Gears of War 3 versus tips

Weapons
Make sure you try all weapons.
General rule use Hamerburst if you want to stay back and support, Lancer for long/medium range and Retro for medium/close range.
Use Gnasher if you like near close/close range or SawedOff for close range 1 shot kills.
Experiment with all of them and find the one you're most comfortable with but try and master them all.

Power weapons
Each map will have power weapons and you'll find in versus games most gamers will aim to get to them first. Some of these you might find difficult to use (like Torque Bow, LongShot, etc.) but others will be much easier to use (like BoomShot, Grenades, Ink, Mortar, etc.) If you can get to them use them.

Team play
Stay close to your team mates. Numbers make the difference and reduce your time spent in waiting to respawn. Hold LB to see where your team mates are and move towards their direction. If you're total rookie, stay behind your team mates and use long range weapons and grenades.

Movement
Try to go  from cover to cover. Pay attention where can you get cover in split second if you're moving about. Learn the maps and always assume there might be someone behind a corner.

Active reload
One on one it is a decider. Sure damage to head, body and legs varies but active reload is very important. Try to hit every time and if you notice enemies approaching spend some bullets (half a clip should do) and active reload.

Enjoy
Gears can be very frustrating at times. You can die soon as you respawn in gruesome death by someone camping behind the corner but do not get discouraged.  Expect to die a lot in the beginning and you should have great fun with this game.
Don't think about your K/D ratio, instead focus on learning maps and controls, use power weapons and stick with your team mates, have a laugh and you will love Gears

Witcher 2

My RPG mojo has come back full swing. Even though the number of excellent games were still waiting for me to have time to play them, I could not resist Witcher 2 after reading several reviews and watching some game clips (the power of advertising, eh(?)).

Anyone planning to play this game and don't like spoiler best stop reading this post now as it will likely have some spoilers.

I finished Prologue and I'm almost at the end of Act 1. There is a 'tutorial' in the beginning but it's not great. I played the prologue wondering about a lot of things and just going with a hunch. When I got to Act 1 things got a bit more serious and I got stuck in several places. Put it simply the combat system is not the easiest I seen and there way to many things you need to learn in order to succeed. To make things worse the game is noticeably disbalanced soon as you start Act 1. Enemies seam to take less damage and dish lot more than you do. With it being a new game and working out how to play it, you inevitably end up between enemies which usually results in almost instant death.

And that is about it as far as negative is concerned. Everything else about this game is just brilliant. RPG that is interesting and looks like a next gen game. Main quests and side quests are equally interesting. The decisions you take during the game can not be always classed as good or bad so there is no karma like in Fallout or paragon/renegate in Mass Effect. Game branches and depending how you decide to play it you get different quests/stories so second play through is a must.

...more to come....

Mercenaries 2 & Gears 3 songs

I just stumbled upon a song from Mercenaries 2 game (the best thing to come from that game)

 

In the same list I had the song from Gears 3 trailer. Sounds so much  better when you watch the video.

 

It's raining games...

Following stories that Game retailer is in deep trouble and about to go under, I went in and spent all my sizeable credit. I wasn't planning to get any games any time soon as I only just bought Batman Arkham City and Mass Effect 3 came via post few days ago. So from my two visits to games I now have

1. Driver San Francisco,
2. Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock,
3. The Elder Scrolls Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition,
4. Top Spin 2,
5. Dues Ex: Human Revolution,
6. Rage,
7. Project Gotham Racing 4,
8. Batman Arkham City,
9. Mass Effect 3

I initially got Saints Row The Third but after reading some reviews decided it wasn't for me as I would get bored of it to quickly, so I went back and got Driver SF, Oblivion and GH Warriors of Rock for it. If I include many other games that I have played but not finished playing yet (Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3, Forza 4, and many more), that is me sorted for this decade :).

Run by Blake Crouch

Last night I finished Run by Blake Crouch. One of more difficult books I ever read.

The plot has got many holes in it but it still holds. Basically the story evolves around family of four, parents in their early 40s with a teenage daughter and small boy having to constantly run and fight for their survival against cold, hunger, thirst and savage killers. It is a horrific story that makes you think what if this could really happen. At times it got very gripping and I couldn't put the book down no matter what. Crouch shows some master skills in immersing the reader in the book, so much so that at times I had to take a brake as it was getting too difficult to detach from the horrific events.

On a negative side I did not like the way relationship evolved between husband and wife. I had a feeling that corners were cut or not enough attention was put towards this. Their relationship changes as story progresses but I as a reader did not get the true picture of their feelings as these changes happened.

I rate this book as WWR (Well Worth Reading) - 3.5 stars out of 5.

Down the memory lane

I loved  this when I first read it in high school many years ago. Today I stumbled on it and had to make a note of it here. It is an excerpt from Common Sense, written in 1776 by Thomas Paine:

“Entrepreneur’s Credo
I do not choose to be a common man,
It is my right to be uncommon … if I can,
I seek opportunity … not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen.
Humbled and dulled by having the
State look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk;
To dream and to build.
To fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life
To the guaranteed existence;
The thrill of fulfillment
To the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade freedom for beneficence
Nor my dignity for a handout
I will never cower before any master
Nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect.
Proud and unafraid;
To think and act for myself,
To enjoy the benefit of my creations
And to face the world boldly and say:
This, with God’s help, I have done
All this is what it means
To be an Entrepreneur.”

Removing card details from xbox.com

There are websites now up speficilly opened for hacked Xbox Live members, many claiming that their Live account has been hacked. To be honest I did not panic as I know people sometime use very simple passwords and sometime they fall for phishing sites so I thought as long as I'm careful, I should be ok. Then, I hear about some experienced gamers that their account has been hacked!!! Warning lights started to flash so I thought I better remove my credit card details from my account so at least they can't spend any more if they ever get into my account. Checked my account settings in xbox.com and there it was, my card details and the remove link. Great I thought, simple, easy and quick. But nooooooo, got the message soon as I clicked remove to say that this card is associated with one of the services so you can't remove it as long as you use that service. I was surprised to get this as all my Live is paid upfront and Autorenew is set to OFF! So got in a chat with the support guy who just said to me no, you can't remove your card details even though you do not have any bills to pay! This got me totally pissed and I wished I was a lawyer so I can sue their ass for keeping my card details against my will. In the end had to phone support and they agreed to remove my card details but stupidity does not end there. They still could not remove my card details as my latest subscription was paid using a credit card. What they did is, cancelled my account, reverted it to a silver account, and then emailed me the code to make for the months I already prepaid (minus 6 days). What a pain!