My pet hate in gaming.

My pet hate in gaming, I am sure it is every legit gamer's pet hate also. Hackers....

It was only just yesterday that I was playing DayZ with my clan when 4 of us murdered by a hacker. How do we know he was a hacker? Simple, none of us heard a gun shot and some of us were at separate parts of the North West Air Field (or NWAF for short). I was mad, my character who had been alive for no more than 3 hours and being fully geared killed by some script kiddie. Sure, I would be mad if I had died legit but it is the fact that some script kiddie killed me that makes me even more mad.

So, after the last person alive recovered the valuable gear, we got most of our gear back, another "hacker" joined the server and killed me, we know he was a hacker as we only heard the crack of the bullet, we heard no impact and non of my gear was ruined. I then lost the rest of my gear because I couldn't recover it off my body as my body disappeared because I was within 100m of it and no-one took the gear off my body so it wouldn't also despawn.

Another (more public) incident happened this week, semi-pro player Flex was banned off ESEA servers in Counter Strike: Global Offensive this week for 'cheating' on which Flex later admitted that he did cheat. A video of the event is below.

What can we do about hackers? Not a lot really, there is not a lot developers can do except keep their eyes out and ban anyone they can and find ways to stop common cheats. 

So what is your pet hate in gaming? How do you think we could combat hackers? Let me know and till next week.

And my song of the week is GG by DaPlaque. Best of all of his music is royalty free, meaning you can use it in intros and outros without worrying about copyright strikes against your videos or livestreams!

Music to my ears

There are 3 things that can make or break a game for me. Gameplay, Graphics and its Sound Track.

"Why does a ST (Sound Track) make a game for you?" I hear you ask. Music makes the game more enjoyable for me and if done well, gives off a sense of epicness. Sure, Gameplay is the most important aspect of a game and Graphics do help a game, but a game should also have a good ST.

Take the 'Suicide Mission' track from the last mission of Mass Effect 2. It made you feel like it was the last mission, but it also made you feel like this mission was a make or break mission. It made you think about who would fit into what role, and that one wrong person in one wrong role could result in death.
     What about the classic Battlefield theme? It is the trade mark of the franchise. Almost any gamer could tell you what game the theme was from. It gives a sense of pride and honour. It made you feel patriotic. It made you feel like this is your time to shine.

Now I am going to list my top five STs of all time, here we go:

At #5, I have to put 'Suicide Mission' here because in my opinion Mass Effect 2 was the best, because it made me feel like I had to make the right decision or face losing some of my comrades, which would have impacted ME3's story (rip Grunt).

     #4 sees the Halo 3 theme sliding in. Halo 3 was the first Halo game I played (started out playing on Playstation consoles and when it came to getting a PS3 or a X360 I went for the latter). Oh how I regret not being able to play Halo 1 and Halo 2 on the original Xbox. Anyway the Halo 3 theme places here because it is epic but it has tough competition and you'll see why.

#3 is a newer theme song. 'Sins of the Father' is the newest Metal Gear Solid theme. It starts off slow and orchestral. It then starts to build up, then dies down for a bit. Then building back up with female vocals and a piano. Then boom, the whole orchestra is back, the sense of epic all around you. It then goes upbeat with the female lyrics kicking in. It is just getting my hyped for MGS V: The Phantom Pain. This would have placed higher, had it not been for the tiny section where the female vocals go a bit robotic, that really put me off.

     #2, ITS PAYDAY FELLAS! Thats what this song makes me think. In Payday 2, one of my all time favourite games, the #FreeHoxton trailer featured a small snippet of a song called 'This is our Time'. It isn't like all the songs on this list. It is a rock type song, like one you would hear in a bar. It wasn't created for Payday 2 but it is so good I had to include it. All of Payday 2's songs are good but there is one song that beats them all.

     Its #1. You may have guessed what it is by now. It is obviously the original Metal Gear Solid sound track. It would be mad to not include this in the top 5, but it is in my opinion the best theme to any game. It fits with almost any game. Plus, it is probably the most recognisable theme on this list.

Anyway, thats my list. From now on each week I am going to be also mentioning my song of the week (the song I've listened to the most this week). This weeks song is Nuclear, from the MGS V 'Nuclear' Trailer. It also got my hyped for the new MGS game.

So, what's everyone's favourite game sound track? Disagree with me or agree with me? Leave a comment down below.

A crazy time in Crazy Taxi

I am sure we've all played one game in our childhood that stood out because it was funny and crazy. This game for me was Crazy Taxi.

For those who don't know what Crazy Taxi is (but really, who hasn't heard of it?) Crazy Taxi is a game where you play as a taxi driver. Not just any taxi driver. A crazy one. You pick up customers and have a time limit to get them to their destination. This game isn't about being careful, it is about doing stupid things. Want to crash into cars while drifting around the corner? Sure why not, it also makes you money. Why not go fast while driving up a ramp, it gets you a lot of money. 

There are a lot of game modes. You have classic mode, in which you earn time by getting customers to their destinations. You then have the arcade rules modes, which are split up into 3 minute, 5 minute and 7 minute modes.

You also have a sort of trial mode, where you have to complete objectives, like travel 150m while in the air after jumping off a ramp, or get 5 customers to their destinations in 5 minutes (doesn't sound hard but it is). These are fun and make you better at the game itself.

There are not a lot of characters to pick from, there is only 4 in fact (Axel, Gena, D.B.Joe and Gus) and they don't change how the game plays. The characters are purely cosmetic. 

Overall, Crazy Taxi is one of my all time favourite games and if you haven't checked it out you should. Its on the PS2 and on the Xbox 360.

Game Releases for January 2015:

The first month of the year, usually has a lot of new games come out as the Christmas period has ended and are trying to entice people to spend left over Christmas money. Lets look at the month ahead.

The 20th of January looks interesting with the release of Saints Row: Gat out of Hell. The 20th also sees a couple remastered games coming out with Resident Evil HD Remaster (of the remaster) and Saints Row IV: Re-Elected both re-releasing on this date, if you're in Europe though you will have to wait till the 23rd to get Saints Row IV: Re-Elected.

7 days later and we see Dying Light, made by the developers of the Dead Island and Call of Juarez series. Lets hope Dying Light is better than Dead Island and Call of Juarez: The Cartel, fans of Dying Light in Australia have to wait until the 28th and anyone in Europe wanting to play have to wait till the 30th. 

     The Grand Theft Auto: V PC release and Grim Fandango: Remastered for PS4 and PS Vita both happen on the 27th, along with Dying Light.

     Fans of Dynasty Warriors, Dynasty Warriors 8 Empires releases on the 27th for America and on PC in Japan, if you reside in Europe though, as usual you have to wait until the 30th.

One game that flew under my radar that is coming out this month is called "Raven's Cry". From reading about it, it is an Action-Adventure Roleplaying game. It is about Pirates, a common theme in these past years. Looking at the Wikipedia page, it only shows release dates for Europe, with it releasing on X360 on the 14th, on PC on the 26th and on PS3 and PS4 on the 28th. 

This month I am most excited for the Resident Evil remake (of the remake), I played a little bit of it, but I'd like to play the game where it all kicked off, where the survival horror genre kicked off. I am also excited for Saints Row: Gat out of Hell but I'd rather battle a giant snake than Satan.