Thursday, October 25, 2012
YouTube Update October 2012
Whenever I log into my Google account, YouTube changes from the old layout to an abhorrant beast of a site. The new layout pushed content to the left, has ads in the video search results and just looks pretty bad all around. I want YouTube to do well, I really do, heck, I'm even a partner, but why, oh, why must they destroy the aesthetics of the site? I'm really hoping this is simply some sort of 'bug' as nobody in their right mind could call the most recent update to YouTube's look an improvement.
Please YouTube, don't be so ugly.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Dustforce
With my recent purchase of the Humble Indie Bundle 6, I have acquired six great games (though more will undoubtedly be added as the sale comes closer to it's end), Dustforce is among those games. Dustforce is a platforming game, developed by Hitbox Studios. The game has an aesthetically pleasing art style as well as very catchy music and precise controls, numerous levels, and great replay value.
The inclusion of Dustforce in the bundle was a large part of the incentive for me to purchase it, and I was not disappointed, the game is similar to another game I have been playing lately, Super Meat Boy, and has many similarities, such as the platforming aspect, timed runs and moving through the level gracefully. Dustforce, however, is also different in many ways as you have less death, at least in the early stages I have played, and the emphasis of the game play is on trying to sweep up all the dust while constantly filling up your bonus meter as well.
The art style is very nice, reminiscent of numerous anime and the music is pleasing to listen to, and, so far, it hasn't gotten repetitive or annoying to me. The art is invigorating with colorful characters, smoothly and nicely drawn foregrounds and backgrounds with an overarching style that connects everything nicely. The art also helps to set the mood with sharp distinctions between the worlds, which helps to draw you into the game.
Dustforce has a huge number of levels in each world connected by a central area, and if you finally do master all the levels and miraculously get the highest scores on each (fat chance), you can make your own levels with an included level editor, with which you can make levels and share them with others. The game also has multiplayer, unfortunately, however, it is only local multiplayer, but this game offers so much that this is really a non-issue for myself. You can see the replays of others and vice-versa and their times on the leaderboards, which provides incentive to do your best and continually strive to shave a few seconds off your time and to better your score.
Dustforce has been a joy to play so far, and I intend to play it for months to come, Hitbox has done very well indeed with this title. I hope you enjoy the video above and please remember to subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep up with future videos.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Minecraft 1.3.2 Demo
Last April, I made a video on YouTube in which I played some of the Minecraft PC Gamer Demo, that video has always been popular, and I have decided to give the viewers an update with the newest demo, straight from the minecraft.net site. All you have to do to play the demo is register on the site, which is free, this will allow you to play the demo in the web browser.
In this video I simply play a bit of the game, nothing fancy, just gathering some resources, battling mobs and doing a bit of building, as I explain a few basic concepts. Please enjoy the demo and feel free to leave any comments or suggestions.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
YouTube channel update
Lately I have been concentrating heavily on revamping my YouTube page and recording and uploading more videos. I currently have a few ongoing series including a Super Meat Boy play through, a single player Minecraft series and a series with my friend, Thumpercanman, (which I have posted a video of above), on an a Minecraft SMP world.
Though I am concentrating on these series, I also do videos of other PC games, mostly indie, and would be happy to take suggestions. Here are the games I currently have on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/zartonis/games/, I would be happy to hear suggestions on doing videos of some of these games or about games you find interesting.
From now on, I plan on updating this blog each time I release a new video on YouTube, and hope to update this blog more often, as It has been a good while. Feel free to comment on the video or leave helpful suggestions. Thank you for your time.
Monday, March 19, 2012
The coming of Spring.
Tomorrow, Spring officially beings and along with it the unending heat of summer. Though many despise the perpetual coldness that winter means, I love it and I will miss it dearly when the hot, humid days begin to pile on.
On the game front, I have been playing numerous games lately, and with my purchase of a new desktop computer back in December, I am now able to play many more PC games. I have buffed up my Steam collection tremendously during this year, mostly through Steam sales and through purchasing Humble Indie Bundles. I have also discovered GOG.com (Good old Games), offering many awesome looking games of yesteryear.
Heroes of Might and Magic III is an outstanding game available on GOG. When I purchased the game, I was feeling the urge for strategy and remembered playing a port of the game on Game Boy Color when I was younger, which I really enjoyed. This game is truly a good old game, though the graphics are certainly dated, this game has given me a lot of enjoyment and has sated some of my desire for strategy.
The version of HOMM III on GOG.com is the complete edition, giving you all of the official expansions, which will provide hours of play time. The game also provides tools for you to make your own maps, scenarios and campaigns and comes pre-loaded with plenty of campaigns as well. You begin most scenarios with a hero and a town.
Your hero is the unit you move across the map, and use to battle other heroes, command your armies, and with the armies, capture towns. You can recruit other heroes in the town taverns. Your heroes don't actually fight in battle, for this you must recruit creatures, which will form your army. Heroes begin with a few creatures, but you must build structures in your towns to recruit creatures, though they can also be recruited throughout the map.
In order to build structures and recruit creatures, you will have to gather several different mineral types that are found in mines throughout the map, these mines provide a certain amount of the mineral each week.
Heroes of Might and Magic III is truly a gem among the games of the 1990s. I would definitely suggest picking up this game, as it provides great value for it's price, less money than most modern DLC packs, and providing much for value.
Geometry Wars 2 is another game I have recently purchased. This Xbox Live Arcde title is a few years old, it provides a great old-school style shooter experience, with fantastic HD graphics. Though the game isn't exactly deep, it provides great pickup and play quality and tight control.
I still play Minecraft quite regularly, on minecraftserver.com, but not nearly as frequently as when I first began began playing around a year ago, during Beta. The newness has worn off, but every once in a while I still find myself playing for an hour or so at a time. Once Minecraft comes out on the Xbox, hopefully this week or the next, I will have new inspiration to play, as a few Xbox friends who I now play a few Minecraft clones with (CastleMiner Z and Fortresscraft) will be getting the game. I will have a much more personal connection to our Xbox server, as the people I play with will be personal friends. The server I now play on now on the PC has no personal friends of mine on it, so I tend to simply play by myself, only entering spawn to trade, etc., so I am excited to explore this newest Minecraft port when it is released.
On the game front, I have been playing numerous games lately, and with my purchase of a new desktop computer back in December, I am now able to play many more PC games. I have buffed up my Steam collection tremendously during this year, mostly through Steam sales and through purchasing Humble Indie Bundles. I have also discovered GOG.com (Good old Games), offering many awesome looking games of yesteryear.
Heroes of Might and Magic III is an outstanding game available on GOG. When I purchased the game, I was feeling the urge for strategy and remembered playing a port of the game on Game Boy Color when I was younger, which I really enjoyed. This game is truly a good old game, though the graphics are certainly dated, this game has given me a lot of enjoyment and has sated some of my desire for strategy.
The version of HOMM III on GOG.com is the complete edition, giving you all of the official expansions, which will provide hours of play time. The game also provides tools for you to make your own maps, scenarios and campaigns and comes pre-loaded with plenty of campaigns as well. You begin most scenarios with a hero and a town.
Your hero is the unit you move across the map, and use to battle other heroes, command your armies, and with the armies, capture towns. You can recruit other heroes in the town taverns. Your heroes don't actually fight in battle, for this you must recruit creatures, which will form your army. Heroes begin with a few creatures, but you must build structures in your towns to recruit creatures, though they can also be recruited throughout the map.
In order to build structures and recruit creatures, you will have to gather several different mineral types that are found in mines throughout the map, these mines provide a certain amount of the mineral each week.
Heroes of Might and Magic III is truly a gem among the games of the 1990s. I would definitely suggest picking up this game, as it provides great value for it's price, less money than most modern DLC packs, and providing much for value.
Geometry Wars 2 is another game I have recently purchased. This Xbox Live Arcde title is a few years old, it provides a great old-school style shooter experience, with fantastic HD graphics. Though the game isn't exactly deep, it provides great pickup and play quality and tight control.
I still play Minecraft quite regularly, on minecraftserver.com, but not nearly as frequently as when I first began began playing around a year ago, during Beta. The newness has worn off, but every once in a while I still find myself playing for an hour or so at a time. Once Minecraft comes out on the Xbox, hopefully this week or the next, I will have new inspiration to play, as a few Xbox friends who I now play a few Minecraft clones with (CastleMiner Z and Fortresscraft) will be getting the game. I will have a much more personal connection to our Xbox server, as the people I play with will be personal friends. The server I now play on now on the PC has no personal friends of mine on it, so I tend to simply play by myself, only entering spawn to trade, etc., so I am excited to explore this newest Minecraft port when it is released.
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