Bioshock Infinite PS3 Premium Edition & Limited Edition Guide

Well, i got a bit of money for my Birthday and hadn't purchased myself a new game for a while. I had a couple of games in mind, I wanted to get Star Trek, but i read a really bad review about it and saw some video, the review seemed to be quite correct. So i decided to wait until it's a lot cheaper.

That left me with Dead Island Riptide (which i got a normal copy of) and Bioshock Infinite. I could have purchased this brand new for around £35 from Amazon, but i decided to get the Premium edition for an extra £15. The premium edition contains (description following stolen from Amazon)

ART BOOK
This 64-page collectible mini-edition of The Art of BioShock Infinite provides a substantial look at the full version, published by Dark Horse Comics. This special-edition art book offers an exclusive peek at the development of the game’s unique art style, and features a handdistressed linen cover, early designs, and concept art.
DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT
Digital Soundtrack: Downloadable soundtrack features music from BioShock Infinite and is exclusive to the Premium and Ultimate Songbird Editions.
Gear Pack: Start the game with three exclusive Gear power-ups:
• Bull Rush: Melee strikes from a sprint have a chance to knock the
enemy down.
• Extra! Extra!: Audio logs also grant a bounty of “Silver Eagles” – ingame
currency.
• Betrayer: Killing your possessed enemies causes them to explode in a fireball that deals damage.
PlayStation 3 players get BioShock Infinite themes.
LITHOGRAPHIC PRINT
A real-life piece of propaganda from BioShock Infi nite’s world of Columbia, this heavy-stock lithograph print, an ad for the Devil’s Kiss vigor, was designed by Jorge Lacera, concept artist at Irrational Games.
HANDYMAN FIGURINE
Get ready to play the upcoming BioShock Infi nite board game, BioShock Infi nite: The Siege of Columbia, created and published by Plaid Hat Games. With this exclusive, 25mm resin-cast Handyman figure, you’ll have a head start.
MURDER OF CROWS KEYCHAIN
This follow-up to the highly-demanded, full-size Murder of Crows replica bottle is an exclusive 3” keychain. It is fully 3-dimensional, hand-painted and distressed, and features a sturdy brass ring.

Well when it came in i was a little underwhelmed by the packaging, even though it was sealed up, the box was slightly mis-shapen due to no care being taken handling the box (i think) with a few scuffs and creases and one side being bent outward.

 
Aside from the outer packaging, the contents were a little better. The handyman figure is very, very small and not particularly well detailed, but i didn't really expect anything different. I like the box it comes in though.

 The Keychain is not bad, i don't use keychains so i personally just kept it in it's individual wrapping. Looks quite nice though. Definately plastic.

 
The lithographic print is pretty cool and you see the very same poster much bigger in the game. I have mine blu tacked to the side of my games tower (which sits right next to my seat), so i can see it all the time.

 The PS3 Theme is not too bad as themes go, but i tend not to use them because there's usually something i don't like about the theme. At the moment I'm using it, but only because I've technically paid for it!

I've downloaded all the extra content, some of it is quite helpful (especially "Extra! Extra!" this is quite useful, i put it on just before i pick up a voxophone and take it back off for something more combat worthy after picking it up), the other items I've not really taken much notice of.

 
The soundtrack has also been downloaded, it's nothing special presentation wise, it kinda feels a little bit un-organised, i've not listened to it yet but i'm sure it'll be good.

My favourite part is the Art Book, it feels really well made and the glossy pages inside show some lovely high quality artwork from the game. Although I've not looked all the way through it yet because I don't want to see anything I've not already seen in the game. Also (like other artbooks) I'm scared of opening it out too much haha.

As for the game, I'm really enjoying it, however like an absolute fool,  i went for Hard mode straight away and it's quite a challenge, mainly because I'm learning everything on Hard instead of already having knowledge of the game's weapons, characters, powers, levels and enemies having played an easier difficulty. But aside from going straight in at the deep-end it's really fun and looks amazing. I've just started going through the hall of the heroes with Elizabeth, on my way to get Shock Jockey. Also, before i forget, the cover for the game is reversable, so if you don't like the original cover you can change it to the reverse side.

I also purchased the Limited Edition Strategy Guide, the guide is Hardback and looks awesome, the pages are glossy/smooth with great information, maps, tips and tricks and pictures to help you navigate your way through the game. It's helped me a great deal so far, especially having gone in straight on Hard. It comes with a small playing Card and a Bird/Cage Key which is a replica of the key used in the game to free Elizabeth. The card is nice (but i'll have absolutely no use for it) and the Key looks great! It's a decent size and is sat it it's own housing that comes with the guide. Although I've not removed it from it's packaging because i have no reason to.

I'd definately reccomend getting this if you love the Bioshock games & it's a hell of a lot cheaper than the Songbird Edition. For only £15 more than the game itself, you can't go to far wrong with this! The guide was around £12 or something so that's also a bargain!

Black Ops 2 - Prestige 12 ? #blackops2

Hi there people!

At last i have managed to get Prestige Master on Black Ops 2! It's only taken me a rediculous amount of time and has angered me no end. (Thankyou Elle for putting up with my frequent outbursts and i am very sorry for that)

Anyway i thought i'd take a look at my shiny new emblem and have a gander at my stats on the call of duty elite website http://www.callofduty.com/elite only to find that it says "You're ready for Prestige 12 / Level 1"
WHAT THE F*** I really hope they aren't planning on adding more prestige levels, it's taken me long enough to get to the maximum level as it is, i'd rather not spend more time getting to the top again!

The proof is above. There's even an emblem for it, which i hear is from Black Ops I.

I did a little bit of research and found that people have managed to hack further than Prestige Master and have found there to be up to Prestige 15. So I'm guessing that means they've left room for expansion at some point.

That begs the question... what possible incentive could they give us to make us want to actually spend many many more hours of our lives to get to Prestige 15? 

I really hope they don't bother adding more Prestige levels, but I'm sure they've allowed more levels for a reason and I'm fairly sure they've allowed us to see that there's possibly more prestiges for a reason. 

If they are going to add more, they'd better make it worthit.

As for the time being, I'm going to find something better to play. AT LAST!

Black Ops II - League Play thoughts and observations

After joining the Team Deathmatch series league half way through and doing league play for the very first time this month, i thought i'd share some of my observations and thoughts on it. 

After my first five placement matches (of which i won all of them) i was placed in the platinum division. Which to my knowledge is the top 20% of active players. I was quite proud of this alone, especially considering there's only 1 division above that and that's the master devision (top 2%). I'm not entirely sure how they work it out but i guess i was there for a reason. 

Anyway, the league finished on Monday and after struggling the past couple of weeks to get in the top 10 and stay there, i failed to do so *sad face*, but i then realised that i had joined the league games half way through season 4. If i had joined from the beginning i think i could have managed the top 10. I managed to reach 7th place but that was very short lived after a few matches with idiots on my team, then managed to claw back from 19th to 8th and again more idiots took me back to around 15th. 

So after a lot of back and forth in the rankings, i finally finished the season at rank 18 *yay*

So at least out of the 250 people in my sub-division i managed to get in the top 20.
Im currently waiting on my league best emblem to appear on my playercard.

So a few of my observations about the league play. It could be a lot better but i guess it could also be a lot worse. I think one of the worst problems with league play is the matchmaking system, to be quite honest i would have expected to be matched with people in the same division/league as me, instead of that i found that i kept getting people who were a lot worse on my team and people that were a lot better on the other team. For example quite a few matches i would end up with people in lower divisions and the other team would have more than one master on it. 
That makes for an unfair advantage for the other team. I also found that sometimes, regardless of whether or not you have people that look like they could be good on your team, they turn out to be utter rubbish.
More often than not i found myself to be on the losing team, even if my own personal score was good there would be 2 or more people with scores like 5-15 or something like that, that meant that because of other people's failings i more often than not, lost a large amount of points. 

I personally went into the league games expecting a challenge and a higher class of player, only to find that there were still plenty of idiots who would continually run into someone camping in the same spot over and over and die, more often than not, those idiots were on MY team.

I didn't really enjoy the league play as much as i thought i would, mainly because of the idiots i kept getting teamed up with. I'm all for a challenge but when i have utter morons on my team, a challenge becomes "the impossible". 

So my advice is this. If you want to play league play on Black Ops 2, RUN IT IN A TEAM. I unfortunately don't have a group of people to play Black Ops 2 with regularly (although i am hoping to stumble across some) but if i did have one, i'm fairly sure i could have done a lot better. Being paired with bad teams not only takes it's toll on your sanity but your score in the leaderboards too. 

In fact i'd suggest trying to find a team for any Black Ops 2 game modes, because of the popularity of the game and the lack of needing to actually have a brain to play it, it means that you will more often than not, come across total morons on your own team. 

If it wasn't for the fact i want to finally achieve the top prestige in one of these games, i would NOT bother playing it as much. It makes me despair at how dumb half the population is. 

I did like the XP that league play gave me and the ability to choose any weapon i wanted (pretty much), i did like the games when i didn't have idiots on my team, but unfortunately that was not often enough. If i were to do it again, i'd definately find myself a team to do it with.

Good luck with the game people!

Feel free to leave any thoughts in the comments below :)

Black Ops II League Play Season 4 End Time (ENDED)

Hi there,

For anyone who plays league play on Black Ops II i have added a coundown timer to when the latest season of league play ends, this can be found at the side of the page (scroll down a little) - ENDED NOW

As some of you will have noticed I've done a lot of ranting about Black Ops II, i thought the league play would stop some of it because i assumed that there would be a lot more experienced players in those lobbies. That's where i was wrong.

It seems that recently all i keep getting on my team are fools that get scores like 5-19 and more to that effect. That's just utterly rediculous, scores like that seem to me as though someone on the other team is camping and that person on my team just keeps going back for more. It seems like some people cannot think of other tactics than running head first into a hail of bullets, even in league play.

I went all the way to rank 7 in the platinum league and ended up back down to 21 because of many many games being lost due to having people like the ones i've already mentioned on my teams. I must have spent 2-3 hours doing league games earlier and only won about three of those games. Luckily i have managed to claw my way back up to 8th but I have now run out of bonus points. There's no way i'm risking losing 150 points by probably losing a game just to get 10 points if i do win. I'd have to win 15 or more games in a row just to move up 1 place.

Anyway, i'll try and keep my place and if possible, move a little higher but i can't see either happening.

Not long left people!

Thanks for reading.

Spawn Trappers are scum. Black Ops 2 #blackops2

As you may have guessed. This post is about spawn trapping or whatever you personally call it. I think this has to be the lowest, most annoying thing that can happen to you in Black Ops 2. I've had plenty to moan about with this game and the people that play it but of all the things that have annoyed me this is the worst!

I have the unfortunate tendancy of being thrown into games that are already in progress and on the team that are getting absolutely fucked up. Not only that but now i've noticed, more often than not, getting messed up like that involves getting spawn killed. I joined a game earlier and was repeatedly spawn killed straight away, i literally couldn't move as the opposing team had every exit covered. It threw me into a rage. 

1. Why the hell should i have to put up with getting put into teams that are losing all the time?
2. As if it's not bad enough that i'm put into a badly losing team, why should i then have to deal with getting spawn killed.

If i get a good team i am more often than not, in the top 3 on my team. But all i keep getting is teams of fools that get me killed either directly or indirectly (the scorestreaks that kill me because they keep dying) I'm getting totally sick of it now and it's ten times worse at the weekends.

Anyway onto my main point.

When i started playing this just after Christmas i never encountered this problem, i mean it did happen but it was a really rare occurance. But lately i've noticed it happening more and more. Every time i end up on a team bad enough, we end up getting spawn trapped/killed. I can usually get out of it but the rest of my team are usually too dumb to escape.

The thing is, i can understand that spawn killing people is easy kills for the other team but seriously, how do they feel good about doing it? I think i've done it once and i felt disgusting for it, it's seriously such a low thing to do, it's like shooting fish in a barrel you're almost guaranteed to be able to keep killing people as they spawn. I mean if they flipped that situation and the people doing it were the ones being slaughtered they'd be raging and probably leave.

Why do people feel its ok to do it when they know they'd hate it done to them?

I don't understand what people get from it, there's no skill involved, there's no challenge, it doesn't make you any good at the game. It's mindless, pointless and very low. The whole point in the game is to test your skills against the other team and try to win. Not to just trap the other team and get easy kills. There's no skill or challenge in that is there?

I can safely say it's something i'd never do again and i would hope that the people doing it feel like scumbags and stop doing it.. but i know that nothing will change. 

It's just stupid that the people doing it, would hate it done to them... I hope they feel the rage when it is done to them and realise how low and disgusting it is.

So if you're one of those people, SHAME ON YOU SCUMBAG.
If not, i feel your pain because it has to be the single most annoying, angering thing that can happen to you on Black Ops 2.
Good luck people.

Thanks for reading!
 

Black Ops II - Lucky Me

I'd been trying to get the "Hail Mary" challenge on Black Ops II (Get a long range kill with a combat axe) as part of the humiliation set of challenges for a few games and in the game i was just in i hadn't managed it at all the whole game. I heard the timer ticking down to the final killcam and thought sod it i'll just lob these two axes before the game ends, so i launched them over the rooftops and this is what happened:

Been playing Black Ops II

Hi people,

So.. I know that it's one of the most annoying series' of games but no matter how much it's just the same stuff over and over again every time they release it, most of us still get the latest CoD. Personally i just like to shoot stuff every now and again, i would say it's stress relief and fun but if you got teamed up with some of the fools i've encountered, you'd know its quite the opposite of stress relief.

I'd like to say i was amazing at the game but i'm probably about average or a little better. Depending on the team i get dealt i can come in the top three nearly every time or i can end up with an absolute shitter of a game and come near the bottom. I've said loads of times that if i can play as good as i can but if my team are getting slaughtered i'm going to feel the wrath of the enemies killstreaks too. I've also noticed my teams have an awful tendancy of rushing to the enemy spawn when im trying to play conservatively, meaning by the time i've carefully made my way across the map, im getting the enemy spawning behind me i their masses!

Either way i've played far too much of it lately, unlocking camo's challenges etc and have worked my way to almost prestige 6. For once, i am determined to get the max prestige on one of these games!

Feel free to comment on here or get in touch with me on twitter @MarcusPeachey and let me know you're experiences on Black Ops 2. If you're any good and would like to team up, my psn is at the side of the page (the same as the blog title)

On a good note, i made a very short video clip of something i did last night on Yemen, Kill Confirmed. Check it out below :)

Final Fantasy VII - Cloud Strife & Hardy Daytona Play Arts Vol.1 #0

Here is the pride and joy of my collection so far, the Cloud Strife & Hardy Daytona Play Arts figure. This was purchased from Ebay like the rest of my collection but the person selling it to me was getting rid of it for his son, he said it didn't look like the box had ever been opened. It had been opened but i only know that because the seal was broken, you wouldn't have known otherwise.

This set is pretty much mint condition and is absolutely fantastic.

The set consists of exactly the same Cloud Strife figure as the Vol.1 # 1 edition, he's around 8.5" tall and comes with spare hands and his infamous Buster Sword. The figure is based on the game version of
and not the Advent children version. The figure is highly detailed and has over 22 points of articulation, which allow you to pose him in various different ways. I've chosen one of his most iconic stances for the individual cloud and another one that should be VERY familiar for the one on the Daytona. It comes with the peg for the back that i mentioned in the Vol.1 #1 edition, this makes it a lot easier to keep the sword in place when you have him holding it over his shoulder. When not using the peg, there is a small plug that you can put into the hole, this is fairly discreet and unless you're looking for it, it doesn't look out of place.

Now onto the bike, this is a work of art! The bike measures in at around 13" in length and at it's tallest point (around the handles) it's about 6" high. It is quite a weight and is very well made. The wheels feel like they are made of rubber (quite hard but soft) and they obviously do turn, they aren't fixed. There is a kickstand (i think that's what it's called haha) underneath it to keep the bike upright and stable, but i didn't really use this when displaying it with Cloud, i'll tell you why shortly.
The attention to detail and everything about this bike is absolutely fantastic! It could almost be mistaken for a real one that had been somehow miniaturized! I mentioned earlier there is a good weight behind it and it's very sturdy. It's hard for me to explain but the weight and feel of the actual bike just adds to the appeal, it's so well made you can't help but love it!
When displaying the bike, i tried to make it so that Cloud had one foot on the ground and the bike was slightly tilted, this left Cloud's other leg bent at the other side of the bike, which looks cool in my opinion, Cloud is also holding out his Buster Sword as though he's ready for some Bike Fight action.
At first i wasn't sure if Cloud would get on the bike but his legs can be pulled further apart than you first realise, once this was done i could position him nicely on top of the bike and clip one of the handlebars into his hand. My major problem was trying to get the bike to not fall over in this position, i found that putting the kickstand down a bit and putting a bit of blu tack under Cloud's foot kept the bike in place, but i'd still be careful around it due to the weight of the bike. I would just use the kickstand and keep it stable, but then I'd lose the tilt and Clouds feet would both be off of the floor.

I haven't done this in the pictures because i didn't want blu tack on the table i was taking the pictures on, but i did try and get the figure as identical to how he's normally displayed as possible.

The packaging for the set is superb as always, the Vol.1 Packaging is very well designed and looks just as nice as what's inside most of the time. Once again it is a matt black colour with the silvered Play Arts lettering on the front at the bottom. The Final Fantasy VII logo is also on the front, along with the name and number of the set. The sides are fairly standard with a small image on one side and the name of the set on the other. The back of the packaging actually shows the image of how i had him displayed (the large image) along with a few other views of and the Daytona, it also displays the other figures that are included in the Vol.1 set. Other than that it's the usual smallprint in the corner. Underneath the box is the Square-Enix shop info.

I would definately recommend this set, it is my favourite of all the figures i have shown you so far and probably will remain the favourite or one of them, for a long time to come. It wasn't too cheap (not for me) but at the same time i think i got it at a decent price. I've seen this set selling on ebay for more than £100. The detail and care that has gone into making this set so accurate and amazing is fantastic! It's going to be fun re-running some of the bike minigames and storyline section with this in my peripheral vision! Buy it if you can find it!

Here are the pictures:

 

Final Fantasy XIII - Lightning Play Arts Kai

As promised here are the first of many pictures of my Figure Collection, . I'm starting with the outsider of the group so far, being the only FFXIII figure that i have at the moment. Then I'll work my way through the FFVII Figures.

This one was purchased for me by my fiancé (actually most of them were at some point) at Christmas just gone. I think the figure is fantastic. The detail is stunning, something i have noticed about all of the / models. They also have a fantastic feel to them, they don't feel cheap in any way at all, i know they aren't particularly cheap to buy, but i've noticed over the years that it's very possible to spend plenty of money on cheaply made things. This does NOT fall into that category.

The figure, just like the others i have, is highly articulated and most of the joints can be moved, arms, legs, head in plenty of ways. This allows you to pretty much pose the models exactly how you want them. This figure came with two different versions of Lightning's Sword, one folded up and the other fully extended. The folded up one fits nicely into a sheath on her belt, her cape is amazing and rubbery feeling, allowing for it to move instead of rigid plastic.

She stands a bit taller than the rest of my figures at around 9" which is a pretty decent size.

My one and only downside to this model is actually nothing to do with the figure itself, it is in fact the base/stand. It takes up far too much room and is really awkward to set up in a way that takes up the least amount of room. I don't know if it's just me or if other people have the same problem, for all i know there may be some way of setting it up like a normal stand, but if there is, i've not figured it out yet.

Here are the images: