Gaming Season!

For me, today marks the first day of gaming season. Most of you that read this will be thinking 'noooooo, gaming season is Q4 every year'. But for me it begins today with E3!

For those of you that live under a rock E3 is the gaming world's biggest event of the year. The main event spans over 3 glorious days of soon-to-be released games, and is kicking off today with press conferences from the 3 major console developers; Microsoft, Sony, and dare I say, Nintendo. Plus conferences from 2 of the biggest game devs; EA and Ubisoft.

All 3 days will have a plethora of unannounced games (usually indie games or big surprises). Below is a list of some of the games that will be on show, so be sure to keep a look out for some of your favourites. 

Day 1: 

• Borderlands
• Battlefield Hardline
• LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
• The Order 1886
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Destiny
• Batman: Arkham Knight

Day 2:

• Forza Horizon 2
• Dragon Age: Inquisition
• Assassins Creed: Unity
• Far Cry 4

Day 3:

• EA Sports UFC
• Mortal Kombat X
• FIFA 15
• Dying Light
• Project Spark
• Hitman Sniper
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

These are just a few of the biggest games on show at this years E3. I am personally looking forward to FIFA 15, Batman: Arkham Knight, Assassins Creed: Unity, Far Cry 4, and Dying Light.

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for future posts as I will be breaking down some of these games, and adding my thoughts.

Xbox One - First Thoughts

So as you should all be aware, today is the last official day of the current-gen consoles' launch window. And that is why I have left this post till now. But what can we actually say about the Xbox One?

Well I think it is safe to say that the early days, even till as late as this month, were a bit stagnant. There were launch titles such as Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag (a decent game in its own right), Lego Marvel Super Heroes (a really fun game even after the main story), and DeadRising 3 (a promising game which quickly loses its novelty).

Then came this beast.

It is safe to say that this game has single-handedly saved Microsoft's and Xbox's bacon during the launch window. You can go onto any leading video games website and find that the release of Titanfall, and the bundle, has severely increased the amount of sales of Xbox One consoles. However, Microsoft still sit miles behind Sony.

Now that the launch window is over and PS4 has managed to shift almost double the number of units Xbox has they are well and truly beaten. But I believe - hard drive aside - as time goes on Xbox One will be the better system.

The entertainment side will come into its own, and has already shown a lot of promise, offering users early pass films, access to the best TV box sets etc. Even the apps will get better as time passes.

Believe me when I say, the future is green.

Goodbye Old Friend

Welcome back gamers!

Today I will be taking reflection on what has been 6 years of owning an Xbox 360.

I got my very first Xbox 360 Elite in the summer of 2007 with FIFA (what else?), then 3 years ago this happened.

I'm not gonna lie, it was a sad day when this happened. But thankfully, that Christmas I was gifted a brand new one and it hasn't broken yet (don't jinx it).

I have owned many games over the past 6 years, but I've owned even less. There were so many games that I wish I played. Games such as Mass Effect and the Devil May Cry reboot. I have many hours of fun with this machine though and I'm sure that will continue with the Xbox One, maybe even more so.

Tomorrow (Friday) is the day I will be replacing the old with the new and starting a new journey.

Here is to another decade of fun, and at times frustration.

-3 Lives Left

What's On The Shelf?

Welcome back gamers!

I was racking my brain this afternoon trying to think of something I can give you in the build up to me getting my hands on the Xbox One on Friday. So I decided to give you a sneak peak of the games I currently own.

So here goes...

I know exactly what you're thinking: 'these are the only games you have?'

Indeed, these are the only games I have. The reason being is that I wanted to downsize my 360 collection in preparation for XOne.

 I also wouldn't blame you for thinking 'you own no Call of Duty games'? I used to own every Call of Duty game dating back to Modern Warfare, but after annual let-downs, which got bigger year on year, I decided to trade them all in a get some cash. I also believe that the Call of Duty series is finally being knocked off of it's perch with Battlefield 4 looking fantastic and plays great. However, I think that Titanfall will be the FPS to beat for the next couple of years.

I was waiting for years for any developer out there to come out with a decent Batman game, then Rocksteady got their hands on it, and it was awesome. I had absolutely no complaints about either Arkham Asylum or Arkham City, but I put that down to my bias. They were fantastic games, though. Until Rocksteady left and Warner Bros took over and ruined the combat system.

FIFA 13 & 14 are pretty self explanatory. I am a football fan and FIFA is the best football game on the market. Although, I will say that with each rendition there seems to be a growing number of problems, such as crashing, server connection and the infamous invisible ball/player bug. One thing I can say is my XOne will not be graced with FIFA 14.

Another self explanatory game is GTA V, probably the best game to ever be developed to date. The graphics push the console to the edge of its capabilities and the story line is great (with the exception of ending C).

Portal 2 was another great game. It gave me hours of frustration but it also gave me hours of fun. Who doesn't like listening to sarcastic, evil machines when trying to solve a puzzle?

To round up the other games: 

I completed Fable II. It was fun when I played it but traded in my original copy as it got pretty boring upon completion. My girlfriend then re-bought it and played it once.

I lost interest in Max Payne 3 quite close to the end of the game. That and I bought GTA and FIFA soon after. Bad idea.

Pure is poor, Lego Batman was awesome, never taken Sniper Elite out of the box, barely played Battlefield 3 and SplitSecond belongs to a friend, I let him borrow Far Cry 3, which was one of the best games I've ever played.

That's it guys, an insight into my games collection. Roll on Friday.

-3 Lives Left

Which Console Is Winning?

Hey folks, welcome back to 3 Lives Left.

So as you all should know the PS4 released in the US and Canada on the 15th of November, and Xbox one released worldwide on the 22nd and judging by 1st day sales it looks as though Xbox One is going to get a battering. According to CVG (see here and here) Xbox sold a total of 1m units on day one (worldwide), while PS4 shifted the same amount in the same time frame whilst only being released in the US and Canada. Sony are still 2 and a half weeks off of launching the console in their biggest market yet, Japan.

So the Xbox One not doing too great so far...

To top it off, Xbox are also running into a whole host of problems. CVG have reported that some Xbox One users are experiencing problems with Xbox Live whereby Online Multiplayer is currently unavailable and that users are also unable to redeem pre-paid cards and codes. However, these issues are only occurring in the UK.

IGN also reports that some users are are experiencing hardware issues whereby the console sticks in a loop of crashing and rebooting, as well as an issue with the disc tray in which the tray produces a grinding noise when a disc is inserted, however, the disc remains undamaged.

Hardware Problems
Software Problems

Could it get any worse for Xbox? ... I think it might do when PS4 launches this Friday in Europe, with Japan waiting in the wings.

It is early days yet.

- 3 Lives Left

Xbox One Tour Part 2: The Games

Hey people and welcome back. Today is a continuation of yesterday's post discussing the new Xbox One console.

After I have spoken about the games I will rate it HIT or MISS.

Let's begin.

FIFA 14. One of the bestselling games of all time and undoubtedly EA Sports flagship title. I am a huge FIFA fan, I've been playing it since FIFA 98. So it may come as a surprise to all of you that I'm actually disappointed with the next-gen version of the game.

The graphics are pretty much the same as the 360 version, some marginal pixel differences. The biggest change was probably how the game played. It felt very slow and the touches felt very heavy.

I think I will be waiting until FIFA 15 to get it on Xbox One. 

MISS

Ryse: Sone of Rome. From the people that bought you Crysis series and FarCry now bring you this great, gladiatorial IP that seems sure to on every shelf of every Xbox One owner, and if it isn't, then it should be.

Graphically it is sublime. I believe it is in full 1080p HD, something that Crytek studios expects for all of its games. It also boasts around 250 special execution clips when finishing off enemies.

One thing that really annoyed me was the fact the button combo's feel really repetitive, mostly using X, A and Y. 

HIT

IT'S BACK! 17 year after the last game the fighting game of all fighting games is back and is exclusive to Xbox One. I was thoroughly impressed when I played it. It was full of beautiful colours, wonderful gameplay, and a ton-load of nostalgia.

It was exactly what I thought it would be: Epic.

Only one question to ask: Jago, Sabrewolf, or Fulgore?

HIT

The feeling I get about this game is that it is finally ready to take over from Call of Duty. Everything was on-point, the spawn system, the maps, the guns, the graphics, the bullet drop, dedicated servers. Yes.

Even better news is that to match these super-huge maps, there is more than likely going to be a major increase in team size on multiplayer, going from 24 to 64.

The game mode on show, Domination, did seem to go on for ages as there wasn't a time limit applied. My guess is that it was just an event feature.

HIT

Where do I start with this game? Of all the driving games I have ever played, I think I would rather play Need For Speed Underground on my old GameCube. This game is simply awful. The only good thing about it is that fact that Top Gear do all the talking.

The cars felt heavy and clunky, the handling was pretty dire. The graphics were good though.

MISS

Undoubtedly the best game on show. Even though it I runs at a disappointing, native 720p (upscaled to 1080p) and 30fps (not 60fps) it extremely pleasant to play. The gameplay was so fun I had to play the demo at least 3 times and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

I loved killing zombies with lightsaber's so much that it will be the first game I buy.

HIT

That is it for part 2 people. I hope you enjoyed, stick around for the next one. See ya.

3 Lives Left

Xbox One Tour Part 1: The Console

Hey guys and welcome back to 3 Lives Left. Today's post is dedicated to the Xbox One Tour.

I was lucky enough to be a competition winner for the Xbox One Tour in London. Here I will be talking about the games that were on show, and providing you with some very badly taken pictures (it was dark, okay.).

So here goes.

Note, I did say that they were badly taken photos. So this is the site I saw when entering the venue, and we were requested to use the hastag xboxonetour for the duration of the event.

One of the walls was covered with an Xbox timeline featuring the original Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Elite, Xbox 360 S, and finally, the Xbox One.

Here is the Xbox One up-front and personal. As expected it is a pretty big machine, as is the Kinect sensor, which came as a bit of a surprise.

And a better look at the console and Kinect sensor. I took the time to check out how hot the machine gets and it seemed pretty cool when I initially checked it, but upon further inspection the Xbox actually felt really hot on top. However, to be fair, the machines were probably switched on from 9am and were on all day.

This is the brand new Xbox controller. On first sight it does look a lot bulkier but let me tell you now that you would be wrong. It feels a lot better than the current-gen consoles. Less heavy, better analogue sticks, nicer feeling bumper and trigger buttons. The best thing for me is that they finally seem to have removed that hideous battery pack.

Bad news for all of you Turtle Beach owners out there though. The design for the headphone port as now been changed. Gone is the standard pin, it has now been replaced by a flat head. Hopefully Turtle Beach will release adapters for you guys.

The only disappointment's would be the newly designed directional pad (surely an obsolete design feature now?), that and the left bumper button felt a bit stiff.

That is it for Part One of the Xbox Tour. Stay tuned for Part Two which will be all about the games!

3 Lives Left

Next-Gen Weekend - The One Tour

Hey guys, welcome back to 3 Lives Left.

As promised, today is Next-Gen Weekend, and there is some very exciting news for you video game lovers. Microsoft has announced that they will hold a worldwide tour that will give the lucky winners of their competition the opportunity to play the Xbox One.

People who wish to attend the event should do so very quickly as tickets are allocated on a first-come first-served basis. Microsoft have also announced the games that will be on offer to play at the event, these are: FIFA 14, Ryse, Battlefield 4, Killer Instinct, Dead Rising 3, and Forza 5.

I think this is a brilliant idea on Microsoft's behalf, to tour the Xbox One. It can only be a good thing to allow gamers who are still asking themselves 'what console should I buy?'. There is also still no word of whether Sony will do a similar thing in an attempt to trump Microsoft, but this is very doubtful.

In the UK the tour will take place in London from October 25-November 5, and in Manchester from November 18-27 (bad news for people nowhere near these cities). You can go here to enter for your chance to win, good luck!

There you have it guys! I hope you enjoyed this post. Next week's post is a Game Review, give a guess what it might be (haha).

Xbox One is available worldwide on November 22, 2013. £430 / €500 / $500 RRP.

3 Lives Left.

Great Themes, Great Content

Hey guys, welcome back to 3 Lives Left.

Yesterday I published a post stating that Blogger will remain the home for 3 Lives Left, and today I have come to tell you that I have some running themes throughout the month, every month.

They are as follows:

Handheld Fun/Film Night - 1st Saturday (rotating months, title depending)

Next Gen Weekend - 2nd Saturday

Game Review - 3rd Saturday

One To Watch - 4th Saturday

Description:

Handheld Fun and Film Night will work on rotating months, but will be title depending. For example, if I were to post a Handheld Fun article in October by definition in November it would be the turn of Film Night. However, if there were to be no good films being released in the cinema or on DVD then there would be another Handheld Fun article.

Next Gen Weekend aims to produce an insight into new developments surrounding the next generation consoles (PS4 and Xbox One only, sorry Nintendo).

Game Review speaks for itself. I aim to bring you a game review based on General and Special criteria.

One To Watch simply aims to provide you with my researched opinion on which game being released the following month is worth giving a try.

Well, there you have it. The new themes.

Don't forget to check back every Saturday. Maybe even during the week for special posts!

Thanks guys.

-3 Lives Left

Why I will be buying the PS4 and not the Xbox One

So the dust has settled on E3 and both Sony and Microsoft have said and shown everything that needs to be heard and seen. I was glued to my laptop watching all of the games that I was interested in and of course to see what the PS4 and Xbox One had to offer in terms of games, exclusives and all the extras. And here are 5 reasons why I will be buying the PS4 and NOT the Xbox One.

1. Pre-Owned Games and DRM

As you should all know by know (if you don't where have you been!?) Sony have revealed that they will be supporting the pre-owned games initiative and have no intention of charging you or your friends for borrowing/lending games or trading them into your local game shop. There are some rumors coming out that PS4 will not interfere if 3rd party publishers wish to charge for pre-owned games, however, this has not been confirmed. And let it stay that way I say.

UPDATE: See bottom of article.

2. Privacy

I don't know about the rest of you guys but I quite like my privacy and if these reports are true about Kinect always being on and registering everything that is happening in the room, I cannot say I would be too happy about that, especially given the news about the NSA. People have also said 'well you can turn the sensor around', but clearly it can also pick up on voice, speech and dialect.

3. Cost

For those who are strapped for cash and can only afford the one console, like myself, the PS4 is the way to go. The launch price of the PS4 in the UK is £350 compared to £429 for the Xbox One. But don't be confused, just because you are paying £80 less doesn't mean you are paying for a poorer product. Also, think of what you could get for that £80 if you are savvy with your pennies.

4. Exclusives

Okay, okay, you probably want to chop my head off but, personally PS4 have the more interesting exclusive games. Yes, I know Xbox have Ryse: Son of Rome. Yes, I know that Xbox have Forza Motorsport 5 and yes, I know that Xbox have Titanfall. In addition to this, Xbox will also have Halo 5, Deadrising 3 and Quantum Break, including others. The only Xbox One exclusives that made my mouth water were Ryse: Son of Rome, Quantum Break and Project Spark, now let me tell you why.

Titanfall is an MMO and Vince Zampella has confirmed that there will not be a single-player campaign mode in the game. Once I caught wind of this I was instantly disinterested. I love to lose myself in a great storyline - Think Farcry 3. I have never been a fan of Halo and I never will be, I admit that the storyline can be somewhat decent but the handling of the game just doesn't sit well with me. Forza Motorsport 5 - Once you have played one racing game you have played them all.

The PS4 exclusives got me extremely excited. The Order 1886 looks like it will be a great game. Developed by Ready and Dawn at Santa Monica studios, it is a story about an alternative history version of the Victorian era in London, should be a great storyline. Killzone: Shadow Fall speaks for itself. Knack, it may look a bit boring to you guys but to me, it looks like it could just be a bit of fun. But if I could choose, I would bring Project Spark over to PS4.

5. Console

As a whole, the PS4 console looks so much better, it looks slicker, and it is smaller than the PS3, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The design features also look so, so slick.

Judging by the statement that has been released today by Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, Don Mattrick, Xbox One may have pegged one back on the PS4. The statement reads "An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games..." "Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today..."

To keep up with the goings-on with Microsoft's policy on this, stay tune to CVG

But will this be enough to hold on to me as an Xbox customer? Judging by the other 4 reasons, I don't think so. Xbox would really have to do something outstanding to keep me on board.

Thanks for reading guys!

XBOX One vs PS4 - Round 2

Hey guys! Welcome back to 3 Lives Left. Apologies for not posting in a while but fear not, I am here to give you all of the new information on the next-gen consoles. XBOX was the winner of the last round, but who will win this one? Let's find out.

Starting with the PS4.

Here is the design of the brand new PS4. In the last round I made a big deal of how slick I thought the design of the XBOX One is, but the PS4, to me, seems a lot slicker.

Now, as it has seemed for a while now, and was confirmed at their conference at E3, Sony's focus definitely seems to be on gamers. The console is being sold and marketed as a games console, not as an entertainment system, although these functions will still be available.

PS4 will offer their users the use of their current and additional media services, and a subscription to Playstation Plus will not be needed to access these features. You will also not need a Playstation Plus subscription to access single-player games. In addition, the cost of the PS+ subscription is said to cost UNDER $5. So for the price of a couple of pounds, dollars and euros, you can access all of the services that PS4 have to offer. and from what I can tell, these services seem to be the same to those of XBOX One. Baring mind that XBOX Live customers are already paying £6 p/m, this is a very good deal.

On top of this, Sony Pictures will also offer and exclusive programming network on PSN and PS4 - No surprise. In addition, PS4 will launch and offer a Live Events Viewer that aims to deliver huge live sporting events e.g. WWE PPV's, NBA, NHL etc.

Watch Dogs and Assassins Creed IV Black Flag are not exclusive to PS4, but judging by the fact that both of Ubisoft's next massive titles turned up on Sony's stage and not Microsoft's, there seems to be an alliance forming. Not only did you see exclusive trailers for the games, there were people from Ubisoft to treat the crowd at E3 to actual game-play. Quite interestingly, PS4 and Bethesda have partnered to offer users The Elder Scrolls Online, which also includes a beta version.

PS4 are also huge on indie titles with the following titles just some of the indie games you can come to expect on the PS4:

- Knack

- Outlast

- Secret Ponchos

- Don't Starve

- Ray's The Dead

Now for the big news, most probably the biggest and most well received news at E3 so far. PS4 promise that they will support used games. So it has been made possible that you can still borrow games from friends or go into CeX, Game, Gamestop or any other retail shop that you choose and purchase a pre-owned game and use it on your console for no extra charge, unlike XBOX One.

PS4 also promise that there will be no need for disc based games to have an online connection in order to play. This is great news for folks out there like myself who have very poor internet connection, or even for those people out there who do not possess and internet connection, again, unlike XBOX One.

Very, very promising indeed.

Now, Xbox One.

Before watching the XBOX One conference at E3 I was excited for lots of games, lots of new great details about the machine and the immersive-ness that would be offered alongside their games. But once finished, I felt underwhelmed, disappointed.

The conference and the XBOX One offered only 4 big announcement. They are as follows:

- A brand new open-world Metal Gear Solid title: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

- Exclusive new game: Ryse: Son of Rome

- Exclusive new game: Titanfall (from the makers of CoD: MW2)

- Exclusive new (old) game: Killer Instinct

In addition to this, XBOX One showed a second trailer for Quantum Break, Battlefield 4 and only some indie games, namely Minecraft. Moreover, it was stated that XBOX One would move away from Microsoft Points and move to local currency. Other than this, some of their team showcased the autosave clip/upload feature and the livestream feature through Twitch.

All in all, very disappointing from Microsoft and XBOX One.

For me, Sony and PS4 win the round hands-down on every section: Console design, support of indie developers, backwards compatibility, support of game sharing, online connection not needed.

That is it for the round. I'm sure there will be at least one more. Thanks for reading you guys.

Don't forget to comment if you have any thoughts.

Head on over to http://www.e3expo.com/ for the latest info.

EA Sports Ignite - A Revolutionary New Engine?

Hey folks and welcome back to 3 Lives Left.

As I mentioned in the last post (PS4 vs Xbox One), I decided that I was going to attempt to breakdown EA Sports Ignite, EA Sports' new engine. It would be cool if you guys could put your opinions across on this new system to see what you think about it too.

So, introducing the brand new engine be EA Sports, which will now power games such as FIFA 14, Madden, NBA Live and UFC.

EA Sports have claimed that the new engine will aim to even out all of the issues we witnessed in previous titles. It also claims to have improved Human Intelligence for better decision making (At last!), Living Worlds, whereby the crowds are now in 3D as opposed to being like cardboard, as well as True Player Motion; haven't we heard this somewhere else before?

CVG compiled an article stating that the new-at-the-time Impact Engine would improve on areas such as First Touch Control (yeah, right.), Player Impact (really?), Complete Dribble (fair enough), Tactical Freekicks (erm...?), and Attacking AI (please.).

Below are just some of the screenshots taken from FIFA 13.

Puyol getting a bit aggressive in his old age.

Neymar has lost his heading ability.

Now c'mon, let's be serious EA. You promised a lot and delivered a little. Here are some of the issues that I fell across whilst playing the most recent FIFA title:

- Major glitching (more below)

- Server issues

- Massive lag issues

- More?

I recall one glitch at the beginning of this game's cycle where I saved a Career Mode with Borussia Dortmund and when I loaded the save file again it just crashed and I could not advance on the calender. Bare in mind, I also made it to 2019. I was extremely disappointed.

On many occasions it has also been very common that half way through a match, the football, or an entire player would completely disappear during the game. Imagine playing football without the football? It's just 22 people running after thin air.

Human Intelligence: EA Sports' attempt to not just improve the intelligence of the player you are possessing, but also the intelligence of your team-mates and the opposition. I believe they tried this in the last Impact Engine?

True Player Motion: Another of EA Sports' attempts to improve the gaming experience and the realism of gameplay. Again, I thought this was tried in the last Impact Engine?

Living Worlds: EA Sports' are trying to improve the sidelines and crowds in sporting arena's in order to give the player that immersive feeling that real-life sports stars feel as they enter the arena/stadia. Now although EA Sports have always tried to tweak the crowds and add more venue selection, they have never aimed to bring a real-life situation to the player in regards to offering that 'immersive feeling'.

The head of EA Sports was interviewed by IGN on the new EA Sports Ignite engine and pretty much openly admitted that this new engine was years in the planning and was intended as a protective measure for the next-gen consoles. Find the interview here.

So there you have it guys. The "new" EA Sports engine for the next-gen consoles. I have a feeling it is going to be more of the same. What about you?

Leave your comments below.

See ya later folks.