Tag: PlayStation 4

PlayStation 4 Games and Accessories

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

ps4 games

I’ve only had my PlayStation 4 since the week before Christmas, but I already have a pretty amazing selection of games to choose from. A lot of those games were free, but some were bought during a flash sale, so I can’t say this has cost me a fortune.

Apotheon, First Light, Injustice, The Swapper and Transistor were all free thanks to the PlayStation Plus membership. They give away free games every month,. DC Universe is free and it is free to play. Flower, Lego The Hobbit, Lego Marvel’s Super Heroes and Lego Movie videogame, Terraria, The Walking Dead 1 and 2 were all from sales and Little Big Planet 3 was from a flash sale. It’s normally $60, but I bought it for $24. Destiny came for free with my new PS4.

I’ve had a lot of fun with my PlayStation 4 since I got it. In fact, it’s very rare for me to have it turned off, unless I’m watching my regular shows, and even then sometimes I just let the DVR record them because I’m too addicted to a game. I spent 2 hours watching the DVR today, only because I knew I had to catch up because the next episode of that particular show is coming soon lol.

IMAG0875Earlier this week I got the keyboard that mounts to my game controller and that has been very awesome to have. I have it on there permanently because it just makes sense to. I was afraid that it would be too bulky for me to play games with, but it doesn’t interfere at all. I tried using it while it was not attached, and it does work, but I need it to be attached to the game controller because I use those buttons in addition to the keyboard buttons, so it makes little sense to use them separately. It does look a bit strange though, but you get used to it after awhile I’m sure.

 

PlayStation 4 cameraI also got my new PlayStation 4 camera today. That’s pretty neat. It sits on top of my TV. I bought it specifically for exercising. I plan on buying the dance games because I know that dancing is cardio exercise, and I need all the cardio exercise that I can get. Although, those games are way too expensive to buy in the PlayStation store directly, so I will buy them on the discs on Amazon, eventually lol. I know they are at least half the price on Amazon. I refuse to spend $60 on a game. The camera is $60 at Target, but I only paid $40 on Amazon and got free shipping.

So my collection of games and accessories is getting big considering I didn’t spend too much money. I’m sure it will just continue to grow over time. Keep an eye on new games that I will be adding to my PlayStation 4 page on my website. PlayStation Plus gives us free games every month on the first Tuesday. They also have great flash sales, so perhaps the next $60 game I buy will end up being $24 again just like Little Big Planet 3. I’m also looking forward to EverQuest Next and King’s Quest this year.

If you are a PlayStation gamer, please find me and friend me. I’m Xanapus.

PlayStation 4 Bluetooth Keyboard

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

IMAG0875

Have you ever had to type using a analog stick? Probably not, well, I can tell you right now that it can take a long time to type something with a PlayStation 4 game controller. They do have suggestions at the top of the screen, so if I hit the t, possible matches will come up like the, them, those, etc. It may remember some words I have used in the past, or the first suggestion at the top just may be the thing I was going to say. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, and I usually end up having to type it out one letter at a time. Frustrating when you are in a rush.

I went to Amazon looking for a bluetooth keyboard for a PS4 system, and lo and behold I found this PS4 keyboard for $13 and change with $4 shipping. Not bad eh? It paired up quickly and snaps right on the controller and it doesn’t hinder game play at all.

A few days ago I was playing Destiny, and a couple of kids who were also playing in the same area that I was invited me to join their group. They both had microphones, but I didn’t, so my only option was to message the one who invited me with text to tell him “Sorry no mic.” What actually came out was Sl. I was trying to rush and accidentally made a mistake and accidentally sent it to him. Ugh! I tried cancelling it, but I knew it went to him because he said “What does Sl mean? He said Sl to me.” It literally took me another 5 minutes or so until I was able to send a new message telling him that I meant to say no mic.

There are times when I want to share a screenshot or a video on Facebook or YouTube and I have to type words to describe the image or video and it can take a lot of time. Today when I got the new keyboard, I was able to share an image and type a sentence out in just a few seconds. Viola! Easy!

I don’t know if I can use this keyboard off the PS4 controller, but I’m sure I can since it uses bluetooth to connect with my PS4. I won’t need to have this permanently attached to my game controller, but it doesn’t hurt to keep it on. It also shuts off after a few minutes of inactivity.

This was a pretty good investment, and I am sure it will save me a ton of time and embarrassment.

Minecraft Blueprints

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

Minecraft land map with castle

When most people (I assume) plan out their castle, or house, or whatever it is they want to build, they just go into Minecraft under creative mode so they have a complete inventory of materials that they don’t have to mine for days or months to get. I would go there, but I’d rather have the option of getting all of the trophies.

I have been researching a way of downloading a program that will allow me to create a Minecraft building with a full list of materials on the computer, so it gives me a blueprint. It doesn’t have to be a 3D blueprint, I just don’t want to have to keep building, then have to go run back to the mine for materials, then build more, then mine and also go through so many pickaxes if I decide to go a different way. It takes more time to dismantle your structure than it does to build it.

I did find a website that allowed me to do just what I was looking for. I found it on a message board, and the actual website is www.minedraft.net. Unfortunately, it became a huge time suck for me because the website would freeze up on me. I don’t know if it was the website itself, my computer or my processor, but it didn’t allow me to get very far. I also tried it on my Nook, which was awesome because I could tap on the material, then tap on the screen and it went a little faster. Unfortunately, that became slow over time, so I didn’t get very far there either.

One of the comments on that message board was that you could do the very same thing with Microsoft Paint. All you have to do is make a grid and snap to grid. I assume they were using Windows XP and that it was an old comment because I went to MS Paint and it didn’t offer a grid, so the next best thing for me was Gimp.

I opened Gimp and clicked view and show grid and snap to grid. I zoomed in to 800% and the grid squares weren’t too big. I downloaded some icons of the materials, like the dirt, grass, water, sand, wood planks and cobblestone, and made them into brushes, which helped a lot. The icons don’t look exactly like they should because instead of using 100% of the icon, I had to drop it down to 10%, but I honestly don’t have to see them as perfect as they are in Minecraft, it’s just a general idea of how to build my castle.

Minecraft land mapMinecraft land map castle

With Gimp you can create layers, so first I laid out the land that I am building on, then I created a 2nd layer for the castle, this way if I make a mistake, I don’t have to worry about losing the land, just the castle parts. As you can see they are separate.

castle

I have built the walls that I made in Gimp, but it is far from finished because guess what? I have to mine and mine and mine to get all that cobblestone to build the walls up. I’m actually building the walls around my existing home, which is like a tiny 2 story cobblestone castle like structure. There is my beacon behind the house. When the walls have been built up, then I can work on getting the inside of the castle built, which will take a lot of time and patience and creativity. I built the catwalk along the top of the wall. That is where I will finish that wall, but the 4 towers are going to go up twice as much to provide me with 4 beacons rather than 1. You can see a beacon way behind my house, and there are several beacons to let me know where to find home, but when I see 4 beacons, then I will know for sure that this is home.

minecraft icons

Here are the icons that I found online that I turned into gimp brushes with the .gbr file extension. So far I’ve only had to use the sand, grass, water and cobblestone, and only because that’s really all I needed for this project. I have the rest just in case I might need to use them in the future. I may not, but never say never.

So I figured if anyone in the future was looking for a way to make a blueprint, this should give them an easy idea of how they can make it.

Minecraft CE-34878-0 Error

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS41 Comment

Well, call me disappointed tonight. I have spent a lot of time digging tunnels, and making and placing glass around my tunnels under water and mining and this and that and the other, and now all of that is gone because of an error on my brand new PlayStation 4.

I was so proud of myself for making all this progress and it is all gone, well, mostly anyway because thankfully I had made a back up on my 4GB USB memory stick on January 29. Unfortunately that was 10 days ago, and a lot happened in 10 days. So all of that work is gone and I am back to where I used to be. My other file is still there, I just cannot access it because it crashes as soon as it loads.

This sucks, but on the other hand all of my trophies are still there, so at least I don’t have to go through all that work just to get the trophies again. This does give me the opportunity to do things again, but since I know where everything is, I can get what I had a lot faster.

When I make my railroad going back to the mines I went to before, I can now make them go up or down, I can make them any way I want. The tunnels in my first mine had wood platforms with tracks laid out, but they were scattered and it didn’t seem like they had a plan for them, but now I can probably connect them since I know how to lay the tracks up and down. I think it will make things a lot easier to avoid getting lost in the mines… hopefully.

One other thing I would like to do is to find some good plans for cool Minecraft houses so I can make a better looking house. Mine is okay, but I know it could be a lot better if I tried. I would also love to move it over the water so I can make a glass house on the bottom floor with a bottomless floor for fishing lol. I think that would be really neat. I could also have a dock for my boat and of course I would have my railroad tunnel going from land to the house so I don’t have to worry about how I’m getting back to land. I think that would be cool.

So I don’t see this as a bad thing necessarily, I see it as a way of doing things differently and more efficiently.

By the way, here is that video that I made of my tunnels. I was so proud of all the work I had accomplished, and I have the pain in my right arm and shoulder to prove it.

Minecraft Handbooks

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, Pain, PS4Leave a comment

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It is one thing to be a nerd and play a video game and enjoy it, but when you go out of your way to spend money on actual hard cover books, you know you are addicted and a hard core gamer.

I’ve only been playing Minecraft on my PlayStation 4 since the week before Christmas and I think I’ve made some headway, but there are still a few things I think I need to know before I continue. I can look them up on the Minecraft Wiki page or just Google whatever I am looking for, but somehow I think reading these official handbooks might help give me a better understanding of the game I am playing. Or it could be that they are only like 60 to 80 pages each and won’t help me at all. It’s okay because they were only $5 each.

lego marvels super heroesWhile I was on Amazon today I decided to buy another game. I absolutely love the Lego games. I have all of the PSP Lego games, and now that I have a PS4 I would love to own all of the PS4 Lego games. I already have Lego The Hobbit that I bought as a digital download, but I bought Lego Marvel Super Heroes on disc because it was cheaper to buy the disc than the download. It’s $40 on the PlayStation store and I only paid $23.89. Last week it was on sale on the PlayStation store for only $25, but I didn’t have the money for it. I could have used my credit card, but I would much rather have the disc to run the game because it installs less on the PS4 hard drive. It’s a matter of between 500mb from the disc or 3GB as a download. The more games I download, the less games I can buy, so I would just rather buy the discs if I can.

I would love to buy the Lego Movie Videogame and Lego Batman, but I can buy those in the future when I am ready for a new game. I haven’t even made a dent in Lego The Hobbit, so I don’t want to overwhelm myself with all these games lol.

I am having fun with my PlayStation 4, but my right forearm is in a lot of pain from using the R3 stick with my thumb and pressing the buttons. My left arm isn’t having any issues for some reason, but perhaps it’s because I’m not doing as much work with my left thumb lol. Who knew that something as simple as pushing buttons with my thumb would cause so much pain. I need to limit myself to only an hour or 2 a day rather than 4 to 8 lol. Perhaps that’s the problem. But I’m just having fun since it’s a new thing. I’m sure the novelty will wear off and I won’t play the game as often. Maybe when my shows come back on I will pay more attention to watching TV.

Destiny for PS4

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

character

Video games have changed so much since I started playing way back in 1982. Destiny was the choice that I made when I got my PlayStation 4 for Christmas. I had 1 choice of 4 and I chose this one. I regretted that decision because I absolutely hate shooter games. I really wanted Little Big Planet 3, but I have Little Big Planet on my PSP and I was afraid it would just be the same old stuff, but on a larger screen and with a 3 at the end. I was mainly afraid I would get bored with it and never play it again, much like the PSP version.

The first time I played Destiny, it was a bit overwhelming because all of a sudden I’m having to learn how to kill aliens who are trying to kill me with guns. I have some of the Star Wars games that are similar, but not really like Destiny. I was walking around going in the direction I was told to according to the circle in the top left of the screen and shooting anything that was in range. I would hit L2 to aim and R2 to shoot and R1 to use some kind of magic power to push them away from me, which sometimes kills them. After dying several times I gave up and turned the game off and I just decided to play Minecraft instead.

I always give things a second chance. I decided to give Destiny another chance, mainly because I can’t sulk forever that I made the wrong decision when choosing which game I wanted with my PS4. The decision was made and I can’t go back, so suck it up buttercup and play the damn game! So that’s what I did. I had to start all the way over from the very beginning and I actually finished the level and left on a space ship and I was laughing because I couldn’t believe I actually lived through all of that mess. Finally it put me in a social base where I can relax, buy things, and use a vault to store things and not worry about getting killed.

I did my 2nd mission and could not believe I made it out alive. I was supposed to enter a certain section, and it told me that if I died, I would have to start over. I don’t know if it meant all the way at the beginning, or back to the social base. Either way, I had like an army trying to kill me, and I was alone and had to keep changing the clip on my gun. I had shelter where I would be safe, but occasionally they would run in front of me trying to murder me, and I would use the force field to push them away, which sometimes killed them. Other times I used a grenade that I had earned and that would damage and kill some of them. I was in so much shock when I finished that quest with my life and was able to continue to the base.

So my character is level 3 and all I have to do is keep going back to Russia to do whatever quest is next so can I can earn whatever it is they give you. It’s basically the same thing, different day, right? But, at least I don’t hate it and I haven’t gotten bored… yet… I’m even  considering buying the $20 expansion pack, but I’ll wait for a PSN sale.

So I’m no longer mad at myself for choosing the wrong game. I would eventually like to get Little Big Planet 3, but at $60 it ain’t happenin’. Sorry, no can do at that price. I’ll just keep downloading the free games from my PSN membership and buy games that I can afford because PSN gives them a HUGE discount. I saved big bucks on the Walking Dead games. They are normally $25 each, but they were on flash sale this week for $6.25 each. I haven’t had a lot of luck with the first game, but I’ll figure it out. It’s off my list, and that’s all that I wanted. I’m just hoping more games on my list are either free or have a huge discount.

So… back to gaming!

Minecraft Maps

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

Minecraft maps

Last night I was searching the web for ways of getting the map to my world, but of course I couldn’t find any help since Minecraft for Playstation 4 seems to be a new thing. I figured the best way I am going to do this is to just do it, like make a map, then just go travel the world and keep an eye on where I am on the map so I can find my way back home.

When you first start playing Minecraft, you get a map in your inventory automatically. Unfortunately for me that disappeared the first time I died and couldn’t find my body to retrieve my inventory. One doesn’t appreciate something as simple as a map when one gets lost and has no way to find their home.

The only way I am able to even do this is to have my game in peaceful mode. If I had zombies and skeletons trying to kill me left and right, I wouldn’t have a chance in hell. I find it easier to build my life (house, armor and weapons) first, then bring in the bad guys to give me some fun. I don’t even think I can mine as long as there are bad guys trying to eat me at every turn. I’d get so lost in the tunnels trying to get away from them that I would never find my way out. It’s bad enough that sometimes I get lost down there, I can’t imagine there being some other threat. So as long as I am in peaceful mode, hopefully I will be able to map out the world and eventually find all of my old belongings.

The map on the far right was the first map that I made, then as the arrow on the map turned into a circle, I brought out my crafting table to make another map, which is the middle map. I went all the way across to the left of the map, then up, then when I was at the top and was already in another map zone, I decided to make another map, but didn’t go far because I didn’t want to really get lost lol. I finished the map in the middle and then went back to my home.

I find it nice if the maps are hanging on the wall. They are easier to find when they are hanging on a wall than if I put them in a chest and don’t really know which map is which. When I take them out to go exploring, I put them in my inventory in the order they are on the wall, that way I know where I am going.

There are 3 maps so far, but how many are there going to be going east to west? I’m only working on the west and east for now, but eventually I will have to work my way south and then north. I wonder how exhausting it’s going to be to constantly be running around the planet trying to locate my lost home lol. Is it even worth it? My old belongings have long been upgraded, so it’s really not even worth the hassle, but it would bring closure. It would also be nice to have the maps so that if I ever decided I wanted to visit a certain place, or explore, then at least I’d have maps to help me return home.

Yeah, that’s what I will do. Just forget about my old home because my new home is so much better and everything I have is better. Sometimes it’s just a good idea to leave the old stuff from the past and just focus on what I have now and look forward to how much more awesome it will be in the future.

Minecraft for PlayStation 4

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

Minecraft

It took me a long time to get on the Minecraft bandwagon because it never really interested me. I knew it was available for the PC, but it reminded me too much of the pixelated games from the beginning of games and I just didn’t want to go back. But when my partner bought me a PlayStation 4 for Christmas this year, then bought me Minecraft, I had to give it a try.

After dying about a trillion times from zombies, spiders and skeletons, oh and the occasional fall off a cliff, I finally figured out how to play without dying. First off, look down when going down a mountain lol. Second, when you are first starting out with nothing, dig into the ground or the side of a mountain and hang onto the dirt, because as soon as the sun goes down, you will need to use that dirt to bury yourself so the bad guys can’t kill you. When the sun goes up, dig yourself out and go kill some sheep and chop down some trees. Build a workbench and then build a bed. Once you have the bed, you can literally sleep on it out in the open and you won’t die. As soon as you see the sun going down, hit the bed and go to sleep and wake up and start hunting, digging, chopping and killing lol.

house from a distanceinside my house

This is where I built my house. I built up the walls with sand first, then the more trees I chopped down, I was able to build a fence which I put all the way around the island with a gate. Nothing can jump over the fence, not even me, so that works out great. I put the sand walls up against the fence to ensure nothing bothers me. I also dug really deep on the beach so I had a high ceiling. I also have a + shape on the ceiling/roof so I can see if the sun is up or if it is dark outside. Although, now that I have a bed it doesn’t matter.

I have 2 beds, one in my little sand castle and one in my inventory for those times I stray a little too far from home looking for resources. That way if I cannot sprint home fast enough, I can just place the bed down where I am and go to bed and wake up with a whole new day, which is what, 10 minutes? LOL!

Anyway, I’m still a beginner, or as some may say a HUGE NOOB! All I can say is this is very addicting and I look forward to the giant castle I will eventually build.

I bought 1 pack, it’s the holiday pack which allows me to change my look so I can look either like Santa, a snowman, an elf or whatever. Right now I’m a snowman lol. It’s fun, but it really doesn’t do anything for me. I will eventually buy some other packs that will change the look of some things in the game, assuming that that is what they do. I don’t know, I just know that I am having a really fun time with this game.

PlayStation 4

On By Michel McDonaldIn GamesLeave a comment

Yesterday was a complete shock to me. My partner came in the bedroom as I was browsing my Amazon PS3 wish list to see if the price of the Lego Batman and Sly Copter bundle I wanted was still at $259 or if it had gone up or down. It was at $289. I didn’t expect him to say let’s go buy you a PlayStation.

I begged him not to do it because I honestly didn’t want him to spend that kind of money on me. I mean, it is a lot of money, why should he buy it? What have I done to deserve such a generous man in my life?

I told him that to be able to get the exact bundle I wanted, we would have to do research to make sure the store we go to has it so we don’t waste gas driving all over Bakersfield looking for something that doesn’t exist. He called GameStop and Best Buy and Best Buy had it, but Game Stop didn’t. I mean, 1 location did, but that was very far away from the house.

While we were driving to Best Buy, my partner told me that it doesn’t do you any good to buy the previous model just because it’s cheaper and because it connects with your PSP. In a year when they come out with the PS5, they will probably stop selling the PS3 games and you won’t be able to buy new games. I don’t know if that will happen, but it is a good point, and originally I wanted the PS4, but decided on the PS3 because of the price and the fact that it connects to my PSP. But I would have liked the PS4 instead, so that’s what he bought me.

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The PS4 that I got wasn’t a specific bundle. They had 4 games on the box, and I assumed I got all 4 games, but it said 4 games pick one. I couldn’t decide because I don’t normally play the games they offered. The choices were Destiny, FarCry 4, NBA2K14 and Little Big Planet 3. I don’t mind Little Big Planet, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t really get into it, meaning I’d probably fall asleep. I asked a gaymer Facebook group I am in and they couldn’t give me a straight answer, and it wasn’t just because they were all gay gamers lol. Some said Destiny, some said Far Cry 4 and some said Little Big Planet. I watched some gameplay videos on YouTube before I asked for Destiny and Far Cry 4 and they both seemed to be the same style of game, shooter, which I don’t really care for, but I decided on Destiny because it’s like a future space game, which I love.

I was looking at the PlayStation store and found Lego The Hobbit and saw that it was only $39.95. Well, I already had $9 in my PlayStation wallet and they gave me $10 in the box, so it only cost me $20 out-of-pocket. I also bought 2 add-ons and 2 bundles for $1.99 each.

The final game that I got was DC Universe Online. I have played that game on my PC and loved it, so I knew I would love it on my PS4. I actually love it more on my PS4 because of the game controller as opposed to using my mouse and keyboard to play. I created a “flash” type of character and was zipping around the game so fast.

So I finally have my game console, and I am so happy that it is a new one instead of an old one. I love it and I will have fun with it.

Games I am hoping to play on this is the new EverQuest Landmark and the new King’s Quest when that comes out. I read that EQ would be coming to PS4 in 2015 and I also read that King’s Quest is coming back and I saw some of the graphics and they look amazing. I’m not sure if KQ will be computer only or if it will be computer and console, I want to buy it either way.

I have a PS4 Wish List on Amazon with some games I would love to buy and some hardware like a camera. I hope to be able to buy the camera soon so I can use it for exercise.