Human curiosity is a force of nature, our ability to wonder and dream is perhaps one of our most fascinating qualities and has lead to some of greatest achievements. We see curiosity in other species but we are unique in that we combine this with all the gifts that come with being a sentient life form. This week most of the developed world has succumbed to yet another fad, nothing new there you might say but this particular one has caught my attention because it hints at how social gaming could look in the future: I am of course talking about Pokemon Go.
This is what too much Sunny Delight did to kids in the 90's
If I ever needed proof that the gods are having a laugh at my expense it's that this social phenomenon has come when I'm housebound with a gammy leg. I've never had the urge to steal my elderly neighbour's mobility scooter before, hell I'm sure even he might be playing the damn thing. This Sunday I had my first trip out in weeks and while being driven to the pub for Sunday lunch with the in-laws I was frantically stabbing at my phone trying to catch enough to at least reach level five: in another cruel twist I made it to just shy of five before returning to my prison. It's intriguing watching people play this new augmented reality game, from my vantage point at the pub I could see people searching, some on their own, parents with excited groups of kids and gangs of teenagers all hunting, chatting or just watching others. Yes, it's a naff game, mostly fuelled by nostalgia but there is no denying the social aspects are fascinating.
You may have noticed a lull in activity from me this last week or so and the primary reason for this is that I took on the hefty task of playing the Witcher 3 from start to finish (including both pieces of DLC). I rolled over the finish line a few days ago and thus you can now find my final review here. Just checking Steam I currently have three hundred and sixty-four hours associated with the Witcher 3: for a single player game that is immense. In my travels with Geralt I have also captured some pretty good images which you can find in the Shooting Gallery here, so please check them out.
My router packed up yesterday to I am now waiting for a bod from Virgin Media to come and replace it tomorrow. Once that is done I can download a few of the games I gathered in the Steam summer sale and get some honest to goodness reviews out of the door again: watch this space! I love Steam and with a fairly chunky internet connection I can download most games in minutes but when you do lose the net for a period of time, you lament the days when games lived on your shelf and not at Valve.
In terms of PC games, it seems to have been a fairly quiet few weeks, Overwatch has had a new character revealed and some other tweaks. No mans Sky has gone gold and will be arriving with us next month so expect a full review as soon as I have played it enough. Given the purported scale of the game, I will in all likelihood be doing a preview to get some general first impressions out. I guess the big event on the horizon is Gamescom which draws ever closer. While I am gutted not to be going this year I will at least be able to get coverage and content out faster than when in the eye of the storm so to speak.
If you don't already please follow me on Twitter @riggedforepic and if you wish to contact me you can do so at Riggedforepic@gmail.com I hope you guys are having a great summer and your gaming is epic wherever you are.