J Veron's World Updates - 27 Sept 2012

Quick update with a few photos about what's going on...

New stuff arrived in the mail today..

GTA San Andreas Poker Chips

 

Assassin's Creed figures by NECA

Also got a Unhooded Ezio Onyx figure locally for cheap which is somewhere in the cupboard. All this is happening between something way more important, the birth of my first child so havn't had the time to open the stuff up and take better pics. Quick iPhone pics will suffice for now.

Getting some really cool stuff in about 2 weeks so looking forward to that as well but my concentration is all on my wife and soon-to-be born daughter so pics will come later rather than soon. But I promise they will be up so do check back to see those really cool stuff. No hints but they will be worth your time.. Really excited to get those.

Borderlands 2 is here! Time to Shoot and Loot!

Finally got my Borderlands 2 game! Decided to import mine from UK as there were bonus skins for customization if you had a saved game from the original Borderlands. Wasn't sure if a R3 BL2 disc was going to detect my R2 BL1 saved game so just decided to play it safe. Sucks that it took so long to arrive though.

Managed to get some game time with 2 of my friends from the first game. Game's good. Managed to check out the game before it was released during the Borderlands 2 Fan Night in Singapore so no huge surprises here. Already raved about how good the game was, so it wasn't like I was playing a brand new game and going wow!

The original Borderlands game was awesome. Was expecting it to be fun but it blew my mind when I played through it. The sequel does well to magnify all the good stuff and correct most of the little issues. There are a few things in the game that still bugs me though. Holding on the square button too long on a newly dropped gun will swap it with your active one. Holding square is also the button used to pick all ammo and cash in an area. This sucks when you don't actually want to equip the new gun and you have to go to your inventory to swap it back out.

But things like that are just minor annoyances rather than a huge problem in the game. Definitely not a reason to choose not to get this game if you are still making up your mind. This is one game that you shouldn't miss out. Like they say, do bring friends. The game is tougher than the first. Bloody roll-dodging psycho bandits.

Only managed to get up to Level 7 so far. Will post more opinions on the game when I get more game time. Ciao!

 

Reaching Legendary Rank on Max Payne 3

Finally managed to reach Level 50 and passed on into Legendary Rank 1 in the last week. Took me quite a while even though I had been playing Max Payne 3 Multiplayer mode actively.

Some of you may wanna know what's the advantages and disadvantages of passing into Legend. So here you go. A look into Legend ranks from your very own J Veron ;)

Before passing into Legend, you should be aware that you will lose several items that would put you at a disadvantage in your next online match. Below are the things that you lose when you pass into Legend.

Cash - All those unused cash that you loot or earn will go poof. You start back from $0 so you won't be able to purchase all the items and weapons that you have unlocked. However, this isn't a very bad thing since you will be losing all the items that you purchased anyway when you hit the "Pass into Legend" button.

Weapons - Leveled up your M10 or M4 assault rifle to level 10? Unlocked that Desert Eagle after finally reaching level 40? Well you gonna lose it all again. Everything resets back to when you first started multiplayer. And remember you won't even be able to choose your own loadout until level 4. Back to those preset loadouts.

Items and Bursts - Also gone. As mentioned before, even if you didn't spend your cash on buying these items, you don't have to buy them before passing into Legend since you gonna lose them anyway.

---

Of course, it's not all about losing. While you don't gain anything that actually gives you an advantage in an online match, there are some perks for making that jump.

You unlock the "Respected" title for passing into Legend Rank 1. Various other titles such as "Living Legend", "Golden" await you with each Legend rank you pass into. At the moment, there are 10 Legend Levels. There is also a Death match avatar with each Legend level, all of which are different skins of Max Payne. You also get a new emblem beside your PSN ID that shows your current level.

One section that doesn't go through resetting is the Grinds. Your current completion level in the various Grinds is carried over when you pass into Legend. So if you are 5 melee kills away from completing the last stage of the Knockout Blow Grind, you don't have to fret. Mostly a good thing, but you won't be able to abuse the easy grinds for bonus XP. 

If you have unlocked Hardcore mode, that stays too. There's also a perk that allows you to earn a higher percentage of cash with each Legend Level but I'm not sure if it's automatic or if you have to equip a certain item for this.

Sure there isn't a great deal to gain by passing into Legend and I know that a lot of players opt not to. A level 20 player and a Legend rank 2 level 20 player has access to the same items and weapons. It's more of a bragging rights thing where you show off your Legend ranking and there's a wow factor when you have actually completed several Legend Levels.

That's pretty much everything you need to know about Legend Ranks in Max Payne 3 multiplayer. Hope this will help you make your decision if you are still undecided about making the jump..

 

Real Life Max Payne Video & Connor figure pics

You guys probably know how much I love Max Payne so I'm always on the internet looking for Max Payne videos and I found this. A very cool video depicting the style of Max Payne 3 in real life. This is as good as it gets in terms of similarity with the actual game.



Here's a link to close-up pics on the upcoming Assassin's Creed 3 Connor Figurine from the various Collectors' Editions for those who havn't seen it yet.

Coolest Video Game Move - The Shootdodge

Max Payne 3 has probably the coolest move in a Video Game. What is it? It's Shootdodge. 

The Shootdodge move has been around since the first Max Payne game. It's Max Payne's signature move where he dives through the air in slow motion shooting enemies while also avoiding their gun fire. This move along with bullet time would have been very familiar with Max Payne fans through the years. 

In Max Payne 3, you will need to gain adrenaline which will enable to use either Shootdodge or Bullet Time. The more adrenaline you have in your bar, the longer you will be able to enable these sweet moves.

In the single player campaign mode, try using Shootdodge in a fire-fight with the AI opponents. With enough adrenaline and with some practise, you should be able to take out 2 or 3 enemies before you hit the ground. Or you can dive out of cover and surprise them. Get caught without cover? Shootdodge into cover! There are so many ways to use this awesome move. 

Find shootdodging impressive? Now try it in Multiplayer. This is where the Shootdodge rules! Killing AI opponents is great but nothing beats taking down multiple real-life opponents with a carefully timed shootdodge. The options are endless. I'll list down some of my favourite shootdodge moves.

1. Now you see me, now you don't

You see a few enemies together. Run out from cover.Your opponents see you and start to aim their sights at you. Be quick and use the Shootdodge to kill 1 or 2 while diving into the next cover.   Get up, reload and quickly hide behind your new cover. They thought you were an easy kill but you just killed them and are waiting behind cover for your next target.

2. Roll and Jump.

I don't usually plan this, most of the time I'm forced into it to survive. Of course, I just act as if I had all planned out. You're running out in the open when suddenly 2 rivals appear. Kill 1 quickly and roll while reloading. You are probably taking some heavy fire from the 2nd guy. As soon as you are done rolling, shootdodge to the side and take out the 2nd. Surprise, surprise... you just turned the tables on them. 

3. Run if you can

Do this successfully and you can get a couple of kills. Need a bit of luck though. Usually used when there are a group of enemies cuddled together. Usually when capturing a checkpoint. Get a grenade ready and run out of cover. Throw the grenade into the middle of the group and hit the Shootdodge button immediately. Fire away and hope you survive. You will be under extremely heavy fire since you are targeting a group. Good thing is if you threw your grenade accurately, you will get a couple of kills even if you die. Best to do it when you have some allies taking the attention off you. Once I successfully killed 5 using this move. Awesome eh?!

---

Of course, the Shootdodge isn't a super imbalanced move that makes you all-powerful. You have to use it right. While diving in the air, you have an advantage, but as soon as you hit the ground, you are like a sitting duck just waiting to be killed.

You need enough adrenaline. This is the fuel for the move. The more you have, the longer your dive which is very Essential if you want an advantage in a fire-fight. Without it, you will look like a duck that tried to fly but miserably failed. (I don't know why I keep referring to ducks today.) To rub salt in your wound, you probably just got killed after that. Of course, adrenaline is also needed for your burst moves so keep an eye on that meter before you try Shootdodging.

Check your surroundings. You can have all the adrenaline in the world but if there is a stone wall in your dive path, you crash. Nothing's more frustrating than hitting Shootdodge and then hitting an obstacle. Your move ends there and probably so does your life. Worse if you hit some stairs and start tumbling down while getting shot at.

What goes up must come down. As mentioned earlier, while you are diving, time slows down for the enemy and you have the advantage. Once your move ends, you land on the floor. This is when you are the most vulnerable. There might be more enemies behind you, to your left, to your right, up, down, just re-spawned, just appeared out of cover( yea you get the drift.) So get up and run into cover after your Shootdodge move.

So yea, there's my lengthy post about awesome (or not so awesome) the Shootdodge move from Max Payne 3 is. Do share your Shootdodge stories and how you use them below. If you found this article useful, do share with your friends. Or if you want to test your Shootdodge skills against me, do add me on PSN (Jengoboy).

Like this article? Read this and other Max Payne 3 stories here

I kill all!

See that? Jengo kills all!! 

Haha ok I am kidding, I just had a damn good game and it was on double xp weekend. Nevertheless it was a very impressive score for me. Managed to rack up many killing sprees even after I thought my luck's gonna run out. Either that, or I am just improving. Of course, a major part boils down to the fact that you get better equipment as you level up. 

Compared to when I first started playing Max Payne 3 online, I have become a better player. More often that not, I tend to be in the top 3 at the end of each match. Which is great! I used to be one of the bottom few players early on and leveling up was a chore. But as I got more familiar with the style and the various items that can be used to assist you, I became better. Did you know? I didn't even know how to use bursts until level 30+. Embarrassing I know. 

But once I'm familiar with all the components in a multiplayer game, I produce results like the one shown above.

Reader Alert: This is a totally useless and redundant post. The author probably has nothing better to do in life and experiences immense pleasure from showing off stuff that no one cares about.

American History Lesson with Red Dead Redemption

Check out this very interesting video on American history and how Red Dead Redemption relates to it Even though I'm Singaporean, I have read a lot of American history and while I'm not a genius, I have some knowledge. Rockstar games did do a lot of research before creating this game but the accuracy is remarkable as you will see in the video.



Source: Youtube (Pixel Enemy)

GTA San Andreas Gangnam Style

Keeping in topic with the Gangnam style videos, here is CJ from GTA San Andreas doing the Gangnam style.

 

Ok! I promise there will be no more Gangnam Style videos on my blog anymore..

GTA IV Gangnam Style

Title says it all...... Oh god, I never thought this will happen but they just had to. This song is gonna ring in my  head whenever I see Niko Bellic.

My Borderlands 2 Skill Tree

Did my own Borderlands 2 Skill tree. Will be playing Gunzerker as my main character and I'm gonna boost all his Gunzerking skills to be the ultimate dual-wielder! Some of the skills in the centre skill tree focus on reducing the cooldown to use the Gunzerking skill as well as prolonging it while it's activated.

I might consider tweaking it a bit when the game is out but I seem pretty satisfied with how it looks at the moment.

Do try out the Skill Tree Calculator to check out the skills available for each class and plan out your skill tree before the game is released.

Prince of Persia Movie Replicas

Didn't have anything new to post and no new purchases for quite a while so decided to post some pics of my Prince of Persia Dagger and Sword movie replicas.

The Dagger of Time

Black Shamsir of Dastan

I actually got these much earlier this year and was one of the missing items in My Collection slideshow.  I had packed them packed back into their boxes as I didn't have any space to display them. Still waiting for my own place where I'l have my own man cave all to myself. So they have been hiding in their boxes and I was too lazy to take them out when I was taking photos of my entire collection. But then recently, someone on a forum wanted to see pics of these so I got my lazy ass up and took them out.

Anyway here they are and seeing them in person after a long time, I forgot how good they look. These aren't cheap plastic toy replicas, they are made of real metal from United Cutlery.While they aren't designed to do fatal damage, kids shouldn't be playing around with them. 

The dagger is about 15 inches long and the sword is over 30 inches long. Both are designed to replicate the actual Prince of Persia Sands of Time movie props. The detail is awesome, from the tip right up to the handle.They even feel like the real thing and are pretty heavy.

The Dagger of Time pics

Black Shamsir of Dastan pics

Size Comparison

They are back in their boxes for now. Can't wait to display them up on the wall!

Assassin's Creed meets Parkour

Some of you probably would have seen this video already but it's too cool to not post it here.


Yes, some of you may claim that it's not exactly how the Assassins move in the game but it's still a very awesome video and he got some skills. So stop hating and just enjoy! He might make another video if he gets 1 million views or something like that.

Max Payne 3 - Payne Thresholds

A couple of days ago, I posted about the new Max Payne 3 updates and I mentioned a new feature for Multiplayer: Payne Thresholds. I managed to get some game time in the past few days and got to see how this new feature works. 

The Payne Thresholds is basically a set of challenges that are available for a week. There are 4 levels you can achieve for each challenge; Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Complete these challenges and get rewarded with various amounts of XP depending on the level you reach. If you manage to complete the requirements for the platinum level, you will be rewarded with a unique title that earns you bragging rights. Considering this title is displayed beside your name whenever you kill someone in the game or when you are the top player in a match, you will demand respect from the other players.

Personally, I would have preferred the reward to be a unique custom for your character avatar. It would have been more prominent but what the heck, I'm don't think I'm gonna complete the tougher platinum challenges. Personally I find it too challenging though many out there would have breezed through them. Anyway, these challenges will be up only for a week before new ones will be released so hurry up and get them before they end. The XP rewards are quite substantial so even if you manage only to complete the silver and gold challenges, it's a good boost in your goal to reach level 50.

5000XP for gold is pretty good but I want that Juggernaut title. Not sure why the date states August 4 though, could be some bug.

Come join me on PSN, my ID is Jengoboy.