Let's Talk Piston

What is Piston?

The Piston is a console computer hybrid device that can fit in the size of your hand, developed by Xi3. It's the closest thing to a Steam Box so far, Valve's is in the works.

The Piston doesn't have a disk slot as you can see from the visual, downloaded gaming from steam and others, can be played on your desktop or TV screen, and probably the coolest hybrid I've ever seen, not to mention accessible from the inside to personally upgrade it. The device is built for the overall  hardcore gamer. The Specs are nice for this device but, arguable for this outrageous price. (unintentional rhyme) 

The Piston is supposed to be released during "The holidays" of 2013 and no not 4th of July, or all the other million holidays out there. Let's just say December. Good news is the Piston is now available for pre-order, and if you do you can get $100 the product for the standard edition or base version. The bad news is the base price for the Piston

• Standard 128GB hard-drive is $999.99. (after pre-order $899)   
• 256GB hard-drive is $1,239.99
• 512GB hard-drive is $1,649.99

Every Piston consists of 8GB RAM and a 3.2Ghz Quad Core processor (R464) and you can find all the details on it at the Xi3 website: http://xi3.com/tech_specs.php

Fun Fact about product: Custom Colorization! awwwwwhhh yeeahhh!

My opinion?

This product definitely has potential for being competition for the other "consoles" for being the top dog, but with this kind of outrageous price and some confusion on the device itself, mainly about the computer portion of the device, plus multiple other questions, I honestly don't see it happening. I am personally all for Download Only gaming through steam and other online tools, but majority of the world has this ideally view of a Console that it's one-fourth of a computer, like a "smart" phone. It has apps, online interactivity, able to connect to certain websites, movies, music, etc. just never considered a computer. 

The Piston will be considered half a computer or possibly a bit more than that. I feel as if the world almost isn't ready for that kind of feeling from a home console. It doesn't help that everyone won't be able to get over the whole "no disk slot!" thing. (which Xi3 is saying it's a good thing and I agree). Overall cool product, great idea, and phenomenal way to improve our technology. Unfortunately, Everyone and their kid has a form of a computer already. Between  iPhones, laptops, desktops, Xboxs, PlayStations, and the satellites on TVs, everyone has at least some portion of a computer, or at least a way to update a Facebook status. So why buy another portion of a computer instead of just upgrading your own? I'll let that question be up to you since everyone's situation is different. 

And so the war is still raging! Are you still confused? Just watch this video!

The War Has Begun

Welcome to the war. You have just spawned in, now choose your leader and weapon. You have 5 options each with a unique set of weapons:

• Sony's PlayStation 4 
•  X O Square Triangle: The old fashion Rifle, feels the same, kills the same and you still love it. 
• The Six-axis Sensor: A long distance weapon, best sniper in any unit.
• The Touch pad: A close combat way to kill your opponent, no one can touch this hammer.
• Duel Cameras: Duel wield SMG's, go in guns blazing and expect everyone dead.
• Nintendo's Wii-U
• The Tablet: With this magic device you can control your opponents for a limited time period.
• Nintendo TVii: Allows you to summon a beast that you partnered with years ago to fight.
• The Retro Games: An old school sword and shied decked out with unknown enhancements.
• The motion controller: The original wand you used in the previous game, but more deadly.
• Microsoft's new Xbox (name unknown and won't be called 720, will be announced shortly)
• Mystery weapon! Hint* Strong against PlayStation 4. Weak against PC
• Mystery weapon! Hint* Strong against Wii-U. Weak against  PlayStation 4
• Mystery weapon! Hint* Strong against PC. Weak against Wii-U
• Mystery weapon! Unknown*
• The old fashion gaming PC
• The Mouse: A simple rifle, but after every kill it becomes stronger and upgrades itself.
• The Keyboard: A plasma whip, able to become long range or short range at any given time.
• The Processor: A sword that can control the speed of time.
• The Modding: Able to hack into any weapon/device for a time period to attack the user.
• The OUYA
• Indie gaming: Allows you to clone yourself into your opponent and their weapon.
• The Android: Allows you to control a robot to do your bidding.
• The Download-er: An Alien Cube with extraordinary magic spells 
• The perfect controller: An Alien fire-arm with extraordinary abilities.

After you have chosen your team and weapon, unleash hell on the battle field. 

What is OUYA?

The OUYA is a new console for your house hold, but is it really worth your money?

The answer is yes. It's starting price is $99.99! The console is ridiculously small and the controller is perfect in weight and balance. 

Is it worth my time?

If you love indie games, android games, minecraft, and all the other games downloadable, it is meant for you. The OUYA does not have a disk slot. It is meant for gaming and JUST gaming. It was made by the lovers of the home console. Did I mention there will be hundreds of titles to choose from?! Oh and a true gamer knows Indie gaming is worth your time and attention.

What is the downside?

Storage space. Only has 8 GB space. but! It has an external USB port, perfect for an external hard drive. Also the arcade games won't take up as much space as one might think.

How do I buy games for this console?

all accessible on the store but you can only purchase it by credit/debit card.

When does this thing come out?

June 25, 2013!

Can I just watch a clip about this instead of reading all this?

Queen of Blades is Back

terran, zerg, protoss

It's back, we are excited, I've logged over 200 hours playing the original and I am ready for more story! StarCraft 2 Heart of the Swarm is coming out March 12, 2013. If you are a strategy gamer I will recommend StarCraft to you right away. StarCraft 2 Heart of the Swarm is an expansion pack to the StarCraft 2 franchise, it will be telling the story about Sarah Kerrigan, the former Queen of Blades, who's out for vengeance and will reclaim her zerg empire. I think its time to zerg rush!



There are 7 new units Heart of the Swarm is adding to the mix, 2 for zerg, 2 for terran, and 3 for protoss.

• The new zerg units are the Swarm Host and the Viper
• The new protoss units are the Mothership Core, the Oracle, and the Tempest
• The new terran units are the Hellbat and the Widow Mine.

You can find all the details on all the units at this page: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/game//

Sarah Karrigan fan art

DC Fan's Fantasy

"Who would win in a fight Superman or Batman?" Was a question I was asked by my best friend at the age of 10. Super Heroes were all the talk during most of my days as a kid. As children we argued about the differences in power and background stories just to try to prove a point. The best way to prove that Scenario now-a-days would be to play an arcade style fighting DC game, such as Mortal Combat vs. DC Universe in 2008. Unfortunately as 10 year old's that game didn't exist yet, and we stuck with our cartoons. Oh and I was the one who chose Superman of course.

As an adult and still a fan of the DC universe I wanted a realistic fighting style game with my favorite heroes and villains to choose from, instead of the cartoon style I grew up with. During E3 2012 a trailer was shown.  NetherRealm Studios, the makers of Mortal Combat released a teaser trailer of a game during the conference. The game was called INJUSTICE Gods Among Us. I finally can play as a realistic badass superman and destroy Batman the way I want to.

What is INJUSTICE?

INJUSTICE is actually a story driven arcade fighting game. DC Heroes will clash with there Villains and other Heroes as well. The game will contain Interactive backgrounds, unique move-sets, and experience the god like power on a massive scale. The levels will contain multi-tiered arenas such as throwing your opponent through multiple walls and buildings, which will cut you to a different location.

Characters announced:

• Superman
• Batman
• Wonder Woman
• Green Arrow
• The Flash
• Cyborg
• Cat Woman
• Nightwing
• The Joker
• Harley Quinn
• Solomon Grundy
• Bane
• Lex Luthor
• Deathstroke

More will be announced before the game is released. I saw the green lantern in a trailer so hopefully we can play as him too. This game has made me super excited. The Design and Character models are top quality and everything gives a dark feel, which just adds to my excitement.

It will be released April 16, 2013. For more information go to http://www.injustice.com/en

If you have any questions feel free to ask me by commenting.

Bungie's Destiny

Bungie, makers of the Halo franchise  Where have they been this whole time?

Bungie split apart from Microsoft in 2007 and became a limited liability company, but made an agreement with Microsoft to continue the Halo series until 2010, the finishing of Halo Reach. Of course we all know what happened after that, a call here and there and 343 Industries rose up and became in charge of the new Halo project. On April 29, 2010, Bungie was announced a 10 year contract partnership with Activision, which grew into a project. A new project that was recently confirmed (ignoring the leak from last year), they call it Destiny.

What is Destiny?

The new story Bungie will let unfold. A story about the Traveler, A giant sphere that suspends right above a specific point on the Earth. When it first arrived, it gave humanity a new age called the Golden  Age. A time frame where humans explored the solar system, but it didn't last long, a threat is among the humans and wiped out everything the humans had established. Only a few Humans have survived and established a city that lies directly beneath the Traveler.

The story takes place as you are a defender to protect the city. Destiny will be an online FPS. A customization of your character almost an MMO style. Not much more information has been given on Destiny, except it will be released on the PS3, Xbox 360 and the newly announced PlayStation 4. PlayStation fans are finally going to experience what playing a Bungie game will be like from there perspective.

I personally don't have much to say on Bungie's decisions except that I am glad they were able to move past Halo. Hopefully Destiny will become something Halo could never be. Well for starters it's multi-platformed. This game has the potential to be the game of the year. Lets just hope it will be sold for PC as well, to prevent bloodshed of the PC gamer world. A lot of people are excited and I believe Bungie won't let us down.

I have both trailers posted here and feel free to check out the Bungie website for more information. www.bungie.net

A Tale of Two Legends

Xbox 360, released November 22, 2005. PlayStation 3, released November 11, 2006.(17th in US). Microsoft was the lead competitor in the Console war of the 7th gen systems. The Xbox 360 sold roughly 2.5 million units during the first 90 days of launch in the US while the PlayStation 3 sold roughly 1 million units in the first two months of launch in the US. Start of 2013 around 77 million 360's and PS3's each have been sold worldwide. Now wait, why would I say Microsoft was the lead competitor if the PlayStation 3 has obviously sold the same amount of units in a year less of time? Two words, Xbox Live. $60 a year for a membership, just so you can talk and play with your friends or complete strangers worldwide as long as you were connected to the internet of course. Think about it. That's $4.62 Billion if everyone had Xbox Live for one whole year, and just for being online! Of course it has access to the other features to take money from you such as music, arcade, movies, etc. Well, what about the PlayStation Network? It's free and you have access to basically the same thing, plus one of the best deals on a  blue-ray player. So wouldn't you say Sony has the better deal? Especially when you stack up the specs of the PS3 and compare it to the 360, it should be all around better. Well, think about it this way for example, lets say I have one of the best quality computers loaded with all the best specs from an amazing graphics card to an intense processor and not have internet access. What's the point of having such a decked out system if I'm not able to be online? Anyways you get the idea.
The question still is, what about the PSN? Well, whats the biggest difference between Microsoft and Sony? Sony, makes entertainment devices; TV's, music devices, desktops, laptops. etc. What does Microsoft make? Programs. Say hello to Windows, ring a bell? My personal opinion is Microsoft knows how to function an online database better than Sony can. Now I didn't say Microsoft is great at it, just better. I don't know, does anyone recall April 20, 2011 which was the day of the PSN hack? But enough of my stereotypical views. Now each console themselves aren't perfect, especially after a first launch. The "red ring of death" is a good example on Microsoft's part. Almost half of the units Sony let loose to sell in stores didn't even show up. There is always a problem during launch and it usually takes a long year or more for them to finally "perfect" there product. They believe if you make a slim version it will automatically be a better console. PlayStation 3 slim did function better, but it pissed half the world off when they couldn't play PS2 games on it. The Xbox 360 slim was much more compatible for one it was QUIETER, finally had the WiFi built in, plus the cooling system for when you stay up 36 hours straight playing Halo. It just took Microsoft 5 long years.

In the mists of perfecting the system, Microsoft and Sony were watching Nintendo from a distance trying to figure out what the deal was with the controller. Nintendo was getting all the families attention instead of a gamer's love. So the Move and Kinect was developed. Kinect was a clever idea especially with voice activation, not to mention the dotted grid it shows in Infrared to see the registration of the human body. Microsoft said, "Hey, how about no controller." while Sony said,"Hey how about the same thing as Nintendo with giant glowing balls." Sorry, but I don't even know someone with a PlayStation Move, but besides my opinion it did sell 1.5 million units in a month which is impressive along with the positive feed back major reviewer websites gave.The Kinect sold 8 million units in 60 days. Guinness World Record much? I don't know of a device that sold that much in that small time span.
Time for the big picture, 8th gen consoles. Lets not talk about the Wii-U.. So the PlayStation 4 looks neat. DUELSHOCK 4? No surprise there, but a huge improvement. For those who don't know the DUELSHOCK is now revamped with cool features, the biggest being the new touch pad in the top/middle,
I think it would be easier to function if I had 4 thumbs and not 2. The other feature are the duel sensitive cameras to recognize the new six-axis sensor. If you understood a word of that it means it will be more sensitive, so if your hands shake a lot you might have problems. Besides the controller, not much as been shown with the console itself. The specs are looking impressive. Maybe not to my full expectations but you should check it out for yourself. For more info on the PS4 check out: www.playstation.com/PS4
As harsh as I am towards Sony I am still a gamer at heart and love Console competition. Gaming makes my world go round even if I don't like the ideas the company gives out and sells, I will support what I can for the greater good of gaming. The console shouldn't matter, because Batman Arkham City is still awesome on the 360 and the PS3. Don't forget where you stand during the 8th gen console war. With the Games not the console.

First Blog, What I will be writing about:

Welcome to my blogspot, This is where I will be expressing my opinions on the latest news and trends on the gaming world. It will cover different variations from hot topics with the new system announcements and latest video games. The biggest thing I personally would like to focus on are the video game companies themselves because a game is nothing without the idea behind them. I will do my best posting the links on where you can find the articles and information I will be talking about in my posts. I will be posting on here daily so please check it out when you get the chance!