Free AC Unity Dead Kings DLC for everyone or 1 Free Game

Wow!

Because of the many issues with the launch of AC Unity, Ubisoft will now be offering the Dead Kings DLC free for everyone, as an apology!

This also means that the Season Pass for AC Unity has now been removed. So I'm assuming if I want to purchase the rest of the individual DLC, I will have to purchase them individually? Hmm.. that might just not be worth it after all. Of course that depends on what each individual DLC costs.

This was what the Season Pass was supposed to include.

So what about those who have already purchased the Season Pass?

Great news for you guys! You will be able to choose from 1 of the following games for free!

- The Crew

- Far Cry 4

- Watch Dogs

- Assassin's Creed Black Flag

- Rayman Legends

- Just Dance 2015

Far Cry 4 or The Crew? Great stuff! By the way, The Crew's Open Beta is on now so you can give it a try to see if you like it.

Too bad, I haven't gotten the Season Pass so just some free DLC for me.

But that's a great move from Ubisoft to offer some form of compensation to those who have been affected by the launch issues. Apology accepted!

Edit: FAQ regarding the offer and Ubisoft Montreal CEO's update.

Source: IGN

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My Far Cry 4 PreOrder Bonuses from Singapore

Collected my Far Cry 4 Pre-orders just last week.

Here in Singapore, we got 2 physical Pre-order bonuses, each one exclusive to the different consoles.

For the PS4, there was a Tshirt..

Made in some sort of Jersey material. I was thinking of selling it away but it fitted perfectly so I'm keeping it..

For the Xbox One, I got a Pagan Min Bobblehead..

Nice to see some cool physical items given out to those who pre-ordered, for the last 2 Ubisoft games. Hoping to see the trend continue!

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Tried out The Crew Closed Beta

Some time back, I had the chance to try out The Crew during their Closed Beta.

Ok, let me tell you about my thoughts before I actually tried the beta. I was a bit unconvinced about  a car racing game from Ubisoft. To me, Ubisoft was all about Action Adventure games like Prince of Persia & FPS-shooters like the Tom Clancy series. Of course now, they are largely popular for their Open-World titles like Assassin's Creed and Far Cry games.

The last time I remember them breaking out of their comfort zones was a football game during the 2014 World Cup. It was a poor game. Sure, it made marketing sense to release a football game during the biggest footballing event but no one expected it to break the monopoly of the Winning Eleven or Fifa games.

Now they try a Racing game.. It's like Ubisoft wants to try every gaming genre. 

For some reason, I wanted to like this game but at the same time, I felt that this wouldn't be a success. The racing genre isn't exactly Ubisoft's forte but the concept sounded fun.

So, what do I think after trying?

I did find it fun! It wasn't like woah, this is stunning kind of fun but I liked it. 

The Crew is a typical open world racing game with a story to follow and side missions strewn across the map. Mission rewards are split into 3-tiers depending on your performance. Rewards include car parts that you can add to your ride for better performance. 

I actually enjoyed racing in this. Burnout Paradise was the last racing game that I actually played thoroughly but I hated the racing on that. They gave you a start point and end point and you had to figure your route. That was something refreshing but it was annoying having to keep my eyes on the road as well as the mini-map to figure out my route. Led to a lot of crashes or going up the wrong lane.

I prefer The Crew's checkpoint-racing style. That's not to say that there aren't shortcuts to explore but more or less, the route is laid out for me and I can just focus on the racing and on the road in front of me.

There's also plenty of off-road racing which refreshes things up a bit. 

Like most racing games these days, The Crew has a story to follow AND like most racing plots, The Crew's plot is exactly the same. I feel like knocking my head against a wall. It is the most generic story-line ever for a racing game. I can tell you the story right now and it wouldn't even be considered a spoiler because..there is nothing to spoil.

Guy is in the racing scene, with a brother. Brother has some dealings with some shady characters. Everything looks fine but shady characters decide to backstab Brother and kill him. Our protagonist gets framed for the murder and goes to jail. Some time later, Good Cop (Has to be a lady) makes an appearance, helping our hero get revenge, in the hopes of taking down Bad Cops & Criminals. Hero & Good Cop Lady have an uneasy relationship but Hero obliges and has to work his way up in the racing scene to get close to Top Criminal & Bad Cops.

As generic as you can get...

This is the plot laid out for you in the first few chapters. Yes it might change and have plenty of twists as we go along but still looks pretty generic to me. 

To conclude, I enjoyed The Crew more than I think it would. The plot however, hasn't made me want to pick this up to see what happens next. I might pick this up if I have the time but considering the many games in front of me this 2 months, this game is coming out at a very wrong time.

The one thing I didn't manage to try was the co-op feature which probably is the biggest selling point of this game. If I don't get this now, there might be no one playing this in a few months. So, it's a bit of now-or-never.

However... some Good News!

The Crew is having a Open Beta on Nov 25 - Nov 28!

Details here: The Crew Official Site

I wanna give this game 1 more try for it's co-op and online experience before I make a final verdict. Join me on PSN guys! My PSN ID is Jengoboy

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I think I have been playing too much of AC IV

Was over at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, with the family on Saturday afternoon when I saw this..

First thing that came to my mind was.. A shipwreck survivor that needs rescuing!

Crap! I think I have been playing too much of Assassin's Creed IV the past few days..

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Busy playing...

Haven't been updating the blog recently eh? Just been busy with setting up a project with Sticky City Photobooth and actually playing games.

It feels like ages since I have played games regularly and with so many games out this month, I'm still pushing hard to complete AC IV before I start on the new games. 

On one hand, it's just my obsession with completing games in order and on the other, I want to catch up on the modern-day plot before I start on AC Unity and AC Rogue.

I'm still waiting for my CE copies to arrive so hoping that gives me enough time to plat the AC IV game. Heard the multiplayer trophies are gonna take a while and I still haven't gotten 100% sync on the story. (Does anyone even care about trophies anymore?)

Then there's the Freedom Cry DLC. Man, I've been slacking a lot on my backlog but recently I have been focused on gaming.

Then there's Far Cry 4 and GTA V on PS4. Glad it's the end of the year where I can clear my remaining leave days for more gaming time!

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Evolve Big Alpha stats revealed

Did you play the Big Alpha on Halloween Weekend? Then, you should have received a mail with the Big Alpha stats. 

For those who didn't.. well check it out!

Amazing stats.. As expected, Hunters tend to win more games than Monsters. I do feel that the learning curve for the Monsters is steeper as compared to the Hunters. So within a span of just a few days, it wasn't surprising to see the Hunters faring better. However, I don't have any worries about the balancing as is pretty much spot-on.

I'm a bit surprised that Support was the least chosen class, especially since it's my favourite.. More so, considering Hank was the first Support character unlocked in the Big Alpha. Assault no doubt was the most popular Hunter class. Interesting that Medic was more popular than Trapper or Support though.

Can't remember how long my average games were, but 40 mins seems pretty long. 

Anyway, glad that there's a lot of people watching the twitch livestreams. This game is just as fun watching!

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That Assassin time of the year again..

Like a holiday.. Assassin's Creed season comes once every year!

As a gamer and a collector, it's the most exciting time of the year. For just 1 game, comes several CEs and lots of other trinkets and stuff. This time round, there's 2! 

And as always, I always have an abundance of extra copies of the game to sell away.

Helped some friends get the Guillotine Bottle Opener as a PO bonus and I am helping them sell away the game locally. I got one for myself of course!

So I have 3 new & sealed Xbox One copies of the game to sell away at SGD$60 each. Do help some fellow gamers and collectors out here by recommending this offer to anyone who might be interested.

Here are the Guillotine bottle openers.. Just perfect to take off the heads..

.. of a bottle of course!

The instructions..

They should have made it such that you can drop the blade down onto the bottle cap and the cap drops off..

Opened mine..

It's made of real metal and it's rather heavy. A good quality piece of collectible!

Did my preorders at Zepy Games and they were using this wonderful carrier bags..

Nice stuff!

Anyway I got several more PS4 copies of AC Unity coming as well so if anyone isn't in a hurry to get the game, you can always get a decent deal from me in a week or two. I'll definitely go below retail cost to make it worth the wait.

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Looking forward to Assassin's Creed Rogue

So.. AC Unity is the "bigger" game because it's on the new console generation.

But as a long time fan.. I'm looking forward more for AC Rogue because of the plot. AC Rogue will be strongly linked to the Kenway Saga, filling up the gaps between Grandpa Edward and Grandson Connor. The ga will focus on events during, everyone's favourite Templar, Haytham's time.

Hey! Miss me?

It will be about how Shay, an Assassin, who went rogue and switched sides joining the Templars.

AC Rogue will be Ubisoft's attempt at changing fans' views about the Assassins & Templars. No more good guys vs. bad guys.. that's only true in fantasy. In real life, it's one man's views against another's.

I have talked a lot about this over the past few months regarding the perception of the Templars. While I, including many others, do realise that the Assassins have plenty of faults in their so-called 'Creed', the question is.. Will AC Rogue be a believable enough story to convince us that the Templars do have good intentions in their fight for peace?

I mean.. yes.. we have seen glimpses of dying Templars proclaiming that the Assassin was wrong and naive in their quest for freedom and that the Templars did really work towards a better future. But, now playing as a Templar, watching his interactions with other Templars, will it be convincingly portrayed in the game that the Templars do have good motives?

Apart from a couple of early trailers, I didn't want to spoil too much of the story for myself, and the impression I got is that Shay is bitter about something that happened. Fair enough.. the plot looks like it will focus on revenge but will his reasoning be acceptable or will he just turn out to be a sourpuss who is seeking revenge for his own selfish gains.

There is a damn good reason why I am doing this, you know?

AC Rogue is supposed to change our mindset about the Templars and give us a 2-sided view about the Templars & Assassins and I just hope that it is done well. I remember the Avatar movie and the initial hype was all about who we would side with, the Navi's or the Humans... But very disappointingly, there was absolutely nothing in the movie that actually made me feel for the Humans' perspective!

Ok.. I think I have gone on too long about this.. In short, I just want to see the Templars portrayed as normal and good people with a genuine interest in the people... As people who we can sympathise with and take this two-sided war into a battle that we can relate to, rather than a fictional Good vs Evil war. This will be ideal scenario for the future of the franchise.

And then Ubisoft can go on and release 2 games each year for both sides of the divide, which will make perfect sense.. (Sort of..)

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Looking forward to Assassin's Creed Unity

AC Unity will be releasing this week, depending on where you are from.

Both Unity and Rogue have been battling for the limelight but AC Unity comes out as the "bigger" game. Being the first exclusive Assassin's Creed game for the new consoles, there is so much of expectations.

I'm looking forward to playing this on my PS4. This will be my first 'official' game on the PS4 since I got it, apart from the Evolve Alpha Test and The Crew Beta.

I have also been looking forward to the Unity plot because of the Unity between an Assassin & a Templar. How will this play out in Arno's storyline? Is it going to be a happy ending and prove that Assassins & Templars can work together towards a common goal or will their alliances force them against each other?

Also, the 1 scene that I will be looking forward to, is the Assassin Initiation process. Who are the Elder Assassins? How will their role affect Arno?

And the Sages.. Introduced in AC IV, they provide another dimension into the Assassin-Templar war. Will we see any in AC Unity?

Co-op Multiplayer! Definitely excited for this. I have imagined that co-op multiplayer will one day make it's way into a AC game and true enough, it will be in AC Unity. Just hoping that it won't be a disappointment and looking forward to doing team assassinations with friends. Oh man.. this is going to be so much fun long after I have completed the game.

I'll also love to try capturing some video clips and screen shots with the PS4 "share" function. Hopefully, I won't get too distracted by it, haha!

Just waiting for my Collector's Edition and it will be time to unite!

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Finished off Evolve's Big Alpha with a bang!

Thanks to the extension of the Big Alpha, I managed to get some play time with the Monster class.

Pretty much from the first time I played the game, I knew that I'll be playing the Hunter classes when I am with friends and the Monster class when I'm alone. But I haven't had much success with the Monster classes so far. 

Maybe it's the inexperience, maybe it's the pressure but being up against 4 players is intimidating no matter what they told you about the strength of the Monster. But I really wanted to play as the Monster. 

So, when the Big Alpha had match making issues on the PS4, when in a party... I was like "Ok, this is it. I'm playing alone as Goliath." Memorised all the controls and went in confidently. Took the "Faster Feeding" perk and a new set of starting skills.. I was nervous, I had to get away as far as possible from the landing point and feed as much as possible. Somehow I managed to evolve to Stage 2 quickly.

Had a couple of fights with the Hunters but still managed to get to Stage 3. Went in for the Power Plant and got it's health to half. I didn't realise that I couldn't attack the Power Plant while being attacked. I thought I could just whack it and try to destroy it before the Hunters could take down my health. Stupid move! Died before I realised that.

Second game went pretty well. Stage 3 and I'm at the Power Plant again. This time I knew I had to go for the Hunters first. Managed to take 3 of them out but the annoying sentry guns were in the way and it was just enough for the Hunters to come back and take me out.

I was getting better at this but still needed a win.

3rd game. Hunters were real good in this round. They were right on my tracks at Stage 1 and my health went dangerously low. I think I fought back really well in this round and got to Stage 2. Used all my experience to force them into a couple of mistakes and I had the upper hand now. Evolved to Stage 3 and took them out 1-by-1. This time they were no match for me and there was no one to stop me as I had my way with the Power Plant.

Ooh Yea!! 

Been gaming a lot that past few days, so I decided to end my time with the Big Alpha on a winning note. I was a lot more confident playing as Goliath and it became increasingly fun rather than stressful. 

Felt I had enough time with all the Classes and decided it was best to continue when the actual game comes out. Of course, a Beta test would be most welcome once the new Hunter & Monster Classes are revealed.

My favourite Hunter character is still Hank as Support though. Of the 2 Support characters, I find that Hank is more defensive while Bucket is more about Offense. 

You know what they say.. "The best defense is a good offense" which is true not only for the Hunters but very, very true for the Monster classes. Both Goliath & Kraken doesn't seem to have much in terms of defense, apart from their mobility, so they rely a lot on their attacking prowess to take out the Hunters. But, if you can stop their attacks, then you can really cripple the Monsters.

Which is why, Hank's Energy Shield is 1 of my favourite abilities from all the Hunters. Shielding your allies can really throw off the Monster and disrupt his game plan.

And of course, my personal favourite ability (at least for now) has to be Hank's Orbital Barrage. Nothing, I repeat.. nothing can be more satisfying than raining missiles onto an unsuspecting Monster.

Super, super excited for the game now. February is too long away!

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Borderlands Zer0 Statue up for PreOrder

A deluxe Borderlands statue of Zer0 is up for preorder at Gearbox's Official Store.

Comes with 2 sets of interchangeable arms for different poses and a battery operated light-up electro luminescent sword.

This looks super cool and it's priced at USD $300.

Another license that I was really hoping to see some figures of but it looks like everyone is doing large-scaled statues now. Would be amazing to have the full set of Vault Hunters displayed together but I might be forced to pick and choose my favourite classes. A Gunzerker and Berserker will be a must-buy for me!

Edit: This was taken off the store already. I was assuming it was sold out already but a rep said this on the forums..

Interesting stuff! Stay tuned!

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GameStart 2014: The Swag!

For a Gaming Convention to be enjoyable, you will need good games.

For a Gaming Convention to be successful, you will need good execution.

For a Gaming Convention to be profitable, you will need good sponsors.

But.. For a Gaming Convention to be remembered, you will need GOOD SWAG!!!

And yes GameStart 2014 had some great freebies been given out! 

Here's what I managed to grab..

Playstation Electric Fans

Got these for showing them that you are a Playstation Plus member.

Toro Magnets??

Not entirely sure where these characters are from but some fridge magnets for showing them that you 'liked' the Playstation Asia Facebook page.

Evil Within Blood Bags

Probably the coolest freebie at GameStart 2014, these Blood Bags serve as a dual purpose Cold/Warm packs. Imagine keeping your ice-cream chilled with blood.. Gross!! Given out for trying The Evil Within demo at the Playstation Arena.

Dragonball figurine keychain

Found these in my random loot bag for being the first 300 people to enter on the 2nd day.

Freedom Wars Pen & Ruler

These were the freebies given to those who registered for the Producer Stage Event. For being the exclusive few, I was hoping for something more exclusive.

Instagram Prints

Tagronauts were giving out free Instagram prints to any pics that caught their eye, or if you just asked.

The Last of Us Remastered A4 Folders

Handed out for trying out TLOU Remastered demo.

Hearthstone Free Card Pack & WoW Expansion Beta Access Codes

Evolve Wristbands

Cool freebie for trying out Evolve. With these three, I completed the set!

EA T-Shirt

Another piece of loot from the Random Loot Bag!

Playstation T-Shirt

Would have liked a Bloodborne related item at the very least, for attending the Bloodborne Producer Stage Event.

DriveClub Bag

Managed to grab 1 at the very last minute by participating in the DriveClub demo.

Fantastic stuff! I missed out on a few like the Dead Island 2 T-Shirt and some Signed Bloodborne T-Shirts that were thrown into the crowd during the Stage Event. Didn't win anything either or would have some really exclusive stuff but I'm happy with my loot.

I'm very surprised at the quantity and quality of a lot of the freebies given out at the very first GameStart event. The Loot Bag for the first 300 was disappointing however but can't complain much on free stuff I guess.

A big Kudos to the organizers and sponsors! Still far away from the major gaming conventions around the world but as the success and popularity grows, I hope the freebies will get bigger and better too!

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