Revolution Is Here

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 DLC map pack 'Revolution' has finally hit the Xbox360 this week.  So with that in mind I have decided to post my views on it; this is not a review.

So I'll start with the multiplayer maps.  The new maps have added a bit of freshness to the online multiplayer because playing the same 4 maps seemingly all the time can be a bit tedious (Hijacked anyone?).  The 4 new maps have a variety of slightly different dynamics around the levels, with things such as the flooding of part of the Hydro map & the moving Cable Cars on Downhill.  These add the need to remember your surroundings or the game itself will kill you if you get in the way of them.

Spawning has always been a major issue in COD but without those issues, you still wouldn't be to far away from an enemy when you spawn.  The new maps have so many different ways to get around the maps and cut-ways making the journey shorter from one side to the other.  After a few games online you soon start to realise that 'Spawn Camping' seems to have gotten alot easier in these maps.

That aside these new multiplayer maps are good, they are not amazing, but they are good.  They inject the new settings that full time Call of Duty players have needed for a little while now and a new gun that is a great gun but time will tell if it is soon to become the only gun that most non-snipers use.

After a few more games online I will skip over the Turned mode.

So finally Die Rise.  Now I've heard a mixed bunch of replies to this ranging from; 'this is an awesome map' all the way to 'this is fucking shit'.  I personally think this map is very good and provides zombie players with a more close quarters environment that adds even more of a challenge to the game mode.  I've played a few games on there now and I am still managing to get lost in the buildings, opening doors to corridors that I've not been down yet.  I think the Easter Egg for this map is going to be hard but hopefully rewarding and not a 'thank fuck that's done' moment.

All in all I think the map pack is a pretty good one and like so many people I'm more interested in where this Zombie's story-line is going to take us over the coming months.

The personal highlight of the bundle for me is Die Rise, but when you play with a bunch of guys who scream like girls when a zombie turns up out of nowhere, it's always going to be fun.

I Have A Dream

I have a dream readers: a dream of a land of Call of Duty where the spawning actually works, jumping is only possible when climbing obstacles, going prone is a thing of the past and finally a land where Sniper Rifles are no more.

Don't get me wrong I like Black Ops 2 and, for my time, have liked most the previous incarnations but every single COD title has infuriated me to the point of selling it because of some or normally all of the reasons listed above.

You see my growing hatred for Black Ops 2 stems from constantly being killed after spawning infront of the enemy team/players. From being constantly killed time after time by snipers and people quick scoping. Finally from dying after almost killing a player only for them to either jump in the air or dive to prone and then to kill me.

I am aware that these are probably considered as minor inconviences by some people but I know I am not the only person who is growing even more hatred for a game they want to love.

I know this won't happen but as I said it is just a dream and I just have to deal with it. If you feel the same then let me know via a comment, twitter or the other buttons located above and thanks for reading.

Life After Questing: Day 445

A few days have past since you were last here and in that time I have added a North wing to Lakeview manor and added a load of furniture inside the house.  However in that time I felt a little lost, I felt that silent call to quest and so today I've decided to finish a quest I've been meaning to for over a year now: collecting all the Dragon Priest masks.  You see the thing is you can't just give up questing for good, it's like a Nord giving up alcohol and we all know that will never happen.

So you join me at 8.30am on Fredas the 7th of Sun's Dusk and I'm am currently outside High Gate Ruins after receiving a tip off ages ago about there being a source of power here and maybe even a Dragon Priest. I am fully kitted out in my Ancient Falmer armour and attempting to fight off any enemies with a Dragonbone Greatsword; a two-handed weapon that I am not great at using.

As soon as I enter the ruins I find a dead Draugr on the floor which makes me wonder if I may have fleetingly visited these ruins before but as I continue through to the next room I meet a woman called Anska. She's just stood there doing nothing as if she has been waiting for me.  We talk and I discover that the ruins are the home of the tomb of the long dead priest Vokun (jackpot), and that she needs my help retrieving a scroll from within the tomb.  This essentially means that she's too chicken to go it alone and wants me to kill everything and get attacked by everything instead of her.  However I am a nice guy (only been to prison once and that was a stray fireball during a Dragon attack), so I offer to help.

We head into the next area and get attacked by three Draugr that I dispatch of quickly and we continue deeper into the ruin.  As we delve further it becomes apparent that I'm a little rusty at ruin exploration as I set off a trap and get a face full of wooden spikes but Anska actually killed a few Draugr.  However rusty my exploration is, my puzzle solving skills are as sharp as ever and after taking less than a minute to solve a lever puzzle we are on our way again and into the catacombs.

After dispatching a load of Draugr Deathlords, a generic Dragon Priest and saving Anska's ass countless times we arrived in Vokun's Throne Room.  Vokun attacked us but it would seem he is not as big as he was made out to be as he went down like a sack of potatoes.  In the chamber behind I found a word wall and learnt a new word for the Storm Call shout.  I explored the room some more for more loot before I realised that Anska was still following me, waiting for me to pick up the scroll she came here for off the table next to her and personally hand it to her.  Why are all the citizens of Skyrim so lazy and useless?

With that part of the quest completed in just a mere 10 hours I left Anska to her own devices inside the ruins and headed outside, where I had an Ale and some vegetable soup and headed off home, up the road my second build Winstad Manor.  Only to get there to find a Giant attacking my house, so had to kill him before I could properly rest for the night.


It's been a long day and quite a proportion of me doesn't actually miss questing after today.  I think I might just have to stick to being a normal man about the house kind of guy.  Today has made me realise one other thing actually: it's a good job that potions don't have a use by date.

Adrian Van Oyen

As I usually do, I was browsing YouTube this morning and stumbled across Adrian Van Oyen 

Now Adrian posts videos of himself doing some pretty crazy things in public, stuff that I would love to do but I don't have the confidence to do.  That's where this post is going because I'm not going to post a video of his crazy antics; if you want to see that check out his YouTube channel below.

https://www.youtube.com/user/AdrianVanOyen

However I will post his personal vlog entitled 'Confidence' from his other channel explaining how he has the confidence to do the things he does.  Confidence is something I have personally struggled with for a long time; it's half the reason why I am the way I am.  It's also the reason why I have yet to do online vlogs myself.  But I believe the message behind this video is a very good one and hopefully by sharing this video with you all, we can all be that little bit more confident.

Life After Questing: Day 442

Good day everyone, you join my story not at the beginning or even the middle but at the end of it's tale.  At a point where I am master of all the guilds, the civil war has ended (the imperials won), the Dawnguard were victorious and Alduin has been defeated.  A stage in my life where meaningful quests are hard to come by and I am attempting to live a normal life in Skyrim.  This is my tale of that life and the occurrences that happen on a day to day basis.

So my story begins on day 442; Tirdas on the 3rd of Sun's Dusk. I awaken at 6.35am in Breezehome in Whiterun, with the view to having a productive day.  You see since my questing days have all but finished I have become something of a property developer and I'm currently working on the construction of my third house.  Unfortunately though during the building I ran out of some materials which I picked yesterday, the only item I haven't got yet is lumber.  So that is my plan for the day; taking a trip to the Half-Moon Mill on my way back to my new construction 'Lakeview Manor'.

With all that in mind I head downstairs to have some breakfast, a nice simple bread and cheese combo and I'm on my way.  I leave the house at seven to find that the weather looks pretty good today; it's not bright and sunny but there are few clouds in the sky.  I already begin to feel that this is going to be a good day.  On my way out of Whiterun I stop off at the Stables to be amazed to see my horse there, I was convinced that I saw it die at the hands of some Forsworn ages ago but here he is.  Southwest is my heading and as I pass the Western Watchtower a novice from the Dawnguard starts running alongside me. After awhile I stopped to see what he wanted only to find that he was fleeing from some kind of danger.  I looked around but could see no dangerous creatures or Bandits so just assumed he'd lost his marbles and let him carry on running away from his invisible foe.

Apart from a Sabrecat trying his luck the rest of the journey was pretty uneventful and I arrived at Half-Moon Mill at 9.40 and sought out Hert to purchase my lumber.  Now I've done my time with the Dawnguard so I know a Vampire when I see one, and Hert is most definitely a vampire (the red eyes and pasty face give it away).  But I'm not here on Dawnguard business so I purchase plenty of lumber and have a little chat only to find that Hert seems like a really nice woman.  Anyway it is time to press on before I have wasted the day away and once again my horse has disappeared on me again (wish it had died now), so I head off on foot.

After finding my horse 10 minutes up the road I reached Lakeview at just after eleven and began work on the main house building straight away.  I managed to build the main house and some furniture inside to at least make it a place that I can sleep/live in whilst I build the rest.  After feeling a bit hungry & fatigued I stopped to realise that it was almost 6:30 in the evening, so I stopped for a dinner consisting of Rabbit Haunch & Potato Soup.  There was little else to do so I indulged in a few drinks of wine (is alcohol all we drink in Skyrim??), and settled down for the evening.

I'm starting to feel that Lakeview may just become my new favourite house, so what if my neighbour is a necromancer practicing her works at the bottom of the hill my house sits on.  You can't pick your neighbours they say, but you can't argue with that view.

Introduction to...Simon

The above picture is of my main character in Skyrim; named Simon obviously.  Now over the past year I have seen many blogs solely detailing various ways of playing the game, people's day to day lives and adventures in the land of Skyrim.  I thought I would do posts every now and again detailing my life in Skyrim, but with a twist.

You see these posts will be detailing what happens after questing, when all the side quest-lines and the main story is completed.  They will be showing just what the Dovahkiin does to pass the time when almost everything is done and work is sparse.

I can't guarentee this will be overly interesting or at all exciting, instead an account of the 'Dragonborn' attempting to adjust to a normal life.

Tonight's Gaming 19th Jan

I have decided that every now and again to do a little post detailing what game I will be playing on that given night.

Tonight the game of choice is none other than the completely obvious Call of Duty Black Ops 2 on Xbox 360.

I will be floating around on the Multiplayer & also on Zombies for the duration of the night.  If you happen to be on and fancy a game or two send me a request.

My Gamertag is - BrudaNoodle

And hopefully I'll see you online soon.

Another One Bites the Dust

In the past few days we've had HMV going under and then BlockBusters the next day.  I've already wrote a post on HMV so I wanted to concentrate on BlockBusters, and if you don't know what BlockBusters is then  you are too young and should go out more.

I'm not at all shocked to see Blockbusters go under because it was, and has been for ages now, a dying store.  I personally can't recall the last time I rented anything from a store or anyone I know for that matter.  Video rental stores are more or less obsolete now we live in a world where you can download/stream virtually any movie off the internet.

If there is anyone who has predicted this outcome so well then it has to be The Onion who posted this video online back in 2008. Maybe this is what will happen to Blockbusters.

DWNTWN

It's time for my first music based post and today I would like to introduce you all to DWNTWN, (a band that a good friend pointed me in the direction of).

DWNTWN are an electro-pop three piece group hailing from Los Angeles.  They released two EPs in 2012; Cowboys & The Red Room , both of which are brilliant pieces of work.  The songs themselves are very catchy, and you'll find yourself returning to them countless times.  I feel they are not as big as they should be but here's to hoping that 2013 will be the year that more and more people discover them & the quality music they produce.

I'm not overly great at writing about music and feel that the best way to know if you are going to like a band is not to read about the songs indepth but to listen to them.  With that in mind below I have posted the video of their live performance of my personal favourite track 'Believe Me' on The Weekly Comet.

Do check out their website where you can listen to their tracks, and don't forget to give them a follow on Twitter and Like their Facebook page (links posted below video).

DWNTWN Website: http://www.dwntwnmusic.com/
DWNTWN Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dwntwnmusic
DWNTWN Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwntwnmusic

Utopia

In case you have been living in a bubble for the past fortnight you should have seen the above image floating around somewhere.  It's the main poster image for the advertising of Channel 4's new six-part provocative drama Utopia; written by playwright Dennis Kelly.

Utopia started last night and I won't be going into much detail because I don't wish to spoil for people who have yet to see it.  The story starts off with two assassins who work for an outfit known as 'The Network', on the hunt for the manuscript of the sequel to a graphic novel called The Utopia Experiment & a woman called Jessica Hyde.  The story carries on from her, following the assassins in their hunt, introducing a wider area of characters some of whom are linked in ways to the novel, and some who it would appear are not.

The show is very dark, at times brutal with an overlaying cloud of paranoia & conspiracy flowing throughout the whole show.  There are also many nods to big-screen thrillers that the eagle eyed viewers will notice & appreciate.

Without spoiling vital points on the story I can't write to much but if the rest of the series follows the example set by the first episode, this is going to be one of the drama's of the year.

Watch the trailer below & do get onto 4oD to watch it, it'll be well worth your time.

Black Ops 2 Challenge Guides

If you have Call of Duty Black Ops 2 & have played the single player campaign, you will have no doubt encountered the Challenges.  If you haven't then basically each single player mission has 10 challenges to complete, completing then all for every mission nets you an achievement/trophy.

If like me you are having a spot of bother with these challenges then I highly recommend checking out the videos posted by YouTube user ArticCompany via the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ArcticCompany

The videos are of good quality, show you how to do the challenges and they are explained in full in the description box.  There is also the opportunity to skip ahead to specific challenges if you only need one or two.  I personally have used these videos to complete the majority of the challenges on my game & found them helpful, so I thought I'd share them with you.

On a side note I would just like to say that who ever decided to put these challenges in the game, along with the achievement/trophy that comes with completing them, should be fired.  These challenges have killed pretty much all enjoyment I got out of the game when I first started playing it and I'm literally having to force myself to load the game up just to get the last 20 challenges.  My only hope is that these don't return in future games in the series.

The Death of HMV

If you haven't been watching/listening to any news in the past 24 hours then you would've missed that high street retailer HMV has gone into administration & many stores (if not all of them perhaps) will be closing.

So my views on this; well at first it will be a great shame to lose another well known & established high street  stores but it's not a surprise to me.  If you follow the financial side to this whole story you will have realised that it's a surprise that HMV has lasted this long as it's been limping on for a couple of years now.

Now I don't know the full ins & outs of the business or how it operates but the pricing system within the chain has been somewhat off the mark. If you look at videogames for example, HMV was generally the most expensive store on the high street for them.  For a store that dedicates sections to videogames you kind of want to be competing with other stores like GAME & CeX for lowest prices wherever you can & not generally being the most expensive; therefore the generally avoided store.

But then again I know that generally a high street store can't really compete to well with the online market and generally that is where most consumers now are going.  You don't even need to really own DVD's or CD's anymore now that there is itunes, Spotify, Netflix, Lovefilm and various other online streaming services/stores.  The future itself isn't looking to bright for most some stores on our high streets but then again you can sometimes turn things around.

Take GAME for example, a couple of months ago they were going under and now they are doing quite well for themselves.  I believe that this has come from the more interactive/personal approach the company has taken now.  Each store now has their own social media forum, stage special events for gamers and there is generally a more personal touch now whereas a year ago I didn't like GAME because, to me, it felt like a cold & heartless store & company.

I genuinely hope that HMV doesn't disappear completely and like GAME, can find a way to bring itself back from the brink.

Black Ops 2 & Other Stuff

Well it's been awhile since I was last on this site but I am determined to make a go of blogging for once & actually mean it.  So last time I was here I mentioned about the new direction for this site & that's going to continue.  The main reasoning behind this is that I don't have the time to constantly keep an eye out for gaming news & I'm pretty rubbish at doing reviews.

So along with online videos & games I will be posting articles about many gaming related things I find on my searches online, the music choices I am currently listening to, and my general opinions of some bits of gaming news and the like.

So to kick off the rebirth of this site I have a Youtuber by the name of MetatronixGaming who posts game-play commentary videos (mainly on Black Ops 2 at the moment), and also posts 'How To' videos on how to make some of the best emblems around.  Why are they the best? Because they are Adventure Time emblems and you can't go wrong with a bit of Jake & Finn.

Check out his how to make Finn video below and please do Like & subscribe to his channel.