Got 99 Problems And My Name Is One

Wednesday. Sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad just like features in a video game. Now some times great games have horrible features that are removed and the communities rejoice. So that is exactly what this week's list is all about.

5. Minecraft - Infinite Water

Well this speaks for itself. The water would randomly update underground and cause serious problems while building, and would rise much higher than should have been possible. While this resulted in many hilarious videos wasn't good for the game as a whole.

4. World of Warcraft - Respec cost

One thing that was in WoW for way too long was the cost to change your spec that would increase based on how often you did it. This would basically penalize you if you were let's say PvPing and Raiding or changing your spec for your raid and so on and so forth. It was just a pointless gold sink that any player was glad when was removed.

3. Diablo III - Auction House

Something that has been talked about time and time again. The issue wasn't with the auction house itself it was that loot drops were inconsistent because of the Auction House. The whole thing was creating so trading could still be a central focus to the game even if it was automated. What Blizzard realized was if they fixed loot no one would miss trading and the game would be better for it, which is exactly what they did.

2. SimCity - Online

When SimCity launch it was coming off of massive success in its city building environment. The problem with it was that when they decided it was going to be always online they were not prepared with the servers they had ready and it resulted in one of the worst launches in the history of gaming. This caused them to months later to remove the online only requirement and also leaves the series in general in jeopardy.

1. Xbox One - Used Games

When the Xbox One was revealed they had all these features all of which didn't go over well with consumers. The one that caused the biggest problem was restricting games to one user. Basically making you unable to share a game with a friend or trade it in for other games later on. This caused an enormous outrage and something Microsoft eventually realized was a mistake and removed.

There it is. Do you agree or disagree? Any other bad features in good games you were glad when they were finally removed? Let me know one way or another.

Rally Ho

Happy Wednesday everyone. Here I was just sitting around thinking what the list would be about this week when I remembered how fun town and cities in games can be. Now there is different types of towns there are the ones which are always fun to visit or there are the ones which are iconic. This week going to with the ones which are just always fun to visit. So let's see the choices.

5. Tibetan Village - Uncharted 2

So before it comes under siege and actually even after this tiny village up in the Himalayan mountains is just a great place to walk around and feel at home. The people although you have no idea what they are saying love to chat and spend some time with.

4. Goron City - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

So this little town is full of bomb loving adorable Gorons. How could anyone not love this place? It may have been some time since I may have visited the city but that doesn't mean I can't remember it like yesterday

3. Dalaran - World of Warcraft

So there are many amazing cities in WoW, but none of them are as fun or have as many things to do as Dalaran. I really wish there was more cities like this in Azeroth and beyond, but then Dalaran wouldn't feel the same.

2. SimCity -SimCity

This is probably cheating, but your city can be whatever it is you want it to be. It can even be a nuclear wasteland if you so choose. Anything possible you can make it.

1. Conde Petie - Final Fantasy IX

Rally-Ho! There are tons of things that just makes you smile and laugh. That being the names of the townsfolk or the way they it is just fun to read the text and you wish it would be remade so it could be voice acted. There is just way too much to love about this tiny little town.

There you have it this week's list. What do you think are the most fun places to visit in gaming? As always let me know one way or another.

You Fail At Not Paying Attention To Gaming During Your Holiday If...

So here I am starting things all over again back from my Birthday Holiday. Was a good time. Definitely need time to just step away and enjoy things. So for those who missed me I am back. To those who thought I would never be back well HA I sure showed you! I will though on this fail day pay tribute to my holiday on how it was hard to stay holiday focused.

You Fail At Not Paying Attention To Gaming During Your Holiday If...

• Gamescon was happening
• World of Warcraft decides to announce their next expansion
• There were new heroes and skins added to Heroes of the Storm
• You wanted to know what this Grand Tournament was all about
• You ended up in a retro games store
• You had a heated discussion on why SimCity is better than the Sims
• Someone gives you a new video game to play
• Someone wants you to play a game with them
• Someone wants you to show them how to beat something
• You got so many mosquito bites you had to stay inside one day
• You realized some video games aren't hard to play while hungover
• You end up trying to explain the "You Must Construct Additional Pylons" Card in Cards Against Humanity

and finally

• You needed an idea for a fail day post when you came back

There you have it this week's edition of fail. Hope you all enjoyed it and it is good to be back!

So, She Collects Knives

Here we are smack dab in the middle of the week once again. Sitting around thinking it was just the weekend the other day and then wondering why the weekend isn't here yet. Of the confusion the middle of the week brings us. Now you may of heard and hopefully did not forget but yesterday was the official last day the Auction House had anything to do with Diablo III anymore. Basically yesterday was the last day you could take things out of your completed tab without them being lost forever. Now the auction houses didn't work out the way they were intending which happens quite a bit in gaming terms. So with that in mind that's where this week's list comes in!

5. Diablo III Auction Houses

Since this is what brought on the topic it should probably make the list no? The Auction Houses were put into Diablo to provide a way for players to trade their gear in a more efficient manner and the option to spend real money through a trusted provided and not go to third party sites. The idea was great and they worked as intended. The problem? The loot of the game had to adapt since there was easy access to upgrades. Drops ended up for the most part being terrible and 95% of your upgrades were bought through the auction house.

4. SimCity Region Play

Maxis tried something different. Instead of the massive cities we were used to building you were tasked with building a region where all the cities were connected. It was a nice touch and it worked, but then there was never the option to build the massive cities you were used to. They have attempted to please the fans but due to graphic limitations of older machines they have not attempted to increase the individual building size for specific cities.

3. Diablo III World Wide Launch

So in theory this was a great plan. Everyone in the world would get the chance to play one of the most anticipated games in history when the servers went live all at the same time 12am PST. The problem? There was so much server traffic no one could get on... Error 37 where were you?

2. Shemue console choice

One of the most expensive games ever created and a game which delivered on every promise it ever made. It is also known as a the best game that hardly anyone got to play. Why? Well it was released on the Dreamcast.

1. Sixaxis Lair Controls

Lair was supposed to be the gateway to the power of the PS3. It had everything you could want in a game. Except the controller it was supposed to showcase caused for horrible controls which made the game near unplayable and maybe one of the most frustrating experiences in gaming one could ever have.

And there is this week's list. Do you have any thoughts? Something to add? Well you know what to do.

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Only a couple days away from Reaper of Souls as well. Anyone else more than ready to get playing? I know I can't be the only one. So since my pancakes are all finished and cleaned up after why don't we do what we do on Sundays and answer some questions. Also if you are still not sure of how to send in your questions all the ways are listed on the top right of the page or you can just send an email to gaussafication@gmail.com. Now let's do this thing.

So what are you most excited for with Reaper of Souls?

Honestly there really isn't anything I am not looking forward to with this expansion. I know that is such a dumb answer but it is true. Adventure mode is going to make farming and gaining Paragon more exciting. Rifts are going to do the same thing but also add a challenge to the game which has been needed even in previous iterations of the game. The story itself is something I have been going over in my head over and over trying to figure out how all of this came to be. Then the Crusader looks like a pretty fun class to play to add to my arsenal of heroes.

So as you can see everything I am looking forward to. I think though if I had to pick one it would be adventure mode it really isn't fun to create games over and over for farming purposes and this really is going to make that not be the case. I like to actually do something and not mindless farm things. Just as I hate grinding in any game if you can make it more interesting I am all for it.

Did you happen to see the new alpha video for the next Assassin's Creed game?

Oh I did. For those who haven't.

French Revolution is such an interesting time frame as well. Now I know people are saying it will probably be the same old gameplay just with a different story and slightly different weapons. Really though that is the essence of the Assassin's Creed games. Experiencing the history of the world for the eyes of an assassin in the world they came from.

So SimCity released Offline mode this week?

Yes because releasing a pointless thing in this day in age is important to people.

There they are questions answered for the week. Enjoy what is left of your weekend everyone and prepare for Death!

Offline Really?

So let me first state the blog today is going to be a little bit of a rant. A rant on something which angers me without end. I feel when you are passionate about something it is when your opinion most matters. So maybe just maybe that is why this aggravates me so.

It was recently announced Simcity is developing offline play. They are in turn acting like this is something big engineering achievement. You know the way we used to play games years ago. To be honest I have no problem with games which are online only. They tend to be better secure and more put together. They tend to be updated more and have bugs worked out. So this to me is the absolute last thing people should be concerned about. The fact people have been asking for this boggles my mind. The fact this is something so important to a player makes no sense. How about the other problems with the games? You know the things which really matter? The things which will make the game an overall better game?

I could talk about how the game requires bigger space. I have talked about this before when they stated bigger maps will not be coming. I think the very fact they are not doing this because of graphical issues on lower end machines is a travesty to the franchise. I very much like how regions work off each other put the massive amounts of open space or the fact some areas are so small to build on with the terrain makes original city ideas practically impossible.

Or how about the game punishing you for not building in a grid pattern. The amount of wasted space caused by non grid cities to to the point of stupidity. Sure you can make them and they look nice but you run out of valuable real estate within minutes of creating your city.

Also why can we not modify the terrain of the map like every other Simcity game? Sometimes you want to have a house on a hill. Not having this takes away original ideas in city planning the game has been known for. Instead everyone is forced to build on the same areas doing the same thing. It is boring and makes the game dull after just a few regions.

I have played this game a lot. I had a globally ranked #1 population region and a globally ranked number #1 high wealth population region. This is not a rant about someone who has no idea what he was doing. This is from a real player of the game and the series. I am beyond disappointed when I had so much hype for this game. I didn't even buy the expansion because of it something I have never done for a Simcity game.

So congrats to all the people who wanted the useless offline play. Maybe someday things the game actually needs will be fixed or added. 

You Will See Him Soon

Happy New Year! Hope you are alive and well. Hopefully you made those resolutions you will be breaking by the end of the month. Now don't go on saying that you won't break them because honestly I don't believe you and you don't believe yourself when you were saying it. Regardless today is Wednesday so it is time for some sort of list. What better way to get excited for the new year by posting my favourite moments while gaming the past year. This way we can see if this year will be topping it.

5. The Meltdown

So here we were playing SimCity and having a great time. We had one of the top ranked Regions in the world when Safiree decided she wanted to know what would happen if her Nuclear Plant had a meltdown. Not only did it destroy her city but our entire region was massacred. So ya that is what happens. I will always be sure to never let her forget this one.

4. Beating Magicka

So this is a game we just decided to start playing for shits and giggles, and it turns it it was one of the best co-op games I may have ever played. We had a ton of fun with it as you may know it just makes fun of pretty much every other game I play.

3. Serenity

I was leveling my Hardcore Monk in Diablo III. Now I have always played this on Monster Power 10 which basically is possibly the dumbest way to level a Hardcore Character, but it does make for the most insane "one shots" and "WTF" moments. A sad moment when my serenity was on and some how the bull still was able to kill me. I will though complete this stupid quest of leveling a hardcore character to 60 only using monster power 10.

2. Mengsk Being Killed

I love Starcraft and not only for the multiplayer but for the story itself. I appreciate the work the writers put into it. I have been playing from the very start and I remember not only helping Mengsk when he was part of the Sons of Korhal but I remember when he became leader of the Terran Dominion with the most epic of evil speeches. So when Kerrigan enter that room and confronted him I knew all the shit which was happening in that moment. It is not often that a villain dying right happens in a game but this was, and something I will not soon forget.

1. The Last Of Us

This game was a masterpiece and is an experience I will not soon forget. The only thing I disliked about this game was that it ended. I hope we get something maybe not to the exact level but at least closer to this type of level this year.

There you have it my gaming moments of the year. What have been some of your favourites? What do you hope for in the New Year? I can tell you I am excited for what is coming looks to be a great year.

Ask Gauss

Sunday! End of the weekend is upon us! I know I know it sucks but hey just think next weekend is a long weekend. Well if you are Canadian and have Thanksgiving at least, which I am and do so all is good in my books. Anyways it's Sunday so let's just get right into the Ask Gauss part of your day.

So Beyond Two Souls on Tuesday, are you ready?

This is a game I am truly excited for. This game hasn't got as much press as some other games, but it has the potential to be amazing. Everything I have seen and heard from it gives me no cause for complaints or concerns. I loved Heavy Rain and it looks that this game is going to be full of those same type of morality choices that made Heavy Rain what it was. Now as much as I say it is going to be a great game to play and I assume I am going to enjoy it to no end. I truly doubt it is going to be on the same level as The Last of Us but we shall only see.

Do you feel games should be scaled down because of the average persons computer?

This is an interesting question. In most cases I would no a game should never be worse just because they want more people to play it. Blizzard's approach to this problem I feel is one all gaming companies should employ. Sure it requires a different type of engine and more work for programmers but a game is not hindered based upon graphics abilities of low end machines. So it is possible. The drawback of the non Blizzard approach is this. Taken from the most recent SimCity blog.

After months of testing, I confirm that we will not be providing bigger city sizes. The system performance challenges we encountered would mean that the vast majority of our players wouldn’t be able to load, much less play with bigger cities. We’ve tried a number of different approaches to bring performance into an acceptable range, but we just couldn’t achieve it within the confines of the engine. We’ve chosen to cease work on bigger city sizes and put that effort into continuing to evolve the core game and explore an offline mode. Some of the experiments we conducted to improve performance on bigger cities will be rolled into future updates to improve overall game performance.

That to me may be the worst news in months maybe even years. A game that is so close to being great that they decide not to make it better because of the work needed to be put in. The fact is they would make less money for what they could get from it. Now SimCity looks amazing on my computer and I have seen what it looks like on low end machines. To scrap what everyone has been calling to because of the start because of graphical issues on low end machines though makes me sad and quite frankly pissed off.

If you are interested in the whole blow can see it here State of SimCity

Are PS4s still available for Pre-Order anywhere?

I truly doubt it.

There you go questions answered for the week. Hopefully something good came of answering them. Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

Ask Gauss

Sunday! Wow that weekend went by pretty fast didn't it? Always seems when you are busy doing something it flys by. Not to mention the fact that we are now in the last week of August, where did the summer go? It is Sunday though, so what does that mean? Well read the title like you should have already. It is Ask Gauss! The post of the week where I answer some of the questions sent to me throughout the week. So without wasting anymore of your time let's get to it.

So the SimCity road update happened what is your opinion of it all?

Actually I haven't had the chance yet to log on and really mess with it. I will say though from what I have seen the way of doing it is pretty sleek and nice. Would have been nice though to apply it to current cities without having to build new roads. I understand from a programming point why this is not the case, but still makes me a sad panda.

One thing worth mentioning though is the Houses of Worship being a free addon. Now this is something completely unexpected. Not only did I know nothing about them being added for this update, but they were a free addon. This is EA we are talking about. The people that would charge you for anything they possibly could just could. Remember that 3rd jersey crap in NHL a few years ago?

Overall the update looks great and appears this solves some of the traffic issues once you get used to using the tools. I still am hoping for a subway system and larger maps eventually. I know they will come just hope it is not in the too distant future.

WCS Season 2 Finals this weekend any predictions?

I am not sure I should as my predictions always seem to be somewhat of a curse. I would love to see Scarlett do well for the Canadian factor, but I actually don't think she could win. Her ZvT is extremely good, but her ZvP is weak and there are many good Protoss should would have to go through.

I am actually hoping for Jaedong because I remember him kicking ass in Broodwar when I was younger and want him so bad to make a splash in SC2. So I am hoping I did not curse him.

So Affleck is Batman eh?

I know this has nothing to do with gaming but ya this happened.

There you go questions answered for the week. Hope you all got something out of it. Enjoy what is left of your weekend and your month of August!

The Little Things

So here we are on another Wednesday. Or should I say Wist Wednesday? Yes it seems without evern trying Wednesday have become a day of lists. I don't mind at all making them and they always seem to spark conversation so I say why not? This week I decided to make a list of the games that have done an amazing job at the setting of within their games. It often goes unnoticed but it is something which truly makes a game what it is. Honestly newer games are going to dominate this list but that is really because graphics does play a role in such a thing.

5 SimCity

When playing SimCity it is hard not to notice how the landscape flows and blends together. Even before any cities are made in a region the detail to just the most minor of things is always evident.

4. Civilizations 5

I don't there has ever been a Civilization game which has looked bad. They always scream beauty in every landscape, building or just random details. Always are something special to look at.

3 Skyrim

Skyrim contains a massive world with tons of things to do at any moment. Even kill chickens, which could ruin the game for you. The attention to detail is seen in every zone and every screenshot you see. This really makes exploring that much more of an enjoyable thing.

2. Final Fantasy XIII-2

It is pretty much impossible to find a Final Fantasy game that doesn't the scencery and backgrounds that are quite simply amazing. They do it better than anyone else. This is one of the reasons I am so excited for each and every Final Fantasy game just because I know they always push the limits each and every time.

1.The Last Of Us

The Last Of Us had a vision and did it. They understood and created the world in which we are all fearing. The attention to detail is evident in every Naughty Dog game, but The Last Of Us set an entirely new level to games out there. It was in one word a masterpiece.

There you have it your list for the week. As always tell me what you think if you agree or not I am always happy to hear from you.

Update 7

So if you haven't heard SimCity Update 7 is in production and has some much needed traffic modifications. If you haven't read the latest blog about update 7 check it out here SimCity Traffic Tuning.

The update has a lot of road modifications,  which includes raising roads, overpasses, and tunnels. All of which should make the general flow of traffic much better. Now this should make trading by trucks a much more useful practice and there won't be the need to rush to a trade port to make sure train or boat shipping is available. Something which I always made sure of in my trade cities. It actually got to the point where I would stop making trade cities as the traffic became too much of a problem to deal with and there was days upon days where goods would not get there and back to maintain a productive income. This update should change this. Sadly those these road modifications will not be usable on preexisting roads so rebuilding will be necessary. Programming wise I understand this, Mayor wise this is going to be a nightmare for existing regions and may not even be worth changing.

For those who do not play SimCity or haven't realize how bad the traffic can be well here is part of the current problem.

As you can see from the picture you wonder how this even happened in the first place. So here is looking forward to a much needed update so better late then never.

Ask Gauss

Sunday is upon us once again. That day of the week when you are still happy it is the weekend, but then you realize most likely while eating your bacon and pancakes in the morning that the following day is Monday. So before you go down in a spiral of depression remember that Sunday also means it is time for Ask Gauss. The post of the week where I go through the questions sent to me throughout the week and answer a few of them. How do I send in such questions you ask? Well that is simple! There is a little button on the top right push it and you will find a variety of ways of getting a hold of me. So with that out of the way let's do this thing!

I was taking a look at the populations in your high population region. And I saw several cities over 700k. How did you do this?

Well without giving away all my secrets I can tell you a few things. With the way the buildings are designed you will need to square off your cities so that there is as little wasted space as possible. This isn't to say you need to have a grid city. As seen if you look at my cities I have many arc road cities. The most important thing isn't that there is the most houses possible it is that every section of your city can expand to high density. Sure this will make your city grow much smaller at the start because it will have a lot of wasted space when everyone is in their trailers. What you will realize is in all of my max population cities there is no wasted space between any skyscrapers. Also one important this if you are going for max population you cannot have buildings that take up excess space. Recycling centres, trade depots, theme park, or any mining or oil operation. This means your ability to make income can be hindered if you try to expand things too fast so be careful.

I have seen some of your Soul Calibur V creations. Any tips on how you get them so accurate?

Actually it is pretty simple. I tend to have a picture of the character and go piece by piece until it looks right. Some of them took hours to make especially the Vivi and Brox creations. I am assuming these 2 are the ones you saw since they are on the high rated lists. Other trick is if something is not available improvise. For example, Vivi is actually in a mummy suit which I detailed black in order to make him appear as a black shade. Also his eyes are actually apples which I dyed the yellow colour and pushed them into the head so you could not tell they were actually apples. Things like that are the final touches you need to make things look as they need to.

So is WoW dying?

Well according to this weather report I am pretty sure Blizzard Headquarters burned down in Irvine.

Enjoy what is left of your weekend!

SimCity Airships

So there is the video which introduces the new Airships DLC for SimCity. Now think this pack is a great idea. I think the game needs a way to reduce traffic region wide and a better way to bring high wealth tourists in which doesn't take up the massive space that an airport does. Also my cities do get rather interesting when I place the same park all over so having different options for this is great. Especially with them adding the fact the balloons themselves add happiness to the sims.

So yes these things are all great to add to the game. Also I would be willing to pay for such a thing. This though is the second DLC in under 2 months both of which have been priced at $8.99. EA has got a bad reputation for for doing this exact thing. I am not complaining that the content is bad or that it shouldn't even be a DLC. If they want to charge for editions then so be it, but charging $8.99 for a DLC every 3 weeks is going beyond a bit excessive. The game itself is only $60. I just don't see how the higher ups can allow people to make these decisions. If they want to have a DLC every 3 weeks so be it but don't charge 15% of the cost of the game for them. It makes it all look like a cash grab. Maybe I was wrong to give them the benefit of the doubt on the Amusement Park, but with this happening I really don't know what to think.

You Fail At SimCity If...

Happy Fail Day everyone! Yes it is Tuesday once again, so what does that mean? Well it is time to make you feel better because of someone else's misfortune. Unless, of course, it is your misfortune.  If that is the case we thank you for allowing us to feel slightly better. This week I decided to go with SimCity. Why? Well why not? I have been playing it, and playing it rather well so deal with it.

You Fail At SimCity If...

• When you place a building you add every single module and wonder how it is you are losing money per hour
• You place water pumps over polluted water
• You put water pumps where there is no water
• You put coal, ore, or oil drilling operations where there is no such resources
• Your city goes bankrupt
• You build a grade or high school and forget to put down bus stops
• You forgot to connect your ferry to the roads
• Your only good cities are in sandbox mode
• You think the achievement of getting 100,000 people is actually worth an achievement
• You are one of the those people who complains about it always being online
• You place a casino and then proceed to complain about crime
• You scream at the game for traffic being horrible, but you are the one who made a city with 20 intersections within 1km
• You try to kill homeless people with disasters
• You are one of those people emailing me telling me to play Cities XL

and finally

• If this happens
  
  
  
  May all your cities be radiation free....

Open Challenge

Simcity. Who plays it? Well if you don't you should it is actually pretty fun. Sure it has a few bugs which are rather bothersome. Repeating sounds every so often, lost mouse cursors, and so on. It is an EA game you learn to accept things not being perfect. Anyways, my point is I am issuing a challenge to all Simcity players. You see I have this region

Yes you are seeing that correctly I named all my cities off of Final Fantasy City names. Your jealous you didn't think about that. Also you may have noticed I am #1 on the global Leader board for population. Yes that happened and is currently happening. Think you can do it? Think it is easy? Then prove it. This is an open challenge Join me on the North America East 1 server and prove it. Also feel free to take a look around my cities and see how I did it.

If you do manage to pass my region take a screenshot just like myself and send it to me. I will feature you here on the blog for doing so and we will do our own region together in an effort to top another one of the categories, which I will write about from time to time here on the blog. Before any of you ask, yes you can have friends with you in the region and the same rules and such will apply. So do any of you have what it takes to beat Gauss himself? I am waiting to see you Fail...