In console gaming, there is a legend known as the Third Console Curse. Most consoles are not successful enough to receive a follow-up. If they are, then a third console is still not guaranteed. It is a hard industry not only to break into, but sustain a market share in. Yet something happens with the third console every time. It fails to meet the company's initial goals. Maybe it still sells fine, maybe the console has a wonderful library of games. Even if that is the case, the company loses market share and is in a worse spot at the end of the console's life than they were going into it. It could be arrogance from success. It could be a lack of perspective from being too used to success. Maybe it's just rotten luck. But it's consistent.

For years Microsoft hoovered up more and more of the games industry. It was shocking when they purchased Bethesda - a huge third party publisher and development house. By the time they secured the deal to buy Activision-Blizzard, it was much less so, and it was clear that Microsoft believed they could buy all the properties they needed to make GamePass a success. It didn't take long to see that their strategy wasn't working.

Atari 50 got its most recent update today, which concerns Atari’s heavily intertwined history with Namco (the latter company’s video game division was originally Atari Japan, but Bushnell apparently got into trouble for trying to do business in Japan for not following Japanese regulations and ended up having to sell).

Ok so apparently I forgot to either upload my last blog post or I completely forgot to write one. I checked my folder and it turns out the one that I was typing up last week I either never saved or it got lost before I had a chance to upload it (I probably just forgot) anyways let’s catch up.

This month, Nintendo is releasing Mario vs. Donkey Kong.  It’s a re-release/remake of a game on the Game Boy Advance that came out about 20 years ago!  It’s also the first appearance of the Mini Mario characters, an army of little wind up Mario toys.  These little guys would go on to star in their own series of spin-offs.  But those games kind of all run together because many of them look and play similarly.  So I thought in honor of the new game’s release, I’d go over each one and see what makes them special, if only for a little bit.  This Mario vs. Donkey Kong series also has quite a few games in its belt, more than what you might think.  And the history of these games stretched back farther than what you might expect, too!  So let’s check ‘em out!

It’s 2022 and this is the first Monday of the new year. Good morning Pixlpeeps! There is a lot happening on my end right now so I’m a little (a lot) preoccupied with bigger things, but it is what it is. I did however say that I am going to be here more and it is the new year so I’m here. So a quick update of what’s been going on:

Over the years, there have been many different types of cartridge software released. Where music and video media (eventually) became standardized, each game system had its own form of storage media. In addition to carrying interchangeable game software, companies tended to make the design and appearance of the cartridges themselves distinctive as a marketing gimmick. Most of us have memories of having game cartridges in boxes, not to mention blowing on the edge connectors when our games glitched out. So here's a brief overview of various game cartridges throughout history. This is not an exhaustive list.

Games Beaten

I’ve been doing a sort of buffet style gaming this past couple of weeks where I would pick and choose random games, play them, drop some, keep others and just got rid of others. Nothing too crazy but it is what it is.

A few months ago, we got a couple of downloadable only collections of Namco NES and Famicom games.  I even wrote about them, which you can read here.  But did you know that in Japan, they got a physical copy of the game on the Switch, and that it had different games and a new interface?  I actually imported this game because it was only 30 bucks, which isn’t bad for an import title.  So let’s take a look at this collection and what makes it different from the ones we got in the US!

Ok so I just finished the stage 5 (?) of the Tour de France, I didn’t take out a breakfast sandwich because last night’s Panda Express isn’t sitting well. Apparently when you ask for Orange Chicken they give you spicy chicken that isn’t sweet. I really need to find a mom & pop Chinese spot that offers Sweet N’ Sour Pork. Going back to actual gaming stuff I tried to write a Quick Hits but ended up getting sidetracked with random trips to different stores, but here we are on a Monday and apparently it’s September. Who knew? Let’s get started.

Namco has just opened up a new wing in their museum, with two volumes of archives including a bunch of 8-bit NES and Famicom games!  These two new downloadable collections contain almost a dozen games each.  I’ll be your tour guide as we go through the games on these collections.  So let’s go!

We’re going bullet points today. Cool? Cool.

So as I am sitting here waiting for a load of laundry to finish, while many many loads of laundry still wait I feel it’s time to update you good people…also I love you all but you need to stand…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………this far away from the screen (just in case). So let’s see if I can remember what I’ve been playing.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  It’s your lucky day, too!  At the end of the rainbow lies a pot of…more games reviews I’ve written recently 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!

So this is the final week of BaD. I’m a little bummed it’s almost over but we get a bonus day on Saturday. I really should write something on the 29^th as well. One of the coolest things I’ve done gaming wise on Feb. 29^th is get a platinum in Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. On my broken PS3 my game save still lives. I don’t have anything like that planned for this year’s 29^th unless I really grind on a game.

Good morning Pixlpeeps and Happy Presidents Day! Special shoutout to the 29^th President Warren G. Harding!

Since I’m on Day 2 of stalling for a theme for my #BaD2020 let’s ramble on about what game I played on the flight home from San Francisco. Remember the past couple of weeks where I bought the IPega Red Knight and combined it with my old music player? Well I didn’t play that, but instead I played a Tecmo Bowl style game on my iPad called Retro Bowl.

November has passed and what it mostly consisted of is shitty weather, the usual grind of work and sleep, some better films than in October and gaming on the usual titles. Thanksgiving was rough at first due to being sick on the actual day. The day after, I was feeling better but bummed that I missed out on Thanksgiving for the first time in my life. Luckily, my older brother came to the rescue and invited me to a late Thanksgiving dinner with his wife and the in-laws. Good food, plenty of time spent with my now 9-month old nephew and the company of family. Perfecto.

October came and went and Halloween along with it. I worked during that day as usual. Someone that I follow on twitter posted a week ago that Halloween should take place on the last Friday of the month instead of the last day. The last day usually falls on a day during the week, when the likeliest participants are either dealing with school or work or both. I'm in agreement with this. Instead, I watched how friends celebrated through social media and that'll have to be enough. 

Welcome to March, everyone! February goes by so fast doesnt it? We have a solid battle for this month. March seems to be the place for heavy hitters this gen. Sure, November is always crowded with plenty of great games but this month holds two pure gems. Some would argue the greatest games of this gen and possibly all time. Setting aside the previous years, March doesn't look like it'll disappoint this year either. We get a blast from the past with a new Toe Jam & Earl that looks like it'll satisfy fans of the original. We've also got two very anticipated sequels to Devil May Cry and The Division. Lastly, FromSoftware is releasing their next game, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Well good morning Pixlpeeps! Before I grab some breakfast let’s go over what I did and didn’t play this past week. I got a new toy this weekend so I didn’t spend a lot of time gaming but more on that on Friday, but for now let’s get started.

At this point in 2018 I should start focusing in on finishing up any random games I started earlier in the year so I can jump on new games for 2019. In a way I am kind of doing that but at the same time I am saving some games I bought during Black Friday to actually spend time with in a couple of weeks. So on Sunday I jumped into a game I haven’t touched in a couple of weeks because well I would like to finish it before new years.

So I just got back from Costco because I figured if I get there when it opens, I can breeze in an out with ease. Well me and apparently everyone else had the same idea but at least the little tasting stations weren’t setup yet so the grazers didn’t get a chance to leave their carts in the middle of the aisle. We are at the point in the year when you can tell who the locals are and who is from Canada. It was 69° degrees outside and the locals were dressed like it was snowing. The good people from Canada: shorts and a t-shirt. I was wearing a hockey jersey because it is cool enough to wear one outside. Anyways’s while I’m eating my fries let’s catch up with what I have been playing.

I just got off the phone with a scam caller and apparently when you ask them “Who Hurt You” they get really angry. It was met with an F You, and a hang up, but at least I got a laugh out of it. Good morning Pixlpeeps! Does trolling scam callers count as playing a game?