The Mysterious Ones

Hey Guys, this is my first attempt at my first short thriller/horror story. This one took me a while to create. If this one is well-received, I might continue to make short stories. Yes, I know it really isn't anything gaming related, but I figure that most of us like to read Creepypastas. I should have content on this blog that everybody can enjoy. Hopefully, you'll like my very first story. I really don't consider this story to be that scary. Also, I tried not to make this as cliche as possible, so don't expect a bloodbath of any kind.

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata has passed away

Hey Guys, Nintendo has just made an announcement about the death of CEO Satoru Iwata. He died due to a bile duct growth on July 11, 2015.

Image provided by GameRevolution

Just, wow. I don't mean this in a good way. He was only 55 years old at the time of his death. He left us way too soon. However, we really shouldn't be focused on his death. We should be more focused on all the things he had accomplished.

This man started at Nintendo as a programmer! Now, he was the CEO. Anyways, the new of the bile duct actually caused Iwata to miss E3 this year despite the fact that he was apparently on business.

Seriously, please look up everything that Iwata had accomplished in his life and you'll see why he should get the respect he deserved.

Thank you Mr. Iwata for helping bring joy into our lives and may you rest in peace.

Kojima Productions is officially closed

Holy Cow. Hey Guys, Konami has been in a lot of turmoil ever since they apparently gave Hideo Kojima the boot. Additionally, they gained even more controversy when they wanted to start branching off into the mobile gaming industry. However, this has got to be the final blow to Konami. Japanese voice actor for Solid Snake, Akio Otsuka , confirmed that Kojima Productions has finally disbanded.

Otsuka confirmed the news via his Twitter post. He even stated that Kojima Productions was "forced to disband".

The next question is. What's next for Konami? They are pretty much nothing with Hideo Kojima! Remember Silent Hills? Anyone who tries to argue that Konami can still be amazing without Kojima is a complete idiot! They canceled Silent Hills because Kojima was the only one who knew what to do with the project!

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will be the final game from Kojima Productions. I bet that this game will be a masterpiece and would have shown how much potential Konami would have had in the future if they didn't get rid of Kojima. As a matter of fact, Silent Hills probably would have resurrected the survival horror genre had it not been canceled.

What's wrong with you Konami? After Metal Gear Solid V releases, I am no longer buying any product of theirs. They got rid of one of the most influential video game designers of all time and have nothing to show for it. I'm sorry, but Konami is pretty much done for at this point in time.
Till Next Time!!

17-year old Lizard Squad member arrested! -Then they attack Daybreak Games....

Hey Guys, I have never been this excited since the announcement of Fallout 4. Lizard Squad is one name that will be any person just shutter is disgust. They claim to be "untraceable", so they were hidden well in the shadows. However, 17-year old Finnish gamer, Julius Kivimaki was finally caught.

Image provided by KitGuru

Kivimaki was convicted for over 50,000 charges in cyber crime which also includes the Christmas DDos attack for both Xbox Live and PSN. He will be facing a two-year prison sentence and required to be an ant-cyber crime advocate. You can view more deails about his arrest here.

Then, Lizard Squad began attacking Daybreak Games as a result of their CEO John Smedley took onto Twitter and Reddit to rant about them having a negative impact on his life. You can check out the full article behind this here.

I'm going to try to give you guys my thoughts on this, but I do fear in the worst case scenario that something may happen to me, but I will risk it. I am so glad that finally someone else was caught. This at least give us optimism that these guys are traceable after all. Remember the Christmas attacks? Jesus, I couldn't even get on Xbox Live for the entire day! It's even more frustrating to think about it in retrospect because Lizard Squad publicly announced that they would attack Xbox Live and PSN on Christmas and neither Microsoft nor Sony took any action towards it.

Security should be beefed up on both Xbox Live and PSN to prevent these guys from attacking, but also not just these services. Every game company should have increased cyber security in order to prevent attacks like these from happening.

Lizard Squad is nothing when they don't have a computer. One of these days, they will get caught. Of course not by me, but somebody will get them. They think they have all the power in the world to do as they please, but they are just practically asking to get caught.

If you are a hacktivist, please keeping doing what you're doing, but I don't have a tolerance for hackers who do these types of things. Please, focus all your attention in seeking these guys out and finally getting rid of them.
Till Next Time!!

Why do we continue to play older Call of Duty games?

Hey Guys, for the past two days I've been playing Modern Warfare 3. Yes, that game is like almost 5 years old now, but it still has a fanbase. How could a game that old be moderately popular despite the fact that most people began complaining about the Call of Duty franchise on this particular game? Honestly, I don't know the exact answer to that question.

Image provided by Wallfoy

I think it's because of a pure nostalgia rush that we go back to visit the older COD games. Modern Warfare 3 was a big deal when it came out. Remember all those XP bonuses you could get from Mountain Dew and Doritos? I know that seems common today, but I believe this was the first time this was a thing. Also, I remember that it was the fastest-selling game of the year back in 2011. It still holds up today, but many people used to look down on it because a lot of people quit on Call of Duty after Modern Warfare 3.

Remember how much bigger Black Ops II was back in 2012? I still see a surprising number of people still playing that game. I used to play that game until my hands were sore! This game also still holds up today as well. However, I think a lot of people still continue to play this game because of Zombies. Advanced Warfare has a good Zombies mode as well, but the zombie's story in Black Ops III was far superior than to Advanced Warfare.

What about Ghosts and Advanced Warfare? In about 4 months, Ghosts will officially be two years old. This game still has a dedicated fanbase despite the fact that Ghosts is currently seen as the worst entry in the series by the community. Are they correct? No, they are fools. Ghosts is not a bad game, but I see where the complaints are coming from. Advanced Warfare was actually a big improvement on Ghosts, but it gets boring after a while.

Do you notice a trend that I'm making? We use the older COD games as a type catharsis due to the fact how boring the newer COD games are. We don't care if the game was bad at the time because we spent so much time away from it that we begin to have fun once we re-visit one of the older games. Call of Duty will be around for a long time. Love it or hate it, there is absolutely no denying that we all have at least one game in the series that we just loved.

Before I end this, sorry I didn't mention Black Ops or Modern Warfare 2. I didn't want to pick easy targets since most people including myself have had such good memories of these games in the past. Both games are still enjoyable to play as well. My copy of Black Ops got lazer burnt, so I can no longer play it, and I just don't play Modern Warfare 2 anymore.
Till Next Time!!

Ubisoft Reports a Fall in Sales, but PS4 is its best platform

Hey Guys, normally when sales begin to decline it shows a trend. When reading the title of this article, should we really be surprised? Ubisoft has been on the bad track ever since Assassin's Creed: Unity. As a matter of fact, Ubisoft has been on the bad track since the release of Watch Dogs!

Don't act like you haven't see this before. Good luck with the nightmares. Image provided by GameSpot

Don't get me wrong, I love Ubisoft. I love Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell, and Ghost Recon. However, there is no denying that they have been releasing poor quality games recently and just overall bad business ideas.

I'm pretty sure you want to see the numbers. Ubisoft revealed its financials for the quarter and reported a 73 percent year-on-year decline in sales. Holy cow. While the sales are going down, PS4 is Ubisoft's best selling platform. Here are even more numbers of pouplar consoles Ubisoft games have been sold on,

• PS4: 27%
• PC: 23%
• Xbox 360/One/PS3: 11%
• Wii and Wii U: 3%

Honestly, I am surprised that last-gen consoles are still holding up today. Put together, they are actually outselling current-gen Ubisoft games. However, Ubisoft is still on the decline.

Just recently, Forbes released an article on Ubisoft's CEO discussing the reason why digital games are so high when compared to physical retail games. You can check out the article here.

Seriously Ubisoft, you have to get your act together. Assassin's Creed: Syndicate will be releasing this year and if this game comes out with glitches then you are done for. 

Till Next Time!!

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Xbox One Bundle - Is it really worth a buy?

Hey Guys, there was just a number of bundles announced at Comic-Con yesterday. This is one in particular does catch my attention because I do consider myself to be a Gears of War fan. However, is it really worth a buy?

Image provided by Digital Trends. 

Now, my first impression of this bundle is the appearance. If I was a customer shopping for a gift and have no idea about video games, I would probably look for something that looks a lot 'colorful'. What I mean by colorful is something that has a cool design. Sure it may look cool to have a Gears of War banner below the box, but it's not doing enough to say "buy me".

Anyways, this bundle will contain,

• A digital download code for Gears of War: Ultimate Edition
• 1 Xbox One Wireless Controller
• An Xbox One 500GB system
• Early access to the Gears of War 4 beta
• Superstar Cole multiplayer skin
• 14-day Xbox Live Gold Trial

If you're a massive Gears of War fan, there is no reason for you not to buy this bundle. The early access to the Gears of War 4 beta has to be the highlight item in this bundle. I'm more than positive that would make any Gears of War fan happy. This is also a steal if you have never played Gears of War and are looking to buy an Xbox One.

Now, is it worth a buy for casual gamers who are trying to buy an Xbox One? Let me mention that this bundle is $349. The game itself is great! However, I don't think this was a smart idea for a number of reasons. First, why would they sell a 500GB Xbox One console? You can buy a 1TB Xbox One Console that is bundled with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. for just $400. Second, why would they only add one game? I totally get that this is a Gears of War bundle, but maybe Microsoft could have added a first party game with it just to even it out. Why do I make this point? Because for $349, you can get a 500GB Xbox One console that is bundled with Assassin's Creed IV and Assassin's Cree: Unity. Sure it may be 500GB, but people would buy it because it comes with two games. Halo: The Master Chief Collection comes with 4 and soon to be 5 games!

I totally understand that you can upgrade the hard drive at a later time, but do you know how much more money you are spending? Trust me, you're going to spend a lot more money than you originally thought you would.

It's difficult to recommend this product because of its $349 price tag and the lack of actual content when you can get more games for the same price. Additionally, you can buy a 1TB Xbox One bundle for just $50 more! Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is a great game coming from the time I spent on the beta, but I don't think this bundle is for people who are looking to get their first Xbox One console and want to get a bang for their buck. The bundle will be released the same time the game releases which is August 25th and is available for pre-order.

Till Next Time!!

Call of Duty Black Ops III: 'Juggernog Edition' Leaked - It comes with a fridge.....

Hey Guys, a New Zealand retailer Mighty Ape leaked some information regarding a Juggernog Edition. This edition was more than likely supposed to be announced alongside the announcement of the Zombies mode. Anyways, check out the image below to see what it looks like.

I kid you not. This thing actually comes with a mini-fridge

I must mention that this is not official yet. This is all leaked information, but you should expect to see a formal announcement from Treyarch at Comic-Con in about a hour or so. This edition includes,

• Season Pass- This would get you all the DLC for free. This usually goes for $50 on its own.
• Perk-a-Cola Coasters with Custom Tin
• A Collectible Steelbook- I actually was never of fan of this. I prefer that it comes with the regular game case.
• The Giant Bomb bonus map- This is probably going to be free DLC once it releases.
• The official soundtrack- Oh jeez. Does anybody even buy soundtracks anymore?
• In game content that includes the Cyborg personalization pack, Black Ops III pack, and Weaponized 115.
• Limited Edition Concept Art Cards

I'm pretty sure I mentioned everything, but that mini-fridge is a shocker. I never once seen anything like this before! I think it's pretty cool to have as a collector's item, but I'm pretty sure nobody is actually going to use it to store anything. Imagine just having someone over and seeing you use that mini-fridge. I don't think that would end well.

Before you ask, it's around $195 in US currency. However, I anticipate it to be more once a formal announcement is made. Jesus, you can get an Xbox 360 or PS3 for the same price. You can see the listing itself here. Good job, Mighty Ape.

Till Next Time!!
*UPDATE*: Treyarch made the official announcement that this bundle does exist

Is there a Prototype Collection coming to Xbox One and PS4?

Hey Guys, just recently Xbox Achievements received achievement lists for both Prototype and Prototype 2 on the Xbox One. You can check out the full article here

I have mixed feelings about this. I have nothing against Prototype or its sequel. I think that the first game was great, but I never got the chance to play the second game. It's the whole re-release thing that makes me nervous. I thought we were trying to move on from last-gen. Sure it's cool to see remaster ports of old games, but isn't time that we get some new games? Maybe even a Prototype 3 for this matter?

As of July 9th, there is still too little information to prove that either game or a collection of both of them are to be released. Is it impossible? No, it's very possible that we might see both of these games on current-gen consoles.
Till Next Time!!

Here's what is in Just Cause 3 Collector's Edition

Hey Guys, Square Enix has just announced what will be available in the Collector's Edition of Just Cause 3. Here's is the image below,

If you're confused about the release date, it's December 1st

In case you can read the contents of the image, the collector's edition will include,

• A 15-inch Replica Grappling Hook
• Day Edition of the Game
• A 24-inch by 24-inch map of Medici 
• A 32 page hardcover art book

This Collector's Edition can be yours for only a $110. Just Cause 3 will be available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

Till Next Time!!