Crazy Gamer's official Xbox One stance

Hello all.  Today I will give you my opinion on the...

Specs:

The specs of the system seem powerful...though no game was shown that really showcased the systems power. 

I for one care more about what developers are able to do with artificial intelligence and user interfaces.  I want organic dialogue that changes based on how I want to play my character.  I hope one day that conversation trees are replaced with something more natural.  I also hope user interfaces become less heavy handed.  Maybe this generation will offer that?  We will see.

The controller:

I like the controller, I think I prefer it to the Playstation 4's controller.  I will withhold my final judgment until I can actually handle them.

The new Kinect:

I was unimpressed with the original Kinect.  On the surface it could be interesting, but the Kinect was never used in a good way.  The only game that I thought used the Kinect in a good way was Mass Effect 3 where you could give vocal commands to your companion characters and could use your voice to change weapon load outs.  This was limited a bit too much by the technology at the time but maybe this new Kinect will allow developers the ability to better integrate these features into games and to design new uses.

However...

My overactive imagination takes over.  Suddenly I meet George Orwell in a café. 

"So Crazy Gamer," he asks "Tell me about the future."

"Well George, we have a lot of cool things now.  We have cars that can run on electricity, we have the internet which is a bunch of computers connected together to create this online space we can all use.  Have you ever heard of videogames George?"

"Well... no Crazy Gamer I've never heard of those.  What are they?"

"Well there is this new Xbox One game system and it has this Kinect device that has a bunch of cameras that watch what you do, for the game.  And, remember that internet that I explained before, well the Kinect can transmit your data to the internet for anyone you want to view."

"That sounds awful!  The government can't use this internet can they?"

"Of course they can George."

"So they could see what you're doing in your house?"

"I guess, but Microsoft promises I can tell the Kinect to not listen to me."

"So Crazy Gamer, you're telling me that now Big Brother really can be watching?

"I don't think so, my big brother has a Playstation."

"Take me back to my time please.  And may God have mercy on your soul."



Anyway, I know I'm overreacting but I can't help but find the idea of a device that can watch and listen to everything I do and upload it to the internet unpalatable.  Microsoft assures us that we can decided just how much it can listen to and watch but what happens when a suspected terrorist, or a person that is suspected in a crime have an X Box One?  Will it be legal to get a warrant to be able to watch people?  Can Microsoft override our privacy settings?  How secure is Microsoft's servers in the first place?  Could they be hacked by a third party?  These are troubling ideas, and might be a deal breaker.

Xbox Live, Xbox TV, etc, etc

I don't want to pay for an additional online service.  Sorry Microsoft. 

I couldn't care less about the Xbox television connection (I have satellite, which may or may not be able to take advantage of these features) or any of the other "awesome," social features. 

Xbox One needing to connect to the internet.

This is another feature that shouldn't bother me, but does.  I have a fairly stable broadband internet connection and I don't buy a lot of used games.  Still, I feel that I should be able to do whatever the hell I want with the stuff I buy.  Microsoft assures us that the Xbox One only needs to connect to the internet once a day and that this is going to allow us access to all kinds of cool things, but it just smacks of them wanting to control how I use my Xbox,which begs the question, is it my product at all?  If I have to pay $400.00 dollars or more it damn well outta be! However I really don't think Microsoft agrees and that's a problem, at least for me.

The Games

I have no idea as no pure Xbox One next gen only games were shown.  We saw some games, but these games are also coming out on the current generation consoles.  New features are promised, but nothing was shown.  Microsoft is promising 15 new games, but outside of Forza, and Halo, and Oblivion, nothing was shown and none of those franchises interest me. 

My verdict:

Barring a massive influx of cool RPG's only available on Xbox One, the Crazy Gamer says- thanks but no thanks Microsoft.

Crazy Gamer becomes the Crazy Historian

I apologize that today's post is not gaming related.  Once upon a time the Crazy Gamer studied a lot of history and occasionally my love of history overwhelms my better judgment and so I post something like this. 

Don't worry though game lovers, I have three Warhammer articles and three video game articles in the works (you'll never guess my take on the Xbox 1) but those are for a later day. 

Today is about history! 

I live in the United States of America.  Like all countries the world over the US has its share of problems and I am going to type about two.  The first problem is this countries crumbling infrastructure.  We have unsafe bridges, bad roads, dams that are at their structural limits, to say nothing of the fact that their are many buildings both public and private that are way below modern code.  Why isn't anything done about it?  It's easy, there isn't any money, and sadly that isn't going to change anytime soon. 

Another problem the US has, and we aren't the only country that has this problem, are banks that are too large to fail.  This, of course, isn't what our government says about banks, but it certainly is what our government's actions are making clear. 

About now you may be asking, "What do these two things have to do with each other, and why are you bringing them up?"

Let me explain.  While reading, think about how our country could be very different today if but for one thing. 

If you asked the average American they would not be aware that once we had a national bank (well we had two actually but this blog is about the second bank) called the Bank of the United States.  It was the repository of all government funds and it was responsible for collecting money and paying debts for and to the United States.  Could you imagine how much easier to figure out where tax payer money went to if there was only one place that was responsible for  paying the governments debts?

Still, this isn't what I wanted to talk about.  A guy by the name of Henry Clay (a member of the House of Representatives when he proposed this, but at other times he was a Senator, and the Secretary of State) who was a Democratic Republican (nope, I didn't make a mistake that was a party.  I'm going to giggle at right and left wing nuts trying to decide if they should hate Clay or like him based on his party).

Anyway, he proposed that a special fund be created from the interest earned on the money kept in the bank (billions of dollars in todays money) be used solely for the purpose of internal national improvements.  Pretty cool huh?  Imagine every year hundreds of millions of dollars for internal improvements on the items listed above and none of it would need to come from the national or state budget!  Alas it was not to be.  James Monroe vetoed that plan even though he did agree to the Bank of the United States.  Jackson would kill the bank in the 1830's, and here we are today, we have private banks that are a law unto themselves and we have no money to fix the infrastructure of our country.  If only things could have been different...

Crazy Gamer goes to the Tournament- the list

A few days ago I told you how I go about getting ready for a Warhammer tournament. 

Today I will discuss two characters that I will be using and why I have decided to include them in my list (which still isn't finalized).

Here are two heroes that my list will include

Witch Hunter- 50pts

Brace of pistols +5pts
Great Sword +5pts

Why a Witch Hunter?  Easy... because they're cool! 

Kinda like a kick ass pilgrim!  If you don't think that's cool then you need to have your head examined!

In game terms a witch hunter has below average stats, but he has two things that make him great.  First he can accuse an enemy character of being a witch.  The witch hunter then gains the killing blow special rule against that character with both his shooting and close combat attacks.  He also can shoot at this character as if the witch hunter had the sniper rule.  Will he get lucky and knock off your 600pt chaos lord?  Probably not, but just the fact that he can will give some opponents pause and in my book that is worth 60pts.

His second rule is even more important.  The witch hunter comes with a handy magic resistance of two.  In the magic happy world of 8th edition this can really help a low toughness unit (which is all of the Empire units) survive and when combined with my next character can make a unit almost invincible. 


Battle Wizard- 2nd magic level- 100pts

Scroll of shielding 15pts

This little wizard will use the lore of life and can use the scroll of shielding to give the witch hunter's unit a 2+ ward save!  Hopefully I can use this when a high powered spell is coming my way to avoid most (if not all) of the damage the spell will cause. 

I really like to use the lore of life to increase the survivability of my units.  A unit of spearmen at toughness 3 and a 5+ armor save isn't going to scare anyone.  That same unit with a toughness of five (due to flesh to stone) and a 5+ regeneration save (due to earthblood) can hold up the scariest monster or fighting character for a long time.


The other characters...

Not decided yet.  Check back! 

Crazy Gamer Goes to the Tournament

Today I thought I would discuss how the Crazy Gamer goes about getting ready for a tournament.  Cool huh?  I thought that you would agree.

The tournament is a Warhammer Fantasy tournament, typical local fair at 2500pts.  In my dreams I would play High Elves, but seeing as I don't have a single model painted and the tournament is in less than 30 days my practical side must kick in.  As usual then, I will play my tried and true Empire army. 

About now you are probably assuming that I am lining up my hardest hitting list.  Wrong!  You silly people!  I'm the crazy gamer remember.  Here is how I will go about creating a tournament list.

1.  I don't use hordes.
2.  I won't use a large unit for the sole reason of having that unit be steadfast.
3.  I won't use any popular gimmick. 
4.  I will rely on unpopular units and characters.

So what does this mean for the Empire? 

I will not use any huge units of halberdiers.  In fact I won't use any unit with more than 30 models.
I will use one artillery piece max.
I won't use any special characters (not that the Empire's list has any great special characters).
I will rely on things like huntsmen, swordsmen, regular knights (not inner circle, Reiksguard, Demi- Gryph or other popular types).  I will also not use a 4th level battle wizard lord. 

Now, I will point out that I haven't yet decided on my final list but I will post it when it is decided.

Why do I go about designing lists this way?  Well the answer is simple.  I want to win because I played a better game than my opponent, not because I designed a better list or exploited a silly loophole.  I would rather lose than win using a gimmick.  Have I lost to gimmick lists?  You bet I have, but guess what?  Those gimmick lists have weaknesses and I will find them and use every single one against them. 

If you are reading this and think I'm crazy, try winning with good tactics, take your lumps and learn how to play a mistake free game and you will be surprised how successful you can be. 

On a side note, I've been playing Empire now for almost a decade and my army has never been made obsolete by changes in rules or changes in army books.  I don't fear the day that huge units of cheap infantry are no longer so good. 

Crazy Gamer's take on the X Box 720

Hello true believers!

Crazy Gamer here to talk about the next Xbox!

Microsoft has announced that they will unveil the new Xbox 720.  Even though this unveiling is almost a month away I figured I'd give my opinion on the rumors that are circulating the interweb.

Rumor one:  The new Xbox will have an eight core processor.  My take... seems powerful, but I need to see games. 

Rumor two:  The new Xbox will allow you to "DVR," your game play and share it online.  Also you will be able to upload achievements and what not to social media.  My take... couldn't care less.  I don't want to share my gameplay with others.  I suck and I'm sure you have better things to do than watch it. 

Rumor three:  The new Xbox will use Windows 8.  My take... I get the impression this is supposed to be a selling point.  I've never bought a system based on its operating system and although I don't have the hatred some have for the OS it would never make me want to buy a system. 

Rumor four:  The new Xbox will have two purchase options.  One will be $500 dollars, the other will be $300 but will require a two year subscription to Xbox Live (thought to cost anywhere from $9.99 to $14.99 a month).  My take... $500 dollars is out of my price range.  As for $300 dollars plus a subscription... sorry, I don't play games online, I don't want to play games online, I don't want any of the social garbage that is offered, I don't care about avatars or any of the like.  As I see it, the $300 dollar model is really at minimum a $540.00 model, yeah... I'll pass.

Rumor five: The new Xbox will require an always on internet connection.  My take... considering that my internet connection can be...sassy to say the least I don't want to spend $500 dollars for a system that I may or may not be able to play reliably based on my internet connection.  I'm sure this has nothing to do with getting rid of used games and DRM (digital rights management) and is just for all that wonderful social crap that I don't want. 

I have an Xbox 360, but unless rumors 2, 4, and 5 are false, I will not have the next Xbox. 

Sorry Microsoft. 

Warhammer 101-Becoming a better General: Terrain

Many of us want to be a great general.  In our quest to become Napoleon we sometimes will go down a dark path of WAAC gaming (win at all costs).

While this article will not help you become a little French dictator (though everyone should know by now that Napoleon was actually a very average five seven) it will help you to be better at Warhammer.

Today's article will focus on terrain.  I will point out that I have decided to separate Warhammer Fantasy and 40k into different posts.  This is on Warhammer Fantasy. 

Terrain is all the stuff on your table that keep it from being just a green (or whatever color you go with) table.  It can be

Hills

 Forests

Swamps

And weird Warhammer wackiness

My first piece of advice is simple.  Know the terrain rules. 

Sadly, most players view the terrain rules as something to glance at and nothing more.  To an average commander terrain is something to be avoided as a nuisance.

A wise commander knows better.  Just by knowing how terrain works you will give yourself the advantage. 

Learn the terrain rules!  Got that?  Don't feel overwhelmed, you just need to know the essentials.  You don't need to know the exact rules for a charnel pit but you should know forests are mysterious and are dangerous terrain for cavalry, chariots, monstrous cavalry, and fliers using a flying move. 

Next, insist that you use the rulebook mandated D6 + 4 pieces of terrain (pg. 142).  Be aggressive with your terrain placement by looking for advantages you can use.  Do they have a gun line?  Use forests to block their lines of fire (especially in the center, force their shooters to one flank or another).  A wise general will look for any advantage and terrain placement is one of those advantages. 

Here are a few helpful hints:

Units cannot claim rank bonus nor can they be steadfast if they are even partially in a river.  Have trouble with big units of infantry then this can help.

Units with most (over half) of their models in a forest cannot be steadfast unless they are skirmishers or lone characters on foot who are always stubborn in forests. 

Fun tactic: Use a fighting hero and give him the Armor of Silvered Steel (or your armies equivalent) and place him in a forest to ambush a big unit of infantry.  As long as he is in the forest he is stubborn holding your foes unit in place until you can dispatch it (or ignore it all together).

Obstacles like walls not only protect you from shooting but can also swing close combat in your favor by making your troops more difficult to hit.

Charging down a hill gives you a +1 to your combat resolution.

Terrain is your friend!  Learn the rules and watch your game improve.

See you next time!

Coming soon!

I apologize to my readers that I haven't been publishing articles that I have promised.  I will get better, I promise!

In the next few solar cycles you will see:

Intermediate painting help.

How to win at Warhammer: Using terrain.

Review: Ni Nu Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for the PS3.

Review: Lego City Undercover for the Wii U.