Gaming News, Streaming Services, and Microtransactions

You're tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek. Hello and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm

your host, Steve Megatron Phillips, and in this

episode, I thought it would be fun to discuss

gaming. We haven't talked gaming in a while,

and I've been kind of heavy into it. kind of

re -adventuring into this land of gaming that

I haven't participated in except for Star Trek

Online for the better half of a year. And I...

There's quite a bit of things that I've been

kind of bookmarking and waiting until I had enough

to kind of go on. And I kind of delved back into

Battlefield 1 just to kind of see how it was.

It... It's okay. I'm waiting for battlefield

five though just to see what they do with it

I'm kind of over the whole battlefield one. I

Enjoy some of the maps but some of the the new

stuff that's on the game right now It's it's

just not working and plus the last time I played

it after that last update I know mind you I've

got a solid -state hard drive. I've got A pretty

decent rig. I got the update for Battlefield

1 and the game has run kind of laggy and like

crap. And I'm not entirely sure why. Unless they've

upped their specs for the game. It's supposed

to run smoother on the game, but it still takes

forever to load. And then when you're in game,

it's not... I don't know, it's just not working

out. I think it could have something to do with

too. I have AT &T for my internet service and

I am going to be going back to Comcast shortly

just because my year's up and the price is going

up. And so I'll be able to sign up for about

half the cost I'm paying now for Comcast and

get actually the same speed. If I paid what I'm

paying now at AT &T, I could triple what I'm

getting on AT &T through Comcast. So I may be

making a return to game streaming soon with going

back to Comcast, because like I said, AT &T kind

of sucks for that. And I noticed that when I

had switched to AT &T, my internet was not capable

of doing a live stream, not only for games, but

for video. So when I get the Comcast set up,

I plan to do some live stream Altered Geek episodes,

as well as live stream gaming. I'm not entirely

sure what platform, though. And that's kind of

what's got me a little puzzled. I've been onto

this a while, and I've been trying to do research

on it. There's a bunch of players in the game.

I know about Twitch. I know about YouTube Gaming.

YouTube Gaming is by far the easiest for me to

stream through. I have the setup for it. It's

great. However, I know that a lot of people do

Twitch. I also know that I just discovered a

new site that... I don't know how new it actually

is, but it kind of reminds me of... the MSN Gaming

Zone, and I used to watch, I used to play on

the MSN Gaming Zone a lot, and this site is mixer

.com, and apparently you sign in with your live,

your Windows Live, account and get in the game

and everything and I The roundabout way of saying

this like there's there's a bunch of different

players in the game. I know that Facebook is

also letting PC gamers live stream and in rewarding

the viewers. There's like a new games SDK for

for PC Because Facebook is trying to get into

the game of twitch and YouTube for video game

live streaming supremacy and I think it's kind

of an interesting boat that you kind of can pick

where you want to go. However, I think that it

kind of, in light of everything that's happened

with Facebook recently, I don't know if I'd really

feel comfortable using them for my video streaming

of my games. I wouldn't be opposed to it, but

I don't know how I would feel with it. Same token.

People already have the Facebook accounts and

you wouldn't have crazy trolls because most people

are using their regular account. So it would

be a lot harder to get just random trolls on

there. You would get actual people. I see ups

and downs with it, so there's that. But I'm debating,

I have an account on... I have an account on

Twitch and I have an account on YouTube Gaming.

Obviously if you're considering Facebook, I technically

have that as well. It's just figuring out where

the market is on those. I may go back to doing

YouTube just because it's just easier for me

to have these videos banked in there plus it's

SEO that I can link the video back to in my website.

I'm kind of toying with it. I'm not really sure

what yet. I'm gonna do there. Some of the games

I plan on going back to and streaming are probably

gonna be Battlefield 1, Battlefield 4, Star Trek

Online. I may download some... I may reinstall

some of my older games like Star Wars Podracer.

which I actually think I still have installed.

I'm trying to get my Beast Wars video game installed.

Will not install. It's a Windows 95 game at best,

and even with compatibility mode, it will not

run. It's way too old. I think it came out in

97. The game quality is terrible. I just want

to go back and see if I can actually play it

now. I've done Podracer, which came out in 99,

which I think is the threshold, and even that

I had to fight to get it to work. The Beast Wars

game, I cannot get it to work, period. And it's

a little unfortunate. I'm kind of sad about it.

I really don't want to download a Windows emulator

or another virtual operating system thing. I

just want to be able to play it. So it's kind

of sad seeing a lot of these old games go by

the wayside because I would like to revisit some

of them in my nostalgia Maybe I'll go back and

play some old 90s video games like Commander

Keen and like Jazz Jackrabbit and things that

I used to play I still have a lot of it backed

up on on a external hard drive so that may come

to fruition in the future as well. So I don't

know, let me know what you guys think of the

different streaming services or if there's one

that you prefer that I haven't mentioned because

like I said, I haven't been following it. I didn't

even know some of these existed outside of Twitch

and YouTube. So that's kind of where I'm at with

this. And kind of the reason I thought about

this in the first place, is that My cousin actually

told me about this and she's an uber driver in

Las Vegas and I Was attempting to do more or

less market research on Who I was explaining

more or less that I'm a podcaster. I do a lot

of different things to my family. We had a family

get -together and she mentioned this the streamer

from Vegas that she drove around in an uber and

it gave me the name and I I reached out Well

attempted to reach out and find out exactly like

some of the methods, but I kind of got some of

the answers I wanted in a watching a stream because

let's face it I'm not the most personable entertainer

on a live stream as opposed to a podcast because

a podcast I can kind of talk and I'm not worried

about trying to fill space with with air of a

voice whatever if I'm playing a game I kind of

zone out and that's difficult for me to actually

remember to speak Because I tend to get into

the game and then I just I play but I guess that's

where you have You know your chat window going

up on the side so you can kind of respond and

pay attention in between various Actions in the

game. So anyways This person streams on mixer,

which is again how I found out about it. It's

Kaylee J like K A E L I J A E So anyways, I went

into her stream and I started kind of watching.

She's playing Fortnite. I've heard of the game,

never played it. And it looks entertaining. I

didn't realize though that it came out by the

Unreal team. The people that did Unreal Tournament.

And I am a huge fan of Unreal Tournament. I may

even bring that game back in because I have all

the CDs still. or DVDs of the install discs.

I had Unreal Tournament 99 at one point, but

I think that's gone. I have 2004 and 2007, and

then they just came out with like basically Unreal

Tournament 4, but they just re -dubbed it Unreal

Tournament, just regular. It's in like Alpha

or something like that. It's been that way for

like three years. I played it earlier on a couple

of years ago while I was recording this podcast

and... I'm tempted to go back and see what they've

done to it since then. I don't see much on their

their Social channels of things that have been

changed in the last year But I did check their

website and they've been apparently updating

it So I'm looking forward to seeing what's going

on there. I may revisit that as well but anyways,

I was trying to kind of rediscover how this whole

streaming thing works because I've been interested

in live streaming for the better part of eight

years. I wanted to get into it in 2010. Didn't

really know what it took. Didn't have a webcam.

Didn't know the software. Didn't really have

time. And then I really wanted to do GCRN live

in 2012. Never got around to doing anything with

it. The initial plans and the processes were

too complicated, at least for what I was trying

to do. And there were simpler methods of doing

it, I just didn't have the technical know -how.

So that being said, I don't really know what

I'm doing as far as that, but I've kind of figured

out now at least how that would work. But it's

just figuring out what platform I want to go

to. I kind of want to shy away from YouTube only

for the fact that they seem to be kind of butchering

people too though, like terminating people for

no reasons or And then people, I don't know,

I may try out this mixer thing just because it

seems pretty straightforward. You got your chat

window, you got the subs, you got the following,

it shows what game, how many people are watching,

and stuff like that. It seems pretty straightforward.

And that's kind of what I'm looking for at this

point. YouTube, there were too many different

windows that had to pop up. Twitch, I never understood

Twitch. I understand why it works and what it

does, but it does seem like it's got more of

a, you can find channels easier on it, but for

viewing your own channel, I think Mixer is easier,

as far as what I've noticed. But yeah, that's

just my thoughts on the streaming side of things.

Anyways, I saw some kind of cool news. There's

an article on instructables .com where they have

NES in a cartridge. And I thought it was kind

of cool. Every now and again, I find these instructable

things and I think that they're really cool.

It came from the Silicon Junkie person. So anyways,

he took a cartridge of the original Super Mario

Bros. It's literally the cartridge. He gutted

the interior, it's got a light on it, an on -off

switch, two ports for the controllers, and then

a slot to plug in the actual cartridge on it.

It's a Chinese Famicom clone console, basically

NES on a chip, because they're fully functioning

Nintendo Entertainment Systems on one chip. They

include like a 60 pin Famicon game port Which

is normal it can be converted to like 72 pin

NES game port and then Yeah, they they plug this

thing in and it works on the TV I think it's

really cool How they did this but it's a lot

of a lot of the Chinese, you know, they use like

the power player unit for super entertainment

system. It's like a knockoff cheap system. But

yeah, basically it's a lot of taking things apart

and putting it back together, which I would totally

be into if I knew how to do it. But they give

you like the whole instructions on how to do

this thing. And it's like a portable Nintendo,

which I would be totally down for. So. Something

else I wanted to get to in this episode, because

I'm talking gaming, has to do with not only some

of Battlefield 1 stuff, but there's a new site

that will warn you which games have microtransactions

in them. And I know we've talked about DLC, microtransactions,

loot boxes, all this other garbage that all these

games nowadays seem to do. Even Battlefield,

Star Trek Online, they all do it. Every game

I've played in the last five years have done

it. Diablo II's done stuff like it, I think.

Or Diablo III, I mean. I'm not a big one for

microtransactions, although they can be addicting

in the wrong setup. I've bought Zen in -game

for Star Trek Online more than I care to recall.

coming back on the history of it, and it allows

you to get a lot of in -game credit towards ships

or other money sources in the game. So anyways,

this site, the microtransaction .zone, recently

launched a couple days ago, or like a week ago

or something, and going on their site, They have

a very minimalistic view. They have their Twitter

page embedded. They have their blog. They launched

it last Wednesday, it appears, and they have

game ratings, which tells whether it's spotless.

They have these nice little... Emoji buttons

at the bottom of each title. So like if you go

for instance Overwatch Tells you which systems

PC Xbox PS4 This is basically Overwatch has recently

had its loot boxes declared illegal gambling

by the government of Belgium and and you know,

it's just people writing those things, but There's

there's multiple options. There's I See nine

options once is spotless you buy the game you

own the game full stop Horse armor some cheap

minor DLC no randomization involved expansive

expansions is paid DLC reminiscent of additional

expansion packs actual content for actual money

It's not gambling. We swear loot boxes with randomized

contents viable with real money in infinity Or

infinite money hole no upper limit on in -game

purchases It's just not it's not just cosmetic

content with gameplay altering effects viable

with real money By first you'll need a contract

a game specific paid subscription service table

for one multiplayer contains additional monetization,

but single player doesn't and free to play no

upfront purchase required to begin playing and

so You know like overwatch it's got the things

highlighted for horse armor. It's not gambling

We swear and infinite money hole and then if

you look at starcraft the old starcraft It says

expansive expansions is highlighted and free

to play And and then it's it's actually kind

of refreshing to see a site like this in today's

age and I'm surprised it's taking this long because

Honestly, it's just getting a bit ridiculous

How Much of this is taking effect in gaming.

So, Battlefield 4. This one resonates with me

really well. Wow, DC Universe Online. I forgot

about that game. I still have that. I should

try and revisit it. But, Battlefield 4, it says

bulk order horse armor expansive expansions,

and it's not just cosmetic. As their three highlights

DC universe has expansive expansions. It's not

gambling. We swear Infinite money hole and it's

not just cosmetic and free to play. I wonder

if they got Star Trek online on here Mostly because

I'm playing it I want to see what their rating

is I'm gonna try this I Have the website open.

I just hadn't here we go Star Trek online. Holy

crap This is sad They've got bulk order horse

armor highlighted. It's not gambling, we swear.

It is. It is gambling. With their loot boxes.

It is horribly gambling. I've been screwed so

many times by that that I will not spend money

on that unless I... I buy the... Out of the dilithium

in the game, I buy the keys, sell them on the

market so that I can get the electronic credits

in game. Which allow me to buy things on the

exchange. much cheaper than what it would cost

me to gamble away time. I did that with the Kelvin

Universe Constitution Class Starship, which turned

out nice for me. I did that as well for getting

parts that I could buy stuff from the Fleet Store.

I bought a All Good Things Enterprise. with the

triple nacelle and I they gave away as a part

of their eight -year anniversary like the the

defiant with the cloaking device and I got the

ship specifically because I could take the console

from the defiant and put it on the galaxy class

dreadnought which could do everything that the

other ship could plus more and it cloaks so I

have an enterprise that cloaks just like in all

good things and then they've got infinite money

hole It's not just cosmetic They they actually

have a lot of cosmetic purchases to you though,

but first you'll need a contract They do have

some paid subscription not really anymore I mean

you can you can pay for like their lifetime membership

thing which gets you certain things but it's

There's no reason for it and then it's got free

to play. So yeah Not surprising. So anyways,

I definitely recommend going to microtransaction

.zone to check any games that you might be thinking

of playing. They just started, but I'm really

looking forward to seeing what comes out of it,

being that they've only been out about a week

and a half now at this point. I'm really, really

loving the option to be able to look into games

before you start playing them because most games

nowadays have microtransactions up the wazoo

and it's getting expensive. So definitely recommend

checking out that site for any of your microtransaction

needs. So moving on to Battlefield 1. New Battlefield

1 mode on the way, monthly updates and soon all

players will be able to try out certain DLC maps

for free too. It's been a little over a year

and a half and I've been playing it for technically

two years if you consider the alpha and the beta

that I got in on, which doesn't seem like it's

been two years now. But they've released numerous

DLC packs, content updates and whatnot. There's

a few updates left, but monthly patches are going

to end in June. The final DLC pack is available.

The studio is going to be winding down and kind

of moving towards Battlefield V, which means

it's another Money Pit. I probably won't buy

the game. I hope I get Alpha and Beta access

to it again, and maybe it'll win me over. I don't

know. Battlefield 5 supposed to feature numerous

stories as part of its overarching campaign will

have a co -op mode It's not been fully announced.

What all is gonna be in the new game, but it's

gonna be coming next year Or later this year

probably this fall late fall early winter something

in that So yeah, I I'm I'm enthusiastic and then

That that really is all my gaming stuff, like

wrapped all into one nice little package. I'll

have the Star Trek Online specifics of a lot

of their updates in that show, but some of the

highlights of Star Trek Online that are coming

down the pipe for those that are still playing

or looking to play. Right now they've got their

Delta Officer return, like they're returning

to the Delta Officers. So you can It's like the

Delta quadrant force like they're they're kind

of building up there's it's very pointed as far

as You have to create a new character. They did

it a few years ago like 2014 or something, but

It's very pointed so that you can get up and

running much faster. You're still playing the

game at the general normal pace But you get a

special console where your future self converses

with your past self gives you a console and you

can claim these Delta Various consoles and it

gives you new add -ons that will Basically gives

you a bunch of free crap just from going through

the game But it adds an extra console and certain

missions where you can toggle it and then after

you complete said mission it allows you to claim

items that are in these boxes for free. But when

Victory is Life comes out, the next expansion

in June, they're upping the level cap from 60

to 65, which is the first time since Delta Rising

in 2014 that they've done this. All gear will

be able to go up to, equipment will go up to

MK15 and... There will be new things to experience

anyway in that realm. Also, the Level 61, they're

going to give a Tier 5 ship token and Tier 5

ship upgrade token to make it a Tier 5 upgrade,

which is kind of cool because I'll be able to

get a free ship of whatever I want on all of

my active characters when I hit that point. So

I'm kind of looking forward to that, just because

I get to pick out a random ship. I'm thinking

I really want to get a... I don't know if I'll

be able to upgrade my Sovereign class, but I'm

hoping an Excelsior class is in that boat to

upgrade. Because I've been wanting to try out

the Excelsior, I just don't want to spend the

money on it. It's a premium item. 62, they give

you a specialization qualification manual to

be either intel, command, pilot, tempop, or miracle

worker. 63, they give you a new captain ability

for space combat. 64, they give you an elite

gamma quadrant duty officers roster, which will

be kind of cool. Basically, alien species seen

on DS9. And then in 65, they give you an epic

Admiralty ship, the CUV Tain. The ship of Elam

Gerak himself can be called to aid you on Admiralty

missions. And yeah. So I'm looking forward to

the new game when it comes out, their new expansion.

I'm kind of bored out of my mind in the game.

But they do have a ton of characters returning

for that, so. of DS9 that I'm looking forward

to. So anyways, that I think about rounds out

this episode of Altered Geeks. So until next

time, you can get ahold of us by reaching on

Twitter at AlteredGeek, myself at SCP -21. You

can use the hashtag if you've got something geeky

you'd like to talk about with what's geeky to

you. And until next time, get altered, get geeky

with the Altered Geeks.