No More Posts.....

I have decided to stop posting on my blog because I don't have the extra time anymore. I really wish I could continue but with the changes in my life recently I just can't. Maybe in the future I'll come back but for a long while I will not be updating this blog and with any posts.

Thank you to all who have come and read my blog over the past few years.

Diablo 3's Beta Goes Live

Blizzard has opened up the Beta of Diablo III to the public, well the closed Beta. This means that Beta keys will go out to play the first act of the game. Of course lots of luck is needed to get one, but here is to hoping that I get one.

I am a huge fan of Blizzard and when one of their games goes to Beta it is basically 99% chance that 6 months later it will go on sale at retail. So even if I don't get a Beta invite, at least I know I can get the game pretty soon.

To get a Beta invite you just need at Battle.net account with a Blizzard game attached to it. Then download the specs software on your computer to upload your specs. Once this is done you just have to wait, and with a little luck you might get chosen.

Here is to one fan that is very happy about this news....

iPhone Gaming: Mega Mall Story Review

Kairosoft is quickly becoming my all time favorite iPhone gaming company. They just make great, addicting games for your iPhone device. And Mega Mall Story is one of their latest. Released in the US at the beginning of August 2011, Mega Mall Story is you guessed it a simulation game about creating the biggest and greatest mall. As soon as I downloaded the lite version of the game. I quickly became addicted and had to buy the full version.

Mega Mall Story is a very simple, yet deep game. You start off by opening a new mall in a new area. Every month is like the opening and closing of your mall. At the beginning of the month the mall opens and customers start coming in. At the end of the month your mall closes and every one leaves. Each month also tells you how well you did in total sales. Through out the year there are special times like the Holidays or summer sales events. These can boost your customers and sales. As time goes by you get to unlock new stores and make your mall bigger, not only in height but also width. You can advertise to increase your popularity, and if you hit 100 you get a fever which makes customers go mad and buy everything. Fever also brings in a ton of customers which can increase your sales for the month by 500%. At the end of each year you are rated by the total sales of your mall and the highest selling store. Of course you want to shoot for the #1 spot but it does take a while. The concept is simple but quickly becomes addicting.

Not only can you build and add new stores to your mall, you can also invest in the community. This is a must because it adds customers and is a great way to get rid of the competition in the area. The more you invest the more likely people will shop at your mall. There is also combos in the game, discovering them is fun and making them can boost sales and loyal customers. Combos are putting different stores together that produce a specific combo. Also a lot of the stores have to be unlocked as well, not only by growing but by getting loyal customers. Like I said before the game is easy but there is some deepness to it. Towards the end it could get challenging, but Mega Mall Story never really gets that hard. You only have 15 years to build the best mall, but after the 15 years you can still play on. The game just doesn't record your score anymore.

I had a blast with this game, Mega Mall Story quickly got me addicted. I couldn't put it down and spent many hours draining my iPhone's battery. I suggest you download the lite version today, you may end up buying it within the same hour.

I give Mega Mall Story for the iPhone a 5 out of 5.

0 = Total Garbage (Don't waste your time)
1 = Crap (Maybe rent, maybe not)
2 = Ok (Rental only)
3 = Good (Buy it, rent if low on cash)
4 = Great (Buy this game)
5 = Amazing (Don't even think about it, just get it)

Another Kairosoft Game Coming Very Soon

Kairosoft has a new gaming coming out on the Apple App Store on September 8th. Grand Prix Story is the new game, and if you can guess, it seems to be a simulation game about racing. Grand Prix Story has already been released on the Android Market for some time now. So this is some exciting news for us iPhone users.

As you can tell I am very excited about this, since I have become a huge fan of Kairosoft games. 2011 is truly a great year for fans of this Japanese company. I look forward to Grand Prix Story's release on September 8.

iPhone Gaming: Pocket Academy Review

I talked about a little game released on the App Store for the iPhone a few weeks back called Pocket Academy. I decided to purchase the app after playing with the Lite version to dive deeper into the game. I have to say off the bat that Pocket Academy is a lot slower paced then Kairosoft's other games and it is very hard to get a lot of money. Though, money is not the main objective in this game. The main focus is your school and their students. This can be a little frustrating because you start to spend money to better the school only to find out, the only way to get cash is by getting more students. Students = Tuition and Tuition = Money. I made the mistake of just building and hiring and upgrading teachers right away. This only caused me to go into debt, and very fast. Thus the reason why this game moves at a slower pace. This slow pace can also be it's down fall. As I found my self bored waiting around with nothing to go while I wait for the game to continue along it's path.

Sooner or later you figure out how to balance your budget and play the game with out losing money. The addicting part of Pocket Academy is not trying to get cash, but trying to have the smartest child or children at your school. This to me is the best part of Kairosoft's game. As you get better teachers, enough facilities at your school with out breaking the bank, and students....You can then start gathering special points to spends on special classes to increase your students grades. With better grades comes higher tests scores, which will give you higher ranks and in turn attract more students to your school. Doing all this can be a challenge, and the slow pacing of the game can get boring at times. But this doesn't mean that Pocket Academy is a poor quality game. It just means that you have to be interested in this type of niche game to reap it's rewards.

I'd highly recommend downloading the Lite version before purchasing this one. Kairosoft always makes quality games that are addicting, but the slower pace on this one got to me and ended up getting a little to boring for me to continue.

I give Pocket Academy for the iPhone a 4 out of 5. The slow pace really got to me and I just couldn't get as addicted to it as other Kairosoft games.

0 = Total Garbage (Don't waste your time)
1 = Crap (Maybe rent, maybe not)
2 = Ok (Rental only)
3 = Good (Buy it, rent if low on cash)
4 = Great (Buy this game)
5 = Amazing (Don't even think about it, just get it)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Released Today

Today Deus Ex: Human Revolution has been released on the PC, Xbox360 and PS3. The reviews from the industry are showing that this game might be what we have been looking for during this summer drought. It has been a little more then three months since I got to play a brand new game, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution has gotten me excited. I pre-perchased the game on Steam last night but haven't gotten to play it yet(since there is a little thing called work in my way). From the reviews I have read and seen so far, Deus Ex is sure to be one hell of a fun game. Lets hope it lives up to that. I'll have a full review on the game once I have completed it. Till then, if you haven't bought the game yet, you should read some of the reviews on it at IGN.com, Gamespot.com, or your favorite game site. Deus Ex is getting ratings of 8.5 to 9.0s.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Amazon.com

ASUS G73 Laptop - Republic of Gamers

The ASUS G73 Republic of Gamers Laptop, one bad ass gaming laptop. This is my baby and what I have been using for almost two years now. This bad boy replaced my desktop computer that I build from the ground up back in 2005. It is kind of my hobby to build computers. I just love the whole searching for the best parts and finally putting them together to make one bad ass machine. Back in 2005 I put together a desktop with, at the time, an AMD FX-55 CPU (worth about $999 back in 2005), 2GB of RAM, Nvidia 680 Ultra GPU, ASUS Deluxe mother board, and two DVD Burners. At the time this gaming PC cost me about $2500 and lasted me till 2010 when I needed an upgrade.

I didn't have $2000+ dollars in 2010 to build a new replacement to my gaming PC. So I searched high and low for the best gaming laptop for my buck. At the time the ASUS G73 just started to come out and I took a chance at a $1600 laptop. Boy was I happy, this thing has been awesome. The ASUS G73 so far has been able to handle anything I have thrown at it. Any game I have played on it in the last two years, I had the graphics settings turned way up and that didn't bother my ASUS G73 one bit. Of course it is not a AlienWare or other high end laptop, and does have one or two issues with it. For example, ASUS put a Creative sound card in it, but use Realtek drivers that cause issues with Windows 7. Because of this, a load high pitched scratching noise comes out of the speakers every now and again. But recently it hasn't been to bad and only last less then a second and rarely pops up now. The strange thing about this noise it only shows up in windows.....not once has it ever happened while playing games(which is a good thing).

The system stats of my ASUS G73:

i7 - 720QM CPU
8GB of RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 (VRAM 1GB)
17.3 HD LCD Screen (1080P)
DVD Multi Burner
500GB of HDD space
**Added a 120GB SSD on my own**
Windows 7 Home Premium
Back-lit Keyboard

I am still very impressed by the ASUS G73 gaming laptop, and I can't wait to play all the amazing games coming out this Fall on this machine. Though, since it is a laptop and a gaming laptop at that, the battery only lasts about an hour. But what do you expect with all that power under the hood. So if you do get one, expect it to be more of a desktop replacement then a true mobile laptop. I still prefer a desktop built my self, but I just don't have the money to make my next big gaming PC project. I am hoping the ASUS G73 will last another three years before I have to upgrade.

Here is what mine looks like on my desk....isn't she beautiful? :-D

If you would like a ASUS G73 Replublic of Gamers Laptop like mine, pick one up at Amazon.com today.

ASUS G73SW-XA1 Republic of Gamers 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop (Black)



 

Borderlands 2 Trailer Released

Borderlands 2 was announced this month but just recently Gearbox released the teaser trailer to Borderlands 2. I can't wait for this game....2012 can't come fast enough. Enjoy the awesome trailer below!

Mega Mall Story Released This Week On AppStore

In my last post I said that Kairosoft will be releasing Mega Mall Story soon on the Iphone/Ipad/Ipod. It seems that after my post the game was released on the AppStore and just recently the Lite version was released. I am downloading the Lite version as we speak and if I like it I'll buy Mega Mall Story (which most likely I will).

As another note; I bought Pocket Academy because I enjoyed the Lite version a lot. I'll have a little review on the game once I spend more time with it. Until then I'll enjoy checking out Mega Mall Story Lite.

New Iphone Games From Kairosoft.

If you can't tell already I am a fan of Kairosoft games for the Iphone iOS. I have been waiting for Game Dev Story 2 to come out, but in the mean time Kairosoft released yet another game. This one is called Pocket Academy, released on June 29, 2011 on the app store. I downloaded the Lite version to check it out. I liked Hot Springs Story but it wasn't that big of a game for me like Game Dev Story was. I only just downloaded it, so I haven't had that much play time with it. So far it seems to be a more slower paced game then the rest before it. It is an interesting game, but I haven't spent enough time with it to say if I'll buy it or not. I'll let you know more once I had enough hands on time with the game....

On Kairosoft's English website they have Mega Mall Story as their next game coming out soon. All they have thus far on the game is one screen shot, no release date or info about the game yet. It could be their next addictive game....