I loved my PC. But I don't regret ditching it for consoles.

I loved gaming on PC. My rig was never monstrous in the spec dept, amd CPU + gtx 770, but it gave me a good year or so playing most AAA games. Games that ran far better and far more beautiful than they did on the consoles I was used to. In most cases the step up to native 1080p was enough to put my Xbox one games to shame and, for framerate, it was always just too buttery smooth for even my ps4.

But they were the well optimised games. The best case scenario if you will.

Then there were games that came along , less well optimised, from lazy developers unwilling to shape code sufficient to make a PC rig sing. Games like Assassins creed Unity. A game so horridly ported, so slapped together with no regard for quality, that it's only equal in example was astonishingly the same Publishers prior game.

Both Watch dogs and Assassins creed do not, by any means, stand alone as far as terrible PC ports go, but they are great flag bearers for the cause. We have two games from the same publisher that stutter and chug so much that framerate on most rigs are reduced to mere slideshows. Games that send even the most PC elitest sprinting for the lowest setting like Usain Bolt for Virgin media cash. No, these games are truly hideous and borked to such degree that even slinging the world's only true proven saviours fix all for PC problems at it, the wallet, is not enough to drag these games much north of a steady 30fps +.

It was because of games like that, I packed in PC gaming a while ago and headed back to the welcoming bussoms of Microsoft and Sony -  Companies that both only want me for my cash but are at least willing to offer me the allure of a steady fps to get it.

I miss 'good' PC gaming. I miss the money I saved on cheaper Steam games. I especially miss those little graphical extras you get in games. Like fur on the animals in far cry 4 or the great tessellation in GTA v. And especially envious of the way PC Geralts ponytails bobs and weaves in the wind.

But I can't go back. I can't because of games like Arkham knight.
If there'd been any game that brought me back it would have been that one. I was tempted. I'm a big Batman fan and I was as impressed by Nvidias touted gamesworks visual feature as the next guy. But I stuck with my PS4 preorder. I'm glad I did. Buying Arkham knight at launch for PC would have been a gamble. It could have been a really good port. In which case the added graphics features would have made the definitive place to experience Rocksteady's swansong.

But it wasn't a good port and that makes me sad. Sad for people out there who still have a that passion for PC gaming. I know what it's like to look forward to a new release just end up bitterly disappointed and I feel for those gamers who waited up till midnight to play there new game the moment it unlocked on Steam just to find a yet another lazy half hearted 5fps port.

I don't regret going back to consoles. I'm enjoying Arkham knight on PS4 and even though it may not run at 60fps or have Nvidias enhanced rain drops, its still clear that it was the focus of Rocksteady's attention and as such is a really solid experience.

So in summery, yeah I miss my PC. But not that much. As long as there are PC Ports like Arkham or creed in the world - I'm better off where I am.

The Batmobile is AMAZING!!

Omg. The batmobile is amazing in Arkham knight. Rarely have I ever encountered a gameplay mechanic added to an existing series that has had such a profound effect. Just to say the addition of vehicle combat and traversal freshens the usual Arkham gameplay is a whopping understatement. No, the inclusion of the Batmobile shakes up the whole damn game.

One thing that has me perplexed at the moment however, is I can't seem to find the brake for the Batmobile and I'm starting to think there isn't one. Which is a bit weird at first. But I'm getting used to it.

Have to say the quick transform to battle tank mode, L2, is a joy. You can literally go from blazing down the street at unholy speed before shrieking to halt and seamlessly entering combat in seconds.

Even now I'm itching to get back to the game. So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I'll leave you with this Batmobile gameplay footage captured direct from my Ps4. Enjoy and remember to like or subscribe if you do.

I am THE gwent master!

No seriously I am because I have the trophy to prove it.

Why this trophy is just a bronze I have no idea because it isn't all that easy. Worthy of a silver at least in my opinion.

Ok, so to get this trophy I needed to win a Gwent tournament held at the passiflora in Novigrad, during the sidequest mission 'High stakes'.

The tournament consisted of 4 rounds featuring increasingly more advanced opponents in each round. Oh and 1 punch up. Elves are poor losers it seems.

I have to say that I really love the Gwent mini game in Witcher 3, so going for this particular trophy, though difficult, wasn't at all a chore. In fact, I thought sticking a Gwent tournament into the game as a mission was a great idea and I genuinely wish they'd been more than just the one. A separate tournament for each territory, Velen-Novigrad-Skellige, would have been great. Oh well, perhaps they'll drop a few more tournaments into this winters dlc expansions. I'm hoping for loads more new cards too.

I included a gameplay video covering the Gwent tournament for you guys to check out, so I hope you enjoy that. If you do, please consider giving my blog a sub or my YouTube account. I'm only doing this for fun but every bit of of support I get is really appreciated.

Fathers day 2015

Okay not strictly gaming related but I couldn't let father's day go by without mentioning the rather excellent prezzies I got from my loving kids.

First up, we have a lovely painting of Toby, the family hound, by my eldest daughter Megan 14.

 

Next up, this custom Death note card is from my anime mad daughter Molly 12. The card has ALL the death notes rules written (BY HAND!) Inside and mounted to the front is a oven fired clay Shimigami. Awesome.

 

Finally we have a mini masterpiece of a card designed by my son Harry 8. Depicted here is the family dog Toby dreaming of me and I'm dreaming of apples. *

*It's not an apple. It's a heart and I'm dreaming if love 

Trophy guide: Environmentally unfriendly (The Witcher 3)

Kill 50 opponents using the environment (e.g swamp gas, insect or objects)

Okay; really straight forward trophy this one. The game requires you to defeat 50 enemies using the environment, which, in this case, means things like bees, exploding barrels e.t.c.
Now I can't vouch for this 100% because I haven't reached this point in the game, but I hear that a lot of these type of environment kills occur naturally in a battle somewhere near the games finale. Apparently the battlefield is bombarded with meteors that kill loads of enemies and that each one counts as an environment kill.

But, if you want to get this minor trophy done and out of the way before that, there's a number of ways to proceed. The best ways I found are;

Swamp gas.
Basically, if you're fighting necrophages in a swamp, (hey that's like a quarter of the game, right?), then you'll no doubt spot areas coated in a yellow gas. Lure the enemies over to these spots and then simply light the gases with your igni sign.

Barrels.
Nice and easy. Ever see an enemy anywhere near a barrel, blow the barrel up using igni.

Aard sign.
I found this one the easiest method for racking up environment kills.
All you need do is knock your enemies flat on his back with Aard and then finish him with with the ◽button.
I was surprised these counted to be honest. But they do.

Lastly, as I point out in the video, its worth mentioning the way I achieved by final environment kill. The last enemy I dispatch prior to the trophy popping seems to go down without any form of environment interaction. What I think happened here is this. I have recently upgraded my Quen sign and unlocked a kind of alternative cast for it. This is done by holding R2 instead of giving it a simple tap. Now I don't know exactly what this does by my guess is that when the enemy attacked he was repelled by the new Quen shield making my next blows environmentally assisted. That's my take on that anyway.

All in all an easy bronze. Go get it.

Check out my video for more.