1. Posted 1 year ago Notes

    Byte Size Reviews: Vindictus Interview

    Here’s a video that Chanh and I shot while we were in Seattle. It’s for the upcoming game Vindictus which will be a free to play MMO. You can get a chance to play it now if you have a early access beta key, which I so happen to have a few. From what we played of the game in Seattle, it is pretty impressive but I’ll let you watch the video to determine that for yourself. This will probably be one of the only MMO games that I get into in my life time. Plus free is always an attractive price. 

  2. Posted 1 year ago 2 notes

    Vindictus Early Access Beta

    Did you like what you saw in that video? Want to play something like that right now? Well today is your lucky day. I will be giving a way beta codes to play Vindictus until I run out of them. Later this month I should have an interview that was conducted with Chris G$, an Assistant Producer of Vindictus. He’s last name isn’t G$ but you’ll see more on that when the interview hits the site. 

    All you have to do in order to receive a beta key is:

    *Reblog this post
    *Follow Byte Size Reviews because that’s what Tumblr is for.
    *Use the ‘Ask’ function of the site to send me your email along with your Tumblr account name so I can make sure you did the first two things.
    *Then I will use a complicated algorithm to determine the receivers of these beta codes.  Or I’ll just give you one. 

      After all that is done, you will be on your way to some hack and slash MMORPG goodness. The great thing about these beta keys is that they mutate. Basically your 1 beta key will turn into 2 beta keys that  you can then use to share with your friends. The process keeps happening until everyone in the world is playing Vindictus. 

    • Posted 1 year ago 1 note

      Byte Size Reviews: The Incident

      I did a quick reviews of the game The Incident. You can purchase the game from the App Store for $1.99. It’s a universal app which means it is optimized for your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Overall I wasn’t too impressed with the game. It looks awesome and has a great 8-bit art style complete with a pretty decent chiptune soundtrack. This is a case of style over substance. What you see in the video is what you get the whole time. While most iPhone games have that addictive nature, this one did not for me. 

    • Kinect: A Flop in the Making?

      Posted 1 year ago 10 notes


      Not enough room for the Kinect

      According to the official Kinect page, located here, you need at least 6 feet between you and your TV. Judging from this awesome video over at Giant Bomb, the 6 feet requirement does not seem to be the an accurate amount of space needed to actually play a game with Kinect. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Microsoft is being somewhat deceptive and careful with their wording. I can see why - if they just came out and said that this setup would require anywhere from 6-10 feet of space, I’d guess that most people would write it off in a heartbeat. I personally do not have 6 feet of extra space in the room I game in.  That is the single reason I will not be buying the Kinect anytime soon, or probably ever. This is also the number one of the reason why I think the device is going to fall flat on its face. Most of the gamers I know, do not do their gaming in the living room. They either have a setup in a dorm room, bedroom, or in an office space. Parents, on the other hand, are a different story. 

      Judging from the marketing of the device, we all know the Kinect is being pushed hard to families. For the most part, Microsoft has the hardcore audience in their back pocket and they are setting their eyes on the Wii fan base. This is all fine and well, but I don’t think they realize why the Wii was such a huge hit. I believe it was partly because the way you interact with the Wii is pretty intuitive, which the Kinect does have going for it. The other part, which is arguably a much bigger factor, is the price point. I’m not going to get into the numbers game, but the Kinect is going to be a bigger investment than the Wii, simple as that. Price won’t be such a big factor with the hardcore audience, but Mom isn’t about to drop an extra 100 bucks so Jimmy can jump around the living room acting like a raging demon. 


      Wow! Look at all these awesome and exciting games!

      So we have the price factor and the space requirement hindering this device from being something potentially awesome. Do you think I’m missing something else? Oh that’s right, there’s no software worth buying this thing for. Ok, I’ll give you Dance Central, that might be okay for parties. I will also admit Child of Eden looks very intriguing, but I see nothing that makes me want to move my gaming setup into the living room. 

      So, to keep it simple for the TLDR crowd, the Kinect is most likely never going to appeal to the hardcore audience due to the space requirements and parents will hesitate to pick it up because of the price barrier. Also, there are no software at launch that will really push the device. 

    • The Value Proposition

      Posted 1 year ago 12 notes

      Too many games...Only four of these games was worth full price IMHO. Guess which ones.

      More than any other group of people who consume entertainment, I believe gamers are one of the largest group that are always on the hunt for bargains. With websites like Cheap Ass Gamer and PC Game Deals, it’s even easier for us to find great games on the cheap. For some reason, most reviews leave out the value proposition all together. “Is this game worth $60?” is a question I get all the time from my peers. This crucial tidbit of information is something that needs to be addressed for all games and I intend to educate you on why. 

      There are only three things that will ultimately sway your decision on buying a game; how much you are looking forward to a game, what your friends think about the game, and how much it cost. If you are really excited about the next installment of Halo, then it really doesn’t matter how much it cost because chances are you have your mind set on buying it day one. If a ton of your friends are buying a game that is multiplayer heavy, you tend to forget about the price at that point and pick it up to engage in the festivities. Reviewers don’t really get the chance to give an input on these factors but price is a different story.

      If you keep in mind that all reviews are someone’s opinion, then price can easily be a part of that review process. Everyone has their own price point at which they are willing to pay for certain type of games. If we have more reviewers including the value proposition in their reviews, we will get a larger opinion base to make our decision of whether the game is worth the money. If enough people are saying that a game is only worth a purchase at $30, then chances are that’s the truth. We all know there are a ton of games that we wouldn’t buy for full price but would actually consider it when the price dropped to something more reasonable.

      Case in point, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is a game that is not worth full price. It received a 71 on Metacritic and was generally poorly received by most reviewers. While this game did have its fair share of problems, this game is a great purchase at $20 or lower. Same goes for Conan. If you can find this game in a bargain bin for $10, I would highly recommend you pick it up. Playing this game at that price point, you can forgive the mechanical issues with this game and just enjoy playing it. At the end of the day, enjoyment is what matters. I know I can’t enjoy a game that I paid full price for if it’s riddled with bugs and horrible control issues. 

      Also, stop whining about $15 Xbox Live Arcade games. If you don’t want to pay that price, don’t play the game. It’s as simple as that.