Bit by Bit: April 2015

School is done for another year, but things haven't slowed down that much.  My jobs, both paid and volunteer, keep me busy throughout the year especially in the summer.  Speaking of work, you can check out my first published piece for Imprint, the University of Waterloo's student run newspaper.  It is a review of Avengers: Age of Ultron.  I hope you enjoy and share it with others.

On top of work, I have lots of things going on in the coming months.  I have movies to watch (and possibly review), live wrestling shows to see, games to play, friends to visit and a vacation to take.  It is going to a busy yet fun summer.

Don't worry though.  Silver Bit won't be taking a backseat; in fact, it will be front and centre especially when it comes to E3 next month.  I have a lot of things cooking regarding regular content for Silver Bit this summer so stay tuned.

Show of the Month
April has been a month to try new things for yours truly.  I got a chance to feel the pain, frustration and ironic fun of From Software's Bloodbourne, determine for myself if Game of Thrones lives up to the hype and rabid praise (it's getting there), and got back into watching anime.  My renewed interest in anime came all thanks to IGN's Anime Club podcast.  I use to watch anime regularly when I was a teenager, but grew out of it due to my exhaustion with drawn-out plots and my preference for reading manga.  Now, I am scouring used video stores and the Funimation app for shows both old and new in order to expand my horizons.

In expanding my horizons, I took a risk and spent 20 dollars on the Cowboy Bebop complete series DVD set.  While I am still working my way through the series, I do not regret my purchase.  In fact, I am loving it.  Cowboy Bebop is unlike anything I have ever laid my eyes on.  The innovation and stylishness of this anime makes it stand out above all the others.

Cowboy Bebop blends beautiful animations, always on-point humour and fully fleshed out characters.  At first, the show may seem a little off-putting due to how different it is from most anime.  Bebop never holds your hand; it just drops you in its world and lets you experience all its imperfections and quirks for yourself.  Also Bebop's use of music is unbelievable as each episode has its own unique soundtrack that fits its story and tone.  Plus, the opening for the show is thing of beauty.

Out of the 15 episodes I have watched so far, Cowboy Bebop is a really good show slowly becoming a great show.  It does take a few episodes before it gets going and about a good dozen before it starts firing on all cylinders.  Once it starts firing on all cylinders, Bebop is almost untouchable.  Bebop is an incredible show that you should watch, anime fan or not.

Most Anticipated Game of the Month
My love for the The Witcher III: Wild Hunt has been well documented in the annals of Silver Bit.  The game looks absolutely incredible.  I have been looking forward to Witcher III ever since it graced the cover of Game Informer just over two years ago and we are less than a month away until its release.

Just recently, CD Projekt RED announced the expansion pass for the game.  Before you get up in arms over another DLC pass like everybody did with the Arkham Knight season pass, Witcher's expansion pass is unlike other passes on the market.  While most DLC for games nowadays adds a few hours of extra content, this expansion pass will add around 30 hours of content to the already expansive Witcher III.  At 25 dollars, you are getting well over five times more content than the typical season pass.  Plus, CD Projekt RED is offering 16 free pieces of DLC in the year following the game's release.

It may be a lot of money to drop on one game, but I trust the guys and gals at CD Projekt Red to deliver.  I feel it is a worthwhile investment to get the most out of the grandest fantasy RPG ever created and help support these incredible developers create more great RPGs in the future.

Video of the Month
I have a problem.  I just can't stop watching Honest Trailers, be it for video games or movies.  They are just too funny.  I devoured the older ones throughout late March and early April.  Now, I impatiently wait for new ones to be posted.

To show you how great this YouTube series is (and maybe get you addicted as well), enjoy the newest Honest Game Trailer for Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire.

E3 2012: One Week Away

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3 for short, is an annual trade show held by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) as a showcase of the biggest and best of the gaming industry.  E3 is normally held the first week of June at the Los Angeles Convention in Downtown Los Angeles, California.  It is the one week of the year when gamers, game journalists and stockholders all center their attention at one place, one location for the biggest news and most surprising reveals.  It is like Christmas for gamers as their are hundreds of games all being showed off for our attention.  With how E3 has exploded in popularity over the past six years, there is now a lot of ways to find out all the news, watch all the gameplay footage being showed off, even watch all the big press conferences live.  The more I talk about E3, the more excited I get.  It should and will be one incredible week to be a gamer.

Being only one week away, the anticipation for the biggest event of the gaming year is incredibly huge.  I personally booked Monday and Tuesday off work in order to watch all the press conferences.  On top of that, a lot of my free time will be spent constantly checking sites like IGN and Screwattack for the latest news and impressions, watching a lot of gameplay footage and trailers and watching the live streams from the show floor. Which leads into my next topic of what will going on next week here on Silver Bit, which goes into E3 mode.  Monday and Tuesday, I will be sharing my impressions on each and every conference from the Microsoft press conference all the way to the Nintendo press conference.  Wednesday and Thursday will be back to the regular schedule of Hump Day Music and On the Download.  Friday I will post Bit by Bit and on Saturday I will post my annual Top 10 Games of E3 list.  So I got a week packed full of content for everybody to enjoy.  Also stay tuned later this week as I will be posting my anticipated games and consoles of E3 2012.  Let the countdown begin.  We are only one week away.