Battlefield Hardline Beta Code

Hey guys / girls. I just thought I'd say thank you for supporting my blog by letting you know I have a spare Battlefield: Hardline PS4 beta code! It's up for grabs

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Hope whoever reads this first will enjoy the Beta as much as I am. Come find me, mr16thprestige, on PS4 and we will team up to win in a few games of Battlefield: Hardline

Battlefield Hardline beta - Review and my thoughts

E3 is upon us, (well, almost) and the preview shows have begun. In an upcoming article (probably posted tomorrow) I'll provide a quick run-down of my thoughts on all the biggest announcements, but right now I'm writing to you about one thing. My initial reactions on the Battlefield Hardline beta. Luckily I got instant access, and I've now been playing it for roughly 2 hours.

First of all let me clarify. As you all know, this is a early beta so yes, it does pack it's fair share of bugs. They are anything from minor spawn bugs (such as the gun spawning before the character model) all the way up to a still vehicle jumping several feet into the air, hitting you and giving you a "Killed In Action" screen as you where 10 feet away from depositing $500 000 into your teams base in the all new gamemode "Blood Money". At times (such as the time described above) I wanted to smash my PS4 into little pieces and burn them on a pile, but I didn't; for two reasons. #1: Because that would be insanely stupid of me, and #2: because that would mean I had to stop playing Battlefield Hardline. Although the Beat only features one map and two game modes, I got a general impression of the game and overall I have to say I absolutely love it. It truly does capture the classic Battlefield feel of gameplay, something I was worried a new developer wouldn't be able to do, whilst at the same time it's the most fast-paced, high-octane FPS experience I've ever had. 12 player Free-for-all Games on Nuketown in COD: Black Ops aren't as intense as BF:H, and that's truly saying something. Especially when it's taking place on a map with of the scale you've come to expect from Battlefield. The two new game modes has the same need for strategy, team-work and precision as any Battlefield game before it, yet at the same time it delivers gameplay that's more fast-paced and intense than any other shooter I've ever played.

Both game modes has one team playing as the cops, and one as the criminals. The Heist-mode has the criminals blowing up a armored car, stealing two bags of loot and delivering them too an escape location. The cops must stop them at all costs. The bags of loot do not re-spawn at the armored police truck after being dropped by a killed criminal carrying the loot, instead they stay right there and the cops can't pick them up. This may seem odd, but it creates for extremely diverse combat, with the center of the battle constantly being moved around.

The Blood Money-mode puts a big money pile in the center of the map, with a base for cops and one for criminals, each on their own side. The goal is to collect money from the pile and bring it back to your own base. The team with the most amount of $ in their base when the game ends, wins. This would make for a pretty cool game mode, but what puts an amazing edge to it is that you can actually go the enemies base and take cash from them. This gives you 3 locations to, two where you attack and one to defend, all of witch are always sprawling with players from both teams, as well as a highly trafficated and very dangerous path in between. Another great twist that ads to the excitement is that as you come to either the money pile or the enemies base, you hold down a button to collect cash. This takes a few moments; but if you're willing to take the risk you keep going and collect more. Each time the progress-indicator-circle thing goes around, you collect another $100 000 (max carrying amount is $500k). Keep going and risk loosing both valuable time as well as your life, or safe it, taking home only $100k each time. The choice is yours, and this makes for an extreme thrillride. The adrenalin rush of driving of at high speed with $500k strapped to the back of your motorbike, hoping you'll make it back without dying; hoping no-one from the enemy team is waiting at your base, ready to blow you away; is absolutely unmatched by anything I've played before.

Next up, I'd like to mention how there are a lot more vehicles to drive around in; and they're all for the better. They handle differently and provide different amounts of cover. The motorcycles are extremely agile and fast, but the trade-off is that you're very exposed. The armored trucks provide great cover, but in return they're fairly slow and getting around tight corners or navigating inside buildings can quite the challenge. The fact that the amount of vehicles pr game is so much higher also ads a great edge to each game you play. Everything is more fast-paced, yet it's all still battlefield.

A lot of COD players often rip on Battlefield for being slow. Well, not anymore they can't, because BF:H provides games with the intensity level of COD4's Shipment map, yet it does it on an epic scale with huge, destructable environments, gorgeous graphics and fun, new game modes we've never seen the likes of in either franchise. I myself have been with both franchises for years, and I have countless hours in both COD and BF. I'm not going to lie; I'm pretty dissappointed with what we've seen of COD: Advanced warfare so far, given the fact that it's so called COD game, featuring Jet-packs, lasers, giant Halo mechs and exo-suits. With Battlefield Hardline take a huge step forward for the franchise, without dropping what's made earlier Battlefield games so good, It's starting to be clear to me; you don't need to completely re-think everything about what your game is actually about; in order to create an entirely new, much improved and different experience. Thusly, it becomes more and more clear what FPS I'll be playing, come this fall and winter.

Indie Game in progress #1

First of all, (as tends to be the trend these times) let me apologize for not posting so frequently as i planned. I've got a lot going on in my life and unfortunately I haven't had the time to write for this blog. I took a very enjoyable trip to Dubai with my family, and a absolutely insane trip to New York City; where I among vacationing, also did some marketing for my blog by putting my business card on subways around the city. In general I had a blast (and maybe I also got kind of blasted, but tell no-one about that).  I'm hoping I can get my friend, currently heavily engaged in Watch Dogs, to give me a review I can publish here, seeing as I haven't been able to aquire the game yet.

That being said; here is the first update post on my Indie game project; for now named "Project: Arena". I explained in my last post how it is a major part of my final exam thesis; for more info on this, read the article previous to this one.

I finally finished design on my intro/tutorial level where players learn how the game works. I've in the small sense started experimenting with astetichs, but for now I'm focusing on the core gameplay mechanics. It's almost there, but I'm still trying to solve a few problems with velocity, speed and gravity; although that all boils down to the hard part of the process...coding; witch is where my skills fall short. Luckily, Unity has a lot of great built-in features that helps ease the process and with the progress I've been making lately, this is what I plan to work on in the coming weeks, after ironing out a few other major papers for school. I'm now happy to report I've set up out the transition between levels, and as a result of nailing this, I just kept on doing what I like best about working on my game; designing levels and watching my friends and family getting annoyed for not completing them without several failures. I've completed the basic design for Level 1 (tutorial/intro) level 2 and level 3. I'm also happy to announce there is a nifty little easter egg in level 3. I just couldn't hold back when the idea struck me, and hitting two birds with one stone, with the easter egg I'm making a less than completely subtle reference to one of my all-time FAV games, Portal. The great thing about the easter egg, is that I don't feel it's been tacked on. It naturally sprung out of the original design idea I had for the level. I plan to upload a downloadable version of the game as soon as I get it to what I feel comfortable calling an alpha version (although, with other people playing it, technically it'd be a Beta but hey, you guys can be the exclusive test-players. The very first people outside of my inner circle who get to test out the game).

All in all, I'm very please with the progress so far, and I feel it's shaping up to be a much better project than I could've ever hoped for. I should post a youtube video soon enough, showing a walktrough of the first 3 stages, and maybe even some rageouts of my friends failing at the prototype level (currently not part of the game. Given it's difficulty level It won't be featured until much later in the game). That's all 

A final exam thesis on...video games?

I attend the closest norwegian equivelant of High School (our school system is somewhat different in terms of how it’s divided up in years, our “high school” is the optional year 11, 12 and 13) at a somewhat unique privat school. We actually don’t have any traditional final exams (or any exams at all for that matter). Although there are normal tests troughout our years at school, our final exam starts around February year 12, and ends aroung the same time in year 13. We get roughly 1 year to write a major thesis, about a freely chosen topic, and that serves as our final exam grade. Each student chose their own topic, and writes a thesis of 8 000 words or more + spends at least 100 hours making a practical work that can be presented at the end of the year (if they choose to focus on the practical. If they want a theoretically oriented thesis it’s a minimum of 12 000 words, and no limit on how long they have to spend working practically). Naturally, given my love for the cultural artform on witch this blog is based, I chose video games.

Over the course of the following year, I will write a major exam thesis about the history of video games; I will discuss and debate wether or not they are a cultural artform and how they can impact gamers and society. That’s all very interesting, but the main show is my practical project. I will (at least attempt to) make my own video game from scratch. So far, it goes by the name “Project: Arena”. It’s a 3D platformer, where you jump from platform to platform (yes, that’s actually what you do in this platformer), and try not to fall into the water below. I’m working with the free version of the Unity 3D game engine. Although it’s still fairly “barebones” I have a fully functional demo build, with 2 levels (and a third i originally built as a prototype, I will re-model it later to use in the “finished” game). Visually wise it’s nothing special as of yet, seeing as I have no finished textures, and I have yet to add any particular level of detail, and I’m still mainly working on tuning the gameplay “specs”. The height, speed and jump height of my character. Ones I get those “specs” closer to where I wanna be (I’m almost there) I’ll shift my focus to learning more about visual polish and start making new levels (as well as iron out some more than annoying problems with the pause menu).

As mentioned earlier, It’s a 3D platformer where you’r object is not to fall into the water below. The reason for the name, is that it all takes place within an Arena. I have several good ideas (at least i think they’re good) about what I can do to make the game interesting, including some features that I personally love, that faired over pretty well when i setup my prototype level at school, allowing my classmates to try the game out. They all got really, really frustrated because it was so hard, but few wanted to pass it on to the next guy in line, and I guess that’s a good sign (…or bad; R.I.P. flappy birds).I hope to share my progress on the project here; also, some of the stuff I’ll be writing in my thesis are highly relevant to this blog. Earlier, I shared a version of a chapter in my thesis on this blog, “are video games culture” and It’s one of my proudest articles. I hope to post more from the paper onto this blog, including my thoughts on how video games can impact society and gamers. I plan to release a reactions-video on youtube, where i filmed my some of the people at my school playing the prototype level for the first time(s. yes, they tried more than a few times). The reason for this is because many of them got delightfully frustrated and engaged. Of course I will post a link to the video onto this blog, so stay tuned. It’d definitely help you (and me, although I’m not a youtube partner) if you subsribed to my channel, “Thomas Tørrissen”, witch can also be found by searching for “Mr16thprestige”, although I have been thinking about making a new youtube user for the purposes of this project, although I don’t know if that’s so relevant, because I’m not sure how many videos I’ll have the time to record and edit, but we’ll see.

That’s it for now, and thank you guys for reading my blog. I notcied particular interest for my thoughs on the “how I met your mother” ending, and my alternate ending, and I thank you for that. I’ll write you in my next post, hopefully soon.

how i met your mother - my thoughts & alternate ending

(spoiler-free section)

So….the series finale to the long-running (9 seasons; damn) sitcom “how i met your mother” (HIMYM) recently aired, and shocked millions of fans worldwide with a very unexpected and controversial ending. Now, after 9 seasons of building up to one major reveal, and a ending that has so many loose ends to tie up, it’s literally going to be impossible to sattisfy everyone. I myself has bench-watched the show like a maniac, and I’m a huge fan, so naturally, when i viewed the final episode, I was on the edge of my seat just itching for the final reveal, whilst simultaneously I was a bit sad, because within half an hour, the series would be done; over; finito. I can honestly say it’s been an amazing ride, and HIMYM is probably tied, if not maybe the teeniest, tiniest behind the Big Bang Theory, for the title of my all time favorite TV sitcom. After watching the final ending, I was shocked, but not appaled. Was it bad? No, not really. After thinking about it, it made sense. But just because it made sense, that doesn’t mean it was nearly as good as it could’ve been. Now follows a quick run down of the actual ending, why I didn’t like it all that much, and how I think the show should’ve ended, with an angle that I feel actually would’ve sattisfied the majority of fans. 

(Spoiler alert (duh), so If you haven’t seen the final episode and don’t want it spoiled, don’t keep reading untill you have watched it. )

THE ACTUAL ENDING

Season 9 was spent building up to Barney and Robins long awaited wedding. Each episode started a few hours closer to the wedding, and they all featured a combination of stories to bridge the gap between season 8 and 9, the events leading up the the wedding, and present-time events going down at the “Farhampton Inn” (the wedding locale) in the last few days before the wedding. In the final episodes we see Ted letting Barney give the “something old” locket Ted searched far and wide for, to Robin, so that she’d have it as a sign that Barney was truly commited, however Robin suspected that it was actually Ted who’d tracked it down, and she tricked the truth out of him. At that point she was shown having second thoughts about marrying Barney, and she wondered wether it was actually Ted she should be marrying. Both Ted and Barney convinced her to go thru with the wedding and she was happy. The “mother”, revealed to be named Tracy, was the bass player in the wedding band, and Barney suggested they played a game of “have you med Ted”, but ted refused, and left to the train station so he could get back to NY in order to pack before he moved to Chicago the next morning. However the train was very late, so late that Tracy (“the mother”) showed up at the train station after the wedding gig, and another old lady sitting next to Ted on the bench convinced him to go over there and talk to her. After that, he stayed in NY. The show fast forward thru several years. Many events in thoose years such as proposal and Ted & Tracy having children have already been shown as flash-forwards in the last few episodes of season 9. After many years we see the gang back together. Marshall and Lilly did move to Italy for a year, and after they’ve come back Marshall did get his dream job as a judge. We also see that after 3 years of marriage Barney and Robin couldn’t keep going, much because Robin was traveling A LOT, now having become a very famous on-air reporter for World Wide News. They stayed friends, even after their divorce. When we finally cut to the ending of Ted telling his 9 seasons long story to his kids, we learn that he’s actually been telling it to them 6 years after Tracy (“the mother”) died of a disease unknown. They say what he’s been telling wasn’t the story of how he met their mother, but rather the story of how he’s still in love with Robin, and they tell him to go get her. The show ends with him standing outside Robins window holding the blue french horn, Robing smiling and we can assume they end up together.

Now; does this ending make sense…yes, it does. Is it the best it could’ve been? No, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I feel betrayed, but there is an alternate ending I think provides much better closure, and here it is:

MY ALTERNATE ENDING

In one of the last episodes of season 9 Robin and Ted are talking on the beach. We see a flash-back to Ted’s childhood, when his best friend was a balloon, witch he lost so it flew away. We then see a scene where he does the same with Robin. He says he has to let her go, and she flies away just like the balloon did. This I feel makes very little sense, seeing as they end up together after all, but that’s not the point here. The point is, they should’ve skipped that scene, because of a reason I will explain later on. I feel that Ted should’ve met the mother of his children the way it’s shown in the show, and we should’ve gotten to see their first dinner date. They should’ve skimmed thru it, showing the “mother” telling Ted all about herself, and we would’ve got to see her saying she is all the things Ted want’s in a girl. She plays bass, she likes historical landmarks, she uses driving gloves, she loves this, she likes that etc… Ted would be silent, but smiling more and more. At the end of the date, she does what we all know is one of the things Ted values most in a relationship; she reaches for the check. At that point, Ted sees Robin standing next to the table, holding his hand, and he let’s go voluntarily, the way he in the actual ending did much earlier, and she flies away. This would show us once and for all that he had met “the one”, and he could finally get over Robin completely. He finally had closure with her.

I think this ending works better because that’s really what the show has been about all along. Ted meeting the one. The one who would finally give him closure, and let him get over Robin once and for all. A stale ending with him just meeting “the mother” wouldn’t have worked. It would’ve been a huge anticlimax, after such a long, suspensefueled ride; and that’s why I think they wen’t with the shock ending they did. However I feel it just doesn’t “work” if you catch my drift. I don’t feel neither I nor Ted get the closure I want, and I’m left with a somewhat empty feeling.

So there you have it. My thoughts on the actual ending to HIMYM, and my alternate ending. I’m happy to respond to any comments you have on the ending, or my alternative one. Thanks for reading. Chase Game out.

The Online Gamer

First of all, let me say I'm sorry my Bioshock Infinite review is taking so long, It's a big game with lots of content; now:

"Watt-up noobs? stop being a bunch of team killing p#ssies and back this project now"...is what I'd say if I was Aaron, the lead character in this amazing and hilarious webseries. I've been laughing my a$$ off watching this series since it first started out, and now, more than 80 episodes later I can tell you it's been one hell of a ride. I'm pretty skint right now, but i dug up what I could to back this project and help them reach their funding goal on Kickstarter. Upon reaching their goal, witch I sincerely hope and believe they will, the Reckless Tortuga team will begin production on a new season of Online Gamer. They promise it'll be bigger, longer and better, and given how amazing their last 80 episodes was, (excluding of course their one, tiny little unfortunate event, yes I'm looking at you "online gamer: zombies") I truly believe them. I so far have a little over 1100 klicks on my blog, and if all of you guys gave just 1.45$ they'll have reached they're 25.000$ goal. Now other people keep pouring in the cash theese guys so badly need to make another season of my favorite webseries, and the cash they truly deserves for their amazing work so far, but the more the merrier. Or, in this case, the more people who give, the more, longer and better episodes we'll see of Online Gamer. Now if you haven't seen the show yet, I highly reccomend you stop what you're doing right now, that's right, I'm actually telling you to take a break from reading my blog, and hit up the links below to check out the first, original episode.

Once you've done that, please help out the amazing Reckless Tortuga team, and make this new season happen by backing them on kickstarter.
http://kck.st/1hXVWfn


The first Online Gamer episode.
http://www.recklesstortuga.com/episodes/the-online-gamer-game-night-2/

All the episodes can be watched either on Youtube, or their website.
I'm not in any way endorsed by or affiliated with Reckless Tortuga, Kickstarter or any other external parties. I'm doing this to show my appreciation for a webseries I've loved for years

Bioshock: Infinite (2013) review teaser

What originally took our hearts, with a successful capture,
was the underwater city, with the haunting name Rapture,
beautiful and scary, it was presented for thee,
a story so capturing, there's no way you could flee!
How could they raise the bar, so very very far?
they wanted to raise it, so literally,
up in heaven we where elevated, strokes of genius beyond tally


Keep tuning in for my upcoming review of Bioshock: Infinite, posted right here on chasegamereviews.blogspot.com

Playstation 4 vs. Xbox One

CONSOLE  versus CONSOLE

Playsation 4               Xbox One

Sony                          Microsoft

Nov. 15. 2013           Nov 22. 2013

INTRODUCTION

The eight console generation is upon us, and the as it’s been in any industry for as long as we can remember, the competition is fierce. The rivalries between the different tech giants has always been some of the most talked about and discussed competitions. Within the smartphone market it becomes most natural to mention Apple vs. Samsung; When it comes to home computers we once again see Apple, but this time around we typically going at it toe to toe with Microsoft’s Windows. But the same way we see Apple involved in rivalries in multiple markets, we also see Microsoft going at it in two very different genre’s. As I’m sure you know, Microsoft is one of the leading two within the console market, and they are alongside Sony at the very forefront for one of the most harshly debated «wars» within the tech industry. I’m of course talking about Sony’s Playstation vs. Microsoft’s Xbox in the world famous «Console war». It’s amazing how the debate over witch console is the better one has been going on. Even towards the very end of the 7th console generation the debate was going strong. Fanboys of both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 where going at each other like maniacs over who had the better system, comparing everything to game selection, graphical power, OS, controller, social features and all the way up till how the company treated their customers. And it’s based on exactly those criterias I will here today compare the two consoles released to us in November, 2013, and tell you once and for all, the console I deem to be the better purchase.

POWER

Much has been made of the pure hardware power of the two consoles, and this has a lot to do with the fact that when we look at the pure specs, the PS4 is undeniably more powerful. This has been reinforced by developers unanimously stating the PS4’s clear superiority when it boils down to just the pure hardware specs. The Playstation 4 is roughly 50% more powerful than the Xbox One, but as we know, both consoles pacs a significant amount of graphical and processing strength. It was prior to release assumed that the pure spec differences wouldn’t impact the generation all that much. In the 7th generation, the PS3 was also more powerfull than the 360 in pure specs, but multi platform games often ran a little smoother on the 360 because the PS3 required a lot of porting, as it was a much more complex and difficult system to develop games for. When the new generation was announced, Sony made sure to put a lot of emphasis on how easy the PS4 was to develop for, but people wheren’t all that convinced the pure specs where going to matter all that much in the end, and at the very least; they wouldn’t matter for multi platform games. Now however, a little more than 3 months after the release of the consoles, it’s quite clear the specs does matter. It’s almost become a trend for games to run native 1080p on the PS4, and upscaled versions of either 720p or 960p, on the Xbox One. Worth mentioning is also that the Xbox One has had problems with framerate, and in a few instances, the XB1 framerate has been set at 30, where the PS4 has ran at 60fps. I can most notably pull out the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition as an example here. A game that suffered severe framerate issues on the XB1 version, where as the PS4 had none. How the generation will move forward, there’s no telling though. Microsoft has announced they’re working on a patch to improve both GPU and CPU performance on the XB1; we know it takes a while for developers to get used to the new systems and maybe the XB1 is just a little bit harder to code for, meaning it’ll take the devs a while to find the best ways of optimizing they’re games for the system. It’s also recently been announced that «Wolfenstein: The New Order», and upcoming and anticipated game, will run native 1080p, 60fps on the Xbox One, so there is definitely hope on the horizon for Microsofts latest. But the way it is now, there’s no denying cold, hard facts, and the PS4 snags this point.

PS4: 1

XB1: 0

GAME LIBRARY

Having a powerhouse of a console, as both flagships of the new generations are, means nothing though, without the games. Both consoles launched with a relatively weak selection compared to for example the Playstation 2, but here I will include the game selection we’ve seen over the past 3 months after launch, as well as what has been announced to be released in the near future. At launch, there where very few true next-gen games. Most where just ports of games that where released around the same time on last-gen consoles. These ports included some graphical updates of course and some included additional features. Quite notably Battlefield 4 allowed players on next-gen hardware to play on the full-scale multiplayer maps in the Conquest game mode, that had been PC exclusive up until the PS4/Xbox One release, quite simply because the last-gen hardware didn’t have the power to run them. The exact same goes for 64 player matches online. Other major games to be released both for next- and previous-gen hardware includes Call of Duty: Ghost, Need For Speed Rivals and Assassin’s Creed: IV, Although neither of these had the rather major upgrades Battlefield 4 provided to next-gen players. In general, the actual selection of 8th generation games was low. The Playstation 4 had a bigger library at launch, beating the Xbox One’s line up of 22 games total, by packing 26 games total at launch, although today, the market has evened out, and today the number of games are relatively equal on both consoles. There’s no denying that the PS4 games have a slightly higher average score by reviewers. I for one was very excited, and I was heavily anticipating Ryse: Son of Rome, as well as Dead Rising 3, and they where both widely considered two of the Xbox One’s main launch hopes. I was therefore greatly let down when they both where launched to mediocre reviews (Dead Rising did score higher than Ryse, witch was criticized for being not much more than another linear hack-em/slash-em button masher). 

The PS4 struggled with having fewer next-gen exclusive games. Although the total number of games where higher, the Xbox One simply had more of it’s games being exclusive to the console. Yet somehow it doesn’t feel like that has mattered too much, due to the sheer quality of the lineup. Both consoles packed some impressive games, and I’d like to point out that one of the biggest sellers, Call of Duty, once again had an exclusive deal with Activision, giving Xbox players an advantage in terms of early DLC access. That having been mentioned, the PS4 packed the praised Killzone: Shadow Fall as their flagship launch title, where as the xbox flagged with Ryse and Dead Rising 3, both games considered mediocre by most reviewers. The PS4 also packed the very highly praised RESOGUN, witch has by many been called the best PS4 game to date. (You can read my review of Resogun at http://chasegamereviews.blogspot.no/2013/12/resogun-2013-review.html). When it comes to the multiplatform line-up, It’s fair the say the PS4 took it home because of the now infamous 720p upscaled resolution on Xbox One, and the native 1080p on PS4. Many xbox games also ran at reduced framerate, where as the Playstation 4 for the most part held at a steady 60fps, although with a few drops here and there.

As far as the future goes, the Playstation 4 is flagging with a follow-up to the dearly beloved inFamous franchise, and the new, exciting concept Driveclub. The Xbox One’s main hope is Titanfall. However, Titanfall is not a system exclusive. It will launch on both PC and Xbox 360. Although it will no doubt be an absolutely amazing game, and the 360 version won’t compare to the Xbox One version, it’s still not an exclusive, and the PC version will definitely be looking just as good as on the XB1. Although there is a new Halo game on the horizon, it’s not enough to even out the odds against the Playstation, because PS4 is in for a brand new Uncharted game. Both of the two are far out, and we know nothing about them, so they can’t really be taken into consideration, but we can say that they cancel each other out, pretty much.

So, once again the Playsation 4 takes the point, for having most multiplatform games so far being visually superior on it’s system, and for having a more exiting line-up of exclusive games

PS4: 2

XB1: 0

GENERAL HOME ENTERTAINMENT (GHE)

Both systems offer a good selection of general home entertainment. Regardless of console, you have access to Netflix, Hulu and similair services. However the Xbox One takes it one step further in this category. With offerings of TV streamed directly to your gaming system, and especially sports, the console is definitely appealing to people who want a more all-in-one experience with their home entertainment. Once this was announced, Sony was quick to pull the trigger, and announce that they have been in dialogue with several of the biggest TV channels and that a similar arrangement is on it’s way, however in this category, Xbox One was first out, and they have built their system much more around the TV and gaming all-in-one experience. The system also packs a heavily integrated voice command system thru help of the Kinect, allowing you to easily switch channels, and swap back and forth between games and TV. Although both systems will likely even out in this category over the years, we don’t when, or if Sony ever will get their TV streaming in place, and seeing as the Xbox One has been very forward about this right from the very get-go, as well as their well-integrated voice command system, witch provides convenience and ease of use, there’s no doubt that the Xbox One provides the GHE experience. Microsoft snags this point!

PS4: 2

XB1: 1

THE CONTROLLER

With this new generation both systems spent a lot of time and money developing their new controllers, and they both turned out as improvements over the last generation, but both cases where not quite as successful. Sony’s Dualshock is the longest running general controller design. They kept it for 3 generations, making only very minor changes. It was a very good controller in many ways, but general complaints where it’s size. The heavy majority of people including myself, found it way too small. It was no surprise that when they announced the PS4, they had all intentions of making some major changes here, and so they did. The Dualshock 4 is significantly larger than the Dualshock 3, and far, far more ergonomic. It just feels infinitely much better in your hand. They also finally fixed the issues with the triggers on the back, and replaced the slippery and inexplicably inwards bent triggers, with longer, more narrow triggers with a nice little bend outwards to make them much more user friendly and more comfortable. They also have a much tighter feel, as does all the buttons on the controller. The Joysticks are what really shines though. They are incredibly precise, with a indistinctable deadzone, and with a texture that actually provides good grip, unlike the slippery texture on the Dualshock 3. The Dualshock 4 also added a much needed microphone plugin, witch was a very desired feature.

The Xbox One controller finally removed the extremely annoying battery pack on the controller, making it much more comfortable to hold, because your fingers no longer cramp up, squeezed between the battery pack and the controllers handles. They also much improved upon the D-pad, witch was by far the most disastrous about the 360 controller. However that’s almost where the improvements end, and the disadvantages being. First of, although the did improve upon the d-pad, they didn’t fix it 100%. It’s still one solid piece, where as the Dualshock has always packed the D-pad as 4 individual buttons, separated by plastic surface. Overall, this provides less control of witch button you press, and it’s easier to slip between the different buttons. They also made the inexplicable decision to have the top textured, where as the controllers bottom is completely smooth. This means sweaty, uncomfortable grip, even after just 10-15 minutes of use. As if this wasn’t enough, the joysticks, promised to have zero deadzone, actually packs a deadzone bigger than the one on the 360 controller, and they feel clunky to use.

The dualshock 4 has a texture underside, making for much more comfortable grip, and much less accumulation of sweat. It also packs far tighter joysticks, with no noticeable deadzone, and buttons that are far easier to press, and give much tighter control. Your hands are also much less likely to slip of the buttons, seeing as their round and flat, rather than the spherical shape Microsoft wen’t with. Both systems packs a good controller, but there’s really no competition here, witch is surprising, considering Microsoft was the clear winner of the controller competition in the previous generation, with their 360 controller decimating the Dualshock 3. Playstation 4 snags this point for having the Dualshock 4 being the best controller ever made.

PS4: 3

XB1: 1

OVERALL

Although the PS4 is in the lead here, you can’t really go wrong with either system. You can go right or you can go «more» right. This next generation is shaping up the be a new golden age for video games. Visuals and size will go way beyond anything we’ve seen before, and the new generation of consoles will bring games higher than we’ve ever seen before. And as virtual reality is upon us, we will se realism like we never imagined it before. The Xbox One provides excellent opportunities for home entertainment, and powerful console to play great games like Halo and Titanfall on. The PS4 however provides the most horsepower of the two, and has therefore so far provided us with the most visually stimulating games, as well holding the lead for best exclusives. With the amazing controller sweetening the deal, as well as having fantastic sharing options, allowing you to livestream and upload game footage instantly and very conveniently, there isn’t much doubt here.

The final score puts the Xbox One with 1 single point, for providing excellent home entertainment options, where as the Playstation 4 takes it home with 3 points, for featuring the most graphical power, the most ergonomic and comfortable controller, as well as having the game library I and other reviewers believe to be the most fun and enjoyable to explore. However here you must keep into consideration that the Xbox One is far from being a bad console. It’s excellent! it’s just that the PS4 takes it yet another level higher, leaving no doubt in my mind. The Playstation 4 is the Chase Game Reviews console of choice.

The Oscars

Just roughly 5 hours ago I was sitting like a zombie in my living room, tired out of my mind, been up all night until 6 in the morning on a school day. Why you ask? Well to view the Oscars live of course. Seeing as I live in Norway, everything that's going on in the states, such as the Oscars, naturally happen at night in our time meaning I'm looking at some long nights when viewing the election and such as a couple of hours ago, The Academy Awards.

Starting of I think Mathew McConaughey was amazing in Dallas Buyers Club, but I'd say this year Dicaprio was just a little more deserving of the "best male actor in a leading role" award. He's been nailing countless movie roles for decades; he's shown himself as one of the most versatile actors on the planet earth and in 2013 he did one of his absolutely finest roles ever. The way he brought Jordan Belfort to life seems to me very worthy of an Oscar, and then add the fact that the statue has already slipped away far too many times. C'mon, at least give him an honorary one.

As far as the award ceremony in the general, there where very few surprises. If anyone thought that the other nominees in the "best special effects" category where there for any other reason than decoration then I guess they feel rightly dumb by now, don't they because as pretty much everybody knew, and I'm not talking "felt", "had a hunch", "most likely"; no I'm talking as everybody knew, Gravity took home the award. A little more of a surprise, or not so much a surprise as it was just less clear in advance; Gravity ended up taking home the awards for best sound mixing, best sound design, best editing, best original script and best director. That is quite a mouthful and I can say straight up the movie deserves all of that.

That being said I was getting a bit nervous, because with Gravity most definitely having taken up the Academy's attention I was worried they'd overlook one I deemed more fit for the overall grandslam price. This year we where looking at several amazing contestants for "best picture" but I'm very pleased to say that my winning favorite took it home; 12 Years A Slave won the award for "Best motion picture", and with that I am very pleased.

Beyond that we can say to no ones surprise that Frozen took home the award for both best animated feature film as well as the one for best original song. Admittedly I haven't watched all the nominees in Foreign films, documentaries and shorts so I won't discuss those awards here. I would like to end of though, with saying that Ellen DeGeneres was an absolutely AMAZING host. She really, truly was!

copycat

Okay so I know Lolcatz are a pretty old, outdated thing and I know they have very little to do with the topic of this blog. But I was playing some MW2 and this idea just struck me like a motherf#cker...I had to do it...I just had to.

PS4 vs. Xbox One -- teaser

The eight console generation is upon us, and the as it’s been in any industry for as long as we can remember, the competition is fierce. The rivalries between the different tech giants has always been some of the most talked about and discussed competitions. Within the smartphone market it becomes most natural to mention Apple vs. Samsung; When it comes to home computers we once again see Apple, but this time around we typically going at it toe to toe with Microsoft’s Windows. But the same way we see Apple involved in rivalries in multiple markets, we also see Microsoft going at it in two very different genre’s. As I’m sure you know, Microsoft is one of the leading two within the console market, and they are alongside Sony at the very forefront for one of the most harshly debated «wars» within the tech industry. I’m of course talking about Sony’s Playstation vs. Microsoft’s Xbox in the world famous «Console war».

I'm about to tackle one of the most heavily and brutally debated topics on the internets many video game sites. I will decide once and for all the official 8th generation console for chase game reviews, as i post my PS4 vs. Xbox One article, some time later this week. Keep tuned in!

Life in 8-bit

In my life i have multiple passions. Mainly working out, movies and of course; video games. But there are some I have yet to share with you. I'm absolutely consumed by my love for two more things: 8 bit art and tattoos. I know for a fact I'm going to get a 8-bit art tattoo, and seeing as how the internet is filled with countless gigabytes of source images, and seeing as I have a laptop loaded with Photoshop I decided to see what I could throw together into a nice compilation poster including some of histories most influential and powerful games. Though I love this design I certainly won't promise I'll turn it into everlasting art on my body; although let me say the possibility is there that I might use an altered version of this. I'd also like to take this opportunity to say this is just a little something something to keep you guys popping in while I work on a more extensive article about witch next-gen (well, technically they're now current-gen) console is the one for you, and witch one I deem superior. Hope you like this little compilation art!

Mirror's Edge (2008) review

Mirror’s Edge
PS3, Xbox 360, PC
EA, DICE
Parkour, First-Person Action

Mirror’s Edge was published by Electronic Arts back in 2008 to a long line of very positive reviews, accompanied by a few mediocre ones as well as rather disappointing sales numbers. Although wether or not you like a game is a subjective matter, those of this games reviews that where poor, as well as the low sales numbers, shows a very close-minded side of the general gaming community, and the lack of persistence. Today, most gamers want to jump right in and be great at a game the first time. They want it to be instantly fun and rewarding, and they want the learning curve not to serve as a way to actually create the experience, but just as a way to flush it out. Whilst this is all fine, it’s part of what scares developers, or rather publishers from taking risks and making something new. That’s why i’m so fond of the meteoric rise we’ve seen in the indie game community. People actually making something new and fresh. Now the rise of indie games is great, but the problem with those games is that there’s simply not more of them. Because of very limited budgets and small teams, the games they put out often provides a great experience, but only for a short period of time, and they often lack flushed out features. The world needs more big publishers willing to take risks and let the developers create something new and different, instead of yet another «Need for Duty: Warfighter on the battlefield of soccer playing golfers» . Whilst i do love many of those AAA titles, they are not the only things a game can be. We need more; we need games like Mirror’s Edge!

In 08’ EA took a risk, and let DICE use the Unreal Engine 3 to create what i deem one of the most original and best video games ever made. Games before Mirror’s Edge have had climbing systems. Assassin’s Creed packed (and still packs) a fantastic parkour system (in the game wrongfully labeled as Free-running; yes there is a difference) that does play a major part of the game, but it’s not what it is all about. It’s not a parkour simulator. Mirror’s Edge on the other hand, is just that. It does something no other game I know of have done neither before, nor after it. It puts you into a realistic first-person perspective (you know, where if you look down you can actually see your body) and it gives you the power of running free. You can leap gaps, climb pipes and edges, and preform wall runs. Sounds simple enough? Well yes, it is; and most certainly in a good way. You have at your disposal the basic tools for navigating a gorgeous urban environment, feeling like a genuine parkour master. Some people dislike the game because they say it’s too hard. They say you never truly feel free, because you always have to stop up, look for where to go, and carefully aim your leaps. Others, especially reviewers, complain that it’s too repetitive. You constantly see the same red edge, pipe or platform you need to reach or jump from. These views displays either one of two things. Lack of persistence, or lack of insight. Yes, the first time you play thru, you are likely to stop up quite a few times, and your flow, witch really is the whole point of Mirror’s Edge gets ruined. Yes, there are quite a few of the same jumps and pipes, all colored in red (if you play on a difficulty lower than Hard). What you need to think about is just why that is. You play as Faith, a member of a group of couriers called «Runners» and the color red in the game symbolize «Runners vision», a visual representation of your objective and the default route you can use to navigate the environment. I mentioned that the first time or two through the game you will stop quite a few times and your flow will be ruined. Imagine how much more you would be forced to stop up if they didn’t helped you out with runners vision as well as similar leaps and edges. It’s so that when you come to an level you haven’t played before you’ll still recognize certain iconic shapes, leaps and gaps and know that’s where you need to go. It’s to try and create a flow where you don’t have any because you don’t know the level yet. Witch brings me to my second point. Mirror’s Edge is decently enjoyable from the get-go. An above mediocre title you can kill a boring weekend with. But it’s when you actually go thru for the third or fourth time in a row, that you will experience one of the most wonderful times you will ever have in a video game. The feeling when you nail a hard segment with perfect flow. Hit every gap smoothly. Learn new shortcuts and new ways of getting from A to B faster and faster, that feeling is just pure magic.

I’ve heard people say it’s repetitive, and I can for instance quote another respective reviewer who said «it’s weird that a game that focuses so much on free-running is constantly asking me to jump of the same ledge». Well, the fun part is, the game doesn’t. Yes, runners vision always represents the easiest way of getting there, and most people start developing tunnel vision for this. They seem to think Mirror’s Edge is just like every other video games, where you have no freedom beyond a linear level design. But trust me, that’s just not the case, because in pretty much every segment of the game there is multiple alternate routes, and they can often be combined, making your very own. If you look up speed runs on youtube you will see people going through a whole level barely even touching upon the same path you took when following runners vision to the letter. The mechanics really are at the core of the game, because I’ve seen people take more paths and combinations than DICE could’ve possibly have thought of. This is a prime example of superb level design, and the granting of excellent mechanics allowing people to freely make their own experience, complimented by absolutely gorgeous visuals that have aged extremely well.

As previously mentioned, in Mirror’s Edge you pay as Faith. A key member of a group of couriers called the «Runners». The city has become a police-state, with everything under surveillance and everything being controlled by someone sitting behind a huge desk with a telephone on it, and The Runners are delivering messages and items for the opposing factor (It’s obvious that the runners are needed, seeing as emails and phone calls are pretty much of the table in a city like that). When a Mayoral candidate out to make a difference in the city’s extensive surveillance of it’s citizens gets assassinated, and the murder is pinned on Faiths sister, you have to use your abilities as a Runner to save her and uncover the truth behind the murder. The story is not very flushed out, and neither are the characters, but we are treated to a very cool setup and something that works as a fantastic excuse for use of the excellent runner mechanics. In addition, the cutscenes has some very cool hand-drawn artwork, giving it a very artistic and old-school feel, but they are put into motion with pretty animations and full voice over work, then again: you’re unlikely to re-watch them after you played through the story once.

I have now layed down the basics for why the arguments against Mirror’s Edge are relatively wrongfull. The game presents a vast world with amazing level design, with lots of alternate paths allowing for exploration and increasing your time on speed runs, witch are available after you finish the game. It is a game that only becomes more and more fun every time you play it, but lack of persistence or an approaching deadline has meant that many gamers and reviewers quit after the first or second walktrough. This is such a shame because the true charm in Mirror’s Edge comes when you’ve played it trough enough that you know every environment by hearth. Enough that you learn most of the major shortcuts. It may seem like a lot of work compared to just buying a game that is «fun from the get-go» but i promise you, the end result is just so incredibly much more rewarding. There is simply no feeling out there in the world that can match the feeling of finally nailing something you’ve tried to master for so long, and in Mirror’s Edge, that feeling will come again and again. Provided you stick with it for more than 5-6 hours.

This game does has some short comings as far as the story goes, but the story is not the point of the game. If this was intended to be best enjoyed the first time through, I’d give it roughly 60-65/100. But It’s not. You don’t give World of Warcraft a low score because it is boring the first 10 levels. Of course not, you have to get a little up there. Learn as well as unlock the abilities that actually makes the game so fun. This is also the case with Mirror’s Edge, only the abilities you unlock are your own. It’s not «now, if you press R3 faith will do a special move», It’s actually you yourself gaining a skill-level, witch makes the game so infinitely much more fun, that I will give this game a final Chase Game Score of 92/100.

Evil Cole - Digital inFamous art

Using my iPad, a stylus pen and the ingenious drawing app "Procreate" i laid the basics for this drawing, depicting an evil Cole for the amazing Playstation exclusive video game series inFamous. After having drawn Cole himself, as well as sketched up some of the surroundings, i imported it to Photoshop on my laptop and finished it up with the city around it (as it required straight lines i just couldn't nail with free-hand drawing). I also used Photoshop to do the lightning bolts because let's be honest, i can't draw "that" good. 

I've had this project laying around for quite some time, but in honor of not having published a full-blown article for a few weeks, and also because the release of inFamous: Second Son is quite imminent, i decided to finish it up and publish it. There are a few things in the image I'm not quite satisfied with, mainly the prying eyes in the window, and I will do another sketching of those. If i can make them turn out better, as well as do some minor touch-ups here and there, will publish the new, improved version. For now though, seeing as I am in no way an expert drawer, I'm actually quite satisfied with the result and it served as a great practice ground both for digital drawing and Photoshop. The main focus of Chase Game Reviews will always be the articles and reviews, but from time to time, if I get a project like this where the result is what I can't call too embarrassing, I hope to publish it.

As always, my sincerest thanks for reading my blog

UPDATE — The future of Chase Game Reviews

First of all let me sincerely apologize for not having posted an article for some time. Secondly it’s important for you to know why, because it’s not for lack of trying. First of, I spent 4 amazing days at the Tromsø International Film Festival (my 3rd annual visit). The only unfortunate thing was that in that particular weekend, was when i would have had time to write, because i didn’t have work and i wasn’t behind on any studies. After that I have been very busy with my studies, working the weekends and I have to focus hard on my workout now, due to an upcoming strength test in school + because recently I have had troubbles getting back into my routine from before christmas. On top of all that, I simply couldn’t go on sleeping as little as I have, so I can no longer spend the nights going thru games to review, and actually writing the post. Upcoming now though I promise I will try as hard I can to find time in my schedule for my blog, because I have no intention of stopping. My next posts will most likely be a review of Mirrors edge, a PS4 vs. Xbox ONE comparison. Additionally, i hope to post a review of Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, witch will essentially be a review of the game itself. I did borrow it from a friend when the original edition dropped in 2013, but i never got thru it because i was so bussy with other games at the time. Now, however, i bought the Definitive edition and what little i have had of time for video games recently have been dedicated to raiding tombs, getting thru the story and spend some time in the multiplayer so i have enough knowledge to review the game.

Also, last time I was active I was looking at different color and layout options and i plan to resume that work, seeing as I have gotten feedback saying it can sometimes be hard to read my posts with it's current font, size and white-on-black color. I'm trying out a few different options now, and you may see a major or minor re-design of the site, although i plan to keep the basic layout i have now, unless i find something way superior!

Are video games culture?

*this post is a translated, shortened and slightly altered version of a chapter in my final exam thesis. At my school we get one year to write an extensive thesis on a subject we chose freely, and mine is video games*

I, myself have always been fighting to persuade those I consider close-minded people that video games are in fact culture. They are a cultural medium on equal level with books, music, art and movies. It’s obvious ain’t it? Yet still for some reason so many are still in denial, whilst I sit here actually thinking of video games as the ultimate cultural medium. Think about evolution. Many different species on earth, all with very different skill sets and levels of intelligence. Evolution culminated in man. A being with the skill set of millions of other species, refined, perfected. Nature did that. Like so many animals we can crawl on all four, but for us that’s a choice because we don’t have to. We have two legs and we can stand up. We can think, run, climb, jump, swim, analyze and so much more. Nature evolved and created one new being, possessing more skills than any single being before. Now go back 50 years and we didn’t have video games. But we had most everything else within entertainment, we today consider culture. We had music, dancing, art, literature and movies. Culture has also evolved. From the simple folk tunes of ancient Greece and the middle ages, to something that is all around us at all times, in every possible genre. If you look at the first movies, there is simply no comparison to what we see today. Just like that, literature and art has evolved to become amazing, riveting stories. Wouldn’t the law of nature dictate that culture, as everything else, eventually evolve into not only being better at existing genres, but create something entirely new. A mix of all the others. Yes, it does, and that’s exactly what culture did. We now have video games. I will agree that in the first few years video games where not as much traditional culture because technology didn’t allow people to create anything very complex. Designers simply didn’t have the technology to put their culture and their own distinctive personality into a game, but even those first games are, just as all the games today, where and are a big part of pop-culture. Today, even if you argue that video games aren’t culture, you really need to think about it because at the very least they are a big part of pop-culture. My hopes however, is that if you didn’t believe video games are culture before, then you will after reading this.

No first, let’s ask ourselves: «what is culture?». Well, in general 

«Culture is the characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts and more.» 

(http://www.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of-culture.html)

Well; religion, cuisine and social habits, although they’re all culture, are not relevant for this particular article here quite simply because if games are culture they fall within the entertainment category. So now let’s consider entertainment. I don’t think a lot of people consider the bowling alley or an amusement park as culture, even though they’re both most certainly entertaining. No, when talking culture and entertainment, we’re talking the examples I’ve been using earlier here. Movies, books, art and music. Well, I challenge you sir, I challenge you to find anything in either of those three that makes them culture, that isn’t also present in video games. Simultaneously, let’s get rid of those haters saying games have no depth compared to other pieces of entertainment. Let’s rank them, based on complexity:

5. In a book we have a story, and that’s it

4. A painting is a painting, it’s art, absolutely, but it’s still just a painting

3. A song (can) require(s) not only a story to tell, but also a melody

2. Movies need a story, concept art, music, acting and the art of creating beautiful images in motion

1. Video games need a story, concept art, music, acting (yes, the people you see on screen are (for the most part) actors who have been recorded and then had their motions put into a digital skin) and above all: to create a good game it requires a painstaking attention to detail. The finesse, skill and artistic sense required to digitally create the beautiful environments gamers often are treated to, is absolutely enormous. Not only that, but it isn’t a movie, where the creators have full control. The game designers have to tell a strong story and deliver a riveting, beautiful or just adrenaline-fueled experience whilst simultaneously letting someone else take control. Potentially millions of people will play it, and they will all play it differently. How do you tell a great story, if someone else is playing it out for you? Naturally this changes with the type of the game. There are those who are much more tightly choreographed, and there are those who give you pretty much full control over your own story. The ladder ones are where the creators really have their work cut out for them, because they’re not so much making a story, but creating the tools for someone else to make their own. I often hear people (in particular women…hmm) saying «what’s so great about books that movies don’t have, is that you can make your own images». Well, compared to movies, you are right. You have no control and nothing left for you to create your own images in your head. But if use of imagination is what you want, I advise you to take a look at fantastic titles like Skyrim. Everything you do is up to you. You have (as good as) total control and the life you live is your own. You truly feel like a part of the world, and the only thing that is given you is a eventful world and interesting characters. Who you chose to be is completely up to you. And yet still, this is all created by someone. How is that possible? Isn’t that what you would call amazing? How can creating something like that be anything other than an art form? If you can’t see a video game as one singular art-piece after reading that, then consider this. No matter how you look at it, the game world is art. Every environment is created by an artist. It’s sketched out, drawn, designed and digitally created. Modeled. Sculptured. The characters in the world are created the same way. Then, what makes it into a video game is simply lines of code and animation added to make it move and react to your input. I’ll have a hard time taking you seriously if you say that taking art, and then adding some lines of code «under the hood» to make it move, all of the sudden make it so that it’s no longer art.

Now let’s back up a bit. When we talk about culture, we’re talking about the culture of either a specific part of the world or a country. Naturally, video games all have a country of origin, and as far as style, they’re pretty much divided up as the rest of the worlds entertainment. When overlooking the exceptions, the movies, books and games of the world are very much divided into western and eastern. It’s often rather easy (now I’m of course not talking about language) to tell if a movie is asian, and the same goes for video games. There is something distinct about asian culture that comes out in their video games, just as it does in their comic books, movies and music. If we move to Norway, my native country, the video game industry is not very huge, but we can see a trend in indie games to take on themes a norwegian would be familiar with through our folklore, ancient legends and children stories. We can see a bit of norwegian culture in them. Now that being said, in most cases the game industry has gone the same way as the movie industry. It’s becoming harder and harder to tell where something is coming from because the whole world is undergoing globalization, and this has especially heavily impacted the entertainment industry. We can be certain this is because the people behind the products generally want to make as much money as possible on their products, so they push for them to be as international as possible. That’s why if you want to examine a game for culture more specific to a country you need to look at indie games, in the same way for the same reasons as with movies. If you want to find a piece of preserved culture, and a bit of a countries soul and inside humor, you can’t look for the big budget studio productions. You need to look for those minor, locally produced, slightly weird gems. This goes equally for games.

Maybe now you’re sitting here waiting for a conclusion, telling you just why video games are culture. If you do, I’ll ask you to read this article again because you should have drawn that conclusion yourself several times over whilst reading this. Maybe you feel large parts of this article has been dedicated to explaining why video games are art; well yes. I talked quite a bit about that, and I feel I pretty well established that video games are art. I also established that they are an art form that often are heavily impacted by where they come from, and can typically be recognized in the same way, through the same characteristics as other pieces of culture from that part of the world. That being said, isn’t it pretty damn well established that art is culture?

2014 Update

Hello my dearest readers (whoever you are, wherever you might be). Firstly, I'd like to start 2014 by sincerely wishing you all a happy new year and thank you for reading Chase Game Reviews. I hereby officially lay down my new year resolutions: work out with the frequency i did spring, summer and early fall 2013 (because unfortunately, the winter so far i ain't been sweating as much as i should), do better at my studies and above all else, write more and better posts for this blog. I'd also like to announce that I'm only a few hundred viewings away from reaching 1000 readings and on that day i promise to post my review of a game that is very special to me and i feel have been given far too little attention (hint, there is a lot in the game to bee seen with the color red). Up until then i will keep posting other reviews, trying to get back in the schedule of at least one post a week. Hope you enjoy reading my blog and i wish you the best in the year to come!