Heading back to DC

March 15, 2016 – Ubisoft announced ongoing record sell- through sales for Tom Clancy’s The Division, which has grossed more than $330 million worldwide in its first five days.

March 15, 2019 – The company releases The Division 2 no doubt aiming to smash that disgusting sales figure.

So how do a company go about maintaining that track record and move millions of gamers to a new platform whilst attracting the new one?

Since the first Beta, I was hooked but rapidly cooled off after constantly getting melted in the DarkZone or just not finding a stable squad to run with.  I noted that they have changed some key features that killed my interest in the title.

DLCs are free for Year 1 – no more issues with not having the right environment. This is an honest move as it created a massive difference between gamers who played occasionally and the elites.

8-player Raids were added as the ultimate end-game, clearly a move from the Destiny Universe.

And the ultimate killer move, reward gamers who continue to play The Division 1 with stuff in Division 2.  This move alone pulls me back to NY to scrap around for rewards.

Heading back to DC

I’m not a Twitch subscriber but at this stage, I’m very tempted to start subbing one of my favourite Division streamers. Just hope I can still afford my child support.

What are you current priorities?

Keeping focus is a critical tactical skill nowadays.  There are so many distractions and attractions where you can very easily wander down a non-revenue generating rabbit hole.

I’ve debriefed myself from InfoSec Europe, London’s annual Circus gathering of Security folk but now deep into the flashing press releases, demos and surprises at E3.

My upcoming game list is still hooked on Last of Us 2 but the surprise new free game in the Life is Strange Universe promised for this month is perfect timing as I get to the end-game of FallOut 4.

Last of Us 2 - release date unknown
Skull and Bones – release date 2019 unknown month
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit - June 26th 2018
The Division 2 – release date March 15, 2019 – Beta expected

Today’s brute force attacks on my site were routed through Panama 45.227.254.252…interesting.

STAR WARS Battlefront II – step back on focus

Simple Gameplay

The Directive on security of network and information systems (the NIS Directive) was adopted by the European Parliament on 6 July 2016 and entered into force in August 2016. Member States have to transpose the Directive into their national laws by 9 May 2018.

Naturally, this law has been sidelined in favour of the more popular GDPR which was entered into force on the 25 May 2018.

Maybe it’s “too” technical or doesn’t have a good acronym. I’ll just call it DENIS (DirectivE on security of Network and Information Systems) to keep it simple.

Two new Laws that just made things a little bit more complicated, but wait, there’s a shortage of InfoSec experts and salaries are not rising in proportion to the work, and wait, the InfoSec profession is 90% male or has all the industry reports suddenly fallen to the bottom of the agenda.

Cute little single player game INSIDE has got me laughing and panicking at the same time as I play the role of a boy escaping Big Brother….it kinda feels like Orwell’s 1984 vision.  The simple game design is what makes it an absolute winner in the era of 20 bottom combination moves.

INSIDE – Simple but brilliant gameplay

Walk on by

I’ve always seen following walkthroughs as a second-hand experience but in the right circumstance, especially tough linear games, it can be the key to sanity.  I have limited time to solve some puzzles and frustration can grow rapidly.

It’s been 2 years I explored the Alien Isolation environment, it’s a brilliant and artistic re-creation of the early years of Ripley but really difficult as the chilling music and sound effects of the Alien hunting you distract your from objectives.  Unlike other Alien titles, you have no big guns so you are forced to use stealth which adds up to a scary game of cat and mouse.

Alien: Isolation – last played January 2016

So let’s cheat, whoops sorry, I mean look up a walkthrough.

Some sites are dedicated to creating the best walkthrough as soon as the game is released and YouTube is filled with Pros, fanatics, commentators and streamers.  Some authors have taken to documenting and selling complete illustrated walkthroughs which must be tough considering all the free stuff out there.

Alien: Isolation – Beautiful Artwork

Leave the Party

Like so many tech trends, once something becomes mainstream it simply loses its appeal.  I started DIY mining years ago but quickly figured out that the cost of the hardware, maintenance and most importantly my electricity bill made it a potentially high overhead experiment.

With some many active serious investors hunting for crypto currency, the energy costs are ramping up.

BitCoin costs too much energy (report May 2018)

This report suggests that in a few short months it will no longer be feasible to mine cryptocurrency.  Hopefully, the masses will get the heads-up and go back to what they were doing before the media hype.

Cryptocurrency cost on the rise