Pyromania II: Hats & Tools

Today has brought us a new, teaser picture of Meet the Pyro,3 new sets, and of course, more speculation.

• The Public Enemy (For Scout): Comes with hat, new pistol which gives more health and negates fall damage (in return for extra fire damage taken and slower firing speed) and a new, more accurate scattergun which will gain a boost that will let you move faster on hit, negatives include less damage, less base speed, and the boost resets upon jumping.
• The Urban Professional (for Sniper): a new hat, snazzy glasses, a new SMG which guarantees crits for 3 seconds upon kill, but has a smaller clip and no random crits, there is also a new sniper that gains "focus on kills and assists" which allows for 25% faster recharge and no zooming out when meter is full, and also decapitates on kill, the minus is that bodyshots do 20% less damage.
• The Dumpster Diver (for Soldier): comes with a new hat and misc, and a new rocket launcher that will allow for the user to hold down "fire" and then release up to 3 rockets at once, however there is a 3 degree random projectile radiation, which makes aiming near impossible.
• The flare gun that was put up on the homepage awhile ago now has a name, the Scorch Shot, and will do 50% less damage but in return will do knockback to the person hit, and will explode into an AoE fireball.

Tomorrow's the day, get ready.

--Santa

Post 100: Meeting New (Old) Friends

Well, here we are. This is post numbro 100 for the old Workshop. We’ve come pretty far, eh? Well, I thought it would only be right to give it a bit of a wait, after all, we’re seeing what could be the biggest, and best update in the history of TF2 since the Mannconomy update: Pyromania.

Yes, the long awaited meet the pyro update is upon us, and with it is coming a giant hat dropping party, the name was originally planned to be called “Safety Dance” but when they realized the band’s horrendous name, they decided it would be better off to use their own creative name, “Pyromania.” We are now in day one of the supposed 3 day updates (and if we remember to the über update, then it could actually be 4 days of updates) and we have been showed a new gametype: Doomsday. The mission is to relay a bomb to famous space chimp, Poopy Joe, only one team can win, etc, etc… Looks interesting, but there were no hats released today, which makes day 2 seems all the more exciting.

Another thing to note is the page found on Adult Swim, saying that they have teamed up with Valve, and for reasons we have yet to learn, that something extremely good will come out of this:

“are teaming up for something that you'll probably enjoy. To learn how their video game peanut butter will be getting in our network's chocolate, come back next week.”

This will of course, probably lead to the Meet the Pyro update being on Adult Swim, but this also raises the question, will this mean that Meet the Pyro will be much longer than previous “Meet the” videos? Looking at both the Medic’s and Spy’s videos, which were the two latest, and have gotten longer each time, it would make sense for there to be a long episode, say 15 or even 30 minutes long, but this could end up being much more than even that.

Talking with some friends, I have come up with the theory that it is completely possible that Valve is going for a TF2 series, and if this at all true, then I will need about 15 pairs of pants every time it comes on. I’m not much of a TV guy anymore, but if there’s one thing I do love, I do enjoy myself a good slice of lore, and the old style, super complex storyline of Team Fortress 2 is without any debate my favorite of all time, we will most likely not know until Wednesday if this is what’s really going down, but I’m excited to see what Valve does next. Expect an update per day on this big update, this is it.

--Santa

E3

So, its like a week or 3 after E3, and I’ve finally found the time to stop trading, and talk about some of the things I found interesting! We’ll be doing this in chinks, via game, with 2 in the Spotlight, and then a few just for notes.

Pikmin 3.

It’s happening! Oh god, it’s happening! YES! YEEEEES! This is, except for HL3, probably the game I’ve wanted to see most. I did a whole post on my secret lust for the little flower people, but it’s actually coming! YEEEEEES! Oh, wait…. It’s only on the Wii U. And, according to Gamestop, the pre-order price is… $99.99…. excuse me while I go flush out my childhood dreams.

Personally, I feel that this new installment into one of my personal all-time favorite franchises should be on both systems, so I still have an excuse to keep my old Wii lying around. I really don’t want to go out and buy a new console for… pretty much a one use wonder. I only use my Wii because I feel bad for it, and I’m too lazy (and it helps that my Xbox broke) for Netflix, which I’m not proud about either. Pikmin 3 is a game that I will watch with begrudgingly high interest, since I want nothing more to play it, but nothing less than to buy it.

Watch Dogs.

This is a game that I’ll bet most of you didn’t notice, and it’s a shame. If anybody’s seen Person of Interest, it gives off the whole “Big Brother” vibe, but it looks almost like a cross between a modern day Assassin’s Creed and Grand Theft Auto. This is extremely relevant to my interests.

To give a recap of THIS TRAILER, what you see is a man, a contracted killer I presume, possibly working with the US Gov, possibly freelance, is out about going onto his mark. He has the ability to do numerous things, including hack people’s cell phones, tell their age and occupation, tell the likelihood of violence (useful for a fight), and can also cause havoc with other technologies (like when he turns off everyone’s cell phones.) Inside, he gets information on his target, and goes to wait for him out in the rain, and when he’s crossing through the intersection in his car, he changes the lights. Yes, this man is like Solid Snake inside of Sam Fischer. He goes in to finish the job by “sending a message” and killing his mark. A wild chase ensues by the police, and you get away safely by controlling a drawbridge to go up, and you make a sick jump. Yeah, this is by all means relevant to my interests.

Other Objects of Note.

We have the introduction of Smartglass by Microsoft, and later on the introduction of the “Surface” which I will admit is also quite relevant to my interests. The Microsoft factor as I’ve always referred to it, is to build off of ideas around it in the form of “see iPad, make one better.” However, this isn’t always the case, I do remember the Zune/iPod wars, and we all remember the winners.

There is no news on HL3, but in other news (and this is completely E3 unrelated) keep your eyes open for a possible TF2 update this Friday, with the 7 new items, there’s a lot of speculations that this is the “Meet the Pyro” update, and its just it time for summer!

I’m thinking that Halo 4 looks interesting, and I’m also thinking the new South Park game may be fun. I have no idea if I’ll buy them but I’m keeping them on the shortlist.

--Santa

That Feel

I know I haven't been blogging much as of late, but I have a reason as per why, I was playing L.A Noire. I got it a couple of weeks back, but I lent it out to a friend for awhile, and just got it back.

And then this happens.

I know I’ve probably given the impression that I’ve fallen out of Xbox, and in all honesty, I hadn’t truly played Xbox for probably 4 months, but it was truly my first console. The first console that I solely bought by myself, and what I was planning on bringing with me to college when that day comes. But, I suppose the dream’s over now. So, I have a little memoriam for my fallen comrade:
To my friend—my faithful companion. I know that we may have fallen out in the last few months, mostly because I have gone out to achieve new goals, do not think that I have forgotten you. I hold with you thousands of hours, some of them with joy, some of them with rage, and some of them with sheer stupidity, memories of enjoyment. Over tens of games, we have met people from all over the world, and tea bagged thousands on numerous multiplayer games. I may not have ever give you the true amount of appreciation you deserve, but know that I will never forget the amount of memories that you have brought, for I truly now know that feel.

Xbox: September of 2008 – June 17^th, 2012.

From now I suppose I have to decide what to do with my old friend. I may just move on, and get a new Xbox “Slim”, but that’s gonna be a pretty penny. I may just splurge and wait for a new special edition model, like the Reach one, or I may spend $100 to get the old guy fixed, but I know that it’d only be a matter of time before the inevitable strikes again. I’ll put up my post of E3 in a day or so, but until then, I’ve got to find a way to open up my old friend, he’s got a death grasp around my copy of L.A. noire.

--Santa

A Dent in my Pride

I’ve been a bit busy with games and whatnot over the last few days, and understandably this will be another update post.

As mentioned priorly, I’m part of a group of people who play games. We’re mostly a bunch of pubbers who just dick around in a trade server, but we’re pretty good there and in normal servers, so we thought we’d form a Highlander team. For all of those out there who haven’t played anything competitive in their life because they’re a sheltered child, Highlander is pretty much the pro version of TF2. Normally, I find TF2 to be a relaxing game, filled with hats, and occasionally a bit violent. If I want to go and get my ass pummeled, I go onto Reach for a bit, and remember why I suck. But, back during my console days of TF2, I was one of the best Engineers. Based off a point-filled game, I got to rank of 70-something, worldwide. I got to admit, this inflated my head, and I thought this would make Highlander something I could simply breeze over.

As I’ve mentioned beforehand, my computer sucks. I’m currently on a laptop that’s a bit better (and in this case, I mean it runs TF2 to the point that I can play on a normal server, as long as I don’t look at any sugoi explosions.) I down loaded a program called “Gamebooster” which frees up more of your RAM so your computer can think. It didn’t do me much good. So, while playing I thought we had a pretty good chance. I know all of my team; we play on a payload server a good amount of the time. I’m a giant dick with my mini sentries, and I thought this would lead to me winning, and whatnot.

The game starts, on a map I’ve never played before named “croissant” and its control point, which I haven’t played in literally a year. I run to the middle point, drop a mini, get sniped, and shortly after our entire team is wiped out. 90 seconds later, our last point is capped, and we move on to round two. This time, we last a full two minutes; I was in dead last, with 2 dominations on me, and a grand total of 0 kills.

So, we moved onto Barnblitz, where I could set up a sentry and help the team a bit more. With the constant use of my mini sentries (which got me a grand total of 2 kills, and 3 assists) we captured the first point in only 3 minutes, and quickly lost the rest of the round. We now had to keep them from capturing point 1 in less than 3 minutes, or we’d lose. It was going to take a godsend.

I’ve never played on Barnblitz before, so with me running around like an idiot, I finally find a good place for a level 3, and start building. I only get a level 2 up before the gates open. I kill 1 guy, and quickly get sniped from behind my beloved machine. I’m seeing it as the end. Nonetheless, I switched back to my Strange, Face-Melting Gunslinger, in hopes that I could finally be credit to team. Long story short: I wasn’t. We lost with 1:34 being left on the clock, and the game was done. Looks like I’ll always be a pubber.

In other TF2 related news, there are some new promotional items from Quantum Conundrum, a new Medic miscellaneous (the Surgeon’s Side Satchel), gave the Rocket Jumper a new look, and now doesn’t suck as much (since it no longer lets the user take an exorbitantly large amount of damage), nerfed the Enforcer (it now shoots slower, only deals 20% extra damage when undisguised, and there are no random crits.) and there have been clipping fixes on the Last Breath. Overall, a good set of updates, a bad week for my pride on TF2.

League of Legends is getting a new slew of updates in the upcoming Draven patch. Pretty much, we’re seeing nerfs to Graves and Ahri, a new broken champion, a still broken champion, and a buffed Swain. I’m looking forward to death in the next patch.

I’ve also been playing more Civ V. In my friend and mine’s campaign, we’ve become so advanced over the other cultures, we’re just speeding things up by conquering everything. We’re in the 1800s, but I’m nearly done with the Manhattan project. I’m excited to see what happens next.

Later on, I’ll be making a post about whats happened with E3, and my own impressions. Stay tuned, gents.

--Santa