Call of Duty gives up on single player campaign

What’s this, an unscheduled post?! Unthinkable. None too long ago, I wrote a piece talking about The Decline of the Halo Series. During that post I touched upon Call of Duty and how that franchise was the series that kicked Halo from the pedestal it sat atop for so many years. It seems like that time of transition is once again here, this time for Call of Duty.

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Borderlands 2 is the best version of Destiny

Borderlands 2 is one of my favourite games of all time. It was a realisation that came to me slowly when I found myself, once again, thinking of picking it up and starting a new character. Despite a play through taking over 40 hours, I’ve probably finished it at least half a dozen times already.

It was when pondering whether to start playing Borderlands 2 again, I came to the realisation of just how similar it was to another series I’d put a lot of time into, and how it does so many things just that little bit better. I’m going to stop playing coy now, I’m talking about Destiny. It was kind of obvious, it’s in the title of the article, and Cayde-6 is just below. I’ve complained about and praised Destiny again, again, again and again. It’s a game I love to hate and hate to love, and yet I still play it all the time.

In fact, they’re both games that capture a lot of the things I value in video games: Individuality of character in multiplayer games, replayability, diverse upgrading paths, procedurally generated loot. These are things that draw me into not just playing a game, but to continuing playing it for years to come. Both games do these things, to varying degrees of success , but ultimately I think that Borderlands 2 does the better job. This is my case for that.

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My time at EGX 2017

So I went to EGX again this year. This would be the point in the article where, if I’d have been a real journalist, I’d have given a brief background into EGX. But I honestly can’t be bothered to make that kind of effort right now. All you need to know is that it’s a big video gaming and culture convention that take place in the West Midlands of the U.K. for 4 days a year.

It’s the third time I’ve gone in as many years and it’s pretty standard fare as far as these type of conventions go. A bunch of developers, large and small, show up and pedal their wares, so to speak. On top of that there are plenty of other attractions. People selling niche and retro merchandise based on video games, or other things the type of people who go to this type of event will probably like. Continue reading “My time at EGX 2017” →