Hello World

Welcome to my new blog about the games I play on the PC, The type of games I plan on focusing are shoot 'em ups (also called shmups a term used by many hardcore shmup players), other games I enjoy are platformers like Sonic, Dizzy, Mega man and Tomb Raider, I also am a lover of fps games but it has to be a PC fps as playing a fps on a console controller is just retarded imo and console fps ported to the pc just suck unless the game has been altered in a big way to make up for the faster and more accurate aiming a mouse gives over a joy pad. I’m more for the single player fps like Doom 3, System Shock 2 and Thief then online multiplayer fps like Counter Strike (a bit too elitist for me) but I will have the odd game of TF2 or Quake Live. But unless it’s an arcade type game I’m very big on a game having a good plot.

Here are all the game machines i've ever owned. I still own a PC, GB and A1200.

A good plot can turn a mediocre game into fantastic journey like the Homeworld games the fantastic plot overshadowed the fact that the strategy side was poor as all you needed to do was blob the enemy in most cases to win. Speaking of plot another genre I can be big on is the RPG. I used to be massively into jrpgs since the days of the Mega Drive right up till the PS2 with FFX. Nowadays I’m more into PC rpgs Baulder's Gate series, Dungeon Siege 2 and FPS crossovers like the Elder Scrolls games (I haven’t played Mass Effect yet and i’m really looking forward to it.) The main reason apart from many PC rpgs been more immersive is that many jrpgs just grind way too much with slow random battles (although I hear many newer titles are nowhere near as bad as the old days) It is due to this that I nowadays prefer srpgs like Vandal Hearts or FF tactics and action rpgs like Alundra or old style Zelda of which I recently played Zelda 1 for the nes and liked it so much I finished it. Although I used a map from the net to cut down on time I would of spent mapping and trail and error which would of made me sick of the game enough to abandon it.

Never played before, Zelda 1 & Mega Man 1, Both i liked so much I finished them

I like games in most genres but I only like 1 or 2 titles of a certain genre so I don’t class myself as anything of a fan of said genres. Here are some other games that have a special place in my heart. Street Fighter 2, when I was 11 to 12 I used to spend allot of my time hanging out at a couple of arcades and the SF2 cabinet was the stop I usually spent allot of my time at. Even though I played it allot as Ryu, Ken, Guile or Chun Lee I was never a pro at it although I was very good with special moves and making combos with them. Out of all the fighting games SF2 and its iterations are only the fighting game I ever played (although I have had a few games recently of Melty Blood for the PC and also a bit of Tekken 2). I wouldn't say that I don’t like other fighting games like Mortal Kombat or Fatal Fury its just that I never wanted to take the time and 10 pence pieces to learn the move set of a another fighter, I was happy to get my fighting fix just playing SF2. I cant wait until I buy SF4.

Another genre i’m no major fan of is the strategy genre but I am massive fans of the Homeworld series and the Total War series (still haven’t play the later titles) my favourite game of this type been by far the Rome TW and its add on pack. Even if in RTW the AI was a bit simple nothing could be better then out flanking the enemy with heavy horsemen. Other strategy games I used to love to play when I was a kid but not so much now as I prefer to spend my time playing other games I enjoy more. I especially loved Sid miers games when I had an Amiga 1200 game like the original Civilisation and Colonisation (the theme tune bonny at morn is one of my favourite music from compute games of all time) I also loved his other titles Railroad Tycoon and Sim City Original for the Spectrum +2 and a bit of the later Sim City's for the PC. Before I had my last console pinched i have always enjoyed racing games on each of my games machines just not the PC. I dont know why ive never got into any on the PC as there are some cool multiplayer racing games out there. (something to keep in mind for later I think). Anyway here are some of my favorites, Enduro Racer, Roadblasters, Super Monico GP and ofc the Grand Tourismo Series especially the 2nd game of the series.

Now beat 'em up are another thing I used to love playing them Double Dragon 2, Final Fight and Captain Commando in the arcades and Golden Axe and Streets of Rage 1 & 2 on the Mega Drive. A shame the genre has nearly died out i’m meanstream game development. Going back to when I was a kid I especially loved to play co-op with friends in the arcade, I remember it been mainly Double Dragon everyone would prefer to play if they were short on cash as it was easy to clock the game with just 1 or 2 credits (elbow was a I win button). But I do remember many beat 'em ups were best played on the console as so many of them were credit munchers when you got to the later levels, but them again many genres were the same with many arcade games giving out cheep deaths that were impossible to avoid unless you had played that part before. I think that is the main reason shmups were never at the local arcades I visited was due to that fact. Although there was R-Type and the rail shooter Star Wars at one of my arcade halls but I never really got into them due to been poor. This is the main reason I never really got into the genre (apart from loving R-Type I really loved Gynoug for the Mega Drive that I rented out a couple of times). Although due to the facts of just recently discovering shmups and really loving them and the whole philosophy of them and for some other reason ill tell you in another post shmups are just about the only genre I’m playing at the moment apart from sometimes playing platformers and old emulated Mega Drive games. This is also why I will be posting at the very least for the next month or two allot of Shmup games. But I will try to post the lesser known but a hell of allot of fun titles when I get further into writing for this blog.

R-Type's Famous stage 1 boss.

Gynoug or Wings of Wor for the USA, It had some amaizing artwork for it's time

There is one game I haven’t mentioned yet but I am a big fan of is CCP's Eve Online, The immersive space opera mmo that many ppl in the pc gaming community know about but actually never play due to it been so hardcore and having a steep learning curve (although things are improving with a new tutorial system). Eve online is a mmo like no other due to the sheer amount of things you can do. But this does turn off allot of ppl as eve is a sandbox game and there is nothing to tell you what you should due next, the player needs to go out and make his own adventure. I could rattle on forever about why Eve kicks over mmos arses in terms of depth and tons of other things. Been like the fantastic pvp due to the fact that unlike wow if you get blown up your ship is gone for good and whatever it was carrying will of been looted by the victors (this allows for ppl to be pirates). Also the crafting and economy is by far the most complex of any mmo enough for there to be a full time professional economist been employed by CCP the developers. The game is also very dog eats dog that you will find ppl playing as isk (in game money is the isk) scammers and the spy who spies on the major space holding corporations (guilds of eve). As I said before allot of ppl know about eve due to the fact that so many of the amazing things that happen in the game that you just don’t see in another game. Many of these escapades get published by the press and not just gaming magazines like PC Gamer but mainstream press like the BBC and New York Times. For reasons ill not get into i’m currently unsubscribed but in a month or two I should be back in the game and I will most likely be posting about the game in a blog. Whether its going to be this blog or a totally different blog I’m unsure of, but since this blog is mainly gonna be about freeware or low cost indie gaming I’m leaning to the 2nd choice.

People get very serious playing Eve like this person who has 3 monitors.

Hmmm I think ill call it a night for this my 1st post of my 1st blog ever. I hope you enjoyed what was written here and that you'll also enjoy my further posts I would love some feed back on what you think of my writing style as I don’t know whether to stick to writing in a detailed and long winded style like a newspaper columnist or change to a more formal straight to the point journalistic style. Ill change the comments section to that you can post as an anon and ill keep it like that atleast for a month or two before I change to comments section back to the default log in to comment setup unless you guys want over wise that is.

PS (additional edit) I have learned allot though creating this first post and it's taken a hell of allot longer than I thought I would but hey, It's up now and i've got the ball rolling. I feel very much compelled to add that ive never worked with a program that is such a pain in the ass to laydown pictures and in the size/way you want it. Hopefully as I get further into the tool set i'll pick up some easier tricks.