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What Are The DC Shows On The CW Up Too?!

the-flash

I am watching the season finales of the CW’s DC shows and I have to wonder what the heck is going on!  I am not one to reveal spoilers, and I am not going to start now, but I am super confused.  I guess I will have to watch next year to find out, but I am not happy with the way things are going.  With the exception of the fact that Legends of Tomorrow finally uttered the words, “Justice Society of America”.  It was one of the best things ever said on television.  Plus Supergirl is pretty darn great, so hopefully she can be pretty darn great with all of her friends on the CW and fix this mess our superheroes are creating for themselves.

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Battleborn Shows Why Focused Marketing Is Important!

Battleborn

When Battleborn was announced, Gearbox CEO and founder Randy Pitchford used just about every gaming buzz word to describe it:

Nobody knew or knows now what that means.  Randy is a pretty funny guy.  I have heard him speak many times at PAX, so this may have just been a joke, but the problem is that Battleborn’s marketing never made it any clearer.  We were just left to wonder what the heck Battleborn was.  Once the game got closer to release we learned that it was really just a MOBA with a CO-OP story mode attached.

Had they hyped and explained that, maybe it wouldn’t have been unfairly compaired with Blizzard’s Overwatch.  The two games aren’t even in the same genre, but Battleborn’s poor marketing lead people to believe that they were, or at least that the MOBA aspects of Battleborn were just a small part of it, not almost the entire game.  Due to this confusion we almost can’t talk about Battleborn or Overwatch without mentioning the other one.  Which is unfortunate.

If we are comparing games to Battleborn, the games we should be bringing up are Gigantic by Motiga or Paragon by Epic.  Overwatch on the other hand should be compared with Splash Damage’s Dirty Bomb, or Valve’s TF2 (though mostly Dirty Bomb).  Comparing Battleborn and Overwatch’s similar art styles may be interesting, but that is about it.

I understand why this happened, Gearbox’s fans for the most part aren’t big MOBA players and the company didn’t want to scare them off, but had they been honest about what they were making maybe they could have drawn some new fans in.  Instead nobody understood what was going on with Battleborn until it was too late.  I hear if you like MOBA’s, Battleborn is a fun take, but for straight up shooter fans it is a bit of a let down.  I can’t help but think all of this could have been prevented if Gearbox’s marketing department would have advertised their game properly.

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Overwatch Day 1!

overwatch

If you follow gaming at all, the launch of Overwatch has been inescapable.  When beloved developer Blizzard launches their first new IP in almost two decades people take notice.  Heck, even I preordered, and I am not a big fan of preordering unless reviews are already out.  So with that much excitement how did Blizzard’s servers hold up?  Pretty good as far as I can tell.  I heard there was some trouble initially with the first wave of players, but when I got on around 9PM Pacific Standard Time things were running smoothly.

As far as the game goes, I didn’t notice anything different from the Beta, it is still a team based shooter where you either defend or try and capture objectives.  The fun comes in trying all the different crazy characters and trying to figure out how best to use their abilities to complete your objectives.  I still think it is a little over priced, but obviously that didn’t stop me from putting my money down (Yay birthday money!), and Blizzard is known for supporting their games, so I would be shocked if a few more modes don’t show up shortly.  My guess is King of the Hill is the first one to get added.

If you get the game look up Shmee on Xbox Live and maybe we will play a round or two together.  If the servers survived day one, I am assuming that they will stay stable for a while.  That is unless some hacker group decided to spoil everyone’s fun.  Jerks.

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Fallout 4 Takes Us To Far Harbor!

far-harbour

Far Harbor is the third piece of DLC for Fallout 4, and it is the best so far.  Generally when RPG’s offer DLC I always pony up the ones that offer new areas to explore, so if Fallout 4’s season pass hadn’t only been $5 more than just Far Harbor alone, this is the one I would have purchased.  Far Harbor is a large new map with new creatures and loot, and better yet, the story is interesting and lets you make meaningful choices.

Really Far Harbor should have been named Valentine Harbor since the main story revolves around synths, and one synth in particular, Nick Valentine.  Technically you can play Far Harbor without Nick, though you would be missing a lot of the story, or at least Nick’s input on things that involve him.  Once you complete Far Harbor’s main quest feel free to go back and get your companion of choice which in my case is a giant laser murder bot named Ada.  It might also be handy to cash in all of those fusion cores you have been squirreling away and take your best suit of power armor with you since there is radiation everywhere.  It is like a well forested Glowing Sea.

Far Harbor is more than just ‘DLC’.  It is a true expansion to Fallout 4, and if you are wanting to play more Fallout it is well worth a purchase.  If you are kind of Fallout 4’ed out, Far Harbor doesn’t really change up the experience all that much, so you can probably skip it.  Though having a story with real choices is definitely appreciated, and it shows that Bethesda does listen to their fans.  I am hoping for more DLC packs like this, and less like Wasteland Workshop which was so piddling it wasn’t worth talking about.