Archive
Introducing Supernova Cast! (Our First Podcast!)
This is the first of hopefully many podcasts to come. We hope you have as much fun listening to it as we did making it! In the first ever episode of Supernova Cast the NovaGamer crew talks about what we’re currently playing and our thoughts on the games. Also we touch on some DLC news relating to Farcry 3 and Black Ops 2, and we also put our 2 cents in about the new installment of the Batman Arkham franchise.
If you enjoy our banter please share our voices over facebook and twitter and feel free to download the podcast and listen to us on the go.
Internet, do your thing.
Rightplan on MMORPG – Ultima Shroud of the Avatar!
Hey RP Here!
So I know this is off my usual Blizzard related posts but as stated in my welcome post https://novagamer.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/the-rightplan-on-blizzard-an-introduction/ I started the majority of my online gaming on Ultima games including Beta testing Ultima Online and they loving it for my 7 years of game play.
Finally they are coming out with a new Ultima game called “The Shroud of the Avatar”. I personally am excited about this! It required funding to start but because of their huge fan base they exceeded that funding and are scheduled to release the beta testing on Dec 2013.
It is going to have the option to play online and offline which is awesome, not to mention they are going to be incorporating a lot of features from Ultima Online in it such as being able to build a house. They are also talking about creating a new MMORPG gaming experience where you will not have to follow quest givers needs and instead create something similar to there old style of play where the world is more free to explore and choose to help who you wish to. There is not a lot of info out on it yet since its still working on the beta but if you are interested, you can see a lot of intro videos and discussions at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/portalarium/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-0 .
The best part is that this whole thing needed funding because it is being created by the original maker of the Ultima games Lord British Productions and not by the company who bought out their Ultima Online game and ruined it EA.
For those who doubt my dedication 🙂 here is the original Ultima Online Cloth map framed and hanging above my computer… Don’t get geekier than me haha. I know the top left corner is frayed…. You can thank a very small and annoying dog for that… This is why I framed it.
Oh and before I forget, I am in the beta to be released and anyone else who wished to donate 33$ or more to be in the beta/ support the release then you still can at the main site https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/ .
That’s all I have for now!
Happy Gaming!
-Jon
The Rightplan On Blizzard – An Introduction
Hello everyone! Rightplan (RP) Here!
So I have been meaning to do this for quite some time now… School/Life/Work has consumed my time but I will do my best to start some posts on my game WoW (World of Warcraft). For now I can only make a post to get you up to speed on my experience with WoW, and in later posts I will begin making critiques on the new patches, Class specs, achievements and a lot more. I just feel letting you know you’re not talking to a 1 year gamer and how much time and experience I have is important (at least it would be to me). I do play other games as well with the rest of the Nova team, but as Mark has stated in his Shame list post, Time is less available these days. I picked up my first game system (Atari) back in 1987 when I was 4 and haven’t put the games down since. I have played SOOOO many games in the past but for the sake of WoW abilities I am avid MMORPG gamer. I Beta tested UO (Ultima Online) including all the Ultima offline games, and played it for 7 years. Tried my hand at Everquest, Lineage2, Diablo 1,2 and 3, Warhammer Online, and of course WoW including all the Warcraft games leading up to WoW.
To start off… If anyone wants to see my main toon, my name is Rightplan (Hence the title) and I am a Resto/Enh Shaman in Dragonwraith on the Uldaman Server (Alliance). So I have been playing since Beta and haven’t stopped since. I have much experience with most classes and I am more than willing to try and spread my knowledge to other posters on the Nova gamer’s site. My guild and I have successfully finished all end game content on all expansions released to date and are currently working on the new raid ToT (to be explained in later posts). In future posts I will get more into detail about the game as it is now and what changes come out when I can. I hope my future posts are more help to people, but like I said this is just a “Hi” and this is who I am.
Feel free to comment with anything including questions, comments and queries on this and all my future posts and I will do my best to help you fellow gamers out!
Happy Gaming
-Jon
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag World Premiere Trailer!
Today it was leaked that Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag will be released on October 29th in the world premiere trailer. If you were begging for an awesome pirate game, you need look no further. Check out the official trailer bellow.
Xbox Live’s Ultimate Game Sale – Borderlands 2 $29.99
Listen up all you XBOXers! Microsoft has been running a “steamy” XBL Game on Demand Ultimate Game Sale. Today is day 5 and we have Borderlands 2 and Dishonored for $29.99 and a slue of other games ranging right down to the critically acclaimed rally racer DiRT 2 at a measly $2.99! These deals are all full releases, no DLC’s. If you own and Xbox you owe it to your self to check out some of these Steam type deals.
Second Chance Gaming: Transformer’s War for Cybertron
Second Chance Gaming is a segment were we talk about the games that maybe we just didn’t give a far shake to the first time around. Games that we only played for 30 minutes to an hour and sat on the self until one day we got bored and thought that they deserved a 2nd look.
I bought Transformer’s: War for Cybertron back when Blockbuster closed down shop about a year and a half ago along with about 8 other games mainly because I’m a sucker for video game deals, but I digest… I put the disc in and played about half the first mission on my 22 inch Acer monitor and after hearing all the hype from my Transformer loving friend Brenden (aka a “Tranny”), I was disappointed. Part of it was do to over hype and part was due to playing on an inferior screen and settings.
A few days ago I decided to give the game a second chance, only this time I couldn’t bring myself to put the controller down. I just finished playing this game on my 50″ plasma with 5.1AÂ surround and let me tell you I couldn’t put this baby down. the single player was great and I thought it was genius how they had you play the Decepticon campaign first and then the Autobot campaign second. I had a blast all the way through the single player experience but I was also surprise when I went online afterwards.
If I had to describe Transformers: War for Cybertron’s online aspect I would say, take Twisted Metal, put it online, and make it Transformers. The online is fun and it is one of those rare online games you can enjoy while playing on your own.
Recommendation: If you are a Transformers fan and a gamer this is a must have, Do yourself a favor get to your nearest EB Games and pick this bad boy up, you wont regret it.
Best Used Price: $24.99 EB Games (PS3 & XBOX 360)
Best New Price: $29.99 EB Games (PC, PS3, & XBOX 360)
Are there any games out there that you didn’t care for the first time your tried them only to realize you judged the game far to quickly? What game was it? Post in the comments below.
Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag Revealed!
Earlier today Ubisoft “announced” that Assassin’s creed 4 with the release of the games cover art shown below “Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag.”
Ubisoft Montreal is the studio developing AC4: Black Flag so it is sure to be a show stopper. The one thing we can tell you is that the cover art they released today is for the PS3 and XBOX 360 which most likely means a release window of October-November 2013 . That release date is pure speculation based on past AC releases and the fact that the PS4 will be released this Holiday season. More details are going to be released by Ubisoft on Monday, so stay tuned to Novagamer.ca for the latest on Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag.
Far Cry 3 Review: Did I Ever Tell You The Definition Of Insanity?
Far Cry 3
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Montreal
X360, PS3, PC – December 4, 2012
Welcome to paradise! You and your friends are off on a tropical vacation where the sky is the limit, parties, women, and extreme sports are on your agenda… Until something goes horribly wrong and you wake up in a cell at a slavers camp. With no training, weapons, or idea of where you are, you are left to survive. What do you do? How far will you go to get to safety? You follow Jason Brody through the Far Cry 3 story as you slowly slip into insanity.
Far Cry 3 is a separate story from Far Cry and Far Cry 2. The story is told 100 % in the first person view which really adds to the feeling of the game. Far Cry 3 was quite easily one of the best single player campaigns I have ever played. From start to finish I was not able to put the game down. The story was very interesting keeping you hooked with plot twist, betrayals, and damn amazing scenes (some may have included intense dubstep in the background and burning weed fields). Far Cry 3 also offers a plethora of extra activities to complete to keep you buys when you do not feel like finishing the story. These side missions range from liberating camps, to races, to hunting different creatures with specific weapons (dogs with RPGs…Why not?). The hunting quests would also reward you with skins to allow you to craft bigger bags for loot, weapons, and healing materials. There were a few moments where you had to stop and say “really!?” But they were few and far between.
This time around Far Cry 3 offers a RPG element to the mix. A skill tree and level system was added to the game. The 3 trees focus on, stealth, healing, and combat. At first I thought this was a very amazing idea, allowing the player to customize their character to how they want to play. It was very quickly realized that you had very little choice in character class. Half the skills are locked at the start and slowly unlock as you finish key story points, which forces you to spend points in trees you were not interested in. Furthermore by the time you add up all the levels and the amount of skill, you notice that you will get enough points for every skill…or you can check the achievement list… There was a small amount of strategy that went to skill selection, but some of the knife combat skills are just devastating to watch which makes it well worth it! The skills are then represented by a tattoo on your arm that grows as your character learns new skills, it was a nice touch.
Speaking of knife combat, Far Cry 3 had one of the coolest melee mechanics I have seen in a while. Mixed with a number of skills from the different trees you could initiate some amazingly powerful attacks. I personally did most of my attacks with the takedown attacks because they were very stealthy and looked bad ass! My personal favorite included stabbing an enemy from behind the pulling out his knife and throwing it at another enemy…pure enjoyment!
The graphics in Far Cry 3 were quite spectacular! The open world tropical island was very realistic looking. The draw distance was very impressive considering the amount of details included on the island. The island even felt alive at points! The inclusion of small bright coloured birds that would flee when you got close to them really just helped draw you further into the game. The coolest graphical feature was the spreading of fire. This was first done in Far Cry 2, however it felt more natural in Far Cry 3; and by natural I mean completely wild and unpredictable. I learned very quickly not to go wild with fire base weapons, or not to blow up vehicles in areas with lots of foliage. The fire would spread and burn everything in its wake rather quickly, grass, tress, cars, buildings, scaffolding, you name it!
One thing that seriously lacked in FC3 was multiplayer. It had a online multiplayer and coop section, but they just didn’t feel up to par. The multiplayer felt very rushed and the execution of it just did not feel right. FC3 included a taunting feature at the end of each match, showed the top 3 players of the winning team surrounding the top player of the losing team. The MVP of the wining team the proceeds to beat the crap out of the losing MVP, while he is tied and has a bag over his head, with a number of moves you can pick in your player customization. This may have struck me the wrong way because it hit a bit close to home because of the areas I work in. One way or another it just seems a bit out of place.
The coop on the other hand was just boring. The missions were very linear and offered no options to clear the areas other than the single path In front of you. It is very much like putting 100s of enemies in an ally way with no were to run, then attacking them…I Personally did not finish the coop so maybe it got better, but from what I played I was very unimpressed!
All in all I think Far Cry 3 is an amazing single player game and is well worth picking up. You will not be disappointed!
NovaGamer 