Surviving Mars....

With all my travels submerged in Subnautica I've not had a chance to fully blast off in Surviving Mars... Soon(TM). What I have noticed is another patch for the game(Curiosity Patch). 2.9 Gig's worth with some great additions and changes.

Fallout 76....

An interesting video on Vault 76.

Many A True Nerd

Fallout 76....

The multiplayer side is of lesser interest to me....

MassiveG

The name now only reminds me of an older game:

Atari VCS....

The new Atari VCS, has so much to like, yet so much that's questionable.

Like it's longevity beyond the first 30 minutes out of the box. Beyond retro nostalgia you have to consider the new box's price (Box + controller + gamepad = $230-340 ish). I can already get retro fun with an emulator, or with my actual old console. After that I use my freaking phone for most else that this new device offers....

What does this console do that makes it an essential central replacement for other devices/functions for that cost?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/atari-vcs-game-stream-connect-like-never-before-computers-pc#/

Atari VCS

Realistically I have no idea where the need for any of this new Atari system is in my life.

I was tempted, thinking about getting just the 'modern' controller.

But looking at my desk now I have an Xbox One and 360 controller for my PC as well as another Xbox One controller for the actual Xbox One.... I really don't need it.

___

So I'm back to thinking again about a cheaper 'modern' nostalgia(The Flashback options). I considered them before: https://acasualcarebear.blogspot.com/2017/10/atari.html

Fallout 76....

Interesting......

Bethesda Softworks

GRW....

Despite getting the first two parts of the challenge done in short order I've been unsuccessful in the last part. It seems like a case of difficulty for the sake of difficulty. The requirements of the last part would be doable if it wasn't for the 'don't die once' part. 

At the level of difficulty you are spotted and pounced on immediately. It would be doable if you were allowed to be revived by team mates; But the fun quickly drains from it when you have to start over and see that counter reset each time. 

I've tried it about six times, three occasions were meaningful tries. Between each attempt I've been  giving it a break of a day or two just to make sure I wasn't feeling like it was forced frustration. 

The best I can do is 5 and 6 of the 10. While it sounds close to the end the actual mayhem, randomness and reinforcements on all sides is not a perfect situation to predict. Let alone the constant spray of rounds and rockets hitting everything. 

At this stage I really can't be bothered with the frustration levels involved. It's such a hammering experience I don't want to do it 20 more times on the off chance I might get it done.

If I did I would bet the random loot from the crates would be rubbish!

I'm surprised that the community portion of the challenge hasn't been completed. Usually it's the first thing to be done. With only 14 days of the challenge left it looks like I won't be getting crates from that either.

Bethesda....

Well this should be interesting:

https://www.twitch.tv/bethesda

Games with Gold....

The games with gold for June look to be another good selection:

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia. Available June 1 to June 30

Smite Gold Bundle. Available June 16 to July 15

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Available June 1 to June 15

LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues. Available June 16 to June 30

I'm particularly interested to see ACC: Russia and Smite. The other two are "meh" for me but I think I'd choose to have a look at Sonic before LEGO Indy.

Hitman....

Another Elusive Target, The Angel of Death. A long countdown timer for this one....

I'll be tempting the hilarious MrFreeze2244 Fail proof Suit only, Silent assassin method(if nothing has been changed):

MrFreeze2244

STO....

I haven't had a chance to do any testing with the torpedo; But this video is informative! Thank you Parallel Universe Gaming:

BF1....

Definitely feeling back in the BF1 groove. I'm enjoy my time in game for now, until I get a bout of ass whoopings again.

I've found myself in a lot of vehicles the last few games, a great way to help level up a class; It's a pity I stayed as a medic.

Casual Carebear

STO....

Today has seen my three "mains" complete their Mirror Invasion Event reputations; All three have claimed the rewards.

I was after the rep marks and dilithium but if I had been aiming for the item reward I think I'd be disappointed. A comparison with my current setup(on each character) showed it a lot lower on the DPS numbers.

As a torpedo it does have nice bonus stats.... I upgraded it a bit on my main,main and was tempted. Pity it's phaser based damage. None of my mains are phaser based so no bonus damage to be had there.

So many Pro's and Con's.... At least in my view.... I'm still tempted to just test it out, what's the worst that could happen....

For the next few day's if I'm in the mood I have the option of making some more marks through the event, it's a nice touch. This event is the first time I've run multiple characters and I don't feel burnt out from it.

BF1....

A medics work is never done....

Casual Carebear

BF1....

Not the best match in the world but it "felt good", getting back into the swing of it....

Casual Carebear

BF 5....

While I said BF5 does nothing for me it appears that the game info is splitting the franchise playerbase as well.

This pic says it all:

https://twitter.com/ShiroiOni/status/999423249695084547/photo/1

Cities Skylines....

I've mentioned new DLC for Cities Skylines more than I've played it this year. The latest DLC 'Parklife', does seem to add a lot of content(And the song is now stuck in my head).

Paradox Interactive

As tempted to buy it as I am, there is a lot free for all players of the game. 1.10 Parklife Patch Notes

I might just wait for the Steam summer sale.

Subnautica....

For a massive complex submarine I'm surprised that there are fewer materials needed for it than for a P.R.A.W.N. suit.

BF V....

So the Battlefield 5 trailer..... Does nothing for me...... It's more Call of Duty than Battlefield!!

Battlefield

More truth....

Extra Credits

Don't Sink....

The new treasure islands are a nice addition to the coinage.

Subnautica....

Priorities....

Space Hulk: Deathwing - Enhanced Edition

Enhanced Edition or the reworked game edition for console release.

While I'm still keeping an eye on the game I wasn't going to jump on the game now just because of the new version patch for PC. Even with a -20% sale price.

The summer sale may offer more of an opportunity.

It's been good to read that the game has been tweaked, changed and really is an enhanced version.

Focus Home Interactive

Don't Sink....

Mmmmmmmm another new patch (Build 1.1.2.0)..... Statistics!

BF1....

I've had nothing but horrifically bad matches in Battlefield 1 the last two day's. No matter what time of day. Between teams absolutely pasting my side, lag, back luck, all of the above etc. etc.

Casual Carebear

Best to step away and leave it for a day or two.... Three or four....

Free is Free....

Unreal's Gold edition is free on both Stream and GoG.

For single player I was always more of a Quake fan; It wasn't until Unreal Tournament that I payed more attention to the franchise.

LGR - Unreal 20 Years Later: A Retrospective

GRW....

So far so good with my non rushed take on the current challenge.

Given that the challenge is crossbow based and I've a lot of resources these day's, I took the time to fully upgrade (Level 1 to 30) the bow for max damage.

Between last night and today I've completed the first stage by repeating the Madre Coca Mission in Tabacal. An easy mission but one with a long preamble. For me I found it best to fly a chopper, then when over the base your escorted to I land on the hill above her location when things "kick off", easy snipe with the crossbow(rebel scouting eases things, adding mortar to the jammer, rebel distraction at the main gate and reinforcements to taste; Shooting out the generator also helps).

The second part was very easy, I perched myself over a Unidad base in Koani and shot till done.

The last part needs 10 Unidad kills; With no HUD and a fully alerted Unidad (level 4) in Media Luna. Not too hard a challenge but on the extreme difficulty you can barely peep above cover without attracting all the attention. This is where the grind comes into play.... I'll tackle that when I feel like it.

Expanding....

Make it sooooo....

Overlord DVD

GRW....

This new challenge smacks of difficulty for difficulty's sake with an added element of grind to boot. I'd be saying an absolute no to this if it wasn't for the crate(s) reward.... 

....Plenty of time to do it, maybe chip away at it little by little.

Don't Sink....

Speaking of pirates Don't Sink's latest patch has added a lot of new content. And news that the game will be going to consoles. Full details here: Update 1.1.0.0

It's really satisfying when you get a (successful) game that's enjoyable and supported after release with additional updates, changes and content.

Sea of Thieves....

I know the game looks great, play's well and lacks depth, but the more I hear the talk of changes, updates and expansions the more it reminds me of No Man's Sky.
The latest changes pre the first expansion are changing the game for the better. Most notably the player brig mechanism.

It's a game that needs a lot of work; I've said before that at least it has the money behind it to make it a better long-term game. Still I'll not be diving in any time soon. Since it's release the more I know about it the less I'm inclined towards it. Not enough multiplayer content never mind solo stuff....

With luck for those that are in the game I do hope they get more in the expansion than just surface tentacles.

Sea of Thieves

Hitman....

Finally home today and a chance to do the Elusive target on Xbox as well as PC.
I followed the poison method as done by MrFreeze2244. I only ran into one problem with my first PC run; I was spotted when poisoning the dish. I added that footage to the end of the second (successful run)video. It's a run I also tried to use coins rather than the remote explosive just to be different; It worked but was more hassle and I reverted back.

Both versions successful in the end.

Xbox Version:

PC Version:

Hitman....

Yea that's not a Definitive Edition!!! Not having all the content on the disk sucks!!

MrFreeze2244

Hitman....

Another new full release for Hitman. HITMAN - Definitive Edition. Released yesterday, as another boxed edition of the game.

Along with the launch there's a large update for the game, but it doesn't really list anything new for the PC version. This edition seems like an amalgamation of the extra content after the game of the year version.
I might be interested in the Xbox One digital download of this edition but I can't tell if the definitive edition and the Full Experience download versions from gamestop are the same. If I had access to my XBox I could check the market.
GotY and definitive edition(GotY+)s, there are so many ways to purchase, so many versions of the game, disk and digital.
I still have an interest in getting a version of the game for XBox; But I'll have to keep an eye out for a cheaper version. Being all in on my PC version, I don't mind a more basic edition on XBox.

The Chef seems to be the next Elusive Target coming this Friday. As it's a target in Paris I'll be doing it on both PC and XBox. With luck this weekend.

MrFreeze2244

Fallout 3....

I don't remember playing much of Fallout 3. It was a game that didn't click with me at the time of it's release(xbox). I'm not sure if that was because of other games I was playing or because it was on xbox..... I never got back round to it; I'd also heard the gaming grapevine that New Vegas was a better gaming experience. Not that I got into that either. But a good comparison/analysis of the games has been done by Many A True Nerd it's long but worth it:

STO....

Further information on the playable Jem’Hadar looks interesting. And for once my interest extended to the lore post. "The Missing Link". It makes me really, really want the Dominion to be a true separate faction.

Cold Waters....

The latest patch for Cold Waters opens up the South China Sea. I've not been in a sub game in that part of the world since SSN. It also adds in a lot of additional sea traffic/oil rigs as well as land based content. Lots of nice updates and changes, great to see.

Killerfish Games

Euro Truck Sim 2....

The last patch updated a lot of content including the extra Special Transport DLC.  Adding in a lot more locations.

While the DLC is good, my initial thoughts on the jobs payout has proven more true than I'd like. If it's only the money and not the challenge you are after with that DLC then normal contracts are better.
Specialised DLC for a specialised contract type; I can't complain about getting the content that the DLC was to provide. But sometimes challenge isn't enough of a motivation, having a great cash  reward would have been an all weather motivator. 

The last two weeks or so also saw a sale of all things ETS2; And I picked up the window flag DLC for 49 cent. For no other reason than it was cheap and somewhat quirky.

STO....

While I'm not doing myself any favours gaming late into the night, sleep doesn't seem to want me.
I've been surprised at the quality of random teams that late/early. I've not done many of the current Mirror universes invasion events; but I've been trying to do it on all three of my "mains".

So far I'm still a big Tactical class fan, Science has once again proven to be a very good class with not as much DPS as I'd like but with great suitability. Engineering is a class that is disappointing me on all fronts. Tanking class my *ss.  Maybe I'm missing something and need to "get gud".

The last patch has changed a few things in the UI; I do like the new splash screen on login(and main menu).

The expansion should be interesting. To play as a pre-levelled Jem'Hadar.

I only wish it was part of a true new faction. Instead of having to choose either the Federation or Klingon's....... Again. I wonder how the story will work that out. Maybe Odo for the Federation and the Female changeling for the Klingon's....

No Man's Sky....

It's been a while since I last talked about NMS's next update let alone played the game.
Now it seems that there is growing expectation for that NEXT update. The version of the game that will be the Xbox One release version. The release date for which seems to be June 29th.

Given interest or expectation for the long wanted co-op play as part of that patch, I'd expect all versions to be patched not too far off that date as well. Time and patch notes will tell.
I just hope there's a staggered release plan.....

Waffle and Subnautica....

Whats that smell..... 2.a.m. waffle!

One of the big problems with my gaming laptop (Alienware M18X) is that it isn't ageing well. Mainly due to it's graphics card a GeForce GTX 660M. And in writing that sentence I'm thinking I'm being a bit too harsh, elitist maybe.

The laptop does surprise me at times in both good and bad ways. The good is fine but the bad is the elitist in me, the graphical snob of lost frames, the doubt before the proof.

Take Subnautica. Playing the game on the laptop is the same experience, there's just a little more tweaking that needs to be done to settings to stop graphical popping etc.

Never mind the video recording/editing capabilities......

Some games can have settings altered, while others you just have to live with. It's a great laptop but to upgrade I'm need an external card and housing and more cables.... It removes the mobility of a laptop. Not that the laptop had a lot of mobility. The first time my wife saw it she called it my laptop desktop.

For now I'm not taking my gameplay in Subnautica too seriously on the laptop. If I do or discover something I'll make a save and continue on. That final save will be transferred over to my PC when I get home(cloud vs manual saves is a whole other story).

With a nice new save done today and on a whim I decided to poke my nose into a Reaper and see how long I could survive.

Casual Carebear

It's a game I keep having to remind myself to save often(it's worth it). Time to revert to that last save.


There are 'current' games I haven't installed on the laptop because I "know" they wouldn't run well like Hitman or Ghost Recon Windlands. Maybe I'd not be such a doubter if I actually installed and ran them.  Proof in the pudding. But I'm probably more forgiving of it's ageing shortfalls if I were.
The laptop's main use these day's is really a gaming platform for only a few hours one day a week. Or like now for a few day's to a week. As long as it can get my gaming and internet fix away from home then I'm sorted.


I've got a lot installed, old and new, all ends of the spectrum.
Minecraft, Domina, Darkest Dungeon, Stardew Valley, Euro Truck Sim 2, Rome Total War, Fallout 4, Star Trek online, Eve Online, Cold Waters, Planet Coaster, Surviving Mars, Divinity OS2 and Subnautica. With all those installed and a drive full of media(music/video's) whats not to like! I can't complain about content! The elitist can complain about the quality instead.
But wait, dig a little deeper and there's more...... Theme Hospital, Close Combat (2, 3 & 4), Evil Genius, Imperium Galactica, Guild of Dungeoneering, Tharsis, Peggle(I've just rediscovered Peggle's install and spent 20 minutes playing it).

----

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands Recommended Requirements

-  CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.5 GHz 

-  VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX970 (4GB VRAM with Shader Model 5.0 or better)

My laptop:

CPU: i7-3630 2.4GHz
VIDEO CARD: 2GB GeForce GTX660M

The only other specs that mattered were Windows 10 64Bit and 24 GB free disk space free, both of which my laptop has. So the CPU and Video Card really are the deal breakers.

I'll have to install GRW and see how it performs. And what I have to do to get it to perform in an acceptable way.... If it runs at all.

The Hitman Specs are a lot more forgiving!

Processor: Intel CPU Core i7 3770 3,4 GHz 

Graphics: Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 770 

WoW....

8 years!?! 8!!!!!!!!!!!

BellularGaming

Just because....

A track that needs volume....

And a few more just because....

STO....

Finally Romulans can now use their chosen factions ships!

It was a major drawback levelling up my Romulan character, especially at the later levels. Thankfully I was able to depend on the event ships I'd unlocked. I know players can buy the Romulan specific ships, even now to fully be Romulan themed; It just made no sense to choose the Federation and not be able to claim their ships etc.

I do like the way the dev blog is worded, as a joint agreement between the factions.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10898183

Valve....

Steam games on android and ios via a free app, interesting....

IGN News

Surgery, surgery everywhere....

Completely off topic. But waffle is waffle and I feel like it.

As quiet as my Friday's usually are yesterday I finally got around to seeing a dental surgeon and had an impacted wisdom tooth 'surgically' extracted. 

Not that it gave me any real problems. I was refereed to a dental surgeon because my normal dentist looked at my x-ray, saw a nerve running by the tooth and in a nice dental technical jargon way pretty much said "I'm not touching that". Fast forward three years and when your dentist says for the 6th time "you really should have that removed" it was time to take her up on that referral. 

She's a good dentist I trust her judgement. Luck can only hold out so long..... Why tempt fate by waiting any longer.

Surgical extraction sounds all fancy but from my point of view it looked and felt like butchery. 

It didn't' hurt at the time, with 5 injections to numb my head; But the 45 minutes of effort he did between drilling, poking and pulling didn't make it look as easy as he had made it sound. 

Besides I could tell with every jerk of my head and action done 'that's gonna hurt tomorrow'. 

I was surprised at the end that it took 5 stitches to close up the gum. Helped to clot with a lot of balled up gauze. Godfather style. Followed by a lot more gauze and spitting blood late into the night.

Better than the ye olde day's right......

So today my face looks like I've got a vestigial twin. Over the counter pain killers x2 different types(soluble) at strategically taken times have helped but not stopped the aching throbbing pain.

As for the antibiotics he prescribed.... Freaking torpedoes. Trying to swallow them is not a joke.

Unsurprisingly I can't concentrate for long on anything, irritably narky and tired as can be from a sleepless night. Mix in the inability to chew and the hangry monster emerges.

Talk about paying for the privilege, maybe I should have waited for that luck to run out.

-

Also on Friday my wife gets a call late in the day from her consultants office that he's gotten a cancellation and can she go next Monday for her surgery. Talk about it all happening at once.
At least for her it will be the end of a year long run of problems and complications (almost a year to the day since I last went on a waffle rant like this!). The only problem is that it's open surgery and not keyhole as was planned before. This means a longer recovery time and no doubt hassle from her job despite all the pre-notice and letters about how she was going to need time off in the future.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo....

Disappointing news about The Expanse!

Overlord DVD

And now I see Lucifer is canceled as well!!

:(

Freebie....

Another free game on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/439190/Stories_The_Path_of_Destinies/

An interesting game.

GRW....

With Ghost Recon back on my radar, or with the potential for Ghost Recon on my radar.... I've started to mess about with my "co-op only" character..... solo. Just in one region.... Just for 'testing' purposes.... Honest.......

I'm not sure about these two, I may have to redo the camo.... 

Did you spot the bunny?

BF1....

I just noticed in my last BF1 video, I revived a player called    Dublin1944 

I remember the name because I'm Irish and his name has Dublin in it. A very 'oh look at that' kind of moment; And because the first time I saw that name I killed him(or her) in the previous video. 

No idea who you are but if it's any consolation I died while reviving you this time round!

No hard feelings, Karma, circle of death and revive etc.....

BF1....

A walk in the park with a sniping medic, not that much action but one or two interesting moments.

Perhaps not the best viewing....

....Maybe I should have cut out a lot more.... 

....The game is what it is in all it's parts.

Casual Carebear

On a side note I was entertained by a clan banner I'd not seen before in another match, kudos [AXIS]: