I finished the DLC campaign tonight.  Completed all side objectives and didn’t kill anyone.  Total playtime was 5.6 hours according to Steam.  The third mission was the shortest and weakest of the bunch but still very fun.  A very solid piece of DLC all around.  If you enjoyed Dishonored and want more of the same from a slightly different perspective, I highly recommend it.

--Edit--

And… I also completed a speed run on the hardest difficulty playing as the most ruthless bastard who ever lived.  For those that like to replay, there are multiple endings.

My problem with that is that had they had fixed the loading problems with the WiiU back in January, released the Virtual Console in February, and then had a steady catalogue of first party releases every month leading up to the new consoles, they could have dominated that time.  Sure, they probably would still lose the winter months to Sony and Microsoft but they would have had a strong install base to build off from in the New Year.
 
Instead they are going to have to fight tooth and nail for every sale for the rest of the year and it’s only going to get worst next year when games actually start coming out on those systems.

I’ll probably pick up the majority of those but Nintendo continues to puzzle me.  They should be putting their best efforts behind the WiiU this year, not the 3DS.  The closer we get to the PS4/720 the harder they are going to have to fight for attention.

Some more news on the Wii U front.

Pikmin 3 has a release date set for August. (So much for launch window...)
Earthbound is finally getting a release in the US on the Wii U virtual console.

A ton of 3DS titles were also announced.

I just completed the first mission of the DLC.  I spent about 2 hours with it, completed all the optional objectives and finished with a nonlethal score.  If the other two missions are as good this will be one of the best pieces of DLC content I’ve played.

[The Knife of Dunwall]

The Knife of Dunwall DLC expansion is out today. It includes three new missions and people are reporting that it takes between 3-8 hours to finish depending on your play style. That’s a pretty nice chunk of content for $10.

Mine is downloading right now.

I tried that a couple days ago.  I’ve purchased lots of things from GMG and never had a problem but for some reason this time my bank put a hold on my account when I tried it. 

You can get your own beta key if you like the Relic page on Facebook. 

PC: Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall

oh yeah, that's coming out.  definitely getting it but I'll probably wait for a sale since I won't get to it right away anyways.

I don’t blame you for waiting on DLC but it looks like it’s only $10.  Dishonored was my favorite game of last year so if the missions are as long and in-depth as they were in the main game that’s not a bad price for the time it will take to play through them.

PC: Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall

I only posted because I assume he has already traded it in at this point and was hoping to offer some explanation for lack of interest.  Gratch, if you haven't traded it back and want me to delete my post I'm happy too.  As for my statement, I buy most new games from Greemangaming, which almost always offers 20% off on new releases and preorders.  Check out this thread if you don’t believe me.

Console titles tend to hold their prices slightly better but I have seen BSI for $15 off already.

The problem is most games drop to $15 off within a couple weeks of release now.  You could also buy the PC version of Bioshock for $46 new on release day. 

Thanks for the heads up!  I was tempted to order a copy but it looks like I'm getting it free.   

My stance on piracy is complicated and probably full of hypocrisy.

On the whole I’m against it but there are times when it doesn’t bother me at all.  An example is that there was a TV series on Netflix that I was enjoying and right when I got to the last two episodes it was taken off the service.  Annoyed, I tracked down the last two episodes and didn’t feel remotely bad about it.

When it comes to movies and games I often use the success of the product to gauge guilt.  Stealing from a small, mostly unknown, indie developer should make anyone feel terrible whereas AAA developers are successful and therefore don’t really need my money.  I actually feel the same when it comes to buying games legitimately; I will almost always buy indie games at full price but will usually wait for AAA’s to drop to discount range.

All of this said, it’s been a long time since I’ve pirated anything aside from those two TV episodes.  The rise of Steam has made it simply easier to buy everything legitimately for a reasonable price.  If there was a reliable service for buying movies/series (from ALL publishers) I would probably use that as well.

Emotigon?

I'm going to guess a joke in reference to David Cage. 

If POLYGONS = EMOTIONS

and

if POLYGONS = VIDEOGAMES

then

VIDEOGAMES = EMOTIONS

Tedious.   

To be fair that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game, just that it appeals to a very specific demographic (not me).  There is only a story in the very loosest definition, basically there is a big evil thing, kill all these smaller things so you are strong enough to kill the big thing.

Playing solo you are going to spend between 20 minutes and an hour fighting a single monster.

In a way I would say it has a similar appeal to that of the Dark Souls games with a similar, although maybe not quite as bad, difficulty/learning curve.  If that sounds like your thing it might be worth delving into, otherwise I would give it a pass.

Do you ever get the ability to jump higher?  I see lots of blocks that I probably COULD get to if I wanted to work for it but I’ve held off because it seems like something that might happen soon.

Weather is interesting but it’s not quite right yet.  Part of the problem is caused by other problems in the game (See pathing is terrible).  In one game I played I had my tank roll over my fire pit going backwards instead of heading forwards like I had asked.  As a result my infantry started to freeze to death because I couldn’t rebuild it.  There are talks about adding other sources of heat, like use a Flamer to light a tree (or tank) on fire for warmth until it burns out.

This makes weather sound more of a hassle rather than adding anything fun to the gameplay. is it?

I actually do like it because it offers some new strategic elements but right now the implementation is a bit clunky.  One of my favorite additions in the game is ice over rivers.  When frozen, tanks and infantry can drive over it but a well-placed explosive or artillery barrage will collapse the ice and sink the tanks.  I’ve taken to planting TNT on ice wherever there is heavy traffic.

That said there are a number of ways they can improve weather, they just need to pick one and carry through with it.

Also, there are summer maps as well as winter so you don't always need to use the same tactics.

I’m also in the beta (12 hours of experience so far); some of the writer’s statements are blatantly incorrect.  The game actually supports 4v4, so 8 players at once.  

The zoom level is also perfectly fine in my opinion.  There is a world zoom option that defaults to 133% for me for whatever reason.  I turned that off, maybe he did not.

The game IS overwhelming.  You will be at least three games in before you have any idea what you’re doing.  Even now there are some things that I don’t know how they work or which unit is better in a situation but that is standard for any Relic RTS.  

Some legitimate complaints:

Vehicle pathing is terrible.  This was bad in DoW2 but they somehow made it worse here.  This is supposed to be addressed in an upcoming patch.

Weather is interesting but it’s not quite right yet.  Part of the problem is caused by other problems in the game (See pathing is terrible).  In one game I played I had my tank roll over my fire pit going backwards instead of heading forwards like I had asked.  As a result my infantry started to freeze to death because I couldn’t rebuild it.  There are talks about adding other sources of heat, like use a Flamer to light a tree (or tank) on fire for warmth until it burns out.

If the system has been designed to operate only with a network/Internet connection you can't just change that in a month or so.

Unless you’re Simcity, in which case you just need to alter one line of code.  

The rumors seem to imply that that it is just a programmed cutoff time.  If that is the case it would be possible to remove it or at the very least extend it.  The only reason I can think that that wouldn’t be the case is if MS did something where part of the game or OS is actually streamed to the user.

[Spoiler]

Speaking of the Lutece siblings:

Spoiler for Hiden:

I kept waiting for an explanation that they are, in fact, the same person.  IIRC, most of the vox tapes referenced only one of them for a long time. I'm missing 3 tapes, so it's entirely possible that I missed it.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I believe the missing tapes you are looking for are in the Lutece Lab.  If I recall there were two there.  One explains what the Luteces are and the other explains a bit more about the relationship between Sir and Lady Comstock.  The lab is more or less across the road from the graveyard.

I don’t think the gore has to do with trying to be mature so much as giving the player a clear cut representation of combat.  Gore as used in Infinite makes the combat feel more responsive.  If a person’s head explodes you know instantly that they are dead and you can switch targets.  It may only be a couple seconds different but it’s enough to change the flow and feel of combat.  This is actually something that bothers me in FPS that don’t use some form of damage modeling.

You should be able to purchase from any computer with internet access.  You can have your copy of Steam on as many computers as you want as long as you are only signed into one of them at a time.

[Luigis Mansion: Dark Moon]

Strangely enough: Luigis Mansion: Dark Moon.
Runner up: Bioshock: Infinite.

Biggest Disappointment: The Cave.

Yep, level in the 2nd area is also a time attack.  I found all the Boos through normal exploration but I agree, I wouldn't go out of my way for it.

I’m about half way through now and still having a blast.  This has really taken me by surprise and is now probably my favorite game on the system. 

I can also confirm that getting all the “Boo” ghost in one game hub will unlock an extra mission in that area.

Monster Hunter, Lego City, and in Japan they had a new Dragon Quest.

The left mouse button controls the weapon in your right hand because that makes perfect sense.  Oh, unless you're using an X-Box 360 controller, in which case it's the right trigger.  These fucktarts really put the "irrational" in "Irrational Games!"

That is actually a legitimate complaint I have.  It seems like every FPS in the last few years that allows duel wielding has done it.  Thankfully, it’s easy to remap.

WiiU actually had a shockingly good upswing last week.  In one week they apparently doubled the amount of units sold since launch.  Amazing what happens when you actually release games on a new console. 

People buy something other than crispy strips at KFC?  Learn something new every day!

As for the Voice Actor:
I for one can not remember the voice from the Thief title i played on the Xbox 1(Deadly Shadows),but as someone who is upset from no David Hayter in MGSV,i can certainly understand why people are upset by it

Garrets original background. A bit more of his original voice.

No focus on multiplayer is very good news.

Stupid excuse from Eidos, but I still don't think it's that big of a deal.  The amount of internet handwringing and "OMG they've RUINED the Thief series!" seems awfully silly to me, but to each their own.

A large part of it is that Garret was not an anonymous protagonist.  His personality made the game just as much as the stealthy game play did.  Actually, I would say even more so since Thief3 already saw a departure from elements of the originals (not for the better in my opinion) and Russell’s performance played a large role in holding it together.

Now Thief 4 might be a great game on its own merits but a lot of what they have shown so far points it as a very different feeling game and a different feeling protagonist.  This begs the question, why set it in the Thief universe at all?  And if you are determined to for marketing reasons, why not just choose a new protagonist altogether and maybe give Garrett a cameo?

Stupid excuse from Eidos, but I still don't think it's that big of a deal.  The amount of internet handwringing and "OMG they've RUINED the Thief series!" seems awfully silly to me, but to each their own.

Ok, Gratch gets the Garrett voice actor that sounds like the Hamburglar.

Eidos explains reason for new voice actor.  

Web/graphic designer.  SEO Specialist. Blogger.  Animator. Other random crap my office makes me do...

This is what I meant by graphics problems. 


Character models look fine (aside from the weird head/shoulder clipping thing that occurs on occasion) but if you look at the edges of any of the scenery there is an obvious lack of antialiasing going on.  The size of your TV is going to make a huge difference here, you can see them in the screen shot but on a 60 inch TV they are huge.

Part of the problem with the game pad is the pace of the game.  In ZombiU having the map there was perfect because it was a slow paced game and it functioned as a motion tracker as well.  Here if you look down at the map while driving you’re probably going to drive into something.  A mini map on the screen would actually have served better in this case.   

Also, with the touch pad they have nearly unlimited access to buttons and yet the game reuses the same buttons on the controller to do multiple things.  That’s just a missed opportunity. 

Just something that displays in the lab.  Video spoiler.

Also, apparently if you find all the Boos you get a bonus mission.

Finally downloaded my copy.  That…took a while on wireless. 

Gameplay is fun but nothing spectacular.  I’m a little disappointed with the usage of the WiiU pad.  At this point I compare everything to ZombiU which used the pad perfectly but here it feels more tacked on than useful.  On that note, the scanning mini game is annoying.

Humor is good in a corny slapstick sort of way.  I’ve found myself laughing a number of times already.  Graphics are actually a lot worse than I was expecting.  On my 60inch TV the jaggies are VERY noticeable, more so than in any other WiiU game I’ve played. 

On the whole though it seems solid enough.

Not horrible…but not Thief. 

I don't think there really is a benefit.  If you collect all the gems you get a Luigi statue.  Not worth the trouble in my opinion.

Unfortunately, that is correct.  Most missions can be completed in about 15 minutes so I haven't run into any problems so far but that is a definite weakness of the game.