Games Beaten
I didn't beat any games in July but man, I am so close on two of them. If I had had more time for games in July, there would be little blurbs here instead.
Last year there was a game that came out that I really wanted to review called Arcade Paradise. I requested a review code three different times and was denied each time! I really wanted to review it, too, because it’s a time management sim where you must run a laundromat business, but you are secretly running an arcade in the back with dozens of fictional arcade games you can actually play! I actually had an idea for a business that was half laundromat, half arcade, and I was going to called it Quarters: Good Clean Fun. So this game really resonated with me. If I had gotten a chance to review it last year, it definitely would’ve showed up on my Game of the Year list somewhere. But this year I used some Christmas present PlayStation Store points to buy it, and sure it was only 20 bucks so I was kind of cheap, but this stuff adds up if you’re not careful. Anyway, so now that I’ve played the game, I thought I’d write a blog about the arcade cabinets you can play on it. Oh yeah, and slight spoiler alerts here and there, but I don’t think it matters much.
Let’s celebrate the start of Summer with some game reviews I’ve recently written at GamerDad.com! Please click on the links and read as many as you can, and maybe even post a ‘like’ or comment or two. I’d appreciate it. OK let’s begin!
There are many types of games, but what video games have still yet to rival tabletop games in is roleplaying itself. Western RPGS like Dragon Age and Divinity can tell grand stories, and offer players branching stories and conversation choices and a variety of ways to solve problems. But the essence of tabletop roleplaying – of creating and playacting a character of your own design, revealing their traits and desires though their actions, limited only by your imagination and the GameMaster’s leniency – is still very limited in video games. I’m not disparaging them; I’m just saying that playing a “role” is still in its infancy in interactive media, at least compared to tabletop games. I don’t know if that’s because it’s difficult to create video games that do this; or if games designers are just focused on other things – yes, it’s interesting to not be limited to binary choices and rigid solutions to problems and enemies; but what is less developed in games is the ability for the player to create and playact characters of almost limitless variety.
The arcades were my first gaming experiences, and I've alwasy had a soft spot for the arcade classics. Thanks to Atari, Namco, and the Arcade Archives series, my Nintendo Switch looks like the arcade of my fever dreams. But I've always enjoyed the look and feel of arcade cabinets. When I was a kid in Arizona, the local Ak-Chin commissary always had arcade cabinets like Dig-Dug, Donkey Kong, and Ms. Pac-Man, plus arcades were at grocery stores, movie theaters, travel plazas, and of course, shopping malls.
For Christmas I got the Atari Flashback Classics Vol. 3 game for PS4. I love classic game collections and writing about them, so for the next while we’ll going to take a look at the games on this compilation. There are so many though that we’ll do it in three parts. The first part we will take a look at the arcade games on here.
So Life is Strange: Beyond the Storm has an optional tabletop gaming session you can play. It is nerdy as hell and initially seemed out of character for Chloe, until you remember her best friend was Max.
On Friday, February 17th, I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago and check out Nintendo’s upcoming new system—The Switch, as well as fifteen different titles releasing within the Switch’s first year. As a longtime fan of video games, I’d read about events like E3 and press preview events and dream about going to one of these one day. Since I’m not involved in games journalism and live in the Midwest, I never imagined I’d have a chance to attend a preview event. The only time I went to something of this level was Nintendo’s E3 Best Buy event in 2013, where I spent three hours in line so I could play one Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze level. When Nintendo emailed me an invitation to preview the Switch, I immediately snagged two tickets. When I left for the event with my friend Marcus, I expected something similar to that Best Buy preview.
Look at that title. I know what you're thinking. What a vague title. Switch to what? Why it's simple. Switching to the Nintendo Switch of Course! I did my best to remain purely impartial. So I gathered a list of pros and cons or as my pun filled title suggests joy cons (rimshot*) Anyways, bad jokes aside I figure it would be best for me to offer my opinion. Because even though I am a fan. I am privy to Nintendo's manipulative ways. So without further ado...here's the list!
Virtual Reality is nothing new. Back in the 90’s, when 3-D graphics were getting a little more commonplace in games, we got to see its infancy in the form of special arcade games and failed consoles like the Virtual Boy. It even entered the realm of movies and TV with films like The Lawnmower Man and kids shows such as VR Troopers. Fast forward to the present, where technology has advanced exponentially, and VR has made a bit of a comeback, with games on PC and even consoles like the PlayStation. So I started thinking about games that I would like to play in VR. Here’s my list:
I hesitate making this blog on this site because I know most of you are either console-only gamers or retro gamers, which I am also, but most of you probably won’t care about the little old ‘PC Show’ that aired between MS and Ubisoft conferences. Nick Dimola tweeted something about consoles being dead and I was like, why? You didn’t like the MS games? They looked pretty sweet, and I don’t even own an xbox. Then I watched the MS conference in full, and basically most every console exclusive is coming to Windows10, and there is cross-buy and cross-play in some cases which basically turns Xbox into more of a gaming service more than a console. So, most XBox games are coming to PC, most Indie games are already on PC or at least start off there. Japan is releasing more and more games on Steam, like Final Fantasy etc. Then there are games on PC that may or may not go to console. The PC is in a pretty advantageous position right now if you’re a gamer that wants to sample a bit of everything right now, and some would argue always has been, but I also love my console and portable games so it’s not true for me. I’m not a PCMaserRace snob at all, but as a gaming enthusiast, I want to play every type of games. I’ve even setup DosBox, if you don’t know what that is, don’t ask. It is severely nerdy to discuss and I feel shame admitting it.
Welcome welcome, to the first episode of a new era for Nerds Without Pants! We are launching a new segment this episode: Chrono Crossing, wherein we take a look back at our favorite games of each year, beginning with 2015. We kick off this episode with this new feature, and have some great input from our lovely listeners!
Hey guys, I haven't really played many video games lately. I've kinda gotten into Tabletop gaming. I recently bought the X-Wing starter pack and two expansions. It's a bit expensive but it's a ton of fun and the models look badass. So far I've got two tie fighters, one x-wing, a slave I and a millenium falcon. Here's what some the models look like:
Not much going on in the gaming end of things lately. Spent most of the last two weeks getting ready for the annual three day trip I refer to as the "Ranger Retreat" at friend/neighbor/co-worker/honorary little brother Michael's family's camp with Michael and Andy. Normally, I get Jason to stay at the cottage with the pets, but he was starting a new job and his days off changed. This meant cleaning and tidying the cottage for the pet sitter, as well as working and getting ready for the trip.
Almost a month ago, I did a half-arsed small update. I predicted that I would be unactive once again and in a case that could make Nostradamus jealous, I was right. The only difference being that I went through over 70 blogs, although I actually paid attention to most of them this time. University still made me busy and though there were plenty of chances to check the blogs, I was indeed lazy. However, I did say I would make an update. Yeah, it's a month later, but I never said it would have a fixed date. So here's it is, all killer no filler, what i've been doing since BaD ended.
It’s been a long time since my last blog here at PixlBit and my involvement in the site has been more minimal than it has been in the past. There are two reasons for this.
(Fair warning, I very deeply feel that The Walking Dead season 1 is among the best video game experiences I've ever had. In many cases, I've even said it's one of the better narrative experiences ever. That's going to color my thoughts on season 2.)
So recently I was wrapping up playing Tomodachi Life on my 3DS. It’s a life sim game that lets you use your Mii characters. I started thinking about other Mii character specific games, and thought I’d write a blog that features them. Most of these Mii games are geared toward casual gamers, and while Nintendo has gotten quite a bit of criticism on that, I still think they’re fun. Now, there are many games that let you use Mii characters in titles like Mario Kart and Sonic & All-Stars Racing, but I’m focusing on just the games that only have Mii characters and nothing else. So let’s get started.