#Battlebread

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December 2024 Channel Update

Hey and welcome to another Channel Update. In these blogs, I want to give you an update on what has been going on in my life and on the website as I strive to create a kickass resource for you. Personal Website Borderlands 4 Borderlands 4 news started to roll in leading to a bunch […]

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Is toast in trig fiyatous? 🤔

Toast? Toast?! You think they got toasters up in there? Nah, man, toast is gone. A distant memory.

Nah, I’m just kidding. You can make toast on a skillet with fire. I do know some things. I was just trying to buy myself some time to see if I’d come up with something for “toast” in Trigedasleng… Got nothing. I keep wanting to call it “warmed bread”, which is what I call it in English. Fayatous… lol Just like gon and fayagon. I don’t think the sense would be the same, though. Fayatous is probably a better translation of Terry Pratchett’s dwarves’ battlebread. How’s that for a fandom crossover?

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November Channel Update

Hey and welcome to another Channel Update. In these blogs, I want to give you an update on what has been going on in my life and on the website as I strive to create a kickass resource for you. Personal Disco Dinos I visited the Ouwehands Zoo for their Light Night event with the […]

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April 2023 Channel Update

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March 2023 Channel Update

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The Future of Gearbox Games Looks Bright with Embracer Group Merger

Gearbox Leveled Up! Today I learned that the Gearbox Entertainment Company joined the Embracer Group. This is great news for Gearbox as this will propel the company in the direction that it is growing in.  Most folks still see Gearbox as the software company, the folks that made Borderlands. But for a while now they have been moving into the publishing space. With Gearbox Publishing they have launched a lot of great indie games these last few years. Joining the Embracer group provides them the resources to continue to grow and become a self-sustained publisher. Giving them the capabilities to self-publish their own games.  Because Gearbox is going to be the 7th operating group as a wholly own subsidiary of Embracer. So while they work on the Embracer flag they still function as their own company. The Future of Gearbox Randy Pitchford mentioned like  4 years ago that GBX wants to self-publish the next Brothers in Arms game. The merger with the Embracer Group provides  Gearbox with the funds to develop a triple-A title themselves. Therefore, they are no longer reliant on the money of publishers like 2K Games to develop blockbuster games. Gearbox owns a lot of great IPs. Borderlands, Battleborn, Brothers in Arms, Duke Nukem, and Homeworld. It would be great to see them make new games in those franchises. Gearbox has been working on Brothers in Arms stuff. The news that there will be a BiA tv series only confirms that they want to grow that IP. But not just Brothers in Arms, Gearbox wants to give Battleborn a future and they didn’t buy Duke Nukem so they could bring Duke Nukem Forever to the market. Gearbox was buying strong IPs so that they have a portfolio to work with. The Future of Borderlands When I check my social feed, I see folks “confirming” more Borderlands content. However, I don’t directly see this. Yes, Gearbox could inject more funds from their own into the franchise. However, while Gearbox owns the IP, 2K Games is still the exclusive publisher. In an investor call following the announcement, Gearbox President Randy Pitchford clarified that they would still be working with its long-term publishing partner 2K on “known and planned” Borderlands content.  However, rather than needing a bag of money, they would go to 2K for their expertise. Because looking at the marketing campaigns that GBX Publishing has done and 2K Games, the latter shows to have more expertise. 2K Games also clarifies they still remain the publisher of Borderlands and will continue to work with Gearbox. “The merger does not change 2K’s relationship with Gearbox nor our role as the publisher for the Borderlands IP or any other projects we are currently working on with the studio. We look forward to continuing our long-term partnership with this incredibly talented team and delivering many more exciting entertainment experiences to gaming fans around the world.” 2K Games There is still a lot in store for Borderlands and with both parties still in it together, I don’t think we will see a lot of big changes there. Conclusion Big win for Gearbox Borderlands is still there Bigger possibility for other GBX franchises to shine

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/blog/the-future-of-gearbox-games-looks-bright-with-embracer-group-merger/

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My New Year Resolution 2021

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2021! A new year that presents us with new opportunities to grow and achieve our goals. But first I want to take a look back and go over what’s behind us because 2020 had in store for me. COVID-19 Early last year Holland had a lockdown and currently, we are in our second lockdown. This hasn’t really affected my day-to-day life as much as with other people. Because I’m a baker, I still have to go to work every day. No, I cannot produce thousands of loaves of bread from my home kitchen. While I do my best to take safety precautions by not attending any events, wear a mask, wash my hands, and disinfect them,  I still was infected with the Coronavirus in November.  I’m not sure how it happened. The bakery is linked to a big distribution center, so there are a lot of people coming in and out that front door from all over the country. Well, I felt crap for a week and it took a long time getting back to strength. I haven’t felt that ill in years, so I can’t recommend it. Stay safe! Although I was in isolation on the attic, separated from my family, my wife already was infected. While her first test came back negative, she did another one when I came out of my lockdown. That one returned positive and she had to go in isolation. Luckily the kids weren’t infected. Website Growth I have been working on this website for a very long time. It continues to surprise me what I have been able to achieve because of it. But it’s all because of you! Everyone who has visited the site, left a comment, or shared a post.  Thank you for your support, it means the world to me. While I’m not the guy that focuses on numbers and my “clout”, I can tell you that the number of visitors to the site has grown a lot over the last year. Yes, Borderlands 3 has brought a lot of folks to the site but after the initial hype tuned down, the new “normal” continued to increase. I enjoyed adding Godfall to the site. Not because Gearbox Publishing brought this game to the market but because it was a game I was interested in. It did something new for me in a setting that appealed to me. I had fun playing the game, although I didn’t spend as much time in the game as liked due to focusing on getting well and taking care of my family. That said, I did see a lot of visitors coming for Godfall info as the “numbers” surpassed any other content on my site. 2021 Goals Improve the site There is still a lot I can improve on the site.  Add more content, enrich old content, and update articles. Membership site In late 2020, I started experimenting with a new software plugin that would add perks to subscribers to the site. The package wasn’t up to my standards and therefore I deleted the whole thing. That said, it’s still something I would like to build. New Game(s) I want to add more games to the site because I’m passionate about gaming and not just Borderlands and Battleborn. Although those games will have my priority, I would like to expand the site. Video content Yes, I have a youtube channel. However, it got pushed to the back burner because I needed to focus more on my personal life. Having a second kid turned out to be more time and energy-consuming than anticipated.  “Baby” Mike is more comfortable in his life and therefore my wife and I also have more time and energy to pick up different things. I want to make more video content. It won’t be a new video every day but I want to make a substantial amount. Redesign of the site This one is optional. I like the current design of the site but I know the creator of this theme has a new theme coming up year. I expect the new theme to be similar but up-to-date with the new internet standards. If I think it’s a fit for what I’m doing and pushing the site forward we might get a fresh coat of paint this year. XX Million Milestone We just hit the 25 million views milestone on the site.  It would be insane if we hit XX million views but I don’t want to focus on the numbers. That’s also why I typed XX instead of the actual number I think is doable but still challenging. I just want to make a quality website that people find informative and enjoy coming back to.

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/blog/my-new-year-resolution-2021/

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My New Year Resolution 2021

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2021! A new year that presents us with new opportunities to grow and achieve our goals. But first I want to take a look back and go over what’s behind us because 2020 had in store for me. COVID-19 Early last year Holland had a lockdown and currently, we are in our second lockdown. This hasn’t really affected my day-to-day life as much as with other people. Because I’m a baker, I still have to go to work every day. No, I cannot produce thousands of loaves of bread from my home kitchen. While I do my best to take safety precautions by not attending any events, wear a mask, wash my hands, and disinfect them,  I still was infected with the Coronavirus in November.  I’m not sure how it happened. The bakery is linked to a big distribution center, so there are a lot of people coming in and out that front door from all over the country. Well, I felt crap for a week and it took a long time getting back to strength. I haven’t felt that ill in years, so I can’t recommend it. Stay safe! Although I was in isolation on the attic, separated from my family, my wife already was infected. While her first test came back negative, she did another one when I came out of my lockdown. That one returned positive and she had to go in isolation. Luckily the kids weren’t infected. Website Growth I have been working on this website for a very long time. It continues to surprise me what I have been able to achieve because of it. But it’s all because of you! Everyone who has visited the site, left a comment, or shared a post.  Thank you for your support, it means the world to me. While I’m not the guy that focuses on numbers and my “clout”, I can tell you that the number of visitors to the site has grown a lot over the last year. Yes, Borderlands 3 has brought a lot of folks to the site but after the initial hype tuned down, the new “normal” continued to increase. I enjoyed adding Godfall to the site. Not because Gearbox Publishing brought this game to the market but because it was a game I was interested in. It did something new for me in a setting that appealed to me. I had fun playing the game, although I didn’t spend as much time in the game as liked due to focusing on getting well and taking care of my family. That said, I did see a lot of visitors coming for Godfall info as the “numbers” surpassed any other content on my site. 2021 Goals Improve the site There is still a lot I can improve on the site.  Add more content, enrich old content, and update articles. Membership site In late 2020, I started experimenting with a new software plugin that would add perks to subscribers to the site. The package wasn’t up to my standards and therefore I deleted the whole thing. That said, it’s still something I would like to build. New Game(s) I want to add more games to the site because I’m passionate about gaming and not just Borderlands and Battleborn. Although those games will have my priority, I would like to expand the site. Video content Yes, I have a youtube channel. However, it got pushed to the back burner because I needed to focus more on my personal life. Having a second kid turned out to be more time and energy-consuming than anticipated.  “Baby” Mike is more comfortable in his life and therefore my wife and I also have more time and energy to pick up different things. I want to make more video content. It won’t be a new video every day but I want to make a substantial amount. Redesign of the site This one is optional. I like the current design of the site but I know the creator of this theme has a new theme coming up year. I expect the new theme to be similar but up-to-date with the new internet standards. If I think it’s a fit for what I’m doing and pushing the site forward we might get a fresh coat of paint this year. XX Million Milestone We just hit the 25 million views milestone on the site.  It would be insane if we hit XX million views but I don’t want to focus on the numbers. That’s also why I typed XX instead of the actual number I think is doable but still challenging. I just want to make a quality website that people find informative and enjoy coming back to.

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/blog/my-new-year-resolution-2021/

[mentalmars]

The Good & Bad - Channel Update Dec 2022

Hey and welcome to another Channel Update. In these blogs, I want to give you an update on what has been going on in my life and on the website as I strive to create a kickass resource for you.

Continue Reading

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I Have Been Busy - Update October 2022

Hey, I know it has been a while but I thought I’ll give you an update on how things are going and what I have been up to on the site. A lot has happened and with this channel update, I want to fill you in on what is going on and what I’m working on.

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Borderlands: Weapons as End Game Currency?

Value of Guns Borderlands games have been all about the weapons. Of course, there are other factors at play but its huge selling point has been the Gazillion Gun. When you start a fresh playthrough, you gather as many weapons as you can even though you won’t use them in combat. You collect them to sell them at one of Marcus’ Vending machines. Because it’s a good way to get your cash flow going and to buy some of those stronger ‘items of the day’ in the vending machine. Arms Race in Borderlands 3 also did a great job at making the weapons matter. Because each round in Arms Race is basically a fresh playthrough because you start with nothing and build yourself up. All the quality items that you can get in the vending machines cost a fortune. The only way you can afford to buy these is to collect a ton of crappy items from the ground and sell them. However, towards the end of the main game, it’s all about that specific “Godroll” legendary. All the other legendaries are being ignored because they aren’t the current meta. But what if those items are the key to your next big farm? Sacrifice Weapons Traditionally the end game content in Borderlands has been behind a “paywall”. To get access to the Raid Boss you need to pay Eridium. This currency is harder to come by and requires you to grind a fair amount. While there is nothing wrong with this concept, I would like to throw out this idea that changes up the formula a bit. What if you need to pay with weapons to gain access to end-game content? As you sacrifice a few items, these will form a “recipe” based on their rarity and type. It kinda is like the grinder from Borderlands the Pre-Sequel, however, now it will impact the challenge at hand instead of giving you a weapon back. The recipe could affect the type of enemies and mini-bosses you encounter during the challenge. The level of the item will determine the intensity of the changes. So the higher the level of the weapon, the bigger the impact of the recipe changes are applied. For example, the end game challenge is similar to a Borderlands 3 Proving Ground. One recipe could spawn additional Spiderants throughout the map. This creates a new challenge as these would normally not spawn next to that other type of enemy. These maps can have a small arena that allows for mini-bosses to spawn. These bosses are based on the recipe you paid at the start. Having exclusive gear in these challenges that boost the impact of the recipes could add another layer to this idea. These could be weapons with a higher Mayhem Level or rarity tier (Pearlescent) but they could also have unique weapon parts that boost the weapons performance or maybe a second anoint. This gives controlled randomness to the end game and adds value to farm specific loot. While a particular weapon may be a meme due to its performance, it might be in high demand as it enables you to fight a specific boss and claim its unique drop. Conclusion I like this idea but I also know some folks just want to directly jump into a (raid) boss fight and farm it over and over again. So I’m curious what you think about this idea, here is a quick TLDR: Pay with weapons to access end game content The sacrificed weapons affect the challenge This gives value to non-meta weapons and reasons to farm Repeatable end game content that has a form of controlled randomness

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/blog/borderlands-weapons-as-end-game-currency/

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New Immersive Game from Gearbox Software Coming This Fiscal Year

New Immersive Core Games Take-Two announced during their finical earnings call that they are releasing 4 immersive core games this fiscal year. Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two, mentioned that 2 of these are from proven franchises and 2 are new. A new game from Gearbox Software was mentioned during the publisher’s earnings call. Videogameschronicle assumes it would likely fit into this “immersive core” category. Because that’s what Gearbox is known for and Take-Two is very pleased with their Borderlands franchise. This new game would release before the fiscal year ends on March 31, 2022. Take-Two, 2K, and Gearbox Software Take-Two is the parent company of 2K Games. They also own Rockstar who is known for games like GTA and Red Dead Redemption, and the Private Division that is known for their games The Outer Worlds and Disintegration. While Gearbox Software merged with the Embracer Group, they still like to work with 2K Games to bring their games onto the market. Because 2K has the skills to successfully achieve that. My Speculation Gearbox Software has a bunch of IPs, Borderlands, Battleborn, Brothers in Arms, Duke Nukem, and Homeworld. As you can see, most of them are in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre. It’s likely that their new game will also be an FPS. Randy Pitchford has mentioned in the past that you should play to your strengths. Therefore FPS, Character design, and Loot are things that come to mind. I know this is still a very broad description but with a new IP, anything could be on the table. On one side, I would like to say it’s probably going to be a stylized-looking game like Borderlands or Battleborn. Maybe they really are going to do a cell-shaded game so they can finally prove to all those people what a real cell-shaded game looks like instead of everyone calling Borderlands cell-shaded. On the other side, while a stylized game is “timeless” another similar-looking game doesn’t expand their portfolio. Personally, I would love to see a Battleborn 2 or Borderlands the Pre-Sequel 2 those aren’t new IPs. But if I take Strauss Zelnick very literally, he said “Proven”, well Battleborn and Borderlands The Pre-Sequel aren’t the best-selling titles. Then there is Project 1v1. This was described as a small indie game back in the day. I don’t know how this arena shooter would evolve into an AAA game. Maybe they could layer a story mode on top of it but the multiplayer genre is pretty competitive. Not just as a game but also from a business standpoint.

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/blog/new-immersive-game-from-gearbox-software-coming-this-fiscal-year/

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Battlebread Update February 2020

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/blog/february-update-2020/

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Battlebread Update October 2017

Hey Guys, i had planned this update a bit earlier but the CMS didn’t post it for some reason, so let me update this post a little bit. By now i hope you already had a vacation. Personally i had 3 weeks off in August  and went on a 10 day holiday having fun with the family. There was not a...

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/blog/battlebread-update-october-2017/

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Gearbox Revealing Their New Game

Be Chaotic Great Gearbox Software and 2K Games are going to reveal their upcoming game at the Summer Game Fest. This news was announced by Geoff Keighley who is the host of this event. The big reveal will be on June 10 at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM BST. Alongside the announcement, he shared a URL, bechaoticgreat.com. There you can sign up for a newsletter by Gearbox and 2K. Also, when you register for a SHiFT account, you are able to get access to bonus loot and exclusive betas from Gearbox. Immersive Game During a recent Take-Two earnings call, it was mentioned that Gearbox Software is producing a new franchise for Take-Two “immersive core” category. This game is scheduled to release this fiscal year that ends on March 31, 2022. If we look at Borderlands 3’s marketing schedule. The time between the announcement and the release was about 6 months. I assume they are going to do a similar length as that game as that’s the marketing trend. The days of announcing a game and having to wait 2 years before it’s released are over. I’m excited to see what Gearbox Software and 2K Games are bringing to the table. Personally, I really enjoyed the Borderlands games and Battleborn. I’ll keep you up to date on all the news.

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/game-news/gearbox-revealing-their-new-game/

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I have secretly been working on a new website

Check it out https://mentalmars.com/blog/i-have-secretly-been-working-on-a-new-website/