Codex of Aegis State of the Union -- 2016 edition

Okay, yeah. I get it. It's still like, the very end of November of 2015. Well guess what, buddy -- that means its two months until 2016, which, if its good enough for EA Sports, its good enough for me as well.

Basically, for those of you unacquainted, the State of the Union is basically the "New Years Resolutions" of the Codex of Aegis group, except it never actually happens on New Years. This is basically the details on everything Codex of Aegis related, and what to look forward to in the future about it. Think of it like Christmas but for some shitty series of blogs and youtube channels you don't care about as much.

However, before we continue into the future, you must always look to the past. Or something. Let's look at last years(?) State of the Union to see what we made and what we didn't:
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"Codex of Aegis

First off, in the last post I hinted at the idea of a Codex of Aegis compilation ebook, with extra features, commentary, and the rest of the works. It was originally slated for Winter 2014, but it never came out -- and that was purposeful on my part. To make sure I would have enough content to work with in making the book, I decided to set a point in which I finally start making it after I upload X amount of stories. Well, as of today, the X amount has been reached -- so I'm now announcing that Codex of Aegis will go on hiatus while I'm busy compiling it. I plan to add the following:

• All stories from the blog's inception up until today's
• Commentary/critique on each one
• A special "Astuka Looks Back" section
• A few chapters to a book that was originally going to be released in 2014 but will now be later

As for price and release date, I'm still working on it -- though I hope to finish by at least Summer 2015."

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Besides the Summer 2015 release window, everything about this part is *relatively* still correct. I'm not going to spend much time on this because the big book update/preview post is still up and updated as far as possible.  Well, except the whole Summer 2015 part. But I promise guys, it's coming Winter 2016. Probably. Maybe Spring 2016. Promise.

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"

The Blogs

As Codex of Aegis will be busy hibernating, I intend to start updating this a lot more. I already have 2 posts planned for next week with some ideas for more. I also plan on starting another blog for more dumb clickbait stuff, since apparently that's "in". So that means there would be 3 blogs: one for stories, one for nonfiction kind of stuff (this one), and finally the new blog (which might end up being monetized, but I don't know)."

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So what ended up happening was that Codex of Aegis was hibernating with the occasional progress post,  but Astuka's Blog isn't really as active as I intended it to be. Whoops. Still, I feel like enough content is put on here to justify an occasional visit, and from what I've seen of analytics it seems that the view count is pretty constant. As for the clickbait site, that was put off fairly soon after The Best of the Youtube died out. The idea of putting on someone else's stuff just isn't what I wanted to do, anymore at least. I found that the most fun I really had doing Best of the Youtube was doing my own commentary over what I thought was dumb, and the community's reaction to it. Not just rereleasing dumb videos for a bunch of views. But yeah, no more clickbait. Sorry.

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"AstukaGaming

Recently there has been some talk internally on making AG season 2. I can't say yet that we're dedicated to making it, but I have made the AstukaGaming channel an "official Codex of Aegis" channel, and plan to do the same with Best of the Youtube tomorrow. As always, the podcast will keep going, and I'm thinking of legitimately doing some "casual streaming" on astukari as time goes on."

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 Interesting enough, AstukaGaming is the only part that has gone beyond its goals (though I guess now the whole thing would be called "astukari.". Though there has been no AG season 2 and Best of the Youtube is, of course, dead, astukari is expanded a great deal. There was the short astukari show, the details of which will be described later -- the podcast continued and added in the Link to the Past, which hopefully more of will be made soon, and many more hopeful additions to the channel. 

Well, that's all for the past. Let's look toward the future:

Codex of Aegis

As the compilation book is still being worked on, it's likely that Codex of Aegis will stay dormant for some time, mostly because if I add anything I feel like it would ruin the value of the book itself (hopefully I'll figure out some way to fix this problem in the future). Instead, I'll try my best to work on the only real thing I can work on on that site, which is the Guardians of Enthia stuff. I plan on making a page on there that's dedicated to the series -- it will have chronological links to all the chapters as well as some stuff for the wiki, as well as any additional stuff I've done for it (including the Astuka Looks Back stuff).

Astuka's Blog

This blog will... well, it will probably stay exactly the same as it is now. Whenever I have something I plan on writing that doesn't fit on Codex of Aegis or Astukari, I'll probably just put here.

Astukari

Astukari, as a channel, will continue its normal functions. Astukari as a mini-podcast, however, will likely stop functioning due to the fears I had for it going in, which was content. Since the podcast was biweekly, I feel like making Astukari weekly would be the only way to give it enough merit to exist while still having time to generate content for it, but unfortunately the content side didn't really work out.

AstukaGaming

Like I've mentioned previously,  AstukaGaming is, and still will be, the gaming stuff between me and Vaughan as well as anyone else we decide to bring along, assuming we do bring anyone else along. Anything that's not gaming -- or does not have more than 2 people -- aren't considered to be apart of AstukaGaming. This may change in the future, however, depending on how convoluted/confusing it gets.

AG Podcast

The AstukaGaming podcast is the AstukaGaming podcast. Seriously. It will keep continuing as normal far towards the foreseeable future, giving you the best in week-old gaming news in fairly biweekly intervals.

Link to the Past 

Though its been some time since our Battlefront 2 LttP,  we have no plans to stop or cancel the series and once we find another game that is common between the both of us we'll probably make another LttP episode -- however, until then, nothing is planned.

Endurance Run

Those of you who occasionally view the youtube channel may notice a new series is up called "Morrowind Endurance Run". This was my way of finding an excuse to frequently and casually do twitch streams as well as regular uploads -- Morrowind is a fairly laid back game that takes a lot of time to beat. If I stream the game fairly regularly for, say relatively 45 minutes every few days, it would ideally increase my activity on Twitch and Youtube. Plus, its fun to do and in my opinion actually entertaining in these first few parts. I would recommend!

Videologica Obscura

Though just a simple concept for now, Videologica Obscura is the name of a show that I've been brainstorming for quite some time now. It's, at its core, a kind of review show -- only for the most obscure, weird, or just plain dumb shit possible. Basically the commentary works a lot like it did in BotYT, where I'll either record gameplay myself and then record some commentary in post or, if the game is too obscure, find some gameplay video and commentate over that. I do plan on editing this a lot more than I did for BotYT, however.

The Best of the Youtube

F

Extra Life

In case you didn't know, early this November we did our third annual Extra Life. Honestly, it wasn't as good as the others, and I think its due to this that I'm going to change the formula in the future. More updates on the changes will be discussed in the future.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

[BOTY] astukari Episode 8 -- Operation Playstation

How to use Survey Sites and get Gift Cards Easily! (Swagbucks Guide)

By now most of us have heard of "survey sites" --  websites in which you can do fairly menial tasks to work your way up to some reward, whether it be Amazon gift cards, some currency in a game, or even Paypal cash. However, there is one catch to these sites that make most turn away from them -- most of these surveys can take hours at a time, and in the end you're only getting a few cents.

I used to be turned off from these websites, until I found that there's a much, much easier way to do things. Since I get asked about this stuff a lot, I decided to make a guide that addresses my most-used survey website and how I am able to get a much more efficient output of money-input of time ratio on it.

As proof, here are some of my earnings. These are all from Swagbucks, the main site that I use and the one which is perhaps the easiest to get money from.

The first thing you want to do is, of course, sign up for the site, which you can do by going here. You can get a few Swagbucks by completing your profile and doing the tour, but for the most part the Swagbucks that you get from this won't really effect you in the long run. Still, for those who want to be the most efficient, this is a pretty easy way to get ahead early. Ultimately, the choice is yours.

Now, here's where the real money making begins. It is important to note here that you MUST have either an iPhone or an Android phone in order to get the most out of Swagbucks. If you do not have one of these, you will be forced to use the normal menial method. You could attempt to get past this by installing a phone emulator like Bluestacks to your computer, but I cannot endorse the use of these as they are against the rules of Swagbucks and it greatly increases your chances of getting banned from the site. If you do have an iPhone, you will want to install at least one of these apps:
 - Swagbucks TV
 - Entertainow
 - Moviecli.ps
 - Sportly.tv
 - Indymusic.tv
 - Lifestylz.tv
 (Note: As of now, all of these are available on both iPhone and Android. It has not always been this way, and there may be a chance that one of them will be removed from either appstore. If that is the case, and you can't find one, just go to the next on the list)

Now, something important to note is this: All of these apps have a set limit of SB you can earn at one time (you can see this in the table below). However, Swagbucks has introduced a new system in which you have a "chance" to earn more Swagbucks at the same rate (also in the table) beyond the limit. I have experimented with this a little bit and it seems like the chance is 100% automatic after you hit your limit and it keeps going infinitely. My only disclaimer to this is that, of course, there could be exceptions, and Swagbucks could later on change this system.

Anyway, here is a table with all the video apps, their limit, rate, and the shortest videos (you want to search for these and favorite them, then play the videos via the favorite videos playlist (you can get to this just by clicking the heart or "My favorites" sidebar in the app and clicking the first video). This method will increase the amount of Swagbucks you get). Take in mind some of these videos are switched out for other ones and you will not be able to find them in the search. If that's the case, just find as many as you can and use those. There is no limit for how small a favorites playlist can be -- you can really just have one video and probably still be fine.

 And there you have it! If you did it correctly, then the videos should play automatically under the favorites playlist. Just let them play and keep your phone plugged in while you go to other things. Make sure to check back periodically, though -- some of the ads can be quite broken and may require you to close out of them manually or restart the app.

Now, on to the good part -- the rewards!

Before we go too far into this, know that the exchange rate for swagbucks is 100 SB = $1 USD. Keep this in mind so that you can tell the good deals from the terrible ones.

You can find the list of rewards by going to the home page on Swagbucks and clicking "Rewards" in the sidebar under the "Redeem" category. Feel free to check out all your options by going to "All Rewards", but I personally recommend that when it comes to redeeming you only get the rewards that are "On Sale". These sale prices are normally much better than the normal prices, and will make it easier to save toward your next reward. Don't like any of the on sale rewards? Then simply wait -- remember, those who are patient always end up getting the biggest rewards!


Sources:
http://thelazycollegekid.blogspot.com/2013/10/swagbucks-quick-guide.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/SwagBucks/comments/229bf6/detailed_guide_about_swagbuckscom_for_the_newbies/

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

[BOTY] astukari Episode 7 -- Arbitrary News Weekly

Astukagaming Podcast REDUX Episode 26 -- Lootcrate

astukari Episode 5 -- Review Central

[UPDATE] astukari Episode 4 -- Extra Life and Old Videos

Astukagaming Podcast REDUX Episode 25 -- Welcome to the Future

astukari Episode 3 - A Look into the Mind of Gail Chord

astukari Episode 2 - Enter the Volt Wing

Astukagaming Podcast REDUX Episode 24 -- Leukemia Warning

astukari Episode 1 - Enter the Matrix

Codex of Aegis Updates -- 8/31/2015

As editing on the CoA Compilation Book proceeds nicely and uniformly sporadically, there is a new set of announcements I'd like to... well, announce. Instead of writing them all out like I normally do, this time I've mostly done easy-to-read bullet points. Most of this has to do with the youtube channels, and less the blogs, but I figure it will be good to know anyway.

-”AstukaGaming” youtube channel now called “astukari.”

-AstukaGaming will now operate under astukari with the ASTUKAGAMING tag

    -AstukaGaming Podcast will now be officially called “AstukaGaming Presents:

    AstukaGaming Podcast REDUX “Strong Opinions for Strong People””

    -However, it will still be called “AstukaGaming Podcast REDUX” for short

    -In addition, all future Link to the Past episodes will now be officially called

    “AstukaGaming Presents: Link to the Past”

    -As with the podcast, it will be called “Link to the Past” for short

    -AstukaGaming and astukari will operate independently, even when they are still under the same channel, under Codex of Aegis

-astukari will include short, weekly segments on any possible subjects, though most likely dealing the most in gaming, movies, music, politics, and more

    - astukari “gaming videos” are separate from AstukaGaming as they are individual   

    opinions and do not work as a group project, as AstukaGaming was made to be, and

    still is.

`    -Episodes of astukari will be uploaded audio-only to a Soundcloud account until the GB

    is filled up. After this, episodes will only be able to be found at the astukari channel. This

    can be subject to change.

    -For organizational purposes, and to benefit those who subscribe for only a specific type

    of video, videos will be tagged and put into playlists similarly to how they were on Best of

    the Youtube.

- The astukari channel will also include updates to Codex of Aegis related stories.

    -These updates will be embed as posts on Codex of Aegis. General episodes as

    described above will be posted on “Astuka’s Blog”.

        -Astukagaming Podcast and Link to the Past episodes will also be posted on

        Astuka’s Blog

-Social Media reforms

    -Codex of Aegis social media channels will be going through another set of reforms to

    make sure everything is easily accessible. Though I do not intend of detailing this reforms

    specifically as of now (as some of them may not come into fruition), they include a

    possible Tumblr alternatives to Codex of Aegis and Astuka’s Blog, as well extended use

    of the @CodexofAegis twitter and Codex of Aegis facebook accounts.

-The Best of the Youtube shut down.

    -As promised previously, The Best of the Youtube will be cancelled once the channel

    receives three copyright strikes. This has now been reached, and the channel has

    been terminated. Codex of Aegis will not be running another The Best of the Youtube

    channel.

    -Any unreleased or still saved The Best of the Youtube original footage will be posted in

    the coming weeks to astukari. After that, all The Best of the Youtube footage will cease.

    -This does not disclude similar types of commentary to be posted later on the astukari

    channel for special events, however.

In addition to all of this, the very first episode of astukari will be up (relatively around) September 3rd, and will be discussing these announcements in detail. If you still have questions about any of this, they will probably be answered there. 

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Opposing Fronts: Why both Radical Feminism and Men's Rights are stupid

If you went up to me on August 20th, 2014 and told me that the topic I was discussing would turn into a heated national debate, I would say you were absolutely crazy. If you would've given me a true glimpse of this debate as it is today, I probably would've just thrown myself off a building and been done with it there. Unfortunately that never happened, and now I'm stuck still having to deal with this shit.

Before I actually get on the opposite sides of this big thing, let's define feminism.

I can't believe I just said that.

Seriously guys, you learned this in, what, the third grade? It's been almost a year, and I STILL can't believe that this is a debate. Listen, the dictionary definition of feminism is the equality between the male and female genders. Some examples of feminist thought are "females should be paid as much as males" and "females can be physically strong the same way males can be emotionally sensitive".

Wow! Was that really that hard? Apparently it is, because some moron somewhere decided it was a fantastic idea to name two opposite ends of the spectrum the same thing. Seriously, I used to have an early post up called "Feminists are fucking hilarious" because it was before radical feminists were even called anything, not even SJW. People just decided to go all "literally" on it, except "literally" isn't an extremely controversial topic that constantly gets confused on which one you're talking about. "Yeah, I saw a guy bashing feminism..." Which one? The one we all believe is wrong, or the one we all believe is right? I understand that most of us by this point have been able to find our own words for radical feminism besides just feminism, but I feel like there's just enough of the population who is using the same word for both that it STILL manages to be an issue.

Anyway, that was my off-the-cuff rant for today. Now let's talk about the extremes.

Radical Feminism

The dictionary definition of radical feminism is a group, normally consisting of women, who believe that the female gender is much higher than the male gender, and often make sexist remarks while discussing straight males. This group has gone on from just discussing females, and have also "included" transgender, gays, and racial minorities (I put included in quotations, mostly due to these people being batshit crazy and I don't see how anyone from those three groups would enjoy having these people on their "side"). This group is also sometimes called SJWs (Social Justice Warriors), radfems, and even far leftists (for people who can't help leaving politics out of the conversation). Another trait of radical feminism is their insistence that everything must be culturally and politically correct and appropriate or else, but that is a topic of discussion for another time.

Obviously, these people are fucking bad. Fortunately, for the most part it seems as though 80 percent of the population agree that these people are dumb. Unfortunately, that still leaves 20 percent, and in a world filled with 7.3 billion people that isn't a very good sign. Yes, these are people who genuinely, unironically believe that all males must die (And no, minority males are no longer an exception. They're being hunted too. Sorry fellas.) These are people who actually burn books made by white authors because they shouldn't be able to talk about minorities. These are the people who argue with you with every "insensitive" remark you make (definition of that word varies). These are people who think that we need to have actual warnings on every small little thing we do just to not offend people. These are people who think comedy, for the most part, needs to die out. These are people who stage entire protests just because of some offhand comment about females, transgenders, or minorities. These people are insane, dangerous, and like I said, make up a very small portion of people.

Sure, there might be a few people out there who read this who think at least at this time there should be more sensitivity in comedy or comments, or that we should have more diversity in entertainment, and although I may not necessarily agree with these opinions/think they are important issues, I can agree that they are not as radical as, well, radicals.

Yet in the wake of this new wave of radical feminism (yup, it's existed in the past. no, I won't be discussing it in detail here), another, equally small, equally retarded group has come out of the woodwork to combat this so called "feminist threat"...

Men's Rights

The dictionary definition of Men's Rights activism is a group, normally consisting of men, who believe that the female gender is a significant threat to society and that it is men who deserve more rights than woman to keep them in check. This group normally consists of men who have once been rejected by a woman or have met a bad one, and instead of drawing the logical conclusion of "Oh, she was just a bad person", decide to declare informal jihad against the entire group. Remind you of something? Sounds a lot like how racism started.

Now, I'll admit, this isn't nearly as dangerous as radical feminism. Hell, all this is is just being straight up stupid. What? People are making stupid assumptions? Don't they do that already?

Still, its notable due to its a) potential to be dangerous, and b) its at the opposite side of the spectrum as radical feminism, hence the title of this article.

To be honest, there isn't much to say about this one. Most people already know about this group, and know it's bad.

So, that's all for now. I've been planning to do a lot more posts in the future, both on this blog and the other one (Codex of Aegis), mostly because now there's a lot more to talk about.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

E3: Review and Roundup

Now that E3 is finally in its days of settling, it seems now is a good time to "grade" each major publishers performance. Take in mind that this will not be based on their conference alone -- it will also account for things they announced at other conferences, and during the showcase days of E3.

BETHESDA
FINAL GRADE: B-
I liked Bethesda's showing mostly because it was very straight forward. Besides the dumb Elder Scrolls card game, they pretty much showed off exactly what everyone wanted. Todd "The Bomb" Howard got even me excited for Fallout 4, the DOOM trailer that none of us thought we would care about was actually pretty lengthy and interesting, Fallout Shelter is actually a fun little unique game, and we finally got confirmation of Dishonored 2.

MICROSOFT
FINAL GRADE: B
I've never, to this day, owned a Xbox, but I'm always willing to be persuaded to get one. Though I wasn't really interested this time either, it's now clear that Phil Spencer is doing an excellent job in terms of turning the company around after their abysmal performances in the last few years. Rare is finally free from its shackles to do whatever it wants, as well as a new IP from the creators of Megaman and Metroid Prime coming exclusively to the Xbox One. Also -- though the lineup for it as of now is very sparse -- backwards compatibility is an incredibly interesting feature, as well as one that Sony cannot compete in due to hardware constraints. This conference was quite enough to keep me, as a PS4 owner, worried (Though as it turns out, I would end up being very surprised).

UBISOFT
FINAL GRADE: D+
The Ubisoft conference left me incredibly impressed with the lineup they had, though that feeling of impressiveness slowly melted away when I realized that I still really didn't care for any of the games that Ubisoft was releasing. I'll admit that the live Siege demo they had actually got me a little interested, but beyond that everything they showed consisted of the same boring games they release every year, as well as a new title that just looked like those games that they release every year.

EA
FINAL GRADE: F
I expected nothing, and I was still let down. From the fact that 80% of the show was just sports, it was clear that the only thing they really had to show was Star Wars Battlefront -- and when they finally did show the gameplay trailer, there was nothing that was really holding me in. It just seemed like another dull FPS that you could occasionally switch to a third person mode -- disappointing, seeing as how hyped the original Free Radical trailer got me. Like with Ubisoft, I think I'm going to skip out on EA games yet again.

SONY
FINAL GRADE: A-
As I said before, coming into the Sony conference I was pretty worried. How could Sony possibly beat out Microsoft? I probably thought something vaguely resembling that. Oh boy, was I wrong.

First of all, some expected leaks were confirmed: FF7 Remake, Shemue III, and The Last Guardian. In addition, some exclusives we thought only vaguely of turned out to be looking incredible -- Horizon: Zero Dawn and Dreams to name two. And on top of all that, a series of smaller bonuses and timed exclusives for the more popular games being released this year and next. Microsoft did good, but who was expecting such a series of megatons to drop from Sony?

NINTENDO
FINAL GRADE: F
Now, after the Microsoft and Sony press conferences, it was obvious that Nintendo needed to step up their game. They not only failed to do that, but failed to really show anything at all. Their three biggest announcements -- Metroid Freedom Force, AC: Amiibo Festival, and Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes, seemed to just be budget substitutes of games people actually wanted (Metroid Prime 4, AC: Wii-U, and, well, The Legend of Zelda). The fire continued to burn after the conference, as numerous Nintendo execs tried hard to claim that nothing was wrong with the conference, as well as rumors that Nintendo was planning on abandoning the Wii-U in favor of the NX. If right now is a great time to be a PS4 owner, it must really suck to be a Wii-U owner.

SQUARE ENIX
FINAL GRADE: A
What a stellar performance from a company many thought was in a pretty dark place. A series of brand new announcements, such as the FF7 remake, Nier 2, and a brand new mainline JRPG IP, were placed along very impressive looking gameplay demos for games that had already been announced, primarily for Kingdom Hearts 3. Oh, and let's not forget Eidos Interactive, Square Enix's western wing -- Just Cause 3 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided were looking very impressive, and a brand new Hitman was announced, which seemed to hearken back to Blood Money rather than the not as well received Absolution. Definitely signs of a turn around for Square Enix, which will hopefully continue well into the future.

PC GAMING SHOW
FINAL GRADE: F
Oh, yeah! Almost forgot this happened. To be honest, this was just as bad as I was expecting it to be. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate PC gaming -- but just like every other system, I'd like to see some exclusives coming out for it. In the total two hours of the show, we got about 3 of those (2 of which I can't even remember the names of). The majority of the rest of the show primarily dealt with ports of console games, long boring talks with AMD execs, and DLC or expansion content for games that had already been released. Throughout the entirety of E3 however, games were being announced for the system -- except they would be released months, maybe even years after they had already come out on consoles, which seems to have been the case already for the PC.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

E3: Predictions Review

So before I start, I want to point out I did a round-up for Bethesda and no one else. I was going to do this for all the conferences until I realized there's a bunch and it would take me a super long time to do something that all the other bigger guys have done already. So instead I'm going to make this (reviewing my predictions) and then when the PC Gaming Show is done, I'll start working on an overview of "grading" each of the conferences and giving my review of each. Anyway, let's get to it.

ORIGINAL LINK TO PREDICTIONS

I'll be going ahead and giving myself a point for each thing I get right, and 1/2 a point for everything I kind of got right but not really. Hey, it's my show!

I guess this can be a start of a game where I can compare my points in predictions each year and try to get better everytime as well.

BETHESDA CONFERENCE -
- Doom Gameplay (+1)
- Fallout 4 Gameplay (+1)
- Likely an announcement from one of the other studios. I'm looking mostly at Arkane, seeing that Tango and Machine released games just last year. Perhaps it will be a new Dishonored? Or a new IP altogether? (It was Dishonored 2! +1)
- Apparently there's also a Bethesda studio called "Battlecry Studios" which is making a game called Battlecry. I have no idea what that is, but perhaps that question will be answered in their press conference? (It was indeed answered: a kind of bad looking medieval TF2. +1)

MICROSOFT CONFERENCE-
Okay, I genuinely have no idea, speaking that most of their big title reveals have been pushed back to Gamescom. I have no idea whether this is because they want a strong Gamescom showing or they have a bomb to drop at E3, but I'm just going to go ahead and assume the bomb since E3 is a massive deal compared to Gamescom. I also don't know specifically the games they moved back, so forgive me if I mention a game that was already confirmed to not show up.
- Halo 5 Gameplay and Release Date (has a date been confirmed yet?) (As it turns out, the release date was confirmed a few months ago, so I'm going to go ahead and give me full points on this. +1)
- Quantum Break Gameplay and Release Date (WRONG! Quantum Break was one of the games moved back to Gamescom)
- Banjo Threeie (WRONG! Though Rare was at the conference, showcasing their new IP Sea of Thieves as well as the Rare Replay collection)
- Crackdown Gameplay (WRONG! Once again, Crackdown was one of the games moved to Gamescom)
- Forza Gameplay and Release Date (once again, date?) (Correct on both, but I'll just give myself +1 since I combined the two)
- Fable 4 (remember, a man can dream) (WRONG! Just Fable Journeys. God dammit.)
- New IP (From whom I'm not quite sure, but it's apparent that, unlike previous Xbox CEOs, Phil Spencer knows there needs to be more exclusives on the Xbone.) (This game was Recore, from Inafune (Megaman) as well as the creators of Metroid Prime. +1)
-Rise of the Tomb Raider gameplay and Release Date (hopefully a name change too) (Gameplay, but unfortunately no release date nor name change. +1/2)

EA CONFERENCE-
Not really expecting anything special here. Same shit as always -- emphasis on the word "shit".
- Star Wars Battlefront Gameplay and Release Date (date?) (Date was confirmed earlier, but gameplay was there. +1)
- Mirror's Edge Catalyst Gameplay (+1)
- New Battlefield Gameplay and Release Date (WRONG! Looks like Battlefront will be the Battlefield for this year.)
- SPORTS (+1, though I honestly don't think a single "SPORTS" was enough for just how much they had.)
- Mass Effect 4 Gameplay (WRONG! No gameplay, just a cinematic trailer.)
- Burnout: Not Burnout Edition Gameplay (WRONG! Though they did show Need for Speed, it wasn't the Criterion game.)

UBISOFT CONFERENCE-
- Cringy Aisha Tyler (+1)
- Some dumb danceparty (Starring Jason Derulo! +1)
- Far Cry 5 Gameplay and release date (though it hasn't been leaked yet, so maybe there is none?) (There was indeed no new Far Cry, however I did predict it, so no points here.)
- Assassin's Creed Syndicate Gameplay and Release Date (+1)
- New UbiArt game (Don't think I saw anything on this.)
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Gameplay and Release Date (The Release Date was announced earlier, but the gameplay was there. +1)
- "Special Surprise" at the end (My Street Fighter V senses are tingling, and they're saying it's a new Splinter Cell) (Nope! It was Ghost Recon: Wildlands. Though the bulk of the prediction was the surprise, so I'll give myself full points. +1)

SONY CONFERENCE-
- The Last Guardian (I said it once, I'll say it again ... I don't even like this game ...) (Now I like how it looks, though! +1)
- Persona 5 Gameplay and maybe release date (date?) (WRONG! Looks like so far the only Persona-related thing Atlus came to show was the same trailer that was released a few months ago with a few words translated.)
- MGS5 6-minute trailer (unless those rumors about it being at Keighley's show are actually real) (WRONG! It was at Keighley's show.)
- Uncharted 4 Gameplay and Release Date (No specific release date, but there was gameplay. +1/2
- Dark Souls III Gameplay (WRONG! All we got was a cinematic trailer shown at the Microsoft conference.)
- Bloodborne DLC Gameplay and Release Date (WRONG!)
- Horizon (Guerrilla Game's new game) (Full name Horizon: Zero Dawn. +1)
- Street Fighter V Gameplay and Release Date (Once again, no specific release date, but gameplay was shown. +1/2)
- No Man's Sky Gameplay and Release Date (date?) (No release date, but gameplay. +1/2)

Suprisingly, I failed to predict both the Shenmue III and FF7 Remake announcements. My spider senses failed me on that one.

NINTENDO CONFERENCE- (this is where I go bold)
- Ryu and Roy for Smash Bros (leaked earlier today, guess it all depends if the leak is real?) (Leak is real, but the announcement was on the morning of the Nintendo World Championship.)
- New Metroid for the Wii-U by Retro Studios (WRONG!)
- New Metroid for New 3DS by Nintendo (...Correct? Kind of? The games were Metroid Federation Force + Blast Ball, but they do not look like they will be N3DS exclusives and I don't think they were developed by Nintendo.)
- Yookah-Laylee Gameplay (WRONG!)
- New IP (One from before with an official name) (Nope, no new IPs)
- Fire Emblem If Gameplay and Release Date (date?) (No release date, but I believe gameplay was shown? +1/2)
- SMT vs Fire Emblem Gameplay and Release Date (date?) (STILL no gameplay, just another trailer.)
- Persona 3 & 4 HD for Wii-U (FUCK IT I DON'T CARE) (Wrong, hopefully to no one's surprise.)

Should've put my bold predictions in Sony. Servers me right for thinking the Direct was going to be good two years in a row...

TOTAL POINTS: 19 1/2

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E3: Bethesda Conference Round-Up

Here's a quick round up of whats been announced at the Bethesda E3 conference:

• Doom Gameplay
• Ah, yes. The lava factory.
• Double jump, just like the original. Wait, I don't think-
• New finishers, in the style of MK, that leave messes of blood.
• Game has health/armor/ammo that can be picked up easily like the other games, though their design is more akin to Quake.
• New multiplayer mode. You can play as one of the jetpack demons!
• Comes with Doom Snapmap, a map editor that is available on all platforms.
• Battlecry
• Looks like an action steampunk medieval game with Team Fortress 2 graphics
• No, seriously. This game looks a LOT like TF2.
• Dishonored 2
• Not much to talk about here. Looks like the game, but newer. Also, you can now play as an adult Emily, one of the main characters from the first game, in addition to the old hero Corvo (spelling?)
• Dishonored: Definitive Edition
• I think you know exactly what this is.
• The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited
• Oh no.
• Also the Imperial City is under attack. Why? I don't even think the writers for this game know.
• I mean, they don't seem to know a lot.
• The Elder Scrolls: Dumb Mobile Card Game Edition
• ...I don't even want to talk about this...
• Fallout 4
• Prologue that starts before the war
• Sims 4 face sculpting!
• Fully voiced protagonist confirmed, as well as Bioware dialogue choices
• They spent the money to record 1,000 names, only for you to probably think of something ridiculous instead.
• Turns out things go sour, but you emerge from Vault 111 fine. That is, 200 years in the future.
• Now I'm not too sure of that, but I'm pretty sure that there was a popular fan-made Vault 111 that involved cryochambers. If that's true, that means Bethesda canonized it, which is pretty cool of them. 
• VATs is back, just in case you used it. Hopefully you didn't.
• Layered armor and game tapes (minigames you can play on the Pipboy)
• The Collector's Edition of Fallout 4 comes with a Pipboy, that you can put your phone into, and they have an app to make it a real Pipboy. Or a second-screen experience. Your pick.
• This will allow you to just use the Pipboy that's in game in real life. Of course, it will still work if you just download the app and don't get the Pipboy.
• There's also an iOS game that you can play right now! It's called Fallout Shelter, and it's based on games like Tiny Towers and Sim Tower. However, it doesn't have any paywalls -- just a hearthstone-style "pack" system in which you can buy some packs if you feel like it (but are still available to you via challenges)
• We've finally gone full Minecraft -- you can create houses and settlements (the settlements can run independent on each other, as well as have trade routes to one another)
• Traders can work as traders, farmers as farmers. There's also an in-game wiring system similar to redstoning in Minecraft.
• You can also create custom guns and power armor using the same system.
• What I'm personally most excited for is that now every item in the game has a purpose! (salvaging, crafting, settling)
• However, it does look like (though has not been confirmed) that skills have been removed and replaced by a more detailed perk system.
• And, thank god, iron sights are back.

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E3: Leaks & Leaks & Weeks & Leaks...

As with all major announcement events, it's customary for some of the announcements to be released a bit... early. Though no one likes spoilers, you can't deny that some of these leaks are pretty exciting. To the leaker himself/herself, we pray for your life. And your job position.

DISHONORED 2

Looks like I'm one for one! Just recently, the rehearsal for the Bethesda conference was accidentally streamed. Though it was not up for very long, it looks as if some talk about the new Dishonored was happening. Looks like dreams really do come true.

DARK SOULS III

Leaked by the folks at Rooster Teeth a few days back, to hopefully no one's surprise, there looks to be another Dark Souls game on the horizon. Now that quite a few Dark Souls-esque games have been released in such a short time I feel like the games will begin to start getting pretty boring after this, If they're going to keep up the hype for this series, they'll have to do it exceptionally well, and even then it might get old regardless.

ROY & RYU FOR SMASH

Though this has been rumored for quite some time, it was only last night that leaked footage of the newest Smash Bros characters, Ryu from Street Fighter and Roy from Fire Emblem. Honestly I'm not the biggest Smash fan, so I can't say too much about this.


TRANSFORMERS DEVASTATION

Even though some people state that the Legend of Korra game was a "devastation" for Platinum Games, it looks as if Activision has once again called for the help of the legendary Japanese studio, and this time they're on a complete budget. Though we'll certainly get more news about this title come E3, as of now all we know is that it's a brawler and it's multiplatform, with no Wii-U release in sight.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
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Astuka's Semi-Serious (but mostly not) E3 Predictions

Yes, that's right -- E3 is in about a day within posting this. I was never really into all the E3 hype and prediction stuff that most people do, but seeing as I did one for the Playstation Experience, I might as well.

Take in mind this is just going to be a short writeup, nothing more. I'll do much more detailed posts for each conference after they happened, as well as aligning what I got wrong and what I got right. Some of the stuff in this is obvious, while other parts are probably wild dreams. Hope you enjoy.

DATE CREATED: 3 AM PT, 6/13/15

BETHESDA CONFERENCE -
- Doom Gameplay
- Fallout 4 Gameplay
- Likely an announcement from one of the other studios. I'm looking mostly at Arkane, seeing that Tango and Machine released games just last year. Perhaps it will be a new Dishonored? Or a new IP altogether?
- Apparently there's also a Bethesda studio called "Battlecry Studios" which is making a game called Battlecry. I have no idea what that is, but perhaps that question will be answered in their press conference?

MICROSOFT CONFERENCE-
Okay, I genuinely have no idea, speaking that most of their big title reveals have been pushed back to Gamescom. I have no idea whether this is because they want a strong Gamescom showing or they have a bomb to drop at E3, but I'm just going to go ahead and assume the bomb since E3 is a massive deal compared to Gamescom. I also don't know specifically the games they moved back, so forgive me if I mention a game that was already confirmed to not show up.
- Halo 5 Gameplay and Release Date (has a date been confirmed yet?)
- Quantum Break Gameplay and Release Date
- Banjo Threeie
- Crackdown Gameplay
- Forza Gameplay and Release Date (once again, date?)
- Fable 4 (remember, a man can dream)
- New IP (From whom I'm not quite sure, but it's apparent that, unlike previous Xbox CEOs, Phil Spencer knows there needs to be more exclusives on the Xbone.)
-Rise of the Tomb Raider gameplay and Release Date (hopefully a name change too)

EA CONFERENCE-
Not really expecting anything special here. Same shit as always -- emphasis on the word "shit".
- Star Wars Battlefront Gameplay and Release Date (date?)
- Mirror's Edge Catalyst Gameplay
- New Battlefield Gameplay and Release Date
- SPORTS
- Mass Effect 4 Gameplay
- Burnout: Not Burnout Edition Gameplay

UBISOFT CONFERENCE-
- Cringy Aisha Tyler
- Some dumb danceparty
- Far Cry 5 Gameplay and release date (though it hasn't been leaked yet, so maybe there is none?)
- Assassin's Creed Syndicate Gameplay and Release Date
- New UbiArt game
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Gameplay and Release Date
- "Special Surprise" at the end (My Street Fighter V senses are tingling, and they're saying it's a new Splinter Cell)

SONY CONFERENCE-
- The Last Guardian (I said it once, I'll say it again ... I don't even like this game ...)
- Persona 5 Gameplay and maybe release date (date?)
- MGS5 6-minute trailer (unless those rumors about it being at Keighley's show are actually real)
- Uncharted 4 Gameplay and Release Date
- Dark Souls III Gameplay
- Bloodborne DLC Gameplay and Release Date
- Horizon (Guerrilla Game's new game)
- Street Fighter V Gameplay and Release Date
- No Man's Sky Gameplay and Release Date (date?)

NINTENDO CONFERENCE- (this is where I go bold)
- Ryu and Roy for Smash Bros (leaked earlier today, guess it all depends if the leak is real?)
- New Metroid for the Wii-U by Retro Studios
- New Metroid for New 3DS by Nintendo
- Yookah-Laylee Gameplay
- New IP (One from before with an official name)
- Fire Emblem If Gameplay and Release Date (date?)
- SMT vs Fire Emblem Gameplay and Release Date (date?)
- Persona 3 & 4 HD for Wii-U (FUCK IT I DON'T CARE)

EDIT (Later on June 13th)
Just realized I forgot Squenix and the PC Gaming conference. Whoops. Oh well.

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Splatoon Global Testfire: The Reaction

So now that it's been a few days and I can organize my thoughts of what I really thought of the Splatoon global testfire, I guess now it's time to make my own reaction.

First off, I played two rounds during the first hour on Friday, and then most of my time playing during the last test, equaling to about 15 matches. I could really appreciate how engaged the game kept you -- games were short, and lobby waiting didn't really feel like waiting due to the nice addition of the squid jump minigame. When it came to the starting tutorial, I felt as though some things were not explained -- for example, the tutorial didn't really get into special abilities that each gun had. And when your in the game, the "special ability is ready" notification doesn't really shoot out at you, so it took a few rounds to figure out that the feature even existed.

The squidplay gameplay in itself felt solid, and I had no issues with the controls (though I'm pretty sure the testfire might have slightly injured my right bumper) beyond the gryo movement being the default. Though you could get used to it, I felt as though the average player would certainly be repulsed, and perhaps not go very far into playing, especially with not knowing the background knowledge that I did, in which you could change it in the options. I feel like a much better system would be for one of the players first options upon starting the game for the first time would be to ask them whether they wanted gyro or right stick controls.

As for the weapons, I got a chance to play all of them, though ended up playing the normal splattershot. All the weapons felt strong, having their own set of strengths and weaknesses, though I wasn't exactly sure why they chose both splattershot and splattershot jr (splattershot but with a shorter range) as the default weapon. I felt like perhaps the "rocket launcher" weapon would've fit better (assuming such a gun exists).

Overall, I thought what I played of Splatoon to be a fun little competitive game, which therein lies my biggest gripe with the game itself. Splatoon is a little game, and is not close to being worth its starting $60 price point -- it is because of this that I feel like the game will flop. That, along with the gyro control default (as I've mentioned above), as well as the actual presentation of the game (not being sure who exactly its marketed towards; the game up until this point seemed as a normal family friendly tried and true Nintendo game, while its gameplay seems to be more competitive and intense, and finally it looks as if the TV ads in America for it are marketed towards small children) will all be reasons for its inevitable fall. Unless they fix some things that are very core to the game (which they won't as its this close to release), the game will likely be a massive failure, both commercially and critically. I can personally say that I would probably never spend more than 20 or 30 dollars on such a game, and so until then this continues to be only on my watchlist and nothing else.

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