Wing’s Blog – The Division, PS4 VR Headset & Taobao

Tom Clancy’s The Division

Up until the night before last, I tried to scrape a few minutes here and there to play Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s The Division on my PS4. Whilst everyone that I know off that plays this game has reached levels 20+ and his having a whale of time in the Darkzone, I’m still stuck at level 5. It doesn’t help that I’ve since taught the missus on how to use the PS4 to play DVDs, so now she’s using the PS4 more than I do. And I’m too lazy to setup a new PS4 profile for her, so friends are always seeing my online but I don’t respond to their invites or messages……

I’m still in ‘exploring’ phase playing the game, so its a novelty that I can just run around doing nothing if I want to, and there’s like a million missions waiting of me to complete. If these missions were in the real world and lives depended on it, good luck, you’re probably going to die due to starvation or getting killed by som thugs as I just potter about with absolutely no sense of urgency. There’s tons of things going on in the game, but already I’ve got some niggly things about the game I need to get off my chest. The biggest set back for me is the ‘hide behind cover’ function. Its all well and good to use it whilst you’re being shot at, but when you want to return fire or move to another place, its just plain stupid. Returning fire makes your head just stick out for the enemies to shoot at, its not like a discreet peep around the corner, no you whole body is in plain view. Try hiding behind a car and you want to move another car for cover, nope, you’ll turn the corner of the car, so now you’re in plain view again. Unlike over games which lets you be in a crouched position and you can still freely move about, The Division just doesn’t let you do that.

I’ve just fired up the PS4 thinking I can get some more time playing The Division, but was met with an update file that I must download and install, all 3Gb+ meaning my super slow broadband connection is now unusable for the next few hours. This update address some exploits within the game, nothing that I’ve even gotten to it.

PS4 VR Headset

This week also saw Sony announce their PS4 VR Headset will be on sale in October. Pre-orders for the bundles (there are 2 priced at US$399.99 and US$499.99) will start on 29 March 7am PDT.

A few of my friends and I have been discussing the merits of playing on our PS4s with a VR headset; from feeling more immersive inside a game, to ability of continuing with playing whilst going to the toilet……..

I’ve experience one or two VR headsets in the pass and its just not my thing. Aside from the price of the bundle costing more than my existing PS4, I get headaches from wearing anything that affects perception of my vision too much, I can’t even wear the 3D glasses you get in cinemas nowadays.

Taobao

I say I was playing the game up to the night before last because I was admitted into hospital in the early hours for a long standing illness. I had to stay overnight whilst the doctors monitored my condition. The only entertainment in a Hong Kong hospital are watching the news over and over again, and trying to guess how pretty/ugly the nurses are behind their face masks. Luckily I had my smartphone with me, and all night, and I mean all night as I hardly slept, was go on Taobao and just searching any random keywords. I put the phone down eventually to get some sleep, only to wake up a few hours later reaching for my phone for more Taobao. After much trial and error, as I can’t read Chinese, I finally got an account opened.

I have put some many things into the checkout basket that if I do go ahead and buy them all I’ll be broke. I now have the painful task of whittling down the list of ‘I wants’ to a list of ‘I really really wants’. The missus is even more pleased as she’s already received one shipment of things she’s ordered! I’m going to have a heart attack when the next credit card statement arrives…..