Getting the band back together

Lately I've been having a bash at the latest iteration of the Rock Band Franchise. Rock Band 4.

I will maintain that the second game in the franchise is the best. Oh sure, RB3 introduced the Music Library but it lacked the spark that made RB2 so special. matters aren't helped with the difficulty and the ugly character models.
So does RB4 bring anything new to the table?

So far i am liking the RPG-nature of the main campaign. I really like the choices one has to make - opting for either song selections or something random for the sake of cosmetic differences. Naturally, I gravitated towards the former option - there's no way I was going to play against something unfamiliar. Or lousy. Or hard. Clearly this game is built around having a substantial music library - perhaps more than ever before.

On the downside, the in-game store store seems limiting. The selection of guitars on sale seem smaller and the clothes on offer seem scant on 'sensible' options - but wide on the 'sillier' options. Mean if you, like me, want your band not looking like a bunch of idiots then you're out of luck.
Also, it seems the numbers of selections are restricted to the point of horrendous: I can't choose individual things for my band members, like shoes, earrings, t-shirt designs, and gloves. Instead a lot of these are lumped in together as accessories. And even the options that are already available seem paltry compared to previous Rock Band games. One would think that the more powerful hardware would lead to more customizing options but, strangely enough, the opposite is true.
I did like how the same cosmetic options were carried over from RB2 to RB3 - meaning that it was possible to recreate the same band members (even if the results weren't entirely successful). But to see such limiting cosmetic options in RB4 is disheartening at least. I suppose there is something to be said of making a new band instead of replicating previous members but that doesn't change the feeling of being, as a creator, hamstrung.

Still, it would be interesting to see what waits once the campaign is done....

One more for the Road

Yesterday the announcement was made that a new-mini console will be rearing it's head: A Mini-PlayStation will be coming out loaded with games.

I suppose this shouldn't come as a surprise as clearly people will buy things that are already easily available elsewhere Nostalgia sells. What is equally unsurprising is that Final Fantasy 7 and Metal Gear Solid are present and accounted for.
The real surprises however are a) the third of the 'Big Three', Castlevania Symphony of the Night is absent and b) there were actually enough PS1 games to fill out the rest of the console beyond the 'Big Three'.

Okay, okay, sarcasm aside, Having the PS1 re-released as mini-console shouldn't come as a surprise considering the success of the mini-SNES, Megadrive/Genesis and NES but exactly what does a new Mini-console bring to the table? Okay so not all of these games listed are available on the PSN but, lest we forget, this is a field that is advancing at a rate that is so rapid, it's alarming. Subsequently, many old games can get lost by the wayside and, unfortunately, claimed by the ravager that is time.
People lament about games you can no longer play. Games that, even not reaching enough people, presented new ideas that drew some attention. So why leave such iterations forgotten and unplayed? Why abandon such historical documents?

Of course, even as I type these words, i already know the answer: The four consoles that did get the mini-console treatment were all big sellers. Proof that, if anything, history is written by the winners.
Eventually however, the mini-consoles will run out of winners to rehash so what will happen next? Will they start focusing on the losers of the console war? Will we see rehashes of the Mega CD? Or the Saturn? Or worse?

It may not happen which is a shame: The above mentioned consoles may be mocked as failures but it does have it;s supporters that contend that both consoles had some diamonds in the rough. And I would like to see those diamonds given new light and show current gamers some noteworthy titles that they may not have been aware of.
I mean, you don't want the pirates to win, right?

Lost Weekend

This weekend I've spent a large amount of time on the Xbox One Scorpio (and yes I will keep referring to it as Scorpio).

A lot of it has been playing Red Dead Redemption 2 and...

.....ha ha, just messing with you. I've been using it to revisit games I'd got off of XBLA.

Granted this way of doing things may not be what Microsoft want me to do as a consumer but hey, I know what I want to play.

You're the One that I Want

So, this happened:

Yep, it finally happened. I shelled out for an eighth generation console having resisted for so long. I picked up an Xbox One S(corpio). One could say that is just in time for Red Dead Redemption 2 but more likely it was the necessity to keep up with a tech race that is forever ten steps ahead.

Grumbling aside, I have so far been fiddling around with the console, learning how the apps work and uploading all my saved games off the 360 and onto the cloud storage. A slow starter yes but this does begin a new chapter in my gaming history.

Whether that is a good thing or not, however, remains to be seen....

Homecoming

Another game has been cast down from my Hall of Shame. Clean out your desk Homeworld, you're outta here!

Original image located here. Accessed 24th October 2018 

Man has this been a long time coming. It was released in 1999, I got the game off the shelf in 2009 and then I complete it in 2018. Of course I could've waited out another year but why on earth would I do that?

Anywho, this game is nothing short of impressive - even with the time of nineteen years. I could say that the novelty of the 3d would be enough but the game truly excels with it's narrative, it's presentation and the music - notably the use of Barber's Adagio for Strings and Yes' The Ladder.

Indeed, this is game that has truly benefited from a revamp by Gearbox, adding to the beauty and immersion tenfold. 

Of course these words are typed through the perspective of a) having played through the revamp and b) the distance of nineteen years since it's original release. But what I find particularly fascinating is that time was not ravaged this game at all. It still has an impressiveness that a lot of modern games can only dream of and is still as compelling, and still quite capable of being heart rendering.  

In fact, one gets the feeling the destruction of Kharak is the PC's answer to the PlayStation's death of Aerith. 

For the Record

Here's something I obtained earlier this year:

Oooooooooooooooooh yes.

R.I.P. Ben Daglish

Original video located here. Accessed 5th October 2018

R.I.P. Ben Daglish