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.
When a game console is considered “dead,” I like to write a tribute blog about that console and its games. While most people would probably consider the PS4 ‘dead’ for a while now, I’m still reviewing games for it. I guess a game console is really only considered ‘dead’ once you stop playing it. But since recently I wasn’t able to get simple games like LEGO Batman and Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection on the PS4, I figured it was about time. I’ll probably do a similar blog with the original Switch later towards the end of this year. Most of the games on this list you can play on other consoles as well, I mostly used the PS4 as a third party machine if I couldn’t play or review it on the Switch, or if I’d rather play it on the PS4. Anyway, there are so many games I’m going to split this up into two parts. And the first part is going to be all about classic game collections, and remakes of classics and styled games.
The first thing that comes to mind is changing my Xbox gamertag. I got one in 2004 when Xbox Live Arcade dropped but a mini-game on an Official Xbox Magazine demo disc was giving me trouble in '07, and I thought a new gamertag would solve it. Well, it did solve it, but I lost touch with my old gamertag over time, and now it's probably been deactivated along with the few games I bought under it. It'll be 20 years on my current gamertag next year. It could've been 23 years if I'd stuck with my original one.
I know I've kind of dropped off the face of Pixlbit for awhile, but I'm still lurking. I recently posted two videos to my YouTube channel. Check them out.
I kinda can't wait to do this sort of overview for DS games when I get there in a few weeks.
Merry Christmas! I’ve got some presents for you! Game reviews I’ve recently written over at GamerDad.com! Just what you wanted, right? Anyway, 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. And let’s keep up the tradition of pretend Christmas presents! In the comments section, give me a pretend Christmas present and I’ll give you one, too, when I reply. It can be anything you want, it’s the thought that counts…literally! OK let’s begin!
The dreaded stealth gameplay got to me again in several new games I tried out this week. But I finished Doom Dark Ages, discovered some new Atari games, and got sucked into an old classic again.
New game reviews I’ve recently written are blooming over at GamerDad.com, so here’s a bouquet of them for you. 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 begin!
My Twin-stick shooter fascination has branched into a genre that is similar but not exactly the same. What I played this week is more along the lines of isometric multidirectional shooters. Really, the only substantial difference is that you use a trigger to shoot instead of using the right stick to both aim and shoot. Overall, it kind of feels pretty similar but maybe with less of a bullet hell feeling. Anyway, here's what I got into this week.
It’s time for my “Best Video Games of 2024 Awards Show!” Keep in mind that this is my list only and no other outside opinions contributed. And if a game isn’t on this list, it either just didn’t appeal to me as much or I haven’t had a chance to play it yet. Ok with that out of the way, let’s begin!
It's November and another shift to a new range of years I want to focus on in gaming. This month is 2019-2021. Nothing special about that, just 3 years in the history of gaming. I guess you could say the transition to our current consoles: Xbox Series X|S and PS5 in 2020 (Switch out since 2017).
A majority of this batch of GamerDad reviews I’ve recently written have to do with Japanese myths and legends and other related themes, so hence the title. 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 begin!
I'm going to focus on the three titles that grabbed my attention, and most of my time, this week. Also a surprise new purchase at the end.
It's February and I have begun reviewing Console Generation 2, or rather, the years '77-'83 and all games both arcade, PC and maybe even board games. Here goes:
I'm surprising myself by actually sticking to a few titles for long periods instead of jumping all around.
2021 was just another year of the expected high sellers: COD, Pokemon, Mario, sports games and mobile game billion sellers. 52% of the market went to mobile. Interesting. Here's what interested me and my one pick if I could only pick one.
It's almost August when I will be focusing my retro gaming on the 90s. That's NES, Genesis, SNES, PS and N64 for me. I don't have a Saturn anymore, never had a TG-16 or Neo Geo, and I didn't play handheld games until the DS. However I do now have the option to play Game Boy and GBC games on my Gamecube's GameBoy Player. So I may break that out too. Here's a list of stuff I'm interested in from 1990, more or less.
Watched this 1983 one season bomb of a show called Wizards and Warriors and played a bunch of retro games and a few more modern ones.
80s retro gaming is the topic today. Here's what I played last week (or earlier this week) on various collections I have.
Another year has come and gone. 2022 was a great year for games! I was able to beat 29 games this year. Keep in mind that some of these were old games that were fairly short (such as the original Castlevania and Castlevania III for NES). There were some standout games this year. I'm going to talk about my favorite games that I beat this year (some of which didn't come out this year, but some certainly did). Then I'm going to give 3 awards: Best Game Collection, Best Soundtrack, and of course, my Game of the Year. So let's get on with it.
It’s the end of the year so you know what that means? It’s time for my “Best Games of 2022 Awards Show!” Keep in mind that this is my list only and no other outside opinions contributed. And if a game isn’t on this list, it either just didn’t appeal to me as much or I haven’t had a chance to play it yet. Ok with that out of the way, let’s begin!
A couple of months ago I reviewed the PlayDate, a new handheld gaming device that has a crank on the side that you can wind to control some of the games. The other unique thing about this device is how you get the games. They come two at a time and are downloaded automatically on the handheld each week on a Monday. I talked about a few of them when I wrote my initial review, and then another batch of ten more about a month later. And now I’ve got my final batch of ten from season one, so we’ll go over those as well as my final thoughts on the PlayDate.
