PS Plus line up for June 2014 and changes coming soon.

So it has been a bit confusing of late with PS Plus and when the instant game collection games become available and when they will be taken down. Plus have you noticed the games that have been on there for months on end...

Well this is all about to change as Sony is set to update there PS Plus service and make it more user friendly.

As of July 2014 the instant game collection will give users 2 free games on PSVita, PS3 and PS4. Games will be available from the 2nd of each month and be available for one month only.

Now for someone like me with all 3 systems this is fantastic! I have to say that since I have had my PSVita the constant flow of quality titles for free has only led me to buy 1 title for it at retail. As for the PS3 it has given me some great titles. Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, Metro Last Light, just to name a few.

So what are we going to see on PS Plus in June 2014?

Well I'm glad you asked... Available from the 4th June 2014...

PS4 owners will receive Trine 2 a beautiful side scrolling puzzle game by the folks over at Frozenbyte. The great thing about this game is that it also supports 3 player co op. ( That is of course if they have fixed the server issues that haunted this on release. )

Next up on the PS4 is PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate ( cross buy PS4 / Vita) . This is a combination of PixelJunk 1&2 with updated graphics for the PS4. It is a twin stick shooter / exploration / puzzle game which also supports PS4 / Vita crossplay.

Now for the PS3 we have NBA2K14. Now I have never been a big fan of basketball games but I am quite excited to give this a go. It has been rated as the best basketball simulation ever created. The graphics look amazing and if it is any good then a PS4 purchase may be in order.

Also on PS3 we have an indie classic, Lone Survivor - Directors Cut ( cross buy PS3 / Vita ). This is a very unique game that will just have to be played to develop your own opinion. In short, escape the city, don't go mad...

Now finally the PSVita.

First up is the side scrolling action RPG Dragons Crown. Now I don't know too much about this game but it looks like an old school dungeon crawler. ( Just a little prettier )

Finally, there is the super addictive Surge Deluxe. Yes, I know it's a block crushing game, but as a chill out play for 5 minutes game this is awesome. Wait play for 5 minutes... yeah not with this game. It will reel you in as you continually try to beat your scores and the time will fly by.

Well there you have it. Once again a pretty solid offering from the people at Playstation. 

Remember to get in quick and get all of the games on PS Plus now as they will disappear. 

Also a quick tip for the download conscious. You do not have to download the games straight away. Just add them to your cart on the PS Store and go to the check out. If it begins to download automatically just cancel it. The games will be forever in your download list to come back and download at any time.

I hope your looking forward to this months installments as much as I am.

Don't for get to check out Aussie Gamers on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/aussiegamers2012 

Twitter: Follow @aussiegamers12

Happy Gaming one and all.

Cheers

Thorncliff

Crying koalas...

So I have just played through my first run of South Park The Stick of Truth. For you that don’t know our “Please won’t somebody think of the children” government has decided to heavily censor our version of the game even after giving it an R18+ rating. The censored parts involve anal probing and aborting fetuses and are accompanied by a picture of a crying koala and a footnote describing whats happening in the scene.

It's not only us who have to deal with this. Europe got one too...

Now I am a big fan of south park and have been for many years. The game is magnificent. Just what I expected the Stick of Truth to be. However with our nanny government I feel as though I have been robbed a little. Surely a game that is rated R18+ (which is for mature adults) should not have any censorship like this. Now they tell us its because of the interactivity and that probes look like marital aids, but then allow you to beat people with a dildo later in the game.

With the release of MW2 and the “No Russian” mission you were given the option on whether or not you wanted to play the level.

This level would have to be one of the most disturbing levels with a high emphasis on interactivity that I have ever played but was still allowed to pass censorship in Australia under a MA15+. So playing an R18+ game with a probing scene is completely unacceptable, but mowing down an airport full of innocent civilians is fine... 

I am not for one second saying that this should of been censored or banned. But whats good for the goose is surely good for the gander. 

This has really annoyed me not because I have some fetish for probing or a dream of being an abortion Doctor, but because of the nanny state we have to put up with.

Since the introduction of R18+ in Australia it seems as though there is something that needs to be censored in every release.

It really annoys me with the censorship people that it is OK for people to watch gratuitous violence and sex scenes in television shows and movies but in video games we are slapped with censorship for everything.

I know it is because of the “interactivity”, but as with everyday situations we are usually given a choice. If you do not like something you see, don't watch it. If you do not like something you hear, dont listen. If you do not like a game, don’t play it. It really is that simple.

The whole idea of a rating system is so that inappropriate material does not land in the hands of those that it is not appropriate for. I am an adult and should have the choice to watch, listen and play what I want and if I don’t like it then I won’t.

I do not play many games with my 2 1/2 year old present as I do not want to expose her to it at her age. But as I raise her she will be taught what is right and what is wrong and exposed to certain materials as see they are appropriate for her.

I see worse things each night on the 6pm news.

Video games are not to blame for the violence in our society. There was violence a long time before they were invented.

In the words of the great Jimmy “C C C C Come On”

Keep your hands off our games and maybe have a look at what is really screwing up society… 

Would love to hear your responses.

Cheers
Thorncliff
Aussie Gamers

Lego Lord Of The Rings Review and Platinum Trophy Tips #Playstation Vita

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

So I have just completed my first ever Lego game! (insert impressed clap here)

I had always been under the impression that Lego games were just for kids, with easy game play and puzzles that could be figured out by a goldfish. I was pleasantly suprised.

I got Lego Lord of the Rings as a free game on Playstation Plus a while ago and never bothered to download it. Instead it was left to rot within the foul depths of my download list which is full of great games that have never had the pleasure of being played on my consoles.

However due to sickness, and low cash I decided to download it and give it a go. My first impression was that this was going to be a quick play through and I'd leave it at that. This quickly changed as I was drawn in to the Lego world. Without noticing I'd done a few hours of game play and I wanted more. 

The game as the name says is a replica of the 3 Lord of the Rings movies all bundled into a fun little package. The cut scenes are awesome with the Lego men voiced by sound grabs from the movies, with a touch of humor. The story mode puts you in the shoes of the main characters from the films, all with their own unique abilities. As you play through you will notice certain points that you can not access or do not have the ability or weapons to complete. These are usually where the character tokens or treasures are hidden and you will need to replay the area once you have completed the game. 

It took me roughly 6 hours to complete the game and unlock the characters needed to go back and find all the character tokens and treasures. This is where the trophy hunt began. A little bit of grinding was needed to complete all the challenges and find everything needed. 

I didn't read any walkthroughs or hints on the game and in hindsight this would of made the Platinum a lot quicker to achieve.

So here are a few tips to get a nice shiny Platinum Trophy quickly once you have completed the game.

Collect as many studs as you can on each level.

This may seem like a no brainer but each level has a certain ammount of blocks needed to gain true achiever. You will need to gain this on each level to get the True Achiever Trophy. The Battle for Helms Deep was the only level I needed to replay to get this.

Use your mini map.

The mini map allows you to quick travel the lands of Middle Earth with out the need to travel from town to town searching for levels to replay.

Try not to spend any studs until you have collected everything.

This was my downfall. I bought the characters I unlocked on the way as you need to unlock them all to complete the game 100%. This left me to grind away at the end to unlock the extras and big ticket characters. There is a simple way to unlock everything at the end with little need to replay levels. 

Buy the multipliers.

Once you have collected all the treasures and returned them to the NPC's in the towns go to the store. In the extras tab you will see stud multipliers. Buy these as a first priority over anything else. These multipliers actually multiply by each other as well. For example, if you have a x2 and a x4 multiplier all studs collected will give you 8x their value. If you have all of the multipliers each stud collected will be worth 3,840 times its value. This allows you to replay 1 or 2 levels and have enough studs to buy everything else in the store. For the multipliers to work you will need to activate them. This is a simple, just pause the game and click on the extras tab. There you will see all the extras you have bought and its just a matter of clicking them to YES.

And away he goes, Precious! Trophy.

Use Smeagol to defeat Gollum when Gollum is the buddy. 

This trophy had me stumped for a bit. It has nothing to do with any of the levels that you fight Gollum. All you need to do is have your 2 players as Smeagol and Gollum and then beat Gollum up till he dies. This can be done anywhere.

Hidden Trophy (The Last Laugh)

This one I did research online. To unlock this you will need to have your 2 players as Tom Bombadil and Sauron. All you will need to do is stand next to Sauron as Tom and press the O. This will make Tom laugh at Sauron and there's your trophy.

Well there it is. If you have a few spare hours to muck around in the Lego world then I highly recommend this game. An easy Platinum for for the trophy hunters and a fun game all round.

If you have any questions, stuck on a trophy leave or have some feedback leave a comments below.

If you want more of a gaming fix check out Aussie Gamers on Facebook or our website at www.aussiegamers.biz 

Cheers

Thorncliff

What will Sledgehammer do with Call of Duty?

Recently Sledgehammer games has been posting job adds for their current "project", presumably the next instalment of the Call of Duty franchise.

The advertisement for visual effects artists, states that a key duty will be "vehicle destruction, large-scaled rigid body simulations, and environmental effects such as fire, smoke, water, and weather system." 

So what does this mean? 

With Sledgehammer having the privilege of taking the reigns on the first COD specifically for next gen, they need to make something amazing. A high level of focus will be on what it looks like and the environment it is set in. 

The "large-scaled rigid body simulations", hints at something very similar to Battlefield 4's "levelution". 

Levelution, however is not a new concept. Back in 2009, Red Faction: Armageddon allowed for fully destructible environments, that completely changed the way you played the game. 

Battlefield 4's multiplayer levelution and large scale destruction on multiplayer maps was cool to begin. However after the first few times it was done it kind of became part of the experience. You knew it was going to happen. 

What do we want from the new COD? 

I personally would love to see them go a bit further with the levelution and multiplayer experience. 

Weather randomisation that changes the way we play is one thing I would love to see in the multiplayer maps. 

What would this entail? 

Hot and sunny, soldier fatigue out in the open or if you run too much.

Cold weather, soldiers expel condensation when breathing allowing snipers and campers to be seen if not well hidden. 

Storm / torrential rain, reduced vision forcing close quarter combat inside.

As for the levelution...

It would be great to see a few different large scale destructible items on each map, with only one available on each game. For you to be able to destroy the item you must complete in game challenges to unlock it. Then go and destroy it. All items will be booby trapped until challenges are complete.

Will we see this from Sledgehammer? Probably not... 

However, Call of Duty is one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world and will in no way be affected if they rehash the same old game they have given us the last few years. 

Sure the Internet will whinge and bitch that it's the same, but as usual it will more than likely break sales records as the masses line up at midnight for yet another yearly batch of multiplayer maps with slightly better graphics. (Oh and if your lucky a 4 hour campaign)

Thorncliff

I shall return!!! Just not for a couple of weeks...

This blog has been made as part of WEB101 Web Presence for Curtin University. As such I will not be able to update this blog until the assessment is marked. Please take the time to check out the Website in the meantime at http://thorncliff.wix.com/thorncliffgaming. If you are looking for your fix as far as gaming news goes please check out Aussie Gamers.
Until we meet again, have fun and keep gaming I'm sure I will have plenty of content for you on my return.
Kind Regards
Thorncliff (Sean)

Titanfall Beta is Live!

So I finally got my beta key for Titanfall for PC after receiving one for Xbox One which I did not apply for. EA were nice enough to let me keep it aswell as the PC key. I was super excited and logged straight into Origin (it's no steam, but hey this is Titanfall) and what do I see? A 12.8GB download for the Beta! Wow this is huge. After the download completed (about 2 hours) the next hurdle appeared. No servers. A bug had been found and Microsoft, Respawn and EA were all working to get them live again. I patiently waited a few hours for the problem to be rectified. Hey, this is why we beta test. Was I annoyed? Yes a little but not as annoyed as I was with the games that I had payed full price for and that had failed on release day. (Diablo 3 and Sim City) 

Did I get in? Yes I did. Once servers were live again I got straight into the game and started on the training simulation. I had some issues with my controller (not sure if it was the game or my PC) so I played with the keyboard and mouse. Controls were good enough and the training simulation was quick and effective in showing all the features of the pilots and the titans. 

Next came an actual game. I played Attrition on the Fracture map. Attrition is kind of the equivalent to a team deathmatch in other games. Just kill anything on the other team. Each team is made up of pilots which are actual players and also grunts which are AI soldiers. Then come the Titans. The more you kill of the opposite team the quicker your Titan will become available for you. This is where the fun begins. I entered my first Titan and quickly came into a firefight with another. I stayed and tried to go head to head with them. Bad move... Your Titan does have a shield but once that is depleted you start to take real damage until you get away and allow your Titans shields to reload. The thing I liked most is that before your Titan blows up with you in it you have a short window to eject. When you eject you are shot into the air where you are able to have a quick overview of the battlefield. This can also spell your demise as the other team are trying to play duck hunt with you as the target. 

Finally one thing that was good was at the end of each game there's an epilogue. This is where the losing side must make it to a drop ship and escape the battlefield in a limited time, while the winning team hunts them down. This is a great way to finish a game off and I thoroughly enjoyed the little extra.

There was a little bit of lag, but this is to be expected as I was playing on South East Asian servers. Hopefully by release we will see some Australian servers but I will not be holding my breath for these.

In terms of graphics the game is quite beautiful. The environments are massive and quite detailed aswell. The frame rate was a little lacking but once again this is only a beta product.

All in all from what I have played of Titanfall it will definitely be a PC purchase for me on release. 

Thorncliff

Welcome to Thorncliff Gaming

Hi All

Welcome to Thorncliff Gaming. I have created this blog to give you all access to my gaming reviews, and thoughts and feelings on the news that comes to light in the gaming world.

Feel free to check out the Thorncliff Gaming website for more information.

Thorncliff Gaming can also be found on Twitter by following @austhorncliff, Facebook and also on YouTube.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers
Thorncliff (Sean)