32: Daredevil S2 and Fallout Automatron

Posted on by Justin Turpen

PS4K

Dawn of Justice previews giving good reviews

Digital trade-ins for Microsoft?

Luke Cage Teaser – Release in September 30

Daisey Ridley might be Tomb Raider

Indiana Jones 5 release 2019

Black Ops 3 adds more weapons in Supply Drops

COD Ghosts 2 confirmed

 

-What if Stick/Matt Murdock fell into an open grave while burying Elektra (Hilarious)

-It would have been interesting if: When Daredevil threw Nobu off the building at the end (possibly killing him) if Punisher would have shot him while in free fall therefore stopping Daredevil from crossing that line of killing someone that Punisher says you can never come back from. It didn’t seem to be necessary that Stick needed to kill Nobu.

-Punisher emblem was great I’m glad it showed up

-Daredevil Billy Club/Grappling Hook is back, which is awesome and I called it earlier in the season.

-Elektra’s death was super obvious once Daredevil said they could go hide away together

-Not sure about telling Karen about the secret identity

-I’m glad the love triangle didn’t involve Foggy, cause that would be annoying

-Punisher was pretty cool all around, I’m excited for more of him

-Punisher fight in the prison was awesome/and fighting against Kingpin was sweet

-It’s nice to see Kingpin doing some Kingpin-ning for once

-Daredevil loses his hearing for a second, which I guess happens. Reminds me of Spider-Man 2

– Is Nelson and Murdock over? A few Jessica Jones references

-At first I wasn’t too impressed with Season 2, it didn’t have the same flair as season 1, and I think that is because it wasn’t treading new ground, it was on the same tracks as season 1. But it did pick up and get better.

-Glad it wasn’t Part 1: Punisher, Part 2: Elektra They were both active storylines at the same time

-Hallway fight scene 2.0 Not as great because it was long cuts, but not all one cut

-I’m excited for the return of the Kingpin, however, at this point, Daredevil could easily take him down by himself, so something more will have to happen. It would be interesting to see him (KP) working with a group of villains and the Defenders have to take him down.

-In Season 1, there is a big (white) guy with scars on his back that Stick is talking to, almost reporting to, but that doesn’t show up in Season 2. It’s nice to see the studio with so much forethought to put a reference to Season 3 in Season 1.

Clash Royale – Review

Posted on by Justin Turpen

Clash Royale is a relatively new iOS and Android game created by Supercell. Taking place in the same world as Clash of Clans, Clash Royale is a card based tower defense game in which you play against another human player.

My initial impression of this game was very high. The short few tutorial missions taught me the simple mechanics of the game and soon was competing against other players. After losing my first few I quickly learned what strategies worked well and what cards countered others. As I write this I have made it to the 4th arena – Pekka’s Playground.

This game is a lot of fun for those with a competitive spirit. There always seems to be a way for those always wanting to improve to do so. Troop placement, proper countering, and getting a resource advantage are all deeper aspects to the game for players to master.

This game does have its limits in its free-to-play aspects. Essentially as you win you gain treasure chests which are used to gain new cards and to upgrade the ones you already have. Once you’ve filled up your four slots for treasure chests you’ll have to wait until one opens to truly gain anything from playing.

The clan aspect of the game is still a little confusing to me. Besides being able to trade cards with clan-mates, I haven’t gotten much out of that part of the game. Clans do unlock the friendly match function so you can play your friends. It’s nice to be able to challenge friends.

Overall, Clash Royale is an up-tempo and exciting new game for mobile devices.  I highly recommend it.

9/10

 

When Should I Sell My Old Games?

Posted on by Justin Turpen

One of the hardest decisions I ever face when I finish a game is whether or not to keep it, or sell it. I generally view myself as a video game collector, though hoarder is more appropriate. My rule of thumb is to keep a game unless I didn’t enjoy the game. Needless to say I have only traded in a handful of games. Here I will discuss a few valid reasons to trade in a game.

1. You didn’t enjoy the game.

The first, and most obvious, reason to sell a game is if you did not enjoy it or are generally unhappy with it. I have sold a few games based on this logic. The most recent in memory is Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeros. When I purchased the game I expected it to be a full size Metal Gear game; what I received was a game with one mission that would do over and over again with different challenges. I was sorely disappointed. I promptly traded in the game, upset that I had spent money on a game with very little content.

2. There is little or no replay value.

Replay value is an important factor for me when I weigh the price of a game. If a game has a high replay value (meaning I can play it over-and-over again without it getting old) than I will be more willing to spend a high price on the game. If the game is a one-and-done type then it makes more sense to do one of two things. Either buy, beat, and quickly sell the game to maximize its trade in value, or wait for the price to bottom out before purchasing.

3. You need cash now

Sometimes life gets you. You know, it gets you right where it hurts- your car breaks down, your furnace goes out, you owe taxes, etc. The last acceptable reason, in my mind, for selling games is for the cash. Emergencies happen and sometimes you just have to make ends meet.

4. The new iteration of the franchise is out (Credited to Wolfe Stedro)

There are a few game franchises that reboot their old games and franchises with HD remakes and newer versions of the old games. I really see this in two ways.

First, in regard to HD remakes where the game is the same just with updated graphics. For instance the release of The Last of Us on the PS4. If you purchase the newer version, why keep the PS3 copy?

Second, franchises like Call of Duty release a game yearly. If you are into the competitive multiplayer these games offer than you’ll generally want to stay up-to-date on the newest version. If you’re following the competitive crowd, then there is no reason to keep the old version.

 

Do you have other valid reason’s to sell a game? Is my list missing something? Leave a comment or tweet at us @UPgamerspodcast

 

31:Marvel’s Civil War and Playstation VR

Posted on by Justin Turpen

In this episode of Underpaid Gamers Podcast Justin and Tony discuss the upcoming release of Playstation VR and its competitors. As well as Marvel’s Civil War both the comic and the new movie. Listen in for possible spoilers and a run-through of Tony’s thoughts of the differences between the comic and the movie. As always if you would like to join the coversation send us a tweet @UPgamerspodcast or an email underpaidgamerspodcast@gmail.com

Episode Notes

News:

Ratchet and Clank Reviews in: Release Date April 14

  • Pixar-like playable videogame
  • Humour and guns
  • Reboot to the franchise
  • Return of characters (Quark)

JJ Abrams makes mistake on Star Wars 7

JJ Abrams  says Half-life and Portal movies in writing stage

Rocket League gets Basketball themed courts

Battlefront DLC Outer Rim

Men in Black/Jump Street Crossover

I guess there were Episode 8 set photos leaked. I’m not looking

Mark Hamill to reprise role as Joker in The Killing Joke animated movie

PS VR release in October for $399

Main Topics:

Playstation VR

Information released at game developer Conference in San Fransico

$399 (Oculus Rift $599, HTC Vive $799, You’ll need a powerful PC) However, the Sony price does not include move controllers or the camera which are required for use.

Releases October 2016

Games with Release 50 (Driveclub, Star Wars Battlefront, Wayward Sky, No Man’s Sky?, Eve: Valkerie,Psychonauts, Ace Combat 7, Final Fantasy 14)

Sony will treat VR headset like a console in terms of updating tech.

CIVIL WAR

Setting:

Kill counts of the past 3 movies (Avengers 1 and 2 and Cap: Winter Soldier)

Ironman taking responsibility after COMPLETELY HAVING NONE OF IT IN Avengers 2

Airport fight in Germany

Timeline:

In Trailer: Rumored Peter Parker home (Cap is in) signalling a change of heart for

I also think it ends with Bucky/Cap fighting Ironman alone in cold place (Russia?)

Bucky is in chamber in Russia, Captain America is there to release him, Ironman shows up, fight ensues. (Beginning, middle or end of movie) Keep in mind that there is the highway scene and airport scene where Winter Soldier is present.

“You just started a war” -Tony in Russia

Tony Stark has black eye when being shown the prison, so this happens after a fight with Cap/Bucky

Underwater prison = Negative zone (Ironman prison for people who won’t sign up)

Tony Stark also has black eye in the airport scene where Roadie was “killed”

It almost looks as though Ironman has black eye before Russia meet up so maybe someone got a sucker punch on him

Winter Soldier intended to shoot Ironman in the face, but the watch hand saves him –

Then he punches him in the face

Bucky doesn’t shoot War Machine

Movie might open with UN explosion

Black Widow/Shield shows up

Black Widow calls Cap to have him “stay out of this one”

Scarlet Witch immobilizes Vision

Airport:

War Machine = Goliath = turning point of Spider-Man which means the airport fight is in the middle of the movie

Ant-Man jumps off Hawkeye arrow. Rumored to be Giant Man!

Spider-Man

Spider-Man has the Ironman upgraded suit

Villians:

Baron Zemo on cast list (villain behind everything) – Daniel Bruhl

Cap jumps through window at IFID- Institute for Infectious Diseases –  In Africa

Crossbones is attacking IFID

Crossbones fights Cap in Market, possible Africa IFID

Bucky arm in vice when? In beginning of the movie, after UN explosion?

I assume Falcon and Cap go looking for Bucky

Essentially, trailer paints Ironman as a good guy making heroes register because they are “no better than the bad guys”

Death and future events:
Who dies? I’ve heard rumor of three deaths, but who knows

  • Ironman gets beat an inch from his death in the comics
  • Roadie appears dead in trailer
  • Cap dies in the comic directly preceding this event (by Crossbones). He also has a 6 movie deal with Marvel, this being his 5th. His death could also be a catalyst for the Avengers team to stop fighting and get their stuff together.
  • Bucky looks like his arm is cut off HOWEVER when Cap dies Bucky takes up the mantle, and have you seen him without long hair? He’s ruggedly handsome! Just like Chris Evans!

The Infinity Gauntlet can literally do anything, so whichever MAIN character dies, will be brought back 100%.

Russo Brothers confirm at least one end-credits scene with a max of 3. -Forbes

Comic:

Black Panther hates Tony Stark and give allegiance to Cap after Goliath dies

Vision clearly on Cap’s team

Most of Ironman’s team is the Thunderbolts

Hank Pymm on Ironman’s Team

Ironman within one punch of his life, Captain America realizes the effect the fight is having on the city and surrenders to the NYPD.

The Initiative is a plan to create superhero teams for every state, some old, some new, some created

Door 42 is still in use as a prison

Some heroes move to Canada for freedom in heroing

Some of Cap’s team is still underground fighting for Superhero freedom including Luke Cage, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man and Spider-Woman

Ironman’s Team “wins”

Tony Stark become director of Shield to protect hero identities.

Why Gaming is the Most Cost-Effective Entertainment

Posted on by Justin Turpen

Here at Underpaid Gamers Podcast we like to tout the virtues of gaming. We support E-Sports and revel in our gaming addiction. One of the least emphasized benefits of gaming is its potential for being a cost effective form of entertainment. The following are two major reasons why I believe gaming is one of the most cost-effective forms of entertainment today.

Gaming can give you an amazing bang for your buck. 

I recently purchased the Uncharted Collection for $35 used from Gamestop. For those of you who don’t know what that entails, I essentially bought three separate games from one of my favorite developers – Naughty Dog. Now if we divide this out I spent about $11.66 for each of those games. So far I’ve beaten the first and second games putting anywhere from 15 to 20 hours into each. So my cost per hour for each game (we’ll low ball it and use the 15 hours) is about $.77.

We can compare this to going to the movies or attending a sporting event. What we find is that the cost per hour is significantly lower to play video games. A movie ticket costs at least $10 and professional sporting events can cost anywhere from $10 to $60, assuming your not trying to sit court-side or close. We can see that the cost per hour of these two examples can range from about $4 an hour to $20 (assuming a movie is 2.5 hours long and a professional sporting event is 3 hours). It is clear, when we compare cost per hour, that video games are king.

The prevalence and ease of buying used games.

There are many ways to purchase video games. With the combination of the internet and used game stores there really is no excuse for buying a video game at full price. Now I know some of you will say, “Justin, I gotta have that game right now!”, well honestly you don’t. Many games don’t lose their play value over time. For instance, The Witcher 3 will still have the same experience for players a year from now. If you wait a year you could save 2o or 30 bucks! Not to mention if a game of the year edition comes out with all the dlc included! Overtime making a habit of buying used games can save you hundreds!

To be honest I am definitely a hypocrite when it comes to buying used games. I have payed full price for a new copy before. Especially for the games that focus on multiplayer. With many multiplayer games the most competitive atmosphere is only within the first few months.

That being said, if your goal is to save money, video gaming can be a great hobby! Do you have anything you’d like to add? If so, leave a comment!

 

Justin

The Platinum Quest: Completed Fallout 4

Posted on by Justin Turpen

Though it took quite a bit of time Fallout 4 did not have the hardest path the platinum. The majority of trophies came from storyline missions. The hardest trophy by far the benevolent leader mentioned in my last blogpost. I have enjoyed Fallout 4 quite a bit. I enjoyed the mechanics and the gameplay, though I do miss a few of the features in past games. To some extent I actually miss weapon durability. It forced me to make decisions based on a weapons availability as well as its ammo. I also greatly missed the karma system from the old games. I loved being rewarded for my decisions to help or hurt people. It incentivized the decisions I made past the immediate context. I always enjoyed how karma shifts the way people would talk to you.

My favorite quest had to be the robot pirate ship also known as the “Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution.” I remember as it blasted off wondering what would happen. Part of me expected to watch the ship blast off into the night sky. The pessimistic side thought the ship might explode kill me for all my effort. I was pleased with the result. The ship essentially flies into a building across the map. As you watch it park itself onto the top of one of the sky-scrappers, you hear the captain boast about its progress and calculate that, at the current rate, they will reach the ocean within a century.

Overall I appreciate this addition to the Fallout Franchise. The emphasis on settlement building and power armor was an exciting change that made Fallout 4 feel unique from Fallout 3 and New Vegas. Fallout 4 did not dethrone Fallout 3 from my list of favorite games but did provide a legitimate Fallout experience for the new generation of consoles.

More to come from Underpaid Gamers over Fallout 4 as DlC drops.

The Platinum Quest: Fallout 4 – Benevolent Leader

Posted on by Justin Turpen

When I purchase a new game one of the first things I do is look at the trophy list and determine if this game is worth getting all of the  trophies/achievements. Fallout 4s trophies at first glance all looked achievable. Therefore I set my sights on that platinum trophy and went to warp speed.

Fallout 4 is undisputedly a huge game. Early critiques complained that the map was smaller than Fallout 3. From my experience so far its not about the size, but rather, the quality and quantity of things to do. Downtown Boston is packed with locations to explore. At this point I have probably put 60 or more hours into the game and am still experience fresh new side quests. Many of which are witty and fun. Most of the Trophies involved the main storyline and are split between the different factions you can choose. On my first play-through I decided to side with the Minutemen and the Brotherhood of Steel. I will say that finishing the game as the Brotherhood was way more fun than as the Minutemen. The other trophies can be easily accomplished in your first run through. A few will require extra effort. One trophy, above all else, gave me the hardest time.

The Benevolent Leader trophy. 

At face value this trophy seems manageable. Get a settlement to 100 happiness. I want my people to be happy! Quickly I realized how daunting this challenge actually is. All of my frustrations can be summed up in one word. Glitch. For some reason occasionally as I explored the wasteland my settlements would lose 10-15% happiness. When I would go to my data screen on the pip-boy it would show that I had no beds or food in a settlement! How is that possible! The first time I saw this I quickly fast-traveled to the settlement to see if this was due to a raider or supermutant attack. As soon as I arrived the beds and food reappeared. I realized that it was a glitch. And promptly mourned the loss of all the time I had spent trying to raise happiness.

I eventually earned the trophy.

How I dealt with the glitch was by checking my pip-boy every few minutes to see if the glitch had started. If you can catch the glitch early enough then you can quickly fast travel back to your settlement to fix the issue. All you have to do to fix it is to walk back into your settlement and then check your pip-boy’s data on the workshop. I would usually re-enter build mode then exit and fast travel back to whatever I was doing.

I haven’t earned the platinum trophy yet. However, all I have left for trophies is the storyline quests for the other factions I didn’t choose on my first run through. I also saved my game at a point right before you become hostile to the other factions. This allows me to skip all the boring intro stuff and get right at the faction’s story.

Never forget that old adage:  War… War never changes…