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

LoL: Kat Has a Sister

So on Thursday, Riot announced their new Champion, Fiora, the "Grand Duelist." Got to admit, she looks like a re-skinned Demacian version of Katarina. She even has long red hair, and follows the rules of the internet for all women (as noted in the Sejuani Post.) So although I may not be excited (or care) that there's the new patch coming out to bring another ball-busting carry who deals massive damage, I am getting some good news in the form of the latest patch preview.

We're seeing major changes to Ziggs (in the form of some buffs, but mostly nerfing his AOE bomb attack) and a big boost to Lux, which as we all know is not needed. Lux is one of those champions that doesnt seem to be very useful except for uber stuns and a very, very annoying ult. Olaf is also getting buffs, but other than that no major chnages to champions have been announced. However, they are changing the Jungle. Killing will now grant a slice of mana along with the health, basically making jungling, as far as I'm concerned, a much more viable option. This is a fantastic gameplay change, and I can only hope that Riot continues to be innovative.

Also, I've heard of a possible re-make on Heimerdinger, as done on Gangplank, Jax, and so-on. I'll keep my eyes open on this one, and see if I can find anything  out.

--Santa

Flashback: Flash Games and Destruction

I may have grown up a hard-core Nintendo fan, but that didn't stop me from going out and trying other systems. I had played on the other competition's best games (keep in mind this was the 6th generation of gaming, so it was back when graphics like Halo 2's were supreme) I had my first taste of Halo, one play of GTA, and didn't think a computer was a gaming device, it was just the internet, which back then was only a series of tubes, and didn't even have any LOL cats on them just yet. I was young, and so was my appreciation of gaming, but I soon found out about one of the internet's many secrets, and one that is the chagrin to many computer teachers everywhere: Flash Games.

Many of you probably know what I'm talking about, I mean really. You ARE on the internet. Sites like AddictingGames, Kongregate, notdoppler and many others were fantastic for idly wasting time while you were supposed to be doing some big project. We've all been there. Games like The Impossible Quiz, Kitten Cannon, Sunny,  SCGMD (Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe series) have made me stop doing some reading assignments in favor of chucking kittens out of cannons to playing crazy guitar riffs. But, lets narrow our focus. There is one series of games that still makes me check these websites, even though I've got games like TF2 and Terraria to play instead. I am of course referring to one to monkey, and their balloons.

To be more precise, Bloons, in the form of the original "Bloons" where you played as a monkey with an intense hatred for balloons, and an immense love for the sound of their popping, and would go on genocidal bloon-killing rampages. But there was another version which turned your monkeys into towers, and made my all-time favorite tower defense game, the Bloon Tower Defense series.

Its as simple as it seems. Elements shown throughout the series of the original Bloons would be used for the destruction of side-scrolling Bloons on their path to destruction. You build the tower you so desire, update it, and watch the mayhem unfold. It really was a very amazing idea if I do say so myself. Recently Ninja Kiwi (the developer of  this all-mighty game) released the 5th version, with new towers, upgrades, and maps that I care to explain. Just click and try it out for yourself. Its a fantastic way to spend a couple of hours (which can very quickly turn into a whole day escapade)

Other than this, I think I have my weekend all planned out. TF2, Terraria, and Bloons TD 5, oh my! But, before I leave for this weekend, have you seen the new comic for the Big Daddy-esque champion entering the League soon? I'm not quite sure what to think just yet, but I want more AD champions. The last new champion released that was AD was Graves, I think he could use some company.

--Santa

LoL: BOTS AND EXPLOSIVES: LIFE COMPLETE

YES! THE RIOTS GOD HAVE ANSWERED MY ONE UNWRITTEN PLEA!

for all of those wondering why I'm having a giant fangasm is because Riot has recently announced a few new updates to one of my favorite features: Co-Op Vs. AI. For those of you fearing Skynet, don't fret, its only now getting to the point of robots gaining sentient thought. We have a few more years of life yet before we must welcome our new robot overlords. The inclusion of this update not only lends new robots for me to completely decimate hone my skills against, but also comes with the Crystal Scar (AKA Dominion) as a new set of Co-Op gameplay.  Now, I do realize that some of you may think that bots are useless, stupid wastes of time that serve no purpose except for a quick game and easy IP. And you may be right. But in the end, I have countless of hours of fun just screwing around with friends, and for all its worth, I love the bots for their help in training me. God knows I use them for figuring out countless builds. Bot games really are perfect tools.

Oh, and before I leave, I just want to bring this up. I'm not much of a fan generally of new champions, but this one looks like a mix of bomberman and a teddy bear. I'm interested in this guy.

--Santa