Author Archives: Steve Murray
Football Manager 2015 Review: Every Single One of Us Loves Alex Ferguson
It’s not often that I will follow an annual franchise through year-to-year but it’s interesting to see what work goes into a franchise as the developers change calendars. Most gamers look at the likes of Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty and write them off as being a fresh coat of paint and a change of venue but not much else. Sports franchises have a reputation for being an annual roster update and not much more.
Having played Football Manager 2014 and comparing it to this year, there’s a bit more to this year’s update to Football Manager than the rosters. There are a whole host of changes to the game that I think makes it a bit more new and casual gamer friendly as well as a few tweaks for those who are far more into the minutiae of football than I am.
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Comic Book Pull List for November 5, 2014
Usually I start these posts with recommendations for new comic series but this week we start with a final issue. After nine issues, Superman Unchained comes to an end. Scott Snyder and Jim Lee are off to carry on with other projects (Batman, mostly) but their Superman collaboration ends with Superman Unchained #9.
Meanwhile, Marvel continues to try to cash in on the death of Wolverine by launching two more series this week. There’s Death of Wolverine: Life After Logan and Death of Wolverine: Weapon X Project. If that’s not your speed, maybe you can check out John Carter: Warlord of Mars. It’s from Dynamite rather than Marvel/Disney so there might be hope for those of you who weren’t high on Disney’s take on John Carter.
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Haven: Exposure Review
So Nathan is a Troubled ghost, Mara and Audrey have been split up, half of the main cast took last week off and I’m just trying to think of reasons for people to continue on after last week’s episode other than “you’ve seen the first four-and-a-half seasons through so you may as well see it through.”
This week’s episode didn’t see any real improvement from Naudrey storyline but at least characters outside the show’s big three were given something interesting and memorable for us to watch.
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Game Trailers Roundup for November 3, 2014
This week will be a big money week in gaming. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is launched this week. This one will be an interesting one to watch. CoD is held up for a number of reasons as being the worst of big money triple-A gaming but this year seems to have a next-gen first focus and is the first game produced on a three-year development cycle. Will this make a difference when the reviews come out?
Also in this week’s trailer roundup is Halo 2: Anniversary for Xbox One, Natural Selection 2: Combat, Star Citizen, This War of Mine and some Ubisoft games.
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Is Microsoft Working on an Xbox One Slim?
Not only does Microsoft have the for-now-temporary $50 discount on Kinect-less Xbox One consoles and bundles that started yesterday, late last week, news broke that Microsoft is working on the next “generation” of Xbox One consoles that could lead to a permanent price drop. Word on the street is that AMD has developed a smaller processor for use in the Xbox One which could be the precursor to big changes to the Xbox One.
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Doctor Who: Dark Water Review
It certainly hasn’t seemed like this season has been on for very long but we’ve reached the end of this season of Doctor Who. After ten weeks, it’s time for the two-part season finale. After all the teasers of Missy and the afterlife, The Doctor and Clara finally stumble upon it after the personal stakes are raised.
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Geek Links of the Week
The lead actors of Game of Thrones are getting paid. HBO is trading their commitment to Season Seven for big raises. [The Hollywood Reporter]
In an editorial for Businessweek, Tim Cook came out as gay. [Businessweek]
Netflix is probably going to end up the second-biggest victim of the death of net neutrality (the end users being the biggest victim). Here’s how Netflix is currently being throttled by ISPs. [Medium]
Good news! YouTube has launched 60 FPS playback for videos in HD. It only works on Chrome right now but you probably have it on your computer anyway. [PC World]
Jim Cameron is a fan of pushing technology used in movies and creating visual epics (almost as much as George Lucas) but he’s not sold on virtual reality yet. He says that if you want virtual reality, play a video game. Of course he’d say something smart like that. He’s from up the road in Kap. Must be that Northern Ontario water. [GameSpot]
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Twitch Updates Rules of Conduct to Ban “Sexually Suggestive” and “Self-Destructive” Behaviour
You knew that changes were coming to Twitch after their billion-dollar purchase by Amazon. However, changes so far have been fairly minimal. Sure, there’s the content ID on VODs but it beats the haphazard way that YouTube’s content ID and DCMA systems work. And their latest change might seem fairly minimal but it might have a big impact on some streamers with this week’s changes to the rules of conduct.
The two changes to Twitch’s Rules of Conduct revolve around what Twitch called “self destructive behaviour” and “sexually suggestive” clothing and behaviour.
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Marvel Unveils Next Slate of Movies, Including New Avengers, Captain America and Guardrians
We know what the plan is for Marvel Studios, the TV and movie production arm of Marvel Comics, through the end of next year. However, until Tuesday, we didn’t know what the plan was beyond that point. At a special event at El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles, Marvel announced plans for Phase Three of their movie initiative.
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GOG Adds LucasArts Games to Library
The vintage game updater and store, GOG.com, has added another new publisher to its catalogue and the internet has come mental over it. As of yesterday, GOG added classic LucasArts (AKA LucasFilm Interactive) debuted on the store with six games and the promise of over 20 games to be released on GOG in total.
et geekera 