Heroes of the Storm: Recruit a Friend

I've been playing Heroes of the Storm for just short of a month now. I'm a big fan of Blizzard Entertainment's various gaming worlds, and a 'world' where those dimensions crash into one to form an awesome multiplayer battle arena is well worth checking out for any one who is a fan of Diablo, StarCraft, WarCraft, League of Legends, and even DotA.

If you're new to Heroes, then click on the following link, and you'll unlock a hero for free (Raynor), as well as a 5 day stimpack to help you gain experience. As an added bonus, ranking up to level 10 will earn you a second free hero, Sylvanas.

If you're playing on the European servers please consider using my recruitment link so that I may unlock the awesome vulture hover bike mount for my StarCraft heroes.

About paying more for peace of mind

I forgot to place a pre-order for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition before it's 19 August release date. My biggest concern was that I'd missed out on the 'pre-order exclusive' items, particularly the Infernal Pauldrons. 

After realising I'd missed the pre-order date I emailed Kalahari's support centre, as they were my preferred online retailer. I enquired as to whether the day one copies of the game also included the codes for the Infernal Pauldrons, etc. I received an automated response saying, "We are working extra hard  to respond within 24 ~ 48 hours."

By Friday afternoon I still hadn't received a reply to my question. So today I went to my favourite 'brick & mortar' shop for all my gaming needs, BT Games. The game was more expensive in-store than it was on either BT Games' and Kalahari's online stores, but regardless, I picked up a copy and asked the store clerk if they still had copies of the day one release that included the DLC codes. He said he wasn't sure. So I asked if I could open a copy to check its contents. I was told that I could, but then I'd have to buy the game, whether the DLC codes were included or not. It was a risk I was willing to take.

Initially the clerk tried to open the packaging in such a manner that if the codes weren't inside, he'd be able to reseal the packaging. Unfortunately this wasn't working out, so the clerk resorted to ripping the shrink wrap. The clerk told me that he could feel the disc was loose inside, so it was a good idea to open the packaging and check for scratches anyway. My heart sunk a little when the cover opened, and there was no DLC insert immediately noticeable. Instead I all I could see was the generic PS3 insert for the default controls. The insert looked pretty thin too, so I didn't get the impression of there being more than one. Fortunately I was mistaken, as upon leafing through the insert I discovered that there was indeed more than one,* and that one of these was the redemption code for the Infernal Pauldrons DLC. I thanked the clerk for his assistance, and happily paid for the game. 

At the end of the day I paid an extra R80 more (~18-20%) for the game than had I ordered it online, but at least I knew right there that it included the content I wanted. Ordering online may at times be more convenient, and cheaper, but in instances like this, it's great to have a local games shop like BT, where one can interact with staff who are genuinely passionate about the hobby, and eager to help customers. As the release dates of Alien: Isolation, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and Far Cry 4 draw closer, I'll definitely consider ordering from BT Games again, over their competitors.

Despite it not even being 21:30 yet, I'm just too knackered to switch on my PS3 in order to redeem the DLC codes, link gaming accounts, and then create a new character to check the 'exclusive' items stats, etc. So guess what I'll be up to first thing tomorrow morning while my wife is making me Belgium waffles for breakfast. Maybe I'll even post some pictures.

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* As an added bonus, there was a third insert advertising an additional Legendary Ring being available through a creating, or linking a Battle.net to a valid PSN account.

Q3-4 2014 gaming releases

There are quite a few games to be released during the second half of this year, that I'm really looking forward to playing. There are so many in fact that I've forgotten which is coming out when, so I decided to put together this list of release dates for the titles I'm most interested in.

1. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition (19 August 2014)
2. Alien: Isolation (07 October 2014)
3. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (07 October 2014)
4. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (14/ 17 October 2014)
5. Evolve (21 October 2014) (Delayed till February 2015)
6. The Evil Within (21 October 2014)
7. Far Cry 4 (18 November 2014)

My wallet is probably going to take quite a knock in October, although I may pre-order either Alien: Isolation, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, or Evolve a month or two earlier, depending on whether or not there are collector's editions announced. At present Alien: Isolation is the only one of those three titles that does not have some sort of DLC attached to pre-ordering the title.

It will also be interesting to see how the sales of Alien: Isolation/ Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, and Evolve/ The Evil Within will differ from one another as they are being released on the same dates. Given the number of accolades Evolve received at E3 last month, I don't think sales of The Evil Within will be particularly record breaking, despite the two being games in vastly different genres. Evolve's multiplayer aspect will probably be a much bigger draw card than any of single player campaigns of the other games on this list.

At the moment I'm leaning towards getting Alien: Isolation over Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, and Evolve over The Evil Within. This could however change depending how each of these handles on 'old-gen.' consoles, with the exception of Evolve which isn't getting an 'old gen.' release. 

My prediction for how I'll spend the rest of my gaming year is thus;

Today - 19 Aug.: Deadpool, Diablo III, and Rage

20 Aug. - 07 Oct.: Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition and Rage

08 Oct. - 17 Oct.: Alien: Isolation

18 Oct. - 21 Oct.: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

22 Oct. - 18 Nov.: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Evolve

19 Nov. - 31 Dec.: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Evolve, and Far Cry 4

Who am I kidding, there is no way I am going to be able to get this much gaming time before the end of the year. With the exception of Deadpool, any one of these games could keep me busy for the rest of the year after its release. At this stage I'd be content with having just enough time to finish the storyline of Diablo III, and possibly the Reaper of Souls expansion too, before the October releases start pouring in. Fitting a weekend in before the end of the month to do nothing but play Deadpool and eat chimichangas, would be nice too.

--Updated 09 August 2014--

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition

Eleven months ago, the Reaper of Souls expansion pack for PC versions of Diablo III was announced. This was closely followed by the console release of Diablo III a month later. I pre-ordered a copy with the intention of playing it at a later time. That time arrived, and I managed to reach complete most of the first act with my chosen character.

Then life and other games got in the way, and Diablo III sat neglected in my gaming box for a while. Recently I begun playing Diablo III as my primary game again (I often swap between two or more titles, when I get stuck, or have simply had enough of a particular genre), and now I am quite excited about the news regarding the Reaper of Souls console release in the form of the Ultimate Evil Edition.

OK, so the news hit nearly two months ago now, but I've been a little preoccupied with arranging a wedding and stuff. Last month the PlayStation exclusive items were announced, and once again they're centred around tie-ins with PS exclusive titles. This time round the games are The Last of Us, and Shadow of the Colossus, neither of which I've played. There is also an additional piece of armour available as a pre-order incentive, the Infernal Pauldrons, which should look pretty neat when paired with the Infernal Helm pre-order incentive from the console base game.

While I'm mentioning the base game, it will be included in Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Ultimate Evil Edition. That means if you have yet to get a copy of Diablo III for your console, all you'll need to buy in order to join in on the console experience is the Ultimate Evil Edition. Not a bad deal at all considering PS3/ Xbox 360 version is retailing at only R 419. The same retailer is selling the PC version of the Reaper of Souls expansion for R 379, and that excludes the base game, which is required to play, and will set you back another R 451.

For those who already own console versions of Diablo III, and only want to add the Reaper of Souls expansion, digital downloads will be available through the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live closer to the release date. I'm thinking that for only R 419, I may as well buy a physical copy of the Ultimate Evil Edition, as I like to have physical discs over digital downloads. Call me old-fashioned, or whatever, but if I ever decide to delete games from my PS3 harddrive, I want to know that I will still be able to play them again in the future, without having to waste time downloading them again.

That said, I'll wait and see what the price difference between the physical and digital versions of Reaper of Souls are before committing to either. At the moment though, I'm still leaning towards buying a physical copy.

Gaming goals for the rest of the year

I seem to be amassing quite a backlog of games to play. At present I have around seven titles that I either haven't started, or intend to restart because I didn't make much progress with them in the first place. These include God of War III, Far Cry 3, The Resistance Trilogy, and Call of Duty: Ghosts, which arrived yesterday evening. 

I'm still in two minds whether to try restarting Midnight Club: Los Angeles and Need for Speed: Most Wanted, or just carry on where I left off a couple of months ago. I never really felt comfortable with the default controls for either, which is why I stopped enjoying the games, and thus stopped playing them.

I am currently spreading my gaming time between three titles; Mortal Kombat, Borderlands, and Diablo III. I'm having some difficulty defeating Shao Kahn, the final boss in Mortal Kombat. I've tried reading a couple of walk-through guides for advice, but none of the tactics discussed in these have worked for me. I haven't given up on defeating him, and completing the story mode yet, I'm just putting it off until later. 

I've managed to finish the main story, and the first DLC, The Zombie Island of Dr. Zed in Borderlands. I played a bit of the second DLC, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, but since no experience is gained, and no loot is dropped while playing these levels, it got pretty tedious playing it on my own very quickly. I dropped the Underdome DLC in favour of the third DLC, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. This has actually been my favourite addition to the main title so far. I've managed completed the main story arc of the DLC, but still have a few of the side missions to to finish, including the 'Secret Final Boss,' which I plan to leave until my character has reached at least Level 50, perhaps even higher. 

I'll start playing the fourth and final Borderlands DLC, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution as a means to gain experience and level-up, and if that's not enough to get me to Level 50+, then I'll replay the main title a second time on a higher difficulty.

To have a bit of a break from first person shooters (FPS) the week before the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts, I started playing Diablo III. Like Borderlands though, this game is probably going to take some time and dedication to complete it. This game is great though, and I'll be happy to whittle away hours of the day slaying monsters in Sanctuary. I'll probably play CoD: Ghosts this weekend, and possibly try finish the short single player campaign before the end of the weekend. If I succeed then I'll probably split the rest of my time evenly between trying to level up my Borderlands and Diablo III characters.

My plan is to add CoD: Ghosts, Mortal Kombat, and Borderlands to my list of completed games by the end of the year. Hopefully next year I'll also be able to finish the God of War and Resistance trilogies, as well as Diablo III, Far Cry 3, and a few more games I'm planning on adding to the backlog over the next fem months. These include The Last of Us, Assassins Creed Heritage Collection, Borderlands 2: Game of the Year, Lego Marvel Super Heroes (already pre-ordered), and possibly The Walking Dead: Game of the Year, although it looks as though my brother will be getting this for his Xbox 360. At least I'll have plenty to keep me busy while waiting for all the bugs, and teething problems to be worked out of the next generation of consoles. As an added bonus the price of these consoles may drop a few months after the launch dates too. I'm in no rush however to ditch my PS3 or its games, especially since I'd still like to replay some of the games I've already completed, such as Heavy Rain, to unlock additional trophies and end sequences, and to experience other titles, such as Tomb Raider, and pretty much all the FPS I own, through some online play against other humans. There will still be people playing PS3 games online after the launch of the PlayStation 4/ Xbox One wont there?

It has begun...

I finally got around to finishing Diablo II: Lord of Destruction last week, more than a decade after its original release. To be honest, I don't really remember what the outcome of the game was. Other than the fact that the loot dropped by Baal was pretty useless, I barely remember the closing cinematic. Come to think of it, was there even one?

So this weekend I decided to get started on Diablo III. I'd watched the opening cinematic for Diablo III when I installed the system updated, but I decided to watch it again for inspiration before creating my character. It's mind-blowing how much more realistic the Diablo III characters, Leah and Deckard Cain are drawn, when compared to Marius and The Dark Wanderer of Diablo II. Even more amazing is just how good the controls for Diablo III are mapped to the PlayStation 3's DualShock controller. It feels as though the game was developed specifically to be played on a current generation console. Initially I was a little sceptical of how the mouse and keyboard controls would recreated for console controllers, and I'm relieved to say that this was actually done exceptionally well.

For now the only advantage of using a mouse comes in the form of being able to left-click (or right-click, depending on what action you've assigned) on the monster I wish to attack, and by holding the mouse button, my character would continue to attack the enemy until it died. I find selecting which monster I want to attack with the controller a little more hap-hazard, and continually having to mash 'X' to attack is beginning to get a little frustrating. That said, I haven't tried holding 'X' while attacking, so that could be easily solved. But while attacking with the mouse in Diablo II, I never accidentally looted chests, used shrines, or opened doors. All of which have happened to me so far while playing Diablo III on a console. While no biggie, I have also unintentionally dropped chandeliers while fighting one monster, and waiting for another to step under said chandelier. Perhaps the 'loot/ use/ break/ open' action button is the one thing I would change, and have it assigned to another button. Since I've only played a few hours, maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Based partly on the results from the Diablo III character class poll (thanks to the person who voted), the fact that Act V of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction is set on the foothills of Mount Arreat, in the heart of the Barbarian homeland, and that I have never played using the Barbarian, I created a Barbarian class character.

Despite not having spent much time playing Diablo III, and apart from the few quibbles above, I've enjoyed every other aspect of the game so far, and am looking forward to spending many more hours exploring the world of Sanctuary, slaying beats and monster, while searching for better loot, and levelling up my character.

Lastly, here's a link to a cool infographic that Blizzard put together for the one year anniversary since the release of Diablo III.

Diablo III character class poll

I have a copy of Diablo III sitting in my gaming drawer, waiting for me to pay my proper respect, and load the disc into my PlayStation 3. Before I do though, I want to complete Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, and perhaps even try complete the main storyline in Borderlands. While I work on completing those two games, and before I set about creating a Diablo III, I thought I'd get your opinion on which Diablo III character class was your favourite. 

From left to right: Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, and Wizard

The poll on the right will allow you to vote for either the Barbarian, Demon Hunter, Monk, Witch Doctor, or the Wizard. The poll will close on September 27, or 24 hours after I've completed both Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, and Borderlands, depending on which comes first.

The poll is obviously open to every one. If you haven't played any of the games from the Diablo franchise, or are unfamiliar with the different class abilities, then cast your vote according to which character you think has the best appearance.

I'm leaning towards playing as the Demon Hunter but since I've recently been playing Diablo II as the Assassin, perhaps I should change strategy and try one of the more magic dependent classes. That said I've never really played as a Barbarian much either, so maybe that's the route I should use during my first play through of Diablo III.

September 3 music, gaming and movie releases

Tomorrow there are quite a few things being released that I am really looking forward to adding to my various, ever-growing collections. 

First up is Nine Inch Nails' ninth* studio album, Hesitation Marks. I've ordered both the regular and deluxe versions of the CD, because I am a huge collector of Nine Inch Nails related media (but let's leave that for another post when I can share pictures of my entire NIN collection). While I'll have to wait a few weeks to receive the physical editions, I can at least take solace in the fact that I'll be able to download lossless versions of the complete album, as well as the alternative mix, some time tomorrow. Till then I'll sit and listen to Came back haunted, Copy of a, and Everything a few times.

Then, the console version of Diablo III is also hitting shelves tomorrow. I pre-ordered a copy quite some time back in order to secure a copy of the artbook advertised by my local games retailer. Although my copy will be ready for collection tomorrow morning, I wont be able to get to the store until the weekend. While I'm hoping the week will pass relatively quickly, at least I know I should have enough time to finish Diablo II.

Lastly, The Lords of Salem is getting released on DVD and Blu-Ray tomorrow. I haven't seen the film yet, but it's on my list of things to watch. At present The Lords of Salem doesn't have very favourable scores on IMDb (5.2/ 10), but then again, even Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects only score 5.8/ 10, and 6.8/ 10 receptively. Both of which I'm quite fond of too.

While writing this I realised that I am quite happy to fork out my cash to buy music (either digital or physical CDs) and PlayStation and PC games, but I'm a bit more reluctant when it comes to buying movies. While I do have a small collection of DVDs, it's nothing compared to my CD collection. I may even have more PS3 games now than DVDs. Considering I only bought my PS3 in March, its a good reflection of the where I've been investing my free time and spare cash. I've also come to realise, that after watching a movie I've enjoyed, I tend to buy the novel the film is based upon, rather than the DVD of the film itself. One notable exception is Ang Lee's Life of Pi, for which I'd like to buy the Blu-Ray and the book.

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* Some sources may say it's Nine Inch Nails eighth studio album, but I consider Broken to be an album, not just an EP. 

Diablo III expansion announced

While some PC gamers have been getting pretty uptight over the release of the console version of Diablo III, they can now rejoice as they too are getting some love from Blizzard Entertainment, in the form of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls.

For now the expansion looks to be a PC exclusive, but I'm pretty sure (read: really hoping) that Reaper of Souls will be released for consoles too.

The expansion includes a new hero-class, the crusader (which looks like a Black Templar from Warhammer 40,000), a fifth Act to the story, and no doubt a new arsenal of weapons and magical goodies to help slay some new monsters.

Ironically, I've spent the last few afternoon replaying Diablo II, so that I can complete Act V of Diablo II, before I get stuck into Diablo III in September.

Diablo III coming to consoles

Despite still having quite a few unfinished, unplayed, and even two unopened PlayStation 3 games, I've just pre-ordered the console version of Diablo III. I'd heard of Blizzard's intention to make a console version of the game some time ago. I'd even seen several advertisements at retailers offering the 'Infernal Helm' as a pre-order incentive. But the thought of buying the console version of the game had never crossed my mind. That was until I watched a trailer showcasing the game-play of the console version of Diablo III.

This was enough to peak an interest in watching a few more Diablo III videos on YouTube, and I eventually found myself on the Diablo III website, where I found an updated list of pre-order content. I'm not entirely certain these will be available for South African players, but I had a look at the two South African retailers anyway.

What I found, one retailer is offering the 'Infernal Helm' and a Diablo III keyring, while the other is offering the 'Infernal Helm' and an art book as pre-order incentives. While I have a fairly large collection of keyrings, and the retailer offering the keyring may be slightly cheaper, I'd much rather get my heretical hands on the art book. So that's it, I pre-ordered Diablo III, not because of the game, or the bonus in-game content, but for a book full of pictures of various monsters from the gaming realm of Diablo.

Now to wait until 3 September, and hopefully by then I will have gotten my girlfriend into playing PS3 with me through either Portal 2 or Borderlands.