Been a while – a little reflection
Thought I’d share a little of an update, I always feel like writing when my mood drops. It’s not all doom and gloom but I think i’ve just nose dived a bit. Lately work has been a bit stressful and I’m closer to finding out if I have sleep apnoea, it’s looking likely. I started using shut eye so we shall see what it brings up currently it looks like I only get max 2 hours of deep sleep at night and max of 5 hours light sleep, not sure how bad that is,
I have recently added to my household by picking up a jumping spider. I have always been a little scared of spiders until I found out about jumping spiders, I never liked the house spiders and was probably not afraid to get rid of them in the worst way until fairly recently, but now if i see one trying to survive my running bath water i usually try to rescue them with a bit of cardboard or a cup. Jumping spiders though I just find them fascinating and so cute, my new pet is a regal jumping spider. I decided to name him William due to a friend pointing out William Regal as in the former wrestler, I am currently awaiting his new enclosure which after a suggestion by the seller I’ve gone for a gold enclosure and will get two ladders for him to climb on. It is still early days for me but i’m hoping he is doing ok, he has been drinking water and being grabby as i see people call it online which was good to see today. I’m hoping to see him eat soon but i fear he will not feed on fruit flies, tomorrow i will try them one last time before looking for another food type for him.
In other news I have been playing deep rock galactic survivor which has been super fun. I am enjoying the Call of Duty MW3 season with my buddies and though we are by no means a professional clan of much skill we do ok and it’s been a fun movement. I’m not liking the way Acitivision is running the game, micro-transactions are one of my pet peeves in the games industry, as they use it to milk kids and gullible gamers in my opinion and people who can’t afford to spend that money. I think they are always overpriced for what you get and while I am often happy to support developers with DLC purchases, when a skin is costing me £17 i start to thinking they don’t want people to. Imagine if they were £5 or maybe a little more, wouldn’t more people buy them? It’s easier to drop £5 – £10 a month on a skin, than justify shelling out £20 and in one recent case they felt it was reasonable to ask for £34 quickly backtracking because of the massive backlash they got. I honestly think gamers should be protected from this stuff, Hell Divers 2 has been a massive success and so has Pal World both were much cheaper than Call of Duty and neither have a terrible micro-transaction model in place to my knowledge. I always said I’d rather have a cheap base game for all Call of Duty with DLC at a reasonable price adding new maps primarily. I like we get the maps for free at the moment but if they want me to buy skins as DLC I need the cost to reflect the value it brings, which honestly is very little.
Aside from that I’m looking forward to some new games in the next few months. I think WWE 2k24 should be worth a try but you always hear bad things and I’m honestly fed up of buying the same shit, so the Wrestlemania history angle has sealed it for me. Hopefully they can come up with something good for next year too. I’m tired of micro-transactions or the grind in the WWE2k23 myFaction mode too now. I think they charge too many credits for the packs for no reason other than artificially trying to make the game last longer and attempt to milk the customers for more money. Where as if the cost was lower they would sell more. I guess youtubers and the banks of mum and dad are keeping this model alive. I love the concept of the mode but the scummy tactics for spending in it do irk me somewhat.
I think I have a few titles I’ll be streaming when they drop which will be nice. Synergy, a survival city builder has a demo out but is expected in Q2 2024, a slight delay after feedback i expect. Gatekeeper a rgoue-like top down shooter i tried is stated for April 2024 release too. I am hoping Galacticare releases as expected in Q1 2024 but with no update on that time frame it may be pushed back. Ultimately though, my most anticipated release it Chef RPG, no idea when that will arrive but I hope to get my hands on it as soon as possible. In the mean time Coral Island fills that space of my gaming tastes. I am expecting a little cash to come my way in the next month so I may pick up some new titles from my wishlist when it does.
Think i’ve thoroughly rambled on enough, I will try to share more posts but for now i’ll leave you with a rum channel update, I posted a new video on Duppy White rum, but hope to get more content uploaded soon, I am slacking in that department as I’ve been less interested in drinking it lately, there seems to be a battle of being more healthy and losing weight against enjoying life going on for me at the moment, as i’m sure many also have!
Tatty bye
Thanks for reading,
Pixc
Steam NEXT FEST
Hi guys,
Just thought I’d drop some thoughts on this week’s NEXT fest currently running til Monday on Steam. I’ve tried some of the demos both offline and on my twitch channel. http://www.twitch.tv/alwaysmutetheweirdo where some footage will still lurk.
I have to say I picked out some titles but was expecting to see more that instantly popped out at me. I had doubts about my 1st game I tried. Lightyear Frontier is a crafting game that made me think of No Man’s Sky as the landscape looks great and the mech that you wander round in is an interesting twist. So far I haven’t done much but I enjoyed what I played and it’s out pretty soon so worth a look if you want a new game in the next few months.
I have tried several more titles and the first one I saw on the streams was Gatekeeper and I left it til late in the festival to try, what a mistake that was. This title is just awesome. I enjoy the whole atmosphere of the game and managed to complete a run after failing to complete my 1st runs with the 1st character which i honestly preferred. I can’t wait to get my hands on the full game. I’ll admit I do seem to be liking the bullet hell genre a lot and top down game play too.
This brings me on to a couple of other titles I recommend trying. Nerd Survivors and Maniac. The former is a bullet hell survival game which I only dabbled a little with but got the general idea and while it might not be a must buy for me, I’d add to my wish list and see where the price lands. The latter was a top down GTA London style rogue lite, where you initially play as Bad Santa, causing havoc, murdering people and wrecking the place. The aim is to survive the onslaught of law enforcement chasing you for 30mins, although it says the demo lasts only 15minutes, I’ve yet to find out the end result as I struggled with the controls. It was a lot of fun though and I recommend trying it for yourself.
Two titles I tried felt like Banished clones, not saying it is a bad thing either. United Penguin Kingdom and Settlements Rising are two very different titles but both seem to have great charm and I enjoyed playing both. I think a penguin themed city builder seems a bit gimmicky but so far it is well polished and though I only went through the tutorials I would consider picking it up and playing it out in more depth. Settlements Rising is a more traditional city survival game, like Banished, The art style is more colourful and possibly cartoon like but it works. I will likely try squeeze a bit more time in with this one tomorrow or pick it up on sale someday.
I have four very different and interesting titles to share with you next. Firstly let’s discuss Kamaeru, a conservation themed game where you breed and look after frogs in a wetland setting. I saw this in the early streams of NEXT Fest and was intrigued. I did enjoy the game and would consider picking it up but was a little disappointed the frogs were just different basic patterns and colours not based on real life frogs. Not sure if this was done for simplicity and ease of creation but it would have been more appealing with real life frog breeds. Maybe they could be added but i doubt it. otherwise an interesting title.
Helskate was another title I tried out and if you loved Tony Hawks back in the day this is definitely worth trying out and mostly likely picking up when the time comes. You have your traditional skating gameplay which seemed as solid as the old games if I remember right but then you have enemies to fight too. It adds a little something unique to the game and it seems to work.
If you like platformers you might wanna check out Biogun. I enjoyed what I played but I’m not a huge platformer fan. The story seems to be about a dog virus that is heavily inspired by Covid, you control a dog that has gone into your own named dog’s blood stream or whatever to fight the virus, it had some humour to it for me and the mechanics seemed pretty straight forward.
Rotwood is the last title in this section I want to discuss. A rogue like from the makers of Don’t Starve and Oxygen not Included. I thought this was pretty well put together, I particularly liked the premise that when you go out on your run someone follows overhead in a chopper to explain how you get back to base when you get downed, often this seems glossed over in these sorts of games. I can definitely see me playing a lot of this when it comes out and the art style was pretty cool. Worth a look if you are into rogue likes. Unfortunately no release date is announced at this time though.
I wanted to throw in a couple of meh titles. Some that didn’t quite hit the right notes for me, so here you go. Plum Grove, I’m not going to sit here and slate this game, because there was still a lot to like about the short amount of time I spent with it, but graphically the way this is set up doesn’t do it for me. It sits in an over saturated market of life-sim, farming games that contain Stardew Valley and Coral Island along with many other well put together games. I liked the art style in general but the perspective and way you farm or as far as I could tell anyway just felt weird for me, it’s like a 2.5D kind of vibe, i did find the 2D character movement amusing though. If you love life-sims or farming games I still think it’s worth checking out, see what you think of it for yourself.
Next I would have to mention News Tower, I wanted to love this game and I think in time I still could but the small screen and tiny font I had to work with makes it very difficult to enjoy this one. I love the premise and the mechanics seemed solid but I need a lot more time with it to fully appreciate if it would work for me. Maybe my resolution settings were wrong or they could add interface size settings to help. I am going to watch some gameplay from someone on YouTube and see if that can help in the meantime but fair warning the font is tiny so maybe it isn’t for you?
Before I leave you I have one more game I’ve tried so far, the demo arrived before NEXT fest and I am so glad it did. This game was in my most wanted for this year and finally I got to try the demo. It’s Synergy! With it’s Moebius art style and interesting additional mechanics to gameplay I would otherwise liken to Pharaoh it just does it for me. I got almost to the end of the demo content but stopped short and have yet to reviist it for the finale but have seen gameplay from others online. I just can’t wait for the full release and if you like city builders and want something different I’d definitely recommend checking this one out!
Well if you made it this far, thanks for reading. I will hopefully do more gaming posts on here in the future so feel free to drop me a follow and if you want to see what videos I put it out sproadically, find me on YouTube under NorochMusic
Thanks again,
Pixc
what games am I looking forward to in the next year?
Well I thought I’d write something a little different and share with you my current most anticipated titles as we near the end of 2023. Most will likely release within the next 6 months, but some don’t have actual release dates or time frames yet. In no particular order they are . . .
Deep Rock Galactic Survivor
I tried this game at a recent NEXT FEST event through steam, the demo looked solid and the bullet hell reimagining of Deep Rock Galactic which I already enjoyed both on console and PC is a refreshing and enjoyable take on the dwarven mining experience. Fend off hordes of enemies and complete objectives in a top down bullet hell kind of game!
Chef RPG
I’ve watched Sharky games with envy as he plays an early unfinished version of this game and have enjoyed watching the developer diaries on YouTube. It’s basically a similar game to Stardew Valley and Coral Island, the latter of which I am currently very into, streaming it regularly on my twitch channel. I just love the idea of a restaurant business being thrown into this type of game. It has my attention and I can’t wait to play!
Synergy
This game has been on my radar for a while, i just loved the art style and it feels very unique from what I have seen. It seems to be a mix of a city builder/settlement survival kind off game, kind of like banished but more alien or post apocalyptic. Very little info on this except a stream of regular adverts from Goblinz Publishing noting it is coming soon, just wish I could get my hands on it, expected release in Q1 2024 so hopefully not long now.
Galacticare
Another title I tried at NEXT Fest on steam. I love hospital based games, Two Point Hospital carefully re-imagine Theme Hospital an absolute classic and built upon it so well that I have struggled since to find any other hospital game appealing, this one grabbed me instantly, the alien setting adds another dimension to this sort of management game. I enjoyed the quirky title from what I saw and hope that it can at least provide an alternative worth playing in this genre!
Townseek
A surprising hit with me was Townseek. On the surface this did not look like a game for me, with a very cartoon childish art style but I loved the simplicity of the game when I tried the demo, again I think this was a NEXT Fest title on steam and I enjoyed flying the lands in my airship picking up items to trade with the various towns, I just can’t wait to see what the full version brings, scheduled for release some time early 2024.
So those five titles spring immediately to mind, granted they were all high on my wishlist on steam so it was easy to recall them for this blog. I do however think it is worth chucking on here a bonus title as there were so many I felt could have been put on the list.
Wrestling with Emotions: New Kid on the Block
Similar to Townseek in that it has a cartoony style that I wasn’t fully onboard with, this is a reality tv style wrestling game, where you play a new wrestler starting out! It is all about the humour with this title and the game when i tried the demo was a blast, I’m not going to be in a rush to pick this one up but I definitely want to shine a light on it for any wrestling fans that might follow my blog, as it is an interesting game worth at least checking out!
So thanks for reading, let me know your most anticipated games in the comments and if you are excited for any my games mentioned here, feel free to let me know, or even if you had no idea about them and i’ve turned you onto something exciting!
Pixc
New Year, new plan??
So for those who haven’t heard, I am no longer a part of the awesome Real Rasslin. An opportunity was presented to me to back away at the right time and with some feelings of stress and a chore like attitude creeping in I decided it might be wise to reflect on what I want to do with my time. I enjoyed all my time with Real Rasslin and I know the door isn’t closed completely on either side really. I am currently back to purely watching NXT, with AEW and WWE sometimes drawing my attention. I may post tiktoks from time to time on wrestling but I am not promising anything wrestling related going forward.
So what’s next for Pixc? I have been streaming again over at twitch.tv/alwaysmutetheweirdo so please feel free to check that out, no schedule at the moment so following and hitting that notification bell is the best way to find out when I’m live, or follow me on Twitter @djpixc.
I am thinking of ironing out some sort of rough schedule, I learnt a little about discipline in my time with Real Rasslin but it’s a lot harder to stick to plans when you are your own boss so to speak. I have thought of doing short clips on tiktok and some unedited streams on YouTube along with maybe clipped highlights I can rip from my ps5 sessions. I have setup a streaming list of games on my steam account of stuff I’d happily stream. I have a save on Fifa 22 where I created my own club, Moldgreen and figured it might be fun to do some clips from that save. I often shout at my TV as i play fifa which might make for good viewing is one of three reasons i started a YouTube channel. The other two being my COD rage and my music stuff. None of which has been fully realised since likely 2014, my estimated founding.
Honestly I am just typing this as I am wide awake and should really be tucked up in bed asleep ready for another day of work tomorrow. I got the bug to make noise and after a very short stint in Ableton around 30 minutes ago I decided to write. So before we hit midnight, a little note for myself, do something productive as often as you can. Whether it is domestically, creatively or physically, make a conscious effort to do something that you might not normally do. Not a new years resolution, just a plan, a decision designed to encourage growth and change.
Thanks for reading
Pixc
Spirtfarer
Hi guys,
I have this week been streaming Spiritfarer. I have been putting them on a playlist on youtube so if you want to check this awesome game, feel free playlist below.
I am streaming on twitch most days. I haven’t pinned a time down as I work full time, but to stay in the know it’s a good idea to follow my facebook page, Facebook.com/alwaysmutetheweirdo or on twitter @djpixc. I post a going live update before i go live, sometimes an hour or so before sometimes a little short notice.
The place is http://www.twitch.tv/alwaysmutetheweirdo
A quick overview of the game, Spiritfarer. Basically you are Stella, taking over Charon’s role as ferrywoman for the dead. A death management game, where you help lost souls grow and then say goodbye to them. You have a boat which you expand and build on, to support your guests needs. There is cooking, fishing, crafting and the characters and art style are so immersive.
Pixc
Lockdown Diaries – Two faces
So today and recently there is a very much a two sided coin, the positive and negative if you will of life.
I had a lot of stress, finding it difficult to accept and deal with a delay in my handpan arriving. It has now arrived though so thats something.
But the main reason this post was triggered i guess, is gaming, my gaming habits, my currently in play titles, the social side and just what else I am doing with my life.
I currently have a lot of single player games, i have yet to complete or start, some are world reknown titles or maybe AAA’s older than a year is more accurate. I have Just Cause 3, I thought i had started this and might have just lost my saved data. I have yet to pick up Witcher 3 which is on my list of games to try, but I fear I may just prefer reading the books. I also own Mafia 3 but didin’t get very far with that before I stopped. I wonder often if i just like to dabble in games, I like the novelty of a new game I think.
I have a number of dip in and out games that I like to play. Most common in the last year or so, these included Two Point Hospital, Fifa (multiple iterations) WWE games (multiple across console/pc and android) and most recently I went back to Nom Nom Galaxy. A title I used to love playing as it combined Terraria with my love of tycoon or business games, I enjoyed watching Stumpt play this and would love to have got a team of astroworkers together to beat the game. I find it is a tough game to do on your own, so have been looking for solo playthroughs to improve my game. It seems they are few and far between and it’s frustrating.
I’m still weighing up how to best utilize my time, either as a whole or throughout gaming. I am enjoying No Man’s Sky with a new lease of life, playing with friends, hopefully this will continue once the bugs are fixed.
In the meantime though folks, handpan news, I have my first ever handpan, I am going to be going not just to play my handpan in some beautiful places but find a great picture for my new youtube channel. Keep it locked for more information once I have it. I’ll post something here as well as facebook.
Thanks for reading,
Always open to comments and conversation,
Pixc
been busy uniting wizards solo
Hi guys,
I have in my free time been long away from my blog, galavanting around my local area and town, gathering ingredients for potions and finding traces to return foundables to their rightful places in the potterverse.
So on this fine evening, I sit in my home taking a small break before a busy weekend doing much more of that. I have been working hard too, but I hope some of my readers might have tried out the latest craze, not quite Pokemon Go, though I am more keen to play than this than it’s predecessor. I do sometimes get taunted as people believe I may be into this purely for the hipster new thing, but in all honesty, I’m just a massive potterhead.
So how is it? Well it’s not quite where we hoped, it is a definite improvement as far as a start goes from Niantic, the game though not as popular as Pokemon Go at launch, has in my opinion much more content and stuff to do. It might well be exaggerated by how well it is presented, plus my enthusiasm for the game but it is a solid foundation and has already been built upon.
I will concede some major gripes, some that I hope will soon be eased. I find the spell casting to be tough at times, but not always. I find the greenhouses to be in dire need of an overhaul, I would hope that rather than the current state of time based harvest where I need to revisit the ingredients I am growing to harvest the items I planted and likely sorely need, could be replaced by something similar to a pokemon in a gym, where if not collected by a certain time would be returned to you, maybe even just one item, with the revisit option increasing the yield of that item. That way anyone growing would always get a little something for their efforts. Another issue is the microtransactions, I refuse to pay silly amounts of money to “free to play” games, I will if I like the game, for example Dr Who Legacy, WWE Champions and Pokemon Go, spend a little on a vip upgrade or a very rare speed increase or in game currency bumper pack, but that’s it, I don’t mind them being in the game, but they have to be extras, like non intrusive, earnable through gameplay to reasonable degree for the consumer, not in your face cash grab like WB and Niantic seem to have chosen to do with this game. Silver Key’s, Energy space for ingredients etc are all options for this with the galleons making it possible. I think a slight increase in rewards for gameplay, in forms of keys, galleons and particularly dark detectors would be nice. Yes Dark Detectors next, one should be enough, to put it to medium, low ones should not need dark detectors, also having the space to add more i like, but if we don’t have many ways to earn them it feels as stated above like a lunge for more real cash. Just want a little more reward for how much time you put into the game.
Don’t get me wrong I have suggestions for improvements, this is a game a lot of kids will want to play and having kids nagging parents for money to spend on a free to play game, is not a good look. However I am enjoying it a lot, The events have been interesting and I urge anyone who plays it to read the story, if you aren’t a Harry Potter fan, fine don’t, but I think with some good updates this could be an amazing game that get’s people out and about, but also I sink a lot of hours into.
On a side note, it does need adventure sync and someone did ask for a wand like pokeplus thing, why not!
Thanks for reading, any comments feel free share your stories, tips and suggestions below!
PS – listen to Chris D’Elia’s Podcast Congratulations, funny guy, thoroughly enjoying it, but I am way behind as I joined the party late, oh and Chris if you see this, nope I’m not gonna #ChangeIt but feel free to call it, I get it and I do love it when anyone get’s told! #CongratulationsPod
Pixc
Tangents on Thursdays!
Well, what a few weeks I’ve had guys, a reyt emotional rollercoaster! Three options on the job front, for the same company, two of those in different locations, one of which was a completely different role, needless to say it looks like am sticking where I am due to my own stuff going on. So no commuting and sticking with the gym as it would be much more difficult to maintain from a further away location.
The World Cup has been on, not been watching every game, seen england games, but though we look a lot better, first half against belgium and we don’t look great. Nice to see some of the smaller teams fighting for a good show. Panama’s goal against England was pretty good. So what other Tangents we gonna touch upon.
Gaming is always a good one, being such an avid gamer, I must draw attention to three of my favourites, Rimworld, No Man’s Sky and Borderlands. Firstly Borderlands, where is the news, where is the release date, we are so hungry, well I definitely am, I cannot wait for this game. Hopefully a solid release date arrives before the end of summer. I’d love to see the game arrive before the end of the year or latest end of march, oh and an update Belgium are winning, see England are shite again, normal service resumed.
So gaming, Rimworld 1.0 is available on the steam unstable branch, not tried it seen some gameplay, not sure if I like it as much, may wait until mods are released properly as I daresay I will miss them. I will probably cave at the weekend so look out for that on my channels. Lastly No Man’s Sky, yeah I really like it, have since release, i’m tired of the hate, they really don’t deserve it. Destiny or Fifa or Call of Duty deserves it, but not this. So the new NEXT update, fully fledged multiplayer and so much more. I can’t wait to see what is coming, so am off to watch some NEXT gameplay I got recommended, right after writing this.
So with gaming out of the way I can look at some music stuff. I introduced hopefully two, but definitely one person to a band called Dirtwire, intriguing sounds remininscent of a rustic badlands from borderlands type vibe. I urge you to check them out, if you’re a fan don’t be shy say hi in the comments!
I’ll leave you with a final thought, time is ticking, we ae getting ever closer to the first female lead of Doctor Who, also shes from my hometown, what a win!
Thanks for reading,
Pixc
Some top tips for Beginners on Rimworld
Hey guys,
So I wanted to share some of my top tips, for getting started in rimworld.
Firstly when selecting your starting colonists:
- You want a good spread of skills
- I’d try get someone close to or higher than 8 in growing
- Also look at getting someone with some passion for Mining and Construction
- Don’t forget one good shooter, preferrably two if you can and/or one melee specialist.
- Be careful of traits, avoid pyromaniacs for a start!
- If needs be download the Prepared Carefully mod.
Selecting a world spot
- as a beginner I’d recommend at least large hills or mountanious terrain
- also for a biome I’d go with either temperate forest or if you think you want a challenge tropical rainforest(all round growing)
- Growing time, as much as possible hence possibly going tropical rainforest
Once you get into the world, you need to pick a spot for your base, this is a very flexible decision, but some things to consider.
- fertile soil – better for growing
- sheltered areas, easily defensible with potential to mine in for quick base construction but beware bugs!
- not near the edge of the map unless the only good spot really
- Geothermal vents, try to be fairly close to one of these or within reach for better power options
IF you liked these tips, drop me a like and I will continue to share more top tips!
Pixc
Reflecting on the name . . .
Hi guys, hope all is well, or as good as it can be for all my readers. Just wanted to deliberate on my alias AlwaysMuteTheWeirdo, I feel it is growing more in meaning for me and adding layers that I never expected.
AlwaysMuteTheWeirdo, started off as a name I gave to myself for a future I envisioned a twitch and gamer moniker inspired by Soprano Pictures. A guy who did videos under a character that was if I’m not mistaken down syndrome, or at least some condition that would have a different voice and maybe learning difficulties, he used it to comedic affect and generally take the mick out of normal people for trying to bully him and/or just for fun I guess, it was great stuff.
When playing call of duty, give it time, I can be the most ragiest, funniest, also annoying player you will come across, not my words, or sentiments, I think I blend it rather blandly to the toxic landscape but I do admit I can often go off on a tangent, like a Ross Noble powered gay parade. I have a higher pitch at times, struggle to breathe and can be annoying, sometimes I say stuff that doesn’t make sense. So I figured I’d use that and create my own channel. Not gonna lie, though I have done this, my focus has never been on call of duty or games that might produce this magic. I tend to stream Rimworld, No Man’s Sky and other random indie titles these days. Still wonder if it is time to get back to my original plan of competitive multiplayer, or me getting owned online in some fashion. On a side note americans love me, british hate me it seems, not exclusively no doubt!!
My name has I said developed layers, often people comment on my name in twitch chat, I think I chose well. Aside from that I thought tonight as I came to my blog, but really it does often feel to me like I am a bit of a weirdo and with my social awkwardness and lack of confidence, partly due to dyspraxia, I am somewhat muted, I prefer to communicate like this sometimes, though it isn’t always easy to get things understood.
So who knows maybe more layers will be added, maybe the original idea will be realised, I have to confess I dropped call of duty as a franchise, due to flying faery fun time and a recycled microtransaction pay wall and loot box bullshit algorhythm that really bores me to tears. I am keenly awaiting the next Borderlands game and have plans for that already, so eyes peeled, salt at the ready if you know what I mean!
Anyhoo just wanted to share my thoughts this evening as I go to fix the last poem I posted, hope you like the changes.
Pixc
Don’t Starve and Distraction
o guys, this evening I wanted to write something, mainly to distract my head from what irks me this evening, I have read books and done meditation exercises to help me stop thinking about certain things, to avoid non-useful thoughts, but it isn’t always easy. However writing sometimes helps.
So Don’t Starve is back in my mostly playing right now games, after a long break. I have been watching Stumpt and Skye Storme, thanks guys, delve into the world of Together and Shipwrecked respectively, learning more, practicing my kiting and exploring the worlds best I can.
I am trying out the new Home Sea Home update on the PC, whilst trying to unlock all the characters and both ps4 and pc, dabbling in Together when I get chance, if I can drag friends along, all the better. Not all I’ve been playing, I did stick Mario Kart on briefly, which was fun.
So I got the golden key out of Yaarctopus on the second session and possibly the third time trading with him, but it was the first time I used a live tropical fish, this is one third of how to get woodlegs, unforunately I died, which is a shame, but I know its doable. I also think if you don’t find him early on make another small camp on the nearest island, should help you get what you need if hes miles away from your base.
I will possibly post another update, but in the mean time feel free to check out my youtube, where most of my gaming content is!
Thanks for reading,
Pixc
Reflect, in both directions
Today I found myself popping to Tesco to get my ingredients for Harrira, a recipe given to me by a friend early this week, looking forwarding to it, eager to spend today writing, gaming/streaming, cooking this dish and generally enjoying myself, but constantly hounded by this “black dog” or “dark cloud” reminding me what I really want to be doing, or rather who I really want to be doing it with, if you pardon the pun.
I use this blog as an escape, an exit path for all the negative or darker thoughts, sometimes the nice ones too, but to reflect on the past, present and future. A friend of mine is heading out a new adventure, scary stuff I’m not sure I could deal with, so good luck to her!
Trying to eat a bit healthier from now on, though not being strict about it as last night was a takeaway which I am still polishing off today. Curry on a pizza has got to be one of my favourite takeaway dishes these days.
So streaming, what’s coming? Well I think Don’t Starve will be my main game at the moment, I got back into it and am loving it trying to get better at fighting mobs and learn fully how to heal up, it feels like I may need to use the PC version to learn what is really useful using mods then get back on console, or maybe I use my xbox pad on pc? who knows. Check my channel here.
Thanks for reading guys,
Pixc aka AlwaysMuteTheWeirdo
Something topical, gaming for me right now . . .
Hi guys,
So as many of you may already know I am a massive gamer, whether it is online or offline, shooter or city builder, love to just take some time out and game for hours. I usually write emotional personal stuff on here, but today I wanna talk gaming!
So in my world of gaming recently, I have been delving into a lot of different games, but the first thing that came up this last week was a game I watched Stumpt play. Decksplash, yeah I had trouble typing that, felt as am sure you will agree like it should be called Dicksplash, well I listened to their thoughts I watched the gameplay and I thought, this is something cool, this could be a lot of fun, the splatoon mixed with Tony Hawks vibe really struck a chord with me. So I thought head to steam and add it to my wishlist. To my surprise however, I found this game has been canned, cancelled, they did 1 week of free access on steam, expecting to get 100,000 players in that time, if not bye bye Decksplash, well it got 36000 apparently, so no more Decksplash. Here is the thing, I had no idea this game existed until I saw Stumpt played it, I also probably caught that particular video of theirs a week or so after it was released, we all have lives ya know? So as much I agree a multiplayer game needs a good player base, expecting it to happen by a free week on steam, not sure it was the wisest move, little faith in the project, little ambition to make it succeed. Time is money seemed to be their arguement but I have never heard of the studio really, I have heard of two of their titles, but this game i liked more than either, I think a longer time frame or more effort in letting people know about it might have resulted in better draw so to speak. I wish developers didn’t do silly stunts like this but a free week had I known would have been a nice consolation prize.
Onwards though, I still sit here with a sily long list of games to dabble in, across a few different platforms, blasting out the psytrance, going back to fifa, wrestling and borderlands more than anything. Impatiently waiting Borderlands next installment and oh let’s not forget sinking hundreds of hours into Rimworld, testing out the Alpha 18 unstable build, in fact I may go stream some more of that now.
www.twitch.tv/alwaysmutetheweirdo
for already uploaded content find me here:
I always appreciate people stopping by for a chat, so please do feel free to get involved in the chat!
Thanks for reading,
Pixc
I’ve just noticed something . . .
So I was talking to a friend the other day, about games, while playing Battlefield 1, thinking this is graphically impressive, but expectedly so, when we kind of realised, well I did at least, that most of my favourite newish games are indie games, not AAA titles.
Weird I know but, games like Banished, Rimworld, Prison Architect and Project Highrise are games I play a lot lately, they are all made by small teams. Even Cities Skylines has taken a backseat for the time being. They all have big community followings and mods on steam, is that what draws me to them. I I love building games I guess. I am even considering getting the GOG version of Theme Hospital to see what the open source version plays like, definitely worth roughly £5 for the nostalgia alone but add in the possibilities of new content and well surely we are onto a winner.
It does somewhat irk me that the games I love seem to either be indie or not very popular. Veering away from the indie let’s take Battleborn, a new MOBAish game with borderlands flavour that could given the right group of friends produce hours of fun but nobody is on the bandwagon, wrapped up in competitive spring rolls on Overwatch, I find myself paired with randoms who either have no clue, leave half way through or have to carry me and eventually just leave me to die. I wish more of my friends owned it but the one that does is on xbone with me on ps4, the one that has it doesn’t have time to play it as he prefers other games, I get it, not the best of games, but it can be real fun. While I enjoy holding it down playing some operations on Battlefield 1, the frustration and anger is definitely consistent on that game, I just can’t seem to get many nice runs or good games.
I just wanted to share that is it not time AAA titles offered more than competitive multiplayer and great graphics? I long for Borderlands 3 where there is brilliant co-op, loot a plenty and a great story with characters, I do concede I have some AAA or there abouts titles I am still yet to play, including but not limited to, The Witcher, Mafia 3 and Watchdogs 2, but I am more excited for Constructor HD if I’m honest, fingers crossed for an easy mode on all maps!
Thanks for reading,
Pixc
Welcome to the New Year
Yes we made it, 2017, a brand new year people, this is just a quick post to say Happy New Year, eager to see what 2017 holds, this is a big year for me really, the big 30 is upon me and I will spending my first birthday outside of england, far as I can remember anyway.
So what does 2017 hold for Pixc, well hopefully an Ableton Push 2 and some motivation and discipline to get back into making some beats. I ain’t making any promises I have claimed for the last three years at least that this would be my musical year, the year I take it to new heights but it hasn’t quite happened yet. I do hope that I can be a little more disciplined this year that’s for sure.
As some of you will know I am a heavy gamer, some would argue an addict. I lots track of time for the first time in a long time playing a game, Prison Architect, I just got immersed in the story, for a game that is essentially more about the building of a prison, it was quite a surprise. I looked at the clock to find it was 4am, whoops! I still think there may be a place for me in youtube or twitch to carve out some sort of niche for myself, but I’m less confident, it is tough going, if you watch me. Thanks for your support, it means a lot. I think focusing on one platform would be a great idea, but unforunately YouTube makes it really hard for a small time youtuber to make anything out of posting content online unless you are lucky enough to have tonnes of fans and well Twitch is very limited in who it reaches I guess, more people are willing to have a youtube account and comment on videos, subscribe to channels etc.
So who knows what 2017 might bring, let’s hope it’s a good un eh!
Pixc
End of the Year
Hi guys, just checking in with my last blog post of the year. I haven’t wrote as often as I know some bloggers do, I like to think I wait not only until I have something worthwhile to say, but also until I feel the need to express or get something off my chest. This time it is a mixture of gaming talk, thoughts on my mind, a farewell to 2016 and just a bit of a ramble if I am honest.
I love to write, as many who follow my social media know, I also love to game. Recently I picked up a few new titles in the steam sale, still going on, may even purchase one or two more bargains before the sale is done. I got a variety for my every growing library. I would like to note a few, maybe you’d like to check them out, I know a lot of youtube videos on all are out there to give you some idea of whether they are for you.
Project Highrise, basically it is much like Sim Tower, build a tower block full of offices, apartments, shops and food courts, give them power, water and the like then watch the place flourish and bring you money, kinda neat.
Pharaoh including the DLC. This is a classic egyptian city builder, not installed this one yet, but I remember it of old, recently had a pirated copy on old pc, but when I saw it on steam for less than £5 I thought why not, I just love the idea of seeing all these games that I own in a list, be amazing if I had enough space to install them all to play at leisure.
Tyto Ecology, this I have watched some gameplay of and was keen to pick it up. Unfortunately I have not been able to play it yet, it seems to be buggy and may be broken, it is rather cheap but I will give it a little more time before considering getting my money back on this, it won’t work so pointless unless they fix it.
Nom Nom Galaxy, being a proud purchaser of a PS4 copy previous to this purchase, I plunged in on the PC version, I had hoped there might be some workshop support, but either way terraria meets tycoon games is the flavour of this soup space extravanganza.
The last title is Block’Hood a very unique “city builder” I use the term loosely as it is a neighbourhood builder really. I have only played the tutorial and watched some footage so far, but it is all about balance, definitely worth checking out.
A notable metion must go to Flat Heroes, a game I picked up not long ago to hopefully in time have four people sat either at my pc or my console, fingers crossed for a ps4 release where we can smash all the worlds in a drunken night. For now I have to make do with a dabble on my own as Sony’s PC controller adaptor only supports one pad, erm what gives? I only have one Xbone pad for now, so it seems pointless to upgrade until I can fix both the lack of pads and the lack of adaptor for those, also seems ps4 pads don’t work well with the game.
So just a little of my steam sale adventures, for those interested I did pick up Lego Harry Potter Collection on PS4 and am trying to purchase A 3DS with some games but it is proving a mighty task!
Thanks for reading,
Pixc
After an evening of Titanfall 2
Running walls, diving across canyons, fighting in the dome.
Tonight I was in a rage with puzzles, almost out of my comfort zone
I persevered, made it through even though I uttered a curse or two
This campaign is quite a treat, it makes a change from getting owned a multiplayer
But now it is time for sleep!
Rimworld – my latest game
Hey guys, just a quick reminder to old readers and a welcome to the new, I do a bit of streaming and youtubing sometimes, this is my latest game I am recording content of, thought I’d share it with you guys.
Feel free to go check out my channel, sometimes I will use twitch aswell, Youtube has a strangely aggressive policy on copyright, language and content, which sometimes restricts me, I like to rage and I do swear from time to time. Hope you enjoy watching.
Thanks for stopping by,
Pixc
No Man’s Sky – initial thoughts with screenshots
So finally I got my hands on No Man’s Sky, space exploration survival extraordinaire that it is, with me at the helm, first of all some screen shots of my gameplay, which will truly show you how much of a work of art this game is!
On the left was a storm, rain pattering down on my spaceship as I sat docked in a trading post. The right I plant I thought was one of the most zany things I have seen in the game so far.
I have lost count of how many hours exactly I have put into the game. I played a few hours Wednesday night, but didn’t stay on too long as I was in work Thursday. Thursday night I was on until around 1am so give or take 8 hours roughly, then Friday my new gaming chair arrived around 8.30am, giving me a full day to play it though I did take at least a one hour break for some wrestling, a shower which probably took 30 minutes, some food, so at least another 9 hours today. I am in awe by how much I am enjoying the game. I won’t deny repetition is definitely there, but you are so immersed in the worlds in this early stage, it doesn’t mater. I think quick progression is a must for those who those who are afraid of getting bored, follow the path the game advises you to take, I have heard there will be plenty of time for more exploration later. I struggled mostly with space combat, I have never been a great flyer, when it came to gaming. I fended off some pirates after a while, following an upgrade to my ship and I was so pleased, since then I only had one battle and unforunately lost.
I enjoy naming the planets, plants and animals but I have heard people stopped pretty quickly, I guess it will be different for everyone. I have a system for naming, where my systems have PXC at the front of them, except my 3rd one which I forgot to name PXC first, I expect to post more screenshots up when I have some really good ones. In the mean time anyone wanting to know more or check out me playing it, can drop by my stream on twitch. I hope to have more information and a more lengthy critical look at the game on my blog soon as I feel it is a good time to get my initial review out, this will be updated as the game gets updates with short bursts I reckon.
www.twitch.tv/alwaysmutetheweirdo
Thanks for reading,
Pixc
No Man’s Sky incoming
So guys, No Man’s Sky is on it’s way, whether it arrives before the UK release date of Wednesday 10th August, I have no idea. I hoped it might arrive before so that I can play it for definite on wednesday, because I am working until thursday and if my neighbour doesn’t get it, then I will have to either pick it up from the local post office after/before work or wait until potentially friday, this is not great but with the release date getting moved to wednesday I may get to play it before my time off!
So with that said as some of you will already know, I am doing lots of No Man’s Sky footage once it is officially out. I have been watching the game on twitch a little to get a feel for it, mainly though looking at the elements people are finding. Some would argue don’t watch it as it will spoil it for you, but I’m not sure it will every experience will be very different.
I want to play it now, but as I can’t I am content with watching those willing to risk streaming it. I hope that I can make it an entertaining ride for you all when the time comes.
Thanks for reading,
Pixc
t – 2 weeks til No Man’s Sky
So with all the drama of this game’s release and hype train, we are finally on the home straight, we are less than 2 weeks away from the release day now. I am in the UK so this time in two weeks I will hopefully either be switching it off to wind down for my last day of the week at work, or having my last sleep before getting my hands on the game.
I have followed this game now, for so long, I cannot wait to get my hands on the game. I keep checking youtube for more video content on it, I follow Cobra TV, who I highly recommend checking out. I am looking forward to everything but here are my top picks.
Exploring planets, seeing all the creatures and plants, exploring underwater, that looked really cool in the videos. I can’t wait to discover all the elements, the made up ones, the real ones, trade with them, meet the npc alien races, fly from one planet to the next, or stay on one for a lengthy period of time, how will I decide what to do first, damn this is going to be epic!
Expect lots of footage on twitch and youtube from me especially from that friday onwards, all being well some of you may come follow my journey to the centre!
The Elephant in June . . .
So as I sit at my desk, the 1st of June, 23 days til, oh wait . . . not any more. Yes guys, many will have already found out, that No Man’s Sky has been delayed, until August. A game that was supposed to come out in 2015 is delayed once again. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not 100% pissed off, I can admit I kind of expected it, just felt like the sort of partnership/game that would constantly be set back. Sean Murray seems a stand up guy, but a little perfectionist, nervous of succeeding with this one, in no rush.
I was gutted, I booked time off work, which I may now rearrange, or just use to play other games and go ravin! So this is the massive elephant in June, a gaping hole in the game time continuum that most of us, will struggle to fill. I am easily pleased, I have Battleborn and may pick up another title while I wait for No Man’s Sky. Ok I already have two or even more steam titles to be getting on with but I love buying new games. Side note I picked up Stardew Valley and Youtubers Life recently.
So my gripe. is simple, sometimes I know we can’t foresee problems and difficulties just arise from nowhere, but it would be nice if release dates were set with a good measure of this could go wrong, giving things time to go wrong. It has looked playable for so long now. I just want to play for myself. I have followed this game more intensely than any other before it. Sean is a likable guy, someone I’d love to grab a beer (rum for me) with.
I would also like to point at the massive annoyance for us brits, that everywhere gets it before us, the company is based in the UK, I just get a little jealous that America gets everything first or at least before the UK, think the only recent title not following this was a ubisoft title, think it was watchdogs. I watch a fair few american youtubers from time to time and I just think sometimes it would be nice if we got things first, ya know.
So forgive me Hello Games, for being a little bit pissed, but I just want to get hold of your game and play it, 4 weeks ish before release I find out that its not 4 weeks its more like 10 weeks, it’s like I rewound back to when I was previously just mellowing out, building to the prospect of this 4 weeks again, a bitter pill to swallow, not that crazy high off the old disco biscuits from back in the day, just a massive comedown, to be followed by more sweaty M-Kat!
Seriously though, I can’t wait to play this game!
I know it will rock, don’t sweat it
Pixc
The Division – worth it?
So, I wanted to give my thoughts on The Division, the new game from Ubisoft that has hit the scene recently, I have been playing it since release, I am not yet as I start this max level, have done a bit of everything I think though. I would first like to draw some comparisons to give people a good idea of what this is.
Diablo with guns, yes the loot system and crafting tied in seems to remind me a lot of diablo, it doesn’t feel anywhere near as expansive as Diablo but maybe in time it it will grow. The next one is Saints Row, yeah weird I know but the side missions, most notably finding agents, collecting incident reports etc are all feeling in this game almost as fun as saints row games, as with any game like this it will get boring and repetitive eventually but it is somewhat refreshing at present. Next is the obvious Destiny, it feels like it has done a better job than Destiny, as from launch there is enough content, the story/single player experience takes you longer, it also has that annoying much better with friends attitude but unfortunately restricts players in the dark zone playing with each other. trying to find a balance that is often so elusive.
There are more but I will stop but for these honourable mentions, am sure you can figure out why I chose them, Dying Light and Borderlands.
So the meat of the game is there is a pandemic, virus that has caused some serious problems, it has got so bad, the agents, you that is have to go in and help take the city back from rioters, in essence the bandits or bad guys of the situation, or are they? I haven’t found out the whole story yet, but my guess is something isn’t 100% right on that front. So the single player game is largely repetitive encounters, three differing types, medical, tech and security, to gain supplies for the three wings to rebuild the HQ or base. There are missions that gain more supplies than the encounters too. Added to this you build your arsenal of weapons, armour and talents up and become more powerful, a standard coloured loot system is in place to grade this. You can craft items, when you get blueprints for them from missions or completing a number of sidequests in an area too.
The AI is something I have to mention, so let’s get to that. only hit points can make me harder, is the tactic employed in this game, followed by rush you to death, I really despise the way games, especially shooters make the enemies harder by purely ramping up the hit points, but then when you over level for that enemy it seems to have little effect, bullet sponging is not my friend, nor is it any developers, except I suppose for one that caters to heavily sedated generational grinding queens. I loved Borderlands but this can get super tedious because the loot is too realistic and boring. So yeah the AI is bum rush central. I will concede upon diving into the subways in the dark zone for the first time with a friend, yeah just two of us. I had a blast, running back out as three gold enemies and a purple ran towards us chasing us, then more blocked our exit, we died needless to say, not there but on our way to an extraction zone as more enemies flooded in from all directions, another tactic, overbearing numbers, again if we had better loot this might be ok.
Don’t let me totally put you off the game completely mind, it is packed with humorous little bits of dialogue and it is kind of fun at least for now.
So the new update drops and yet again a developer restricts the player by nerfing enemy drops or reducing credit gains or loot drops, it is basically pointless, who is complaining about extra credits or loot? More stuff to kill?
Seriously though any time I get purple loot I am bombarded with several enemies from loads of different directions, all bumrushing me in the darkzone, seriously, why? This is not fun? Your own loot when dropped due to death, can be picked up by anyone, there is no label that it is yours, so even people in your own squad can pick it up and will not know that it was yours. This means as I found out recently, you pick up a cool item, die they can’t revive you because there are waves of enemies coming from all directions, then they kill those and while you don’t make it back pick up said item. I just wish Ubisoft understood the “looter shooter” genre, it is about fun, cool loot and farming, not fighting waves of enemies with bum rush tactics and masses of hitpoints. unless you can combat that with better loot it really is frustrating and pointless.
Case and point, nerf the game to oblivion Ubisoft it still will not hide that you have failed to impress this guy at least. All I wanted was cool loot and this is boring. Balance is hard to find but bullet sponging enemies and waves of never ending batsmen, created my disappointment of 2016. Shame I already shelled out for the season pass.
A message to you Sony . . .
The title suggests a fun vibe, but it is far from that for today’s rant. I am seriously disappointed, I have been with Sony since the beginning, the inclusion of this generation was a clear winner in the PS4, but more and more each day or month shall we say, the Sony faithful, are opening their eyes I think, to the rubbish attitude of the big company. Sony were easily the better console this time around, for some the exclusivity for call of duty, or destiny, me I play both and enjoyed the exclusive guns and early access so far, but it comes at a price. Many games have followed the other path, Microsoft has stolen some great titles for some people. So what’s my gripe today, online functionality, party chat and online gaming.
I have a steam account, I play very little if any of my games on pc online, I prefer my pc games, single player, strange or strategic I guess. I dabble I guess. So online gaming for me is a console thing. I was very pleased with the PS3 for that and the Xbox 360, but the PS4 seems to disappoint, it is smoother than the ps4, maybe on a par mainly with xbox 360 for its time, but having now jumped into bed making money out of online play, it does not seem fair, for us to then having paid the monthly fee of £40 per person they could push for a better network, with next to no connection issues, plus the PS Plus system, used to give us some really great free games, but not any more, I know I have had a number of good ones since launch, but I would like at least one good one every couple of months, but it’s all relative I guess, no major AAA or high end games for a long time now. I just think if the games ain’t big, the network should be smooth. I hope that this improves but for now I am definitely considering a switch or at least a test run on xbox one which is sad, I have friends aplenty on both consoles now.
Sony, my message to you, is sort your shit out, I’d love a great game for march as it is my birthday, then I’d definitely love for the network to improve considerably, party chat has been shocking this weekend, you ring support and get the ring your isp response, my ISP is Virgin Media, they are top notch, i can tell instantly when it is down and report it, its usually fixed if needs be within 2 days maximum, but i always get issues with party chat in particular. On another note can we have a controller that lasts a lot longer charge wise or get some games developed that use the touch pad for more?
AlwaysMuteTheWeirdo aka Pixcs Blog 