Category: Message

DLC. Good or bad. Should we have it?

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Downloadable content is pretty much popular and everywhere now. All the biggest games and even the mobile games have DLC. Gamers have something to say about this. In fact, gamers have a lot to say and some youtubers are very vocal about it. We at X35 Earthwalker have our own views concerning DLC and have seen the effect of some DLC in certain games. We will also deal with microtransactions as well, as to us we consider them the same thing pretty much but aware of the differences.

Downloadable content is basically additional content for the game that you can download and attach to your game bringing either new characters, skins, weapons, map/levels etc. Some DLC are whole new sections of the game. So straight away DLC allows us get extra, new cool stuff. Now some DLC are free while others cost money. This presents the first problem. There are some cool stuff that becomes available in the game markets but not everyone can get them due to finances. Now we don’t have a problem with that and honestly, no one should. It’s like if you see a nice new chair in the furniture shop and it costs £99, you can only get it if you have the money. If you don’t then come back another time and that’s fair. So price isn’t the issue in most cases.

Some games like Halo 5 and Gears of war 4 have a system in place where you can earn in game currency like credits which can be used to purchase packs to get new items or skins (Gears of war) etc. Now one problem with Gears of war 4 is that the amount of credits you gain per match is very low like 70-80, so if you want to get those 2000 credit packs then you will need to grind quite a bit to get those. This makes it clear that using real money is the better way to go. They need to increase the amount of credits earned. Now many gamers say no micro and DLC but we must understand that video games is also a business and developers want to make money as well. Off course they are going to release new stuff and yes that new stuff takes time and work to make, so putting a price tag on it isn’t wrong. We have to look at it from both sides: the gamers and the developers. It’s only fair. Just don’t release the games true ending in a charged DLC or release single player co-op as charged DLC or anything that should have been in the game from when it was released otherwise you won’t get a pence or dime from us at X35 Earthwalker. Release full games.

Gears of war 4 has a real problem though and we are sure it’s the same with other games as well. At times certain packs will come out with some cool new content but for a limited amount of time. These packs are completely random in their content and never guarantee a new card. You could get doubles, triples and more. So you may get 10 packs not get the legendary new character. People like X35 Earthwalker who has a business to run, other projects and things like see family don’t have time to sit in front of the T.V grinding matches for 8 hours straight. Not in a rude way but some of us are gamers but have a life. We have to be somewhere and do certain things. This isn’t a problem for youtubers as they can sit there and record all their matches and that counts as work for them because it’s what they do. So if we don’t have the time and can only get 1/3 of the pack contents then the only way to get more is to resort to real money which will turn out to be expensive. So it isn’t fair for those who don’t have extra cash at hand.

The contents of the packs make all the difference. If it is just cosmetic as in skins and designs of weapons then it’s less of a problem even though it would be nice to still get them. When the contents are powerful weapons, stats boosters, speeds up processes or new characters with new abilities then it becomes a problem. You have some gamers who have £400 at the ready to spend to get all the skins, weapons and whatever. While some use their mums credit card (do not do that. Seriously Don’t) and instantly upgrade their headquarters up to max level in Boom beach etc and rule the map destroying everyone else is a problem. Halo Wars 2, sadly,suffers from this problem in the blitz game mode. If you get multiple of a certain card they help level up that ability or unit increasing their damage, armour and health. You can get cards from packs that you can unlock but also buy. So what happens if a level 5 tank goes up against a level 2 tank? The answer is that level 2 tank gets destroyed easily. I have seen a max level tank take on and beat 3 cyclops who are anti vehicle units. Now that’s a problem. The bottom line not every gamer has cash like that ready because some pay rent and live by ourselves or whatever the reason. This however; doesn’t mean the ones with more money are in the wrong. If you have the cash and you want to spend it on games and extra packs then go ahead, there’s nothing wrong with that and no one should blame for it but developers need to take into account that certain features can cause problems. 

There isn’t really much more to say concerning this matter. If you have the cash to get certain things then why not. If you don’t have it then just forget about it and play to have fun, you will gain the in game currency over time. For DLC like extensions to the game like what Destiny had (The taken king), contain some real awesome stuff like the swords and whole new levels and missions. X35 Earthwalker at the time didn’t have the money for it so he ignored it and to this day he hasn’t bothered with it at all. Games that release as bare boned but bring out, what should have been in the game in the beginning, as DLC are in the wrong. That’s just crooks after our cash. A fully complete game with all it’s stuff brining out DLC is not a issue. Overall DLC and microtransactions (we consider them the same) are a good thing. Good but need to be used right. DLC brings in new stuff that adds more to the experience and fun (at times) and allows you to get new things but when certain items like packs grant an actual advantage to certain gamers then there is a problem. So yes, we should have DLC & micro but they must be done fairly and properly to give all gamers to some extent an equal chance.

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Sensible gaming

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

X35 Earthwalker has been a gamer for many years now. Matter of fact he has been gaming since primary school. He still has memories of playing Halo for the first time after hearing so much about it from his friends. What we want to talk about today is sensible gaming. Video and computer games at the end of the day are for entertainment. Yet some gamers take it much further and too far. We have gamers today who spend far too much time playing games and less time on other important things. There are even some who have died because they sit still and play for hours instead of getting exercise. We aren’t saying all gamers are like this because we certainly aren’t. The point is games are fictional, they aren’t real life.

Playing video games doesn’t get you the grades in school, don’t get you a job (unless it’s a game tester but even then you do’t get that from sitting around) and don’t advance your life. Make sure you have balance to your life. Set time aside to focus on your career and any projects you have going on. Set time aside for exercise and activities, set time aside for meaningful things for family, friends (not online friends) and yourself. Set time for your gaming as well. We have to be sensible about this. Sensible gaming will make you better of.

X35 Earthwalker himself balances handling his business, personal life, activities and projects and ministry. He doesn’t get stressed and makes appropriate time for these things. Being organised and diligent is not just wise, but also what God told us to do. Even Moses asked God to teach us how to number our days (Psalm 90:12) which means how to be organised and plan our days. 

There are also some gamers who get too into games and when things go wrong, lose, or too difficult they rage and we mean they literally rage. They throw their controllers, they break their keyboards, knock over their chairs, smash their headphones, which by the way all costs quite a lot of money. Seriously it’s painful to watch. Don’t waste money like that. Those people need to know how to behave themselves. Such people even get racist and proper aggressive with others. I dare those same people to come and try that stuff with certain people on the streets and see what happens to them. That stuff is not sensible gaming. If you lose, it’s just a game. If you get wrecked or owned online well guess what? Everyone, even the best players (cough X35 Earthwalker cough) has had matches where everything went wrong. Just laugh at yourself and if you can’t put the game down for a while. Simple.

Don’t get us wrong. We are gamers we have spent hours playing games. We play all sorts of games. X35 Earthwalker himself has completed every Halo game solo in Legendary and every Gears of war game in insane as well. He has a high gamer score and has gotten insane moments like getting the quad and quinn in gears of war and even the unfriggenbelievable and killionaire in Halo. We aren’t dissing gamers at all. Sensible gaming is where you use your days smartly, where you don’t alienate yourself from your family, you don’t turn into a monster, you have fun and where you draw the line between fictional worlds and reality. This message is for gamers from us at X35 Earthwalker with love. 

So have fun and don’t forget to do the ‘Earth Walk!’

Dealing with haters

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

 

Hello fellow gamers. We hope we are all enjoying our games and doing our best online. That’s how gaming should be… fun. I just wanted to speak to you all about dealing with certain people who either take games too seriously or incredibly salty or just an angry person living in a basement who has nothing better to do than try to ruin others fun. X35 Earthwalker has received so much hate mail over his many years of gaming for different reasons. Matter of fact it’s almost like an collection now. Now whether you are a very skilled at a game or not we are sure you have received some hate mail or abusive people over the mics. How do we deal with them? Let’s discuss that for a bit.

First things first. You must make sure to not let anything people say to you scare you or negatively effect you. You must develop some sort of hardened mental skin to protect yourself. This is because people in real life have harm themselves or worse over cyber bullying or hateful tweets and more. Honestly when we get hate mail from a couple of losers we find it funny as we read the messages and try to remember how badly we beat them. X35 Earthwalker himself sees it as a victory because only those who completely lose or got owned send hate mail. It shows that he conquered them.

In halo 5, people seem to get really upset when you ‘tea bag’ them. It’s like they actually feel the lumps in real life. If this is done to you, don’t get upset, instead see as a declared rivalry and make it one of your goals to get that person back. If you get mad then you may end up being the one sending hate mail and that shows you admit complete defeat. In gears of war 3 the two main things that will always get you a hate mail or two is to use the ‘retro lancer’ and ‘sawed off’. These two weapons are great and fun to use but have so much negatives so they require some skill to use effectively. 90% of gears of war 3 players who use only gnasher shotgun will get mad if you kill them repeatedly with them, calling you a ‘noob’ which is ridiculous. One day we will explain why they aren’t noob weapon but not now. If you like those weapons then use them as much as you want and get ready for the hate to come flowing and when it does, see it as a good thing and have a laugh over the mail and go have another match. Trust us, it’s much better this way.

Sometimes you get hate mail for things that are stupid like if you grabbed a power weapon before a team mate does and they get mad. Dude, behave yourself. Whoever gets it first, gets it first, simple as that. They may kill you or in halo, run you over with a vehicle. It’s pathetic but it happens. You may be constantly winning a match and the enemy completely overcome with your skills try to get at you through mail instead of the game. X35 Earthwalker had a match where he head shot two players, who were working together, one after the other when they both tried to pick up the boom shot in gears of war 3 on the map ‘Azura’. The first one grabbed it but lost his head straight away, so the second one grabbed it and almost escaped but instead got super manned, which happens when you head shot someone who was in the middle of a roll to evade. When the match was over and the team where reassigned X35 Earthwalker was on the same side of them. They spent most of the match insulting him and getting sort of racist. It’s pathetic so he left the match and just went to another one as simple as that. Don’t let losers, haters and sad people get to you.

This is a message from X35 Earthwalker to all our fellow gamers to remind you all to have a good time with games and not let others get to you or ruin your fun. If you are the one with a bad temper or getting too competitive then stop it, put down the controller and take a break. It’s just a game. It has no real value in the real world. It’s for entertainment, like the cinemas. So go out there, have ffun, do your best and most important of all… Do not forget to do the ‘Earth Walk’!

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