($16).

For the lowest priced, PS+ Essential, you only get three or four “free” monthly games… and the ability to play online games, just like the original PlayStation Plus.

For $3 more, you can get PS+ Extra, which includes the monthly “free” games and a game catalogue of “hundreds of older, downloadable games.”

For PS+ Premium, you get everything in Essential and Extra, plus the ability to stream PS Now games and access to “game trials” and “classic games”. To me, I read the game trial as simply a timed demo, so, to me, it’s a useless “feature”. I don’t know what the classic games will get you… maybe PlayStation One games?

The service hasn’t launched yet, but I’m curious to see how many games you will get compared to Game Pass. Currently my $15 Ultimate Game Pass gives me access to about 400 games. I don’t believe PlayStation will offer as much, but we’ll see. We do know, based on previous interviews and attitude, that new games won’t get day-one release on the PlayStation Plus service…. And that’s a real bummer. That just means that you only have access to old games.

With Game Pass, I have previously mentioned that there are only a few old games that I’m interested in checking out, the main draw for Game Pass are the new games, like Halo Infinite. I’ll be brutally honest, if Game Pass took away the new games, I know I wouldn’t bother with the service, that’s how important it is for them to include new games. If PlayStation Now Premium won’t include any new games, then I think it failed out of the gate.

There are so much we still don’t know about the new service - like will gamers have access to their PS3 games ? I still own some PS3 digital and disc games, and from what I know, I cannot play them on the PS4 and PS5 currently. With the upcoming service, I wonder if Sony will finally allow us access to our games? I hate to say it, but seeing as they up-charge $10 for PS4 to PS5 games, I wouldn’t put it pass greedy Sony to charge you $10 extra so you can play PS3 games you previously paid for.

That is the biggest difference that I’ve seen in this console generation… while Xbox won’t charge you for access to all your games (going back to the original Xbox). In fact, if you pop in an Xbox 360 disc, the new Xbox Series X will automatically download a playable version of that game (using Smart Delivery) and won’t charge you any money to play your game.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Sony do better. I do still own a PS4 and PS3, which are both currently de-powered as I haven’t used them for over a year. The way I see it, if I get a PS5, I don’t want to pay $10 for each PS4 games I own… and my PS3 games, that’s up in the air (as it’s currently not compatible with PS5).

I don’t even know why I’m so interested in the new PlayStation service, I guess what I’m more interested in is competition to Xbox Game Pass. It’ll be good to see what PS will bring to the table… and how Xbox can improve their service by seeing what PS has to offer.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

The PlayStation 5

Read More Playstation 4 Last week my PlayStation Network account got hacked/compromised. The person removed my email and added his or her email and took $50 from my bank account (that is tied to my account …

This is just a quick update. As you know, I used to be a big fan of gaming consoles, owning practically every console released since the Nintendo Entertain System. I retire them after the new ones comes out, and at the moment, I do own an XBox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. I have always had some sort of gaming PC as well, but with my ownership of my iBuyPower Fallout PC… I have practically given up all console gaming.

Why? There are many reasons why the PC is superior … first, it is because of the loading time is very fast on my PC, thanks to the ultrafast NVME storage. You don’t realize how much time you waste on a console when you’re launching a game or loading up a save file. On my PC, it’s almost instant when games launch or loading up game saves. Plus, depending on the graphic cards, my games looks a million times better on the PC than on any current console.

The other main reason is that games on the PC are much cheaper than on Xbox, PS4, and especially the Switch. In fact, Epic Games consistently gives out free games on the PC (this week it’s ARK: Survival Evolved and Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection).

Finally, in order to play online games, such as Fallout 76, you have to pay MicroSoft, Sony, or Nintendo, a monthly or annual fee. Sure, you get access to “free games”, but you don’t keep the games if you stop paying them the membership fee. I guess I’m just a cheapskate, but I just don’t want to pay for something that should be free.

Still, you know I’m still somewhat interested in seeing the next generation of gaming consoles… and today, Sony showed up what the upcoming PS5 will look like. And holy crap, it is so ugly. Particularly the optical disc drive looking like a belly bump. To me, it’s clear that Sony originally designed this “sleek” looking system without the disc drive and it looks uniform and centered. Then they added that drive and it just looks awful.

Anyway, I’m probably not going to buy one at launch. It really depends on pricing. If the rumors of it costing $600, it’s a hard pass for me - especially given how ugly it looks. Obviously, the disc-less version will be cheaper… but if we’re talking around $500 for that version, I still wouldn’t want it. Without the disc-drive, it means that you can’t play UHD or Blurays or DVDs or CDs! The only reason why I started collecting gaming consoles was that they also serve as a great media center, as it’s a powerful machine to play my discs.

I guess we’ll wait and see how well the PS5 performs, according to The Verge, the system will be powered by an eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU and a custom AMD RDNA 2-based GPU. Based on Sony’s proprietary SSD, it should boost load times for games.

Even though I have no desire to buy the PS5, the main reason why I’m interested is for the new gaming technology. The PC can eventually adapt to it or offer their version of it… and that’s exciting.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

PlayStation Network got hacked again?

Read More Playstation 4 Sony's Flash Sale of indie games started Friday (ending Monday, January 26) and I bought Costume Quest 2 for $3 on the PS4. It's actually a pretty enjoyable game, even though I felt it was too short. …

I know this doesn’t have anything to do with music... unless you subscribe to the PlayStation Music (previously named Music Unlimited) service or listen to Spotify on your PS4, but last week my PlayStation Network account got hacked/compromised. The person removed my email and added his or her email and took $50 from my bank account (that is tied to my account when I purchase items). I’m convinced that PSN got hacked earlier in November. Read about the complaints here and here. Of course, Sony denies they were hacked.

If you don’t believe me, this person created a brand new PSN account recently (December 2016) and immediately got compromised using the Sony network.

I actually didn’t know I was hijacked until my bank called me and said there were some suspicious activities, referring to the $50 charge.

Anyway, Sony really need to put in place some extra security in their network.

For example: changing password or changing login information should require some kind of passcode sent to the original email created. This is standard for Gmail or Hotmail account, where they send a passcode to your email or cellphone. This would just prevent locking out the original user and also give a heads up that something is fishy with the PSN account. Sony doesn’t email to you to confirm any account changes. This is a problem.

Another suggestion of tighter security: Send an alert to the original email that someone from another country and/or different IP address is using your account. Again, this is standard policy for any other secured platform - such as Steam or your local bank.

It just seems silly to me that Sony, that even after five years after the 2011 hack, they still can’t get their act together.

Anyway, if you also got your account hijacked, go over to playstation.com and either call them on the telephone or email them (I suggest email). However, if you live in the U.S., I believe your only choice is a live chat with a representative. They can’t resolve your problem right away, but will refer your issue with a “specialist”, who will then review your account and restore it to your control in 24 to 48 hours.

After restoring control to your account, change your password right away. Then go to two-factor security and add your mobile phone. That means anytime someone tried to use your login information, you will get a text for a random security passcode.

Personally speaking, after getting my account hacked and not able to access some online games or my previous games I purchased, I was frustrated and angry at Sony. It’s really opened my eyes, and starting today, I will just simply stop buying games directly from PlayStation... In fact, I think I will pick up the Xbox One S now, even though I have previously said that I would wait for the Xbox Scorpio. I guess the time is now to switch over.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Site Update: February 2015

Read More Starcraft II Internet connection required: For piracy issues, Blizzard requires you to log into their server (battle.net) to authenticate the game that you bought. If you're not online, you can't play your single-player campaign. ...

ROGERS FAMILY COMPANY
gourmet-coffee.com

My sister told me that the K-Cup are a dream, and I'll love coffee because it makes the best cup. I'm a coffee drinker, but I've told her that I'm not buying a Keurig because of their stupid DRM (Digital Rights Management) cups.... but perhaps all that is about to change because Rogers Family Company is offering a FREE "Freedom Clip", which will bypass the DRM. Keurig will sell you more expensive coffee and restrict you to their approved cups.

Say whatever you will, but with the "Freedom Clip", I believe they will actually sell more Keurig Coffee Maker, because now I'm suddenly interested in this product.

I've said it numerous time before, but the reason why I stopped buying Blizzard's games (at least on the PC) is because they started implementing DRM. It's really a shame, because I do like their games. Just out of principle, I won't support a company that put restrictions on something I own. The last game I purchased from them was Starcraft II, which I had no idea required me to be online to play the single player campaign. I don't like the fact that now they can violate my privacy (knowing when I play their games) and can block me from modifying my single/solo game or installing on multiple computers. The takeaway is that DRM is bad for consumers.

Anyway, if you already own a Keurig or just thinking about it, you may want to head over to gourmet-coffee.com and sign up for a free clip before it expires or when Keurig put out a cease and desist.

Read More Plex Pass For less than a Plex Pass, you can pick up a Raspberry Pi to stream your media. You'll have to go into your settings and enable UPnP to share videos. I've been streaming movies to my iPad using a DLNA/UPnP client called 8 Player ...

RASPBERRY PI
raspberrypi.org

I've recently poo-pooed Plex's useless $40 annual subscription just to access your local media. Instead, I told you to just buy a Raspberry Pi instead. I have good news, the new Raspberry Pi 2 is out now and retails for the same price ($35) for a much faster processor (6x) and twice as much ram (1GB)... but the best news of all is that they are going to support Windows 10 - FOR FREE.

Before you get too excited about it, Win10 may be limited due to restrictions to the ARM chip and other shortcomings. I recommend waiting until Windows 10 become available to read the reviews.... however for $35, it's cheap enough that you can buy the board now and just play around with it while you wait.

This is the truth, I used to own the original Raspberry Pi and I had two major issues with it: 1) No Windows Support and 2) it was 'slow'; barely able to play 720p movie files. With the updated hardware (and soon Microsoft support), they've addressed my two biggest gripes. So, yes, when Windows 10 comes out, I will be first in line to get the new Raspberry Pi 2.

Changes in Raspberry Pi 2:

A 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU

1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM (2x memory)

Complete compatibility with Raspberry Pi 1

I actually tried to look at the order one, but it may be sold out due to overwhelming interests.

Dragon Age: Inquisition - Game of the Year

Did you get a PS4 for Christmas, but can't get online to play Destiny? Both Playstation and Xbox are under a DOS attack over the Christmas holiday. That's why I would never buy an online-only game (or any game that requires an always on connection). It's like you own the game, but can only play it whenever the service is available... Imagine buying a car, but it will only work if it gets approval.

Anyway, if you're looking for offline games on the Playstation 4, have I got some games you should check out: Dragon Age: Inquisition and Far Cry 4. Both games came out in November.

Read More Dragon Age One of my favorite role playing game, Dragon Age: Origins is available for FREE until October 15, thanks to origin.com. I love Origins, and had issues with its sequel Dragon Age II for its repetitive game play and …

DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION
dragonage.com

Remember how I beat Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare in just a few hours? I complained about how short the campaign was... Well if you're in the same boat and want a game that is meatier, you need to check out Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Just to give you a little background, I am a fan of Black Isle/BioWare, the company that created some of my favorite games: the original Fallout, Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights series. BioWare went on to produce games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. The first Dragon Age: Origins is my #2 favorite RPG game, just behind Skyrim.

The game will take you about forty hours to complete, I've already sunk in about 37 hours and I'm not really that far in the game! Of course, I also played the game wrong because I spent about 20 hours in the first area (the Hinterlands). I had no idea I can leave that map and go to other area of the game. The game did not make it obvious that I can easily access the world map or that I can always return back to the Hinterlands. From my previous experiences, sometime when you leave an area, you are not allowed to go back, so I basically completed everything in the first map before I moved on! And that took a long time!

The fighting mechanics is a cross between Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, and although you can pause the game, I found myself not using the pause tactical screen simply because navigating between characters on the controller is not a great way to play. On the PC, accessing characters is a click of a mouse, but on the game console, you have to press up and down to select each characters. Basically I played the game as more of an action RPG.

The game is good, but I wouldn't put it on my #1 or #2 list, as there are some key things that I hated. First of all, the world does not feel open or epic. Part of the fun for me is travelling from town to town, but in Dragon Age, you can only access it via maps. Areas are only available to you once you unlock them. The other big issue I have is how limited the skills are. For example, I am playing a rogue, and once I maxed out my archery skills, there is not a lot for me to go. I guess, I can always develop my sneak attacks ... but that is not my play style.

Plus, the game is buggy! Here are additional issues I had:

Characters holding a torch will not fight automatically.

Sometime rifts will not allow to close (especially when you leave the rift area and try to come back right away).

Characters cannot swim (you fall in the deep water and you instantly die).

The jump button is also the interact button by default, so I found myself jumping a lot.

Traveling by mount is faster, but you never use it because enemies can attack the horse.

Auto-targeting enemies (at least on the console) does not guarantee actually fighting them. You will attack the enemy you are facing instead of attacking the targeted creatures.

On the console side, you are only allowed the use of 8 buttons - due to the limitation of the controller. The problem is that you will eventually develop more skills than you can use. I don't think this is a problem for the PC version, since you can probably assign a skill to any buttons on the keyboard.

Anyway, I am really enjoying Dragon Age: Inquisition at the moment. Even if the game is not my all-time favorite game, it is certainly my favorite game of 2014!

Dragon Age: Inquisition is currently on sale on EA's Origins system for $39.99. It's the standard edition, which is fine for most people.

Personally, I never saw the value in paying for digital goods, unless the price is too good. Sometime if the price is only marginal, I don't have any problems a little paying more for physical discs. I like the idea of lending, giving it away, re-selling it, or using it as backup.