Black Ops 2 - Die Rise: High Maintenance Update

Hey guys here's a quick update for you on the Black Ops 2 Zombies map Die Rise. The High Maintenance achievement has been discovered with both Richtofen and Maxis parts available on Youtube (links at the bottom of this page). Where as in Tranzit, Maxis' path was the easiest to follow to get the achievement, in Die Rise, Richtofen's part is easier, and that is the part I'll detail here (I will link to a video of both paths for you guys, so if you feel obliged to follow Maxis all the way through Black Ops 2, you'll have that option)

High Maintenance - Richtofen's Path

1. First off you will need to build up the Navcard machine on the roof with the two Dragons. The parts are the same as before (Meteor, Radio, Battery and Table) Once you have the parts it is built underneath the Ramp, that leads up to the tower.
2. The next step is for all four players to step on the Gold Emblems on top of the elevators at the same time.
3. Next all four players must step on the four gold emblems that are located around the map (see video) This needs to be done in a certain sequence, trial and error will get the right sequence, although Richtofen can sometime utter the order in German to Stuhlbender. 
4. For the next step you'll need to obtain a Sniper Rifle (the SVU can be bought off the wall if not just spin on the mystery box) and shoot the Black Orbs out of the Dragons Mouths.
5. After the Black Orbs, have relocated to the spawn room (where you started the game) use the Sliquifier to shoot each one until they start spinning (the Sliquifier is made up of 4 parts that are located on the same floor as the power and the floor below which has the table)
6. Next you'll need to have built up the Trample Steam (the machine that can fling you and zombies across the map) all the parts are located on the same floor as you spawn in, the elevator to the right as you leave the spawn room will take you down the one floor to the table. All Four players will need one, and place them on the Four Emblems that look like Zombies facing the tower, each member should stay next to their trample steam and lure Zombies onto it (this makes the Sacrifice Richtofen requires)
7. Once Richtofen is happy that enough zombies have been flung, one player will need to acquire the Galvaknuckles (6000pts) and use it to hit the Four legs of the Tower in Sequence. The sequence you'll require is to do with the Mahjong Tiles (the video at the bottom will explain how this works). Once the tower lights up the achievement should pop. 

Richtofen Path - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRcAhPqGFBY

Maxis Path - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HikPjzx0bew

Mahjong Tiles - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-TvMiT3qDA

Black Ops 2: Zombies Easter Eggs (including what I know for Die Rise)

Hey guys, a lot of you may be familiar with the Zombies mode that was introduced to Treyarch's Call of Duty games back in World at War. This article will explain how to obtain the Tower of Babble achievement/trophy as well as discuss the High Maintenance achievement to an extent, but I am working on it and will update the article as soon as I'm able to test some of the theories I am yet to try out.

Green Run Tranzit

Tower of Babble: To get the achievement and Easter Egg in Tranzit you will need 4 players and to follow these simple steps, Please ensure all players have built the Navcard Reader, this is explained in this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiuN7NveWyg -(this is the Maxis version of the Easter Egg which is deemed easier, however I will include a link to the Richtofen version for those who may prefer to do that or both):

1. When you spawn in the Bus Depot, build the Turbine at the work desk - The parts required are Fan -Near the electric doors on a chair, Mannequin - Leaning on the Bus route map in the center of the room and Tail (similar to the tail on a boats motor) - Near the M14 next to the bookcase on the ground.
2. Once you've built the Turbine exit the building and catch the bus to the diner, Enter the gas station and spin on the mystery box, what we're looking for here is the EMP Grenades. Note that these may not drop at the diner spawn so you may have to follow the box around the map till one player has them). 
3. The next step is to get off at the 4th stop which is the power plant, the door down costs 750pts (same as the diner doors) jump down and find the three parts necessary to build the Power Switch. These are the Grey Power Board (pretty big, hard to miss), Red Handle and Zombie Hand (can be tricky to see due to the lighting of the room, but is generally on the floor somewhere in the room). Once assembled, turn the power on, wait till the Avagadro is released (watch the big power generator in the circular room to see him rise) and then turn the power off again and leave the power plant. 
4. Next step is to get to the center of the corn fields, to do this have one person look out the window to the left until he sees a gap in the fields then order everyone off the bus, follow the maze through to the tower in the center, the players should then place Two Turbines down underneath the tower.
5. The next step is to keep one zombie alive at the end of a round and only when the Lightning is Above the tower, kill the zombie, this will spawn the Avagadro to the players location, make sure he is then Underneath the Tower before using your EMP Grenades to kill him.
6. Next pick up the 'Powered Up' Turbines and leave two players at the tower, take the two Turbines  to the Lamp posts at Bus Depot  and Diner, then All Four Players must place the Turbines simultaneously for the achievement to unlock. This is best done in the brief lapse between rounds, as well as it would be advised to keep the rounds low whilst attempting this Achievement.

Green Run Musical Easter Egg: This Easter Egg is fairly simple, all it requires is you to press the action button (X on Xbox 360) on Three Teddy Bears that spawn in the map. The First is located at the Bus Depot on the concrete bench next to some lava on the right hand side of the middle station, The second bear is Upstairs in the Farm House on a mattress (3rd stop) and finally the last bear is in the Bar in town (last stop), on the right as you come in, on the booth near the pool table.

Die Rise (Revolution Map Pack) Easter Eggs

High Maintenance: First things first, these steps are what I have found on Youtube/discovered myself, as well as theories on the next few steps, once I have found out how to complete this, I'll update the article to reflect that. The first Two steps can be done in whichever order suits you and your teams preferences.

1. Firstly you'll need to turn on the power. The easiest way to do this is to all jump in the elevator in the spawn room, once it falls down exit, and follow the corridor to the ledge and jump across to the other building. Then turn right through the door and there'll be double green doors on the left (750pts) which when you open the power switch will be directly in front of you.
2. Once the power is on, you will need to obtain a Sniper Rifle - any will do, although the SVU is available to buy off the wall - this will be required in a few steps time (Maxis will reiterate this point).
3. On top of Four of the Elevators, there will be a Circular Symbol which all 4 players must step on simultaneously to activate the next step.
4. Next there are Four of those symbols spread across the map, which must be activated in sequence - the sequence changes with every play through so trial and error will help here - these can be done one by one and don't need to all be done at the same time/immediately after each other.
5. Next you'll need to get to the roof with the Two Dragons, in the Dragon's Mouths will be Two Orbs, use the Sniper to shoot these out of their mouths.
6. The Orbs should then relocate to the Spawn room, and Maxis will talk about Reincarnation and Enlightenment.
7. To follow Maxis' part you will need to pick up the orbs (Richtofen prefers it if you use the Sliquifier to shoot the orbs)

This next Part contains only THEORIES, however once they have been tried and tested I will update the article.

• One of the theories going round at the moment is that you need to Obtain the 'Who's Who' perk and revive yourself in the room with the Buddhas - who's upside down due to the building collapsing. However I feel this is not the case, as it is instead the requirement of another Achievement, however I could be wrong.
• Next is that in the Buddha Room, you need to kill LOTS of Zombies until Maxis or possibly Richtofen tells you it's enough.
• My first theory is that once you've obtained the orbs, take them to the room with the Buddhas and perhaps give it to them somehow? this would make sense with Maxis' comments on Reincarnation and Enlightenment.
• Another theory I have is to do with the new 'dogs wave,' the Crawly/leaping zombies (very reminiscent of the Hunters from Left 4 Dead). When they spawned in a game me and my friend were playing, Maxis (believe it was him, was difficult to hear over the sounds of the zombies) said something about them and their souls? so maybe they're involved in this all some how?  
• Finally maybe there's something to do with the Tower next to the Dragons, Being called High Maintenance, Maybe the tower needs fixing to Repair the Rift (quote from the intro cinematic on single player) to do this maybe we need to build something possibly the Navcard table?

Those are just a few ideas if you have any of your own please feel free to comment, and I'll do my best to look into it.

Musical Easter Egg Die Rise: In Die Rise there are again Three Teddy Bears. The first is on a shelf near an escalator on the floor below the spawn room (near the SVU), Next one is on the ledge in the Buddha Room up the Red pillar to the right, the final teddy bear is in the Power Room on a table against the wall to the left as you walk in.

I hope you enjoyed this Easter Egg article, I am aware that I have not included the Three Musical Easter Eggs from Nuketown Zombies, this is due to me trying to keep articles shorter however if need be I will include it in an article of it's own later on. In terms of Tranzit, there is three more 'Easter Eggs' the first being the sign at the Diner, which spells out a grim warning to players, next is the inclusion of Nacht Der Untoten (shown in the video about the Navcard), and finally between the power plant and town, on the right of the road in the mist there is a lone Cabin in the Woods which contains the Bowie Knife (or so I'm told).  On a final note for those that want to do the Richtofen side of Tower of Babble here is the aforementioned link: http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Tower_of_Babble

Violence in Video Games Update

Hey guys, apologies for my absence of late. Today I was reading a few articles on oxm.com when this particular article caught my eye: http://www.oxm.co.uk/49769/ea-boss-videogames-dont-cause-violence-but-we-have-to-solve-the-perception-issue/ In the article they reiterate the many common arguments about why video games don't cause violence, as well as touching upon why is the violence localized in the US? considering that video games are a world wide phenomenon, and some countries - such as Japan - consume more video games than the United States, yet there is far less violence there. Anyway guys just wanted to shine some light on this article, I'm hoping to be doing some more articles/reviews soon, as always guys if anyone has any ideas or comments feel free to leave them below.
This is Vampiric Gamer signing off.

Video Games: Do they promote violence?

This is a debate that has been going on for some time now, 'Do Video Games Promote Violence?' in this blog post I'll be laying down my thoughts and opinions on this subject, and as a prior warning, this blog may deal with content and subjects which may upset some readers, so reader discretion is advised . As with any debate there are always several arguments and opinions, so do feel free to leave your own in the comments, just be sure to keep it on topic and remember that everyone is entitled to their opinions so try to keep the comments friendly.

Back to the topic at hand, in the past violent films such as 'Natural Born Killers' and 'Taxi Driver,' have been accused of promoting and encouraging violence. I am aware that there have been cases of 'copy cat killings' taken from the films, but can we place the blame entirely on these films as the sole cause for those murders? As we delve into the 21st Century, Video Games have become the latest scapegoat for the causes of violent crimes. With the tragic events that took place in Connecticut, last December (2012), Video Games and violence has yet again been put in the spot light. The argument put forward was that by playing the games Call of Duty and Mass Effect, the gunman was inspired by the violence in these games to go out and commit such a horrible crime. The media had a field day on this fact and were saying without the existence of violent video games, none of this would ever have happened. This argument is ridiculous of course, since even before video games and movies, violent crimes were being committed. Take for example Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel Murders.

 In 1888, six women were killed and mutilated within the Whitechapel district of East London (there have been theories that the actual number may be far greater, however the general consensus is that the mystery man Jack the Ripper was only accountable for these six). Back to the topic of Video Games causing violence, and how Jack the Ripper is related to my point, in 1888 they didn't have Video Games or Movies, they had newspapers and theater, yet there was still a man who could commit such horrific crimes and never get caught. The newspapers of the time would have been reporting on other acts of violence such as the latter end of the Zulu civil wars, and theaters would be putting on plays and musicals which incorporated violence, but are either of these mediums scrutinized today? The simple answer is no, because it seems ridiculous to blame a play at the theater for inspiring the Ripper murders. As for newspapers, and the daily flow of violent acts that are reported on nowadays, they never seem to be blamed because there is other media for them to scapegoat, surely the newspapers should take some of the blame if it's ok for video games and movies to be blamed for violence?

Reading an article by Kotaku (http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/01/75-of-parents-think-violent-video-games-contribute-to-actual-violence/) earlier today, shows that possibly due to media spreading the fear that video games are the devil and by playing them your children are slowly being corrupted. However most of these violent video games are rated at 18, so for kids to get hold of them it would require their parents or older family members to purchase it for them. This is where parents would claim ignorance to not knowing how violent the game was but in the case of Call of Duty, the lobbies of which are usually always flooded with kids, it is the parents fault for them playing it. The box art usually depicts a man carrying a gun, on the back it describes the game as involving warfare, and finally the big ratings companies rate the game at 18, all pointing to the fact that this game deals with adult subjects. Therefore instead of blaming the game for promoting violence to children is it not the parents who should be held accountable for it? Even if the child got a hold of it some other way the likely hood is they'll be playing the game in their parents house, so it is up to the parents to prevent them from playing games they deem too violent. If you were to buy your child an adult movie from the local adult shop, you'd be classed as an irresponsible parent, and would be entirely to blame for that, as unlikely as that situation is, the point still stands, adult movies are rated 18 as are most violent games, parents should be held accountable to what they expose their children to rather than seek to place the blame on someone else.

In the spirit of trying to keep this post a reasonable length, there is just a few more points I would like to touch on. This first thing is related to the last paragraph on parent responsibility and ratings systems. In the United States of America, President Obama outlined a $10 million study into the violent media (which includes Video games). On top of this US congress has outlined  a violent video game legislation entitled the 'Video Games Ratings Enforcement Act.'  It is described fully here: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/01/17/violent-games-legislation-introduced-to-us-congress, but is basically making the ESRB rating system part of the law similar to it being illegal for a shop in the UK to sell a game to someone under the age of the rating. We must also take into account the mental state of the person committing the crime, since a lot of the time these people are mentally unstable and don't think the same as the average citizen. Going back to the subject of Connecticut, the US gun laws and the ease of access he had to the weapons he used can be blamed, since without the tools of the crime, he may never have been able to commit the crime. On a final note, Kotaku  says that 'there is absolutely zero evidence, according to leading researchers in this field, that links violent video games to violent crime in any way.'

What This Blog Is About

Hey guys, after my initial post of a review for the newest addition to the Call of Duty franchise, which I feel I could have taken some more time over, I've decided to keep this post simple and explain a bit about this here blog. The way I see it, is a way to get my thoughts and opinions out of my mind and written down. I have long had string views and opinions on video games, films, music and the like. The blog comes into this as a way for me to compile all of these thoughts into one article. In this blog I will mainly concentrate my posts about the subject of gaming, including my thoughts on the latest 'big' gaming news, debates and of course reviews, along with some other gaming tidbits here and there. However now and then I may feel the need to comment on the latest films, music and other subjects that make an impression on me.

So why the name Vampiric Gamer? Well I suppose the answer is quite simple really. The obvious part is that I am in fact an active gamer of varying levels of commitment on the Xbox 360 and PC, more so the 360 side of things. As for the Vampiric part, just to clarify it's not because I drink blood, can turn into a bat or fear sunlight (which might I add DOES NOT make a Vampire sparkle) it's more to do with the fact that during the past few years I have become nocturnal, in the sense that ok yes I do go out during the day and all, but when the sunsets I am unable to sleep till the early hours of the morning, often 3.00 or 4.00 am. When it came to deciding a name for the blog, well nocturnal gamer didn't quite have the right ring to it, so I settled for Vampiric Gamer, since Vampires are nocturnal creatures, and I am a fan of the more tradition Vampires that have been around since before Twilight.

Some of you may be wondering why Black Ops 2? well the idea to do a review came about from discussing the game with friends, and looking at other reviews online in which many reviewers seemed to have missed the point that for the first time since Call of Duty 4, the series has seen a major overall. Many reviewers still seemed stuck on the Modern Warfare 3 game, which to me felt mediocre at best, the campaign didn't seem to have had much thought behind it, but I'll stop myself there for so that this post doesn't become a review.

On a final note, I am looking to start posting a bit more frequently, if I can find the necessary free time that is, if there is anything you would like me to talk about/comment on feel free to leave a comment with suggestions and general feedback. Hope this has helped you see what to expect from the future, any questions put them in the comments and if i get enough I'll do a Q&A blog post :)

Black Ops 2 - Game Review

Welcome to the very first post on my new games review blog. To get the ball rolling I thought I would start with a recent release and arguably one of the biggest releases of the year. As many of you will know Call of Duty Black Ops 2 has three modes; Mulitplayer, Campaign and Zombies, in this review I will take each mode into account  before coming to a conclusion. Firstly I'll start with the campaign, In general terms Black Ops 2's campaign is cut from the same cloth as previous Call of Duty titles in that it follows a linear pathway, taking you from battlefield to battlefield. However there is one major difference in comparison to previous titles, and that is there are 6 possible outcomes to the story. As you progress through the story the way in which you complete the missions as well as how you confront decisions given to you throughout the campaign will effect the way the game ends, and the closing cinematics will show this. In terms of a Call of Duty game, this is new ground, even though it has been done to an extent by other games such as Mass Effect 2 for example. Added to the usual array of single player missions are what I like to call the 'spec ops' missions. These are where you take control of squads to generally defend certain objectives from enemy forces. Although these aren't compulsory it is advised to complete them as they do contribute to the story in the end, as well as certain achievements. Compared to Modern Warfare 3, the campaign in Black Ops 2 felt more exciting for me, with new guns, equipment and gadgets, plus the excellent voice acting from Michael Rooker (Merle in AMC's The Walking Dead). In terms of difficulty, I have always considered the Veteran difficulty in Treyarch's Call of Duty games to be harder than that of Infinity Ward's. As with most games I would advise playing on a lower difficulty first to get a feel of the campaign before replaying on Hardcore or Veteran. One last note on the Campaign is the introduction of Challenges. There are 10 challenges to complete per level, ranging from kills with certain weapons to collecting all the intel, these are a nice bonus if your looking to compete with friends for mission scores or if your looking to get 1000 gamerscore from Black Ops 2.
Moving on to the Multiplayer, all the usual suspects have returned (Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Domination etc.) but Treyarch also brings back the party game modes (Gun Game, Sticks and Stones, One in the Barrel) as well as Kill Confirmed and introduces Hardpoint. With the death of kill streaks, Treyarch replaces them with a new system called Scorestreaks, to get these you can do pretty much anything from assisting and killing to capturing or defending objectives. However this does not stop some players from camping on all game modes, I find this lessens the enjoyment of an objective based game such as Domination as some team members ignore the objectives overall.
Lastly the Zombies mode has built upon previous Treyarch installments of Zombies. You can still play the traditional survival mode if that's all that you desire, but if your wanting something a bit different I would suggest Tranzit. After several hours of playing Zombies, I grew to love the added features of Tranzit and of course the new Zombies easter egg. In Tranzit you and up to 3 others can go from one area to the next via a Bus or if your feeling adventurous you can venture into the mists by foot, just be sure if you take this path to watch out for the Denzines of the Forest that jump on your face (5 knife strikes will knock it off or 1 strike from the Galvaknuckles.)
As an overall game, Black Ops 2's Campaign is solid, and enjoyable, the new Zombies mode is enjoyable, introducing new things, whilst keeping the same round by round format, finally the Multiplayer is similar and the scorestreaks help balance things a bit, however this does solve the key issues of campers and quick scopers.
Total Score: 9/10