A Gaming Wishlist

The gaming world is always changing...  

The graphics aren't the only thing that is getting better but the hardware is as well.  To have the best experience it helps to have the best equipment, however, that doesn't usually mean you will not enjoy a game as it is.

I don't have the best equipment.  My computer is getting older, I still own a regular PS3, and I don't have the funds to improve them yet.  Still, I dream about all of the games I wish to play.

Let's start with the "old"...

• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist
• Developers: Ubisoft Toronto
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Released August 20, 2013

I have never been disappointed with Splinter Cell.  When the series of Splinter Cell's first came out I wasn't even aware of them until Chaos Theory, back when I started to take video games more seriously. I remember playing co-op with my brother and failing miserably at deactivating bombs...we were blown up...a lot! 

As I played through the story, I really liked the stealthiness of the game.  How one wrong move could mess everything up, and one sound could lead you to take on the enemies head on were things I enjoyed exploiting in the game, but only on occasion.  With the new Splinter Cell, Blacklist, I am really looking forward to experimenting with the online multiplayer, Spies vs Mercs. This is truly a feat for my brother and I, of which we have both improved our gaming techniques dramatically! Let's see who wins! 

• Remember Me
• Developer: Dontnod Entertainment
• Publisher: Capcom 
• Released June 3, 2013

I became intrigued with this game because of the story. It takes place in the future (2028, Neo-Paris) when a woman named Nilin whose memory is wiped escapes from imprisonment, and as she encounters a man called Edge he tells her that she is an Errorist. She has the ability to steal and change(remix) memories. The game involves making a series of choices that can change someone's personality/behavior entirely to make them believe something that happened when it never actually did. By changing something in a memory, it can ultimately change the way a person thinks or acts.  

For example, in the trailer, Nilin has to enter someone's memory and make the person kill someone by removing or changing a glass bottle. This makes the person grab a gun instead of the bottle and they end up killing someone they loved. In reality, they become depressed and guilt ridden and they kill themselves in the end.

I think, the main reason why I like the premise of this game is because it is thought provoking and the choices you have to make can be the difference between life and death.

• Payday 2
• Developers: Overkill Software & Starbreeze 
• Publisher: 505 Games
• Released August 13, 2013

Having played the first Payday and absolutely loving it, I am quite excited to play this one. It's basically a 4 person co-op fps game where you complete heists (which is in the layout of a stage/campaign map).  The game involves a lot of team work which can be fun when you are playing with the right people...otherwise, if you have someone who is Rambo, then you can count on being 'jailed' half of the time.

I can think of a few good players to play this game with over a few drinks and slurred speech! 

Well, there are definitely more games on my list, but I'll leave it at that for now.  Hopefully, someday, I will have the opportunity to play them. In the meantime I'll have to keep my eye out for Steam sales! So... yeah! That's it, that's all, and let's get gummy with it! 

Don't Panic!

Okay! So here is my "first" gaming video ever, unless you include my Sims videos...then it's my third gaming video!  Basically, my friend Baku decides he wants an achievement which you have to finish this particular map on Nightmare in Dungeon Defenders.  I'm already skeptical if we could do it but I agreed to go along with it!  We were doomed from the start, but at least we had fun!

Gummy: On Falling in Love - Part 2

Lost in a digital world...

The gentle hum of the swirling fans in Gummy's laptop roared to life after hours of midnight gaming...

Gummy looked over at her alarm clock sitting on top of her television wall unit. It read, 3 o'clock in the morning.  Not wanting to leave her team of zombie slayers mid game she continued to push forward.

The Ruggedly Handsome Nick (IMO)

Work is going to be hell tomorrow.

Overall, she didn't mind.  Work was just a way to earn a dollar. Gaming, that was a whole other lifestyle.  It was like being a superhero, putting on a mask and saving the world. Besides, playing with the handsome Nick wasn't so bad either. What made it better? His French accent. 

At first, it was just a friendship but soon a courtship began. It was just one of those things that just happened.

Finally they finished the campaign barely surviving the finale. Sometimes it was easy and other times the zombies and special infected were so well timed in attacks that the whole team would be incapacitated. Not to mention, the entire team were starting to groan like zombies themselves, the evidence of lack of sleep taking effect.

It was time to shuffle over to the bed and she did so grudgingly but not before seeing her Nick buddy jump into another game.

"You're playing another game?? Don't you have to work early tomorrow too?" She messaged him.

"Yeah, but I'm just testing this one," he responded.

She laughed and shook her head and soon she was lost in the dream world running away from zombies and alligators. Why is everything so much more terrifying in a dream?

Over the next few months and a few days after Valentine's day both Gummy and her Nick played the familiar campaigns in Left 4 Dead.  

They goofed around swatting zombies with med kits and jumped from beginning to end until the finale.  When they reached the finale, it was a bridge torn with random vehicles tossed all over, and lots of hiding places where zombies could jump out at you.  It was tough, they dared to play on advanced, and well...there is no happy ending for these love birds as Gummy is charged off the bridge and Nick is the lone survivor to make it to the waiting helicopter.

"NO!" he screamed, "Gummy..."

Everyone laughed over an open mic as they waited for Nick to board the helicopter and then, just when you thought he was going to make it he stops.

"I can't do it! Not without Gummy!" He ran to the edge of the helipad and jumped into the open water killing him instantly.

Everyone yelled out, in surprise and dismay, as they watched his body hit the water sprawling out as if he hit pavement instead...that's game physics for you, sometimes things just don't make sense. Laughter broke out and even though they could have made it, they weren't going to unless Gummy made it. Thankfully, after another try, everyone lived happily ever after.

The game had ended and the credits rolled and Gummy looked at her messages in the Steam overlay.  Three simple words appeared in a swift stroke of the key that read: "I love you."

Sometimes, when you least expect it, that's when love finds you. In this case, Gummy found it in a digital land filled with zombies and special infected. She wasn't looking for it, but because of a bored Nick, they ended meeting on one server that changed there lives...at least for the time being. 

Gummy: On Falling in Love

Love in the Land of Zombies...

In the land of zombies, four survivors trek across the southern landscape in hopes of finding refuge from the raging infected...

It was her birthday and she never felt more alone when she turned on her computer and waited patiently for Steam to start.  Left 4 Dead became a way to disconnect from the depressing reality and the lack of companionship.  Gummy sat at her computer and thought back on her day.  Not impressive but decent enough.  She loved her family, since they were there for her in difficult times but there was one thing she wanted, to be held by the loving embrace of her soul mate.  It was then she made a silent wish to herself and to any wandering spirits that might overhear her.

"I wish, this birthday, something I don't normally wish for, but I wish to find a pure love." She sighed and bowed her head in silence.  After sitting for a few moments she got up to fill a glass of wine and returned to start a game.  As the familiar logo of Valve appeared she sipped her wine and thought, What a way to spend a birthday.

What other way did she know though? She was never one to go to clubs and party.  She was introverted and some would say she was shy.  However the world viewed her, she did know that she hated it.

The game started and she found herself immersed on the rooftops reaching for her first weapon of defense.  It was hard to decide on the best weapon...she was still new to the game only having put minimal hours into it.  Some other players joined her and one in particular was amusing as he became the ruggedly handsome Nick.  Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

They rushed down the stairway into the hallway of a hotel.  There were a few doors open and a spew of zombies came tumbling out towards them.  Nick jumped up and down randomly with a med kit in hand and started batting at the zombies with it.  Suddenly, Gummy gasped as one special infected launched itself at her.  She failed to get out of the way in time and was then being pounded into the wall.  Nick came running to her rescue with a baseball bat and swung hard giggling. Giggling? Who is this guy?

The survivors continued on there journey throughout the Left 4 Dead 2 world.  The light was a contrast to the original Left 4 Dead, but it was always still surprising when the special infected would grab you from the middle of nowhere.  Nick was constantly picking up incapacitated survivors and he refused to leave anyone behind even if it meant sacrificing his own life.  He was good humored about it too.

After the night finished, it was early the next morning.  Gummy contemplated on adding this Nick character to her friends list.  She thought about how good of a player he was.  It was refreshing not be yelled at by people who took the game too seriously.  Suddenly, inside her mind she said, screw it! And clicked the add friend button and went to bed.

When she awoke, her curiosity led her back to her computer and to her surprise, he accepted!

To be continued...

The Story of a Gummy Bear

The Origins... 

A long time ago...okay, not really a long time ago...perhaps it was only awhile ago...pfft, whatever, it was in the past and that's all I know.  Let's try this again.

Sometime in the past, that of which I do not fully remember when, but I became lovingly known as Gummy Bear.  A name which rose in terror as I fought my way through waves of zombies with nothing more than a frying pan, med kit, adrenaline, and a trusty military sniper rifle (with laser sights attached, of course).  Okay, so the name didn't bring terror but at least it was a name that I could grow into.  It didn't matter how often I bounced from name to name, I would always bounce my way back to Gummy.

Before becoming Gummy, my tyranny only raged upon unwitting Sims.  Not that I minded too much, but I still had yet to discover the world of gaming.  After I upgraded my dinosaur of a computer to a gaming laptop (to better improve my Simmming) I discovered the game Left 4 Dead, first on the Xbox and then on PC.  My name at the time was a name that was created by chance of a typo.  Not as interesting as to how I was adopted by Gummy Bear.  After months of playing Left 4 Dead with a mediocre name and being single it was on my birthday that I made a wish that surprisingly came true.  Next thing I knew it I was introduced to an interesting French accented "Nick" and we survived campaign after campaign in Left 4 Dead until the wee hours of the morning.  A birthday well spent since this "Nick" fellow was super funny.

The night sadly finished and I was forced to resort back to reality but my mind kept flipping back to my new friend.  An interesting fellow whose words of randomness and kindness made me want to keep playing video games.  Still playing under my original name, I began experimenting with other names to find one that best suited me, however, none of them stuck and I kept the name I had.  Another month or so past and I met a few of my friend's friends which created a new world of hilarity and trolls. 

More time past, it might have only been weeks but time moves differently in the gaming world, and after having a wonderfully funny relationship with my accented Nick we finally began to develop a closer relationship.  At this time, I was so in love with Death Note and the character L that I named myself after him.  I remember slaying the zombies and Nick yelling out, with my buddies as witnesses, "I 'ove' you!"

I replied surprised and amused and still questioning if I heard him correctly, "You 'ove' me?" I made the connection because my game tag was 'L'.  I laughed when he simply answered, "Yeah!"  It was from then on that I began to think of my funny friend as something more.  Our zombieland relationship took off and continued to blossom.

Still, I was trying to discover my own gamer tag and eventually it found me.  As I was learning the likes and dislikes of my new beau, Gummy Bear found me.  A name that I would now forever be known as.  I get amusement out of it when I slay zombies, or take down other players in CoD.  To be outplayed by a Gummy Bear-the most friendliest of names.  It was a name that suited me and my personality to perfection.  The truth behind the Gummy name, well, I found out that my sweetheart loves gummies in general, so I couldn't resist the name.

That's it, that's all, at least for the origins of Gummy Bear!