Tag Archives: Video Games

Multiplayer parity is overrated: Why Scorpio should boost Xbox One games’ online performance

The landscape of console gaming is changing. Those of us who have been “in the game” for a long time are experiencing a bit of a shock with the reveal of the mid-generation refresh. Sony, with the PlayStation 4 Pro; and Microsoft, with the announced Scorpio; represent the first of their kind; more power and performance part-way through a console’s lifecycle.

These beefier-than-launch consoles are new territory, for both console makers and players. And with this more powerful hardware comes some challenging design decisions.

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Some of my favorite splash screens from the Xbox One and Xbox 360

Since starting my new website, Xbox Screens, I’ve seen over one hundred Xbox One and Xbox 360 splash screens (the image that is displayed while a game is loaded). Many of the splash screens are simply promotional artwork with the game’s logo in front. Some are thoughtful and meaningful; symbolizing some noteworthy element of the game with taste and class. Others are lazy, thoughtless, or seemingly irrelevant.

I wanted to share some of the better ones that I’ve come across. Here they are in no particular order. The image links are below each section.

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My Xbox One Elite controller stinks

stinky-xbox-one-elite-controller

My Xbox One Elite controller is wonderful. After being announced at E3, I was hyped and preordered one immediately to receive mine when they released on October 27th of 2015. The paddles, after a learning curve, have improved my FPS game greatly. I even use it for Rocket League. There is only one problem with my otherwise fantastic Elite controller…it stinks.

Not as in, “Lol jk, it sucks.” My Xbox One Elite controller smells bad, it reeks, it’s funky. Continue reading →

How Video Games Helped Me To Better Appreciate Military Service

call-of-duty-2
Many years ago, my friend Ray (30 years my senior) and I were at a social gathering. Ray heard me make a statement about the latest war game, Call of Duty 2, a first-person game based on World War II. Ray heard me say, embarrassingly, that playing the game “felt like I was in the war”. This was an unfortunate statement for me to make. I was foolish to say that playing a war game, even a simulation, could somehow equate to the experience of being in armed conflict. My comment was even more regrettable because Ray has brothers-in-arms who served in the Vietnam War.

I apologized to Ray and all who were in attendance at the time of my foot-in-mouth experience. But in light of Veteran’s Day,I wanted to clarify my viewpoint. After all, I actually meant well. 🙂 Continue reading →