Hello SG,

I'm not a blogger by any means anywhere so I guess now is as good a time as any to start somewhere. I'm a gamer and a musician by trade so that's a lot of what I'll be talking about here. A little about myself first I suppose, I'm a native of Cleveland Ohio and I don't plan on going anywhere soon. I'm an only child, so I occasionally don't play well with others. I have minimal ink, one on either shoulder, and am looking to expand but without a job that is limited. I recently had a second round of major surgery on my left lung this time (my last round was on the right) so I don't smoke and don't plan on starting. I'm currently working on a bachelors in Musical production which keeps me fairly busy even though I'm working on the degree completely online. I really do wish I could make it to the campus to sit behind a board but unfortunately money is an object and my campus doesn't offer housing; you have to rent your own apartment. Since I'm rather dependent on family and my family is dependent on me that isn't an option currently. Anyway the past year and a half have really been a wild ride in regards to that. Constantly fighting for financing and loans has been an absolute pain but I'm sure everyone knows about that. Classes have been a wide variety of things like composition, orchestration, working in Pro Tools and Logic, and simple things like math and english comp.



*spoilers*


Anyone as I said I'm a gamer so I decided to do sort of a review area of the games I'm currently playing or constantly addicted to. For starters I'd like to address the new DmC: Devil May Cry. I'm sure most of the hardcore fans out there aren't a huge fan of the reboot (to say the least) but honestly the game is probably my favorite of the series. I've played all of them but 4 and all things considered the new Dante feels more like a real character than old Dante ever did.

Hello SG,

I'm not a blogger by any means anywhere so I guess now is as good a time as any to start somewhere. I'm a gamer and a musician by trade so that's a lot of what I'll be talking about here. A little about myself first I suppose, I'm a native of Cleveland Ohio and I don't plan on going anywhere soon. I'm an only child, so I occasionally don't play well with others. I have minimal ink, one on either shoulder, and am looking to expand but without a job that is limited. I recently had a second round of major surgery on my left lung this time (my last round was on the right) so I don't smoke and don't plan on starting. I'm currently working on a bachelors in Musical production which keeps me fairly busy even though I'm working on the degree completely online. I really do wish I could make it to the campus to sit behind a board but unfortunately money is an object and my campus doesn't offer housing; you have to rent your own apartment. Since I'm rather dependent on family and my family is dependent on me that isn't an option currently. Anyway the past year and a half have really been a wild ride in regards to that. Constantly fighting for financing and loans has been an absolute pain but I'm sure everyone knows about that. Classes have been a wide variety of things like composition, orchestration, working in Pro Tools and Logic, and simple things like math and english comp.

Anyone as I said I'm a gamer so I decided to do sort of a review area of the games I'm currently playing or constantly addicted to. For starters I'd like to address the new DmC: Devil May Cry. I'm sure most of the hardcore fans out there aren't a huge fan of the reboot (to say the least) but honestly the game is probably my favorite of the series. I've played all of them but 4 and all things considered the new Dante feels more like a real character than old Dante ever did. This is of course an alternate time line so old Dante is still out there somewhere but with the new back story that they've given Dante he's more believable. The new characters that are introduced including allies and villains are a lot more alive than anyone like Trish ever was. The graphics here are beautiful, they did full motion capture on the faces of the voice actors so the character animation is smooth and brilliant. Dante still comes off as a bad ass, he's still as cocky as ever. The whole of combat takes place in limbo, the space between the demon world and the human realm. This allows the game to employ not only enemies but the environment as an obstacle. This was really amazing in a few levels that you wander in the human realm briefly and then shift into limbo and see how vastly different they are. They environments are incredibly well put together as well, not only are they vivid and gorgeous they are creative in their anarchy as well.

When it comes down to game play this game needs a controller. I'm a hardcore PC guy but I picked this up for my 360 (which I had to coax from its eternal slumber) but I have no clue how this would control fluently on a keyboard and mouse. Dante ends up with his usual weapons Arbiter and Ebony & Ivory, however as the game progresses you end up with grappling hooks, axes, scythes, angelic ninja stars, power fists, shotguns, and another (completely irrelevant) pistol. Then the game wants you to swap between all of these at will to rack up the best combo you can (this is DMC so it is score based per level), With the controller this is executed flawlessly by a really simple combo system and the use of button modifiers (the triggers) to allow Dante to constantly juggle enemies until they explode or you beat them back to Earth. Ninja Theory also added a new focus on airborne combat so expect to do a ton of juggling.

The game itself is rather short, broken up into twenty levels that only take about twenty minutes each to play. However as is typical of DMC there are at least 5 added difficulties including Heaven and Hell which allows both Dante and enemies to be one shot killed. The combat can end up feeling a bit repetitive but with how short the levels are it feels more like an arcade game; you put in a couple of quarters play a couple levels and then you're done for awhile. It is of course all about score so there are online leader boards to see where you stack up against. Finally with no multiplayer whatsoever this game addresses one of my biggest pet peeves that not every game needs multiplayer to be good. Overall I'd say this is a solid purchase for fans of the series if you would just give it a try. I'd say a 4/5.

I guess rather than cram all the games I'm playing into one I'll do one more and then leave it at that for now. My biggest gaming addiction for the last three years has been League of Legends. If you missed this game become the most played in the world with 32 million active players then it's time to use the internet more. I started my love affair with League of Legends back in September of 2009 when the game was still in closed beta. For anyone who's not familiar with the genre of MOBA that originated with the Warcraft III defense of the ancients map for the online multiplayer. There have been an incredibly large number of spin offs from this such as DoTA (which is the true successor) League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Smite, and the list goes on. I had a friend recommend it to me and it was my first MOBA so I was a bit nervous going in. However with the wide range of initial champions and small but welcoming community I quickly fell in love with the game. When it was released I was one of the few nerds who ran out and bought a hard copy of the game rather than just downloading it for free because I didn't want to see the game vanish.

The game plays like any other MOBA and it all comes down to personal preference on whether or not you like the difficulty and overall claustrophobia that is DOTA (It bugs the shit out of me that they still use the RTS camera angle and won't let my scale my HUD that takes up half my damned screen). Having played things like DOTA, HoN, and Smite I have to say that LoL is definitely my favorite. DoTA has a learning curve that is disgusting in nature and one mistake is incredibly unforgiving (HoN has the same problem). Smite I liked for its uniqueness of the genre, the fact that you play from a third person camera angle rather than a top down was new. Plus the fact that every ability was a skill shot (you have to aim, the computer doesn't heat seek your enemy for you) was amazing. However to me there are some balancing issues there with some of the earlier champs that have to be worked out before the game can really be playable (champs like He Bo that can poke from forever away and then escape like it was their job come to mind).

Anyway back to LoL; when I first started there were only 40 champs and we are now up to over 100 so the learning curve can be a bit steep now. There are a few champs that are incredibly easy to pick up and play and will still give you results like none other (Annie and Teemo come to mind). There are also champs with incredibly difficult skill caps that will take a ton of practice to fully master (People like Ezreal, LeBlanc, and Swain come to mind here). Riot has also mastered the art of counter play, which is to suggest that every playstyle should also be fun to play against. There are champions I hate to play against (Blitzcrank I'm looking at you buddy) but that makes the game fun, the panic of worrying about his skills and how to escape them. Balance is occasionally an issue on release but overall I think Riot does a pretty good job of constantly evaluating champ's place in the game (although I wish they'd look at a bulk of players, the middle ELO ground, to balance but alas they only look at the pros). There are 2 unique game modes on 3 different maps. Summoners Rift and Twisted Treeline are the basic destroy their base mode and Dominion on the Crystal Scar is a capture the points mode. Each of these maps requires completely different tactics, items, and team composition to succeed.

The one thing I will say against LoL however is the community. ALL of the MOBA communities are toxic, I haven't encountered one that isn't. However since LoL has the largest community in the world the percentage of toxic people is larger (toxic meaning trolls, flamers, leavers, ragers etc.). They have recently implemented a community clean up program that allows players to decide on who gets banned and suspended based on a case system like a courtroom. This has helped some but there are always those who slip through the cracks. Hell I have a friend that I wish would get banned for a week so he learned sportsmanship. Every game is flaming and trolling yet not ONCE has he ever been reported. People will often yell and scream over nothing in chat, you have to learn to ignore it. I have people tell me my build that I've been using for 3 years is trash and I should l2p all the time, you just ignore it. Overall though League has provided me with years worth of entertainment, and if Riot doesn't know I love them by the sheer amount of money I've spent on skins then I don't know what it takes. If anyone ever wants help learning the ropes or just is up for a game message me I'm CoheedtheBeast. If you're interested in getting started send me your email and I'll give you a referral email (helps me earn free crap).

Anyway I've rambled enough, if you read thanks and I'd love to have informed discussions about why my opinions are wrong any time you'd like. Hopefully I can get another one of these up next week.