Tag: PS4

ESO Dagger Mounted in Style!

Personal
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Greatness Awaits ESO DaggerAs I posted about before, I won part of the PlayStation 4 “Greatness Awaits” contest. In a stroke of pure-freakin’-genius this contest allowed fans to leverage their gold trophies as entries to win props from the awesome “Perfect Day” PS4 commercial. I won the Dagger from the Elder Scrolls Online segment.

The dagger, based on designs by Bethesda and ZeniMax Online Studios, looked awesome but wasn’t very “presentational” so I spent the last couple of weeks creating a suitable display plaque inspired by those in the “Hearthfire” add-in in “Skyrim”. (Here’s hoping the design is reused for Elder Scrolls Online!)

I’m extremely pleased with the results. I’ll be posting more images and a project walk-through soon, but for now I’m happy to simply present the final product. I was also lucky enough to be a beta participant for Elder Scrolls Online (on the PC) and while I can’t offer specifics, I am enjoying myself! Here’s hoping I’ll be able to use a virtual version of my actual dagger at some point!

Game Review: Contrast

Gaming
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Contrast“Contrast” Official Website

Rated “T” for Teen; Reviewed on Playstation 4

You are Dawn. Tall, beautiful and dressed as a Parisian vaudevillian acrobat. You’re the mute companion of the precocious young Didi.  You’re also imaginary. Or, perhaps, you’re not. Didi, of course, has a firm opinion in the matter, but as this entire experience may only exist inside her head we may not want to rely on her.

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“Infamous: Second Son” Video Orgy

Gaming
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YouTube user “DuskBit” has uploaded a nearly thirty minute video collecting much of what we know about Sucker Punch’s highly anticipated PS4 exclusive “Infamous: Second Son”. The video presents several behind-the-scenes vignettes and includes 15 minutes of actual gameplay footage that I hadn’t seen before.

While I presume that the footage is from a pre-final build (I assume the final game will have a HUD of some kind) it’s incredibly impressive. The destructibility of the environment, the fluidity of the movement and quality of the particle effects are all amazing, but expected on a next-gen console. What really struck me, however, was the increased quality of the experience.

The ambient animals, fluttering banners and fully-rendered fallen leaves will likely be missed, but add subtlety to the reality. You’ll see enemies use their powers to alter the environment and create “shelves” for them to stand on to get a height advantage over our hero. You’ll see others decide to give up the fight completely and attempt to flee. Building from
“Infamous 2” there are also clear improvements in the in-game cinematic cameras that add dramatically to the personality of the game.

I’ve made no excuses about my adoration of the series as can be seen in my review of “Infamous 2”. This is the game that my PS4 is waiting for and from the looks of it I won’t be disappointed.

It’s a Major Award. I won it!

Gaming, Personal
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Kiwidust Dagger WinIn celebration of the release of the Playstaion 4 the PlayStation Greatness Exchange is giving away all of the props from the excellent “A Perfect Day” commercial (below).  In what is a certified stroke of marketing genius this is the second contest which has allowed fans to leverage their PSN Trophy collection to win actual prizes.

(Yes, my PSN handle is “kiwidust”.  Feel free to ping me if you catch me online.  Apologies in advance: I rarely do multi-player due to the enormous, towering, stack of unplayed games looming over me.)

I tossed my lot of trophies on the Elder Scrolls Online Dagger and…. please provide your own drumrolls, I won!  I haven’t actually taken delivery yet (who know how long that will take) but I’m already in negotiations with my lovely bride on how (and where) to mount and display it.  Here’s a few close-ups of the piece provided by PlayStation:

Here’s the commercial. You can see the dagger in the first few seconds being drawn for combat by the thiefy-looking guy on the right. He better not have scratched my dagger!

Once I take official ownership, I’ll be sure to gloat some more!

Thoughts on the Playstation 4 and XBox One

Gaming
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E3 2013 LogoIf you care about video gaming at all you’re probably already familiar with the recent announcements by Microsoft and Sony.  Despite that fact that both of these systems were introduced earlier I wanted to wait to until after the E3 Press Conferences to get a broader picture before I weighed in.  With exciting shows from both companies on Monday the stories are likely as clear as they’re going to be until the actual launch.  Before diving in however let me give you a little background on my current gen experience.

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