The DiZeeZ'D Humor, Video Game, and Videogame Streaming Blog

It's hard sometimes to say the right words when so much turmoil happens around us. The vast majority of people today haven't lived through a global pandemic. And even though in the middle of the day I can walk outside and recognize the beauty of my neighborhood and how clear the skies are, it's painful to know that we're just barely getting by with what we have. I guess you could say I'm one of the lucky ones. 95 percent of my work is online, so I can take it home with me. Most of what I enjoy doing is indoors, so the worst of what I've seen with this year amounts to a vitamin D deficiency. I've enjoyed more time streaming on twitch lately, mainly because gaming during a pandemic is kind of the default. In this post, I'm going to explore my thoughts on 2020, and see if I can make sense of the madness going on around me.

What Gaming Means During a PandemicThe absolute best outlook I can glean from gaming during this time is that I have more time to do so.…

Mutazione by Akupara GamesI'm vaguely reminded of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his wacky tales with Mutazione, an interesting adventure game from Akupara Games and developer Die Gute Fabrik. I recently livestreamed it on twitch for a few nights and had some remarks about it. 

Marquez's largest narrative device was magical realism, and that's what you'll see in a lot of Mutazione. Magical realism is a concept where supernatural events happen in the natural world. A lot of that happens in this game, which tells the story of a girl (Kai) that visits a strange island in response to a sick relative's request. That's about as realistic as the game is because once Kai arrives on the island, she's greeted by friendly mutants, humanoid beings, and plants that do a lot more than just decorate the island.

The backstory is that a giant meteor hit the island and affected the lives of everyone, changing humans into mutants over the course of many years. Most of the humanoid …

Alien Isolation Jumpscares If you know me well, you know that I am an incredibly jumpy person. Even a host on my Twitch channel often makes me jump and rear my arm back in defense against...a sound. But that unfortunate disposition hasn't been abundantly public until I played Alien Isolation. JFC, I nearly punched my equipment several times avoiding the alien in that game. As much as the game makes me jump like a 5-year old, I enjoy every minute of it and regret that I hadn't purchased it sooner. I actually downloaded it from the Xbox Game Pass. I think it's a fantastic deal for 15 dollars a month since a lot of titles are swapped in and out.
Regardless, my absolute horrid sensitivity to in-game sounds (even non-jumpscare moments make me jump) often serves as a point of entertainment for people on the Twitch channel. In the very beginning moments of AI, I rarely could relax. Puckered butthole? Indeed. Streaming Alien Isolation has been a treat, and for multiple reasons.

A…

Amazon's Answer to Stadia: Project Tempo, Their Cloud Gaming Service
It wasn't even a week ago that I thought about how Amazon might respond to Google's foray into gaming. The videogame livestreaming giant doesn't really hold a candle to the likes of Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, or (now) Google when it comes to video games. There was Breakaway, a project that was abandoned, and on the horizon, there's New World and Crucible. If that's the launch lineup for Amazon in the coming years, it pales in comparison to Google's cloud gaming service and the current library it has to offer.

But recently, Amazon announced its Project Tempo, a gaming service that seeks to rival against Google Stadia. In the age where dopamine and serotonin are linked to instant gratification, this is a welcome announcement from Amazon, a company that has dominated livestreaming since its acquisition of Twitch TV in August of 2014. And it's pretty obvious why Amazon could easily fight …

Livestreaming Doom Eternal: This is Some Fun Shit
I haven't had this much fun with a videogame in a long time. 
Doom Eternal works a little differently than what you'd expect from a standard first-person shooter--which is what makes it incredibly difficult to livestream it. 
It's a bit more like a resource management game, where you're constantly using either health, armor, or ammunition. I'm sure there are other resources because I've barely tapped into the game, but with initial looks, this frag-fest is unbelievably fun—and badass.



But Doom Eternal takes this constant resource management and wraps it into an absolute gorefest. I honestly regret at this point not picking up Doom 2016 simply because this title likely speaks volumes about how the previous game was.
And I'm sure with Doom Eternal's popularity right now, this is a sign that the latest release is definitely better. Even watching a twitch livestream of the game is entertaining as hell becau…

I've always had a bit of an ethical problem with streaming video games. It's one of the reasons why I decided to de-monetize my channel after several years. After running into politics, community neglect, and a metric fuckton of other problems, I decided it wasn't worth it for me.

With that said, I have no problem with others monetizing their own channels. Some people have put mountains of work into their own projects only to see paltry ROI with them.

But, with that said, here's a look into the ethics behind streaming video games for money.
A Look into Ethics on the Latest Videogame Craze It's probably one of the least talked-about questions in this industry because a lot of enthusiasts are seeing their dream jobs come true.

I remember talking with several friends in the past about how big of a dream it would be to play video games for money. It would be our dream job--the reason we wake up and exist.

Now, for many, that's a reality. But is it ethical? That…