Rundown (6/15-6/21) The One After E3 & Before Psycho Shatter

Before beginning this post, which I rewrote three times for, I wanted to talk about a rumor that arouse about Smash Brothers before E3 2013. The anonymous tipster mentioned certain currently confirmed characters along with Shulk, Chrom, and Chorus Men from Rhythm Heaven, which sounds radical if I do say so myself. But no, Steam had to pull my leg and offer a Summer Sale… and a pretty lame one at that. Yes, the last one was how I entered the world of PC gaming, and oh boy, did I make out like a bandit back then. But now? Now I’ve got another eight games to play, even if I already beat Ducktales, which I’m not going to review until next week because… backlogs. Right now I’m playing Skyrim again, and oh boy is that game evil, broken, and ugly as sin. I’ve spent hours trying to get mods to work, but I cannot see if most of them actually did anything.

One title I quickly opted out of purchasing in the Steam Sales was the pre-order of Dead Rising 3, which I only really wanted in the wake of what I assumed to be a deluxe edition with all the DLC, including the fun one that was released shortly ago… Shame it’s an XBO exclusive. Microsoft is clearly to blame here, but it still lessens whatever affection I have towards Capcom, making the concept of how they could now be taken over by another company one I am very keen towards becoming a reality. Who do I want? Somebody less destructive than Sammy, but more involved than Kadokawa.

Yes, I want many things, but more Sleeping Dogs is sadly not one of them, as I found the game to be solid, but nothing extraordinary. So, one can understand why I roll my eyes at something like Sleeping Dogs HD. I like the concept of improving and re releasing titles, but even as a rumor, I must shake my head if only for how the game was, if not 1080, at least 720p. Oh, but the PC version of the game was gorgeous compared to the consoles, so I guess this paired with a sequel could give the franchise another chance after it failed Square Enix. A company who spilled very bad blood over the years, but if they do make things like, oh, a Mass Effect inspired Deus Ex: Universe Trilogy, then that blood could be dried off and eaten by a gopher named Pea Juice before the day’s end.

I’m kidding of course, Square Enix’s essence has mostly dissipated over the years, as many people left the company, making it a different one than it was in the PSX days. Much like Rare, who haven’t done much of worth for quite some time, but have many titles they are working on right now. The proof is in the pudding, and I doubt they even have mix, let alone eggs. It is the problem when your studio changes all but its name, as creators often make the largest mark on their games. I say often as Gone Home certainly did not feel like it came from the developers of Minerva’s Den, my favorite Bioshock game, and the studio behind the former title’s head, leader, designer person, left to form Dim Bulb Games… Full creative freedom wasn’t enough apparently, and hopefully he can finish a story this time and make it actually interesting.

Hell, at least the stuff happening with Watch Dogs’ PC version got interesting after somebody found unused graphical settings, hidden away in the game’s files, and available for crafty players to access. What did these settings do? Make it look like the game from E3 2012 in addition to possibly improving the game’s overall performance… Why wasn’t this included in a more visible manner by Ubisoft? It could cause problems… even though the main game is littered with many issues, and the build has not possessed any game breaking bugs as of yet. Although, the game is busted at its core, so this revelation changes very little, as Watch Dogs will likely age like butter.