It dawned on me I haven't really replayed all the God of War games on PS3, and I thought I'd add the first two Skylanders games to the list for trophy hunting reasons, and... REASONS!
More car trouble, and so less gaming, contrary to what might be expected. I game at MK's place, and if it's hard to get there - takes me an hour by bus -, I don't game. But I got a mostly full day in and actually finished a game for once. Read on.
Not so many games really. Actually, my favorite thing this year wasn't games but audio recording. My best friend and I would get together in breaks from our different colleges and go on road trips. Our favorite thing was to record ourselves doing skits or other nonsense on cassette tapes while listening to our favorite music. I still have them, some 30 or so. I converted them to CDs in the early 2000s and stored them as files on a now defunct hard drive. However, MK and I would go to arcades still here and there. I watched a lot of movies as well.
1985 was a little light in gaming for me but it was notable to most of us in the west as the year the NES was test marketed in the U.S. that October (and nationwide in Sept. '86). I was unaware but it can't go unmentioned. Here's everything I remember clearly.
Oh gaming. Perhaps I was spending more time on sports, records and photography, but there was plenty of arcade visits still going on, not to mention playing my friends' consoles at their homes. Here's what I played and remember.
Continuing the share, my games of the 80s, maybe a few others if I'm into it. This is 1981.
I was going to dig into this week's plays when I forgot about RetroCon. There are some videos up of it now but none of the cosplayers yet. There were some good ones I saw and I'm sure someone did a video that'll be posted eventually. Also, I thought I'd mention the first game I played this week, Demon's Souls and post a few vids that I like made by From Software that give me goosebumps every time I watch them.
I can’t believe I’m turning 50 later this month. In a way I’m a little sad about it because my life is definitely not what I’d imagined it would be by now. I’m still single and living in a one bedroom apartment barely making ends meet with a job I don’t like that much. But at least there are some fun things we’ll be doing this month. My dad’s birthday is a couple of weeks before mine so I’m taking him to see the Coyote vs. Acme movie. And then for my birthday we’re going to see the Rifftrax Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie. And then at the end of this month some of my other family and I are going to Austin, TX to see my old college campus after 30 years, and to also see my best friend who has lived in El Salvador for a long time, but recently moved back here. At any rate, even though it’s my birthday, I’ve got some presents for you! Reviews I’ve recently written over at GamerDad. Please read as many as you can and maybe post a ‘like’ or comment or two! I’d appreciate it. And in the comments section, feel free to give me a pretend birthday present, too! OK let’s begin!
To be honest, I started Xbox 360 sometime in May. So it took around four months to go through everything in my physical and digital collection and play a few new ones too. Here's the list of stuff I ended with. Note that I've been playing in order of Metacritic rating, and so these are the lowest rated games I have (doesn't mean they're are actually that bad though).
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.
I had a really good time with Xbox 360, or 3tricksy as I like to call it, this week. This is what I got to in my journey through all my 360 games.
2013 is really the start Console Generation 8, but to me it's still Gen 7 because the Xbox One and PS4 came out late in that year, and I didn't get either one until maybe a year later. Yes the Wii-U was out in 2012, the 3DS and PS Vita in 2011, but it really felt like Gen 8 fully to me in 2014. So this is the last year I'll review until I get past all the Gen 7 systems in my retro journey this year.
Knocked off a bunch more in the 360 collection. I was writing down all the digital only games I wanted to play on 360 and came across a lot of them. I own a lot more than I remember and there are ones I missed as well. This is just adding to my "collection" and making getting through 360 a real chore. I passed my usual burnout on year-long gaming projects a month ago, so I think I'm good for the distance now. Here's this week's plays plus a few buys.
In the last part of my PS4 tribute blog, we looked at the games I enjoyed on the PS4 that were classic collections or remakes. And on this one, we’ll look at the more AAA titles (well as AAA as I get anyway), as well as the indie titles on the opposite end of the spectrum. Like I said before, most of these games you can enjoy on other platforms, I just played them on PS4.
First, some new stuff, then the old stuff. Eight more down and less than a dozen left. I'm chomping at the bit to start into my DS collection.
Thanks to the recently released Mario Galaxy movie, I’ve got a bunch of themed articles about it along with my usual GamerDad game reviews. So please click on the links and read as many as you can, and maybe post a ‘like’ or comment or two. I’d appreciate it. OK, let’s blast off!
Happy Easter! I’ve got some video game Easter egg reviews for you all to hunt. When you find one, 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!
Happy Valentines Day! I got you all some valentines: game reviews I’ve recently written over at GamerDad.com! Show the love by clicking on the links and reading as many as you can, and maybe even post a ‘like’ or comment or two. I’d appreciate it. OK let’s begin!
Around this time, I like to make a list of games I’m looking forward to in the coming year. Of course, this won’t be a complete list, as there will surely be titles announced throughout the year that we don’t know about yet. Especially with the new Switch 2 console being out and all. Heck, this time last year we didn’t even know when the Switch 2 would be coming out! But these are the ones I know about so far that I want to try. So let’s begin!
Let’s end the year with one last glob of 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!
I didn't get a whole lot of gaming time on the holidays, which is kind of strange really, but I don't have a family that plays all that much. I did get a few half days with MK playing Army of Ruin though, and I'm gearing up for what I want to play in 2026.
It's fun to go down the list of best of all time on Metacritic and make a personal list of favorites. Here are mine for the original Xbox.
An imagined library of games I would have from the best of the 2010s. In order of rank on the Metacritic list for those years.