New blog! Roman is moving on!

That's right! I am now writing on a new blog so follow me over there!

Since I started to write this blog I always had a plan to move away from this Blogger portal. And now it seems like the time has come. Check out the new one in the link below.

Press here to visit my new blog

It is a link to the specific url with my blog.

I would be happy too see you reading my new blog as well. The podcast will also be found at this new place as well.

Special Ep Dark Souls 3 and Summoners War

Dark Souls 3 & Summoners War

on The Fit Gamer Podcast

During this special episode we take part in the hype of Dark Souls 3. Some people even purchases consoles to be able to play the game. And considering the state of the console market at this time, that is saying a lot!

When you hear this the game is probably already released! Go check it out!

Another thing that is very big right now is Summoners War and the event that is going on. In order to celebrate the two year anniversary they are having a huge event that will give you a lot by logging on at least once a day.

Don't miss out on the great rewards available at the moment!

You can listen to the episode in the player below or via the Stitcher banner. It is also available on iTunes, aCast and places alike. 

Enjoy this short episode and have a nice day! Thank you all for listening!

Dark Souls 3 drama

Dark Souls 3

Despite the ever so controversial drama that has plagued this game, it still bears its head like a proud phoenix rising from the ashes from the battlefield that was created by its developers. 

A proud phoenix indeed, how many games can be leaked out (By the developers themselves never the less) and still have people hyped enough to buy a PlayStation 4 for the sole purpose of enjoying the many grueling hours of challenges it presents. Yes, you guessed it, the game we are talking about is none other than Dark Souls 3.

Sporting a proud 90 of 100 score, the game despite its creators’ mistakes of releasing the game too early and spoiling the hype before the actual release is finally going to hit both the physical and digital stores today. The game series Dark Souls known for its intense and hard challenges has not disappointed in the past and if we decide to take the word of the various critics that have no doubt played the entire game by now, will not disappoint again.


Feel the hype, it might have faded a bit. But don’t blame the game, for the game itself surely is beautiful and waiting for you to caress, sending you in to the world of darkness, death and the chance of once again being the hero. As cheesy as that last sentence sounded, remember that recreational gaming time might just be what you need to charge your batteries to take on the challenges in the real world. Life might be a game, so in-between your conquest to win the game called Life. Try to make some time for the game called Dark Souls.

/Bas

Ep 31 of The Fit Gamer Podcast

New episode of The Fit Gamer Podcast

During this episode we start off with some gaming talk as usual. There is a lot of talk about what will happen will PlayStation 4 - is there a 4.5 coming?
Also we have a new release of VR, the Vive is out! Expensive as hell but it seems to be strong when compared to the competition.

An indie game is discussed as well, Salt and Sanctuary. Lots of recent gaming news as usual. 
When it comes to the workout segment we are talking about probiotics that can potentially keep you from getting sick. 
We also discuss recent studies made regarding the effect of pain killers on the protein synthesis and building muscle.

Listen in the player below or via the Stitcher banner. The episode is also available on iTunes, aCast and places alike.

Thanks for listening! You guys rock!

Ep 30 of The Fit Gamer Podcast

New episode of The Fit Gamer Podcast

This was probably the longest episode so far. But hey, it is number 30! We discuss a lot of gaming. There has been a lot of drama surrounding the Dark Souls 3 release, Bas is enjoying a mobile game called Summoners War, more rumours regarding new consoles from Sony and Microsoft and much more.
When it comes to the workout segment we discuss a lot of diet. Bas has started his mission, Roman has been baking his own bread and Roman tried some pre-workout shot at the gym.

The movie segment is a bit longer than usual as well and a few movies/series are discussed. 

You can listen to the episode in the player below or via the Stitcher banner. It can also be found on iTunes, aCast and places alike.

A perfect morning

This was a perfect morning.

Starts with wife goes "Wow, how much have you been working out recently?!"
Gotta love the thing called "muscle memory". So I am getting fast gains and it is visible to others. Even though my workouts have not been very often or very heavy so far. 

Great start of the day!

Then kids to kindergarden and then straight off to the gym. Today I remembered my caffeine supply! Since I did not workout my back or legs the day before that was the focus today. 

Deadlift, barbell bent-over row, cable pulldowns, cable rear pulldowns and some dumbbell bent-over rows were the exercises I did for my back. 
When it comes to the legs I used mainly the hacksquat but also when straight leg deadlift etc that also hit the legs.

Then after the gym I went to the store and got some nice "supplements" or healthy food products really. I will get into that shit a lot more during the next podcast and write a piece about it. 

And when I got home the sun was shining and I sat down outside and enjoyed the sunshine while eating breakfast. Ain't that a great start for a day?

Hope you guys are having a great day too!

Early Access

Concept of Early Access

This phenomenon is something huge and a lot of games are released in a state called early access. I will try to give some background on how the world of gaming has changed and how the hell it turned into people paying retail prices for unfinished games!

Pre-Internet gaming

At first video games were played completely offline. The reason? There was no Internet connection available in private households. It was as simple as that. I am serious, the Internet has not always been around like it is today. It is actually quite new.

I was not around for the very first computer games, such as "Pong". It was released in 1972 and was an "arcade game". The "small machine" where you could play it looked like this (picture below).

Then there was several generation of consoles that was to become a popular part of a lot of households. The Nintendo came out in several generations, then there was the PlayStation of course. Sega had some consoles in the early days as well. But today, Nintendo and PlayStation are the familiar names that are still selling consoles.

When there were no Internet available for the gaming consoles, obviously you could not patch the games.
When you purchased a game, you got it on a disc and it was complete! It had to be, since the company could not create patches to fix bugs. This has led to some legendary bugs that lived on since they could not be fixed.

Then the Internet came, the PC's became more of a gaming system and the consoles slowly began to be connected to the Internet. This created a new unique way for the game developers since if any big bugs became known they had an opportunity to fix them and allow the players to download a patch.

Now this is where the business started to change drastically! Games did not have to be perfected before release anymore. To me, that is just so fucking anoying. I had gotten used to know that the games I played were complete, tested for a long time by the developers to eliminate bugs and glitches.

At first the Internet connections were slow and the game developers could not really assume that all players had Internet available. So it took a while for the business to change to what it is today. Today basically everyone playing video games do have an Internet connection, even if it is not a stable one they are able to patch the games.

Post-Internet gaming

A recent example of a game that has been having lots of troubles is the Batman for PC. It was even removed from Steam at one point. The thing I am trying to point out is that by releasing it without having it perfected, the developers tried to release several patches to fix the problems. 
The players who bought it on release did not get the full experience.
I mean, they played through the game with a lot of issues. That means that they experience the story but while doing that they had to struggle with bugs and glitches that ruined the game experience. To me that is a huge deal. When you are playing a game, you want to be able to know that the game is solid and you can just focus on enjoying the story of the game without having to worry about the game freezing all of a sudden and force you to restart from your last save point.

Playing the game before release

As soon as games became available for download instead of just on physical copies things like alpha and beta testing became a popular thing. The developers invited a certain amount of players to try the game on an early stage to find bugs and give feedback on the game.
This was something great. I believe it gave hardcore fans a chance to help the game developers creating a game that the players would prefer.

Now we have even come to the point where the game developers say that they want the players to be able to take part in the development process of the games. They call it "early access". I call it "Lets charge people retail prices without create a product" There is a biiig difference between this so called "early access" and the previous "beta testing". 
Now you have to pay for the game to be able to try it. You will be doing the testing for the developers and you are paying for it. 
How dumb are we? Really?

I love indie games. I have purchased a lot of early access games. I am probably one of the most stupid people out there. Or as the developers like to call me, Sugar daddy! I give them their reward before they accomplish anything.

The developers really managed well when they implemented this as a regular thing. Some games offer reduced prices when purchased in early access. But that is not something that everyone does. If they manage to get a lot of hype and intrest, particularely from Twitch streamers, they can charge you retail price for something they are not even close to finishing.

So lets do a list. We will call the first on "Pros of Early Access".

Pros of Early Access

- You get to play the game ASAP! No need to spam all the gaming websites looking for information on how the development is going. You are a part of the developing process!

- You might compare it to a kickstarter project. Your money spent on the game is going to the developers to make them improve the game further. You are motivating them to work harder on the game, because they are actually getting intrest from the community. 

- If you do have a looot of spare time and are a real geek in the specific game that you are playing as early access, you can have an impact on the development itself by giving feedback. If you play it a lot, you will most likely find bugs and specific things that you report to the development team. 


Guess what the second list is called? "Cons of Early Access".

Cons of Early Access

- A lot of games are never leaving the state of early access. The developers might have felt that they had gotten their reward already and then the motivation stopped. DayZ is a big example of a game that is stuck in early access. It is still said to be developing though, other games has just stopped updating at all.

- If you are not a huge fanboy that loves to be a part of the development, you might want to avoid playing storybased games before full release. You will get to learn the story of the game and the plot twists while playing a buggy and non-complete game. 

- The trend of more games being released as early access might have a bad influence on the future of the industry. Will we see a future of games always being released unfinished? It is a long way there I know. But hell. We are on that path.
At first we saw a few games having to patch. Now every game releases patches to fix minor bugs etc. 

My take on the matter

I can understand that indie game developers want to send out a hook to see whether or not the players like the game. Unless they have a kickstarter backing I see no reason why they are obligated to release a finished game at all really. 

With a kickstarter project backing them on the other hand, they have recieved funding to release the game. 

If they release an early access version of the game that they charge money for is another thing. Sure, the people buying games in early access are preparing to risk that the game won't be as perfect as it potentionally could be. But either way, a finished game would be something to expect. 

If they were to release the game as an alpha version for free instead of selling it as early access it would allow them to get feedback from players during the development process. They would also avoid risking taking peoples money without releasing a product in return.

By doing that they would probably lose some players that otherwise would have bought the game though. There are always players that imagine the game will be something and then it turns out it is a completely different game. If they would get to play a free alpha version they would simply not buy the game when they discover it is not what they are looking for.

Another risk developers are taking when releasing it for free testing during the development process is scaring away potential buyers due to slow process. If a player has been granted access to a game they would expect the game to constantly being updated with new content. 

That is what developers do right? 

They constantly work on the game. And even if they would be working their asses off, really working day and night on fixing bugs and glitches. It is not certain that the alpha/beta testers will understand that. 

If it passes too long time between updates or that the updates are insignificant they will lose those players and probably get thrashed via social media. Today, every single tweet can potentially get spread and change the entire communitys opinion of a game.

One way to go, and some indie developers do, is to release it as early access at a cheaper price. That way the players will get to gamble a bit. They will suffer through a lot of bugs and the game might change a lot until it is released as a finished product. But at the same time, they are paying less money than they would have done if they would have waited for it to be a full release. 

I have taken a few chances like that. I must say that not a single game is released so far. Take DayZ for example. They have been selling that early access since December 2013. Now easter is passed in 2016. What the hell?

They do have a huge disclaimer on their Steam page saying that there are no guarentees for the game to be developed into a finished product. But all early access games have some kind of disclaimer. And this particular game had a lot of hype even as a free mod for ARMA 2.

This was supposed to be a safe bet... And in comparison to a lot of the chances I have made this was actually quite expensive. 

A lot of my thoughts in this matter became about indie developers. And like I said, I expect them to release early access games to feel certain that they are not wasting time. 

When the big companys are starting to release early access games however, is when I start to get worried about the industry. Now I even read that Roller Coaster Tycoon World or something like that is released as an early access. 

I will expect nothing less than a full release later on. Since it is such a classic game series. And 46 Euros is not something I would pay for a game that was not certain to be finished. 

What do they expect from the players that purchases the early access? Input? Before this whole early access started there were always alpha- and beta-testers doing that job. Now they don't need to pay people to try the game and find the bugs? 

People will pay money for the game and then do that job for them?

I don't really know how it works so I won't say for certain but it sure sounds like it would be a sweet deal for the companies. Earning money instead of paying people to play the unfinished game.

In search for caffeine

So I forgot my caffeine pill before gym...

With life going on around me I can't really schedule my gym sessions in advance. Today I went there without having breakfast. That meant I needed to find some source of energy. 

My go-to supplement is caffeine pills and in the rush to get to the gym and have time to perform a solid workout I left home without taking any.
Damn! I entered the gym and went straight to the desk where the staff were. 
"- Do you have anything with caffeine in it? Lots of it?!"

I felt like an alcoholic walking into the bar where he is a regular and just straightforward say: 
"- Hit me!" and the bartender would pour a shot straight away.

So the girl at the desk seemed a bit confused by the situation. But she recommended some pre-workout shot that they had on the counter right beside me. 
It had caffeine, the same amount that my pills have. It also contained beta-alanin and L-arginin plus some vitamins. It was like orange juice basically.

There was a long time ago since I had any pre-workout with beta-alanin and those products are not on the market anymore. Everything that was good back in the day has been banned out and replaced by new formulas. 
I remembered the old ones and remembered the itches that beta-alanin gave me. I did have a totally empty stomach which made me a bit hesitant. "This might hit me hard"

So I drank the shot and went to the dressing room. 

I started working out. Waiting for the effect to start.

I kept on working out for quite some time since I was expecting the shot to hit me after a while. Most pre-workout products are recommended to be had about 30 minutes before the workout session. 

I never felt any itching. Like at all. 

Considering the empty stomach I was expecting a lot more from the supplement. Now basically I just paid 100 times the price of my caffeine pill for the same effect. 

The workout session itself

I went in with a great feeling, even though lacking energy to begin with. I was at the gym, the weights were in front of me just waiting to be picked up. 

I went for some shoulders, chest, triceps and biceps exercises today. I have been doing a lot of active stuff the last couple of days, like building a damn roof. So I felt that my back had been active lifting wodden boards and shit. 

For the shoulders I did the dumbbell raises (the exercises can be found in the "Gym Exercises" page under the banner at the top of the blog.) I did some military presses with a barbell as well. I used a rope in the cable-cross for some "face pulls" to round off the shoulder exercises.

When it comes to the chest I did some incline presses in a machine that I loaded weight plates. In the cable-cross I did some "cable standing flys" as well. 

Triceps were pushdowns with a bar and pulldowns with a rope. The biceps were barbells and dumbbells that I did in between the other exercises. 

During the entire session I had a high tempo between exercises which kept my puls up and gave me some free cardiovascular exercise I suppose. 

When going to the gym alone it is hard not to switch too fast between the exercises since you don't get that natural rest from watching your friend performing his sets. 

Street Fighter V problems continues

CapCom still haven't gotten their shit together

The list of problems with the release of Street Fighter V continues to grow. They released a game that everyone agreed was not a finished game.
Okay, we have moved past that fact now. Because they had the online mode activated. That was it though, basically what you could do. Single player mode is there by name but really lacking content.

Now that game mode is having issues. Sometimes you can sit and que for hours waiting to get a fight. Then it can be over in 2 minutes and you have to cue up all over again..

Thankfully the 1v1 works when sitting next to a friend in the sofa. 

How deep is the pool of available fighters? From the beginning there was really not that many released. They fixed that, by selling new characters to the players. They announced that you can grind "fight money" to purchase the new characters, but there are still no news on how much it will cost and how long time that might take.

Does it sound like it is a finished game CapCom?

The genre of beat em up used to be easy. You bought a game and all the content where there. All the characters were available. Some would unlock after you beat a boss in single player etc. 
But you never had to pay extra to get the full fucking game!

The Fit Gamer Podcast Episode 29

Ep 29 is out now! A short episode of the Fit Gamer Podcast

On this episode Bas and Roman are short on time. But they did have time to discuss some intresting stuff for you boys and girls.
This past week there has been a lot of "leaked photos" of the new Nintendo console. It turns out they were fake! Other consoles that has been topic of discussion is the PlayStation 4 and the question whether or not a PlayStation 4.5 is going to be released.

Microsoft released an AI chat bot called Tay. It was deleted however, after becoming a pro-Hitler voice on the Internet.

Classical game series go early access. This trend is spreading like wildfire, like herpes on a college campus or religion in ancient Rome.
And there would not be an episode without complaining about CapCom!

You can listen to the episode in the player below of via the Stitcher banner. It can also be found on iTunes, aCast and similar apps.

Enjoy!

Ep 28 of The Fit Gamer Podcast

Latest ep of The Fit Gamer Podcast

During this episode Bas and Roman goes ham on a lot of gaming related topics. We discuss the latest big indie game The Culling, The Division and a lot of other news about gaming. 

There is some big news regarding Sony and their PlayStation 4. Is PlayStation 4.5 becoming a real thing? Are we soon able to play our PlayStation 4 games with a mouse and a keyboard? 

Is that really fair?

You can listen to the episode in the player below, or on Stitcher via the banner below. Of course you can find it on iTunes, aCast and places alike as usual. 

Enjoy the episode!

Special ep about VR in The Fit Gamer Podcast

Virtual Reality being discussed on The Fit Gamer Podcast

We start out talking mostly about the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge phone that comes with Gear VR. Bas had bought it and tested it for more than a week now. Hear what he has to say!

On the subject of VR we continued to mention the AMD SulonQ that has been announced. And of course we could not get around the fact that Sony has announced a price for their VR and also the release date.

The news about this whole Virtual Reality thing moves really fast and it is hard to catch up before everything changes again.

You can listen to the episode in the player below or via the Stitcher banner. It can also be found on the regular places like iTunes, aCast and other places where podcasts are found!

Enjoy!

AMD enters the race for VR

AMD SulonQ is scheduled for release this summer

The SulonQ states that it is aiming to help us avoid embarrasing situations such as falling on our asses. Their VR will be cordless! Sounds great, right? 

They announce that they will have a resolution of 2560x1440. And that would be better than the competition the Vive and the Rift. Otherwise the speccs looked similar.

The thing that seperates this VR from the rest is the fact that there will be a small PC strapped on the back of your head. 
This raises a big question. When using the Vive or the Rift, when you need better speccs you just upgrade your PC. What happen when you need to upgrade your SulonQ? Can you purchase a 2.0 version of the small PC connected to the headset?

Much info is yet to be released. But we do like competition. The more actors in the market, the higher chance that we, the consumers, get better deals from each company.

One question that pops up in my head is regarding the battery. How long will this cordless baby be able to run before you need to recharge it? Or is there a way to charge it while using it? Even though you might fall on your ass while doing that due to the cord.

Sony VR has gotten a price

399$ Play Station VR release in October

In Europe however we will have to pay 399€ (euros) which is more. I am not familiar with the third currence that was displayed on their conference. However, the fact that the price is announced and that it was about the same as the price for a Play Station 4 system is good news. 
If anything, the risk was that the price would have been higher. 

There are however some things that we need to consider. There are no controllers included in the price as far as I understand. And the Play Station camera is not included either, and you will need the camera to use VR.

The speccs are shown in the image below.

The speccs will not be as powerful as Vive and Rift. We all knew that from the beginning so we can't attack Sony for that right now. 

There are upsides of the Play Station system though. The price is a lot less than the competition even if you don't own a PS4 system already. And there has been a lot of talk about the number of games being released for the PS4 VR.
Sony have promised that 50 titles will be released from October until the end of the year.
And Starwars Battlefront will be released as PS4 VR exclusive. 

And the competition grows now after the announcement that AMD will be involved in one VR product called "Sulon".

As a consumer, we will probably gain a lot better products and at better prices due to all of this competition. Let's just hope that the products don't get worse because it tries to be compatible with too many different VR systems.

Personally I am glad about the price on the PS4 VR because I will probably go for a PS4 soon. That way I figure that I can enjoy VR at a reasonable price later on.

When it comes to the news about the Star Wars Battlefront though I was a bit skeptic. The article I read stated that it was not decided whether the VR release and the normal release would be different or the same. 
Honestly?
How would it be possible to release two similar games, where one is competing on the normal market with the sick demands of graphics etc and the other one will be first generation of VR?!

The graphics on the first generation of VR will not come close to the insane versions of normal video games there is out there. So I believe that either the game will simply be supported by VR in the sense that you can watch the game in your headset and enjoy a big ass screen or that they will cut back on the graphics a great deal for a full VR release.

Is it really the first AAA title that was announced for VR though? Tekken 7 was said to come with VR support. And we all assumed that it would not be a VR game, just that you can use the headset to watch the game through. 
But now I wonder. Are they so confident in their abilities to create good games for VR already? Will both Star Wars Battlefront and Tekken 7 be in full VR?
A beat em up in VR?

It is most likely just going to be about using the headset as monitor.

FM, mancold and Darkest Dungeon

Recent days of games, sickness and more games

So I haven't been posting as often as I normally do. I have found the joy of playing Football Manager again. Finally! Everyone that has played it will know the feeling. Sometimes you play it for hours and hours every day and sometimes you don't want to touch it for a month or two.

With Manchester United failing in real life I decided to make sure that the club is treated well in my FM save at least.

So when playing FM I watch some series or movies at the same time. Oliver Stone has a documentary series about the history of the United States that I have been watching. Intresting shit.

I tried a new game the other day, and I will play more of it in the days to come. Darkest Dungeon! I could not imagine how the graphics would look like and the gameplay be like. It is brilliant. "easy" to create since there are not big enviroments or fancy 3D fighting. Instead they created a more chess-like battle system where you take turns with the enemy to strike at each other.

The graphics is cool. Like really awesome drawings with characters that are fucking amazing. The imagination of the developers are great.

And how come I have had the time to play so much video games?!

I have been getting another mancold.

xPeke - Return of the king

The legacy of xPeke

Some get famous on the eSports scene because they are unbeatable players. Some get famous because they have a crazy personality. When xPeke became big, he was unique. Not completely alone, but there were not that many that would be in the same cathegory.

He was a leader ingame. He called the shots. He ruled midlane. And when using Youtube, you can find some hilarious videos. This guy was one of the founders of the huge scene that we see today im League of Legends basically. He played Season 1 and won it! 

Below there is a video with some random clips of xPeke from his early days when he played with Fnatic.

And one of the cool moves that he was famous for was the backdoor finishes. One amazing backdoor is in the video below. In a big game and you can tell from the players reactions that this is some amazing shit right there!

And when it comes to other characters similar to him back in those days. In the video below you can see Ocelote as one of the opponents. He was another one of these players that also entertained the audience. But this post is about xPeke.

xPeke did what a lot of other players should have done. He decided to create something that would keep him busy for (hopefully) as long as he wants to, maybe the rest of his life. 

He left Fnatic and started a team of his own together with his former teammate soAz, Origen. 

But that is not the smart move, the smart move was when he retired from playing himself and went into the world of business. When at the top of the career. He made sure that he would not just fade away from the scene. He did the smart thing and made sure that he would have a career that would last longer than the 5-10 years that most gaming careers last.

And he had proved in interviews that he really had the people skills to manage his own team. There are a number of hilarious interviews with xPeke. 

A few people have done similar things before. In the North American LCS teams like CLG and TSM had HotShot_GG and Reginald doing the same thing. 

They started out as players and made themselves huge names within the eSports scene and then went into the world of business. They even tried to do both at first but realized quickly that it was not possible to perform at the top top level and at the same time book the flights for the team etc.

Now, today actually xPeke is returning! He is back! When one of the players of Origen became sick and there was a weekend of LCS coming up. xPeke decided to step up and sign himself up as the midlaner for the event.

The Fit Gamer Podcast Ep 27

Latest ep of the Fit Gamer Podcast

During this episode we speak a lot about gaming and news within that community. We focus some about indie games with Knee Deep and Stardew Valley. 
There are a lot of news surrounding big titles like Hearthstone, The Division and Doom being discussed as well. And of course, there is something wrong about Capcom as usual.

In the episode I recommend a movie that can be found on Youtube, Here!

You can find the episode in the player below, via the Stitcher banner below or the usual places like iTunes and aCast.

Enjoy the show!

Knee Deep

I played a demo, for Knee Deep

I noticed a game via Twitter a few days ago. I noticed that there was a playable demo on Steam. And the text about the game made me intrested. 
Today I finally downloaded the demo and tried it out. I haven't played more than 15 minutes so far. But this post is not a full review, it is simply a short text about the style of the game "knee deep"

It starts out at the theatre. You sit in the audience and the curtains are shut. Soon the show starts. And the game takes place in a play enviroment. A theatre play!

And exactly like in a real play. When the enviroments shift, there are some work being done when you get to see the stage shifting from one scene to the next. 

It is a really cool way of playing a video game. This whole storytelling thing has been done before. But I have never played a game that is set in the theatre. So that is innovative by the developers.

It is like watching a play while directing it in some ways. You get to decide how the actor reacts to events happening. 

The graphics is charming. Not trying to look as authentic as possible. I like the style that they went for. Capturing moods with shadows etc. You can see some screenshots in the Steam store.

Like I said above, I haven't played many minutes yet. But I find this style to be really cool and I look forward to see what content this demo has in store for me.

The Fit Gamer Podcast Ep 26

Latest episode of The Fit Gamer Podcast ep 26

On this episode we start off by talking about the new Samsung phone and the VR that comes with it. Then we go into the gaming segment where we discuss some XCOM, Street Fighter V and some awesome indie games like Superhot for example.

Is the Play Station 4 going to be great for VR? Is it easy to use the Play Station for streaming? 

Freakaz0id gets in trouble after verbally sparring with S1imple. When it comes to the workout segment we are talking about shoulders today. How do we work out our shoulders?

You can listen to the episode in the player below or on the usual places. It is available on iTunes, aCast and Stitcher (follow the banner below for our Stitcher page).

If you want to support us we are now on Patreon.com/TheFitGamer.

Steam Greenlight - a crowded place

Steam Greenlight - hope and dreams

This is the part of Steam that was created due to the big amount of indie games being created. I have read that it basically is because that Valve themselves did not have time/energy to check out all of these games themselves. 
So they decided to involve the community. So the users themselves get to vote for the different games applying for Greenlight.

From time to time, a bunch of games are greenlit. And it is a number between 50 and 100 that gets to move on into the Steam community. That is the top games on the Greenlight ranks. So then the quene moves on. 
But still. There are a looot of games in this Greenlight system. At any given time, I read that there are around 1500 games. That is 1500 hopes and dreams being up for review.

There seems to be a popularity contest. But if I understood it correctly, the negative reviews won't really matter in the end. The number of "yes" votes will determine if your game will get Greenlit or not. 
If that's the case. Then all advertisement is good advertisement. Since for every "no" there should be a few "yes".

One thing that appears very strange to me is this. You are not allowed to upload a demo of your game to the Greenlight system. How are people supposed to judge your game if they are not allowed to play it?!
You have to feel the same way. Sure, the system is built like it is. You get to see pictures and videos of the games. But with people complaining about it, can't Valve change the rules?
Allow demos to be posted. That would benefit them a great deal since it would be more accurate. Better games would get greenlit and that would benefit them in the long run.

I think it is amazing that there is such a boom with indie games. I think it has a certain charm to it. They feel special because of the hard work that these developers has put into their own projects. 
Far away from all the giant studios with unlimited amounts of cash to finance every detail in the games.

My hopes are that Valve vill develop this Greenlight scene further or that the other places for indie developers grow. Because at this time. To reach the general public, I'd say that Steam is the place to be.
I am starting to understand that there are other places to find these games. But before I looked into it, I had no idea. So my question is, why would the general public know more than I did?
The indie scene deserves more attention. Lets hope that this development with great indie games continue. 

Games I would love to play in 2016

I want to play these in 2016

This list will be updated as time goes and I see more games around that intrests me.

Firewatch

This game just seem so wonderful in many ways. Great enviroment. Big forest to wander around in. It is an indie game, which of course makes me even more intrested. 

It is focused on atmosphere and the feeling of being in that forest rather than the latest technology. And when it comes to indie games, that is their hope of success since they will not be able to sell their game using the most expensive technology.

That make it really impressive when these indie games turn out great. Because they have to be so great when it comes to getting the players full attention even though not using the newest graphics on the market. 

When it comes to Firewatch, I have heard some about it. And it is mostly the same. In the game you basically don't meet other people. Your only link to the real world is via a radio and the conversations that you have can be deep. 

Is it as based upon your choices as I hope? Great opportunitys. 

Oh and I forgot. You are stalked by a man with  binoculars in the far distance. So while wandering the forest you might not feel as safe as you might think when you first read about this game.

Soma

From the creators of the Amnesia games. That is a statement by itself. This psychlogical thriller has has some fun fact behind it. I heard some rumours about a mod that would remove all the monsters from the game, and some would still consider it to be a terrifying game. To me, that sounds like a great story.

It has been on sale from time to time but I haven't purchased it yet. Looking forward to playing it though. I am expecting a game with great atmosphere considering the Amnesia games they produced before.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown
This game has been called "The Greatest Tactical Game Ever" by characters like Bas from the Fit Gamer Podcast. This is the first game in the series, released in 2012. It is a turn-based game which allows you to really think about how you want to approach the situation.
Aliens are attacking the earth and you are in charge of our last line of defense. Direct your soldies, kill the alien scum and save the world!
Considering the fact that XCOM 2 was released earlier this year, I want to play this game to understand the second one better. And like I said, this is considered to be a great game!


XCOM 2

Like I wrote about XCOM: Enemy Unknown, it is XCOM 2 that I am really looking forward to. However I will play the first game before to get a better understanding about what the game series is all about. 
I am looking forward to kick some alien ass!

Superhot
I saw some video from this game on an early stage. And now when I see news about it being hyped at release it's great. I really liked the concept. The way they use slow motion is brilliant. Time only moves when you move. Freaking amazing! Check out the trailer below. GET HYPED!

Knee Deep

This is one of those games that I spot on Twitter by following some indie game accounts. 

"When a washed-up actor hangs himself on location, a spotlight is cast on the backwater Florida town of Cypress Knee. Your screen becomes a stage on which you investigate this mysterious death as three distinct characters."

- Store page on Steam Found here!

How can I resist it? 

I love investigations. I like the style on the graphics.

There is a downloadable demo on Steam. So I will definitely play that and I would not be too surprised if I end up buying the game after finishing the demo.

Special Ep of The Fit Gamer Podcast February

The Fit Gamer Podcast Special Ep about Workout, Diet and Motivation

This time we speak only about fitness related stuff. It starts out with me talking about motivation and how important it is. Then the focus moves towards diets and Bas tells you about his crazy plans.

You can find it in the player below or via the Stitcher banner. It is also available on iTunes, aCast and other places where podcasts can be found.

Every repetition counts

That's right, every repetition counts

What do I mean by this?

It is a mindset of mine that I am using to get a routine going. A routine where I exercise regurarely. Don't I do that shit already? 

Yes and no. I have been having problems with long periods of colds and then I have been focusing my energy on being able to work my dayjob. 

I am changing the tactic a little bit now however. Even though I am feeling a bit ill, I will still do some training. And I will do this because I refuse to walk around the beach not looking the way I want to look. 

By forcing myself to do some form of workout each day, I will enhance my chances. 

What is all this about every repetition counts?

I might not perform a full workout every day. But like one of the most true things ever said about training, The best training is the training that is done. It does not matter that you don't do a full, perfect workout. But if you compare it to not doing any exercise at all, every single repetition that you do is great!

The real squat

Squat deep

So today was one of those days where I got to visit the gym. My cold is feeling a lot better, so I felt like rewarding myself a bit. And rewarding means lift weights!

Squats is really hard on the body, it is exhausting when done correct and with heavy weights. That is great, except when you are feeling a bit ill. So today I focused on having a good form while performing the exercise. 

Unfortunately the squat rack was occupied (that almost never happen) in the middle of the day on a tuesday. So I decided to do my squats in a Smith machine. It made the exercise a lot easier since I did not have to spend any energy trying to hold my balance. But on the other hand, it is not the way I prefer to do my squats. It does not feel like the real deal!

I did however do a lot of squats. Since I was working with lower weights I was able to do a lot of them. And just to be clear. I am against this whole thing of doing low weight - many repetitions training. I prefer to lift heavier weights.

It felt good to go really low when doing the squats. The muscles working through the whole motion. The advantages by going deep can be found easily by googling it and reading different articles. 
There are science supporting everything. Sadly, with the Internet. You can find proof of everything. Just go with the stuff that you feel is right, what makes sense. Have a critical mind when reading things. 
And the best thing of all really. Find some big name in the business that shares a lot of knowledge. Someone that you can find trustworthy. Hey, you can even ask me and Bas and we will discuss it on the podcast or I can write a blogpost on the subject in case you want me to. 
I have been around the gym for 13 years, I have done a lot of exercises that I later found not really effective. But when doing that, I have also found the good ones. Like now, I am focusing on learning how to perfect my squats by going deep.

After the squats I walked away over to the deadlift spot. It did not take me long to realize I was in no condition to perform several basic exercises (squat, deadlift, bench press) today. Instead I proceeded to do some shoulder exercises and a little bit of triceps.

All and all a good day at the gym. A short session but when not feeling 100% I don't want to go all out. I am talking about stuff like having a cold, feeling sick. That can lead to severe illness unless handled with care. You can work out, but be smart.