This week we’ll jump straight into it. Hit me up on twitter @Nova_47 to remind me how much fun your having gaming and not looking after babies.
Bank hol Monday, a day traditionally spent playing games. So far zero games played only baby related activities complete
— Ben Nother (@nova_47) August 29, 2016
Those days are well and truly gone. Before E a bank holiday would have comprised of gaming, seeing friends, drinking or a combination of those. Now it’s used as a day off work to catch up. House work and extra tasks needed to be done because of E take priority and are fit into the spaces when she doesn’t need attending to. Being able to blast through a huge chunk of a game in a day has vanished.
I did however get an evening off baby duties the night before. This was spent out drinking with family so I shouldn’t complain too much.
First evening walk with E for a week and still all we get are bats and yellow nose beasts #PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/qFx6P00i9d
— Ben Nother (@nova_47) August 29, 2016
I’m getting exceedingly annoyed with this game. Because of Es night routine I haven’t taken her our for as many walks recently. When I have done and decided to play Pokemon Go this is what I’m met with. It’s repetitive gameplay is fine if you have a good selection of Pokemon to catch but when your limited to the same ones over and over again the novelty wears thin.
The screenshot was taken by ‘Pokemon Park’. The name given because there are lots of, and a variety of Pokemon to catch alongside a gym. Recently though the few nights I have ventured that way this is what I’m greeted with. I don’t know the mechanics of the games spawn rates or what should spawn but something seems to have changed. This change has definitely put me off playing for the foreseeable future. I hate drowze!
Got my #Battlefield1 invitation. Can't wait to get home and play this evening pic.twitter.com/tVcEn2XHVB
— Ben Nother (@nova_47) August 30, 2016
After the success of playing the Titanfall 2 beta during E’s routine sleep time I was really looking forward to the Battlefield 1 beta. I’d signed up as a Battlefield Insider meaning I got the chance to play a day early. Great to have another evening of play with my limited gaming time.
It all started well on the first evening. I played a few games and tried the two different game modes. E slept well both in arms and when placed in the pram. It allowed me to focus a little more on the game and concentrate throughout a match. It was going so well that I got maybe 2 hours straight playing whilst E slept.
Playing @Battlefield 1 and seeing a lot of this. Really enjoying it #PS4sharehttps://t.co/Px3ZA3NDQl pic.twitter.com/cSpv2QuYg4
— Ben Nother (@nova_47) August 31, 2016
I definitely prefer Battlefield 1 over what I’ve played of Titanfall 2. It’s a more methodical, slower shooter which rewards team play. You gain points for suppression or when you’re driving a vehicle and a gunner kills someone. This makes you want to stick around with your squad. Titanfall felt more like Call of Duty where each person does their own thing.
You might think that solo play would be more convenient in my situation. When playing in a squad I’d want to be talking to the team. This would disturb E if she was sleeping. Also if she wakes I’ve got to attend to her and leave the game. Not so bad in the 64 man Battlefield game where my loss isn’t felt too much but my squad may get pissed with dropping out repeatedly. Squad play and babies are definitely not conducive to each other so we’ll see how well this goes.
Waiting for servers to come back, taking it easy on @Officialpes #PES17 #PS4sharehttps://t.co/ktjiAUUTtn pic.twitter.com/NNXZcEiQ5o
— Ben Nother (@nova_47) August 31, 2016
After the first day I’ve had a torrid time trying to get onto the Battlefield servers. Because my gaming is limited I didn’t want to sit and keep trying servers so I downloaded the PES17 demo. Like an online shooter a competitive sports game has a match time, good for baby duties. Unlike an online shooter it can be paused. Of course not whilst playing online but the demo doesn’t allow that so I’ve been able to play PES and fit it around E. So far it’s solid but I’m finding when playing whilst either shooting or putting in slide tackles my arms will twitch slightly. I get a little to into it. E is not a fan of this excess movement so PES will have to be relegated to a time when I’m not holding her.
@Battlefield matchmaking isn't working and we have queues for only a few servers, poor impression #PS4share pic.twitter.com/DTnemOlO0j
— Ben Nother (@nova_47) September 1, 2016
As I said my gaming time is precious so I haven’t wanted to sit on Battlefield 1 waiting for the servers to actually work. However in an evening when E was having a bad night and wasn’t sleeping I thought I’d test them. I wasn’t going to get any gaming in with her awake and Battlefield 1 was failing to match make and launch into a game. With Adam and Mete of the Out if the X Fire crew we tried partying up and getting into matches. Suffice to say this was rubbish. The game wouldn’t allow us to start on an empty server and would only allow us to join a the queue of a full one. We weren’t even one after the other in the queue with a few people between us.
Finally Adam and I got into a game only for E to kick off making me leave. I’d spent a good hour trying out different was to get into a match but failed time and again. I hope this is only indicative of the beta and not the full release.
As E was awake and unsettled for this entire hour I didn’t feel like I was missing out on gaming time. So to test this out wasn’t at the sake of playing. Perhaps I should do all my experimentation with games when E is having a bad night.
[…] since I last talked about gaming within the realms of parenting. My last post on the subject was New Dad Seeks Battle just over two and a half years ago. The New Dad series was written during the first few months of […]