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The Corner of Randomness: Bad Embargo Timing

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DSIIIIf you’ve been around this site for any length of time, you know that I enjoy the Souls series a lot. I’ve reviewed all of their strategy guides. I’ve died more times than I even care to remember. I’ve cried at the amount of souls, or Blood Echoes when it comes to Bloodborne, I’ve lost due to a second death on the way to retrieve my bloodstain. It’s a good time. Thus, I was really excited when I saw people streaming press copies of Dark Souls III on Twitch.TV yesterday.

It was all going well until one streamer I was watching went into some of the details of how and what they could play. You see, they received a press copy of the U.S. version of the game. This version is not out for another two weeks. Therefore, he is under an embargo on what he can and can’t show. Essentially, he is free to explore and play the first third of the game.

Now, I’m not saying embargoes are bad. This is also a very common practice with the rise in popularity of Twitch.TV. It is a way to bring on the hype for a game that is releasing soon. It’s why we see high profile streamers getting beta keys for games like Overwatch. Heck, even Bloodborne had this same treatment right before it came out. I embrace this as I often use streams as a way to determine if I am going to preorder a game that is on my radar.

However, the embargo set on Dark Souls III is poorly thought out. While most of the people on Twitch.TV were streaming some form (PS4 or PC) of the U.S. version, there was one person streaming the Japan version. The hitch here is that the game is officially released in Japan. Thus, there is no embargo on the Japanese version. This streamer can stream all they want with no repercussions.

I get that the publishers don’t want to give away too much on this game. However, this is poor planning. This streamer knows enough Japanese to be able to play the game effectively. If they run into something they might not be able to translate, they just turn to their chat. Guess what? Even more people can read it and translate it for them. So publishers acting like U.S. people can’t read another language is just foolish.

To me, this embargo makes no sense. They are restricting one region, but not another. Why not just go no embargo as the game is getting fully streamed on other channels because those streamers can understand both languages? Or better yet, release the game simultaneously in both regions. This planning is almost as bad as Capcom releasing a partially finished Street Fighter V because they wanted it out for tournaments. Note that I said almost. Capcom still set that poor planning bar pretty high.

Monday Gaming Diary: The Division is Too Distracting

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While yes, I have been rather busy with game reviews for Action Trip, I fully admit that I have been shirking some duties in the name of The Division. I haven’t really played any story missions in awhile, but I am determined to clear out every region I have unlocked before moving on to the next zone. It’s partly because doing so is fun, and also partly because I’m hooked on the phone recordings and evidence folders.

People who say that the story in The Division is shallow didn’t go collectible hunting. The game uses these recordings to shed light on the people of New York, what they are personally battling during this outbreak, why they feel the way the do, and what they do to survive the shut-down of the largest city in the US. Most of these give me fucking chills. And some of the Echos, that show exactly what happened in certain situations, have brought on horror and tears.

Tom Clancy's The Division Echo

If you played BioShock, then you know most of the story of Rapture is found in the tape recordings, which is exactly how The Division runs. Collectible hunting could be the best part of this game, just for the story snippets alone.

That said, I did manage to FINALLY get out The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess over the weekend (and ignored my next game for review). I haven’t played this game since it originally released, which I realize was so very, very green at gaming in general. I didn’t remember much about the beginning of the game, but I remember it took me several hours to get through the exploration of the first village, before Ganon comes through the dark world. What was so hard for me back then, I didn’t bat an eye at this time at all. I’m sure some of it has to do with the fact I’m not using motion controls, but it also has something to do with confidence as a gamer and a bit more experience with The Legend of Zelda games. I was really green with those games and 3D open-world style games to begin with at that point. I couldn’t even hack Wind Waker a few years earlier, so now I’m feeling more confident that I’ll be able to finish both of these games, something I always wanted to do with both.

This week is Spring Break for me, so I have a feeling I’ll have to put The Division down (*sniffle*) for Twilight Princess and work review. It also means no SGR Coffee Break this week, and then again for next week since Chris will be traveling.

In the meantime, remember that no matter what you play, HAVE FUN WITH IT, whether you need or want to use a strategy guide or not. I personally won’t take a step in a Zelda game without one, and I don’t care how “pathetic” that makes me. It’s how I have fun, and everyone should have fun with games.

The Corner of Randomness: Marvel Collector Corps Founder Statue Unboxing

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Time sure does fly when you’re having fun and stupidly busy traveling. When I signed up for the Marvel Collector Corps, I took a gamble and paid for the whole year in one shot. Doing so allowed me to receive a nice little statue at the end of the year as their way of saying thanks. Well, my Founder statue has arrived and it’s time to see what it looks like in person!

I also checked to see if there is a similar reward for people who still pay for the full year (totally worth it), and there is. It is called the Hero Program and at the end of the year you get a medal. Pretty cool! With that, let’s tear into the box and see what this statue looks like!

Monday Gaming Diary: MMO Cherry Has Been Officially Broken

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I’ve pretty much been only playing Tom Clancy’s The Division this entire week and weekend. I’ve gotten in over 24 hours of game time, and I wish I could take off the rest of the week of work to play more. I can honestly say that I’m excited about playing this until the level cap, and then diving into all of the DLC and expansions that will release over the next year. I even jumped into the PvP portion of the game and had a great time.

Tom Clancy's The Division

I’m really not sure why this has struck a chord with me over Destiny. I keep hearing that they’re a lot alike, and yet, Destiny never once grabbed my attention. I’m not sure if it’s the environment or the third-person perspective. I definitely prefer third-person shooters over first-person, but I don’t think that’s entirely it either. One thing I kept hearing about with Destiny was its lack of a story and lore, that players were just set down on the path of shooting aliens with some direction as to why, but not entirely. In The Division, you aren’t exactly given this deep story either, but the setting takes care of the story for you. The setting is a bit post-apocalyptic, with New York on quarantine due to an outbreak of a smallpox-like disease. You know that you’re a last line defense for a generic Division, and your task is to get Manhattan back under control. So it makes perfect sense that you’re setting out on random missions to restore order, cut down on the gangs, and recover research on the virus for a vaccine. It makes sense why there are rioters and looters who are out to overthrow control. At the very least, I am able to tell anyone what the game is about if they ask. Every time I ask someone what Destiny is about, I get a bunch of hemming and hawing as they try to get out some sort of explanation. Usually it ends with, well, you don’t play for the story. I still like to know what’s going oh, yeah? At least I know Mario is trying to save Princess Peach from Bowser half the time.

I half wish there was an official guide and I’m half glad there isn’t. Most of the game will be so different by the end of the year, which would kill a reason for a strategy guide. On the other hand, I’d love help with finding some of the collectibles. I see them on my map, but some of them, I can’t figure out how to reach for the life of me!

Speaking of which, I’m wasting time writing here. New York isn’t going to save itself!

The Corner of Randomness: Praise be to Steam Cloud Sync

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Steam LogoI’m currently visiting my wife in Nebraska. This means that I’m rocking a portable setup to handle my various jobs. This also means my main computer is sitting back in Iowa, unloved and feeling lonely. This also means that my nice library of Steam games, and all their save files, are back in Iowa.

After exploring all this farm town really had to offer within two hours on my first day here, it was back to the RV to figure out what I was going to do with myself for a week. As the ISP here does not have data caps (THANK YOUR DIETY OF CHOICE!), I decided to download a few games from my Steam library and pass my time with those. While I’d love to be playing The Division right now, my PS4 is not here with me. I do hope to change that on future visits.

I fired up my latest addiction known as Grim Dawn as that game just sucks away the hours from my day. I was fully prepared to have to start a new character and start anew. When I fired up the game, I was greeted with the character I had already been working on. It then hit me that Grim Dawn utilizes Steam Cloud Sync. Praise be to Newell!

As I launched the game and greeted a familiar face, I realized just how handy Steam Cloud Sync really is. I can play a game on one computer, and then when I travel and have to use my laptop or Surface Pro, that game resumes right where I left off. There are no save file transfers that I have to worry about before leaving. Steam just handles that for me. It’s so glorious!

Now, not all games in my Steam library support this feature. Many of the older ones have since had it patched in, but others are still devoid of helping us nomadic people. It catches me off guard at times as well, especially when I do a fresh OS install. I might launch a game and find all my saves gone. All my hard work missing. While others kindly bring in my game saves and I keep trudging along without really missing a beat.

As I sit in this RV, procrastinating working on my taxes for my two businesses, I raise my can of Diet Mug Root Beer to you Steam Cloud Sync. You are a glorious feature for those of us who spend some time at home and some time on the road. Now to fire up Grim….err….Excel and grind more mo…..damn it. I mean grind more cells of taxable information.

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