Showing posts with label suburban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suburban. Show all posts
Monday, September 25, 2017
Suburban Killbot Top 10 Favourite Games
Suburban Killbot Top 10 Favourite Games
I�ve been thinking about doing this for some time, but it was always hard trying to figure out what to include or even how to approach it. Should this be a list of what I consider to be the �best� 10 games I�ve ever played, or simply the most �important� in terms of how they influenced my love for the medium? I opted more towards the latter than the former, as I must admit I�ve included some titles I probably wouldn�t enjoy half as much now as I did at the time of their release.
So here it is, my Top 10 Favourite Games �
So here it is, my Top 10 Favourite Games �
1) System Shock 2 2) Panzer Dragoon Saga
(PC / 1999) (Sega Saturn / 1998)
3) Shogun: Total War 4) Mass Effect
(PC / 2000) (X-Box 360 / 2007)
5) Death Tank Zwei 6) Shenmue
(Sega Saturn / 1996) (Sega Dreamcast / 2000)
7) The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind 8) Populous
(PC / 2002) (Sega Mega Drive / 1990)
9) Dragon Force 10) Wizard of Wor
(Sega Saturn / 1997) (Commodore 64 / 1983)
Once I�d figured out how I was going to approach this list, picking the games to appear wasn�t actually too difficult, although putting them into some sort of order was a little tricky. I�ve already covered a few of these games on the blog, and the intention is to review or cover the rest over the course of this year if I can find the time.
download file now
Friday, September 1, 2017
Suburban Killbot Year 3
Suburban Killbot Year 3
So that Skyrim Mod Store was pulled pretty fast, but I doubt we�ve seen the last of it. This experiment may have failed, but I suspect it shall return in one form or another in the future. I�m not against the notion of paid mods in principle, but it�s the implementation of such a system that�s key. The Skyrim Mod Store was thrust upon an established community with zero warning, little explanation and, with apparently very little thought. I�m amazed that anybody at Valve or Bethesda believed this was the best way to go about it. But like I said, I don�t think this is the last we�ll hear of it.
Anyway, this post isn�t meant to be about that, but about another year of Suburban Killbot! It�s taken 3 years but I think I�ve finally settled into a format that I like in terms of variety of posts and post length. I�ve been a bit short on writing related posts this year, but I hope that will change when my new book goes out to publishers in June. I�m also thinking about expanding into video content. In the next few days I�m finally getting my Internet upgraded to the point where uploading videos is now feasible, and putting up a few raw gameplay videos might be fun. I�m not really interested in doing commentary, cams or video reviews though � too much work!
I�ll be doing a free e-book promotion soon, certainly before the end of the month. I�ve also got a GTA V review I�m working on. I don�t typically draft or spend that much time on my reviews, but with a game as extensive as GTA V, it�s hard not to. I hope to have that wrapped up before The Witcher 3 is released.
So, as I�ve been doing in these posts, it�s time for the expanded mosaic of all the top-rated games I�ve covered on the blog.
I�m no longer sure how many games I�ve played and covered since I started all this, but I know it�s quite a lot. And this might be the last mosaic I do. It�s getting rather big.
download file now
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Suburban Killbot Year 4
Suburban Killbot Year 4
It�s time to celebrate (?) another year of Suburban Killbot! I was hoping this edition of my yearly update would allow me to share some good writing related news. But unfortunately, there�s nothing to report. I�m still working on my new book, which is progressing more slowly than I�d planned, but you can�t really rush these things. I�ll probably do a post about that soon. Instead, I�m just going to use this update to rant about stuff. Enjoy!
I�ve said before that I don�t visit many gaming related sites these days for �various reasons�. Those �various reasons� primarily being that so many of these sites seem to be staffed by clueless, incompetent bloggers who demonstrate a lack of interest in or even a basic understanding of the medium on which they are supposed to be reporting.
But on occasion, I do visit these sites as they may have gameplay videos of upcoming titles I�m interested in playing. And, just recently, I was watching some Total War: Warhammer videos. These were preview videos showcasing battles from the game. And in the videos posted by two different gaming sites, all of the people playing were f**king terrible.
You might say my assessment of their skill isn�t fair. Maybe they�d never played a TW game before? But why would you send someone who had never played a title in a series running for over 15 years, to showcase the latest title in that series to your audience? Hell, based on these videos, I�m not sure the people playing have even played any kind of strategy title before. In one case, I�m not convinced they�ve even used a mouse and keyboard before.
I later watched a video of the new Doom being played by another site, and based on the video and their inability to aim, move and shoot at the same time, I�d guess the person had never played an FPS before on either console or PC. It was painful to watch, and it does a disservice to both the game and the audience.
How the f**k are people so incompetent being employed to write about and report on these games? Sure, there�s genres I�m not particularly skilled in, but if I was going to be recording preview footage of an upcoming title in a professional capacity, I�d at least try to familiarise myself with the basics beforehand, to ensure I give my audience content of value, to demonstrate the game in a way that wasn�t entirely inept.
Because people want to learn about the game, and they won�t learn anything watching someone struggle with basic camera controls or WASD movement. I don�t think it�s unreasonable to expect people working at gaming sites to have at least a rudimentary understanding of the basics. This is the equivalent of someone sitting down to eat a meal, holding the knife and fork upside down and then jabbing at the food with the blunt end. It�s embarrassing to watch, and a waste of my time.
download file now
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Suburban Killbot YouTube Channel
Suburban Killbot YouTube Channel
I had my internet upgraded last year, which was nice. It meant I no longer had to wait 10-20 hours for a single game to download. It also meant I was finally able to upload videos. I wasn�t quite sure what sort of videos I should do. Initially I thought about doing video reviews to accompany my written reviews, but I don�t have a fancy microphone or editing software and it seemed like an awful lot of effort for something that just wasn�t worth the hassle.
Instead, I figured I�d just upload raw gameplay footage. No fancy editing or commentary, just pure gameplay. I know when I want to see a new game in action, I like to just watch raw footage of it without people talking over it or describing everything they�re doing. So I thought, why not do just that? It�s also a lot easier and requires far less effort. I just hit a button, record my footage and upload.
I use NVIDIA ShadowPlay to record, which isn�t the best in terms of quality, but it works with everything I�ve tried, keeps the file size fairly low and is nice and simple to use. Due to a limitation with Windows 7, it splits recordings at a certain size, which means I have to use the YouTube video editor to combine and process each part into a complete video. This further reduces the quality even compared to a regular upload, but there�s not a lot I can do about that.
I�ve currently got three playlists of videos on the go with a new one starting soon. I�m not going to adhere to any kind of upload schedule or anything like that. I�ll just post stuff as and when I have it/feel like it. And I won�t post everything I record, only the stuff I think is interesting to watch for one reason or another.
I haven�t monetised any of my videos because that�s another hassle I don�t need. Like my blog is ad free, I don�t want to start worrying about this channel as some sort of revenue stream. Playing, writing about and now posting videos of games I enjoy is my hobby and I�d rather it stay that way. After all, I already have a career. Maybe not a particularly successful career, but maybe things will turn around this year.
download file now
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)