OCULUS RIFT DEVELOPMENT KIT

Recently I had the pleasure of being able to play with the Oculus Rift courtesy of a friend and the one word that keeps coming back to me again and again is 'Wow'. The experience of mind blowing! Never has a piece of technology allowed me to experience such wonders, I am still speechless. Having been following the development of the Oculus Rift for a while now I was quite intrigued as to how it would all feel and work, I never thought I'd be able to play one so soon. As you can see from the photo's below (I'm sorry about the low resolution images from my phone) I had a blast playing with the Oculus. Now a lot of viewers may think that virtual reality is a thing of Science-Fiction and movies and I did too until recently, the level of immersion that you feel is unbelievable. As you can tell from the images below there were some instances where I actually dead-set felt like I was there. As my first time trying the Oculus I had to play in about 10 minute increments as it's quite possible to feel nauseous from the virtual reality, especially when standing up you can almost get brief flashes of vertigo. Don't let this put you off though, it's all about immersing yourself in another world and finally I feel that virtual reality is around the corner. I honestly believe that this is the way of the future with gaming and can't wait to get my hands on my own when the final product is released. With support from Valve, Epic, Unity and a slue of other developers and modders the Oculus Rift has a great life ahead of it.

So what is the Oculus Rift exactly and how does it work? The OR is a headset that is linked to your PC and monitor, or television, whichever you prefer. The Dev Kit is an early prototype version of the VR system which will ultimately lead to the final consumer version in the years to come. Anyone can purchase a Dev Kit however the final polished version will be a considerable improvement so it may not neccisarily be financially fesable for you. I myself will wait until the final product to be released as it will be a great piece if technology to own in its final form. The headset itself has adjustable lens' and depth which focus the image displayed in your headset. For someone like myself who wears glasses I had to use it without which was still managable but a little blurry, I reccomend contacts. The image resolution itself isn't perfect, running at 1280x800 which is a little pixilated however the final product will be in full HD running at 1080p. The headset displays two images, one for each eye which in terms makes for the 'virtual' feel. If you move your head to look behind you, you can see the world behind you. The movement controls can be used via a keyboard or controller but the controller is much more immersive. For example you can run forward but look behind you or all around. This makes for a truly remarkable experience when you have objects flying you like leaves and butterflies and you move your head out of the way because it feels that real!

The history of virtual reality is a pretty bleak one with Nintendo releasing the infamous Virtual Boy which ultimately killed the VR idea for a lot of people, but now with Oculus Rift in full force I feel it's finally going to happen. I only played a handful of games ranging from a roller coaster simulator to being in a space suit floating high above the earth to two very scary horror demos. And let me tell you, as a horror fan this is the perfect way to instigate fear into the player! I have never screamed so loud in my life! I played a five minute demo of Black Island standing up and nearly had a heart attack. The sense of things chasing you and actually being 'around' you was utterly terrifying and as the movement controls and looking around as well as utilizing your torch all acted independently it really did make me feel like it was there in the woods being hunted. So is it worth buying one now? That's entirely up to you, as the final version probably won't be out for at least another year you may wish to purchase a Dev Kit now for the fun and experience. I do believe it costs about $400 Australian so for some people that's a little pricey but considering the technology I think that's very affordable. Currently you can play a variety of games on the OR including Half-Life 2 the full game for example. Other games are being further updated to support the OR's capability, for example Deus Ex Human Revolution.

Lastly there's Hydra, attachments produced by Razor in conjunction with the OR headset. These add-ons for example can be a chest guard or a one handed controller that has a joystick for movement as well a other immersive capabilities. The Hydra can be a gun or a torch for example and adds that extra piece of virtual reality to the experience. The Hydra chest guard for example can sense when you duck, so if you need to get behind cover you'll need to duck in real life for your player to do so. This allows you to blind fire, shoot around corners, the whole shebang! There's not too much else I can say as it's one of those things that you need to experience yourself but I'm going to be brutally honesty; this is the best things I've ever seen in my life, it is revolutionary! The Oculus Rift has shown me that this technology is within arms reach and can actually be done correctly. For those who want to check out more on the Oculus Rift you can go to the official website in the link below and while you're at it check out some youTube clips of Oculus players. The development team behind the Oculus Rift are doing some amazing work at the moment and have come so far, it's great to see something so interesting and iconic come from all this hard work. Please everyone check this out! 

http://www.oculusvr.com/

Oculus Rift Development Kit Case.

The Oculus from the back as how you would wear it.

Side view of Oculus with lens adjustment dial.

Myself playing Oculus, it felt as if I could reach out and touch things.

You can play sitting or standing, standing is much more immersive.

N3RD CREED ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER

Hello gamers! Just a quick note, my Instagram and Twitter accounts for N3RD CREED are up and working so I hope you all endeavour to check them out. I will aim to keep the blog, Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter accounts all in sync so you don't miss out on anything important!

N3RD CREED ON FACEBOOK NOW!

Attention N3RD CREED followers! I would once again like to thank everyone who has been reading my posts each week and would like to inform you all at I'll be starting a N3RD CREED titled Facebook page. I'll aim to have the same content but act as a door way between my blog, Twitter and Instagram account. As I am still relatively fresh to the blogging network I am trying different ways to help N3RD CREED flourish and I feel these extra avenues of social networking will definitely help. Once I get my Instagram and Twitter account up and running I will provide the links through the Facebook and blog. I am hoping to really make something of N3RD CREED and appreciate the time you guys take to stop and read my content!

SILENT HILL: DOWNPOUR

As you all may know, I have highly praised the Silent Hill series over the years and even though there were a few bumps along the way the game still manages to surprise me. The latest installment in the Silent Hill series; Downpour, is a great addition to the franchise. Since Silent Hill 2 came out, which was back in 2001 I haven't found that tension in the series that I yearn for but now I feel we're finally starting to get back into the rhythm. While Shattered Memories was a worthy edition to the series in 2009 and Silent Hill 3 in 2003 they still didn't quite reach that level Silent Hill 2 once offered. Now don't get me wrong, Downpour isn't the greatest game to praise my TV screen but it's certainly a well designed game and knows what it's trying to be; survival horror. Plus if there's one thing that freaks me out the most it's mannequins! The atmosphere, tension and confusion are back in full force with this game keeping you guessing at every turn. Exploration throughout the town is exceptionally fun and returns to that Silent Hill 2-esque style ambience that sends shivers down your spine. Traversing the fog stricken streets of Silent Hill this time round is especially terrifying and with the implementation of side quests the game further pushes you to explore derelict streets. Much like its predecessors there are unique place to explore each with a variety of tricks, traps and puzzles. I'll endeavour to shed the light a little more on the Silent Hill series this time round as my review of Silent Hill 2 back in April was a little short.

This time round the primary victim and protagonist for this chilling story is Murphy Pendelton, an inmate from a prison who becomes entangled in Silent Hill's twisted web after his prison transport bus over turns in a thunderstorm. After a rather freaky opening Murphy finds himself in dire need of escaping Silent Hill as quickly as possible, unfortunately this means traversing through the eerie town first. Throughout the game Murphy is relentlessly haunted by his past and one of the prison officer who survived the crash, Anne Cunningham. The story progressively unfolds revealing interesting details and twists surrounding Murphy's past and actions. This creates a great gameplay experience as you are constantly trying to push on and uncover both Murphy's and Silent Hill's secrets. Downpour received some very mixed reviews with a lot of people either loving or hating it, unfortunately the majority hated it, but don't let this sway you, I still consider it a worthy edition and as a horror enthusiast that's definitely saying something. Much like my beloved Silent Hill 2, Downpour still focuses on the town itself as the primary set point all the while dragging in unsuspecting victims to its horrific jaws. The cavalcade of characters who you encounter are all interesting, each with their own creepy past that fits perfectly into the story line. The transition between the real world and Silent Hill's 'Nightmare dimension' is smooth and well designed with the twisted realm leaving you truly on edge and afraid of what's to come.

The gameplay itself was something that a lot of reviewers were not fond of but in all honesty there's nothing wrong with it. If you've played a Silent Hill game you know the kind of gameplay to expect and personally I don't see what all the fuss was about. It's a survival horror game, what do you expect? In your inventory this time round you can carry only a handful if weapons and one melee weapon at a time, which is all you need. Weapon degradation occurs over time so you must be wary when entering combat with one of the stumbling entities. The implementation of this into a game like Silent Hill is great and I think it adds to the mood of the game, nothing is more frightening than having your 2x4 break mid combat forcing you to madly stumble for a new weapon while you're being chased. With the fluent gameplay and the stellar atmosphere which I previously covered I feel that this is a sorely overlooked game in the series and the survival horror genre. While it's not Silent Hill 2, I still praise it for giving the franchise a solid go and am proud to have it in my gaming library. I'm glad that there are games like this still being made because they're far and few and generally really great overall. I'm curious to see the path that the Silent Hill franchise takes over the coming years given the dividing opinions from gamers as of late. So for those who are looking for a great horror and psychological experience I strongly advise you to give this a crack.

Genre: Survival Horror
Platforms: PS3 & 360
Score: 9 / 10

1000 VIEWS!

Hello all! Just a quick note...having just reached 1000 views from my audience across the globe I'd like to thank everyone who's been reading my blogs over the past months. Now while I am aware in the scheme of things that's not a huge amount of views but it's enough to make me really appreciate the time everyone is taking to read my blog. If there is anything I could improve or touch on more please let me know, I'm open to constructive criticism and always looking to improve. I will definitely continue to review games and keep you all up to date with the important gaming news, again thank you everyone, you guys are awesome!

THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM - PART 2

So already we've established Skyrim has cemented its place in history, but what gives it that 'edge' in video gaming that elevates it above the rest? Well for me and I think a lot of gamers will agree, it's the huge level of customisation and that fact that just about any person can pick up the game learn its mechanics quite easily. Something that plagued Oblivion and previous titles was level of difficulty and the gameplay mechanics, this in turn isolated a lot of the gaming market so that only the hardcore gamers and fans picked up a copy. With Skyrim, Bethesda have managed to find that happy medium that appeals to all levels of gamers and while some of the hardcore audience might not appreciate this I feel that in the long run this newer style will benefit the Elder Scrolls series. The user interface and method of gameplay all blend together to make a very smooth experience. I simply cannot wait to see what Bethesda decide to do with Elder Scrolls VI, with next generation consoles around the corner and the huge modding community within the PC realm it's certain that the next installment will have everything we love and so much more. So let's dig into the nitty gritty and what makes Skyrim really shine; the gameplay!

Swords, maces, battle axes, bows, magic the list goes on, there is so much content in Skyrim it's mind boggling. Throughout Skyrim you can obtain multiple weapons of varying design each with their own strengths, weaknesses and magic abilities (if they have them). As well as weapons you also have armour and shields, again each with their own styles and designs, naturally many gamers already know this but for those who aren't familiar with this kind of game then this is what you can hope to expect. The shear level of customisation is crazy with every play through being different if you choose to make it so. Over the course of my Skyrim obsessed life I've been an Argonian Battle-master (a lizard creature with heavy weapons capabilities), a Redguard Mage (a desert dweller with magic abilities)...and the list goes on and on. You have a variety of other races including Elves, Imperials, Khajiits, Nords and many more each with their own special abilities, techniques and weaknesses. Weapons can be infused with magical abilities such as electricity, fire and more interesting spells such as soul trapping; capturing souls allows you to then further improve your magical weapons. The great thing about skyrim is that you can tailor the challenge to suit you, you can go full force with magic or weapons, use stealth and arrows from afar and so much more, it's a great experience that rewards the player appropriately.

By now you can probably clearly make out that I love Skyrim and praise it for its replay value, user interface and level of depth, so there's not too much more I can really shed light on without spoiling the main story. Quickly jumping back to the land of Tamriel itself, something that makes the Elder Scrolls series stand out amongst is the amount of back story and lore that the world is steeped in. Every installment of the Elder Scrolls has taken part in a different county of Tamriel, this makes for great variety as the lands and towns people will differ every game allowing for new a rich content to learn. Cyrodiil resides in the centre of Tamriel as the capital of all the lands, home of the Imperial Legion. To the east lies Morrowind home to the Dunmer (Dark Elves) and the island Vvardenfell in which lies the great Red Mountain. South of this is the Black Marsh a huge mostly uncharted region home to the lizard like creatures, the Argonians. South lies Elsweyr, a mixture of badlands and sub-tropical lands home to the cat-like Khajiits. Down in the south-west is Valenwood, home to the Bosmer who inhabit this large forest / tropical swamp-like region, off its coast are the Summerset Isles. The Aldmer once inhabited this beautiful land and were the first decedents of Tamriel, but during Merethic Era long ago they have since disappeared. Lastly to the north-west lies Hammerfell, home to the Redguards and High Rock, well know for its Breton inhabitants. Both places are rather rugged with Hammerfell being home to the Alik'r Desert.

Tamriel is colossal land with heaps happening and Skyrim is no exception. There is so much to be done that to fully complete Skyrim would take up a vast amount of your life. I hope to one day discover all its secrets but time does fly very quickly and for Skyrim you need a bit of time up your sleeves. Below is a link to the Elder Scrolls Wiki, a great source of information for those interested in the lore and culture of Tamriel. I hope you've all enjoyed this lengthy review and endeavour to dive head first into this life changing game!

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Skyrim

Genre: Action / Adventure Fantasy
Platforms: PC, PS3 & 360
Score: 9.6 / 10

THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM - PART 1

Skyrim; a name that will be etched into the gaming world for generations to come. Anyone who's picked up a game in the Elder Scrolls series knows just how epic they can be and Skyrim is no exception, this game is a true masterpiece. Up until Skyrim I'd never played a game quite like it, with the exception of Fallout 3 and New Vegas I'd never seen a game so vast and full of adventure. Of course the Fallout series has guns and the very bleak holocaust theme to it, whereas the Elder Scrolls games are all medieval and now with Skyrim, full of dragons too. It's just one of those games that no matter which way you look at it or how you play it everyone has their own stories to tell. There is always going to be a special place in the gamer's hearts for Skyrim. I hadn't picked up an Elder Scrolls game until Skyrim and from what I've heard that's not necessarily a bad thing. Having played Oblivion now and taken a glance at Morrowind and the previous instalments it's plain to see that they were all brilliant games but did have their flaws, whereas Skyrim has taken these Flaws on board and try to fix everything humanly possible. Considering the vast amount of development and complexity in the games programming I think Bethesda have done a pretty swell job. 

Now with a game as big as Skyrim I simply can't cover all the fundamentals in one blog hence why I'm going to split this into a two-part review, that way I can delve a little more into the gameplay, lore and history behind this remarkable franchise. So before we can continue with Skyrim let's take a look at Bethesda and how they got to where they are today. Back in 1994 Bethesda released their first instalment of the Elder Scrolls series: Arena. The studio would then go onto release Daggerfall in 1996, Morrowind in 2002, Oblivion in 2006 and finally Skyrim in 2011. Prior to this Bethesda was making games for PC as far back as 1986 when the company was first founded. In 1999 Christopher Weaver and Robert Altman would found ZeniMax Media as the parent company to Bethesda, following this in 2009 they would then go onto purchase ID Software who's first release title under the new management would be Rage. And of course how can we forget back in 2004 when Bethesda bought the rights to franchise Fallout and went on to release Fallout 3; that was a truly epic game, I'll definitely review that down the track. It's amazing to see just how much the studio has grown over the past two decades and how they've revolutionised the gaming world with such titles.

So getting back to Skyrim...where do I start? I suppose the best place to start is: what is Skyrim. The game is set in the northern most county of the land of Tamriel, Skyrim, a harsh cold place home to the Nords, a friendly easy going race who work hard believe in their rights, their land and their lore. Being in the northern most part of Tamriel you can expect to encounter a wide array of environments from the rolling hills to jagged cliffs dotted with forests and most of all the brutal snow ridden terrain that claims many lives. Within Skyrim are nine major cities each with their own Jarl, an overseer of their dominion. 200 years after the events of the Oblivion crisis the High King has been killed and civil war looms over the land. On one side are the Stormcloaks who believe their land should belong to them and be an independent state while on the other side the Imperials feel that Skyrim should be apart of the Empire along with the other counties in Tamriel. To make things worse the Nordic god of Destruction, Alduin, a ruthless dragon king wants of Tamriel devoured by flames. There's a lot going on in this epic instalment of the series and both dragons and civil war aren't even the least of your worries. Dozens of adventures lay waiting for you across this beautiful land so expect to have majority of your life consumed by the glory this is Skyrim.

Probably the most important feature of this epic journey is that you are the 'Dragonborn', a being who can speak to, shout and absorb the souls of dragons. Being Dragonborn has its privileges, after defeating a dragon you can absorb its soul which you can then use to unlock various dragon 'Shouts'. These shouts are capable of many things ranging from summoning lightning storms to animals that will come to your aid. It's a great way to make an already rich game even richer with more interesting content. Much like previous Elder Scrolls games you can choose from ten different playable races each with their own unique skills, advantages and disadvantages. Having played through the main quest at four times now I can certainly tell you that every play through is different and just as fun as the last. While dialogue choices throughout the main story stay relatively similar the variety you can get from all the additional quests is remarkable. In the next part of the review I'll touch on the gameplay elements, the many species and races that inhabit Tamriel and the lands that makes up the world. I hope this review is informative for everyone and that you all endeavour to pick up of copy of Skyrim!