8th Generation Game - PlayStation 4 - Bloodborne

Diseased and hopeless travelers, from all across the world, undertake the long journey to the forgotten city of Yharnam, all with the single purpose of finding the universal medical cure that will heal their illnesses.

The forgotten city is a center of medical knowledge which was once run by the Healing Church. Centuries ago the place now called Old Yharnam was cursed with an epidemic illness that would mutate any infected into a bloodthirsty monster. This plague was called the Plague of the Beasts. Chaos was inflicted among-ts the townspeople and they began to hunt these fowl creatures, but unknowingly they have been afflicted with the feverish desire to kill beasts and outsiders coming through alike. The Healing Church responded by blocking off all the entrances of the Cathedral Ward and sent Old Yharnam into ashes.

You the player, called the hunter, enter the Gothic city of Yharnam t unravel it's mystery. First you will find Losefka's Clinic and undergo a blood transfusion which will infect you with the Yharnam blood. This will make you more than human, better yet not human at all. Now you start your journey unable to distinguish between reality and nightmare, you take up your preferred weapons and head to the city to uncover it's secrets while dealing with chaotic mobs and gruesome beasts that want you dead.

Some of  Bloodborne's Weapons 

The game was released in march of 2015, from the same developers that brought you the Demon Souls and the Dark Souls franchise, From Software. Bloodborne is an action RPG similar to Dark Souls. The player can return to safe zones , know and the hunter's Dream from lanterns spread through the world. When this is done you will replenish your health but repopulate the area with monster.

Bloodborne safe zone

The combat system is very fast paced and dangerous. Enemies deal large amounts of damage and will kill you easily if you are not cautious and strategic. You will be required to have a good offensive approach and be able to quickly dense out groups of enemies. The player is very agile and is easily able to perform sweeping dashes around enemies while locked on. You will have to risk allot of moves with low amounts of health for you to defeat them. A risk/reward mechanic was implemented in the game and will trigger when you are striking an enemy, this result in you regaining health. the multiplayer feature lets you call for other hunters to help you in boss battles or groups of enemies. The graphics of this game are very detailed with smartly placed lightning to immerse the user in the game while utilizing a great amount of the PS4's capabilities.

Getting Rekt

Bloodborne Walkthrough 

Bibliography:

Wikipedia, (2015). Bloodborne. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodborne [Accessed 8 May 2015].

Metacritic, (2015). Bloodborne. [online] Available at: http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/bloodborne [Accessed 8 May 2015].

IGN, (2015). Bloodborne Review - IGN Video. [online] Available at: http://www.ign.com/videos/2015/03/27/bloodborne-review [Accessed 8 May 2015].

8th Generation - PlayStation 4

The PlayStation 4 is the great successor to the PS3 made by Sony. It was released in November 2013 for $399 and immediately sold over 1 million units in one day. The PS4 consistes of an AMD x86-64 APU, 1.8 GPU, 2.75GHz CPU with 8GB DDR5 Ram and a standard 500GB HD. It is called by Sony the world's most powerful console with significant performance differences between the PS4 and it's rival, the Xbox One.

The console has it's own PlayStation App store, which is designed to enhance the gameplay of the system. The PlayStation Now is a system where you can stream video game content via a cloud based subscription gaming service and play wireless on a secondary screen such as the PSVita.

The PS4's design is sleek and elegant. It comes with two variations, the jet black and the glossy white.On the left side of the front you can insert the CD and on the right side you have 2 USB ports for the accessories. The console is made to be sat flat horizontally but if you want you can buy Sony's PS4 stand and raise it vertically.

The DualShock 4 controller connects via Bluetooth. It is equipped with several new features such as the clickable touch pad on the front and motion detection. It has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. It also include a middle share button to share your online experience using social interactive. The design is beautiful and fits well in one's grip.

PlayStation 4 Commercial

Bibliography:

Wikipedia, (2015). PlayStation 4. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4 [Accessed 8 May 2015].

Rivington, J. (2015). Sony PS4 review. [online] TechRadar. Available at: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/gaming/games-consoles/sony-ps4-1131803/review [Accessed 8 May 2015].

7th Generation Game - PlayStation 3 - Dark Souls

In the beginning of time, the world consisted of a barren landscape, with cold and harsh environments. It was dominated with immortal dragons. The dragon's immortality came from their magical scales, however they had one weakness, lightning. This era of the world was know as the Age of the Ancients. This Age ended when Fire was born. Fire brought heat and cold to the lands, life and death , light and dark, and with it came the four Soul of Lords.

The first three souls were claimed by 3 gods,  Nito,the first of the Dead, the Witch of Izalith and her daughter of Chaos and finally Gwyn , the Lord of Sunlight. All three combining the powers of the Lord Souls, challenged the ancient dragons for dominion over their land. Gwyn's bolt of lightning pierced into their magical scales and with open wounds, Nito inflicting the wounds with death and disease and the Witch of Izalith with great firestorms. All three of their powers combined they vanquished the dragons and dominated the new Age of Fire.

Gwyn, The lord of Sunlight

The Witch of Izalith

Nito, The First of the Dead

The fourth souls was claimed by the furtive pygmy and passed down through his lineage. The power of the Lord Souls began to weaken and the end of the Age of Fire was near. Lord Gwyn did not want the Age of Fire to end and consequently the Hollow were born. These were creatures that once became undead and insane lead to the hollowing of their soul. A prophecy tell of a chosen Undead that will ring the Bells of Awakening to end the Age of Fire and start the Dark Age. This is were you and your character come in.

The Furtive Pygmy

That was the plot, now if I may say, this Game is Amazing. Dark Souls is a HARDCORE Action RPG set in an open world environment. It was developed by a company named From Software. The game was released in 2011, late releasing some downloadable content under the title Artorias of the Abyss.

Lordran

The Plot of the game is continuously told through the game via descriptions of in-game items and dialogues with NPCs. In order for you to understand the story, you must piece together the information given from the items and NPCs, which gets a bit confusing. The game is recognized for it's challenging difficulty and amazing lore. The whole Dark Souls world is filled with weapons , armor and consumables that will help through your vigorous journey.

In March 2014 a sequel came out, Dark Souls 2, which is as expected, equally amazing.

Dark Souls Announcement trailer

Dark Souls Walk through (You need one)

Bibliography:

Wikipedia, (2015). Dark Souls. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Souls [Accessed 8 May 2015].

Dark Souls Wiki, (2015). Portal:Dark Souls. [online] Available at: http://darksouls.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Dark_Souls [Accessed 8 May 2015].

IGN, (2015). Dark Souls Review - IGN. [online] Available at: http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/09/30/dark-souls-review [Accessed 8 May 2015].

7th Generation - PlayStation 3

As the clear leader of the video game industry Sony decided to further expand their success with another next-gen console, the PlayStation 3 which came in 2006. Sony, as they did in previous generations, marketed the PlayStation 3 as a multi-media device. The PlayStation 3 consisted of a Blu-ray player, a hard drive and a built-in wireless network interface. The console also had a multitude of ports to accommodate all sorts of media devices. The one thing that was overlook was the games and we all know that a console's main success comes from it's game library. The initial launch titles were not really great and the main problem was the price of the console started at $600, which was highly expensive. Due to continuous sales of the PlayStation 2, Sony kept earning it's money while PlayStation 3's profits plundered. 

Blu-ray drives were not an ideal source for game, with painful loading times in the early games released. Along the years Sony realised it's flaws and started doing mandatory installations beforehand to minimise load times. Some installation were tremendously long and the will to play the games decreases quickly. Another problem came out with the hard drive's limited space because the updates and installations were eating it all away all, leading to consoles with higher HD capacity.

The console itself could output a resolution of 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, and full HD 1080p with 2 HDMI ports. It had a cell processor 3.2GHz CPU, with a 550MHz GPU. It's asymmetric design can be placed horizontally or vertically on it's side. With it's elegant curves and shiny looking, monochrome black surface it definitely looks like a beast. In the front there were two touch buttons which consisted of turning the console ON/OFF and ejecting the CD.

A special edition Silver PlayStation 3

The controller initially was a total disaster. There was no sense of innovation and stayed basically the same. It was even worse than the PS2 controller because it lacked vibration capability which was something standard. It' was basically a wireless PS2 controller. Later along the years Sony released a Dual Shock 3 controller which was a slight improvement. Their main advantage was that they could be directly charged by plugging them in the console.

In September 2012 in Tokyo, Sony announced a new versions of the PS3 called the PS3 Super Slim. It was available with either a 250GB or 500GB hard drive. The 250GB one was not available in PAL regions.

PlayStation 3 Commercial

Bibliography:

Videogamecritic.com, (2015). The Video Game Critic's Playstation 3 Console Review. [online] Available at: http://videogamecritic.com/ps3info.htm [Accessed 8 May 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). PlayStation 3. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3 [Accessed 8 May 2015].

Rivington, J. (2012). Sony PS3 review. [online] TechRadar. Available at: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/gaming/games-consoles/sony-ps3-1099856/review [Accessed 8 May 2015].

6th Generation game - PlayStation 2 - Shadow of the Colossus

Long ago in a forbidden land a god named Dormin was worshiped by all and everything was going great. Eventually a new religion came into power and people turned against him. It was believed Dormin was an evil being as many horned entities are and he was imprisoned in the shrine of worship by Lord Emon , a powerful shaman who split Dormin's essence and power into 16 powerful giants known as the colossi. 

The hero you play with, named Wander, journeys into the forbidden land to save a mysterious woman named Mono. Placing her on the alter in the shrine of worship, he makes a deal with Dormin who is said he has the power to resurrect the dead. Dormin tells him that only when the 16 idols lining the halls are destroyed will he once again have the power to resurrect.

However the idols will only be destroyed after each colossi is defeated by the ancient sword. Wander, with the help of his loyal steed Agro, the ancient sword with indeterminate magical properties and a bow to help him on his dangerous path of saving his damsel in distress, takes off to fight the colossi. 

Obligatory, they are incredible:

Valus

Quadratus

Gaius

Phaedra

Avion

Barba

Hydrus

Kurumori

Basaran

Celosi

Pelagia

Phalanx

Cenobia 

Argus

Malus

Dirge

Every Colossi  has it's own unique way of being defeated with some require you to climb around them and find their weak spot. 

This can become increasingly difficult as they will shake you off and loosen your grip. Getting hit by one of the gigantic stone creatures is not a pleasant feeling.

Released in 2005 in Japan by Team ICO, using the full potential of the PS2 due to it's massive amount of 3D polygon rendering from the huge bosses. This game was one of the most influential PS2 games in video game history due to the fact that it was considered a work of art. All this praise came from it's minimalist landscape design, immersive gameplay and an emotional journey along the way. The game won several awards for it's glorious soundtrack, creative design and overall quality.

                             Shadow of the colossus : Soundtrack

                                                   Some Gameplay!

                     

Along the years, due to its success, a remastered HD version came out on the PS3, combined with it's unofficial prequel ICO.

Bonus : The Ancient Sword 

Bibliography:

Wikipedia, (2015). Shadow of the Colossus. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus#Critical_response [Accessed 6 May 2015].

Videogamecritic.com, (2015). Playstation 2 Reviews Sa-Sm by The Video Game Critic. [online] Available at: http://videogamecritic.com/ps2sam.htm?e=66438#rev2714 [Accessed 6 May 2015].

IGN, (2015). The Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection (PlayStation 3). [online] Available at: http://www.ign.com/games/the-ico-and-shadow-of-the-colossus-collection/ps3-75635 [Accessed 6 May 2015].