SimCity could have tried harder with shop names

I have been playing SimCity for a long time now but only recently have I had a detailed look at the city's buildings.

I have found that the stores mainly have some generic name like "The Big Store" or "Fast Food", while the object details will have an actual store name.

I feel that Maxis could have spent a bit of time think of some more detailed or "entertaining" names for these generic stores. While I do understand they might not be able to create a shop design for every single shop name they thought of, but "Cheap Business" is just not trying.

Here are some screenshots I came up with from the game.

What are your thoughts? Could the developers done this differently? Comment below.

Review: Game Dev Tycoon

Game Dev Tycoon is a simple but hugely addictive game which has started and grow your own game development company.

I once saw this game on the Android and not sure if it is the same people, but found this  game really fun since I am a gamer myself.

The beginnings of 'Buzza Games'

You start in your garage in the 1980s and you begin to devleop games on your own for PCs and older consoles at the time. (I also notice the very fimilar car in the garage).

As you progress in the game and time, the type of games you develop expand and the consoles and platforms you develop for increase. You are in charge with the combo of game types like whether you desgin a City/Simulation game, Military/Action game or whatever you like. You gain more sales of you game that you develop with better and fun combinations.

As you go you move to a small office and then eventually to your own campus. As you expand, you hire employees and coders to help you develop better games quickly.

The challenge in this game is getting the combination of game right as well as selecting the right amount of time allocated to the features to be developed for that game. If you are developing a Zombie/Action game, then focus on game dialog is less important than graphics and sounds. As you continue on you get to also develop your very own gaming engine which helps with graphic leveling, features like open world and tree dialogs.

I have found this game oddly addictive and did end up finishing the game in about 5 hours. The challenges and the excitment of building your own game and see it sell over millions of copies in its first week is very exciting and awarding. But the devestation in putting hard work into game and see if fail with you fans is hard-hitting. Once you complete and release your game, the game is immediately reviewed by game critics who score you game out of 10. I class my game a winner anything over 5, but I found that I would either average 3 with a bad game or average 8 with a good game.

This game is currently available on Steam and on the Windows Store. I can tell this has been developed to be touch friendly, and even their website shows the game on a Surface tablet.

Visit: http://www.greenheartgames.com/
Twitter: @greenheartgames
Facebook: fb.com/greenheartgames

Guy replaces Minecraft sounds with his own voice

R2Bl3nd (on YouTube) re-records the sounds in Minecraft using his own voice. It makes for some very funny gameplay.

[LA Noire] I wouldn't worry about it

Source: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1kph81/yeah_im_sure_its_fine_la_noire/
Screenshot by: tankboy7373 (reddit)

Call of Duty Ghosts Multiplayer Reveal Trailer

The next iteration of Call of Duty has just released their video for multiplayer and I think it looks awesome.

The video showcases new guns and other weaponary, volatile and destrctable environment and even female characters.

Check out the trailer.

Good Old Games

Remember playing some old games as back in the day as computer gaming was just getting off the ground and thinking of a way to relive that awesome vintage experience. There are multiple ways these days for you to bring back the classic games you loved to play.

Good Old Games

GoodOldGames (gog.com) is a great site. The guys behind this site aim to bring back the old games you loved with an easy to use site, which allows to you download and run pre-packaged games which ensure that they run on your current operating system.

While some games will run natively despite their ages, Good Old Games have tested and created packages that ensure the game will run with minimal fuss while maintain the original experince of the game. Some games have been pre-packaged in a DOSBox (emulation software) meaning they have done the hard work for you so you can get straight to the game.

The account system means that you buy once, download anytime. This also means that you can download the PC and MAC versions as need (as they're available).

If you're looking for the easier way to play the classics, this is my first stop.

Steam

As you probably already have seen, Steam has a large array of game downloads including the classics. As any other Steam game, this is added against your account and can be downloaded at any point.

Most classic games here are as they are. Another great resource for classic games,

DOSBox

DOSBox is a x86 emulator that allows you to install and run any DOS-based application in an emulated, sandboxed environment. This means that if you already have your classic games, you can install them to your DOSBox and get playing with minimal fuss.

DOSBox is available on almost all platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD etc) with custom frontends, and language translations available.

Virtual Machines

The last option which I can offer is to setup a virtual machine. This will require a bit more leg work on your side, but this will also give you the most genuine experience (without setting up old computer hardware).

Virtual Machine is a virtual computer running on a existing system. This means you and install and run any operating system, on top of an existing system without interaction.

Using the open source software VirtualBox (no relation to DOSBox) allows to create virtual machines with a wide range of supported operating systems from Windows and Linux. Simply setup a DOS or Windows 9x virtual machine and install your game.

Note: You will need the operating system media and product key to setup a virtual machine.

Conclusion

With all these options and tools available, you are able to play pretty much all your favorite classic games without problems.

New update coming to SimCity - Update 4.0

EA will soon be releasing a patch for SimCity with some much welcome re-enabling and alert fixes.
See the change log on the link below.

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/9437292.page#0

XBOX One

Microsoft this morning held an event to announce their next iteration of their console, XBOX ONE.

Building on the XBOX 360 as more than a game console, the XBOX ONE continues to be a ultimate multimedia hub with gaming, TV, movies, and music from a single unit.

Watch the Unveil video to see what the next console has in store.

[VIDEO] DayZ - Running, Cars, and Me!

XBOX SmartGlass

Back at E3 2012, XBOX showed us a great new technology called SmartGlass. This new technology would allow mobiles, tablets and PCs to connect to the XBOX and provide extended content relating to what was going on the console. So where are we at with that?

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/smartglass

With SmartGlass almost turning 1, I came to think that it had gone quiet on that front and I hadn't heard or seen games promoting their compatibility with the service. So I have discovered a list of the current supported titles and services for SmartGlass.


App for Download

Here are the links to the XBOX SmartGlass app for the available platforms

Google Android - http://goo.gl/eEy31
Apple iOS - http://goo.gl/88y1W
Windows Phone - http://goo.gl/CfGjJ
Windows 8 - http://goo.gl/aFpPh

SmartGlass Compatible Content

Here is the current supported content for SmartGlass (Updated: 10-May-2013)

Games

• Ascend: New Gods
• A World of Keflings
• Dance Central 3
• Forza Horizon
• Halo 4
• Home Run Stars
• Kinect Sesame Street TV
• Madden NFL 13

XBOX Applications

• ESPN on XBOX Live (US-Only)
• HBO GO (US-Only)
• Internet Explorer
• Karaoke
• MSN
• Miss Universe
• NBA Game Time
• NBC News (US-Only)
• Now TV
• Sports Picks
• Today MSNBC (US-Only)
• UFC on XBOX Live
• XBOX Music
• XBOX Video

Movies

See Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_SmartGlass#Movies

While you will notice there isn't a wide range of compatible applications or content available for this service, but from what I have seen, the content that is there does offer a great additional experience that is worth. I am hoping that more content providers do get on board with it.

The Sims 4

So a new generation of god-like control over digital "beings" is about to hit our computers... The Sims 4.

The Sims originally hit our computers back in 2000 and since then has grown into a almost life like experience in control.
v
Not much has been release regarding the new release, however it seems that Maxis has learnt from the disaster that was SimCity which had it's problem over Always Online. Sims 4 will be available offline.

See post: http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/05/06/the-sims-4-officially-announced-currently-allows-offline-play/

BSE Gaming Gathering

So some of the BSE crew have gathered together to have a harcore session of gaming. These are some pics from out setup.

If you would like to join us, message us on Facebook or Twitter we will link you in.

And... We're Back!

So I finally did it. I got the site working again.

Since my internet at home is in not future being restored (that's right I was hosting it at home), I finally got the time to work on moving the site to a better hosted facility. Bloodshot Eyes is now hosted by Blogger. I have personally been using Blogger for years, and while some don't like it, I think it is one of the better blogging engines online.

And now BSE is back online. Because of this, I will be able to get back to write more article and getting more content for everyone.

While this is still in beginning stages, you may find a broke image here and there. Please let me know and I will be fixing them up over the next few days.

Thank you everyone for your support and get gaming!

We're Sorry :(

Hi All,

I'm Daniel, the admin and founder of Bloodshot Eyes. Some of you may have noticed recently that the site has experience some significant down time. I will explain.

Since the start of the site, I have been hosting the website myself at home. Reason for this is that at the time I want to see where the site would go and how popular it would get. So over the past year it has gain in popularity and I have been getting some feedback.

Unfortunately though for me my home internet has gone to shit and pretty much is unusable. I am currently in the process of implementing a better solution with a different provider. Little did I know when signing up, they were experiencing a big order processing issues. Two week on, I still have no internet at home.

So I have created this blogger site, for the meantime to explain where I am at. I will be looking into alternative hosting solutions and we will do a big launch for when the site gets restored.

Until then, please follow us on Twitter and Facebook and keep gaming.

-Daniel

DayZ Episode 1 - Lost and Found

Xavier and Daniel in their first episode of DayZ. Take a look.

[Video] New Call of Duty DLC coming soon

Soon fresh to the new year, and we have a new Map Pack coming our way for Black Ops 2.

More multiplayer maps, new zombies, and new weapons. Check out the video.

Battlefield 3 DLC Sale on Origin

Did you preorder Battlefield 3, play it for a bit, then move to other pastures? Until the 22nd of January, each of the DLC expansions (barring the latest, the excellent Aftermath) is available for just under 10 bucks each.

If you want to spring for Aftermath as well, you are better off purchasing Premium, which gives you the equivalent of a season pass - including the unreleased Endgame DLC - and a few minor benefits.

Battlefield 3 DLC Sale - Origin.com

Red Dead Drunk

Video Games and Virtual Economies

I have been following this channel for some time now and thought I would throw this video your way.

It is a 5 minute discussion about virtual economies in video games and how virtual items have real world values.



Also please check out other videos from The Idea Channel.

IGN SimCity Gameplay Explained

This is a video I have found that goes into a bit more detail about the new SimCity while showing some of the graphics off and how the new engine works.

Worth a watch if you are looking forward to the new SimCity.

BSE First Upload

Check out our first upload and let us know what you think.

Australia gets it's R18+ rating for games, finally!

It has been a long time and long hard struggle for those who campaigned for it, but as of 1st of January 2013, Australia will have a R18+ for video games.

Up until now, the highest rating for a video game was MA15+, allowing children 15 years old to purchase more-or-less adult material games. High violence, course language, adult themes were all available to young children. Along with that some games like Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto and Valve's Left 4 Dead 2 have previously been denied classification and sale in Australia due to the game being to "adult" for any previous classification and refused sale.

With the introduction of the new category for video games, children can be prevented sale of adult games and along with games that are "too adult" can now be classified and allowed sale on Australian shelves.

While this helps protect children at the store counter, nothing is stopping parents for buying the games for their kids. However, with this rating, like videos and movies, they can easily judge whether the content will be suitable for their child.

For more information on the Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games 2012, please visit http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2012L01934

Also, for a brief history of Refused Classification games, check out this gallery from The Australian here.