WestofHouse

I stopped collecting the shards about half way through. Other than using them for the temple in Forbidden Oasis to give you resists, the only reason to collect them is for the achievement. Even so, after a while there is a sameness to all the areas. That's why I eventually went straight to the main quest to finish it. But it felt less repetitive than most other modern RPGs I've played. I didn't get very far in Skyrim because every dungeon was the same.

The controls are as good or better than any other console FPS I've played. Everything feels very smooth. I love the main premise of the game, and fighting on foot and in a mech are both very satisfying, but I'm disappointed in the lack of customization available compared to other FPSs. There are very few weapons and weapon types, and not much class customization either. The game amazing to play in short spurts, but can already tell I won't be putting in as many hours in it as I did in BF4.

I don't think I'll mind that because that is what the game should be about. Dealing with a single enemy (the one actually named in the title) is more suspenseful and entertaining than dealing with multiple enemies who block every exit and choke point on the map.

They should have called this game Working Joes: Isolation. I'm a few hours into the game and so far I've seen the alien twice, and have spent all my time running from the Joes. My frustration level is building.

How nice of this game to automatically record your deaths. https://t.co/m0nB1lMBB2

There is a Capcom sale now through May 4th. Nothing outstanding; only a handful of games.

This game is kicking my arse. I haven't even gone up against the alien yet and I've been killed 7 or 8 times! The first real stealth/threat encounter feels very cheap because the room conditions change after a cutscene.

My daugher discovered a Minecraft series by a guy named Stampy on YouTube (Youtube user name iBallisticSquid). They are all very good-natured and obscenity-free.

The controller response is actually very good. I usually stink at console FPS games because I'm bad at thumb-aiming, but there must be a subtle aim-assist mechanic in Titanfall because I feel like I'm usually hitting what I'm aiming at, unlike Battlefield 4 where I can be in the same room with a person and somehow miss every shot. Thanks! I'm sure there are quite a few people who avoided this game because it is multiplayer only, but all my favorite moments in FPS games have been in multiplayer mode. The problem will come when they finally shut down the servers. My best friend picked up the game yesterday and we teamed up online last night. That was a blast.

After using the One for a full week I can say I am 100% satisfied with my purchase. I think in order to get the most out of the One you have to go all in and use it as a total entertainment system in conjunction with the Kinect. I'm using the One as my primary Blu-ray player so I can take advantage of the voice commands. I switched from Slacker Radio to Xbox Music, and I'm loving the One as a music player. I love the fact that it plays videos when available. I'll probably start using Xbox Movies more now, too, rather than Amazon Video. The only thing I'm not using the One for is TV playback, but only because I'd prefer to be able to watch TV without having the One turned on. That is partly for energy conservation and partly because I don't want to add a layer of complexity to the entertainment system for my wife's sake. Plus I only watch TV on my HT system about once a week, so there's no need to mess with it.

I had a go of it today. What fun! I love the room-shaking thunder of a descending titan. I haven't lucked into a game in which anyone is communicating, though. That would make it more fun. I also used Titanfall to try out the One's recording feature. That's pretty nifty. Here's a clip of someone wrecking my titan, then me ejecting and getting revenge: https://t.co/JOsdklqyHl

Best Buy are offering it for $7.99 today ($6.39 with GCU) so I bought it. I'll probably be playing it a lot this weekend so any of you still playing please look me up (and mention AA in your friend request). My gamertag is JockoPablo.

Friday, April 24 Best Buy are offerring Titanfall for $7.99 today (only $6.39 with Gamers Club Unlocked).

Have any of you tried it? If you're not familiar, it's a subscription service that lets you play a "vault" of EA games as well as play select titles before they are released (Star Wars Battlefront is going to be one of those titles, which is one reason I'm considering it). You also get 10% discount on EA games through the Xbox store. it's $4 a month or only $30 a year, which seems pretty reasonable. If you're into sports games it seems like a much cheaper way to get the new versions every year. Unfortunately based on one forum response I saw the DLC isn't included the the games in the vault? For example, Battlefield 4 is included in the vault, but apparently it won't have any of the extra map packs.

It is, and I nabbed it, too. The only Rayman game I've played was on the Vita and I liked it a lot.

I ended up with a rift mage build and I enjoyed the heck out of it. It makes you feel very powerful, and being a mage gives you a personal interest in the mages v templars conflict. Being sidetracked is definitely not a bad thing in DAI. In most games it feels forced and artificial, but other than the occasional fetch quest most of the side quests in DAI feel natural.

Are any of you still playing Titanfall? If so, is it still easy to find full matches? Used copies of it can be had for $20 these days and I'd love to try it, but since you can only play online I'm worried that there might not be that many people playing anymore.

I finally finished the main storyline. I was at level 19 when I did the final story quest. I had plenty of sidequests left to do so I could have easily wandered around long enough to hit 20 before finishing, but the final area, Emprise du Luin, is a nightmare of twisting and spiraling passages that make travel incredibly frustrating. After over 60 hours of playing I was in no mood to spend time guessing how to get from point A to point B, so I threw up my hands and went straight to the final story missions. I was able to beat the final bosses in one try, but the battle was in doubt at one point. Along the way I was able to romance the character I wanted to, which added a nice touch to the story. Overall I definitely feel like I got my money's worth, but I have no desire to play through it again.

Despite the glowing reviews here and elsewhere I had serious reservations about that game because I'm not the most patient person in the world and I can easily see myself getting controller-throwing frustrated with it, but my best friend has hounded me for months to get it because he loves it so I chose it today as my first Xbox One game purchase. I'm a huge fan of the first Alien movie so I'm guessing that will aid in my enjoyment of the game. I was intrigued to read that it has some support for the Kinect for such things as peeking around corners. I look forward to dimming the lights, cranking the surround, firing it up.

It's on sale at Best Buy this week and I'm tempted because it looks like good fun, but the reviews I've seen all mention the fact that the game is full of non-stop F-bombs, so I couldn't play it when my daughter is around. And since my home theater room is also her play room I don't like kicking her out just so I can play a game. Why do so many developers feel that foul language is necessary? I mean, I know that appeals to adolescent boys who think it's cool and edgy, but plenty of adults play games, too.

My app connects to my One just fine, but I've yet to figure out how to bring up a keyboard. All I get is a basic remote option with the face buttons and directional swiping.

I've been very suprised by Child of Light, which is one of April's free offerings. I'm normally not big on turn-based combat, but the environments are gorgeous and the firefly companion is unique.

Well, you can add me to the AA Xbox One club. I picked up one today. Vendors have been selling refurbished Ones with Kinect for $399, and my local Best Buy happened to have one in stock. I was eyeballing it late last week but didn't buy. Then this morning the Best Buy weekly ad listed a 12 month subscription to Live Gold for only $20 with purchase of any console, so that was enough to push me over the edge. I considered buying one sans Kinect, but I wanted the total package, and the refurb deal made it worth it to me. My observations after tinkering with it for a while today: 1) Kinect is nice but I'm glad I didn't pay the full $499 for it. Voice commands are nice but I'll probably use my controller more than voice control. The gestures are a neat gimmick but I can't see myself using them much. I tried to navigate for a while with them and ended up just grabbing my controller. The integrated Skype makes me wish I had some friends, though, or at least some family out of town who use Skype. I think video chat with the Kinect would be a blast. 2) I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Xbox One works with my Logitech Harmony One remote. It will be nice having a real remote to use during Blu-ray playback instead of fighting with the Xbox controller. 3) Setting up the Xbox to control my TV and AV receiver was quick and easy. I didn't even need to dig out codes; I just entered the manufacturer and it found my receiver (Yamaha) on the second try and my TV (Samsung) on the first. 4) I guess I'll have to do some research to learn how to customize my start screen. I couldn't figure out how to move or delete tiles. 5) I encountered an odd audio issue when playing a TV show through the Vudu app (for Ultraviolet content). The audio for the show is mono, but there was a noticeable echo to it as if I were hearing it in a big hall. It turns out some audio was coming out of my rear speakers. I don't know if the Xbox was actually forcing a surround signal or if my receiver were doing it. I selected the "Straight" audio option on my receiver and restarted the show and that fixed it. I hope I don't have to do that every time. 6) I am pleasantly surprised how quiet the unit is, even during Blu-ray playback. If the room is completely silent (a rarity in my house) I can barely hear it. I couldn't use my PS3 as a BD player because it is too loud, but I can see making the One my primary BD player, and I probably will. 7) One big disappointment so far is the lack of a way to give my daughter an account on the Xbox. Apparently you must have a valid email account before you can have an account on the Xbox, and I'm not too keen on setting up an email account for my 9 year old. There should be a way to create a child's account with no online access or buying privileges like you can on the Wii U. Xbox loses in the family-friendly category. 8 ) I installed the Smart Glass app on my Windows phone in hopes of having a keyboard to use for entering text on the Xbox One, but so far I haven't figured out how. 9) And finally, I was a little miffed by the fact that Microsoft wants me to pay $10 to change my gamertag. I don't even know where my current gamertag came from. I owned an Xbox 360 about nine years or so ago but I know my current gamertag isn't the one I created. I'm going to cough up the money though because my current gamertag is my real last name, and it doesn't seem smart using that for online play.

My daughter had been begging me for Skate 3 so I let her user her Easter money to buy it, and I've been playing that with her a bit. It's good fun. I discovered it has some bad language in it (completly unnecessary) so I've had to turn down the dialogue volume for when she plays solo. Other than that I haven't played video games much at all this year. About every week or so I'll fire up Dragon Age Inquisition and play long enough to get bored closing yet one more rift.

Gamestop are offering $125 toward an Xbox One when you trade in a 360 (250GB or greater) or a PS3 (120GB or higher). If my daughter weren't obsessed with Ico I think I'd do it. There aren't any PS3 games in my collection that I couldn't live without at this point.