The Video Game Thread

[Machine]

I bought Ark: Survival Evolved today on a Steam sale. I think it was roughly $22 CAD. It eats up a lot of space, with the download being around 9GB but total space on the drive once installed tipping the scale at 40GB. Fallout 4, as large as it was, was around 30GB.

Anyway, Ark is an early access game that launched last June. I think itsout on XB1 now as well. I watched a few YouTube videos on it and it looks like Minecraft meets Jurassic Park. It offers up both online PVP and PVE. Along with single player. Mods are supported of course for PC.

I've played the preview version on Xbox. Seems very promising. Only frustrating things is if you're playing publicly it's tough to get back into the same server you have everything saved in cause it's full when you go back... at least on Xbox right now that's the case. I've had to start from scratch multiple times.

[Apollo]

That would suck. PC has the option of private servers so maybe XB1 will have that option as well.

[Machine]

That would suck. PC has the option of private servers so maybe XB1 will have that option as well.

Yeah they do but if you host a private server you can't play in it. And people seem to have passwords for all their private servers on Xbox

[Apollo]

So I've put some time in now on Ark. It's a good early access game which is worth the hype. It's a little comparable to Minecraft only grown up with dinosaurs and assault rifles.

Because it's in development they've not optimized it yet and so if you want solid, playable performance at any setting you have to have this on a SSD. It runs smoothly at around 40 frames on high setting on my SSD. I first tried it on my HDD and thought it was unplayable at any setting.

Anyway, I found a good server and if any of you want to try it out let me know. We can conquered essentially Jurassic Park when the power goes out together. Haha

[Joey]

First few DLCs announced for Fallout4!!

Automatron kicks things off when it launches in March, priced at $10. This expansion sees the Mechanist character releasing a "horde of evil robots" into post-apocalyptic Boston, one of which is the "devious Robobrain." Players will track them down and use their parts to build their own robot.

"Choose from hundreds of mods; mixing limbs, armor, abilities, and weapons like the all-new lightning chain gun," Bethesda said. "Even customize their paint schemes and choose their voices."

Coming in April is Wasteland Workshop, which carries a price tag of $5. "With the Wasteland Workshop, design and set cages to capture live creatures--from raiders to Deathclaws," reads a line from its official description. "Tame them or have them face off in battle, even against your fellow settlers. The Wasteland Workshop also includes a suite of new design options for your settlements like nixi tube lighting, letter kits, taxidermy, and more."

Far Harbor rounds out the three when it launches in May. This is the most expensive of the bunch, priced at $25. In it, you take on a mission from the Valentine's Detective Agency to find a young woman and a "secret colony of synths." Far Harbor--the largest piece of content in terms of landmass that Bethesda has ever created for an expansion--is set off the coast of Maine. Given the name, we'd imagine it will be a post-apocalyptic version of Maine's popular seaside tourist location Bar Harbor.

"Travel off the coast of Maine to the mysterious island of Far Harbor, where higher levels of radiation have created a more feral world," Bethesda said. "Navigate through the growing conflict between the synths, the Children of Atom, and the local townspeople. Will you work towards bringing peace to Far Harbor, and at what cost? Far Harbor features the largest landmass for an add-on that we've ever created, filled with new faction quests, settlements, lethal creatures and dungeons. Become more powerful with new, higher-level armor and weapons. The choices are all yours."

Beyond these three expansions, which Bethesda labeled the "first series of add-ons," there will be even more content coming that will be announced later. Bethesda said it will deliver "more than $60 worth of new Fallout adventures and features" in 2016.

Sounds pretty awesome! .. especially considering I'm barely half way through the original story ... Haha

Also, the price for the Season Pass will be going up by $20, so go buy it NOW, before it goes up! Got mine at GreenManGaming.com for $30CDN. Its $39 on Steam currently. Will likely be $59 once the increase takes effect.. which is crazy.

[Apollo]

Got mine at launch on sale at gmg.

[Apollo]

So I've log some solid hours on Ark Survival Evolved now. The verdict is in, its a good game online and when all the mods yet to be released come out it's going to be a pretty good single player experience as well if you don't want to play with people.

You really need an SSD in play right now though to get this working at a decent frame rate. Speaking of SSD's I'm shock at how far they've dropped in price. Apparently they're going to take another huge price dive this year. I'm going to pony up for a bigger one(500GB) after the next wave of cuts.

[Machine]

I'm downloading the division beta right now. Been dying to see if this game is worth the hype or not.

[Joey]

I'm downloading the division beta right now. Been dying to see if this game is worth the hype or not.

Tried to get in on the Beta but I guess I wasn't selected.. I expect a full review!!

[Apollo]

I'm downloading the division beta right now. Been dying to see if this game is worth the hype or not.

Let us know if you can solo this game or is it more like Destiny in that soloing is boring and in some cases impossibly difficult. Oh and does it have TDM?

Have fun man, everything I heard about it sounds cool.

[Joey]

So I've log some solid hours on Ark Survival Evolved now. The verdict is in, its a good game online and when all the mods yet to be released come out it's going to be a pretty good single player experience as well if you don't want to play with people.

You really need an SSD in play right now though to get this working at a decent frame rate. Speaking of SSD's I'm shock at how far they've dropped in price. Apparently they're going to take another huge price dive this year. I'm going to pony up for a bigger one(500GB) after the next wave of cuts.

I think I'll be building me a new rig this year. My old one is coming up on 7 years old (whoa ..). Still destroys most games no problem, but I think its about time. Haha
I play all the new games on my M6800 Laptop anyway. Thing is unstoppable. And will crush any lap. Lol

[Apollo]

I think I'll be building me a new rig this year. My old one is coming up on 7 years old (whoa ..). Still destroys most games no problem, but I think its about time. Haha

Seems like great timing with Window 10 now out and a lot of the chips being designed for it and the new directx.

I'm only one year in on mine and I think I'll get five years on it. Anything beyond that is bonus in my books. You got great value on your rig. Wow.

[Joey]

Seems like great timing with Window 10 now out and a lot of the chips being designed for it and the new directx.

I'm only one year in on mine and I think I'll get five years on it. Anything beyond that is bonus in my books. You got great value on your rig. Wow.

Ya, and its still going strong! Will probably look to transfer its components into a Micro-Case and maybe use it as a low-end (high end?) Smart TV.

Q9550 CPU is still a beast.
8GB RAM.
Corsair 750W Power Supply.
2GB GTS-250 GPU.

[Apollo]

So Humble has this monthly gaming subscription that you can cancel at anytime. You pay a monthly fee and you get a bunch of games worth more, in some cases much more, than the subscription. You get to keep the games when you cancel, unlike Sony's and Microsoft's offerings. Anyway, one of the games this month is Ark Survival Evolved. It's a good opportunity to get it if you don't have it. I fall in love with this game more and more as I play it and figure out my ideal settings. I'm playing single player right now. Theres no story right now because it's early access but if you like sandbox environments then there's a sick amount to explore and it already has many game enhancing mods. It already has game conversion map mods; one in particular is called Valhalla and it's huge while still a work in progress.

[Machine]

So the division is amazing and I've already pre-ordered it. I don't have the patience to type up a full review of the beta on my phone but if anyone has any questions let me know. I put alot of hours into both the open world and the dark zone. I was concerned about how the dark zone would play out but I love the way it works. People have incentive not to go rogue as there are penalties for it but there are also rewards so it creates alot of tension everytime u come across someone in the dark zone where you are feeling each other out to see if you can trust and help each other or if the other will try to back stab u or has friends hiding nearby to ambush u. The rewarding feeling u get when u see your loot get raised by the helicopter and taken to your stash at the base is enough to keep u coming back over and over.
There is no TDM to answer Apollo's question but I don't feel it fits or is needed.
As far as playing solo, it's definitely possible in the story section and each mission difficulty can be increased or decreased. From the two missions I played I feel like the normal setting is for solo and the other 2 settings are for teams. I played both ways.
The dark zone can be much more difficult solo tho it's definitely possible. You just have to be more careful and know when to run. It's also easy to come across random players and work together briefly or long term.
There are alot of things they have in place to balance things out so it works well and even in the beta we didn't have access to a ton of things like crafting, skills and talents.
March 8 seems so far away.