I am Mog Anarchy, and I like to play games. Whether they are old, new, retro, modern, online, offline, console, computer, critically acclaimed or notoriously bad. Here on my blog, I rant about, review, trash talk, praise and generally talk about all of my favourite and least-favourite games. I also write my own guides on how to accomplish tricky tasks, show off my creative endeavors and challenge myself with crazy in-game tasks. I also have a bunch of gaming merchandise which I am glad to show off. So drop me a comment, I love hearing your questions, criticisms, comments and general gaming discussions. :)

28/10/2015

Fallout 4 Beer: Thoughts of a Cynical, Teetotal Brit

If you've even remotley interested in following the news about Fallout 4 - you've no doubt seen the many special editions, limited runs of merchandise, the collector's edition strategy guides and store/site exclusive deals and bundles - personally I'm getting the PC version from Amazon, with their limited edition artbook and stuff, and the collector's edition of the survival guide.

But have you seen this?
This is Fallout beer - and as far as I know, it's exclusive to us gamers here in the UK. The beer itself is made by Carlsberg, comes in crates of 12 and you need to be over 18 in order to purchase it - 18 of course, being both our legal drinking age and the PEGI rating for Fallout 4.

But I shan't be buying it. Why? Well, there's a few reasons.

1. I don't really drink - and when I do drink, I drink peach schnapps with a mixer, or just plain fruit cider - beer is fucking awful, I would rather drink cat piss - and I could get that for free.

2. The crate retails for £30 - which is £2.50 PER BOTTLE. Beer should not be that fucking expensive. I've seen some single bottles of ciders retail for around that price - but unless we're in some skanky bar, beer shouldn't cost that much. They're also only 330ml - the same amount that's in a tin of pop - not the standard 500ml! (And again, 500ml is the same as a bottle of pop, for those who aren't metric-ally minded.)

3. Even if I was going to keep them as a collectable - how long will it be before the beer goes off? I know beer itself is fermented - but it seems more likely that the empty bottles will become collectables, rather than the full ones - and there doesn't seem to be a really limited supply - so they won't be worth much for a while anyway. Also, how am I supposed to keep them safe? Everything on my collectables shelf is at risk of being knocked off by cats - most of the things are plastic or metal, and won't break if knocked. Keeping full glass bottles safe would just be a massive pain in the arse.

4. Fallout 4 beer has NOTHING to do with Fallout. Remember the beer bottles in Fallout? They're plain brown, and most likely brewed by Wasteland survivors. There is no branded beer available in the Wasteland - so why didn't they market a product that actually IS? Nuka Cola is the obvious choice of course, but some argue that that isn't possible due to the blatant parodying of Coca-Cola - OK fine, then what about Sunset Sarsaparilla? That's a unique Fallout product. What about their brands of scotch and whiskey? They have labels. Admittedly, a bottle of scotch or whiskey would retail for far more than beer - but I still bet people would buy it.
And why does it have to be a drink? Market some Fallout snacks - fucking Sugar Bombs, Radioactive Gum Drops, Bubblegum that comes with a pirate tattoo - fuck, even some real branded food products - I'll bet Kraft would do a deal and make real Blamco Mac N Cheese, Heinz could cash in with Pork N Beans - there's so much wasted potential here. 

And let's not forget, Fallout have included a REAL WORLD product in their games before. Bawls Guarana - a real-world energy drink that comes in blue glass bottles was featured in advertising and as a pick-up item in the spin-off game Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. I bought some bottles to try just because of that game. It seems bloody standard for games nowadays to be filled with product placement - would it be too weird to have a dusty old bottle or irradiated package of a real-world product? Probably not.

22/10/2015

Rareware VS Microsoft VS Nintendo - Comic!

Do you remember when Rareware (now known as simply 'Rare') were bought by Microsoft in 2002? They used to be in cahoots majorly with Nintendo and thus were responsible for some amazing N64 games, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, to name a few.

But, around the time of the 5th console generation (PS2/Gamecube/Xbox/Dreamcast), Rareware were bought by Microsoft, and they started making games for the Xbox - including a remastered version of Conker's Bad Fur Day, the amazingly underrated Grabbed By The Ghoulies and later on, when the Xbox 360 was released, the Viva PiƱata series and quite possibly the shittiest Banjo-Kazooie game ever, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

Anyway, I made a comic. I was doodling one day and basically drew the scene below - so I decided to squeeze out a comic using my very limited Photoshop skills.

So here it is, my interpretation of what happened when Microsoft bought Rareware:

19/10/2015

"Prickly Animal" Fingerless Gloves?

I love knock-off products - simply because some of them are just so badly done, they're hilarious.

I was mooching around Amazon a while ago, looking for a birthday present for Shelly. I was looking for Sonic The Hedgehog T-Shirts - so I searched for "Sonic The Hedgehog" in the clothing department. Amongst the endless boys' pyjamas, shirts and socks - I found this gem:
"Prickly Animal" fingerless gloves? LMAO! 

No wonder they're currently unavailable, they must've sold out in fucking droves!

16/10/2015

Glitchfest: The Sims 3, The Naked Private Investigator

The Sims 3 is a game that is prone to all sorts of weird glitches - I've had my game glitch out tons of times, but none of them have been all that interesting to document - mainly freezing and items losing their textures - but a few weeks ago, I experienced a genuinely entertaining glitch.

Most of the time, I tend to only play with one Sim and sometimes a few pet Sims - mainly myself - I like to try everything once, all the skills and careers, for example. So, I decided to try out the Private Investigator career on this save. For those who don't know, it's a career that came with the Ambitions expansion pack and allows you to solve crimes, all while rocking a trench-coat and wielding a magnifying glass.

Except, when my character went to put on her trench-coat for a case - this happened:
Yeah. My Sim decided to wander around naked. What I found odd was that she took off everything except a ring on her hand and a bracelet. My Sim, being me of course, also wears glasses - but she took those off too.
What made this even more hilarious was the animations private investiagators use - they sneak around on tiptoe with their magnifying glass, mooching around a public park looking for clues - naked.
What's also quite disturbing is that I tried to make my Sim accurate to me - she turned out a bit thinner due to her height - honestly, I think all Sims are like 6 feet tall - the only person I've managed to make accurate to their height and build is Shelly, because she is almost 6 feet tall - I kinda DO look like this naked... Just with a bit of a bigger belly - but the arse is weirdly accurate...
Don't you think it's odd that even though the Sims don't have any pubic hair/genital features or nipples - EA found it necessary to give her fucking TAN LINES around her arse?! 
Bear in mind, I don't use any mods with The Sims 3 - I have all of the expansion packs and stuff packs, and all of the store content I could torr- ...legally download - I have no idea what could have caused this glitch, but browsing YouTube, I'm not the only one it's happened to. 

And so you can experience the hilarity of the naked private investigator animations, here's a video. Enjoy.

13/10/2015

Jitendra, The EA Customer Service Robot

One of the downsides of buying games 2nd hand or preowned is that often, DLC codes or codes used to import content onto your harddrive have already been used by their previous owner.

This happened to me when I bought a 2nd hand copy of Rock Band 2. At the time, I was still in college - thus, had a lack of funds to spend on games - so practically everything I bought was 2nd hand - usually from the local CeX in town. I'd previously imported the songs from Rock Band 1 and the song packs - as I like to have a massive library to choose from. I was due to get Rock Band 3 when it came out, so I wanted to import the songs from Rock Band 2 as well.
When I discovered that my Rock Band 2 came without a manual, and thus, without the code that was printed on the back of the manual - I decided to take my issue to the EA customer service department on their website.

Long story short, I ended up buying another copy of Rock Band 2 that had a manual and a code and trading in my old copy back to CeX. Why? Well read the conversation I had with Jitendra, the EA Customer Service Robot and find out for yourselves:


-------------------------------------------------------

Jitendra: Hi, my name is Jitendra. How may I help you?

2406577524: Hi, when I bought my copy of Rock Band 2, it didn't come with a manual and I wanted the code to import the songs - is there a way I can get a replacement?


Jitendra: For replacement you need to contact the warranty department.

Jitendra: Could you please let me know the exact issue.

2406577524: I don't have a code to import the songs into Rock Band 3

Jitendra: All right. In order to resolve your issue, may I know your  E mail account associated with your EA account?

2406577524: mog_anarchy@hotmail.co.uk

Jitendra: May I have your date of birth please.

2406577524: 24/09/91

Jitendra: I am sorry. Date of birth is not match with the detail available in our data base .

2406577524: 24th of September 1991

Jitendra: I am sorry its not correct.

Jitendra: Could you please let me know any game key which is registered under your account.

2406577524: The Sims 3 is registered, where do I find the key?

2406577524: Oh, I found it - it's BDTM-6DYS-BU9W-VE8Q

2406577524: Sorry, the one on the back of the manual - 19425

Jitendra: All right. Please wait.

Jitendra: Kindly use this code   B39NPNHCHXMCHCPJ

2406577524: Thanks for helping

Jitendra: Kindly try with the given code and then let me know  whether it's working or not..

Jitendra: It's working or not.

2406577524: Hold on a second

2406577524: No, it says the code isn't valid

2406577524: Will the code work on the PAL version?

Jitendra: Pal version? What exactly it mean.

2406577524: The European version of Rock Band 2

Jitendra: All right. please wait. I provide  you the another code.

Jitendra: G3B9-35BQ-QAHL

Jitendra: Kindly try with this code.

2406577524: It says the code isn't valid either

Jitendra: Again.

Jitendra: Wait let me check.

Jitendra: PNGM-79NA-FDET

Jitendra: Kindly use this code.

2406577524: That one doesn't work either.

2406577524: The PAL version codes are 25-digits long, these are too short.

Jitendra: B3ZCGG83XPCG7A7A

Jitendra: Try this.

2406577524: Doesn't work.

Jitendra: Wait let me check why its happening.

Jitendra: I suggest you please contact our warranty department.

2406577524: OK thanks for helping

You have disconnected.