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All Things Geekery Podcast – E9: The Destiny 2 Show

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destiny-2In this episode:

We breakdown our thoughts and impressions from all the Destiny 2 content we’ve played.

D2 releases on September 6th and it can’t get here fast enough!

Show Notes:
We discuss our overall experience in the BETA, and what was new and exciting.

We talk through the past story line of the game, what felt refreshing about D2 and what we have to look forward to with the release.

We talk classes, weapons, abilities, missions, strikes, raids, and everything else we could get our hands on to discuss specifics.

We discuss PvP and rant about what we loved and what we didn’t which wasn’t much, but we had a few salty moments to chat about.

Overall you will here plenty of excitement between Victus and myself as we are huge Destiny nerds, and I’m sure you will even here us disagree on some topics, but that’s what makes a good discussion.

Be sure to subscribe to the All Things Geekery Podcast with any of your favorite podcast apps. Stop by and drop us a review so we know how we’re doing. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

 

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Castlevania: The Animated Series – Coming Later This Year To Netflix

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castlevania netflix.jpgCastlevania The Animated Series was confirmed that it will be coming to Netflix!!! I don’t know about you all but this makes the excitement meter go through the roof, as I’m a huge fan of this game!

As part of Netflix’s new premiere date reveals, Netflix revealed Castlevania Season 1, Part 1 will be arriving this year, though no specific date was revealed. Netflix’s website lists the series as a four-part season, with each episode running for approximately 30 minutes.

According to Netflix’s official description of the series, Castlevania will focus on the game franchise’s Belmont clan, as it follows “the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from extinction at the hand of Dracula himself.

The History of Castlevania

 

Rumors have it the show will take an adaptation of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse for the overall plot, though no major details of the plot have been released yet.  Now, the producer of the game said the animated series will be a very dark tone and have a “Game of Thrones” feel to it.  Warren Ellis, who wrote the series is also on board as a producer for the show.

It’s interesting they would choose Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse as a foundation for the story, as there is a lot of meat to the stories previous to this one.  Dracula’s Curse follows Trevor Belmont as he fought to stop Dracula from ravaging Europe in the 1400’s. Those fighting with him included Alucard, which was Dracula’s son….so does that mean we are going to see a step for step in the story brought into the show, or will the producers write new material and just use Dracula’s Curse as a base foundation?

From what I am hearing the series is going to receive an R rating due to the level of violence just as the games were rated M for mature audiences due to the blood and violence.  This series will be geared towards the more adult generation as the kids that played the games in the 80’s and 90’s are now adults and know the story quite well.

Speaking to whether the franchise is aimed at the franchise’s longtime fans or newcomers to the material, I believe if they do this show correctly it will be a huge success.  But they could also break a very fine line of wonderful story already told, and creating some hybrid disaster to try and impress fans.

I have big hopes for this series and can’t wait to see what they bring the fans!

 

All Things Geekery Podcast E7 – Mass Effect: Andromeda – Our Thoughts & Expectations

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E7 – Mass Effect: Andromeda – Our Thoughts & Expectations

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In this episode:

  • Mass Effect: Andromeda is coming very soon. March 21st is the official release, and Iogro and Victus will be jumping in as soon as it hits the systems to check out the much awaited fourth installment of this series.
  • We discuss how Andromeda has a big set of shoes to fill as the first three installments of the game brought a rich story, fulfilling game-play, and a very big cliffhanger at the end of Mass Effect 3.
  • We talk through the story aspects of the game and what gaps a 600 year expanse could potentially bring both the game, and the players experience.
    Will Andromeda bring a connection of old as well as new and give players the ability to see how Andromeda came about, or will this be a completely separate story moving into a new universe.
  • Has Bio-Ware waited to long to release Andromeda and have they lost the player base to keep things exciting for the new Mass Effect release, or have they done a good job with keeping the hype up and fulfilling the gaming communities need for this game.


Be sure to subscribe to the All Things Geekery Podcast with any of your favorite podcast apps. Stop by and drop us a review so we know how we’re doing. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

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Nintendo Might Be Adding VR To The SWITCH

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What’s going on guys…I don’t know about you but I am freaking pumped about the Nintendo Switch! I haven’t been able to say that about Nintendo for a lot of years now as I was not a Wii fan and they lost me as a customer long before that came out.  But…..the Switch looks amazing, and the features that Nintendo is promising to deliver have me hooked.  I am somewhat a skeptic when Nintendo says they are going to deliver on something nowadays though as they have failed quite badly in the past.

So the latest news on the Switch is that Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima has explained that the company will add VR support to its upcoming Switch console if it can resolve issues of comfort over long periods of use.  VR on a device like this honestly would be mind blowing awesome!  WE shall see what they do though, as the company is researching / working on how to implement virtual reality into the Switch but have some pretty big concerns on the process.  This part doesn’t sound promising, but like I said we shall see what they do.  They did say that if they are able to resolve the issues with playing “VR” comfortably for long periods that they would support the feature in some form or another.  “Some Form Or Another” from Nintendo is not very reassuring that we would be getting a solid preforming device.  I hope they stick to the basics here and don’t try to overextend and deliver a hybrid gaming device that tanks.

The Switch Super Bowl Teaser – 

Looking back over the last few years at VR and some of the things it’s brought with it are hopefully things Nintendo will weigh heavily before implementing such a thing.  VR can suffer from a number of comfort-related issues, including simulated movement nausea, eye strain and the weight of headsets can cause quite the headache over time.  Their are a lot of factors to weigh in on technology like this, and to have a hybrid gaming console, tablet, and VR system all in one….. Too Much?!?! Or is this just a step into the future of where gaming is going?

Nintendo has played around with VR in the past, and the creator of Mario even explained that they have the “base foundation technology” of VR and they continue to research it. Apparently Nintendo even went as far as to patent a VR headset that the base of the switch tablet could slot.  We won’t see The Switch arrive until March 3rd of this year and I’m really hoping to get my hands on one.  Very unlikely as I’m sure they will be sold like hot cakes….but here’s to hoping.

All Things Geekery Podcast: Episode 6 – Our Wishlist for Destiny 2

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All Things Geekery Podcast: Episode 6 – Our Wishlist for Destiny 2

In this episode:

  • We reconnect as it’s been quite some time since we’ve recorded.
  • We learn how to chat over microphones and record again 🙂
  • HE”S BACK – Victus Darkaero my long lost co-host has returned from baby leave.  So expect to see him quite a bit in further episodes throughout the year.
  • We dicuss our wishlist for Destiny 2
  • Talking about the future of Destiny
  • What we would like to see when Destiny 2 arrives
  • Things that we would love to have in game, and the comparisons we make with other popular MMO games.

Be sure to subscribe to the All Things Geekery Podcast with any of your favorite podcast apps. Stop by and drop us a review so we know how we’re doing. Thanks for listening, and we can’t wait to hear from you!

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Life Is Strange: Episode 1 – Chrysalis Review

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maxresdefaultLife Is Strange starts off with a very peculiar and mysterious young woman having a nightmare which pulls you into the game.  Aside from a lacking dialogue and a bit of a broken story the game has really done a fantastic job holding my attention.  Dontnod is the developer of this episodic drama which stars Max Caufield, a young woman who has a gift that can rewind time.  As strange as this gift is that Max has she is just a typical teenage girl. She has friends, personal problems, passions, dreams, a little crush, and other believable qualities. But a combination of ambition and obligation drive her to use her talents, wit, and personality to make the world a better place.  Unfortunately, even with all of this great plot development going for Episode 1 – Chrysalis the lacking script and poor voice performances take away from this otherwise great story.

Max Caulfield is introduced as quiet, shy, introverted, and even unremarkable despite her presence in a prestigious high school. Throughout Chrysalis, by way of your choices, Max reveals herself as a strong, capable, and smart person who defies her awkward stereotype. The story tests these qualities by presenting a plain teenager with challenging dilemmas which she can alter at will with her time changing ability.  This brings a very unique challenge and style of game play as her choices can be undone, remade, and tailored to whatever future you want to create for Max.

tumblr_nj0b8n3kil1swmo8oo5_1280Once you turn time back and change a decision, there is no going back.  Usually you won’t see any immediate consequences or major changes to the game play or Max herself from these moments of re-wind.  Max can seem to see the short-term results of what she’s done, but her abilities seem to be limited and not even she understands why.  Not every interaction in the game hinges on a big choice, though. Many conversations give context to this world. The most notable side-arc is that of Rachel Amber, a missing student with connections (both good and bad) to many of the people Max runs around with. The unreliable principle, a student bringing a gun to school, and a try-hard tough guy of a security guard will no doubt come into play later in the series, and I’m interested in all of it as the plot of this story is very solid!

This is a choice-based adventure game with a time-traveling teenager at the center, but Max is, probably the most believable character in the entire cast.  Most of the other people you meet or run into are pretty predictable and somewhat boring archetypes, with the actors delivering pretty pore voice acting

life-is-strange-iphone-wallpaperThis game is about people figuring themselves out and some of these instances were just scripted badly which really takes away from the character. Max’s friend Chloe lives a life full of baggage that really made me feel for her. Every time she spoke, I really just rolled my eyes and disconnected with the character as the acting was so lacking. The principal’s lack of concern when Max mentions a student has a gun really shocked me — how can this person not take a claim like that with at least a little dread?!

It’s a shame, because for all of the writing and acting problems in Life is Strange, the scenarios it creates are genuinely interesting, and ultimately the game does pull you in and makes you want to see how Max handles things going forward.  Even if the acting is pretty poor at times, the scenarios about life are very believable which counter balances things very well.  Here’s to hoping the game produces a better outcome then poor acting as we move forward, as the plot is really good, but I wish they would have brought their A game with the voice acting. All in All I give the game a B+ and look forward to continuing the series.

Destiny: Wrath of the Machine – Hard Mode Coming Soon

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destiny-newsDestiny‘s latest challenge is just around the corner as Bungie reveals what Rise of Iron has in plan for the new Wrath of the Machine raid.

A ton of guardians have been busy playing Iron Banner this week, along with all of the other mass content released with Rise of Iron.  I’ve yet to play the new raid “Wrath of the Machine” as it’s suggested for light level 370 + and my clan has been leveling pretty slowly.  But a lot of guardians have been hammering the new raid with a ton of success and lots of sleepless nights with their clan mates.

10062016_heroic_modeAt this point in the game all the mysteries and mechanics of the raid have been conquered, as has one of its greatest secrets in the Outbreak Prime exotic pulse rifle. So naturally many fans are looking forward to the next challenge on the horizon, which is the Heroic Mode of Wrath of the Machine. That date has been revealed: The HARD MODE will launch on Tuesday, October 18th at 10 a.m. Pacific.

Bungie hasn’t released any hints as to what the Heroic Mode will hold for the guardians. All that Bungie has said is that “the truest test of teamwork and cunning is yet to come.” Along with revives being disabled and higher level enemies one of the challenges we’ve always had is figuring out the new mechanics which I’m sure we’ll have some major hurdles to get over.

The first step for anyone wanting to run Heroic Mode will be getting that Light level up as high as possible. There are plenty of ways to get gear 385 including running the normal raid, Iron Banner this week, and Trials of Osiris on the weekends. Second, teams will want to be very familiar with the raid as it stands so they can be ready to take on an extra layer of difficulty during each challenge.

Until next time Guardians!

I’ll see you Starside

Destiny Lore: Rise of Iron – The Iron Lords

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Lord Saladin took center stage for the new Rise of Iron expansion and with that comes a whole host of new questions, and lore around the Iron Lords and a new mysterious guardian we get to meet in the Iron Banner!

With the Guardians well into the journey of the new Rise of Iron expansion I thought it fitting to stop and take a look at the Iron Lords and some background on them.

The Iron Lords & The Iron Wolves

If you’ve played Destiny then you have probably heard the names of the Iron Lords and didn’t realize that’s what they were.  The Iron Banner weapons and armor bear the names of the Iron Lords.

Efrideet – Once thought dead, she has returned as our newest Iron Banner vendor!  She is a Hunter who was a talented sniper. Of her it is said, “Every time she pulled the trigger, an enemy of the City died” and that her “keen eye never missed her mark.”
Felwinter – A Voidwalker Warlock, described as “he who stared into the Void.”
Gheleon – A Hunter, and he was called a true Guardian of the people.
Jolder – A Titan “whose mighty hammer taught the Darkness fear.”
Perun – A Hunter. “She who hunted the Darkness where it dwelt.”
Radegast – A Titan, and the leader of the Iron Lords — “He who was first among the peers of the Iron Banner.”
Similar – A Titan, called “he who was the Last City’s first wall.”
Skorri – A Warlock. “She who sang out the Iron Song” in honor of her lost companions.
Timur – A Warlock, recognized as “he whom the City’s enemies dreaded most.”
The Iron Lords are “ancient warriors from the City’s founding” who played a key role in the Battle of Six Fronts and the building of the Last City’s walls.

You may have not realized there is another group related to the Iron Lords called the Iron Wolves. Not much is known about these Guardians besides their names and the vague lore that “In our darkest hour, nine Iron Wolves emerged from the ruins” and “And beneath its branches, the Iron Wolves forged an unbreakable oath.” Here are their names, which should also be familiar:

Ashraven
Bretomart
Colovance
Deidris
Finnala
Haakon
Nirwen
Tormod
Weyloran

The Battle of Six Fronts

A great battle when the Last City first faced an overwhelming attack, and repelled it decisively. The Fallen marched on the Last City and led by four orders of Titans, the City’s defenses held back the enemy on six different fronts—”and not one front broke.”
Also present at the battle was Osiris, a Warlock who rose to the ranks of Vanguard Commander until it is said he went mad with obsession trying to discover the truth of the Vex and the Darkness.

 

The Greatest of Them All

Lord Saladin Forge runs the Iron Banner tournament, a way to test Guardians and find the strongest among them. The Iron Banner seeks great champions to lead the fight against the Darkness. It was born to honor the Iron Lords and their efforts in the earliest days of the City.”

Lord Saladin gained his fame at the Battle of the Twilight Gap, where he led the City’s defense against an army of Fallen. He’s not just an advisor in the Tower, but a battle-tested Guardian who’s legacy holds true to Guardians all over the galaxy, and he’s no longer alone!

 

The OWL Sector Returns – SIVA Sim ARG

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First we had The OWL Sector ARG hit the Destiny community a week or so before Rise of Iron launched.  A strange “Virus” was infecting the guardians, and once ROI hit it all seemed to go back to normal.  Now about a week after the launch of Rise of Iron, something new with the mysterious ARG has risen and has the community rushing to figure out it’s secrets.

This new ARG that everyone thought was over hit just the other day as fans noticed a new microsite on Bungie’s website which the OwlSector ARG site was updated and pointed fans to a new page with a very curious puzzle.

When this mysterious new link is clicked, it takes you to a page that shows a couple of lines of text, and a command prompt of sorts.  When you hit enter the page begins to scroll and ASCII art of the SIVA logo appears.  When just glancing at the codes that scroll across the screen it looks like a bowl of mush, but it didn’t take the Destiny community long to realize that different users were getting different codes and sequences, based on signing into their profiles on Bungie.net. .

This has the community jumping and hard at work to try and solve this new found mystery, which looks like a lot of the main work is being headed up by the Destiny subreddit.  As one Redditor put it, “So, to be clear, I’m pretty sure the ARG is ‘solved’. We just lack coordination/data. This is like raid-tier ARG.” Speaking of raids, this outside-the-game mystery is on top of players trying to discover all the mysteries of the new Wrath of the Machine raid. It appears that all the pieces of this ARG puzzle, being called “SIM,” are out there, and only need to be put together in the right way.

Rom what i’m hearing the majority of this puzzle has been solved and basically you have to decode the shapes, numbers, and sequences from the users who have logged into the ARG, there is a high level of coordination and matching of the data.  It’s a giant puzzle piece and each piece of code the users have has to be fit together in the correct order to figure out the puzzle.

All those who have been hard at work cracking this ARG code discovered some vital information as in directions of the code, and shapes that were being left out when people were copy and pasting information.  That being said the Destiny community guru’s figuring this information out created a Google Doc form which allows all those guardians to keep track of the information accurately.

The theory to this mystery is that all of the codes being deciphered will help unlock the final monitor in the Wrath of the Machine raid, which looks to be tied to the hidden raid chest and “Surprise” a quest for an exotic weapon.

I am excited to see where this mystery takes the Destiny community and what all the secrets reveal.

Until next time

Destiny: Rise of Iron – How We Advanced

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Today is happy Destiny day for all of us Guardians out there….yes it’s Rise of Iron release day and I’m sure most of you have already been grinding away to see all the new stuff.

Here’s a quick run down on some of the important things we are getting.

  • Felwinters Peak, the new Social Space with new vendors, a new Cryptarch, and it comes with wolves!
  • 5 main campaign Story ARC Missions, plus other Missions and Quests
  • The Plaguelands, which is the new open patrol area of the revamped snow covered Cosmodrome.
  • SIVA infected Fallen called Devil Splicers are here now
  • The Archon’s Forge, a new arena much like Prison / Challenge of Elders
  • We’ve got new STRIKES!!!
  • Wrath of the Machine, the new Raid, available September 23rd!
  • Yes we have a new PvP mode as well called Supremacy!
  • Iron Banner has been re-worked
  • 4 new Crucible maps
  • New artifacts that were created from scratch!
  • New Max Light Level
  • New Armor, Weapons, and a ton of new Rewards
  • You can now put Ornaments on exotic weapons, and armor, a skin that changes the look of the weapon

Big Light Level Jump

Bungie told us we would be getting a big light level jump but no one really knew what that meant.  Well here is what we got!

Rise of Iron Launch Light Level Increase to: 385

Once the hard mode of the RAID releases the light level will cap at 400

We have a new Record Book

Rise of Iron has a new free Record Book which tracks all activity in Rise of Iron account-wide. As you complete missions, quests, and other activities from the new expansion, you will gain percentage points of completion, and as with past Record Books will receive rewards at set intervals.

These rewards include:

  • Full Iron Lord armor for all Character Classes
  • Multiple new Emblems
  • New Shaders
  • The new Iron Song Ghost Shell
  • And More

Engram Boost

We’ve all been asking those questions of what will our engrams do when we decript them after ROI drops.  Well, Uncommon and Rare (Green and Blue) gear will drop at higher light levels (potentially up to 350 for Rare items). Most of mine were dropping and coming out around 330 for blues and 200 for greens.  Higher for Legendary / Exotics.

Strike Exclusive Gear and Skeleton Keys

Nightfalls and Strike Playlists are getting a new inventory item added to their Loot systems: The Skeleton Key, these keys, which will drop randomly at the end of missions, can be used in Strikes featuring exclusive items to get a guaranteed drop of one of those Exclusive by opening the “Strike Hoard” – a new chest that will be appearing upon completion of Strikes, even outside of the Weekly Playlists.

Weapons, & Armor

From new Iron Banner weapons reintroduced Year 1 guns, Rise of Iron is giving us a lot of new options.

  • Exotics
    • Year 1 weapons returning –
    • We already knew the Gjallarhorn was coming back! If you pre-ordered well then you got it in (Black) and it’s sexy!
    • We also have another Year 1 that was very popular but brought a lot of pain among the Guardians…. The THORN is coming back!  It will have it’s own Exotic quest so get ready.
    • For those of us already sporting Year 1 models, it’s not clear if the updated version will be immediately available through the kiosk or if we’ll have to work for it the same as everyone else.
    • A whole list of new weapons, but I’m saving that for you all to discover
    • One very familiar weapon that every Guardian has used is coming back.  The Khvostov 7G-0X which is the exotic version of this weapon.  This weapon will be the reward from an exotic weapon quest, but this one is different.  This weapon won’t have a single exotic perk that makes it stand out.  Instead, Bungie has added something brand new, a set of perk columns that allows us to turn this primary weapon into a custom killing machine.

New Armor Concept Drawings

The armor just speaks for itself as it’s amazing looking!!! We want it all!!!

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The game has a whole host of new features to discover and this is just a base list of some new items that have come in, so get out there Guardians and go become an Iron Lord